Anyone else planning to do Homebirth?

curlylocks3 · October 2013

girl-23 said: I can't stand reading this conversation but I can't stay away. I had two midwives and a student midwife with me during labour, one was monitoring baby's heart rate every few mins it seems like. They would never have waited til it was too late to get me less than 10 min to a hospital if it was necessary. I understand home birth is not for everyone (not even close) but it's not irresponsible or unsafe either. I watched my Dad died in a hospital when I was 20, from an infection he got IN the hospital after he had surgery. To me, hospitals are for sick people. I would not choose to give birth in one. Of course if an emergency situation happens at home I'm not stupid, and would go to hospital if necessary. The fetal heart rate is monitored just as often in the hospital. And people can and do have horrible outcomes in the 10 minutes it can take to get to a hospital. Crash c-sections happen for a reason and there are more cases than you'd imagine where its touch and go even when you're down the hall from an OR.

curlylocks3 · October 2013

curlylocks3 said:

girl-23 said:

I can't stand reading this conversation but I can't stay away. I had two midwives and a student midwife with me during labour, one was monitoring baby's heart rate every few mins it seems like. They would never have waited til it was too late to get me less than 10 min to a hospital if it was necessary. I understand home birth is not for everyone (not even close) but it's not irresponsible or unsafe either.
I watched my Dad died in a hospital when I was 20, from an infection he got IN the hospital after he had surgery. To me, hospitals are for sick people. I would not choose to give birth in one. Of course if an emergency situation happens at home I'm not stupid, and would go to hospital if necessary.

-------end of quote------
The fetal heart rate is monitored just as often in the hospital. And people can and do have horrible outcomes in the 10 minutes it can take to get to a hospital. Crash c-sections happen for a reason and there are more cases than you'd imagine where its touch and go even when you're down the hall from an OR.

girl-23 · October 2013

Just because bad things *could* happen at home does not mean they will. And bad things happen in hospitals too.

babyduejune · October 2013

https://www.parenting.com/blogs/natural-parenting/taylor-newman/afraid-home-births-risk-factor-surprising-new-study-might-chan

Very pertinent article for anyone who is interested. It is more likely that you will die in a car accident on the way to the hospital, than it is that you will have a fatal emergency during labor and delivery which could have been prevented had you given birth in a hospital setting.

Jennys9 · October 2013

Question: If you have a doula or midwife there as an advocate, can she intervene if an OB wants you to take meds you don't or do something not in your birth plan?

**I could never even consider a home birth after what I wrote above- the death of my friend's sister's little girl. I stared at her beautiful face all through the funeral & just wished she was alive. I have no judgement on anyone's choices- my good friend has had two home births and is a registered doula. She loved them. She did not have complications. She was monitored. In the other case when we are talking about oxygen, seconds matter more than minutes, so regardless of any monitoring there just wasn't enough time to get the cooling cap on the head of her baby girl and prevent permanent brain damage. That has scared me from ever being away from the best hospital the best NICU possible**

So my decision will be based primarily on what I think is best for my baby, which is the NICU (cooling caps, respirators, etc.), but I do not want to ignore my wants completely. So if anyone has advice about bringing in someone else, or a way to blend these ideas, I would love to hear them.

babyduejune · October 2013

astalyons said:

I personally would never consider a home birth. Yes I was induced at 40 weeks, I never dilated and I ended up having a csection. Yes I could have waited until I went into labor naturally but that's not me. My big fear was meconium aspiration, nucal cord, etc. I am a NICU nurse. This is how I think. I praise my OB for doing my csection when she did. My son had passed meconium and I believe any longer in the womb he would have aspirated. I was on pitocin but NEVER had a contraction. I will not be trying for a vbac either. It is my personal decision just like its everyone else's personal decision to home birth/vbac/etc. just educate yourself and have a back up plan.

