Marathon training, Home Birth style - Page 2

[Gena 22]

Being active, eating well and drinking enough water will help you loads. And get as much quality rest as you can and need. For me, good eating and walking daily put me in great shape before birth.

What made the difference for me, as a first time mom and HB'er was:

- A MW who put no deadlines on me for labor
- Hydration during labor. This almost got me. I vomited and got dehydrated, and needed and IV. I got one, but wished I had done more to hold liquids down. In the end, if not for the IV I would have had to transfer.
- Finally, attitude. I was not going to transfer unless the health of my babies were at risk. Exhaustion wasn't a good enough reason. When I realized (as you have much earlier) that many transfers are for maternal exhaustion, I decided there was no way I would give in to it.

Might be worth changing providers. I can't say. But keep doing what you're doing and read lots of good birth stories.

Oh yeah, and one more thing. Expect to go much longer than you think. Expect to go a full 42 weeks, and know you may go more than that. Be ready earlier but know it's likely to be a long wait. If you're good, even tell people you're due later than you are. Best to be patient, as calm as possible, and not hassled by people (even your MW or DH) wondering why you haven't given birth yet. It'll happen when your babe is ready!

[Climbergirl]

If you like your midwife, I would ask her how many of those transfers end up with natural birth and how many are c-sections? If the majority are c-sections, then I would be concerned. But it is possible she is transferring based on her requirements and then she supports really well at the hospital and has a low c-section rate.

Since I hope to HBAC, I want the lowest rate I can find.

[Overthemoon]

Hi There:
I'm getting ready for my first HB (after 3 hospital births) in just a few weeks.
When I interviewed my lay midwife, she said she's only had about 2 out of 500 mama's go to the hospital which I thought was good. I also asked her what things would prompt her to transfer me and felt good with her responses. She said it's not homebirth at any cost, which made me feel good that we are in safe hands. I also asked her to not let me whine and moan to go to the hospital because of pain and only if it's medically needed. (I had epidurals with all my others).

I'm super excited and can't wait to birth this baby at home in comfort.
I wish you much luck!

[AVeryGoodYear]

I did not really do anything physically to prep myself for the homebirth -- I focused on the MENTAL aspects. Know that you can do this. Know that this is natural and many, many other women have given birth in their home without pain medication. I read a lot of birth stories, homebirth and hospital birth both, and made certain that everyone who would be there with me (my husband and my mother-in-law) were not only comfortable with the thought of a homebirth, but SUPPORTIVE of it.

Once I had settled in my heart that a homebirth was the right choice for me, and then accepted that I have the strength of millions of other mothers who have done the same, I was ready for the birth.

If anything, all I can offer for physical help is to STAY HYDRATED! Chew some ice chips during the labour if you can't or don't want to hold a cup.

[super mamabug]

Staying active and healthy is going to be your best thing. Prepare mentally. Hypnobabies is amazing, Ina May's Guide is wonderful. Read birth stories - see what helped others. Journey Into Motherhood is a great book of birth stories and is available free online now.
I loved a book called Maternal Fitness. It is written by an RN but is very positive and assumes a natural birth. Has wonderful exercises for developing you abdominal that are often left out of other exercise programs. The focus is on your birthing and especially pushing muscles. This helped me feel very prepared for pushing. Upright abdominal exercise and different kinds of kegels than I had ever done. I found it wonderful and can't recommend it enough.
Yoga is fantastic as well.
Good luck and happy birthing.

[BonanzaJellybean]

I tried to have a homebirth with my first, and ended up transferring exhausted after a 60+ hour labor with a OP baby. My advice (and what I've been trying to do this time to have a homebirth) would be:

1. Learn about optimal fetal positioning and try to get the babe in a good position before labor starts. This would have taken hours off my first birth.
2. Make sure you really learn the signs of pre-labor, early labor and active labor. I feel like this was a little foggy for me last time, and I wasted a lot of energy in pre/early labor when I should have been trying to rest. I feel like Penny Simkin's "The Birth Partner" has a really good breakdown of this.
3. Make sure you find a midwife that you feel comfortable with. With my midwife last time, I felt very confident in her clinical judgment and experience, but did not feel a great emotional connection with her or that she really knew me as a person. This is someone who is going to hanging out in your house for a while, as well as witnessing you at your most open -- make sure it is someone you feel comfortable in that role.
4. Get an experienced doula. We had a pretty inexperienced doula last time, and although she was helpful, I know we would have gotten a lot more from a more experienced doula.

Good luck!