Any homebirthers out there?

[megumic]

The delivery room thread got me thinking...any PS'ers have homebirths, either intentional or planned? If yes, please share your story! I know the statistics indicate only about 1% of moms give birth at home, but I figured there has to be more than one of us on PS who has or will give birth at home.

I know this is a controversial topic, so I ask that others merely share and that opinions on homebirth or links to stories are left for another thread. Thanks!

 

[PumpkinPie]

I don't have any kids yet but I watched the documentary "The Business of Being Born" last night. It was fascinating and I definitely would prefer a midwife birth over an OB/Gyn birth, but I don't think I will do it at home (my husband hates the idea). I will definitely hire a midwife to be my practitioner at the hospital or have the birth at a birth centre.

 

[fieryred33143]

Blen's was homebirth.. Hopefully she'll post it. That reminds me. I wonder if people would appreciate a birth story thread or if just posting on the preggo thread is enough?

 

[megumic]

Blen's was homebirth.. Hopefully she'll post it. That reminds me. I wonder if people would appreciate a birth story thread or if just posting on the preggo thread is enough?

I think a birth story thread is a great idea -- for someone who isn't preggo, I don't visit that thread and thus miss the birth stories. It would bring out both the beautiful and amazing, as well as the scary and frightening. Would be helpful to many on both accounts, seems to me.

 

[megumic]

I don't have any kids yet but I watched the documentary "The Business of Being Born" last night. It was fascinating and I definitely would prefer a midwife birth over an OB/Gyn birth, but I don't think I will do it at home (my husband hates the idea). I will definitely hire a midwife to be my practitioner at the hospital or have the birth at a birth centre.

I have also seen it -- very interesting and educational. I recommend the book Pushed by Jennifer Block as a follow-up to the movie. Although I don't have kids yet (soon though!) there is SO MUCH I NEVER KNEW about child birth and I'm so glad I began educating myself in advance.

 

[PumpkinPie]

I don't have any kids yet but I watched the documentary "The Business of Being Born" last night. It was fascinating and I definitely would prefer a midwife birth over an OB/Gyn birth, but I don't think I will do it at home (my husband hates the idea). I will definitely hire a midwife to be my practitioner at the hospital or have the birth at a birth centre.

I have also seen it -- very interesting and educational. I recommend the book Pushed by Jennifer Block as a follow-up to the movie. Although I don't have kids yet (soon though!) there is SO MUCH I NEVER KNEW about child birth and I'm so glad I began educating myself in advance.

Thanks for the recommendation megumic - I haven't read Pushed but I do have Misconceptions (Naomi Wolf) which I really enjoyed.

 

[Blenheim]

I am too lazy to type up a proper birth story, but here is the quick recap. Planned homebirth with CPMs. Baby's position was in question around 37 weeks, but we decided based on multiple factors that he was indeed vertex. Outer bag of waters broke at 39w3d. Irregular contractions for a day, day and a half. Went shopping, walked the dogs. Decided to go with WHO's guidelines regarding broken bag of water (which allow for more time than ACOG's recs, since ACOG's recs assume more frequent vaginal exams) and opted not to do any vaginal exams until it was clear that labor was well underway to minimize risk of infection. This ended up being at 9 cm, after the contractions had picked up substantially, to put it mildly. When I got to pushing, we learned that George was frank breech. My midwife was well-trained in breeches and felt comfortable birthing a full-term, well-sized, frank breech baby, but called the breech expert from one town over on over for backup. After two and a half hours of pushing, George was born on the guest room bed in the wee hours of the morning. Apgars of 9/9, in really good shape minus very swollen and bruised testicles from all the pushing with the way he was positioned. He nursed within an hour.

Link to whole birth story: [URL='https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/calling-all-the-pregnant-psers.47081/page-585']https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/calling-all-the-pregnant-psers.47081/page-585[/URL]
The bulk is towards the bottom of the page. I had posted a few updates prior to disappearing for hard labor and birth, so you would need to go back a couple of pages to get all of it.

I am planning to do a homebirth for this pregnancy, but have chosen to go with a CNM practice with a better relationship with area physicians. (I have since moved, so my last midwife is not an option.)

RockPaperScissors had homebirths with her last two. I think that her son is about 9 months old, and I know that she posted her birth story when he was born. There was some pretty rough, snowy weather and she labored alone at home for a while but her midwife did make it out to her in the end. I think that Jas had been planning on a homebirth with her second, although I think that she may have decided to birth in the hospital - does anyone remember?

 

[Dreamer_D]

I think Jas cancelled her HB plan when her daugher was diagnosed with kidney issues.

I was hoping for a home birth with myt first but it did not work out that way. This go around I am not sure and will play it by ear. OUr midwife can go either way so I am going to wait and see how I feel in the moment. Labour at home as long as possible for sure.

 

[Blenheim]

Thanks, DD, I knew that Jas had some diagnosis that may have affected the birth but I could not remember for the life of me what it was.

 

[waxing lyrical]

My fourth baby was born at home. I had a CPM. He's 11 months old now. I also planned a homebirth (CPM) with my third baby, but ended up being induced at the hospital. Baring any medical conditions all future babies will be born at home. I can't wait to do it again.

 

[megumic]

Thanks to all who have shared! We're hoping for homebirths down the road and it's great to hear the positive feedback and experiences, as there are so few homebirthers.

 

[waxing lyrical]

Thanks to all who have shared! We're hoping for homebirths down the road and it's great to hear the positive feedback and experiences, as there are so few homebirthers.

If you visit mothering.com you'll find a lot of us.

