Homebirth General Discussion #1

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they also told us to buy bubble wrap so that when it is full and steamy you can cover it and it retains heat (apparently) for some time.

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What worked really well for us was putting a space blanket over the top of the birth pool until I was ready (I spent a lot of time in the shower). I thought I'd try it out because it was less bulky than bubble wrap, and cheaper.... and it worked really well.

As for freebirthing just because bubs comes so fast, I think that homebirth is more than just giving birth at home. It is all the antenatal care and education that you get in your home, and the postnatal visits. I wouldn't be worried if my middy wasn't actually there for the birth, it is all the before and after stuff. If bubs comes so fast that MW doesn't make it, then everything is probably going to be fine. It is if the labour drags on that having that support and professional eye there is important. I don't have a huge issue with freebirth as long as you've educated yourself really well, but are you willing to go without antenatal and postnatal care?

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Cassius: My first niggle to bubs in my arms was 10mins flat out. Timed properly as we phoned MW straight away and 10mins later to say bubs was born. I was in the shower and said to DH no dont leave me i want you near me, DH said, im just getting the kettle on, i said no stay with me, then sat on the bed and pushed, then asked for a mirror as i couldnt see if that was a head or cord, 2 more pushes and baby and placenta was out! OMG quick LOL. Waters didnt break til head out. No time to run a bath LOL

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Hooley dooley lol! that must of been INTENSE. :hug: and yup, def no time to fill a tub lol.

Meow: the midwife we decided to not go with was simply cause i met Nicola first :rofl: and we really hit it off and i felt weird seeing someone else considering that we got on so well. kinda like cheating on a lover LOL! so bummed that we missed the waterbirth one...was it good? sooo need to organise a proper babysitting arrangement for DD....darn it not having extended family!!

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As for freebirthing just because bubs comes so fast, I think that homebirth is more than just giving birth at home. It is all the antenatal care and education that you get in your home, and the postnatal visits. I wouldn't be worried if my middy wasn't actually there for the birth, it is all the before and after stuff. If bubs comes so fast that MW doesn't make it, then everything is probably going to be fine. It is if the labour drags on that having that support and professional eye there is important. I don't have a huge issue with freebirth as long as you've educated yourself really well, but are you willing to go without antenatal and postnatal care?

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This is exactly why i am paying $5500 this time only to know they are most likely not going to make it again. Bub came so fast last time that i called her while i was in transition because that's when the pain started after only 5 contractions. But having that care before and after is just priceless. And i consider them my friends. So as soon as i found out i was pregnant, i contacted her straight away without a seconds thought.

Wow I love hearing these stories of speedy births :)

I had another appointment with my MW today - she is so ace :) Her approach (and that of the MWs in the Sunshine Hospital) is that they don't tell the woman to push unless there is an obivous need for the baby. This is unlike the Mercy FBC where I was told "if you don't start pushing now you're never going to meet your baby (after only 3.5hours of first stage). Plus they are 100% for a natural 3rd stage.

The only things that will rule me out at this stage are breach or GD - neither of which I am planning on LOL!

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Wow I love hearing these stories of speedy births :)

I had another appointment with my MW today - she is so ace :) Her approach (and that of the MWs in the Sunshine Hospital) is that they don't tell the woman to push unless there is an obivous need for the baby. This is unlike the Mercy FBC where I was told "if you don't start pushing now you're never going to meet your baby (after only 3.5hours of first stage). Plus they are 100% for a natural 3rd stage.

The only things that will rule me out at this stage are breach or GD - neither of which I am planning on LOL!

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Can i ask why they won't let you have a breech birth at home? Not meaning to be nosey sorry. It's just even though my midwves havent dealt with a breech before, they would still allow me to birth at home if i were comfortable and everything was ok with bub.

