Home Birth

[Anonymous]

You and your baby are each slightly more likely to die if you home birth. Not worth it for me. You may feel otherwise. But it's important you're honest about it.

[Anonymous]

What's the time lag between recognizing there is a problem, getting the hospital updated and aware you are coming in, transporting you to hospital (and through to a treatment area), and doing whatever interventions are necessary, if that is needed?

How long will that take, beginning to end?

[Anonymous]

I have three kids, with one ai would have been dead if I had not been in q hospital. I had a hidden hematoma that was swelling after birth and about three hours after the birth it suddenly ruptured through the vaginal wall. I lost almost all of my blood almost immediately (arterial, I think). My husband was standing in a pool of blood suddenly and almost passed out. I’d be dead if I had not been in a hospital that was able to immediately transfuse me.
I know another woman that had 8 kids—7 no problem, one (not her last) was a post-birth massive hemorrhage that again would have killed her if not for the transfusion.
I would be totally find with home birth if they were permitted to transfuse you. But there’s just no way to get you to a hospital in time for a transfusion if you need one. And while it’s rare, it’s not that rare.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Three home births using birthcare in Alexandria.

Same here. Love them!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Even though baby and I had no risk factors, my third would be dead if I had him at home. Don’t.

This is me exactly... only I'd be dead, baby probably would have made it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I had an accidental home birth. Delivered at home and then we were taken to the hospital. Despite being scared at the time, my memories of giving birth are amazing and I felt so empowered and had a paramedic who was an absolute rock star. Plus I got delayed cord clamping, immediate skiN to skin, golden hour. I was the first person to hold my baby and the first thing she heard was my voice. Postpartum at the hospital was exhausting and obnoxious. I totally get why people plan home births!

I will say it is riskier for a first birth. There is more that can go wrong. I would want to live near a hospital, a highly experienced birth team, and a rock solid transfer plan I.e the moment something is in doubt you head for the hospital.

I did home but agree with this. I was 15 minutes from hospital and had a transfer plan.

[Anonymous]

The risk of homebirth transfer for a FTM is somewhere in the ballpark of 23 percent to 37 percent. For a second time mom, it is lower, somewhere around 10 percent, but that is still quite high. Are you comfortable with that, OP?

I get the appeal of homebirth - I really do. I considered it for my first. But then I saw a good friend who had a healthy low risk pregnancy have a homebirth go awry, have to transfer to the hospital, nearly have her baby in the backseat of the midwives’ car, and her then have her child admitted to the NICU with numerous complications. She spent years picking up the pieces from that trauma and dealt with unimaginable guilt about her child’s health problems and her midwives were basically incommunicado after they dropped her at the hospital due to concerns about her suing them. They even left the birthing pool in her home and never came to
get it. She got no answers from them about what went wrong, no postpartum support, and had a difficult time getting copies of her medical records, which they had fully scrubbed. Homebirth midwives have a tendency to sell you on the experience but if things go badly you will find they are all about the mom “taking responsibility for her choices.” Even if that includes a dead or injured baby. Thankfully for them, because they aren’t required to have accountability to medical boards, licensing boards (in the case of CPMs and CMs), or carry malpractice insurance, they don’t have to have the same level of accountability for their bad choices that a hospital OB or CNM would and can hold that perspective — because they often are just not held accountable. My friend, unsurprisingly, chose the hospital for subsequent deliveries.

The trouble with homebirth is that an uncomplicated homebirth has the potential to be an incredible and empowering experience. The stories and photos of those can be very appealing—they sound and look intoxicating if you read enough. But at the end of the day you simply can’t predict ahead of time if you will have an uncomplicated delivery or an obstetric emergency requiring urgent medical intervention. So even though the latter hopefully doesn’t happen to you, it can and it does and in that case, home is simply the wrong place to be and can mean minutes between life and death for you and your baby.

For me, I ultimately decided I was not comfortable with the risks of homebirth and did not want to live with the potential guilt of prioritizing my birth experience over the safety and health of my baby in the event of complications, which I knew could not be predicted in advance. I wanted to have the peace of mind that if my child was injured or god forbid, died, or if I needed urgent medical care, that I would be in the best place to receive medical care and would not have to live with the kind of guilt my friend has. I’m all about choice, and I continue to believe someone who wants homebirth should have the choice, but I believe they need to be totally informed and aware of the risks and to still want to do it in light of time. The trouble is that most women who have successful home births only know the positive side of their perspective, and don’t know or understand the risks fully.

[Anonymous]

Don’t do it

Too much risk

Why chance it ?

[Anonymous]

I originally considered it but decided on midwives at a hospital. First time the midwife was very imtervention-happy and medicalized. The whole thing was stressful.

Second time (different midwife/hospital) was wonderful. Just the midwife in the room with one nurse who mostly stayed off to the side. They dimmed the lights and let me labor in any position. She knew where to push to help with certain pains. They mostly left me alone when I was recovering, but were available when DD had some abnormalities that needed monitoring.

Find the right midwife and hospital, based on recent reviews, and you can still have a peaceful and personal experience.

[Anonymous]

I'm in Charlottesville and during Covid this has become really common/popular. BUT UVA is literally 3-4 minutes away from most places in town. Most women who are doing it are on their 2/3 baby and have zero risks or complications.

[Anonymous]

My sister in law did this for her second.

The baby was 10 pounds, and my sister in law immediately started to hemorrhage. She was rushed to the hospital where she stayed for 5 days.

And if you DON'T have the baby in the hospital, then the baby can't stay. The baby counts as a visitor. And during Covid, who knows, they might not allow it.

[Anonymous]

I’m having baby 4 with Birthcare in Alexandria (though at their birth center, not my house). I talked through with them all the common emergency situations, and feel comfortable with their prep for maternal hemorrhage, newborn resuscitation, etc. The number of circumstances where you need emergency access to a NICU or surgical suite and there are no earlier signs (in pregnancy or in labor) is really really small, and they’re pretty aggressive about risking moms out. I think my chances of needing a hospital are smaller than my chances of being exposed to coronavirus at hospital prenatal appointments or during delivery.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Even though baby and I had no risk factors, my third would be dead if I had him at home. Don’t.

This is absolutely ridiculous and just the kind of histrionics I'd expect on this board. You have no idea what the issues were with her 3rd or if she really even needed medical intervention. Do you see how many women here claim they needed an "emergency cesarean", yet they weren't placed under general anesthesia? Here's a newsflash, that's called an unplanned cesarean, almost always done unnecessarily.

I've had a free standing birth center birth, homebirth and I'm planning another homebirth. I'm a big advocate for birthing at home.

I will say, it's not for the faint of heart. I doubt many of my friends have the pain tolerance to handle it. They'd likely demand a hospital transfer after a few mins of transition. I do believe it's almost always healthier for the baby and mother to deliver in the home environment. Also brings baby into a calm and loving environment, that's a much better way to be welcomed onto the earth side.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Has anybody here ever done one? I am in my second trimester and have started doing research into it and am really interested in the experience. Don't know how to go about finding more DC specific information (have reached out to a couple of midwives for clarification) and would also just love to hear if anybody has had any experience with it.

My SIL did this and the baby died. Please have the baby in a birthing center if not a hospital

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Don’t do it

Too much risk

Why chance it ?

Why not educate yourself? There's very little risk involved with a homebirth, they will calculate your risk and determine if you're a candidate. You're far more likely to pick up sepsis in the hospital than have a problem with your homebirth.