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Not looking for opinions, arguments and debates, so don't bother replying if you are not speaking from some point of experience or professional capacity.
Simply want to hear from anyone who has ended up with either a planned or unplanned freebirth and what it was like, complications, when if at all you called ambulances or went to the hospital etc.
Especially if anyone has freebirthed VBAC....
Cheers!
Excellent thread hun, look forward to the replys !
:hello: We had planned a HB for DS and it all just happened too quick for the MW to make it. She arrived about 40mins after so that was a freebirth...
:shhh: this baby will be a planned freebirth. We are expecting another quick delievery and just could not justify the cost when no one could possibly make it!
The decision to freebirth has taken a lot of twists and turns the past few months and i can get way more into it if you would like to hear all the ups and downs.
I have/am booked into the local hospital for ante/post natal care and will pop up there within 4 hrs of the birth to check bubs and my but other than that we are on our own!
we practically had a free birth, our midwife arrived two seconds before he came out and Hubby delivered him all by himself without instructions.... I pushed when i felt the need too. I think we could totally do it alone....
Though I'm sure if anything went wrong it would be very scary, though it's not like at the hospital they are really there anyway.... We had been asking for our midwife for hours and there wasn't a doctor in sight .....
Can't wait to hear your birth story Tegam :)
I'm thinking about it (20 weeks pregnant, now) but DF isn't feeling comfortable. I am totally comfortable with it. I love reading freebirth stories.
Very interested in this thread!!!
I practically free birthed my last 3 in hossy, and if my births get any quicker, there is a massive chance I wont make it this time anyway....
Isaiah was a free birth, but obviously very different to what your asking about. My only concern with him was massive blood loss just after the birth, for about half an hour. Once the placenta birthed, all the bleeding stopped, so we didnt go to hossy. I showered and went to bed with my baby, and didnt go to hossy for around 6-7 hrs later.
My main concern if I birthed at home would be blood loss, but I have been assured that ambos carry the leg injection thingy. Providing all went well, i would have them come to check us over, but would stay at home..... :)
A bit over a year ago I was working with a mum who was planning a homebirth with her hubby, a midwife and me as doula support. I lived literally two minutes away from the family, the midwife had quite a hike to get there.
As it happened, labour started with a bang just before peak hour - within an hour of her membranes rupturing her hubby was on the phone telling me to get there - NOW - mum was feeling pushy and the midwife had been called but with traffic she was at least an hour away. There wasn't even time for me to get my hubby home to watch our two year old, so I threw him in the car and sped around to her house. Plopped my wide eyed two year old on the couch beside the birth pool, and I took one look at mama and knew the middy wasn't going to make it. I held her hands and sat with her while her hubby caught the baby. Hubby was as calm as could be, so that was good. As soon as his head appeared it was beautiful and pink - in all the births I've been present at, I don't think I've ever seen such a rosy looking babe - and I just knew at that point that everything was going be ok.
A few minutes later the little guy was out and the midwife came running through the door in time for the placenta.
Things certainly didn't go as planned but it all worked out beautifully in the end :)
(not speaking from a midwives point of view) A good friend of mine free birthed her DS. She knew she had super fast labours and was 200kms from the nearest birthing hospital (other hospital near by) she woke up at 3am as she felt like she needed to poo and within a minute her DS was out. By the time her partner woke from his sleep bubs head was out and he had time to roll over and catch his body all of a minute from the time my friend got out of bed. Her son was born at the side of the bed whilst she was standing. As he (Daddy) was not expecting it and the slippery little bubba was hard to hold he sort of fell to the floor and the weight of him split the placenta in half so half was torn away and the other half not detached. My friend lost a lot of blood well over 2litres which required a blood transfusion at the hospital nearby before been transferred to the main hospital. I think if it didn't happen the way it did there wouldn't have been a problem with blood loss. Just one of those things.
ME TOO but i look forward to the birth more hehe! How much longer do i have to wait :p:
Hi,
Interesting thread, don't have any personal/professional info to add but not wanting to debate either so hope its ok I'm posting.
Tegam, just wondering if this is something you have kinda arranged with your hospital? Or if you just havent told them you won't be coming in for the birth?
Mildez, wow! What a birth story...that must have really been a full on experience going from asleep and pregnant to holding you baby that quickly and must have been so scary with the placenta tearing!
did you read my birth story hun for maree?
it was a free birth at home, we had the ambos on the phone as marees head popped out. they were there quickly but didn't make it till after.
no complications except shock.
i think mainly because it wasn't planned so i didn't have my self mentally prepared, i have ahd some anxiety attacks and weird dreams about it all.
if i was to do it again, id free birth again and be prepared, id have clamps and scissors and that ready to go.
No way that it is something arranged with the hospital, im in QLD and the health system is SO FAR BEHIND. Now if i was still in NSW im sure i would have been given support for my hugely quick births. But no sadly its been a battle every appointment to not be induced and to sit and listen to another lecture from some dr that im going to die if i birth at home. 2 private OBs and a public hospital later and they all agreed the only safe option for me and baby was an induction at 36weeks with steriods for baby.... scary bears!:
This was the biggest thing people went on about "how didnt i go into shock"?:
well because i had had a rather quick one before and had been warned it would be even quicker next time, So i was mentally prepared as well as physically!
You poor thing, it must have/is a huge thing to process!
WOW! That is ridiculous that they wanted to induce you at 36weeks!
One OB from inner city brisbane, one from the local private and ALL the public OBs ive seen at the local hospital.... Induction at 36weeks so much safer than dying at home....Im mean thats what i should have done if i cared about my baby!
Tegam - Induction at 36wks.. That's insane :(.. Free birth or even HB is not for me, but the stories of them are beautiful and peaceful..
