Homebirth General Discussion #22

:baby: Babies Arrived :nappy:

-2012-
Jennifer13- Baby GIRL born at home 4th January 2012
Bella29- Baby GIRL born at home 10th January 2012
HotI - Baby BOY born at home 21st January 2012
*Ash*- Baby BOY born at home 14th February 2012
loulabelle - Baby BOY born at home 24th February 2012
Cricket - Baby GIRL born at home 15th May 2012
chocorama - May 2012
...Em - Baby BOY born at home 7th June 2012
BellyBelly - Baby GIRL born 11th August 2012
Tanya - Baby BOY born at home 16th August 2012
phynna - Baby GIRL born at home 8th September 2012
lady_neon - Baby BOY born 27th September 2012
Ambersky - Baby BOY born at home 3rd October 2012
Cassius - Baby GIRL born at home 4th November 2012
Ice cream - September 2012
mirriumu - November 2012
Pumpkinzulu - Baby GIRL born at home 12th December 2012

- 2013 -
Sara - Baby BOY born 18th January 2013
turtlejane - Baby GIRL born at home 31st January 2013
Bellany - Baby BOYS born 14th March 2013
Ree*Ree - Baby BOY born 18th March 2013
Aimz - Baby BOY born at home 21st March 2013
Beatrix - Baby GIRL born at home 7th April 2013
Rubyshoes - Baby BOY born at home April 2013
Dollyroux - Baby BOY and GIRL born 29th April 2013
HomeStyleMumma - Baby GIRL born 8th May 2013
ladybirdflies - Baby GIRL born at home 23rd May 2013
Cricket - Baby BOY born at home 26th August 2013
Sepata - Baby BOY born at home 31st August 2013
WilliamsMummy -Baby BOY born at home 17th September 2013
Loulabelle - Baby BOY born at home 17th September 2013
Sunnylove - Baby GIRL born at home 2nd November 2013
DotFace - Baby BOY born at home 9th November 2013
Eenee - Baby BOY born at home 22nd November 2013
TeniBear - Baby GIRL born at home 21st December 2013
*The_Mrs.* - Baby GIRL born at home 31st December 2013

-2014-
Jennifer13 - Baby GIRL born at home 1st January 2014
Arcadia - Baby BOY born at home 30th January 2014
Special - Baby BOY born at home 6th February 2014
HotI - Baby GIRL born at home 23rd February 2014
Smoke Jaguar - Baby GIRL born at home 18th March 2014
Bella29 - Baby BOY born at home 13th May 2014
Ozstar - Baby GIRL born at home 20th May 2014
Sterla - Baby GIRL born at home 30th July 2014
Meow - Baby GIRL born at home 26th August 2014
Ladybug - Baby GIRL born at home 2nd September 2014
phyrephly - Baby BOY born at home 10th September 2014
e_p - Baby GIRL born at home 11th September 2014
kellbell - Baby GIRL born at home 19th September 2014
Tegam- Baby BOY born at home 24th September 2014

:pregnant: Babies On Their Way :bellyrubs:


Ilithyia - January 2015
Freya - March
Dani - April
Kazzo - May
Boomba - June

Please let me know if I have missed anybody or anything needs fixing.

ta

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Please let me know if I have missed anybody or anything needs fixing.

ta

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I am due end of May :)

Thanks for the answer Lady bug :)

Ladybirdflies. I know how busy you are hun :) Thankyou.

DH is home now. I brought up having a homebirth. He straight away said no and money was not the reason. He said what if something goes wrong, an ambulance would take over 20min and that he would not know what to do. He thought a home birth was all by yourself :) When I explained that it was with 2 midwives he relaxed straight away.

I told him why I wanted to have a HB and I think he has come around. I am going to organise meeting 2 MW that I like just from communications so far.

So far so good. We started telling people yesterday. I hate that the first thing they say is 'Again' :rolleyes:Makes me want to keep it to myself longer :(

Argh I had a big post typed out and lost it.

Kazzo; welcome to the start of insensitive big family comments :shakehead:

Well Dh met my midwife last week when I went for an appt and he got along really well with her and feels better about the whole shift in care provider now! She answered a few of his concerns ie what happens in an emergency and he realises now that she is well equipped to handle decision making if complications arise. Which Im sure they wont. He did tell her he was not at all going to deliver this baby so if I call and labour is going fast she better speed all the way to our house :lol:

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I am due end of May :)

Thanks for the answer Lady bug :)

Ladybirdflies. I know how busy you are hun :) Thankyou.