 

[megumic]

Thanks to all who have shared! We're hoping for homebirths down the road and it's great to hear the positive feedback and experiences, as there are so few homebirthers.

If you visit mothering.com you'll find a lot of us.

Thanks for the lead. I've actually been lurking over there for some time now for both personal and professional reasons. I am a law student and I'm writing a research paper about how unavailable vaginal interventionless childbirth is today, mostly because of the midwifery laws and malpractice insurance regulations.

In any event, see you over at mothering.com -- such a fabulous and encouraging community!

 

[mayachel]

Hi Megumic, I'm going to out myself as a student midwife (on the verge of graduation from an ACNM accredited master's program) because I want to tell you that I love that you are taking on this research. I've been present, as a doula at a handful of homebirths, over a 100 hospital births and many birth center births.

This past semester I've been working in a very medical management setting, with a hospital based midwifery practice. It was a real eye opener that just as all doctors go into ob/gyn for different reasons, so do midwives. While I whole heartedly agree that midwives on the whole are practicing with interventions as necessary as opposed to as a rule, I think the biggest difference comes with appreciating solid evidence based practice guidelines.

I can't tell you how many times I heard a resident or attending make a patient care choice that they knew was not in accordance with ACOG, but was what they "felt" should be done. This morning, I woke to find an e-mail from medscape celebrating that one of the top articles of the year was about not doing prophylactic/routine episiotomies. Even though I learn how to cut and repair one before ever stepping in front of a laboring woman, I also learned when it was appropriate. And let me tell you it isn't anywhere near as often as they are performed. The thing is-this isn't NEW or Cutting edge research. There has been solid evidence about this for the PAST 30 years! And officially from ACOG for the last 10years. Yet-here we are 10 years later, still looking at it as though it were a revolutionary new care choice.

I have heard, that there are pockets in the country where this isn't the case. Where collaboration and being up to date on the research is king. This is important to me, because while I would be the first to sign up for a homebirth assuming I have access to a skilled midwife to work with (which I already know I do) homebirth/unmedicated birth is not right for everyone. BUT just because a woman decides to use pain medication in labor, requiring more monitoring, shouldn't mean the basis of supporting a normal vaginal delivery go out the window.

Good luck with your studies.

 

[waxing lyrical]

Thanks for the lead. I've actually been lurking over there for some time now for both personal and professional reasons. I am a law student and I'm writing a research paper about how unavailable vaginal interventionless childbirth is today, mostly because of the midwifery laws and malpractice insurance regulations.

In any event, see you over at mothering.com -- such a fabulous and encouraging community!

**edited by moderator. Please comply with forum policies**

 

[megumic]

Hi Megumic, I'm going to out myself as a student midwife (on the verge of graduation from an ACNM accredited master's program) because I want to tell you that I love that you are taking on this research. I've been present, as a doula at a handful of homebirths, over a 100 hospital births and many birth center births.

This past semester I've been working in a very medical management setting, with a hospital based midwifery practice. It was a real eye opener that just as all doctors go into ob/gyn for different reasons, so do midwives. While I whole heartedly agree that midwives on the whole are practicing with interventions as necessary as opposed to as a rule, I think the biggest difference comes with appreciating solid evidence based practice guidelines.

I can't tell you how many times I heard a resident or attending make a patient care choice that they knew was not in accordance with ACOG, but was what they "felt" should be done. This morning, I woke to find an e-mail from medscape celebrating that one of the top articles of the year was about not doing prophylactic/routine episiotomies. Even though I learn how to cut and repair one before ever stepping in front of a laboring woman, I also learned when it was appropriate. And let me tell you it isn't anywhere near as often as they are performed. The thing is-this isn't NEW or Cutting edge research. There has been solid evidence about this for the PAST 30 years! And officially from ACOG for the last 10years. Yet-here we are 10 years later, still looking at it as though it were a revolutionary new care choice.

I have heard, that there are pockets in the country where this isn't the case. Where collaboration and being up to date on the research is king. This is important to me, because while I would be the first to sign up for a homebirth assuming I have access to a skilled midwife to work with (which I already know I do) homebirth/unmedicated birth is not right for everyone. BUT just because a woman decides to use pain medication in labor, requiring more monitoring, shouldn't mean the basis of supporting a normal vaginal delivery go out the window.

Good luck with your studies.

Thanks, Mayachel. I've just found it so interesting how the available childbirth options are shrinking, or for some, are non-existent as a result of the ob-gyn malpractice insurers (forbidding physicians to attend VBACs, breach, or multiple vaginal births despite the evidence based practices) and on the flipside of that, states having such high bars for midwives to meet in order to practice legally. It forces some women to choose between UC and unwanted hospital births that have mandated interventions.

I am amazed at how much knowledge and research is out there and how little of it is relied upon in a childbirth setting. As Americans, we are so accustomed to trusting every word out of our doctor's mouths, but quite frankly, I think our doctors largely fail us when it comes to low-risk women and childbirth. (I am not speaking of the cases that certainly do require medical intervention, as there certainly are a fair number of births so requiring.)

Perhaps this is largely a result of our legal system and the aptness with which people run to court when a doctor makes a mistake, which has resulted in the malpractice insurers reigning in the doctors ability to attend certain births. But nonetheless, we should be receiving optimal care based on what is best for mother and child -- not what is best for malpractice insurers.

At the very least, with how highly medicalized childbirth has become in the US, shouldn't our infant and mother mortality rates be lower (as in fewer deaths)?

ETA: I completely admire and applaud you for your work! It takes a truly special and committed individual to be a midwife and I am amazed at the exhausting, thankless, tireless, important work of midwives. THANK YOU!