Homebirth General Discussion #6

Hi ladies!
Thanks for all your lovely messages xx

The birth was amazing! Very quick and much easier than my last two! Zac must have been very ready to come as it all just flowed and felt so 'right' ITMS?! DH nearly missed the birth while dropping DS1 at my parents place after a last minute decision it was too hard with him there after all! I got into the pool when it was half full as I couldn't stand waiting any longer. Backup midwife and trainee midwife both didn't make it in time! I'm so smitten with my little boy! A bit sad that he is to be my last but excited about our future as a family of five :D

Will catch up for persies once I'm on the big computer xx

YAY! so happy to hear from you Stoked! i know right?! it is so hard when you realise that this was the last go, the last time to birth a baby...but so true, planning ahead to the great wonderful things ahead is the next happy stage :hug:

Yay! that's great to hear

Dont think i'll ever be YAY thats it i never have too birth, breastfeed ect again. It means we are/have enjoyed this stage. Doesnt mean we wont enjoy the next too! But I totally understand, i even got emotional the other day giving Miss M her first solids...thinking that could be the end to those lovely breastfed poos in my house......:lol: how sad is that!

Congratulations on your amazing birth, glad DH didnt miss it! Was your DD there?

Do you (or did you) have a back up midwife organised, if for some reason your midwife couldn't make it? I am only having one midwife (by choice), but my student midwife asked me about a back up midwife and i realised i hadn't thought about it.

Stoked that's great!

HotI: yeah I had a second midwife and a student midwife. Maybe speak to your midwife about it, I only met my second midwife on the day but I think for me it may have been better if I knew her but my main midwife understood and did make the introduction good (as good as it can be ) if that makes sense.

i see my midwife this week and will bring it up then. she asked earlier if i wanted a second midwife and i said no. i guess it will only be an issue if she 2 births at the same time or something else comes up.

I had a backup midwife and a midwife that was my friend that came along at the same time as my primary midwife. i think it was a good idea as my primary midwife was attending a birth up in the mountains when i went into labour. thankfully she made it, but yeah, it was good to know that i had someone there JIC to come and attend.

and because of my past history i made my back up midwife attend the 36 week birth planning appt and also made sure that i chatted to her at the meet the midwives sessions throughout the pregnancy. i needed to know her and for her to know me so that i could keep my head screwed on if she did have to come in an emergency.

HotI, I would go for a back up midwife just in case. You don't want your only midwife to be coughing up a lung over your newborn or being called away for some reason when you need her.
I have had my last two appointments with the alternate midwife JIC she is rostered on for the birth - they do 4 on/4 off roster.

I think everything is set now, just waiting for baby to come. The birthing pool is set up, it is massive! I had a chat to the midwife today about being left alone because last time I found it really hard to come out of my little world to bother talking to other people and she is happy just to leave me to it.

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I think everything is set now, just waiting for baby to come. .

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Happy birthing!

I am using a m/w from a group of five. I met our second m/w at the first appt. If for any reason my first is not available then one of the others comes with the second m/w. They discuss every mum at their weekly meetings, so I'm happy with the arrangement.

I also have a doula.

I'm having a meeting with my MW tomorrow. It will be my first real one since DH and I interviewed her about 5-6 weeks ago. We arnt having two midwives as DH is a senior dr and she said she really only needs a second set of hands in case of an emergency to draw up drugs etc. Since DH could so lots of things on his own if push came to shove, I am happy with just one. I think if something happened and my MW couldn't come that there are enough mw's in the local area that I could call to come over and take her place that it won't matter.

Looking forward to the appointment tomorrow. We will have quite a bit of stuff to go over at that point so it will be good. I haven't been thru my past birth notes with her yet so maybe we will do that tomorrow.

Stoked- really glad your birth was so great. I have a gf whose hb I will be attending any day now and hope that her's is as lovely as yours.

It's great to hear from you Stoked!

I am having trouble finding a primary midwife- I haven't even considered the issue of a back-up one!
I called a midwife today - She isn't practising at the moment. She has been unwell.
Another midwife that was recommended to me has recently moved to Sydney.
The midwife that I spoke to today recommended another midwife- she lives about an hour away, so I don't even know if she will travel that far. She also suggested a birthing support group where I could access 'lay' midwives- so I guess she was eluding to the possibility of me freebirthing, maybe?
Oh well, I will persist as best I can.

Bella- I hope you have a great appt. tomorrow. I love your new avi!
Hi to everyone else.

Ash do u consider having a lay or unregistered MW free birthing? I thought that was when u have no MW at all. There are lots of them near where I live. Where do u live?

Hi Bella- I guess I just assumed that she was talking about doulas. I know that doulas work with the birthing group she referred to. I actually birthed all my babies with two amazing women- a registered midwife and a 'lay' midwife. The registered midwife is no longer 'homebirthing' and the lay midwife is now only doing hospital birth support. Others may not agree, but I have always regarded freebirthing as birthing without a registered midwife. And that is not a criticism of lay midwives, more my interpretation of the legal realities. My lay midwife was every bit as wonderful and skilled and intuitive as the registered midwife I birthed with.

Hot1 - my mw (same mw as you) offered me a 2nd midwife as part of her package and I said no, but she does have a backup midwife just in case for some reason she can't be there - she recommended that the backup midwife come along to one or two of our appointments and to the birth planning meeting to get to know her.

Ladies - I am really flat at the moment - I wanted so much to be pregnant and birth 2 years before I actually was UTD (TTCing for about 8 months...took a while for DH and I to be in the right place financially & emotionally to start) and for all that time have just *known* that I can do this - I trust my body, my baby, the birth process etc etc. Now, with this latest stuff around practicing guidelines AND the articles in the paper over the last week about insurance, I have a sick, gut feeling that for some reason our midwife wont be able to be with us. We were meant to have an appointment today but I got a text from her at 9pm last night saying she wasn't well and needed to reschedule. I'm panicking (probably with a healthy dose of preggo hormones) that its HER that's been reported for staying with the woman who transferred to hospital and that she's putting off telling us what's going on until she knows more. I don't know why I feel that way because I really trust her....but I am freaking out right now....I dont know if we're prepared to do this without a MW (I'm guessing we'd have to make it look like an 'oops' and call an ambulance at the last minute?)....plus my mw is such a beautiful, wise and calming woman I really WANT her there. I've had a textbook pregnancy, me and bub are perfectly healthy....I've never loved my body like I do now and have just been feeling so great....and now, with about 10 weeks to go I'm crapping my pants that I'm going to be forced to go to hospital, or freebirth, which I don't feel well enough prepared for *cries*

How terrible is it that families are being forced to chose between hospital or free birthing because the middle option is being snatched away one crappy policy at a time!

Eutra_phalia, I really hope your MW was just unwell and there are no problems xx

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How terrible is it that families are being forced to chose between hospital or free birthing because the middle option is being snatched away one crappy policy at a time!

Eutra_phalia, I really hope your MW was just unwell and there are no problems xx

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me too - part of me wants to call her and ask but if she IS unwell, I don't want to disturb her...and if it IS her that has been reported, I think her priority would be sorting out the women she's caring for who are due now, and then she would get in touch with all of the other women she's working with so I would want to respect to her space/time to do that :S