This makes no sense to me. You chose to induce at 40 weeks although it sounds like you had a cervix not favorable for it, when statistics bear out the vast majority of FTM naturally go late. There is no emergent indication to induce at 40 weeks if mom is healthy. Most providers don't even feel it necessary to do non-stress tests until you are 1 full week overdue. As a NICU nurse I'm surprised you weren't more concerned with potential induction complications then going post-term. Also what do nuchal cords have to do with post-term delivery? I have never heard of a correlation between post-term and nuchal cords. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15994613 Not trying to be a jerk, I legitimately I don't get it. Did you want to have a c-section?

curlylocks3 · October 2013

Jennys9 said:

Question: If you have a doula or midwife there as an advocate, can she intervene if an OB wants you to take meds you don't or do something not in your birth plan?

**I could never even consider a home birth after what I wrote above- the death of my friend's sister's little girl. I stared at her beautiful face all through the funeral & just wished she was alive. I have no judgement on anyone's choices- my good friend has had two home births and is a registered doula. She loved them. She did not have complications. She was monitored. In the other case when we are talking about oxygen, seconds matter more than minutes, so regardless of any monitoring there just wasn't enough time to get the cooling cap on the head of her baby girl and prevent permanent brain damage. That has scared me from ever being away from the best hospital the best NICU possible**

So my decision will be based primarily on what I think is best for my baby, which is the NICU (cooling caps, respirators, etc.), but I do not want to ignore my wants completely. So if anyone has advice about bringing in someone else, or a way to blend these ideas, I would love to hear them.

I would say your best bet is to discuss your concerns about intervention with your OB at a routine appointment and make sure you're on the same page. If you aren't it might be a good idea to find a provider more in line with your mentality.

A good provider will explain the rationale for any intervention to you and give you the opportunity to ask questions and make an informed decision- unless its an emergency.

babyduejune · October 2013

astalyons said:

astalyons said:

I personally would never consider a home birth. Yes I was induced at 40 weeks, I never dilated and I ended up having a csection. Yes I could have waited until I went into labor naturally but that's not me. My big fear was meconium aspiration, nucal cord, etc. I am a NICU nurse. This is how I think. I praise my OB for doing my csection when she did. My son had passed meconium and I believe any longer in the womb he would have aspirated. I was on pitocin but NEVER had a contraction. I will not be trying for a vbac either. It is my personal decision just like its everyone else's personal decision to home birth/vbac/etc. just educate yourself and have a back up plan.

This makes no sense to me. You chose to induce at 40 weeks although it sounds like you had a cervix not favorable for it, when statistics bear out the vast majority of FTM naturally go late. There is no emergent indication to induce at 40 weeks if mom is healthy. Most providers don't even feel it necessary to do non-stress tests until you are 1 full week overdue. As a NICU nurse I'm surprised you weren't more concerned with potential induction complications then going post-term. Also what do nuchal cords have to do with post-term delivery? I have never heard of a correlation between post-term and nuchal cords. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15994613 Not trying to be a jerk, I legitimately I don't get it. Did you want to have a c-section?
Going post term increases the risk for meconium aspiration. Have you ever taken care of a newborn who had meconium aspiration and was on ECMO? Well I have. My cervix may not have been favorable but my OB and I both decided that it was what was best for MY baby. No I did not want a csection but I did want a healthy baby. Nucal cords don't have a correlation with post term birth. I was just stating that it was one of my fears. My child would have ended up with meconium aspiration and potentially very sick had I waited. Like I said, it's everyone's personal decision. As a NICU nurse I know way too much when it comes to complications from all types of births. Would I do it all over again? Yes

Yes post-term is correlated with increased chance of meconium. As is fetal distress, which is more likely when baby is exposed to pitocin induction. The chance of problematic meconium is much greater when is caused by a babe in fetal distress. As a PA I have cared for several pts on ECMO but no not for meconium related acute resp distress or failure. Were you induced for PROM with meconium stained fluid? Or you mean you were induced and happened to have meconium in the fluid? Again, not trying to grill you I'm legitimately just curious. I can understand your fear as a NICU nurse, but personally I'm all about statistics and numbers and the number of babies with life threatening respiratory distress due to meconium is way, way smaller then your chance of complications with premature induction. But I'm glad you are happy and confident with all decisions involved. That's awesome to have that peace of mind and I definitely can't say the same about mine.

