[Closed] Homebirth - Recent report

i'm nowhere near having a kid, at all, but if i was going to have a homebirth and there was a complication (however small that risk is) which could have been prevented by having a hospital birth, i don't know how i could forgive myself for that.

We would have liked a homebirth for any of our 3 but due to complications with the first it wasn't an option. My wife used Hypnobirthing for our Son and only had a bit of gas and air and no medical intervention form the midiwfe. We used a birthing ward, which is midwife lead rather than the labour ward which is Dr lead. This may be an option for you, just ask.

The Picturedrome is a good venue and the cafe's nice.

Not the same since they stopped filming 'Summer Wine' though. 🙁

Me and the missus are due in 8 weeks - we're doing the hypno-birthing thing too, but in the hospital. But I think for the first one I'll feel better knowing she's in the safest place she can be.

I guess if you live relatively close to a hospital, then it shouldn't take much to get her there if something does go wrong. But if it's over a 20 minute drive, I'd play it safe.

jamjar - there'll be another report somewhere that completely contradicts that one. Go for what you want to do, stressing about it will do more harm than the miniscule increase in risk that reports suggests. Stick to the plan, man 😀

Tried it - ended up not even getting started getting taken to hospital for induction shortly followed by emergency caesarean.
Know a couple of people who have had first times at home though and also others who got transferred for c-section or similar but don't know who anyone who had problems due to being at home and not being able to get to hospital in time. Obviously it is a risk though - how far from hospital are you?
I think the midwives will play it safe with transferring if it looks like there will be any problem?

I guess the other thing is it's claimed that being in a foreign environment such as hospital can halt labour - so if your wife has any fear of hospitals etc, home may be better?

we opted for home birth went to all the classes and all that crap... after our 5th sweep, which was 11 days after the due date, and it doing nothing and our childs heart rate fluctauating greatly, we were rushed into hospital and My son was delivered under emergency C section.

he would be dead if we hadn't got to hospital.

But saying that if theres no complications you'll be fine... best if there is a hospital pretty close though.

We had our first in the local hospital, and then our 2nd at home. The benefits of a home birth were:
A dedicated mid-wife the whole time, a second mid-wife arrived near the end of labour. At the hospital one midwife was looking after several people. I think the standard of care we got at home was higher than in hospital, really down to this dedicated attention.
The first night was much nicer with us all being together as a family, with our first it seemed strange going home to an empty house after he was born.
My wife seemed more relaxed during the birthing process.

Our local hospital is only around the corner, so if there had been any complications, we would have had to rush there.

The cleaning up was a bit of a pain afterwards. We have wooden floor, I don't think a pale carpet would have survived!

We especially like the idea of immediate bonding and relaxation after the event?

Hmmm think someone's read to many NCT pamphlets. Only advice I've got is not to believe all the rubbish about birthing plans etc. Go with the flow, you've enough pressure on the two of you without creating all sorts of expectations you've no way of knowing are reasonable or not (and then feeling guilty on top of everything else because things didn't go as planned). Personally I think some people concentrate on having this perfect birth afraid they'll somehow damage the child. You'll have time to 'bond' or whatever where ever you are, not to mention the rest of your lives.

As for home births, after my wife needing a C section for our first (hospital delivery) I'm sure glad we didn't have to get her in an ambulance, moving from the birthing room to the theatre was bad enough.

Thanks for the replies, luckily we are less than 10 minutes drive from Hospital (probably 5 if blue lights required) and up until this report we were well aware and happy with the pro's and cons. But the risk being 3x greater is something that my wife in particular is finding hard to ignore and a telephone call to the mid-wifes this morning didn't really help as she got probably the only one that we haven't seen and she was very patronising and upset the wife even more. We're seeing them tomorrow for more of a chat and hopefully some more re-assurance, I'm thinking our close proximity to the hospital could be the trump card! BUT I completely agree about Hospital being the best place should complications occur, but it's still less than 1% and medical intervention is far more likely there than a "normal" birth at home (including episiotimy......). We'll see what they say...

We tried for home births for both our two.

The first ended up being delivered in hospital due to it taking too long during labour. No real problem transferring to hospital and it all went smoothly once there. We were also sent home very quickly as we were meant to be a home birth.

Second was a breech birth so was at the hospital.

Both times we really benefited from the extra care levels that the home birth team give you that Jason describes.

