May 2017 Moms
MollyandD
member
Home Birth/Birth Center Check In - 04/26/17
MollyandD
member
I tried to do a search to see who/how many women made the choice to birth outside of a hospital, but I couldn't search only our birth month board. Maybe it's the Bump, maybe it's my iPad. I don't know.
Anyway, I know many women here have said they are planning an out of hospital birth, or some are planning births in birth centers attached to hospitals. I'd like to see how many of you are still around, and if any of you have changed your plans for personal or medical reasons.
Are you still planning an out of hospital birth? Why/why not?
How far along are you?
Who will attend your birth?
What attracted you to this kind of birth?
Rants/raves -
Anyway, I know many women here have said they are planning an out of hospital birth, or some are planning births in birth centers attached to hospitals. I'd like to see how many of you are still around, and if any of you have changed your plans for personal or medical reasons.
Are you still planning an out of hospital birth? Why/why not?
How far along are you?
Who will attend your birth?
What attracted you to this kind of birth?
Rants/raves -
Re: Home Birth/Birth Center Check In - 04/26/17
How far along are you? I'll be 37 weeks Friday.
Who will attend your birth? My midwife, husband, and mother. Possibly a sister or two.
What attracted you to this kind of birth? I've always wanted a water birth, but my state has no options for this inside a hospital. I did a LOT of research and learned about the statistics involved with a home birth. This feels like the best fit for me.
Rants/raves - I hate how some people assume that I made this choice with no thought for the wellbeing of my baby, which couldn't be further from the truth. Most people, however, have been very supportive. If I have to go to a hospital, I will, but right now, I have a healthy head down baby, so we will go on as planned.
Are you still planning an out of hospital birth? Why/why not? We are doing a birthing center within a hospital. It's all my hospital offers. The births and labors are handled by midwives and an ob is always in the center just in case.
How far along are you? 39+4
Who will attend your birth? H and a doula (none of my family lives close)
What attracted you to this kind of birth? It's the norm in this country. But also I liked that I'm in a hospital but they strive toward active labors but still have all the medicine available if I decide I want it.
Rants/raves - I've seen an ob my entire pregnancy and we don't get to really get to know any midwives till labor. I wish I could get to know some of them since they'll be the ones there
Are you still planning an out of hospital birth? Why/why not? My husband and I have had a home birth planned from the beginning. He's from England and it's a bit more common to have a home birth there, even more so in other European countries. I believe I will be most comfortable at home, but it's not home birth or bust - I understand she will get here whatever way she needs to, so I know hospital transfer is possible.
I take my Group B Strep test this week. If I do test positive then I will need to transfer to the hospital for antibiotics, if a certain amount of time passes after my water breaks. Again, I know whatever way she gets here will be the best for both of us. I'm still a bit nervous about the test.
How far along are you? 36 weeks tomorrow
Who will attend your birth? Two midwives, my husband and our doula
What attracted you to this kind of birth? I plan on using a birthing tub, and the idea of the water makes me feel calm. Getting my prenatal care from a midwife has been great - our appointments last an hour and I feel like we have been able to cover so many topics, from nutrition, changing emotions, relationship dynamics, etc.
Rants/raves - I haven't told many people about my birth plan. I've gotten some surprised looks, but mostly supportive responses.
@MiaQuiche84 I had to wait on results of my 3rd trimester ultrasound to make sure my birth plan could carry on. Do you have reason to believe your strep test will be positive? I hope everything works in your favor!
My DD was born in a waterbirth in a cottage on a vineyard and it was the most beautiful, incredible experience. No interventions, just the glorious water to keep gravity at bay. She was born in the caul (in the bag of waters) and was skin to skin in seconds, nursing within 5.
As @MollyandD shared, there is an expectation to go to the hospital, have access to pain management drugs, and labor on the bed on your back, and that's just not for me. After just going through a traumatizing c-section and long hospital stay, I can say from experience that water birth is the way to go if low risk, at least for me it was!
Yes, though with being GBS+ I am opting to be transferred to the hospital following the birth.
How far along are you?
38 weeks
Who will attend your birth?
DH only, probably, though I'm open to my in-laws coming if they wanted to, and now my parents will actually possibly be in town when I'm in labor, so I'm fine with that, as long as someone is watching the kids! My parents were there for #1 and it went fine (well, actually).
What attracted you to this kind of birth?
I have had OB prenatal care & delivery and Midwife prenatal care & delivery. The second was MUUUUCH better all around. For this one, having a midwife practice was a top priority. Nearby location was probably the even higher priority, mainly for prenatal convenience. The place that ended up taking my insurance and being nearby with midwife care was a birth center. I was 100% fine with the hospital (and kind of preferred it -- that's what I did the other times) but I figured I could do a birth center to get the other factors I wanted and because I have had two good/normal deliveries twice before. So I am this weird case who is not gung ho about being anti-hospital or anything, but I'm still on board with using a birth center. I'd be way too scared to do it at home, though!
Rants/raves -
N/A at this time
How far along are you? 35.6
Who will attend your birth? DH and I, 1-2 midwives, a nurse. We are foregoing a birth doula (and getting a postpartum doula) because I feel like the midwives and the birth center model match my birth plan enough to not have a doula there advocating. DH really liked the idea of keeping it "just us", as it's our last big thing just the two of us, and this whole thing has been our journey, it's nice to finish it just the two of us. It feels very magical that it'll be just us and our tiny "village" (midwives) while I labor, and then when our baby enters the world. It's been somewhat rocky with infertility, so having DH there is all I need.
