Homebirth for first time mam

SarahMc2

Hi I was just looking good to hear from any mammys who had a homebirth for the first baby.
I've meet a few mam's who did it second time round but as of yet no one who choose to do it for their first.
We will be trying soon and I don't know which way to go so I'm trying get lots of information from mums and midwives.
A homebirth is something I want to do but I was told but a midwife that the risks to baby are higher on your first pregnancy.

And if you have has a planned home birth.... how did you go about it? Did you have health insurance or not? Was it HSE midwife or Neighbourhood midwives through UK?

I need to sign up for health insurance very soon if I want a homebirth but if it's more risk to the baby I would rather wait till second pregnancy and hopefully get into Domino in the Coombe first time.

I would love to hear your story if you think it might help!

January

Private Midwives Ireland are another option for private homebirth as well as Neighbourhood Midwives btw.

Thumpette

I don't mean to sound preachy, but why risk it especially for your first baby? Surely any additional risk is not worth it? Main thing is a happy healthy baby- I think sometimes we obsess too much about these beautiful birth experiences that really don't matter at the end of the day. Best of luck whatever you decide.

littlebsci

Hi SarahMc2, I'm planning a home birth for my first baby. I've arranged to have full midwife led care with a self-employed community midwife. I have health insurance that covers the cost of the home birth. The HSE do pay the midwife a sum of money (can't remember what that is) but there are costs over and above this amount so my insurance will cover that.

One thing I would say is that the two midwives I've dealt with in GP practices and my own midwife have been nothing but supportive and enthusiastic about a first time mother to be planning for a home birth. That part alone has been lovely!

I can't help any more than that as I'm only early in my pregnancy but I hope to proceed with the home birth at the end, all going well.

Good luck with making your decision when the time comes!

Gatica

Thumpette wrote: »

I don't mean to sound preachy, but why risk it especially for your first baby? Surely any additional risk is not worth it? Main thing is a happy healthy baby- I think sometimes we obsess too much about these beautiful birth experiences that really don't matter at the end of the day. Best of luck whatever you decide.

While I agree that I was sceptical about having a first time birth at home because of the risks, I don't think it's true that the birth experience doesn't matter. Personally, I've met women who've had awful experiences and would still have a second child, and fair play to them. However, they still get teary and dread their second, feeling rather traumatised by the first. Whereas those who've had a great experience, love to share it with others proudly. So I do think it matters, at least to some extent.
Women are dismissed enough in Ireland in favour of child only, at least we shouldn't deny them having a positive birth. It need not mean that safety of BOTH mother and baby isn't paramount.

Anne_cordelia

Gatica wrote: »

While I agree that I was sceptical about having a first time birth at home because of the risks, I don't think it's true that the birth experience doesn't matter. Personally, I've met women who've had awful experiences and would still have a second child, and fair play to them. However, they still get teary and dread their second, feeling rather traumatised by the first. Whereas those who've had a great experience, love to share it with others proudly. So I do think it matters, at least to some extent.
Women are dismissed enough in Ireland in favour of child only, at least we shouldn't deny them having a positive birth. It need not mean that safety of BOTH mother and baby isn't paramount.

Completely agree Gatica. I know your history Thumpette so understand your viewpoint but birth trauma isn't something to be dismissed and we shouldn't have to just get on with it. Yes I am extremely lucky to have a healthy baby and I'm forever grateful but I'm still allowed to feel traumatised too.

Thumpette

Gatica wrote: »

While I agree that I was sceptical about having a first time birth at home because of the risks, I don't think it's true that the birth experience doesn't matter. Personally, I've met women who've had awful experiences and would still have a second child, and fair play to them. However, they still get teary and dread their second, feeling rather traumatised by the first. Whereas those who've had a great experience, love to share it with others proudly. So I do think it matters, at least to some extent.
Women are dismissed enough in Ireland in favour of child only, at least we shouldn't deny them having a positive birth. It need not mean that safety of BOTH mother and baby isn't paramount.

I'm not suggested traumatic births should be acceptable. The OP was told that a home birth had additional risks and I am just saying that it's perfectly possible to have a positive birth experience without taking additional risks. obviousky it's a personal decision but I think sometimes there is too much fear and scaremongering about hospitals too. I doubt there are many more traumatic experiences than the one I had with my first son and I personally want every medical support available possible.

Thumpette

Anne_cordelia wrote: »

Completely agree Gatica. I know your history Thumpette so understand your viewpoint but birth trauma isn't something to be dismissed and we shouldn't have to just get on with it. Yes I am extremely lucky to have a healthy baby and I'm forever grateful but I'm still allowed to feel traumatised too.