Thanks everyone :)
Tegam - I would tell them to shove it too! How ridiculous!
Would love to hear all about your decision and how you got there, etc.
Kawazuki - No I didn't, I will hunt it down. :) So what would one need if one were to be 'prepared' for a free birth?
PB: Yep, I think the possibility of blood loss/PPH is my major concern if I were to birth at home...Having not had a VB the first time around, DH nor myself really have no idea as to what is acceptable loss and what is not.
Not the ideal situation I was hoping for, but DH (after initially rejecting the idea of homebirth, not for safety reasons but for practical ones) has now said "hey maybe we should have a homebirth"! lol
And after putting in 3 different enquiry forms to the Independent Midwife website thingy and having no response whatsoever, after having met and already sick of dealing with the hospital bullsh... I mean protocols...and the fact I have no intention of going to the hospital until I am already just about pushing if I did go, the notion of freebirthing is something I want to be 'prepared' for.
If I am still comfortable with it as I am now, it is something we will seriously look at. We are well and truly close enough to the hospital in an emergency, and I think if we were equipped both practically and informationally, then I can't see a real issue with it.
My second was unintentionally born at home (I'm sure you already know that, but you asked). :lol:
It was full on at first because I didn't realise it was happening so fast and the pain was unbelievable. But once I realised what was happening it was a very calm and confident birth, in the spa bath (not with the bath filled, just a shower trickling on my back...actually...I'm just now realising dh must have turned it off at some stage before he caught bub :lol:).
The only issue I had (apart from being in shock from the fast birth), was a PPH, I lost about 2L by the time I got to hospital by ambulance, I've retained placenta both times now, and maybe it's different from state to state, but my ambos didn't carry synctocin, my birth support partner (now a midwife) asked the midwives at the hospital and they said ambulances didn't routinely carry it, but it's possible things have changed.
So I guess that's my concern with a freebirth really, it was my birth support partner who noticed the amount of blood I was losing, the paramedics were mostly focussed on bub. So it'd be good to have someone present at home who could identify issues that might need prompt attention. Not to be dramatic - but it's worth acknowledging that if it had just been me and dh, we'd have notched faintness up to a quick dramatic birth, and may have called an ambulance too late for me.
So in summary - I think a birth at home can be a calm, focussed thing, but I think you'd want to have your bases covered logistically, ie, I wouldn't do it if I didn't have access to ambulances and birth support experienced/knowledgable enough to identify and help with any issues.
I am quite interested in this thread. I didn't know I was even having contractions with DD until it was time to push. DD was induced and a "slow" 6 hour labour because they had to turn the drip down til it was only basically telling my body I was labouring. Midwife was quite shocked with CTG machine going so nuts on the that I didn't feel the contractions. I think it was because I didn't let the labour scare me. All of a sudden I had to get DP to get the midwife just outside the door. I was told most likely next bub will be fast if I'm left to labour naturally.
my first birth was an induction, and once waters broke it was quick. but not the 20 min labour i had with ree.:
i had 2nd degree tear which healed amazingly quickly as well.
hope all goes well this time tegam
I'm not sure if you've read DD1's birth story hun, i think you have.
My waters broke, she was out 20min later, i was on the phone to my mum when i felt FEET sticking out of me, she called an ambulance who talked me through DD1's birth, she was out before the ambulance or anyone got there.. she was a freebirth in every sense of the world.. i was home alone.
000 were AMAZING, DD1 was born 20min after my waters breaking the ambulance arrived 5min later.
If you want hun feel free to PM me, not sure if there are specifics you wanted to know.
It WAS scary, she was breech and her feet were BLUE and it wasn't something i was prepared for but my body did as it was meant to .
Nelle, I will double check about the synctocin... got me worried now!!! :p I was told they carry it after I had Kane, cause he came in under 40 mins and I asked at the hossy. But that was 3yrs ago, and coulda changed.
With reguards to blood loss, I normally lose a LOT in the first few days, but the very longest I have bled after a birth is 6 days.. so mine is heavy, but is gone quickly.
With Isaiah, I was losing a large amount of blood, but it didnt concern me, it looked normal, for me. But within about 5 min, it started to pour. I bunched a massive amount of loo paper against my vagina, and within 3 seconds, it was running down my arms... so WAY too much.
I *think* a normal loss is heavy period like?? Mine has always been heavier without concern though...even with Isaiah it settled down very fast after the placenta arrived.
Does anyone know the forms you would need to register a freebirth?
We were taken to hospital to be checked so we still got all the same forms but at place of birth was written my address:
same at ZF here
her birthcert says place of birth, our home address
Hello,
I'm new to the forum but thought I'd post as I had an unplanned home birth.
After 3 hours of labour (we started out thinking I was in pre-labour until the intensity kind of sneaked up on us) my waters broke, I announced my body was pushing, our midwife (who was on the phone as we had just called her to let her know I was in labour) advised my husband that it was best to get me to hospital ASAP, my husband who could barely get me to speak (I was well and truly in labour land) started packing the hospital bag, realised it was all a bit too late and called an ambulance, while I was on the bathroom floor enjoying the incredible hormone high, hands between my legs feeling DD crown, my husband came back into the bathroom and realised DD was about to be born, crouched behind me (I had wedged myself between the shower and toilet in our bathroom) and caught DD as I birthed her. The ambulance arrived just after she was born, however in hindsight I wished we hadn't called them as I ended up fighting for them not to take her from me. I know they had protocol to follow but I am disappointed at that aspect of DD's birth.
We have the most amazing photo of DD arriving, as my husband also called my parents when he called the ambulance and they arrived in time to witness DD's arrival, taking a quick photo as she did. My memory is hazy due to the hormone high so it is nice to have that photo to look at and remind us of the incredible experience we had.