Speedy births is the reason why I will be homebirthing our next bub. None of my labours have been over 3hrs. Ds1 was 3hrs (induction), Ds2 was 90min (induction) and Ds3 was 2hrs (spontaneous). Even though my last birth was amazing, I kind of felt like leaving home to go to the birth centre for all of 7hrs was annoying. Plus I think my eldest would LOVE to see a baby brother or sister being born. Id like for it to be a truly family affair. Im most comfortable at home and have extremely easy labours. Dh isnt so keen but I truly dont feel it is his choice, all of my labours involved him sitting on his butt while I did the hard yards, he didnt even do any supporting things ie pain relief etc. I would have homebirthed last time but there was no IM close enough to make it to a birth. Im taking full advantage of being in a major city this time :lol:

ETA - Anth, I will def be looking for a breech friendly IM too. I made plans to birth Stellan breech if he ended up that way but I would have had to do it in the hospital and not the bc but my midwife was happy to back me up against the OBs. Its another perk of homebirth, no OBs to try and scaremonger.

first two bubs were posterior and who knows how tom was LOL. Really hoping this will be slower but not too long LOL maybe an hour?

The program at Sunshine Hospital is a pilot, so they want the outcomes of the trial to be "as good as possible". So they are initally ruling out anything that will risk a bad outcome (so no VBACs either, and I think first timers are out too but I am not sure). Sunshine and Casey in Melbourne are the first two hospitals in Victoria which are offering publicly funded HBs, so while some might think it is a backward step to "concede" to the medical/OB profession and let hospitals take over from IMs, personally while I suuport IMs if the public program can make HB more accessible then I am all for it :)

Sounds great! I moved from Taree where they had just started doing this. I would have given it a go for sure. It was the IM that started it at the hospital and it just meant that they had support and could follow thru care if someone needed to go into hospital! Its how they should all be run....well thats what i think :redface: Rant over now LOL

I posted this morning but it seems to have been lost in the ether!
We did a birth pool trial run about two weeks before the EDD. It took 15 mins to fill - we were living at the bottom of a hill from the water supply, so had great pressure. We also turned up the temp on the water heater after having turned it down for years for kid safety, so that we would definitely have hot water quick. The real thing also took 15 mins from start to finish - no way I would have been comfortable with an hour fill time!

I know a lot of midwives wont support breech birth at home due to the risks and possible repercusions. They will come to hospital and be your support person there instead. I think it's a little pathetic to be perfectly honest. To me, the point of working with an IM is to secure yourself a caregiver that can support you having a natural birth at home in many cases where you are deemed "high risk".

I'm surprised Sunshine wont let you birth at home if you have GD though! A birth centre will let you stay as low risk if you can manage GD with diet- you only get classed as high risk and booted to the hospital if you become insulin dependent. I think the Sunshine and Casey programs are a great opportunity for women to homebirth, personally though I'm glad I'm paying for a IM as I fretted about being classed as high risk and being booted from the birth centre last birth and I don't want to go through that again.

My midwife is booking me in through the Royal Women's in Melbourne- it's further away than our local major maternity hospital but the women's have a homebirth transfer system which is great. They respect homebirth and will allow my midwife to help manage my care and understand that while we may need to go there for some assistance, we don't want more intervention than necessary.

Kaos- Thanks for the space blanket over the birth pool tip!

Cassius- the waterbirth class was good, though I felt like I knew a fair bit of it from previous reading around. Can your partner look after your DD so you can go to the info nights? We don't have family around either but my H looked after my son. Means we couldn't both go of course which is a shame but I was in charge of picking the midwife so I got to go ;)

There really isnt much you need to know about a waterbirth that you cant read online (or ask of those whove BTDT). It was surprisingly simple. My middie and I talked about it quickly at one of my 2nd tri appointments but that was about it. I watched a video on waterbirthing as well. Dh didnt know anything at all and just did what Neanie told him to when the time came lol

If you havent had one before and want to see some pretty graphic pics of bub crowning and then being birthed underwater I have some beautiful shots of my last baby being born. My midwife is using them for a waterbirthing talk for middie students soon and I was looking over them last night; a few tears were shed and I actually really "looked" at them, I didnt realise how awesome it looked from the non-birthing side of things. In the shot where I pushed his body out you can see his little hand floating near his head..........

Man I cant wait to do it again :)

New Thread time!