What do you need to do/consider when having a home birth?

[PinkPalace]

Perhaps it is just fleeting ideas atm... but i keep saying .. i wish i could have a homebirth but very scared incase something goes wrong...

to those that have... what do you need to think about and do to do one?

[Ellibam]

find a midwife in your area and have a chat!!
go over your fears with her(or him) they will answer all your what ifs!

[BellyBelly]

You need to consider that homebirth midwives book out VERY quickly so consider having a chat with one asap in your home! No strings attached, just see how it fits with you. In QLD you are blessed to have Vicky Chan there. I would have her in a heartbeat, she's awesome - I would even fly her over I reckon!!! I'd definitely recommend calling her.

[Claire-Bear]

Come to HMA, meet midwives and doulas, talk to other homebirthing mums. ( HOMEBIRTH.ORG.AU - Homebirth Information, News and Support )

[Trish]

PP, I second getting a midwife or 2 and having a good chat with them.

Things can and do go wrong in HB's, but they are far more likely to go wrong in a hospital birth, once you are there you are open to a whole lot more intervention. With intervention often comes problems. What you need to think about too is how far from the hospital you are ? It takes atleast 30 minutes for a theatre to be set up, in this time if you are labouring at home, you will be transferring, with your midwife and or ambulance. You have their total attention. You arrive at hosp and the theatre is ready waiting.

There are so many what if's hun, and if you kill yourself thinking over every which one you will seriously do your head in. I don't think it matters at the end of the day where you are birthing, there will always be that little bit somewhere deep in your head that has doubts.

Empower yourself with knowledge and information.

[BellyBelly]

Things go wrong and c/s are needed because of how the mother and baby are cared for and treated in labour. The studies show that the outcomes for homebirth are just as good, probably better than being in hospital. Also because you are having your second babe, you have a lower transfer rate than a first time mum.

Homebirth midwives come prepared with oxygen, syntocinon (to stop any bleeding), suturing equipment - everything they need! Independent midwives are very skilled at what they do, because they have so much more autonomy than in hospital. They retain their skills because they are at the births, not sitting there while the doctor calls all the shots and catches the baby (if they make it in time).

I'd try and find someone who has the copy of The Business of Being Born and watch it with your partner. If you have a multizone/multi region DVD, you can get one from the BB online store. I am in the process of trying to get some region 4 DVDs.

[hoobley]

For my homebirth i needed to think of 12 different ways to decline a hospital birth. LOL.

Do you want to have to go through painful contractions in a moving car (Kudos hossie birthers - could NOT do that personally)? Do you want to be disturbed by comings and goings of staff during your labour? Do you want to be birthing as a "guest" in someone else's institution or in your own home? Do you want to sleep with your sweet fresh newborn in your own bed or in a hospital bed with a crib next to you and 4 other crying newborns in the room?

I was scared in the run up to my homebirth - of having to possibly go into hospital! During labour i wasn't at all scared, it all felt as normal as getting pregnant had (can't imagine i'd have been ok doing THAT in a hospital bed with staff all around me either). Birth can be a risky business. Unfortunately hospital, for normal, healthy women and babies, doesn't reduce that risk, and it may even increase it (studies show mortality is comparable wherever you are, morbidity (injury) is more likely in hospital).

Foe me i felt safer at home, so that was my deciding factor. You need to feel safe to birth joyfully. Birth where you feel safe.

Bx

[Trish]

Exactly right Kelly. For me, after birthing at home there is no way I could go back and birth in a hospital setting.

[Tobily]

I really understand your fear about something going wrong. But birthing at home with a midwife who knows you, knows your pregnancy is very different to birthing in a hospital.

It's very rare for things to go absolutely pear shaped with no warning during birth. Very rare. Usually, things happen much more slowly and someone who is experienced with normal birth, and who knows you and your body from nine months of one on one care, will see these things coming well before they become a "life and death" drama.

Alot of the drama you see in hospital births, alot of the "I needed to have x,y,z or my baby would have died" is actually caused by the overmanagement of hospital birth. Sure, if your baby is having major distress and heart rate plummeting to nearly nothing on the monitor your baby is, by the point, probably needing to be born asap. But its the things that happened earlier in the labour...or even late in pregnancy...that could have been done differently to avoid that happening - but the connection is barely made. For example, you go into hospital with broken waters and no contractions. This leads to a drip being started. This leads to the drip being turned up at a rate that your baby can't tolerate. This leads to baby getting extremely stressed out. And this leads to a caesarean - that probably could've been avoided if different decisions were made early on. Yet we usually only see the "baby got distressed and had to be born" and so believe 110% that our caesarean was necessary and unavoidable.

Convoluted explanation there but it's so important that we start to make these connections if we want to maximise our chance of birthing normally.

[PinkPalace]

Thanks girls i will have a look at the info. and look up vicky chan... i dont know if i can convince dh though.. at the moment i am planning my minimum 6 hr stay with the hospital then d/c-ing.


Hoobley - answers to these questions

Do you want to have to go through painful contractions in a moving car (Kudos hossie birthers - could NOT do that personally)?
I was in an ambulance for 1.5hrs travelling to a metro hospital as i lived rural. i left at 4cm dilated- 10minute prior to birth with DD so i definately know what it is like to have this ! with no pain relief and only a stretcher to balance on and NO DH!!!!!

Do you want to be disturbed by comings and goings of staff during your labour?
I held off pushing on advice of the midwife utnil i was physcialy inside the labour room where i had 4 midwives (mine, theirs, student and first year), the ambo and 3 orderly watching me push!

