Did you Home Birth your first child?

[Icecream]

I'm 11 weeks pregnant and it's our first child... Of course I'm excited and planning while trying to keep this morning sickness at bay.

Firstly i have booked an OB for a private hospital room, but after meeting a doula last week (Husband's idea) I'm now thinking of midwife program at local hospital. .... And think I'll also try and get into the home birth trial at Sunshine Hospital...

My first reaction to Home Birth was that it was something I'd try once I knew *how* I was as a birther, in that surely we should use our private health care first, give birth fine and then second time round try home birth. But I watched the Ricki Lake docco, read a few stories online and then felt the private hospital will rush me and I wanna avoid a C-Section.

Have any of you guys home birthed for your first child? I would love to hear what it's like the first time round... I loved hearing some of the stories you've written but mostly it sounds like a second or third time round...

Thank you for your advice!

[PumpkinZulu]

My homebirth became a hospital transfer (nothing awful, a bit of meconium in the waters, everything was fine!) but I went through the Sunshine Hospital homebirth program. All I can say is...it was fabulous, please do it.

The care was outstanding. Better than any private hospital could give you IMO. We had 95% of our midwife visits in our own home, which was lovely. You also see two midwives the whole way through, including your birth. And if you transfer to hospital, they will go with you, and be your midwife at the hospital. The midwives I had were very thorough, but also let me control my own pregnancy care; I was never pressured to take tests I didn't want to, and basically they allowed me to trusty self and trust them.

My birth story is in my signature, but basically, even though I transferred to hospital, I had a midwife with a homebirth philosophy. I achieved the natural and empowering birth that I wanted, I was just so impressed looking back on how non hospital it was. I set up a little birthing cave in the bathroom and gave birth on my hands and knees, on the floor Very primal and my midwife (and doula) were amazing. And the after birth care really made it for us. Daily home visits for a week, and every second day for another week. So if I ever had any questions or was worried about anything, I knew one of my midwifes would be over very soon to help. They were so supportive and so in tune with my own philosophies. They were also really accommodating to my DH and other family members, and put me in contact with a fantastic LC when I had trouble breastfeeding and a great chiro for DD. In my opinion, the only way I could have had better care is if I had had a private midwife. It's a great program, I'd strongly encourage you to go down that path If you have any other questions, let me know.

[Cassius2]

No. I went private with an OB the first time and I really regret that I didnt take the plunge and Homebirth.

I made sure that I didnt make the same mistake twice and had a beautiful homebirth with my second child.

My advice is to go the HB route, it has such great outcomes for both mother and child (even in the possible event of transfer...the support from your own private midwife is just amazing).

HTH xx

[veus]

I didn't but seriously considered it but still 'chickened' out. But I was scheduled for family birthing centre but ended up in the hospital anyway. But I had a private midwife. She is god send. Had an amazingly positive
& empowering birth.

We also specifically chose not to go private because we didn't know any OB whom we believe would be aligned to our beliefs. My logic was the business model of an OB is to provide services so unless the OB is very aligned to us, it serves them & the hospital better to follow procedures/protocols which generally didn't quite work with us to prevent c-s. The alternative is to look for to spend $ & time to do OB shopping, which we didn't have a lot of. Disclaimer: im not saying all OBs are like that.

The choice is really yours. I didn't feel confident enough myself to go down that path, so I totally understand what u're going through. The thing that convinced me is my confidence in my midwife. If I have another, I will defo do homebirth with that midwife.

[phynna]

I did...but I'm very angry right now so I'll come back tomorrow and write about it

[Tegam]

Nope but I wish I had. Not cause I suffered any trauma but more cause the hospital didn't need to do a thing. Text book boring natural birth

[Arcadia]

Yes! I had a wonderful first birth at home. My story used to be linked to my sig, but if you search for Louisa and boxing day you should get it. My second was also at home, see my sig for the link.

I don't buy into the idea that women's bodies need to be 'tried' before they can home birth. I think a first birth needs more support than subsequent births, but not more medical support, more emotional support because they often progress more slowly and you need a team who believes in you and your ability to birth.

Good luck with your decision,

[Julie Doula]

I had my first baby at home, no regrets - it really set me up with a positive "obstetric history."

Here's my birth story.

Of the 863 planned homebirths (not counting many more which weren't reported) in 2009, 25% were first time mothers. The normal physiological birth rate (non-instrumental vaginal) was 99.5% - so that means a very high normal birth rate for those 216 first time mothers.

I have supported many first time mothers choosing homebirth in Melbourne over the last few years, and for the most part these were lovely straight-forward births. There were two that took a while because the baby was posterior or asynclitic - but being a home really worked in the favour of these mothers - they had the time and the support to wait till their babies could move to a better position and both gave birth at home - without even tearing. Both these labours unfolded over 60 hours - I very much doubt they would have ended with a mother pushing her baby out herself with no tears, had these two mothers been in hospital. A third mother also had an asynclitic bub, and we actually transferred that time, and the labour ended with an epidural, synto and a ventouse extraction, and a tear requiring suturing. However this mother strongly felt that had she started in hospital rather than at home, her labour could well have ended with surgery. This mother went on to have a home water birth with her second baby. So those are three first time labours that were challenging - but ended with positive outcomes that probably could not have been achieved had they been in the hospital system. All the rest of the first time mothers I have been with had straightforward home births. So my perception is homebirth is great when you have a normal easy first time labour - but if you are going to have a curve ball or an extra challenge such as a posterior position or an asynclitic position, it's even better to be at home where you will not be "timed out".