ETA- wrong wording, your induction clearly wasn't premature as you were full term

I should say induction vs. spontaneous labor. Sorry!

AshB11 · October 2013

babyduejune said:

AshB11 said:

Baldwinbaby4 said:
I have had all three of my kids at a free standing birth center with an amazing midwife. This next baby will also be born there. Maybe midwives are different but mine is equipped with an extensive amount of life saving measures including ivs, oxygen, pitocin, etc. they are trained to respond to a potential risk Very early on and would not wait until its to late to do something. I loved my experiences and I never had anything go wrong but if it did I know I'm in good hands. Our hospital is ten min away.

I think hospitals intervene too much therefore I would never birth there.
Ditto! Although my first birth was at a hospital and also chalk full of interventions. It really can become a downward spiral. I was told I needed a csections but declined as baby was fine and not in distress. I was taking more time then they would of liked. I ended up delivering vaginally after Ivs, pitocin, iv meds, epidural, suggested csections, unnecessary episiotomy, gobs of stitches, and antibiotics. I went on to deliver 2 more babies naturally. One of which was over 9lbs. With zero medical intervention and went home after 4 hours. Thank god I declined the first csection!

AshB, I feel your pain, right down to my OB yelling at me "if you don't get baby out with next push I'll just do an episotomy!" even though I had only been pushing ~15 minutes. I guess she was in a hurry to get to office that day. It was total bullshit. Being in that position where you feel so vulnerable, concerned about your baby, you are in pain... and being BULLIED by someone for things which are un-necessary has to be the worlds worst feeling. High five to you on standing your ground, and congrats on your subsequent natural deliveries. I'm praying for an outcome similar to yours.
Edited for spelling

Scare tactics are very real and unfortunately many woman are bullied into going with anything and everything suggested.

babyduejune · October 2013

astalyons said:

quote: babyduejune:
"Yes post-term is correlated with increased chance of meconium. As is fetal distress, which is more likely when baby is exposed to pitocin induction. The chance of problematic meconium is much greater when is caused by a babe in fetal distress. As a PA I have cared for several pts on ECMO but no not for meconium related acute resp distress or failure. Were you induced for PROM with meconium stained fluid? Or you mean you were induced and happened to have meconium in the fluid? Again, not trying to grill you I'm legitimately just curious. I can understand your fear as a NICU nurse, but personally I'm all about statistics and numbers and the number of babies with life threatening respiratory distress due to meconium is way, way smaller then your chance of complications with premature induction. But I'm glad you are happy and confident with all decisions involved. That's awesome to have that peace of mind and I definitely can't say the same about mine.

ETA- wrong wording, your induction clearly wasn't premature as you were full term I should say induction vs. spontaneous labor. Sorry!"

My pregnancy/mom brain forgot to say this: I should have also included that I was induced because I was spilling protein in my urine and my bp got up to 200/101. This is the main reason I was induced, not bc I didn't want to go post term. My cervix never dilated so we did not know the fluid was meconium stained until we were in the OR.

Ahhh... that makes sense. gotcha.

anc5 · October 2013

So I saw a few posts about post delivery hemorrhaging. Like I said earlier, I had a natural birth and a birthing center. About 10min after I delivered Connor, I turned a gray color. My midwife told DH and my mom to please step out of the room. She checked my uterus and found three large clots that were stopping my uterus from descending out of my ribcage (he was up high). She massaged my stomach and pushed the clots out to help stop the bleeding. Then hooked me up to an IV with saline. While she was doing this the dula was covering me with warm blankets. My midwife watched me, checked my vitals and talked to me the whole time. She told me later that if I had lost more I would have been taken to the ER. I trust this women with my life and she will be delivering my next. One of my friends also had a problem with the umbilical cord being wrapped around her daughter's neck. She saw it and was able to deliver her. Believe it or not but midwifes have to have at the very least a MASTERS in midwifery. They have to go to school just like doctors. The difference is MOST not all doctors only learn C-sections. Where as midwives learn natural. I know NB isn't for everyone, just wanted to let people know that midwives know how to deal with problems. Sorry for this being so long.

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