Considering home birth

[SoonToBe]

Hi there. This is my first post. I'm not even pregnant yet, but I've been interviewing home birth midwives already. There aren't that many in my area and they don't take a lot of patients at once to make sure they will be available for the births so I wanted to get a head start.

I am very attracted to the idea of home birth. I love the intimacy of it, the lack of "standard" interventions, more control over the situation, etc, etc...obviously I don't need to tell you all the pros!

I have a medical condition that could create more problems at birth than a typical woman, but it's easily managed and I will have syringes of steroids available to me just in case. (I don't produce enough of my own cortisol so I have to take hydrocortisone daily in a low dose and more during illness, injury, etc).

I have read the statistics and see that home birth is as safe or even safer than hospital births. I know there are fewer interventions, forceps, tears, resulting C-sections, need for resuscitation, etc. If the woman is healthy, there's no reason to think a problem will arise and most problems come on slowly so there's time to transport. What I can't find is information about outcomes when there is an emergency. Do you have that?

I know there is a far smaller chance of complication at home, but if there is a true emergency, am I more at risk?

I am 32 years old. Healthy (besides the cortisol thing). The midwives carry oxygen, pitocin, another hemorrhage drug, IV's etc. There are 2 hospitals nearby that are home birth transport friendly and each are less than 20 minutes away. The closest ER is less than 8 minutes away.

I am so excited at the prospect of home birth. I think I just need a little reassurance. Thanks so much!

Bree

[Cczar]

Congratulations deciding to consider home birth. I am 26 and less than 2 weeks from my due date of my second baby. I did want to encourage your home birth thoughts as home birth can be very intimate and beautiful, but since you were worried about the transport possibility, I thought my experience might be helpful to you.

My first baby was a homebirth attempt. I couldn't imagine having a baby at the hospital then and wanted nothing more than a natural, beautiful home birth of our baby girl. However, my exact interpretations of the birth did not go the way I expected. I had been in labor for about 3 days - 2 days with harder labor and had stalled in my labor. The ladies with me decided that I needed to be transported to the hospital since I was running low on energy. It was the best thing I did. I had to have my water broke, pitocin, and gave into an epidural. (LUCKILY - I had selected a CNM at a hospital about 45 minutes from my home). He was awesome. I felt, at the time, that I had failed, not having the home birth I wanted and had to have interventions. However, the interventions were exactly what I needed to still achieve a vaginal birth to my daughter. If I would have just went the hospital 15 minutes away, I feel any other doc would have wanted to c-section me right away.

So now, with baby #2, as I still have full faith in a home-birth, I have chosen to have my baby with the my CNM at the hospital. We were very happy with our entire experience and are planning a natural, unmedicated, no intervention birth if possible.

I have been able to experience other successful home births from other women - so it can happen, but don't worry about a hospital transport, just try to find midwives at that hospital so you can meet with them and be familiar with them as well! I hope that helps you!

[maddiesmama547]

Congrats, you are way ahead of the pack for considering home birth for your first baby! Have you asked any of the midwives you have interviewed about your condition and if it adds any risk to birthing at home? Midwives are usually pretty common sense people, and wouldn't risk you out for anything that wasn't going to directly affect your pregnancy or birth. Also, some internet research couldn't hurt. I think as long as your condition (or medication) don't put you at a higher risk for any specific complications such as high blood pressure or excessive bleeding, then you could safely approach planning a home birth and address any issues as they arise. Giving birth at home is a wonderful gift to you and your child. Have fun ttc and good luck!!!!

[SoonToBe]

"I have read the statistics and see that home birth is as safe or even safer than hospital births. I know there are fewer interventions, forceps, tears, resulting C-sections, need for resuscitation, etc. If the woman is healthy, there's no reason to think a problem will arise and most problems come on slowly so there's time to transport. What I can't find is information about outcomes when there is an emergency. Do you have that?

I know there is a far smaller chance of complication at home, but if there is a true emergency, am I more at risk? "

I guess I was a little misleading...oops. I wasn't asking about whether my medical condition would cause a problem. I'm confident I can handle it and it doesn't exclude me from a HB at all.

I was just too long-winded and made a short story long. I'm just trying to find out info about outcomes when complications do arise. I realize they are less common at home, but are they more catastrophic when they do occur? Know what I mean?

Sorry for being unclear and putting in too much detail. I think I'm just excited!

Thanks for the feedback so far!

Bree

[LiLStar]

The maternal/neonatal mortality rate is about the same at home and in the hospital. The morbidity rate is lower at home. I do not believe that birth emergencies are more catastrophic at home. I actually did have an emergency in my birth. everything turned out just fine, no hospital transfer needed, and my first moments with my baby weren't disturbed. It wasn't traumatic to me at all because it was handled so well without any unnecessary panic. After I was in bed snuggling my baby and the midwives left and we were all alone.. I kept thinking "I am so glad I was at home. That could have been so bad at a hospital!"

[MsBlack]

This may be a bit OT...but I am wondering if you have ever looked into natural therapies to cure your condition~~?

While western medicine has its place, in many cases it does not have the ability to actually cure underlying conditions of many types--it can offer, as in your case, medications to control such conditions, but not to actually promote your healing.

And I'm not saying that you definitely can be cured--I wouldn't know. But I do know that such modalities as Chinese medicine, Ayurvedic Medicine, Naturopathy and even Chiropractic have been known to help people address the underlying causes of many conditions so as to cure them. Chinese Medicine helped me to cure Graves Disease, an autoimmune disorder, whereas the endocrinologists I spoke to basically said that Graves is incurable (and it is incurable, with the methods of western medicine). I want to add that with Chiropractic, it's not just about skeletal re-alignment anymore--tho correct alignment can indeed allow improved functioning of the body that will help enable healing of all sorts of things. Now, however, Chiropractic has greatly expanded what it offers (if you find a chiro with current info and training) by way of testing and the use of herbs and supplements that can address various conditions considered 'incurable' by western med.

In any event, as you prepare to ttc and search for mws, you might want to consider also consulting with one or more types of natural healers to discover whether or not you might actually be able to either be cured of your condition, or at least find gentle natural methods of dealing with it in your daily life.

good luck in any event!