Homebirth General Discussion #4

:hello: ladies,

I was here at the start of my pregnancy so I thought it might be helpful to chat with you all as the birth is getting close.
I have two great midwives and a great doula so I'm feeling very supported and my DH has been great as well. I really feel we are all on the same page as to what I want out of this birth.
My current thought is what happens if I can't cope? With DS I only laboured for 8 hours before having a c/section and I was pretty much freaking out the whole time.
So I'm hoping that as I know what to expect and I will have a tonne of support this time, things will be different.
Although on the other hand I am truely getting excited to see how it all goes and what my body can do as it wasn't given the chance last time, and of course meeting our gorgeous baby!! :dance:
Anyways looking forward to chatting to you all :D

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After i had tom a lady sadly passed away after having her 4th (no related to birth) and one of her wishes along with her family was that the baby have only breast milk. Her community was great and the baby would even have feeds off different women at church. My MW did a call around and picked up milk from her ladies and that baby had nothing but EBM for 12 months...how fantastic!

Its a great community the HB one! I love it!

Good on you for donatin and letting that mumma get home and be looked after properly!

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Oh wow that's fantastic, that would be my wish if I died for DD to have only breastmilk. I might stock up the freezer just in case.

Ladybug: welcome! I hope with the support this time you will get the birth you want.

Sorry just a quick reply as trying to reply from my iPod isn't easy.

Lady-bug, my 2nd labour 9at home) wasmuch longer than my first (and more painful) but I actually coped much better and feel a lot better about it just becaues of the gret support and care we received. It makes such a huge difference.

MadB-That's it, my logical side knows that I will cope better from having much, much better support this time. I just need to trust that.

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After i had tom a lady sadly passed away after having her 4th (no related to birth) and one of her wishes along with her family was that the baby have only breast milk. Her community was great and the baby would even have feeds off different women at church. My MW did a call around and picked up milk from her ladies and that baby had nothing but EBM for 12 months...how fantastic!

Its a great community the HB one! I love it!

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that is amazing! and you are right, a clear demonstration on the commitment of real care given by IMs.

LB: you will totally see (and feel :)) the difference by being at home surrounded by your support team. i didnt even know i was in 'real' labour until my waters broke an hour before she was born. and even through scary transition it was so peaceful and awesome. an empowering experience to be with your family and midwives

Hi girls

Just popping in to introduce myself. Very early here, but thought I'd give bub a nice clear message on our intentions for it's arrival. This will be a HBAC if all goes to plan. I'm due 1 Jan, which is good from the POV that my ob for my last pg is away, so takes away the temptation to use him again (he was very good, it's more the hospital I'm trying to avoid).

I need to look into midwives in my area and start finding one both DP and I like. How did those of you who have already had a HB go about choosing if you used a private m/w? I need to make sure it's someone DP really likes/trusts as well, since I need his support to go down this route.

Hi Jennifer! and welcome and YAY on your BFP and the decision to plan a HBAC!!! what a wonderful journey you are embarking on :)

We chose our midwives by checking here on BB, reading other ppls experiences in this thread and asking friends that had had HBs. in the end i went with the friends recommendation simply because i also read positive things here on BB.
our needs were specific in that we needed midwives that were totally supportive of men in the birth space (i have a PTSD related to my first birth experience that is triggered when DH is not around while doing pg and birth related stuff) and surprisingly i came across quite a few midwives that were less than interested in his role. so if that is important for you, keep your feelers out and catch the vibe when interviewing.

YAYAYYAY Jennifer Congratulations on your BFP! And a homebirth VBAC perfect id say!

We interviewed a few MW before our HB and actually picked a the less experienced one but the one we most clicked with.

Look forward to hearing more about your journey!

Congratulations Jennifer!!

I asked around for some MWs recs from my doula and a few people I knew. I checked reviews for them on bellybelly and joyous birth and spoke to a few on the phone to feel them out (and determine that they were in fact out of my area). A bunch of the midwives in my area work in the same practice which has "meet the midwives" information nights, so I went to one of those and chose my MW from them as she was the one I just *knew* was for me.

I've heard there are a couple of IMs in Sydney working in collaboration with Pesce and they don't have good reputations for supporting out of the box labours so I'd be checking into that and try not to be too won over by a MW who can bill medicare ;)

Cassius I also forgot to comment on you donating EBM as I was busy at the time. I think that's awesome!! When I was struggling to establish BFing Nic mentioned she could probably get me some EBM if we needed it (supply was dropping as we just couldn't fix attachment) and it was such a comfort. I had the same troubles first time (turns out my babies have high palates and both of them took about 4 weeks to work out attachment) so had to give my son some formula topups for a couple of weeks. Having access to EBM is wonderful. You're very special :D It makes me feel jealous though and homesick for having moved out of my HB nest!

Hi all,

Getting close now...and getting rather excited! Had a test run of the birth pool so that makes me feel better, and I can now visualise it all a bit better now. I think everything else is pretty much ready to go.
Hopefully I'll be able to post a birth story in here soon-ish!!

Wonderful! Gave me a big smile to see our next homebirther bump this thread :D

So excited for you and sending you blissful birthing thoughts & love :loveshower:

Oooh Lady-bug, so jealous that you have your birth pool, I bet it's lovely to just get in there and visualise. How exciting for you! We'll be getting ours in 4 weeks :)

Thanks ladies!

PZ-Its great being able to 'see' it, obviously we all know what a pool looks like but it just makes it real, iykwim?

Can I ask, what did you all have in your 'birth space'? I plan on putting up birth affirmations and special photos. Maybe some candles....but not sure what else.
Would love to know what others did :D

i had my photos up in the corner where the birth pool was and some of the affirmations. i also made DH get us new curtains :lol:
had candles and some scented water mist stuff (lavender and rose) and a wee bit of music.

ooh you are getting so close now! i loved having my birth pool up and waiting for our baby :loveshower:

eepp not long for you either PZ!!! far out!

I painted the wall behind the pool orange. Also had some candles ready in the room, but had a daytime labour so didn't use them.

i had on one of my essential oil candles on in the end as like Meow we also were during the day...just to keep in mind lol.

ok guys, wish me luck!!! i am off to our "meet the midwives" talks tonight....TO TALK! ARRRGHHH! will be showing my birth montage too...eppp! the discussion tonight is "waterbirth". Meow, i so need you now lol! fly back to oz for me will ya??!!

Lady bug, i didnt have anything special set up. I had Tom sitting on the side of the bed and then just popped into the shower :)

Cass: you will do wonderfully, the montage will set the scene perfectly! But i do think meow could fly home....;)