Several of our friends have had very successful homes births, including first timers. Plenty of babies aren't born in hospital.

my youngest was a planned home birth as the others arrived so quickly after the first twinge - 45 and 30 mins(!) and we lived way out in the sticks. little bugger took three hours though, nice chilled experience, music on, tea and toast and the older kids met their new brother when they got home from school.

he would be dead if we hadn't got to hospital.

Likewise. Emergency C Section here too.

Plan changed from [i]"giving birth naturally"[/i] to [i]"whipped into the operating theatre and out through the sunroof"[/i] in what felt like minutes after the foetal heartrate dropped through the floor (crushed umbilical cord).

We especially like the idea of immediate bonding and relaxation after the event?

Despite the scary delivery I was handed our little bundle as soon as she was out and checked. Bonding was very immediate and we were placed in a recovery room where she latched onto mum before the blood was dry on her stitches.

Me and Mrs Richie The SF are expecting our first in 12 weeks - there's no way we're having a homebirth.

Hospitals are full of highly trained medical professionals and expensive electronic equipment. Our house is full of oily bikes and surf boards.

Surely you spend your time as a parent trying to limit the risks in your childs life, why actively increase those risks before its even born?

I realise there are 'possible' benefits from a homebirth but none of them are medical and thats what concerns me.

Well if anything goes wrong, then you have no back up team at home.

Didn't even consider them for my 3, tbh it wasn't 'trendy' then..., but as it happened:

First one was going fine until something 'happened', and then within 5 mins there were about 6 extra people in the room, the bed was dismantled and changed around and my son was pulled out - blood/bits were everywhere.

Second one, just popped out with no troubles.

Third one, long, long labour very difficult and then the jab in the back (forget its name) and in the end a rush to the theatre and an emergency c-section and mum/baby into intensive care.

Takes your choice.

Also think about the drain on resources. For you to have a home birth you are taking staff away from other people.

Ok I get the fact that your home is more comfortable and relaxing, but in full on labour does the Mrs really care where she is?? I cant see how the bonding thing is any different being at home or hospital.

Also without being rude to any mid wifes, they are very good at delivering babies and support the Mother very well, but they have near zero medical knowledge compared to a Doctor. Wouldn't you want a doctor to be around if any thing did start to go wrong?

Also birth plans are only there to give the Mother some perceived element of control. The reality is the Mother has no control over what happens and mid wifes/doc will take what ever action is necessary for the birth to be succesful go with the flow and you wont get stressed if some thing doesnt go exactly as you planned.

Also.. think of the sheets!
Do you really want to be doing that laundry??

First Blobby Jr due next year. Hospital is the plan. We live a good half hour away from the hospital (even with the blue lights) and heard enough stories from friends (and on here now) about how quickly things can go wrong to consider a home birth. Maybe the odds are very low for things going wrong we're but not prepared to take that risk with something so important.

We had our first at home a couple of year ago. Can only recomend it, Mrs Bigsurfer was adament that she didn't want to go to Hospital as she definately wears the trousers and didn's want to be told what to do and be restiricted to a room or even worse a bed.

It took about 12 hours from start to finish. The midwives were fantastic. They first came to visit and check everything was going ok and agreed to come back in a few hours time. Again one came back and when we had reached a set point a second midwife was called.

The birth went to plan and as you say 30 minutes after the birth we were all 3 sat on the sofa relaxing in our own house.

We did have to fight a little to be granted a home birth for our first but was well worth it. We have our second due in January and that will be another home birth if everything continues to go well.

I just take the blissfull attitude that it will all be fine and find that it pretty much always is. I am not a natural born worrier.

I presonally belive that the atmosphere in most hospitals and the stress this can induce is very unhelpfull for simple uncomplicated births. Our experience of hospital births is a staggering amount end up in C sections.

Let me know if you want to contact us privatly for more of a private chat.

Cheer Bigsurfer.

You might find an alternative view here
http://www.midwifery.org.uk/

there are benfits to home birth including medical ones and it does not divert resources from elsewhere.

On a slightly lighter note I did completely underestimate the amount of toast 2 midwifes could eat, make sure you get plenty of bread.

The nature of birth is a political topic in this country. You need to accept that.

You'll hear lots of scare stories about emergency c-sections (remember, "emergency" means " once labour has started" - i.e. not planned - rather than what people usually mean by emergency).

I bet you don't hear much from people about how straightforward their births were, and how they could have been perfectly well managed at home.