DH is home now. I brought up having a homebirth. He straight away said no and money was not the reason. He said what if something goes wrong, an ambulance would take over 20min and that he would not know what to do. He thought a home birth was all by yourself :) When I explained that it was with 2 midwives he relaxed straight away.

I told him why I wanted to have a HB and I think he has come around. I am going to organise meeting 2 MW that I like just from communications so far.

So far so good. We started telling people yesterday. I hate that the first thing they say is 'Again' :rolleyes:Makes me want to keep it to myself longer :(

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I am thrilled that DH totally heard where you are in this decision, how wonderful, what a great start to a HB together!!!
I am sorry to hear that people have such insensitive responses, unfortunately it happens more and more with each baby... People couldn't believe we actually tried to have a fourth not just a whoopsie!! I know what you mean about keeping that secret a bit longer, it's like something sacred is lost when people dribble unconscious words on this gift.. luckily BB mama's are supportive and excited with you!!



Freya... I am so excited that your hubby is supportive about your provider change!! THese midwives have an incredible amount of experience and can be so clued into the subtle changes they can predict needing extra help, it's fascinating!!! I have four girls, and the gender talk did my head in by her due date, even now people can't believe I have four girls... How is everyone going re trying to guess if you are having a girl or a boy? I found the comments about her gender one of the hardest parts!!

We know its another boy so yeah, its been utterly ridiculous the comments we get. Im really struggling to connect with bub and just enjoy this pregnancy as it is so having people be rude about it sucks. We've had a rough year so that doesnt help either. If we could of had a girl we would have, all of us were hoping for one but we dont control what we get. I think Im struggling the most with the sense of letting people down, the kids were pretty upset that it wasn't a sister :rolleyes:

Hugs Freya. That can't be nice having all of that speculation. I don't know why people say unkind things, even tho I do understand the disappointment you might feel, I can't understand why other people are disappointed for themselves, they should only take their ques from how you feel about it, and if you are happy, they should be happy.

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We know its another boy so yeah, its been utterly ridiculous the comments we get. Im really struggling to connect with bub and just enjoy this pregnancy as it is so having people be rude about it sucks. We've had a rough year so that doesnt help either. If we could of had a girl we would have, all of us were hoping for one but we dont control what we get. I think Im struggling the most with the sense of letting people down, the kids were pretty upset that it wasn't a sister :rolleyes:

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I really get what you mean Freya, I would struggle with what others said if we went for a fifth child, it's not just friends but strangers in the street, one guy laughed at me, my older girls were so confused about people and their attitudes, my eldest asked what is wrong with having so many children of the same gender, she felt like they were saying there was something wrong with girls!! A friend recently had her fifth boy, she didn't find out his gender before birth but she did have a big process around it. She went to some 'healer' type people and got to really delve into her feelings about it and at the end of the weekend (she was at a birth workshop) she really surrendered to him being a boy, it was quite beautiful to she her grieve about it and of course she absolutely loves him to bits now... and he is wearing a bit of pink that she had been saving each time she had a baby!!!! I hope you feel supported to talk about your feelings, feel free to PM or voice it here! xx

Homebirth was less stress for my partner. Didn't have to worry about when to leave home, what if something happened on the way etc. No one telling him what he could or couldn't or should or shouldn't do. No need to be protector, bc the birth support people were ones we chose, people we were comfortable with. His jobs were more simple, and hands on - fill the birth pool etc and then chill with me until baby arrived.

After we avoided transfer with our unexpected freebirth my husband was the one who couldn't stop gushing about how good it was that we got to stay home. It obviously was a huge relief to him too to be snuggled up at home in bed with all of us together and well :)

Hello!! I'm new here :)

Long time reader of belly belly, but just decided to sign up as I have a few questions I'd love to chat about with like minded ladies :)

Hubby & I live in WA, and I am 36 weeks pregnant with our first baby. (Due date 8th December)

We are planning a homebirth on the CMP, and so far have been very happy with the program. For us the policies have been more of a safety net to know that we are low risk and safe, especially for hubby as homebirth was quite a big shift from previous thinking. He's completely on board now though, and gets quite fired up if someone suggests that it is "scary!"

