Am I crazy to think about a home birth?

I'm not in the UK yet (nor do I have any children!) but as I plan on having my kids in the UK I was wondering - is there no happy medium between homebirths and hospitals? I don't think I would like to give birth at home, but by the same token I'd rather stay out of the hospital. Are there any midwifery centers near or attached to hospitals where women can give birth? Usually they are "homey" and lacking the hospital atmosphere, but close enough to the hospital in case of complications.

Yes, there are. I know there was one in Devon where I had my second child. You could even chose to go recuperate there if you had a c-sec in hospital.

I'm not in the UK yet (nor do I have any children!) but as I plan on having my kids in the UK I was wondering - is there no happy medium between homebirths and hospitals? I don't think I would like to give birth at home, but by the same token I'd rather stay out of the hospital. Are there any midwifery centers near or attached to hospitals where women can give birth? Usually they are "homey" and lacking the hospital atmosphere, but close enough to the hospital in case of complications.

Yup!  I'm planning on (barring unforeseen circumstances) giving birth at the midwife-led unit attached to our hospital, though I know some in the UK are completely separate entities from a hospital.  It's quite holistic and focuses more on the natural side of childbirth...there's 2 birthing pools, a garden room, all sorts of balls, bars, stools, etc.  Gas & air only (nothing stronger) and even the MWs on staff are trained in aromatherapy!  It's on the same floor as the regular birthing unit so if something DOES go wrong, you are transferred lickity-split.

Yup!  I'm planning on (barring unforeseen circumstances) giving birth at the midwife-led unit attached to our hospital, though I know some in the UK are completely separate entities from a hospital.  It's quite holistic and focuses more on the natural side of childbirth...there's 2 birthing pools, a garden room, all sorts of balls, bars, stools, etc.  Gas & air only (nothing stronger) and even the MWs on staff are trained in aromatherapy!  It's on the same floor as the regular birthing unit so if something DOES go wrong, you are transferred lickity-split.

This is how the Labor & Delivery Unit at the Royal Derby is as well.

Thanks for all the replies ladies! It's really helpful to hear all your thoughts and experiences, pro and con.

I'm inclined to prepare for a drug-free birth, for two reasons. I've read some of the same stuff as Jewlz about the possible disadvantages of having drugs in labour, so I'd like to try to go without if I can; but also, it sounds like it can be hard to get drugs during labour if you haven't chosen them beforehand, so I wonder if it's best to prepare for not having them anyway. This goes to the question about midwifery centres at hospitals -- Aless, actually it sounds like you will be going to the same hospital I've chosen -- what I have heard is that if you are in the "home birth centre" at the hospital and want to get an epidural or such, you have to be transferred to the medical wing. This can take hours, because they are so full up all the time, and so often you deliver before you are able to get the drugs.

The home birth centres sound great in theory, which is why I was so happy to be going to this particular hospital, but from what I experienced last week, I'm a bit spooked that the one at my hospital might not always work as well in practice. Again, not to go into excruciating detail, but it sounds like getting admitted into the home birth centre can take a while (the OB said they often have women in early labour hanging out in the regular waiting rooms, which are chaotic) and the staff just seem really overwhelmed. (when I was in, it took 15 hours for me to get in to see an actual OB, even though they thought I had a serious medical problem) I had a really positive experience there with my scans, but being there as an inpatient was eye-opening.

The other hospital I would consider has a very good reputation for its midwives, but I've heard so many horror stories from friends about the hospital itself that I'm not sure what to think (a friend whose malaria was diagnosed as swine flu, another who was sent home with a broken arm and told to take paracetamol...) But it would be their very good midwives who would be attending me at a home birth, which is reassuring.

Really, my main worry is something going wrong. But I am less than 10 minutes from the hospital, and if the midwives are very good, hopefully they would catch any problems as soon as possible?

I know it would be hard to live with myself if we had a home birth and something very tragic happened; but something terrible could happen at the hospital as well, and then I would be kicking myself for having a hospital birth after being made aware of all the potential problems with that route.

Anyway, I'm sure I will go back and forth about this until I have to decide, so I really appreciate hearing all your thoughts

I'm not sure if you still need any info, but http://www.homebirth.org.uk/ is a great resource for all things homebirth, including your rights and that sort of thing (a lot of people will say that your midwife or doctor won't "allow" you to have a homebirth, which is a bunch of nonsense-- they are legally required to attend you wherever you are and you get to make the decisions). Good luck!

ETA: another thing to note is that if you live in close distance to a hospital, if you DO need an emergency transfer for a c-section, you'll probably be waiting the same amount of time as if you were in a hospital. There are a lot of studies that show it takes quite some time (I think 20-30 minutes) to completely prepare a woman and theater for a c-section, so if you called before leaving for them to prepare, your wait time would be the same as in hospital already.