Having your first child *is* scary, there is no doubt. And the NCT stuff about birth plans and post-delivery bonding is somewhat overplayed. But so is the apparent importance of medical professionals being available in an instant for all births.

Whatever you decide, [b]jamjar[/b] (and Mrs jamjar), I hope it goes well..!

(Unlike others here, I speak a little more dispassionately - my daughter was born via planned c-section.)

The last thing i would want to do after giving birth is clean up the mess i made doing it , ugh no way.

I had mine in hospital where somebody else get thats job 🙂

Also things can and do go wrong, not just for the baby but for the mum too.
what happens if she looses a lot of blood and needs a transfusion or tears so bad she needs stiches? she will still end up in hospital anyway.

there are a lot of things to consider.

Our hospital offered birthing pools at the hospital and also a large side ward which was more like a Hotel which was offered for non c section or births with no complications. This seemed a good mid way point between the two although we could not take up on this. Did not find a hospital birth a stress and had plenty of bonding time, although made easier with the missus being a nurse. My take on it, is you get so caught up in the moment, you really don't care where you are, so may as well be in hospital.

You'll hear lots of scare stories about emergency c-sections (remember, "emergency" means " once labour has started" - i.e. not planned - rather than what people usually mean by emergency).

Hmmmm... Foetal heart rate drops through the floor when wife rolls over. Doctor dives across the room and rolls her back. Room goes very quiet as everyone watches the monitor and listens to the bleeps. Heart rate comes back up, but is now accelerated meaning foetal distress (on top of existing pre-eclampsia) . Consultant is paged from home to come in (it's 2am). In theatre within ten minutes.

We could have lost her. I've got a knot in my throat thinking about it.

That's as close to "emergency" as I would like to take it.

YMMV.

First at hossie, Second at home. Your missus's feelings outweigh any study - if she's stressed it ain't gonna be fun. The at home experience was great for us but it went smoothly apart from the phenomenal amount of tea and biscuits the midwives go through!

TJ, if you can see the rotors at the maternity clinic then you will see how additional cover is required, Im not trying to argue a point, just stating what happens in hospital I have knowledge of.
So maybe some hospitals dont cover the midwives being out on a home birth, but some do.
It also seems a bit of a piss take that some expectant mothers want two midwives exclusively in attendance at home when others can manage in hospital with one midwife covering a few mothers.

But we do seem to want everything for ourselves dont we.

We had our first at home in a birthing pool only 6 months ago. Neither of us are yogurt weavers but it seemed like the best way for us. rjpenny1@yahoo.com if you or your wife would like more info from me or mine.

Couldn't fault the care and my wife was much more relaxed due to being in a familiar and friendly environment. Wasn't that messy, but I have a mate in the pool industry so borrowed loads of plastic to cover the cream carpet in the lounge. We are only about 20 minutes drive from the hospital should any problems have arisen that the midwife couldn't sort out.

That survey doesn't tell the whole story because it'll be a complicated tale. Just as an example, how many people have an epidural because it's easily available in hospital and then suffer complications?

Sancho - its far more complex. You are not seeing the savings

Firstly there should be a team of community midwives, secondly by virtue of being in hospital you have far higher intervention rates and far higher risks of infections and other ill effects.

You either accept the medicalisation of a natrual process with the risks and costs that entails or you accept the natural approach with the risks and costs that entails.

Its not as simple and black and white as you make out. The trend towards hospital births over a short timespan has greatly increased medical interventions far beyond what is justified medically.

There is a whole alternative take on this which is very strongly resisted by the medical establishment. Have a look at the radical midwives stuff and Wendy Savages experiences

We didn't even get as far as writing a birthing plan...

Day 43 in Derriford NICU.

Ouch Jambo

good luck

Just top be clear - any indications of possible issues with childbirth and hospital should be the only option IMO

“ Costs for antenatal visits and tests, staff presence in labour and delivery, procedures and pain relief in labour, perineal damage, and most importantly, days in hospital, all confirmed the greater cost of hospital delivery.” [1]

I am aware of only one other study on this matter in recent years - 'The Cost-Effectiveness of Home Birth', by Anderson and Anderson in the USA. It concluded that:

“The average uncomplicated vaginal birth costs 68% less in a home than in a hospital.” [2]

1. Home Births - The report of the 1994 Confidential Enquiry by the National Birthday Trust Fund, The Parthenon Publishing Group, 1997. p204.

