How many of you are planning home birth?

missem880334 · March 2016

My husband and I are planning a home birth with a licensed midwife (so long as doctor thinks there are no medical risks). I'm curious to know who all out there is with me?

comealongponds · March 2016

I'm high risk (twins with a large SCH) so it will be hospital with a level 2 nicu at least for me. Even pre-high risk status I wouldn't have considered a home birth. I work in paediatric medicine so I've seen all the horror stories of things gone wrong, even in hospital so I'm solidly on the better safe than sorry side. I want a team of nicu nurses and doctors at the door should I need them!

eta - autocorrect

banfrog · March 2016

I'm high risk. Even though my previous births went fairly smooth and uneventful, there are just too many things that could go wrong so fast.

AandDM2014 · March 2016

I had originally planned a homebirth when we first started talking about trying for a baby (all the way back in October 2013) but the place I wanted to use has since closed down. When I was researching they were the only good sounding company that offered homebirth, birth center birth, and moving to my hospital if necessary. I haven't yet researched anywhere else because I'm not ready for that commitment yet.

Thewizardofrhythm · March 2016

I clicked no way because I'm not but I certainly don't feel "no way!" about it. I know many lovely mamas who have had great home birth experiences with experienced qualified midwives. I think part of me would actually love to do this to avoid all the bs that went down during my last delivery. But for many reasons unrelated to my support of intervention free births when unecesaary, we will be doing a hospital birth.

KilgraveMadeMeDoIt · March 2016

No. I would be dead, undoubtedly, if I'd had one with my last child too so I'm really glad I didn't, even though I was very seriously considering it.

I'm high risk now, partly due to a condition I have thanks to a very significant failure of the midwives I had with my first delivery which caused damage that was only discovered recently. My son's developmental delays are also likely at least in part their fault as they relied on old wives' tales instead of actual medicine. I'm a medical student now which is how I know how wrong their treatment of me was. At the time, I was just a young mum who wanted supportive, non-judgemental care providers and I trusted them.

Select your care providers very, very carefully. I very much regret my earlier choice.

DunkinDecaf · March 2016

Mama needs an epidural. It's the hospital for me.

Oakleypoozles · March 2016

I'm totally a believer in home birth being the best for most people. It is our plan to do that this time. We'll be meeting with a licensed Midwife to discuss if we can take this route or not. It would be a VBAC so hopefully we will still get a shot as long as everything goes well!

chloe97 · March 2016

I hate that be a Debbie Downer, but a good friend lost her baby because she had a homebirth. Everything look great leading up to the delivery, but the cord was wrapped around the baby's neck. If she had been in a hospital, they would have been monitoring his heart rate and had an emergency C-section. It's been heartbreaking. Why take the risk? So many hospitals have great birthing suites and work with you on a birthplan so that you can deliver the way you want to deliver.

missem880334 · March 2016

Oakleypoozles said:

"I'm totally a believer in home birth being the best for most people. It is our plan to do that this time. We'll be meeting with a licensed Midwife to discuss if we can take this route or not. It would be a VBAC so hopefully we will still get a shot as long as everything goes well!"

I completely agree with you. I believe home birth is best for healthy mothers and babies. I, of course, also believe that there are hospitals for a reason and believe that some people do need medical attention. I hope you are cleared for you VBAC! I hope we can both have our desired home births! I'll be keeping up with you on your journey!!

laurenlalap · March 2016

I'm not exaggerating when I say I would be dead if I had a home birth with my first. I had a perfect pregnancy, but a scary post-delivery complication.

rspalding001 · March 2016

I'm not, but my mom had home births for me and my sister. She loved her experience but I'm too nervous to do it since I am just afraid of everything that can go wrong. At least in the hospital you are being monitored. I had a cousin and a sister-in-law that had to have emergency c-sections because they found out 1 baby was breach at the last minute and the other was too big to pass through the birth canal after hours of pushing. That's not something I want to find out at home and risk my life and the life of my baby trying to get to an ER.

doraleigh35 · March 2016

I won't be having a home birth, but I respect Moms that choose to do so. Given my medical history (heart condition) and the fact that we feel safer in a hospital, a home birth would not be right for us.

EmmieAnn22 · March 2016

I wanted a home birth with my son but my husband was dead set against it. So I didn't get very far with that. Being high risk now it wouldn't be an option anyways.

RiverSong15 · March 2016

I would hate to have something happen that is life threatening and not have immediate access to medical care and a NICU for my baby. So, we'll be heading to a hospital for sure.

ShallowSeas · March 2016

I respect the women who choose to do a home birth. More power to you. My anxiety prevents me from even considering one. I feel like I will need constant monitoring and reassurance that everything is okay to ease my mind.