If you do know my history I'm surprised at the defensiveness of that comment. Feel free to reply like that if I come on and suggest that the mother doesn't matter at all, I feel what I said was very balanced.

Gatica

Thumpette wrote: »

I think sometimes we obsess too much about these beautiful birth experiences that really don't matter at the end of the day.

You might have meant it in a supportive way, but it comes across dismissive of the birth experience that women wish to have.
I agree that health and safety come first, but I also think that the birth being a good one matters too.

catrionanic

There are many things to consider when debating a home birth, and you're right to ask around. However, without wanting to sound dramatic or like I am scaremongering here (that truly is not my intention) - absolutely do not underestimate how indescribably painful childbirth is. I had my first baby this year, in a hospital setting, and I was all for doing it as naturally as possible with minimal pain relief... it was excruciating. In the end I was so so glad to be able to avail of the epidural, which turned what was a truly awful and quite harrowing experience into something very positive, life-affirming and even enjoyable.

I would have been open to the idea of a homebirth before I had my son, but our house is super tiny and it just wasn't practical. Now, having gone through labour, I would never even entertain the idea of one just based on pain relief alone!

sambucus nigra

I had my first baby at home last year. Tiny Celtic Tiger build terraced house but we made it work, lack of space didn't bother us (had the birth pool set up in the kitchen diner!).

Childbirth is no walk in the park and I don't think being at home blocked out the pain! But I feel it was very manageable, and especially for me as an introvert it was invaluable to be able to be in a safe, familiar, calm place with just my husband and midwives. Epidurals definitely have their place for some women and certain birth experiences/practices but are not completely benign - as with any medical intervention there are risks to baby and mother. I am glad to have avoided it this time tbh.

With regards to risks, my understanding is that there is an elevation in risk for first time mums versus subsequent births for homebirths. The scenario my consultant outlined was a 1/1000 case where breathing difficulties are encountered, for those births they would be better placed in a hospital setting. However, like all things you need to research and see where you are comfortable... being in a hospital setting for normal first time mums results in, again as far as I am aware, an increase in potential interventions (with a range of side effects) without change in maternal/neonatal outcomes. Also, at least in Cork, I was given a full anomaly scan via the homebirth scheme - obviously there are certain conditions and developmental defects that mean that home is not the ideal place for the women or baby. I was glad to avail of this as anomaly scans are not offered routinely in Cork and I know of a few mums who did not get the scan and despite giving birth at the hospital, as the baby's condition was not known prior they were not set up to adequately receive/treat the infants.

There's a great NICE guideline document you can look up that goes through the risks and benefits of homebirths and compares it for first time/subsequent births.

Btw I had no health insurance at the time! Completely covered on the public homebirth scheme in Cork, although I understand that we are lucky down in the Cork/Kerry regions in this regard.

mirrorwall14

My first was a failed induction followed by natural labour before they scheduled for a c section. Although in hospital recorded labour was only 1hr 6 minutes long with baby in distress and the baby had the cord around his neck twice when born. I would be terrified of a home birth now

Day Lewin

A home birth is not "more risky" in itself, but when it is a first delivery you don't really know beforehand how well you will cope with it.
In fairness, most of the things that could go wrong can be treated very well by a midwife. And they do very careful screening against risk factors.

First labours are also substantially, measurably longer and it takes a while to stretch out those tissues for the first time so it may be more painful too.

You almost certainly DO need pain relief for a first labour; it's easier to give modern analgesia in a more sterile hospital setting.

Whereas for a second birth, you have some previous form to go on and the labour is likely to be shorter too.

Of course, it is most likely that you and your baby will be fine - (in or out of hospital) but you'd like to make the experience as safe and as comfortable as possible for all concerned.
And that's the reasoning behind the usual recommendation to have No. 1 in hospital.

Home birth is still more comfortable and relaxed, etc. - I hope you arrive at a decision you are content with, and that all goes well for you and babe.

Millem

SarahMc2 wrote: »

Hi I was just looking good to hear from any mammys who had a homebirth for the first baby.
I've meet a few mam's who did it second time round but as of yet no one who choose to do it for their first.
We will be trying soon and I don't know which way to go so I'm trying get lots of information from mums and midwives.
A homebirth is something I want to do but I was told but a midwife that the risks to baby are higher on your first pregnancy.

And if you have has a planned home birth.... how did you go about it? Did you have health insurance or not? Was it HSE midwife or Neighbourhood midwives through UK?