2. The Cost-Effectiveness of Home Birth, by Anderson RE; Anderson DA (Dept. of Economics, Centre College, Danville, KY 40422, USA. )
J Nurse Midwifery, 44(1):30-5 1999 Jan-Feb

http://www.homebirth.org.uk/homebirthuk.htm#average%20cost

@[b]GrahamS[/b] - yes, that sounds like an emergency in anyone's language. However, as you know, not all "emergency" c-sections are actually real emergencies as you and your wife (and child) went through. Glad it all worked out right.

@[b]jambo[/b] - sorry to hear that. Hope you get there in the end. Fingers crossed for all of you.

Hmm I didn't spot there was now a separate thread on this topic.
I shall leave you in TJ's capable hands and get on with some work.

omitn: agreed.

In our case home birth was just never an option we had (mum with existing diabetes) and pre-eclampsia meant she was in hospital for a week before the actual birth (which was induced).

Plus of course, she wanted all the pain relief known to (wo)man readily available 😀

Glad it all worked out right.

You and me both 😀

Good luck jambo.

incase you missed docrobsters link on the NHS thread

http://www.nhs.uk/news/2010/July07/Pages/hospital-births-home-births-compared.aspx

Its useful to read the entire thing but this is a couple of key findings

It is also important to note that there was no increased risk of neonatal death with home birth compared to hospital birth once the analyses excluded those studies of home births attended by people other than certified midwives. That is to say, when the home birth was assisted by a certified midwife, there was no increase in mortality compared to a hospital birth.

Planned home births were associated with fewer maternal interventions, including epidural analgesia, electronic foetal heart rate monitoring, operative delivery and episiotomy (an incision to widen the vagina). In terms of maternal outcomes, mothers who had home deliveries had fewer infections, vaginal and perineal tears, haemorrhages, and retained placentas (no difference in the rate of umbilical cord prolapsed).

Home birth was never an option for my wife, far too much can go wrong and then it's a long wait for an ambulance to arrive then transport them when your wife and child are at high risk of complications.

However, the choice is between you and your wife if you've discussed everything with midwife and/or consultant and they are happy then go ahead. As for the hypno bit well I'm sorry pain tolerance is something you have or don't. Some women can go through childbirth without so much as Paracetamol others scream the place down even of an epidural.

Good luck whatever you choose.

We had 1st in a hospital, 2nd at home - 3rd TBC...

We were 5 minutes from the local hospital for the 2nd and it all went smoothly - home birth was excellent (recommend a pool).

Since then we've moved and are probably 30 mins from the hospital - I think we're going home style again, but it's more of a consideration.

Good luck (and to Jambo too)

“ Costs for antenatal visits and tests, staff presence in labour and delivery, procedures and pain relief in labour, perineal damage, and most importantly, days in hospital, all confirmed the greater cost of hospital delivery.” [1]

“The average uncomplicated vaginal birth costs 68% less in a home than in a hospital.” [2]

Thanks again for all of your comments, each destination clearly has it's pro's and cons. Why would we want to be in a hospital any longer than needs be? Noise from other births, no facility for partner to stay over, medical intervention unnecessarily hasty (stories of Dr's wanting you to "get on with it"), just a number or a stat etc. Homebirth was definitely the choice, but as I've said the report has clouded our view and made us feel a bit down about something we were getting really excited about (finally after 9 mths!).

Your stories and opinions have been most helpful, some more extreme than others, but I wish you all (especially Jambo) the best of luck too. I'll see how the next couple of days go and may be in touch with those that have offered more direct contact. Cheers.

I was born at home it was fine, not sure I remember much bonding stuff though. A former colleague and his partner recently had their second child at home, unfortunately this was due more to an extremely quick labour and him not taking it the build up too seriously - result one new born baby dropped by him onto it's head and three hours with an aquavac cleaning the living room carpet 🙂

I've just quickly read through the paper in BMJ. Two things jumped out at me: (1) Planned C-sections were excluded. (2) the report notes that the "adverse outcomes" were all lumped together, and are not necessarily implicated in a long term adverse effect.

I think the first is important because patients who were planning hospital delivery and are "borderline tricky" for any reason are more likely to be convinced to go for a planned C-section. Patients who are very keen on home birth are much less likely to go from one extreme to the other. Likewise patients who had a scary first birth are less likely to go home birth the second or third time round - hence the difference in the stats.

The second point is quite important - a recorded adverse event doesn't necessarily translate to a long term problem. It may even be that a midwife in your house is more likely to 'diagnose' a minor adverse event to be sure (and get medical intervention) when a hospital team would watch and see before formal diagnosis - and so very minor cases do not get reported.

