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Natural Birth
Home-birth vs. Birthing Center vs. Midwife in a hospital
Has anyone had a mix of the three and if so which did you prefer and why? Or has anyone considered all three and if so what made up your mind?
We had a phenomenal home-birth with our first but I am getting paranoid about doing the same with this one. My SIL had a home-birth and had to be transferred to the hospital and the NICU ended up saving my niece's life. Her heart completely stopped at some point during delivery and they had to work for a long time resuscitate her. They then immediately placed her on the cooling blankets in the NICU to minimize the brain damage from the swelling induced by the lack of oxygen. There were no warning signs during the pregnancy as she was considered completely low-risk the entire time. Needless to say, having this happen in my family is making me question having another home-birth where emergency intervention isn't as accessible as in the hospital.
So for anyone that has decided on one of these three, what did you decide and why? I would love to hear your thought process because my head is just spinning in circles at this point!
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Re: Home-birth vs. Birthing Center vs. Midwife in a hospital
We don't have a birth centre in my area, but I don't know that I would have considered one, as from what I've read, they don't generally have any more emergency supplies than your midwife brings to a homebirth.
We debated between hospital birth with midwife and homebirth. I initially planned a hospital birth, but after doing some research, and some great conversations with a friend who is a pro-homebirth L+D nurse (who homebirths her own babies because she generally feels that home is safest for low-risk women and babies), we opted for a homebirth. This study is what finally swayed my husband and I (we live in BC where the study was done so it was especially relevant to us)
https://www.cmaj.ca/content/181/6-7/377.full.pdf+html
I delivered twice with a midwife in a natural birth friendly hospital. It was really the only option I ever seriously considered, and I know I'm fortunate to have such a great hospital available in my area, although I did drive nearly an hour to get there.
Ultimately, the what if scenarios were what made me uncomfortable delivering outside of a hospital. I was confident in my ability to give birth and did not feel I needed a doctor's help for that. I was not confident in my ability to save my baby if something went wrong. I do need a doctor's knowledge for that.
Both of my pregnancies were low risk with no problems expected. My first son developed breathing problems after he was born, and it turned out he had a collapsed lung. I was so grateful we were in a hospital that could help him right away.
I had a med-free hospital birth with a midwife for my first, and chose a home birth for my second. My first birth wasn't a bad experience, but I felt like there were some things that weren't that great (less continuity of care, more risk of interventions, among others) that could be improved by birthing at home. I'm happy with my choice. I had a physiological birth with #2, which naturally sets things up for good shape to be problem-free, and I think the home environment was key. "Leaving home is the first intervention." (not sure who said something like that, but they're right).
For me when deciding, the risks/benefit analysis weighed in favor of birthing at home. The risk of harm due to being in the hospital environment were greater than the benefits, to me, and the benefits of birthing at home both decreased and outweighed the risks of a bad outcome at home. Of course, everyone will come down differently with this and it's a personal decision. Your own comfort level is going to be important to having a smooth birth, as you probably know, so listen to your gut but don't let fear rule your choice.
I am fortunate that my closest hospital and MWs are low intervention minded. So much so that they didn't even ask me to get a saline lock while in labor.
If I didn't have this hospital, I know DH and I would have considered a home-birth. Not sure what we would have done, but it would have been on the table.
I had a midwife in a hospital. There are no birthing centers in my area and no midwives will do home births here either, so it wasn't really much of a choice for me.
My midwife was amazing and was there every step of the way with me in the hospital. The lights were dim, I had music playing and I was in the jacuzzi tub up until it was time to push. It was as "home like" as we could possibly make it.
I had a natural hospital birth with a midwife and felt really comfortable. We also had a natural friendly hospital. For the next baby, I'm planning a water birth (they have birthing tubs at the hospital) and will do it again.
I totally see the advantage of a homebirth though. We had to wait around a minimum of 24 hours after delivery and got annoyed with all the people in the room (one nurse visit for me, one nurse visit for the baby every hour). It would have really been nice to have that first day be bonding time for the family.
I was wondering the exact same thing!
I was induced with Pit in hospital with an OB with my first, all natural in hospital with a midwife with my second, and this time around we are planning a birth center birth with a midwife and a doula (/birth assistant). The birth center midwives also do home births, but we opted for the birth center strictly for the huge jacuzzi tub. (Our home is quite small and I don't have space to set up a nice large birthing tub at this time.)
We are planning on having at least one more, and I'm really hoping that we can move to a larger place and have a home birth. I love the thought of being able to labor and deliver in our space, where I can feel comfortable and at ease and not have to change locations. The worst part of my labor with my second daughter was the time spent in the car and the sense of instability during that time of going from home to the hospital.
I had a natural birth with a midwife at a hospital and loved it. It put my mind at ease knowing that I was where I would need to be if anything went wrong... and also it would have stressed me out to have all that mess at home! Plus I loved the "call" button during recovery at the hospital! Maybe I'll be more annoyed by all the interruptions with baby #2, but with baby #1 I really appreciated all the nurses helping me with breastfeeding tips, showing me how to bathe the baby, etc.
My friends had a hospital birth and within minutes of the birth the doctors realized the baby had a heart problem and were able to get her into the NICU and do an emergency heart procedure. They're 100% convinced that if they hadn't given birth at the hospital their daughter wouldn't be here now. For me it's hard to shake stories like that. I'm just very conservative and risk-averse. For me the midwife at the hospital was a perfect compromise.
I had a hospital MW birth and a birth center birth and I definitely preferred the birth center. The hospital was great but it was still a hospital. I had to get an IV, couldn't deliver in the water, had to be monitored at certain times, they automatically gave me pitocin after the baby was born and gave the eye drops and vitamin shot without my consent (It's state law for both to be administered).
My birth center was no different than a home birth, except that it was basically their house instead of mine. I got to use their nice big tub, lay in their bed, and go home about 4 hours after she was born. I know there are birth centers that are attached to hospitals depending on your location, so that might be the best solution for you if you're scared of being out of a hospital the second time around.