I want to have this baby at home, if all is well, and it seems like EVERYONE thinks that is ridiculous! I'm OK with opinions, and I want advice, but I want advice based on facts!
I had my first pre-natal visit today (all is well, heard bubs heart! ) and my nurse practitioner had a fit when she heard I was thinking about having this one at home. She said that she knows MANY women whose babies would not be alive if they were born at home, and that the midwife carries almost no resuscitation equipment, and that the ambulance has NOTHING to help a newborn, and that even if the cord isn't cut, once the baby is delivered it receives no oxygen from the placenta, so it would need to be intubated if it was having trouble and the midwife can't do that, and that the more babies you have the higher risk you are for complications in labour (maybe if I was having my 12th baby, but this is my 3rd!), and that my babies were big, so I shouldn't think about trying this (my first was 6lb14oz, and my second was 7lb10oz - not big at all!) and that there is a REASON that women stopped having their babies at home, and that this is just a trend, and I just want a "warm fuzzy" birth with 30 people downstairs cheering, and my children watching the birth and the grandfathers out on the front porch, and that I'll put my baby at risk to do that! And, if I decide to have the baby at the hospital with the midwife, the midwife will MAKE me go to a different hospital an hour away because they have a better relationship with the OB's there.
I was totally shocked at her response! It seemed very unprofessional to me, and it contradicted most of the research I have done so far!
For the record, I want just my DH and the midwife at the birth, and if my kids are awake at the time, they will be at my mom's or DH's mom's house. I'm not a "hippy", I just don't think the hospital is necessary if all is well. And the hospital is 15 minutes away if we do end up in trouble. I had easy labours and births with my girls, needed no stitching, and I was up and around soon after the delivery. I went home about 24 hours after Elyse was born, and about 7 hours after Marieke. I don't think I'm crazy!
But where do I find an unbiased, reasonable source of advice and information? Apparently the "traditional" medical community thinks that midwives are dreadful, and the midwives think that the hospital is dreadful! I don't think either one is true!
I think I'm just going to have to talk to the midwives here and get their views, and then make up my own mind. That's what DH said, too. He's been really supportive, which is wonderful.
So thanks for reading through my little rant. If you have any advice or information, for or against, I would love to hear it!
Last edited by Cricket; March 23rd, 2007 at 01:35 AM.
: typo
Why does everyone think I'm crazy?!
) and my nurse practitioner had a fit when she heard I was thinking about having this one at home. She said that she knows MANY women whose babies would not be alive if they were born at home, and that the midwife carries almost no resuscitation equipment, and that the ambulance has NOTHING to help a newborn, and that even if the cord isn't cut, once the baby is delivered it receives no oxygen from the placenta, so it would need to be intubated if it was having trouble and the midwife can't do that, and that the more babies you have the higher risk you are for complications in labour (maybe if I was having my 12th baby, but this is my 3rd!), and that my babies were big, so I shouldn't think about trying this (my first was 6lb14oz, and my second was 7lb10oz - not big at all!) and that there is a REASON that women stopped having their babies at home, and that this is just a trend, and I just want a "warm fuzzy" birth with 30 people downstairs cheering, and my children watching the birth and the grandfathers out on the front porch, and that I'll put my baby at risk to do that! And, if I decide to have the baby at the hospital with the midwife, the midwife will MAKE me go to a different hospital an hour away because they have a better relationship with the OB's there.
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