Now in the final stages of making decisions & preparations. I noticed that sometime ago there was a discussion on the Vit K injection. Was in meow or bella researching that? Where did you get to? I've read all I can on it, and am only more confused than ever. What did you ladies decide to do with that one?

Hi ladies. You have been chatting. Putting my hand in the air and joining the support group for people's stupid comments! I kept my pregnancy quiet until 20weeks for this reason. Love my big family!

Welcome turtledove! I think I was involved in the vit k chat too. We don't do it. I'll see if I can find my research links for you.

So I just made a profit on my home birth. Loving the US insurance system! :lol:

turtledove- I did a lot of research on supplementing vitamin K. My general thinking is to supplement if baby has had any birth trauma (bruising, instrumental birth etc) and not to supplement otherwise.

But now I think our current diets and gut health may comprise our ability to have sufficient levels to pass on to baby. I aimed to boost my levels through diet. But then I had an unknown condition causing low platelets in pregnancy (something like 4% of women get this) so I decided to supplement baby with vit K. We decided on oral dosing (at birth, 3 days, 7 days and then weekly to 12 weeks) but if I had my time over I'd choose the preservative free vit K injection. The oral doses really upset my baby's gut- she was unsettled for about 12 hours after them and her poops turned green.

I found a good mix of info from the mommypotamus blog (bias towards diet to boost vit K) and evidenced based birth (bias towards injection).

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So I just made a profit on my home birth. Loving the US insurance system! :lol:

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Well done! You must live in a state that it is considered legal?

Thanks for the info on the Vit K. It's a confusing one, because unlike immunisations, it sounds "natural." But after reading articles by mommypotomus, Chris Kresser, One Fit Mom, babyreference.com... it seems like it isn't that "natural" at all. It is a synthetic form of Vit K, the dosage is extremely high even for an adult, and there are other additives & preservatives.

Currently reading a book called "Well Adjusted Babies." I highly recommend it, it's a one-stop book for everything from pre-conception to toddlers, with a bias towards natural & alternative preventions etc. The author makes the comment "Saying that HDN is caused by Vit K deficiency is equivelent to saying that infection is caused by an antibiotic deficiency."

Dr Mercola gives a different perspective again, advocating the oral dosage.

I asked my midwife about alternatives. We can give it orally, but it is the same as the injection. She doesn't know of a natural or preservative free injection.

We decided to decline it, knowing that we can ask for it if the birth ends up being traumatic (which I aren't expecting!)

I guess I just wanted reasurance that other parents have declined it, and their babies have turned out fine! :)

Sorry to hijack the thread, by the way. Even though this is my first baby, I can still relate to the big family comments. I'm from a big family myself, and I can remember Mum not telling her mum she was expecting "again" until she was about 30 weeks, she was so dreading the comments. Now it's her turn to give them to me, "It's so hard to raise a big family these days, you should only have 2 or 3..."

I think HB is legal in most US states. The problem with it being covered by insurance though is similar to publicly funded homebirths in Australia... Suddenly everyone gets to have a small window opinion of what 'low risk' is. In this state MWs also face criminal charges if they continue care in a 'high risk' pregnancy or birth.

I don't think I'll really make a profit, I think the surplus over what I paid already will go to my MW.

I think that's a good plan for vit k. Pretty much the plan we always had. We enter up giving baby#1 the injection as he had a large bruised lump on his head at birth, baby #2 had nothing and baby #3 had oral drops given my low platelets.

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I think HB is legal in most US states. The problem with it being covered by insurance though is similar to publicly funded homebirths in Australia... Suddenly everyone gets to have a small window opinion of what 'low risk' is. In this state MWs also face criminal charges if they continue care in a 'high risk' pregnancy or birth.

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I guess the upside to this approach is that it does keep birth "safe" as we know that homebirth is a perfectly safe option for low risk women, and those that are high risk are safer with medical backup if necessary.

The problem seems to be where they set the parameters, and recognising that most women are indeed low risk.

Something else that would go a long way is educating women to be low risk. Proper nutrition, exercise, birth preparation. I noticed a vast difference between Australia and nz in this regard. Birth is an everyday natural process over there.

Many women are considered "high risk" by some, but are still safer birthing at home. The system needs to improve dramatically and begin to use evidence based medicine, with respect for autonomy (these are not mutually exclusive) before it is going to increase its safety.