16isourluckynumber · March 2016

My sister is permanently severely disabled because she was deprived of oxygen during birth. She will never live on her own, read, write, have kids, drive a car, etc etc. So, no way.

roundthree24 · March 2016

I hate to bash on home births because I'm normally a pretty crunchy gal, but for anybody considering one I would focus instead on finding a hospital that is more "mom centered" and has a bathtub, or midwives, or something like that. But be in a hospital. I get it, women have had babies at home or in a hut or in the bush or whatever for millions of years, but a lot of women and babies have died during that time. No matter how in touch with your body you might feel, something can go wrong...and there are times when even the most experienced midwife or doula in the world can't save your baby, or you, without the amenities that are readily available in a hospital.

BelcherEars · March 2016

clarabear1126 said:

I hate to bash on home births because I'm normally a pretty crunchy gal, but for anybody considering one I would focus instead on finding a hospital that is more "mom centered" and has a bathtub, or midwives, or something like that. But be in a hospital. I get it, women have had babies at home or in a hut or in the bush or whatever for millions of years, but a lot of women and babies have died during that time. No matter how in touch with your body you might feel, something can go wrong...and there are times when even the most experienced midwife or doula in the world can't save your baby, or you, without the amenities that are readily available in a hospital.

Exactly! I don't judge anyone who plans to have a home birth, but for me, I will be at the hospital. I hope to minimize the medical intervention used during my labor and birth, and for that reason I will be hiring a doula to assist me. But I will have my OBGYN deliver my child in the hospital where all options are available to me and my child. If I need medical intervention for my comfort or for the safety of myself and child, I will have it immediately available. For me, there is a peace of mind that comes with that.

ETA: To your point on "mom centered" hospitals. The hospital I chose has a nice birthing center with private birthing suites, a doula staff you can work with for a fee and provide tools and assistance to those who prefer a more "med-free" approach. This certainly goes a long way in supporting my birthing goals. So it made the decision to birth at the hospital that much easier.

talkthewholetime · March 2016

150% no. Even in the most perfect textbook pregnancy, labor, delivery and birth can go south in an instant. I hope and pray I don't need the NICU, OR, or any of the other things I don't have in my living room, but I'll be glad to know they're there.

I will be having an unmedicated hospital birth.

FallenLeaves1990 · March 2016

No because I almost died with my first. I'll be having a scheduled c section. But I'd love to hear about everyone's experience who successfully home birthed!

MrsDramaK · March 2016

Definitely Hospital, I have too many health issues to consider a home birth. Also...

allemorich · March 2016

I won't. I have friends that had great home birth experiences and in theory, I think I would love the idea of avoiding a hospital, but because my first daughter required medical intervention to revive her, I would be too scared to deliver anywhere but at a hospital.

aquasocks · March 2016

I'm having a cesarean and that would be a huge mess on my carpets.

atcwag · March 2016

Nope. While I respect midwives and would be fine with a midwife provider in a hospital setting, I think modern medicine is amazing and quite necessary in some instances. I would be scared to death with a home birth.

MrsBigTime · March 2016

I think the idea of a home birth is lovely, but so is the reality of the safer and security modern medicine provides.

I had an absolutely wonderful low-intervention, medication-free hospital birth last time and I am praying I'll have another just as fantastic of an experience this time!

SweetiePateetie · March 2016

Only a month ago, I made some ignorant comment about how home births were for people like the Duggar's and not me. Since then, I finally got around to watching The Business of Being Born and now I can completely understand why a woman would want a home birth. But in the end, I think I'll feel more comfortable in a birthing center attached to a hospital.

Ash9614 · March 2016

I think a home birth in a tub looks and sounds amazing! I considered it and DH was all "hell no!" I then looked into tub birthing centers in my area - one didn't look reputable and the other was at a decent hospital that's 45 mins away. Decided to go with a midwife. Excited about my choice, as the practice I selected has about 7 midwives on rotation and just as many OBs. The midwives are all certified nurse midwives with advanced degrees from a fairly top-tier med school. I may consider having a doula as well...idk yet.

If I remain low risk, we'll stay with midwives, if not, I have the option of switching to an OB. Also, if I become high-risk during delivery, the on-call OB can step in. And, I'll be delivering at one of the best "baby hospitals" in the country.

