Home birth v hospital birth
Ryansmummyuk, our guest blogger writes about home birth and water birth.
I've recently been browsing through the forums and have seen alot of questions on homebirths and/or water births. I had both, so I decided to do this blog about my experience, I hope it helps to awnser some of those questions!
Having a homebirth was not something I had ever thought of before getting pregnant. However, once I started to make plans for the birth, it made sense to me. I'm a severe needle phobic who is terrified of hospitals, and when in pain I like to be in familiar surroundings (you know when your ill and all you want to do is be in your own bed at home? Same kinda thing). My needle phobia is so severe I start hyperventilating if I see a yellow disposal bin, so you can imagine how bad a hospital makes me!
I did some research about it, read other peoples experiences and advise, medical pro's and con's etc then discussed it with my midwife and teenage pregnancy support worker. They said that if that was what I wanted they'd support me. My consultants however were not so supportive. Because I'd refused to have blood taken and I was a first-time teenage mum, they were dead set against it. When they realised they couldnt change my mind they finally agreed, after making me promise I'd come straight in if anything went wrong.
My midwife had to do a home visit to check how suitable my house was, things like accessibility and space. I was relieved that there was - I had a tiny 1 bedroom flat at the time. As I also wanted a waterbirth I researched birth pools, but my local hospital decided to buy some to rent out, and my teenage pregnancy support worker managed to persuade them to lend me one for free in exchange for feedback on it! Bonus!!! It was from BirthPool-In-A-Box, great price and good quality!
The day before my due date I thought my waters had broke. A community midwife was sent out to check but she wasnt sure, so on my due date I was taken into hospital. They said my waters were sealed, but they make have 'leaked'. I was monitored for a few hours, and was told I was 1cm dilated and contracting, but not strongly. I was then sent home to wait. Thank God!!! All I could think about whilst in one of their delivery suite rooms was god, I'm glad I'm not having my baby here. Dont get me wrong, it wasnt dirty or anything, just so clinical and cold.
6 days after my due date I went to bed crying, convinced my baby was never going to come out by himself. I woke at 5am with backache, so had a bath and went back to bed. I didnt even click this could be it! When I woke again at 9.30 I swung my legs outta bed and my waters went - there was no mistaking it this time! Then the contractions hit me. I shouted my friend who had been staying with me, and she called the midwife. The midwife asked to listen to me having a contractions - at the time I thought she was really weird but apparently a midwife can tell if your actually in labour by how you react on the phone during a contraction. Basically, if your still talking through them, you've got ages yet!!
I strapped on a TENS machine and crouched over the sofa, waiting for the midwife. When she arrived I was 3cm. My foster-mum and boyfriend arrived soon after. The midwife called for the second midwife to come (with gas and air) and my teenage pregnancy support worker run me a bath while my midwife and boyfriend set up the birth pool. Unfortunately, they forgot to put the splash mat down and blown up the bottom of the pool until after it was filling up with water, so I had to do without. The water itself was bliss, especially when they filled it with more hot water. I'd put the pipe to my back, it was so soothing. Once in the pool I only got out once for a wee, and refused to do it again! For me, the water made all the difference.
As for the home birth bit, it was very relaxed. I had barely any intervention, twice during my entire labour did they do an internal. For the most part everyone sat around having cups of tea and watching the Eastenders Omnibus. I ended up having my boyfriend, my foster-mum, my friend, her 7 month old, her dad, 2 midwifes and my teenage pregnancy support worker all in my flat. In addition to that, my friends car had been broken into a few days before, so her friend (who had 5 weeks left to go with her first) and her friends boyfriend were outside fixing it! I scared the hell out of the poor girl! As soon as I had given birth it was lovely to be able to lay in my own bed and cuddle my little boy. That first night I couldnt sleep, I sat up all night watching him.
However, there was a couple of things I struggled with. One was that its hard to take in information just after you've given birth, and that caused my next two problems. The midwifes will stay after the birth to deliver the placenta, do the APGAR and normally help clean up, but they will soon go. Once they were gone I had no-one to help me with breastfeeding, although they did try before they left. Also, if you have a homebirth you have to have the baby seen by a doctor between 24 and 48 hours. I cant remember whether my midwifes told me this, but I didnt absorb it, and only found out when he was 46 hours old. I had to make an emergency appt at the doctors and leg it down there... not fun when you've just given birth and its hurts to walk!!!!
So - I'd highly recommend a homebirth/waterbirth. It was an amazing experience, I was very comfortable and relaxed in my own enviroment. It just felt so natural. However, I did live 5 minutes from the nearest hospital, and had anything gone wrong I wouldnt have hesitated to go there. The thing to remember with any kind of birth plan is you can plan all you want, but baby might have other ideas, and the most important thing is to get baby out safely however you have to do it.
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