However what is very clear is that there is a strong correlation between medically assisted births and planned births in hospitals. There is a known relationship between medical assistance (forceps, ventouse, c-section) and post natal depression. Now it may well be wrong to say if you choose to go to hospital you are more likely to get medical intervention because if your case is complicated medically you may not have any choice, but its not as black and white as saying one option is safer than the other.

Do whatever seems right to you, and talk to your midwife about it. They will only be keen on home birth if you are already a low risk category. Ignore "3 times more likely" because it is misleading. If I was 3x more likely to win the lottery it would still not be a good bet.

My sister was a homebirth. This meant I was left alone to my own devices at 2 years old.

Someone had to knock on the door of the house to tell people I was sitting on the ledge of an open first floor window dangling my legs out, shouting "I've got a new baby sister"...

Sometimes plans change, live with it. The missus had all sorts of fancy birth plans, by the time we got to the hospital it was already too late for all that malarky and baby breatheeasy was already on her way out, bless her. Scared all the couples on a nice little 'tour' of the maternity ward I can tell you!!!

Don't force your other half to do something she's not 100% comfortable with just because you want to do it 'cos it sounds trendy and the 'right' thing to do. If the midwife can't calm her fears then just go with the flow.

I've just checked and it's 45 days now. One day blurs into another.

My point was not to overplan it and get hung up on the detail. The health of my wife and child very quickly over-rode any preconceptions of what kind of birth it would be.

Speak to any Obstetricians and Anaesthetists that you know..... Ask how many of them had a home birth.

Go to hospital.

dr death - how about Wendy Savage 🙂

Dr Death - I wouldn't ask any doctor for a view on risk - IME they all have a rather skewed view on risk in general because they see all the bad side and quickly forget the many many simple cases... ...after all how many will even have been to a homebirth.

sorry if this has been said but I havent the time to read the whole thread, I'm pretty sure that report said that 45% of first timers end up being transferred to hospital. That sounds pretty horrible as a way to spend some time to me. We had ours in hospital and depite it being pretty fraught at the end (I'll spare the details, but had we been at home I'm really not sure what would have happend). We both felt hospital was the best place to be. We went and looked at the midwife led bit and it looked much the same as the main bit a couple of flowers and some crap cheap art doesnt relax either of us much!!!

As a counterpoint to the doom and gloom - both my son and daughter were born at home - no complications and a very stress free experience (well as stress free as births are anyway...). Two midwifes were present for both births.
That said the community midwife set up where we live is very good (Allerdale) and they will always ere on the side of caution - basically if you are in a high risk group, the option simply isn't encouraged.

I've heard it said that a "normal birth" is only ever a retrospective diagnosis...

Mrs AMV gave birth to our son last week at home. It was awesome!! We did the hypno birthing thing as well and found it all really good stuff. My advise would be to go for it. Every one is different though and for some people the security of being in a hospital means that is best, for others the environment and ways of the hospital is the last thing that is needed for a good birth.

It was much better than when our daughter was born... or rather who was yanked out with the ventose, even tho labour was going well. the reason was that they needed the delivery room cleared and ready for the next birth. We also had to argue the reasons why we didnt want the epidural and were made to feel stupid about it; one doctor told us we were being disrespectful. WTF!!!!!

According to our limited research complications are very very rare if the whole pregnancy has been normal - after all giving birth is a natural thing to do right? An experienced midwife friend of ours we spoke to about it said that if you look into the small number of home births that have gone wrong, quite often the people concerned have not listened to the midwife when they have said "you need to move to hospital NOW". This same midwife told us that on her ward more natural births occur at the weekend or other times when doctors are off duty.

The midwife we had has an array of emergency medical equipment from anti hemoraging drugs, saline drips, drugs to halt contractions should you need to move to hospital and more; as well as a whole load of "holistic" bits and bobs that were really great.

Speak to any Obstetricians and Anaesthetists that you know..... Ask how many of them had a home birth.

You could also ask how many of them use/recommend yoga, meditation, herbs, diet to treat common ailments (like back pain or anxiety) or prefer to pop/prescribe a few pills...

How many of those 45% of first timer transfers would have gone ok if they'd stayed at home? Nobody knows do they, but I bet it would be a high proportion.

How many of those 45% of first timer transfers would have gone ok if they'd stayed at home? Nobody knows do they, but I bet it would be a high proportion

But, crucially, not 0%

No its not zero but the figures for other births would suggest its as good as zero.