Oakleypoozles · March 2016

I want to add a bit more info. It looks like I've found a homebirthing midwife that is cleared to give birth at a hospital near me. This is the best of both worlds for me so I'm going to see if she has some room because that would be wonderful

Some "midwife" are just doctors in my opinion. The one hospital near me has several and they are all about pitocin, times, iv's and laying on your back. This one I just found though is free of all of that but can deliver at the hospital and has backup just in case.... her stats show just in case isn't something that really happens which is awesome

KilgraveMadeMeDoIt · March 2016

Oakleypoozles said:

I want to add a bit more info. It looks like I've found a homebirthing midwife that is cleared to give birth at a hospital near me. This is the best of both worlds for me so I'm going to see if she has some room because that would be wonderful

Some "midwife" are just doctors in my opinion. The one hospital near me has several and they are all about pitocin, times, iv's and laying on your back. This one I just found though is free of all of that but can deliver at the hospital and has backup just in case.... her stats show just in case isn't something that really happens which is awesome

No, no they are really not. I'm a medical student at a school that also has a midwifery program. Their training is vastly different than ours. Keep in mind, obstetricians have five years (often more because fellowships are extremely common) of residency after medical school. Residency is 3000-4000 hours a year of training. From a numbers standpoint, obstetricians have easily 2-3 times the training even CNMs have. And in the U.S. in particular (this is not the case in most of Canada or the UK where midwifery is a regulated profession requiring, at minimum, a multi-year professional degree) there are many areas where midwives have no advanced professional training at all and have done little more than an apprenticeship but can call themselves "certified professional midwives."

While I realize it's popular to poo-poo things like pitocin, monitoring labour times, and having IVs, these things are done for a reason, not just to make your life difficult. Because I didn't have IV access when my daughter was born, there was no time to give me any painkillers when it was necessary to remove the placenta to keep me from bleeding to death. I had an adult's arm shoved up into my uterus where she proceeded to manually separate the placenta and remove it. I screamed. A lot. It was ten times worse than the unmedicated childbirth I had just been through. It was necessary to save my life but I can absolutely guarantee you I wish I'd had that IV access so they could've given me something rapid-acting for the pain and so that they wouldn't have had to fumble about trying to get access to my uncooperative veins for fluids when I was shocking after that.

I'm thankful for the pitocin that I had afterwards which helped clamp down my hypotonic uterus.

Choose your care providers very carefully and please try not to act like these lifesaving interventions are inconveniences foisted on you by lazy doctors. There are women on this board who are only alive thanks to easy access to these interventions, myself included.

TrulyBlessed22 · March 2016

I completely respect anyone who wants to go the home birth route but for me it will be a hospital again. I didn't give home birth any thought with our first as I knew I wanted to deliver in a hospital then and I'm glad I decided that. I had a wonderful pregnancy, no complications, excellent weight gain, etc etc. My contractions were beautiful and I went from 3cm to 10 very quickly BUT once it came time to push I pushed and pushed and pushed and 2 hours later no baby...turns out that my pelvis is narrow and pushing out a baby on my own was likely not going to happen so she needed to be vacuumed out. Note that our DD was only 6.2lbs so we're not talking a big baby.

I was so scared, broke down crying from exhaustion and fear but I found comfort in being surrounded by a team of people that could help. Within a minute of them saying she needed to be taken out there was another nurse in the room (in addition to me OB and regular nurse) and a Pediatrician was there too for the baby just in case anything was needed. I think someone else was called in too but I can't recall who. Anyway, a few minutes later we had my beautiful Baby girl with us and all was well, thank God! I just can't imagine having gone through that at home and not having the necessary resources to get my baby girl out safely.

rooftop · March 2016

I will be using the same free standing birth center I delivered my daughter at.

pinnerk · March 2016

I hadn't ever even given this a thought yet! This post and comments are so informative for a FTM like myself.
I think that personally I want to be at the hospital just because this is all so new and terrifying lol.
My friend is a Doula so I know that I will have her with me to help with whatever I need.
Props to those who do the home births. I've watched some videos and it seems so calm and natural.
I just know that I want the assurance of a heart monitor and all the other hospital stuff.

nibu · March 2016

I probably would have considered a home birth if I had never had a miscarriage. It made me realize that plenty of things can go wrong and I'd prefer to be in the care of people who can really do something to save me or my baby if needed. My biggest concern is just that my baby and I both make it out of pregnancy alive!

sugar9277 · March 2016

I do want to point out to OP that her doctor can only deem her LOW risk, not NO risk. Even in straight-forward pregnancies, risks of complications still remain. It's never "no risk."

virginiaham · March 2016

I am really interested in a midwife and a birth center, but the emergency scenario still makes me nervous. We are meeting with a midwife this week and walking us through an emergency situation and how they read red flags is going to be a big deciding factor for whether we do birth center or hospital.