*falls back into the thread and twitches*  I did it!  I homebirthed!  Though the midwife thought initially I had to be making up about my pain tolerance; she realized partway through I wasn't, especially when I was having contractions and just not noticing 'cause I'd gotten used to the pain.    Anyways, my baby girl was born safe and sound at home... right as the ambulance crew came to take us in, since even with an episiotomy, I was having a hard time pushing her out.  We had to call a different crew moments later (they didn't stick around, whups) because it was decided I needed to go into hospital to get sewn up by a super-pro (who somehow totally reminded me of JD from Scrubs  ).

Anyways, it IS doable - all I did fancy-like was breathe, breathe, breathe.  And take paracetamol... and maybe use the TENS machine.  Okay, and I did let myself have the gas and air once she midwife suggested it in the second stage of labor; it kept the edge off nicely!

I'll have more details tomorrow... happy new year, loves - me and my family need to get some sleep!

Wow! Congrats on a successful home birth and your new baby girl!

Congratulations and well done!!

Congratulations and well done Raeyn!  Now, the question - how long before midnight?   

Etonox is fantabulous and it's waay beneficial to baby during labour too.   

Fabulous, congrats!!!!

I almost gave birth at home last week...! :p Well, I was only in the hospital for about 5 minutes before I started pushing him out, LOL.

Oh congratulations!!! What great news! Hope you are feeling well and enjoying the little one 

Congratulations!

Yes, Entenox rocks.  I remember my first puff, in labour with my first 6.5 years ago, and saying, 'This is some good sh**.' 

I think I might've gone into labor the night before; my threshold for pain is kind of ridiculous, and I get really used to it, so like... pretty sure most people would've considered me in labor around midnight.  My mother talked me into counting the time between contractions when I woke up at 5am, and coaxed me into calling the midwife around 7-something.  The one who answered the phone decided that yup, I sounded like I was in labor; she'd have someone over in an hour.  Well, someone called after an hour, decided I WASN'T in labor (the times had gone a bit wonky after taking a bath), and I was about to give up and try to take a nap when someone showed up an hour later.

Now, when Bev (the one who attended me the whole day) showed up around.. 9:30?, she wasn't that convinced I was in labor either; it seems being able to talk through contractions isn't a common thing?  She got confused when the time on my contractions were being reported as shorter and shorter; this is about when she realized that no, they were going like.. 2 minutes long, but I was just getting used to the pain!

Anyways, this worked against me once we got into active labor - I started to get used to the pain (as used as you can get to something that intense!), and was having a hard time telling when to push (that, and someone's little head kept putting pressure on my rectum, so erm.. yeah.. was a bit afraid I was going to make a horrid mess in spite of that area being empty!).  I actually ended up flat on my back; for all one claims that's not an effective way to do things, it surprisingly was the best route for me!  But then, with the little one well stuck in... the midwife had to make a cut, and even had to call in an ambulance crew because she thought she was going to have to take me in for an instrumental delivery!  But no, Leah decided she was going to come on through RIGHT as the ambulance people showed up, so happy for that!

As said - had to go get sewn up, and yes, I'm not having a fun time sitting... but I'm still well satisfied with the experience.  We were cracking jokes all the way through (to include a hilarious jibe about the ambulance crew showing up scaring me into getting my lazy bum to work *laughs*), and while I don't look forward to repeating the entire experience anytime soon, I'm still glad I did it as I did.

Anyways, here's my little heartburn-causing sweetie:
http://www.digitalglitch.org/pictures/sleepyhead.jpg
http://www.digitalglitch.org/pictures/sleepyhead1.jpg



I will add again that having the hospital near to hand was a REALLY good thing for me, and that I'm still pretty sure I would not have been as happy with things if that hadn't been the case.  So really, if you're feeling up to it - give it a go!  Worst comes to worst, you have to transfer into hospital.

Aw, she's gorgeous!!!

Witch hazel, Raeyn.  Put some witch hazel in the fridge.  If you can put it in one of those wee travel spray bottles, all the better.  Spritz it or soak it on the maternity pad.

Also, get your a bag of frozen peas.  Sit on it with a kitchen towel and appropriate padding.

It's stingy when you go to the loo with stitches or a graze, so have a jug next to the sink.  Just fill it with warm water and pour over yourself when you need to go to the loo.

You can start doing some pelvic floor toning even with stitches in (I've had two instrumental deliveries!  One forceps, one ventouse).  So do, no matter how weak you feel.  And don't feel bad if you leak or have an accident.  It happens!

Drink tons of water and eat yoghurt and raisins or dried fruit if need be.