The high rates of intervention at doctor led units and the strong medications involved are also not zero risk.

Walking down the street while pregnant does not carry zero risk.

The point I am making is that waving around that 45% stat' is meaningless with out further research. Unless you know why labour was moved and how many of those were due to complications in the labour its unhelpful to people thinking about a home birth. It does make a good news headline I suppose.

IMO what is needed is better education about home birth, more support from the medical industry and more support for families who chose home births. Not only would it make many childbirths easier and safer it might even save a few pennies.

Dr Death - I wouldn't ask any doctor for a view on risk - IME they all have a rather skewed view on risk in general because they see all the bad side and quickly forget the many many simple cases... ...after all how many will even have been to a homebirth.

Thta's exactly his point. Apart form the skewed bit and forgetting the simple ones. They don't it's just when childbirth goes wrong it can go wrong big time.

Giving birth is NOT a medical procedure. Some women (a small amount) need help but if you are near dr's then they will intervine if its not going how they think it should. I think that its great that that this country is moving back away from this. Midiwfes are very well trained for this seeing as they do a 3 year university degree on just this. The Maternity hospital here (Princess Anne Southanpton) has both a Dr lead labour ward and a midwife lead ward there is also the option of the birthing centres for those that want a close to home birth experiance. We opted for this due to the complications we had with our first. My wife lead the midwifes on what she wanted not once did they suggest anything to her. She pushed our son out and due to th fact she could get in a position she wanted (the body is very clever like that) she chaught him as he came out and the midwifes never touched him. Dr's are to quick on connecting you to heart rate monitors when there is no need which means that the women is lying in a poor position to carry on giving birth (ie lying on her back).

WOW! Really you believe that's what Dr's do?

I've not read any of the replies, but here's my experience.

Check out mid-wife led units - hospital base or stand alone. First boy was born in a mid-wife led unit, so if there were complications we'd have to have been taken upstairs in the hospital. The wife also looked at a separate mid-wife unit (stand alone, that's all they do there) but we'd have been bundled into an ambulance and taken down the road to the main hospital if there were complications, but it was very nice and homely. We only went for the hospital based one as they had an extra birthing pool (which were both in use anyway!).

Mid-wife led units are ace. They popped a mattress on the floor for me and I stayed the night (he was born around 10pm IIRC). The whole birth went well with just gas and air.

1st boy was straightforward so we decided to go for a homebirth next time - egged on by the mid-wife too. So, 2nd boy was born at home and that was brilliant. We sort of knew what to expect from boy No. 1 and the birth itself was quick and much easier (quoting from the Mrs!) and it was great to have boy No. 1 around to meet his baby brother. We were then able to potter about the house, shower, bath, have tea and coffee and do what we wanted. Mid-wife came back later that day (No. 2 born at 7am) to do the normal checks and it was all good.

I'd recommend a home birth, but maybe not for the first, just in case - you only get gas and air at home. Mid-wife led units are excellent and you should check those out.

Drac - thats certainly used to be the case.

mat units have these expensive heart rate monitors and want to use them - using them stop the women from moving around as they wish.

Maybe things have changed but thats what used to happen for sure. a part of the reason why you get more intervention in hospital

we've had 3 at home, each went smoothly, the midwives were fantastic. The best thing is you are in a more relaxed atmosphere and as soon as the midwives have gone you're at home without having to stay in hospital. I could then stay with MrsF and new born, then the other kids could come back and we didn't have to work round visiting hours. Thoroughly recommend it. pm me if you want any more advice / tips etc

mat units have these expensive heart rate monitors and want to use them - using them stop the women from moving around as they wish.

My wife had one on, there was no restrictions in where she wanted to move to. She had to wear one for her medical history. There was no Dr involved in putting it on. The Dr's were only involved for Epidurals and with our first when the wife failed to progress and they had to use Forceps. They gave her as long as they could to try but when Amy's heart rate started dropping, they heard it one the expensive monitor, they intervened. Not just because a Dr was there but because they had to. I'm glad they did.

1st one couldn't have at home due to waters breaking 24hours before kick off, went to hospital not a great experience. 1st midwife was rubbish, (2nd midfwife after a shift change was great) was connected up to a heartmonitor and had to ask to be helped to turn over/move around etc, this was met with "tut alright then if you must" Labour stalled, nowt happened for ages ended up in theatre with forceps. Labour could have stalled anyway but mrs felt the atmosphere certainly did not help.