I need to sign up for health insurance very soon if I want a homebirth but if it's more risk to the baby I would rather wait till second pregnancy and hopefully get into Domino in the Coombe first time.

I would love to hear your story if you think it might help!

OP why don't you contact the home birth association?
I know 2 girls who have had home births. Both after horrible experiences of their first borns in the hospital.
Home births wouldn't be for me personally but the girls in question are big believers in them. They also did gentlebirth and had doulas. Neither have health insurance.

I had no pain relief on my son (in a hospital) so it can be done. I plan on doing the same this time round (in a hospital).

AvonEnniskerry

While i had 2 fairly straight forward pregnancies. No issues. No sickness. Nothing flagged. I'd two births that needed medical intervention. The first after hours of labour and pushing it became clear she was stuck. Got prepared for an emergency c section​. Managed a forceps delivery. And for my second the babies heart beat dropped dangerously low to the extent that every push was high risk.

Personally I wouldn't want to not be at the hospital. Midwivan do straight forward births but anything more complicated and they need to call the doctor.

Digs

Millem wrote: »

OP why don't you contact the home birth association?
I know 2 girls who have had home births. Both after horrible experiences of their first borns in the hospital.
Home births wouldn't be for me personally but the girls in question are big believers in them. They also did gentlebirth and had doulas. Neither have health insurance.

I had no pain relief on my son (in a hospital) so it can be done. I plan on doing the same this time round (in a hospital).

I agree with all this, OP contacting the home birth association is probably your best bet. Best of luck with it.

I have had two hospital births, I didn't need pain relief on either. I think it's unfair to tell a first time mother she most certainly will need it.

Day Lewin

Digs wrote: »

I have had two hospital births, I didn't need pain relief on either. I think it's unfair to tell a first time mother she most certainly will need it.

Maybe, but it is far more unfair to tell her that she won't!

Almost everyone does; and it's not fair to cause the extra shock of discovering that this one aspect of the all-natural dream may not be feasible.
I've given birth 6 times...never had an epidural...and I had one birth that had no pain relief, and needed none. :-)
But I wouldn't present that to a first-timer as typical or even likely, because its really not!

Thumpette

Gatica wrote: »

You might have meant it in a supportive way, but it comes across dismissive of the birth experience that women wish to have.
I agree that health and safety come first, but I also think that the birth being a good one matters too.

Gatica I don't know how many times I have to respond to you. I have already said that I don't think a traumatic birth experience is acceptable either, I simply said that in the grand scheme of things the most important thing is a healthy outcome for mother and baby. I think there is a perception that hospital births can't be positive and empowering and I think that's wrong- they can be all of those things with the back up of also being able to intervene if nessesary.

Obviously your definition of a supportive response on this thread is to come on and cheer lead that everything will be great and to go for whatever empowers you. I feel that honesty is also support.

To give context to my viewpoint- my first son was born over 2 years ago at over 41 weeks. He died of unknown causes in the hours before I went into labour. In the intervening period I have met many people who have suffered similar tragedies. Sometimes as in my case nothing could be done, sometimes as in many of the stories other mum's have referenced here things went wrong in labour, often thankfully with positive outcomes, but in many cases unfortunately without.

Things can go wrong- that's not a popular reality but it is reality nonetheless. My version of being supportive is to encourage a balanced view on this- of course it's up to each woman how they want to proceed and I wish only the best and most positive outcomes regardless of what that decision is.

Digs

Day Lewin wrote: »

Maybe, but it is far more unfair to tell her that she won't!

Almost everyone does; and it's not fair to cause the extra shock of discovering that this one aspect of the all-natural dream may not be feasible.
I've given birth 6 times...never had an epidural...and I had one birth that had no pain relief, and needed none. :-)
But I wouldn't present that to a first-timer as typical or even likely, because its really not!

No one has said she won't so I'm not sure where you're picking that up from. You more or less said she definitely will, myself and another poster were pointing out that maybe she won't, maybe she will - no one knows. I don't really hold much weight with annecdotal proclamations of what "everyone" does, I can only share my experience.

Millem

Digs wrote: »

No one has said she won't so I'm not sure where you're picking that up from. You more or less said she definitely will, myself and another poster were pointing out that maybe she won't, maybe she will - no one knows. I don't really hold much weight with annecdotal proclamations of what "everyone" does, I can only share my experience.

Totally agree! people have different pain thresholds. Who knows what the OP will need or not need.

There was actually a girl in my domino group who was doing a home birth on her first. For some reason I vaguely remember the domino midwives talking about bringing gas and air to home births?? And pethidine....

