Homebirth controversy

And if baby begins to get stressed during this home birth, an Ambulance with 2 crew will have to be dispatched and probably a doctor.
Then A&E will have to cater for her and end up stressing the baby even more which can have serious consequences for baby.

Instead of what we did when we were having our first.

Our consultant advised us when she was going on holidays and booked us for a certain date.
We arrived at the hospital that morning and booked in, went to our room and settled in.
I remarked to herself that is was something akin to booking into a fine hotel.
I went off and got the paper and read it while the missus was being cared for by the mid wives.
Unfortunately I had decided to grab a coffee and sandwich and when I got back she was nearly giving birth, and I had to throw away a perfectly good sambo.
Baby started to get stressed so off to the operation table and an hour later a fine healthy Baby Lando:).

I've had a hospital birth and a home birth and without a doubt, I got much better care and attention with the home birth.

You see your own personal midwife every 4 weeks, then every 2 weeks and then every week, as your due date draws closer. You are allowed to labour at your own pace, walk around the house, have a bath, lie now, sit up, be as uninhibited and vocal as you feel you need to be and then afterwards you get to see your midwife every day for 14 days if you so wish, to check that you and baby are keeping well. The aftercare also allows the midwife as much time as is necessary to get breastfeeding established and ensure there are no problems with latch etc. The post natal visits are such a support, at a time when you are at your most vulnerable and can help to spot PND at an early stage.

I had a good hospital experience but I was one woman out of hundreds having a baby in the hospital. I saw a different doctor/midwife each time and really at times, it was like we were a herd of cattle being led from one end of the hospital to another to get various checks done. I had to repeat myself to each medical professional that I saw, to ensure certain personal things were adhered to - despite these being mentioned in my file. Also, once the baby was born, you were pretty much left to your own devices, there was nobody available to spend time showing you how to breastfeed - it was a case of "this is a rough idea of how to do it - off you go" - from a young midwife who had never given birth herself.

The MOU was only introduced in 2008. Previous to the introduction, women were allowed to have a homebirth despite having a c-section before. The HSE appear to be making it more difficult to have a homebirth these days, despite our maternity hospitals being stretched to capacity as it is.

The demand for homebirths is there but there arent enough independant midwives available to meet it. If more women (naturally only those who are having complication-free pregnancies) were able to have homebirths, it would free up valuable space in the maternity hospitals.

In relation to professional practice guidelines, the longer I've practiced for the more important they seem. I've always followed them to the letter with the best of my ability even if I thought some were unnecessary.

I remember during my training in my 1st job and as a student often thinking "Ah heyor, leave it ouh!!... Do we really have to do all this extra work to prevent something so unlikely"

Weeks later "Oh crap, good thing I actually done the extra work event X actually happens"

Years later "Event X seems to happen all the feckin time"

Murphy's law applies in medicine too, probably more than anywhere else. Always assume anything that can go wrong will go wrong. Clinical guidelines are written by much smarter and more experienced scientists/clinicians than me. There's nearly always a "method to the madness".

I'm in a different job but the principle is the same, the midwife should know better (and probably does, they probably have to have a lot of experience to do home births).

She's putting her patient at unnecessary risk for a few quid. Plain and simple.

When a decision goes beyond what me (or my pay grade) is qualified to make, regardless of whatever I think I know it gets passed on to the person who does know. In this case the guidelines which were written by experts and have been tried tested and honed over the years.

Saying "No thats beyond my scope of practice" can be a blow to your ego sometimes, but it is the professional thing to do and the most important rule of working in a hospital. Cynics may call it the CYA or "cover your ass" rule but i've seen it is in the best interest of patients, time and time again. The biggest danger in healthcare is a know-it all. I'd take a doctor that will admit they are in over their head any day over one that is over confidant.

I've seen a patient die one time because a nursing home doctor went against a consultant's advice and tried to treat something he was incapable of treating in the nursing home instead of calling an ambulance. His big head cost a patient her life.

kunst nugget wrote: »

I would have thought being shot in the chest or when you're just about to be hit by a truck might pip that one.

You may be right, but you may be surprised!

I guess I should have used the "force of mortality" to be a little more technical, but you get the picture.

pickarooney wrote: »

It would be interesting to cross reference this thread with the cotton wool thread in a few pages and see how consistent people are on the subject of children and overstated risks.

Big difference between a child coming into the world and said child kicking a ball around the street

Since when are midwives qualified to make a decision.

bluewolf wrote: »

A midwifery degree...?

That doesn't qualify them to do that. I fully respect their profession, they have a particular skill set which they are generally very good at but this case is outside of what they are trained for. It's overstepping the mark. A good healthcare professional doesn't do that.

Its selfish of anyone to demand a midwife be at their home birth that they decided to have. If something goes wrong the midwife gets landed with the issues. She/he could be lose their job because of it and the family might sue him/her over the issues with the birth.

Qualitymark wrote: »

Pity the hospitals don't have homey birth options - back in the day, some nuns in Galway had a setup in a hospital where there were apartments where the whole family could go and stay, and you could have a water birth in calming, non-clinical surroundings, but because the hospital building was right next door, you could be rushed in if there were a medical problem. I wonder if this still exists. Best of both worlds, really.

Fully agreed. Unfortunately space is a concern. The Coombe and Holles St are in the middle of a concrete jungle and you don't have room to swing a cat, park a car, or even walk down a corridor without having to squeeze past all the huge slow walking patients that roam the halls in gangs (that used to wreck my head). Maybe if the Coombe actually moves to tallaght we will see something like this in my lifetime.

This would be great and welcomed by both staff and patients... but the economy is fecked and we cant have nice things