2nd at home (just) much better atmosphere, still slight complications and ended up going into hospital afterwards (another not very good experience) but labour was certainoly better for all of us. Had 3 midwives, 1 as standard, another helping coz no one else was delivering that day and one who hadn't done home delivery before.

When mrs first said she wanted home birth I wasn't keen, but after our experience I'd recommend it. Plus you get nice momentoes, "see that stain on the carpet son, that was you being born wot caused that" 🙂

Speak to any Obstetricians and Anaesthetists that you know..... Ask how many of them had a home birth.

Go to hospital.

Obstetricians and anaesthetists [i]by definition[/i] aren't involved in normal births.
It skews their perception.
I would suggest look at the evidence, or at least ask people that deal with normal labour and delivery- midwives.

Hospital births for both my Boys Mrs SMA would not even talk about home births, even though we did the NCT thing. First one was just over 5 weeks early and had a spell in ICU. At this point you value to the whole medical team being available. Second one was late, but never even saw a doctor in the Hospital as the midwife managed the whole process. My better half spent the night on the ward, as she was so knackered with not sleeping that she feel asleep almost at once and it was felt better to keep her in.

My own opinion here, based on my own experience.

If we had of had a home birth my wife would now be dead! She had a massive blood loss ( half the blood in her body). She is only alive now because she was in a recovary room next to the operating theatre when it happened.

Simple. Dont risk it.

My advice FWIW...don't listen to anyone here (including me?!). Every birth is individual and it's completely down to what you and more importantly, what your Mrs wants. Whether you go for a home birth or not must be your decision and one that you are both happy with. Yes, homebirth has it's risk but equally a hospital birth also has it's own risks too. Whichever way you decide to go, if it's not what your mrs wants, she'll feel stressed, literally tighten up when and where she needs to be relaxed, and that'll not be good for giving birth.

Take in the 'facts', listen to what the medical professionals say but make your own choice.

FWIW - ms orena45 and I had a water homebirth for our daughter 2 years ago yesterday. No medical intervention, all natural and just us (the two midwives spent most of the time in the other room drinking tea and only needed to come in for the occassional check and just help at the end). Our birth story is up on ms orena45's web site [url= http://www.blossom-hypnotherapy.co.uk/hypnobirthingcornwall.html ]here[/url] if it's any help in coming to your own decision. 🙂

+1 for the post above. It's very important that your wife decides what she'd be comfortable with. I just made sure that my wife knew not to be disappointed if things didn't go the way she wanted. As it was we had a textbook delivery and she didn't even have gas and air. Should have bought some earplugs for the neighbors though 🙁

The midwives do make it clear that at the first sign of anything abnormal you'd be off to hospital. Happened to 3 friends of mine where the labour wasn't progressing, no drama at all. Of course there will be scary stories where it would have gone horribly wrong if you were not in hospital. There will also be tragedies where infections are caught etc. where the home birth is much less risky. But they're all still small risks.

We had our first in the local hospital, and then our 2nd at home

same here. Second time was definitely smoother - experience counts for a lot and the mid-wife was better.

I'd advise having the first one in the hospital, just in case. Some births/mothers are very problematic.

I don't know about this too much and suspect my (one man's) experiences are limited and not representative.

2 ways of looking at it.

1) The human birth thing works pretty well on it's own, there are billions of us and lots of those born without hospitals or problems.

2) After seeing my wife struggle and get rushed into theatre during our 2nd I was glad we were at a hospital.

In the words of Obi Wan Kenobi:

You must do what you feel is right, of course.

Simple. Dont risk it.

I really agree with this. How would your wife ever forgive herself if something went wrong and help was delayed because you were at home.

Homebirths are very trendy right now, but not worth risking your baby for imo.

Well, reporting back after the midwife chat. Change of plan and we're now ruling out the Homebirth. The midwife could only do her duty and that is to give us the information and leave us to make the decision and the stat's are firmly lodged in my wife's head, so safety first and we'll go in to Hospital and hope for the best!! Thanks again for your comments, positive and negative, they have helped, but ultimately as many of you have suggested, we have to do what's best and try and relieve the pressure on what has become a very stressful end of pregnancy! We packed the bag together last night, which helped and I now need to reassure my wife that she will be perfect through the process and that we are doing the right thing! I know birthplans can go out the window and a lot of it will be "seat of the pants", but Mrs JJ will not want to hear that incase it's seen as a negative comment. Positivity is what's now required, anyone know where it's sold?!!!