Gatica

Thumpette wrote: »

Gatica I don't know how many times I have to respond to you. I have already said that I don't think a traumatic birth experience is acceptable either, I simply said that in the grand scheme of things the most important thing is a healthy outcome for mother and baby. I think there is a perception that hospital births can't be positive and empowering and I think that's wrong- they can be all of those things with the back up of also being able to intervene if nessesary.

Obviously your definition of a supportive response on this thread is to come on and cheer lead that everything will be great and to go for whatever empowers you. I feel that honesty is also support.

To give context to my viewpoint- my first son was born over 2 years ago at over 41 weeks. He died of unknown causes in the hours before I went into labour. In the intervening period I have met many people who have suffered similar tragedies. Sometimes as in my case nothing could be done, sometimes as in many of the stories other mum's have referenced here things went wrong in labour, often thankfully with positive outcomes, but in many cases unfortunately without.

Things can go wrong- that's not a popular reality but it is reality nonetheless. My version of being supportive is to encourage a balanced view on this- of course it's up to each woman how they want to proceed and I wish only the best and most positive outcomes regardless of what that decision is.

You've only responded directly to me once. My only point to you was that unlike your initial post sounded (that the birth experience doesn't matter), I held the view that the birth experience did matter to the mothers in question. I never thought you said that traumatic birth is acceptable, only that whether it's good/bad, happy/traumatic - it doesn't matter.

Very sorry to hear you had such a horrendous experience with your first pregnancy. It's very sad, and I hope that you have had a successful pregnancy, birth and baby since.

I don't think anything prepares one for the experience of childbirth, whether you expect pain or expect to sail through it. I've heard elating stories and I've heard horrendous ones.
I've only given birth in a hospital setting. I had fibroid degeneration in the third trimester, and the pain was definitely up there with childbirth, but with nothing positive to pull through (even though it was part and parcel of my pregnancy). I've had a root canal which caused me much more pain than either the childbirth or red degeneration.

To me the pain felt like strong cramps you get when you have a bout of diarrhoea (sorry bout the imagery!). It wasn't painless and it wasn't even like waves or surges (the imagery used in gentlebirth), but it was bearable and comparable.
I did natural breech delivery with gas and air. I thought it might get stronger so was holding out for the epidural just in case, but the baby just came and the pressure you feel during delivery just helped guide the pushes, it wasn't excruciating. The gas and air took the edge off but I felt everything and thought it was manageable. I think a lot of people end up with epidural to help power through a longer labour, and if it helps, that's the main thing. As they say, there are no medals, so whatever women are comfortable with or whatever their particular labour and situation is.

There are stories for easy hospital and home births, and complicated home and hospital ones. When it gets complicated, I guess it is preferable that you are in a hospital. However, often the hospital interventions are what cause them in the first place... Women just have to weigh us the pros and cons for their own situation and how close they are to the nearest help, should they need it.

sorry bout the long post....

AvonEnniskerry

Gatica wrote:

There are stories for easy hospital and home births, and complicated home and hospital ones. When it gets complicated, I guess it is preferable that you are in a hospital. However, often the hospital interventions are what cause them in the first place... Women just have to weigh us the pros and cons for their own situation and how close they are to the nearest help, should they need it.

I do not agree that often hospital interventions likely cause complications. I can very safely say that in my case i would not have my two children without hospital intervention and they were entirely different birthing experiences.

Gatica

AvonEnniskerry wrote: »

I do not agree that often hospital interventions likely cause complications. I can very safely say that in my case i would not have my two children without hospital intervention and they were entirely different birthing experiences.

In your case. I was talking in general. In general, yes, hospital interventions are more likely than in a midwife-led home setting. You're expected to progress at a particular rate and doctors are quicker to jump to section, episiotomy, etc.. as well as encourage blue pushing.

http://aimsireland.ie/new-hse-birth-statistics-show-a-continuing-high-level-of-interventions-including-c-sections-instrumental-deliveries-and-episiotomies/ and many other similar statistics if you read into it. Not only, HSE, but the same goes for the NHS.

mcduigs

My first baby was a homebirth and I went on to have another 2 babies at home. I'm not in Ireland so can't help you on the insurance questions but as homebirths are all I know I can't imagine having a hospital birth. I was only ever seen my mid-wives, no consultants. All 3 were without pain relief. Where I live 35% of births are at home. I was lucky in that all 3 were fairly quick labours, 5hrs, 2hrs30mins and 2hrs20mins so the pain was manageable.