What attracted you to this kind of birth? I am an ER nurse and work in a very medicalized field. I, personally, am a low-medicine/intervention kind of person, and knew I wanted that for the birth. We watched videos of home births, water births, and birth center births, and DH and I both became a little obsessed in the beginning. It was like it clicked like puzzle pieces, and once we knew that was an option for us, I felt so much better about being pregnant and giving birth.
Rants/raves - Like @MollyandD mentioned, mostly my rant is the push back from other people. We leave the birth center 4-6 hours after birth, and this seems to be ludicrous to everyone. Also, working in a hospital, all of my coworkers ask questions like I'm an alien, and I have one coworker/friend who used to work in the NICU trying to convince me otherwise for a while. I get they are positively-intentioned, but it's not supportive. Other rant: I like the midwives a lot, but because I have had medical issues come up (GD, bad nausea/vomiting, the flu) it's been a little difficult at times to get a hold of someone for medical advice. If this pregnancy was easy (does that ever happen?) and I was 100% healthy through it I don't think this would have been an issue.
Great thread!
@sarah0985 What country are you in? I like that it's the norm. I feel like we're still treated like we're asking for something crazy when we want a home birth/birth center birth in the US. I bet it's unnerving to not meet the midwives, though.
@chailife34 Your birth for DD is a beautiful, inspiring story. I wish I could be so lucky to experience something like that, how truly magical. I'm sorry it wasn't that way with Isaac.
@kat81 What's the draw for midwifery vs. the apathy about a birth center? (I'm wondering what inspired you to consider a midwife practice as top priority, but you didn't need a birth center as part of your plan.) And how does the transfer to the hospital for antibiotics work? Do you deliver then immediately get transferred, or do you deliver, and then in a couple hours go to mother/baby and stay in the hospital like you would if you'd delivered there (24+ hours)? I'm curious.
In my experience, OBs are prone to more c-sections, less bedside manner, and quite frankly less knowledge of certain pregnancy things! I had SPD with each pregnancy and I had to self-diagnose it with #1 and then tell the OBs what I had and they were like, "sure, ok, that makes sense" and they never had any advice for it. And before we had figured that out, I had exacerbated it in the process because I didn't know any better. So the prenatal care quite "meh" with the OB practice I had. Then at delivery the guy I had was quite condescending and very uncommunicative. They almost had to do a vacuum suction because they hadn't TOLD me to push (I had an epidural at the last minute and they had said I could "take a break" and NOT push at 10 cm if I wanted.) They also gave me an episiotomy that I didn't want. Overall the delivery actually went quite well but it was in SPITE of the doctor.
When I switched to a midwife practice (we moved so I had more/different options), it was run out of the hospital. I liked the safety / backup of a hospital in case something bad happened but loved the prenatal care and delivery with a midwife as opposed to an OB. I also got to have a water birth! I didn't really have anything against having the epidural the previous time, but it was nice to go med-free because it is less risky vis-a-vis spinal headaches, etc. They also immediately knew everything about SPD when I raised it and had specific suggestions for it. The midwives this time were also the same way.
So my ideal situation would probably be what I did last time. One stark difference between a birth center and a hospital is that they kick you out of the birth center in 4-12 hours and the hospital has you stay longer. I LIKE staying longer, being pampered, having help with breastfeeding, access to the hospital pump, etc. I was not looking forward to going home right away after the birth center. Then they said that the CDC recommends going to a hospital for monitoring the baby when you are GBS positive anyway, so I'll deliver at the birth center and then go to the hospital. What I haven't found out yet is whether they will treat me like someone who delivered there (i.e. will the mom get any pampering/food/lactation consultants/etc or will it be JUST monitoring for the baby and I'll be there as a food source for the baby who gets no "care"?)
I will be getting the antibiotics during delivery at the birth center. So the only need for the hospital is just to make sure the baby is ok, and it's optional. The birth center would have let me go, but they did say CDC recommends observation for 48 hrs.
ETA: I don't mean to be so rude about OBs. I in fact know some who are just as great as midwives with regard to all of the bedside manner stuff, not doing so many c-sections, etc. But because that was my experience before and the general focus of OB vs. midwife is different, midwifery made more sense to me unless I had had time to thoroughly research all of my options in the area.
Strangely enough, when I had my water birth, there was little to no gore in the tub. I expected the water to immediately be discolored, gross, etc, but as far as I remember it was still pretty clear! (It was also sort of dark and the middle of the night, but I do believe this was the case and DH thinks so too.) I didn't deliver the placenta until I came out, so I'm sure there was more gore to come. My water broke, with some blood, BEFORE I went in the tub. So it could just be because I was in there for a very short time--about 15 min--that no much was in there. But the delivery of the baby herself didn't cause a bunch of other junk to gunk up the water. I imagine it was quite easy to clean! I feel like it was cleaner than a "oops I put my kid in the tub when he didn't really wipe after pooping" problem I've had before! haha
ETA: I just google image search water births and I think that my experience is not uncommon. Some of them look super messy but others look very clean.
I live 2.5 hours from the hospital and have historically short births (4 and 5 hours from first contraction to baby being born) so, you know, I figured I'd plan for the worst. We are planning an ambulance transfer already. And I'm told all EMTs secretly hope to earn their stork pins.
B born 7/15/13, C born 3/2/15, #3 on the way May '17
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