Homebirth General Discussion #12

welcome to the new home birthers!!!

as for me chugging along slowly.. 27 weeks now. Have this feeling that I prob wont end up a home birth due to previous pg issues such as high BP etc, and Im ok with that. This may sound weird seeing as I am planning a home birth but it has always been a back up plan for me if everything goes right with the pg LOL and as its baby #4 and I havent had a non induced birth yet(besides my first one and that was about to be induced) and unfort we have had one BP reading which was high already at 24 weeks and my base number is creeping up again.
By back up I mean since my labors are pretty fast, if I do go into labor at home I am not getting in the car and I want to have the supplies stored at my house JIC

Hope this doesnt bother any HB, im pretty laid back and just want baby to be here healthy and safe. I trust my body and my midwives so I trust if they suggest anything thatat they wouldnt be saying it for the sake of it, and while its a hospital home birth program these particular midwives (used the same one with all 3 pg before) are awesome and very low intervention even with inductions!!

Beatrix, have you tried any natural remedies for lowering your BP? Apparently, calcium, magnesium, vit E and B, omega 3 and some herbs can help. Hopefully, your pg stays healthy and your birth, wherever it occurs, is the way you hope.

Welcome Cricket and Sepata!!

Looking forward to sharing this journey with you both :)

Beatrix - I agree with HSM, have you thought about alternative therapies? It's good that your at peace with where you're at though. Flow is a good attitude when it comes to pregnancy and birth I think.

I take my pg vitamins every day and I also have to take megafol 5mg daily as well due the having the MTHFR gene.. but havent tried any other ways. Will do a bit of research and see what I can find out. My next app is about 10 days away so will be interesting to see what my BP is then.

This may sound crazy, but since I have never gone into labor while being at home, sometimes the thought of it scares the poo out of me, like how will I know and what if I leave it to late to call my midwives and they dont make it etc... where as inductions well you can kinda plan around them.. DH, the kids, a baby sitter

Beatrix don't feel bad about being 'relaxed' about birthing that's the way its meant to be! And I am sure all of us will support you no matter what outcome you get, most of us as had some sort of so called or actual complication in one or more births also. But for what its worth seeing as you want to look into things google Dr brewer diet maybe? I recently heard of it because of my issue but have been telling everyone since lol

Welcome sepata and congrats on #2! PS September is a great month to birth- dd2 is evidence haha :D

Oh and I have my repeat scan booked for Thursday week (i don't think I said that yet sorry if I did my brains a little awol atm!)

I'm tired of TTC. So I'm putting together a list of HB midwives to call/email when I manage to get pregnant again :p By the time I actually get pregnant, I'll probably have everything organised - midwife, name, first outfit, everything :lol:

Hope to be joining you all soon!

Teni hope you will be able to join us soon. Oh well if you have everything organised now you can relax a bit more during your pregnancy as it'll all be organised :)

Haha, I doubt I'll be relaxed. If both previous pregnancies (and TTC :lol:) have taught me anything, it's that I get very bored when I run out of things to organise :p I'm setting myself up for 40 weeks of stir-craziness :rofl:

At least you won't be frantically finding a midwife at 17 weeks like me! :rofl: Can recommend you some awesome ones ;)

Please do :) There may be a couple I've missed. I think I have all the "big names" that service Melbourne...

You could have an EDD of 1 Jan like I did and end up with no choice of midwife. Best plan for all eventualities. Found a good birth pool yet? I even spotted one on Gumtree! DP was all, no, you can't have it. Atm I'm still letting him think he will get his way in only having two kids. ;)

I've just asked someone to be my birth partner. So excited, they said yes. Now to talk to dh about hb more and convince him. I will be having a hb if all goes well lol. And also find the mw I would like.

WM, sit down and watch some homebirth docos with hubby. I find if men aren't already open to the idea of HB, watching something like The Business of Being Born opens their eyes a lot.

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WM, sit down and watch some homebirth docos with hubby. I find if men aren't already open to the idea of HB, watching something like The Business of Being Born opens their eyes a lot.

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I ordered The Face of Birth last night :D WM, you can borrow if you like? We're local to each other aren't we? I forget with some people :redface:

DH is so sweet, he's already started planning little ways we could afford a HB and is very disappointed in himself for not getting the level of PHI where we'd be covered. I should be stressing more about the financial side, I suppose, but at the moment I'm a bit too mellow about it :-/

I believe so tenibear, hotI might have that too as we went to seminar together. Gotta read my water birth book now hehe. Getting excited reading all these beautiful home birth stories.

Am I right in thinking I need a GP to sign off on a homebirth? I was reading some of the sites and that's what I've gathered...

If I do, how do I make sure the GP won't say no? Should I just ask for recommendations here, or do I just go along and say "I'm doing this, I need you to sign this..."?

You need a GP to sign off on it if you want to have a medicare eligable midwife. With my midwife, she gave me the name of the GP/OB she collaborates with, we went to him, got the referral to Nic, then we were good to go :)

You don't need a GP to sign off, but you'll probably need a couple of prescriptions from one. Your midwife will probably know one if yours is unwilling. My GP read my midwife's letter, was delighted to see I wasn't using a private ob and did exactly as the letter asked. ;)

Some IMs can prescribe. A couple in my midwife's practice are able to now (had to complete a course and I think also have practicing rights at a hospital, from memory).