MommyBebe87 · March 2016

Hospital again for me! I want to completely support the idea of home births and would have chosen that route for my 1st had it been easier to arrange but I truly thank God that I didn't. Both of my pregnancies that have gone to term were great and I am not considered high risk at all. Nonetheless with my first, I was in labor for 36 hours and he was born with the cord around his neck, blue, and had aspirated meconium and needed to be treated for pneumonia. He is a perfectly healthy 3 year old now! But it was terrifying at the time. Thankfully, because I had already been in labor for so long and they knew there was meconium present, there was a pediatrician already in the room when he was born. Then with my 2nd, I hemorrhaged. I always try for a natural childbirth with only absolutely necessary interventions and make that very clear to my doctors.

zrain · March 2016

KilgraveMadeMeDoIt said:

Oakleypoozles said:

I want to add a bit more info. It looks like I've found a homebirthing midwife that is cleared to give birth at a hospital near me. This is the best of both worlds for me so I'm going to see if she has some room because that would be wonderful

Some "midwife" are just doctors in my opinion. The one hospital near me has several and they are all about pitocin, times, iv's and laying on your back. This one I just found though is free of all of that but can deliver at the hospital and has backup just in case.... her stats show just in case isn't something that really happens which is awesome

No, no they are really not. I'm a medical student at a school that also has a midwifery program. Their training is vastly different than ours. Keep in mind, obstetricians have five years (often more because fellowships are extremely common) of residency after medical school. Residency is 3000-4000 hours a year of training. From a numbers standpoint, obstetricians have easily 2-3 times the training even CNMs have. And in the U.S. in particular (this is not the case in most of Canada or the UK where midwifery is a regulated profession requiring, at minimum, a multi-year professional degree) there are many areas where midwives have no advanced professional training at all and have done little more than an apprenticeship but can call themselves "certified professional midwives."

While I realize it's popular to poo-poo things like pitocin, monitoring labour times, and having IVs, these things are done for a reason, not just to make your life difficult. Because I didn't have IV access when my daughter was born, there was no time to give me any painkillers when it was necessary to remove the placenta to keep me from bleeding to death. I had an adult's arm shoved up into my uterus where she proceeded to manually separate the placenta and remove it. I screamed. A lot. It was ten times worse than the unmedicated childbirth I had just been through. It was necessary to save my life but I can absolutely guarantee you I wish I'd had that IV access so they could've given me something rapid-acting for the pain and so that they wouldn't have had to fumble about trying to get access to my uncooperative veins for fluids when I was shocking after that.

I'm thankful for the pitocin that I had afterwards which helped clamp down my hypotonic uterus.

Choose your care providers very carefully and please try not to act like these lifesaving interventions are inconveniences foisted on you by lazy doctors. There are women on this board who are only alive thanks to easy access to these interventions, myself included.

I definitely agree that the hospital is the best place to be in case of an emergency. However, going with a CPM or CNM, whether it's at a birth center or a home birth, does not mean you won't get pitocin, IVs, pain management, and close monitoring. CNMs are highly trained and have prescriptive privileges. In some states, CPMs are allowed to give medications as well. Hospitals come with their share of risks such as nosocomial infections, unnecessary inductions and c-sections, episiotomies, use of forceps, prolonged labor due to epidural use, etc. and the complications that result from all of the above; as well as non-evidence-based practices like laboring on your back, staying in bed for continuous monitoring, keeping mom NPO -nothing by mouth-. Like you said, the important thing is to choose your providers carefully, and always advocate for yourself.

I plan on having my baby with a CPM (accompanied by her apprentice and a midwifery student) in an accredited stand-alone birth center.There are several CNMs on staff and transport time to the hospital is about 10 minutes or less (there are three of them very close by, including two level 1 trauma centers, and all three with NICUs). Midwives there are able to place IVs and administer fluids, anti-hemorrhagic medications, and local anesthetics, as well as oxygen and nitrous oxide. They have a neonatal resuscitation kit in each room. This particular practice has a strong philosophy of early transfer to a higher level of care when there are signs of trouble, and they are very stringent on when they no longer accept a mama for birth outside the hospital (for example >42 weeks gestation, multiples, breech, etc.). However, if I do have to transfer to a hospital, my midwife team turns into three doulas to advocate for me and support me. Personally, I would rather take the tiny risks of something happening at the birth center than give birth in a hospital. Besides avoiding what I listed above, birth is not an illness, but it is often treated like one in the hospital. I want to be comfortable and relaxed and in control, and I don't see myself feeling like that in a hospital. If I end up being high risk or needing to transfer to the hospital, I'll make the best of it. Until then I'm staying away.

The best way to go is whatever makes you feel the most safe and comfortable, whether that's in the hospital or a birth center or your living room. Whew, end soap box!

Want a personalized experience?

How many of you are planning home birth?

How many of you are planning home birth? 111 votes

Re: How many of you are planning home birth?

Choose Another Board

Search Boards