If she doesn't want to hear it, just tell her it will all be great and be positive!!

Tips for labour.

Do as you're told
Try not to look freaked out, be calm.
Do as you're told
Don't tell her it can't possibly hurt as much as she thinks (it does)
If she says she wants an epidural don't argue with her
Do as you're told
Don't pop out to get your book at the crucial moment (as done by my friend, admittedly second birth arrived rather more quickly than expected)
Don't cry when the baby arrives. (only joking - you will)

Oh and try and avoid being induced with the drip thing if at all possible.

My mate's girlfriend died as a result of a homebirth, so perhaps I'm biased, but the way I see it, you have a choice between providing proper medical supervision and care for your family, or not providing it.

Whatever notional benefits you might think a homebirth has, they don't even come close to outweighing the negatives.

Homebirths are very trendy right now, but not worth risking your baby for imo.

Recent experience shows this isn't the case - the midwifes said they only have about 5% of their business as home births .. saw a survey in the Guardian that was roughly the same. They were of the opinion it was being actively discouraged in our area.

My experience

1. Hospital - 1st child, we were somewhat nervous 🙂 - but not a terribly pleasant experience on reflection.

2. Birthing center - very relaxed and all round a good experience for all involved.

3. Homebirth - there were no complications with the first two, and Mrs b had delivered with just gas and air and crushing my wrist. So we wnet for a homebirth as it was what she wanted and we saw no significant risk - this lark has been going on for some time you know.

As it turned out, there is no way we would have got to hospital in time, and luckily 2 midwives were just finishing up around 5 miles away, else I'd have been delivering it. Aside from that, no drama, and the best experience all round. Ruined the mattress though 🙂

ou have a choice between providing proper medical supervision and care for your family, or not providing it.

Whilst I see your point, the midwives ARE proper medical supervision. We got better care at home than in hospital. But if there were any hint of issues we'd have been booked in to the hospital.

brassneck - Member

Whilst I see your point, the midwives ARE proper medical supervision. We got better care at home than in hospital. But if there were any hint of issues we'd have been booked in to the hospital.

Not criticising midwives in any way, but if something goes seriously wrong, they're not surgeons, there's no operating theatre, there's nobody else. My friend's wife died from loss of blood, possibly similar to what the chap further up the thread encountered, but thankfully he/they had an operating theatre nearby to help them, my friend's girlfriend didn't.

Now, you can argue that it's highly unlikely that any of that stuff would be needed, and I would agree with you, but there's still that chance.

Whether you're happy to take that chance on the life of a child/wife/girlfriend or not is entirely up to you, but it's not a chance I'd take, however small the risk.

My experience is zilch, had both of ours via emergency c section on a Sunday night, both at 7.04pm, on the same table, with similar teams just 16 months apart. I like it when the universe does stuff like that 🙂

Anyway, two mates of mine have 3 kids each, all born at home with absolutely no problems whatsoever. I do remember that for the first one, they both had an ambulance outside in case, but I don't know if that's policy or just a local thing.

Another friend had the worst possible outcome, 15 minutes away was too far. 😥

My advice would be to be as careful as you possibly can, listen to your mid wives and other professionals and think beyond the birth. IMO the most important thing is to get them out safely, end of.

Its not as simple as that honourablegeorge. there are known, documented and proven downsides to hospital births as well.

any indication of anything other than a simple straightforward birth then hospitals are best. No contraindications to home birth - its a matter of preference and a balance of risks and benefits

From my experience the correct and only choice.

Good luck! Being a daddy is the greatest thing in the world. There is no point risking it , your wife, your child and your own life! for somthing that you dont have to do.

Hope it goes well for you.

Mrs trb is a nurse, so her birth plan read something like "You let any Doctors near me and you die, no, first I'll divorce you and then you'll die"

So we had both of ours at a Midwife lead unit (which was still 20 minutes away from the hospital under blue lights). A very pleasent experience, mrs trb stayed in for a couple of nights with no 1 which was her choice, No 2 we rolled in at 5pm and were home for a cuppa by 11:30pm. Not hugely different from a home birth but she had the moral support of a couple other new mums and there was less cleaning.

My sister had one of hers at home, someone forgot to send the adaptor to connect the gas & air, so she had a drug free birth - which sounds lovely in the NCT class, not sure she appreciated it at the time though.