Anonymous wrote:I recently read that 10% of babies require help to start to breath at birth. you REALLY want to be in the hospital if your baby is one of those 1 in 10.

Midwives at home are absolutely capable of this. Your drawing an absurd and baseless conclusion.

OP check out Premier Birth Center in Chantilly. They are an accredited center and have a transfer plan in place. They also routinely practice emergency drills for commons and uncommon emergencies that could arise (hemmorage, shoulder dystocia, etc). I gave birth to my first there (transfered later in my pregnancy but had been previously with the GW midwives) and had a wonderful and completely safe unmedicated water birth at their birth center. I was the only one there with a midwife, two nurses, and my fouls all 100% dedicated to my and my baby’s care. They are with you until you are discharged so they are able to fully monitor and track you WAY better than random doctors and nurses “popping in” occasionally.

My son took a little longer to start breathing (common with water birth babies because their heads and body hit the air at the same time), and the midwife quickly, calmly, and professionally was able to aspirate and clear his lungs so he could breath easily.

Do your own research and make your own decision. There is a spectrum between a hospital and a home birth - I found the midwives at Premier Birth Center to be the perfect in between for me. Good luck!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Both home births and hospital births have risks. Stop trying to convince others that one is clearly superior in every aspect than the other. It’s not, they both have pros and cons that are hard to put a value to.

For me the main difference is that for a hospital birth you don’t need to think or prepare for how you’ll deal with every possible complication since there’s already a protocol in place. For a home birth you need to set up those protocols with your midwife and be sure you’re comfortable with the risks for you and your baby.

I’m a FTM and I’m going with midwives in a hospital since that’s the level of risk we feel more comfortable with as a family. We’ll see next time.

Hi! May I ask which midwives and hospital? Thank you!

PP here, I’m going with the GW midwives. I went to one of their meet the midwives events and liked them. GW is close to work and home and they have a good NICU. The midwifery practice is collaborative with the OBs and MFMs, so it’s convenient if something comes up and I need a different model of care. In this forum there’s a couple of GW midwives haters, I decided to follow my instinct instead. I’m almost 20 weeks and they’ve never forced anything on me or asked if I was eating according to their guidelines.

Anonymous wrote:Both home births and hospital births have risks. Stop trying to convince others that one is clearly superior in every aspect than the other. It’s not, they both have pros and cons that are hard to put a value to.

For me the main difference is that for a hospital birth you don’t need to think or prepare for how you’ll deal with every possible complication since there’s already a protocol in place. For a home birth you need to set up those protocols with your midwife and be sure you’re comfortable with the risks for you and your baby.

I’m a FTM and I’m going with midwives in a hospital since that’s the level of risk we feel more comfortable with as a family. We’ll see next time.

Hi! May I ask which midwives and hospital? Thank you!

Anonymous wrote: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.

What hospital and midwife did you use the second time around?

I get it and have thought about it. I have had two uncomplicated, unmedicated births with minimal (pleasant) hospital stays. However, I know two families in which the babies died in home birth from preventable issues.

My second was large and a shoulder dystocia. Midwife at the hospital got her out quickly but if things had been a bit different, I might have needed a C section and baby immediate NICU.

Anonymous wrote:It is really hard now to get an appmt with a midwife at a birth center for home birth/center birth now. Lots of moms going this route these days. Hospital? No thanks, , DH and i are steering clear.

Luckily, you don’t need an appointment for the emergency room, which is probably where you will end up anyway.

It is really hard now to get an appmt with a midwife at a birth center for home birth/center birth now. Lots of moms going this route these days. Hospital? No thanks, , DH and i are steering clear.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Earth side?

Lemme guess...you didn’t have labor pains or contractions, you had “rushes”, amirite?

The baby doesn’t have a freaking clue where it is when it comes out. It’s a baby.