[Icecream]

I really appreciate all your stories (and welcome any more!) as they've really given me confidence! We're on the list (!) for the Sunshine Midwife/Homebirth Program and will hopefully meet our midwife and her helper in the next few weeks.

This forum is absolutely AMAZING compared to other ones online, the honesty and matter of fact way all you guys write makes me feel so much more comfortable. I've tried out a few other forums, and feel a little lonely in that everyone is chatting about OBs and no real other alternatives.

This week, my Ina May book arrived as well so I've been catching up on a whole lot of US women and their home birth stories... and I bet this is just the beginning... I love learning thoroughly about new things, and since I've never been pregnant before, I'm soaking it all up!

Thank you again, to you all. xo

[Eenee]

Yep my first birth was a homebirth. I wanted homebirth to be my first because I knew it was the best option and wasn't going to settle for second best by having a hospital birth for my first otherwise I'd always regret it. Plus having your first birth at home where you feel comfortable was for me the best thing to do, nothing like having more control over something youve never experienced before that way you can't be pushed into things you wouldn't want to do.

[veus]

Icecream: when u can and if you want to, private message (pm) me and I can point you to a few things that I found useful to support me through my journey. have a great pregnancy!


Sent from my smart phone using Tapatalk.(Occasional fat fingers syndrome might occur)

[Icecream]

Icecream: when u can and if you want to, private message (pm)

Hey Veus, I'm not sure how to PM, might not have enough posts under my belt? I did make you a friend though, so maybe that'll help?

xoxo

[Jennifer13]

Mine was my second child, but first birth. I had an elective c/s for #1 with a low lying placenta. So with only the knowledge from reading and BB (and an aversion to the VBAC policies of the private hospital), we went for a homebirth.

Best decision we ever made. My DD2's birth I could not have possibly imagined, it was incredible. I never knew just how much joy there could be in a single moment!

And despite not having laboured before, it went by the book and quickly. My birth story is in my sig. Ina May's book Spiritual Midwifery was my favourite to prepare.

[phynna]

Hi Icecream sorry it took so long to get back to you!

We decided to homebirth for a number of practical reasons but the initial urge was due to my hate of hospitals and clinical settings and strangers getting up close and personal with me, and my exposure to them!

My mum has passed on 10 years now so my primary midwife filled her role with lots of motherly comfort and advice and was absolutely lovely. We live an hour away from the hospital so driving in car through kangaroo country in the middle of the night in an area where the ambulances are so few that people die frequently while waiting, was also another big concern. Plus at the time I was living up here while hubby worked in Melb all week long, so I was expecting to be on my own when labour began too. But the comforts of being in my own space, with midwives who I had become to know extremely well, and who were supportive of all my choices and weren't going to pull me out of the pool, or artificially break my waters, who were going to support my perineam instead of cut it open, all of that was the most important for me. And as for the cost, yes expensive, but well worth it, and thanks to the baby bonus we weren't out of pocket at all. Are you in my belly buddies group? I think we are both roughly same gestation, I'm just over 12 wks now...

[e_p]

Hi Icecream!

Congratulations on your pregnancy and for choosing homebirth! So great to hear you're on the list for the Sunshine program!

My first baby was born at home late last year, my birth story is here: https://www.bellybelly.com.au/forums...baby-c-175701/

If you have any questions I'm more than happy to help!

All the best for your pregnancy and birth!

[CC11]

My birth - which was my first - was a home birth, which also became a waterbirth.
I was pretty determined to have a home birth for many reasons, but mostly being because I feel the most comfortable in my home where as hospitals stress me out, and because my pregnancy was low risk I felt absolutely fine doing it, some relatives on the other hand didn't have a great first reaction when we told them, because it isn't the 'norm' But now they saw the outcome and how happy I was with my homebirth and that nothing 'bad' happened, they are all supporters now.

I LOVED being able to give birth at home. Despite some complications (baby wasn't in position which led to some drawn out, painful labouring, but my wonderful midwife Clare managed to turn her around. After that only half of my cervix had moved out of the way so CLare had to go in during a contraction and push the other half out of the way, not fun, but it enabled me to have a vaginal birth) I delivered my baby and she was never in distress and came out great. I know that if had I been at a hospital, because of the long labour, position of my baby, and then the cervix still being in the way, I may not have had the drug-free vaginal birth I was hoping for.

That being said, I went into the homebirth knowing that transferring to a hospital was a possibility, so I planned for that scenario as well.

Next time I will be planning a homebirth again. I loved being in my own environment, being able to move around, eat if I felt like it etc. And afterwards it was wonderful to slip into my own bed, with my new baby, and not have to worry about things like paperwork, driving home, strangers etc.