Do you want to be birthing as a "guest" in someone else's institution or in your own home?
This doesnt really bother me all that much, exceopt the thought of the carpet lol

Do you want to sleep with your sweet fresh newborn in your own bed or in a hospital bed with a crib next to you and 4 other crying newborns in the room?
I will have a private room but like i said i am not wanting to stay if i can help it. After DD was born i waited the 6 hrs then DH drove us back to our local hospital (1.5hrs)

yes the fears of something going wrong does scare me but i agree - it doesnt take long to set the theatre up (i worked anaesthetics for after hours c/s for 2 years... i know the wake up calls lol)....

I am just not impressed with the care i have so far with hospitals (ie non personal) and i am so scared that i am not going to make it to the hospital this time around anyhow and that DH will miss out again....

The other issue is the $$$$ i have heard it costs thousands.... and public care well its free to be blunt.... so i dont know

[Salsa]

I`m pleased this threads been started. I am trying to decide what my choice will be. As I have recently arrived in Australia I`m anxious about the different maternity system here. And having to pay for an indepedant MW to have a homebirth, when I may end up having to go to hospital anyway is a bit to get my head around. But if I am going to try and have a homebirth then I need to get onto that, if as Kelly has said, they get booked up early.

[hoobley]

Lol Salsa - that's how i'd feel having to pay for an Ob who might or might not make it depending on a million factors (including as i've read on here, those Obs who schedule holidays and neglect to tell their clients until a few weeks before the EDD!!!). At least with a midwife the BABY is the only wildcard

Bx

[doulacara]

I would urge you to get to a HMA meeting and meet and talk with others who have birthed at home. Also, immerse yourself in homebirth stories, DVDs, whatever - it really then becomes so natural in your head that you will wonder why you would even consider hospital.

The fears of something going wrong are totally constructed from our socialisation, and it can be hard to break them down.

With regard to your DH, I read this great article recently about why homebirth is good for Dads.....one of the things it mentions is that when you birth at home, your DH doesn't have to leave. How hard it is for a Dad to walk away from his newborn child is something that is not often considered. Especially, as you mentioned he didn't even make your last birth. How special and relaxed will you be knowing when you labour that the midwife will come to you and you can both just be together.

Just my 2 cents,
C

[annsam]

Originally Posted by Trish

Exactly right Kelly. For me, after birthing at home there is no way I could go back and birth in a hospital setting.

Ditto. Ive had 2 hospital births and #3 (when it happens) will NOT be in a hospital.

Originally Posted by hoobley

Lol Salsa - that's how i'd feel having to pay for an Ob who might or might not make it depending on a million factors (

Pick me! I had one of those last time. Walked in 15 minutes late ........ but then so did my doula

Originally Posted by doulacara

With regard to your DH, I read this great article recently about why homebirth is good for Dads.....one of the things it mentions is that when you birth at home, your DH doesn't have to leave. How hard it is for a Dad to walk away from his newborn child is something that is not often considered. Especially, as you mentioned he didn't even make your last birth. How special and relaxed will you be knowing when you labour that the midwife will come to you and you can both just be together.

Funny you should say that Cara, DH and I were talking about this the other night and how it was easier first time around when he could spend lots of time in hospital but he found it harder to bond with DD because he didn't really spend that much time with her as he was looking after DS.


It took a long time to come to my decision but next baby will be at home. I think its just a process you have to work through to figure out whats best for you. Hope you dont leave it too late like I did last time though - decided at 25 weeks I wanted homebirth to find all the midwives I could have had were fully booked.. Good luck!

[PinkPalace]

Thanks annsam.
i am trying to find a few midwives, i have emailed vicky chan as suggested.
Not sure who else is out there..?
it is hard... how much do they usually cost?

[Schmickers]

Cost varies from midwife to midwife. Our practice currently charges $4000.00 for full maternity care, antenatal, homebirth, and postnatal, or $1000.00 for birth support in the hospital.

Homebirth.org.au has a list of midwives, I think - you should be able to search by area, or if not, give them a ring.

[Milly]

Hi Pink: My DH was not keen on a homebirth at the start. I think a lot of that had to do with the fact that it was such a turn around and he felt "left field" option for me. I am a registered nurse and have worked in the NICU.....why wouldnt i want to have my baby there......when i had had the last two inhospital???

Both my first daughters were hospital births, normal borning hospitals with the normal sterile feeling room and shared accomidation. I had quickish, painless births and went home after 4 hrs with my 2nd (DH missed 2nd birth by 20mins).

So where did this "tree hugger" idea come from???

The only thing i can say is that it came from within. It is not something i either considered with my other children or thought about before i feel pregnant this 3rd time.... It was really a matter of why would i go to hospital?? and i just ran with that. I would go to hospital to birth if someone could give me an educated reason as to why. I dont think anyone can talk you into a home birth but i do think people can talk you out of it. I do think that fact that i am older now then when i had my first and am more educated helped. I think that i believe in the power of my body and the fact that i will trust in my own instincs if i feel the need to move to a hospital environment. My darling husband had to agree with me in the end as he trusts me, respects me and knows that i have made an informed/educated decision about my body, most of his objections were fear based....which is thanks to our society NOT fact.

My advice would be to listen to other womens experiences, both hospital and home and really look between the lines. Look into yourself and talk to some midwives. I have the wonderful help of TWO experienced midwives that work with one another for the same price as those that work alone, in the brisbane area..PM me if you would like their names.

Good luck!

[Baby Blue Eyes]

I am in the same place trying to decide to home birth, I have been told that there is only one home birth midwife in Cairns and she charges about $ 2500 so not too bad a price I thought it would be more like 3-4 grand. I have to admit if I could have a free home birth I think I would jump into it but the cost does make me stop a bit.

The reason I am thinking about a hb is I have read some beautiful stories and when I read them I think that is what I want