Homebirth in appartment?

[Kuba'sMama]

So, this is my third pregnancy, well fourth if I count the miscarriage I had very early on 2 years ago. With my ds I was quite young (barely 23 at delivery), the pregnancy was not planned and I was not aware of any other options than the standard ob/gyn care- hospital birth, etc. I did have a natural, non-medicated birth by some fluke of nature, surely not because of strong convictions, lol.

With my second 2.5 years later I had the chance to become much more informed and aware of my options and chose midwife care and hospital delivery. Again, natural, non medicated, very straightforward, no complications.

Well, with this one my husband and I have matured even more and really came into our own as adults and parents. We feel that we want to be home, deliver with our wonderful midwife and then crawl into our own bed with our baby.

The question is, does anybody have a personal experience of homebirth in an appartment building? We live in a small, 8 unit, 3 story walk-up. Very quiet, private, everyone pretty much keeps to themselves, mostly single older bachelors living here, a couple, one young family other than us. I don't want to feel inhibited or try to have a silent birth (I'm not sure that I can, I'm pretty sure I screamed at the top of my lungs during my dd's crowning, lol). So, I'd love to hear stories of appt. births, see how other mamas dealt with birthing in shared quarters!

[mataji4]

I have attended a birth in an apartment building, and one at an inn. No different than birthing in a house. There are always nosy neighbors no matter where. You can let your closest neighbors know you'll be birthing at home so they aren't worried about noise or comings-and-goings of midwives. And if you need to get down the stairs to transport, those EMTs are strong guys. I wouldn't let the apt be a factor- that's your home!

[jenfl]

Yup, I've done it. We just made sure we met our neighbors a month or so before the due date and let them know we'd be "laboring for a while at home", to explain any noise and avoid questions. It went fine, I turned out to be a pretty quiet laborer. Nobody noticed expect the neighbor whose door the back-up midwife accidentally knocked on at 6:30am.

[mistymama]

I'm planning to birth in an apartment. I will probaby tell our downstairs neighbors about a month or so before my due date so they don't call the cops or something.

I'm more concerned about the birth pool and the logictics of that! How do you drain it without a backyard to pour it in? Where do I put it? The living room has the most space but that's kinda where I wanted everyone to hang out and my bedroom has king size furniture and no room.

Regardless, I wouldn't worry about the noise as long as I told the neighbors who are most likely to hear you.

[Jelinifer]

We live in an apartment.... and are going with a birth center across town purely because we have no way to fill up a pool in our living room here and I've got my heart set on a water birth.

If I could fill up that pool here... I would have no problem having the baby here. We have a corner apartment on the first floor and our only neighbors are above us (we have the laundry room next door) and they are also expecting and due a few months behind me!

[MyLittleWarrior]

I live in a 4 unit town house building. I'm pretty close with my neighbors, and all of the other units in my building know were planning a homebirth and are very excited about it. We're not using a birth tub because of space issues and the fact that I went pretty fast with my last birth and I'm not even sure we'd have time to get it filled and use it.

[cocoanib]

I haven't done it yet, but will be birthing in our small condo with neighbors to the right and below us. We live on the top floor.
I'm not really worried about noise. It will only be for a short time and we have heard alot worse than the moaning or screaming sounds I might make!
As for the pool. We will use a hose attached to the faucet to fill and our MW has a pump to drain. I'm not sure if we will drain in the bath tub, sink or what. She has birthed in apts before, so I'm sure she has a handle on it.
Wer'e not discussing our homebirth with any of the neighbors. Especially the fact that there will be a pool. I'm sure they will start imagining all kinds of crazy things that could happen and maybe even try to make a fuss about it.

[gillibean]

Our first two were born in apartments. We didn't tell our neighbours. We considered putting a 'labour in progress' sign on the door in case I was loud but we didn't. We didn't have any issues or problems.

Originally Posted by Jelinifer

We live in an apartment.... and are going with a birth center across town purely because we have no way to fill up a pool in our living room here and I've got my heart set on a water birth.

I'm not sure why you can't fill up a pool at your place. We just put the faucet adapter on our kitchen sink and it worked fine.

For emptying we mainly just siphoned the water into the bathtub. We filled the 'emptying' hose with water then kinked the free end. We then detached the end from the faucet and put it into the pool. The water flowed into the tub until the water level was equal with the free end of the hose. Now we have a pump to empty the tub.

[Kuba'sMama]

Thanks a lot everyone for sharing your experiences. I did think it was ok, I guess I was more on the outlook for "nightmare stories", lol. Of course knowing how I am, I guess I will modify my behaviour a bit, because I am a bit of a people-pleaser. Telling my neighbours is probably not applicable in my case, like I mentioned everyone pretty much keeps to themselves, I'd feel weird knocking on doors saying "oh, I'm going to labour at home, so don't get scared if you hear any screaming".. and they'd be like "oh and you are...?" lol.

[Pinoikoi]

My bff gave birth in a dorm. Everyone on the floor knew and were excited. Well, I kind of think some college students use any excuse to party

I live in a townhouse and am planning a homebirth. One of my neighbors did it last summer so it won't be "breaking new ground" on it. Plus we built our house with Habitat for Humanity and they put a blip in the flyer about a homebirth in her new home so I am kind of hoping to get one too!

I have decided to birth on my first floor since 1) the floor is laminate I think that would be easier to clean 2) I have a click down futon in there that I can lay in if I want, 3) dp will stack all the wicker chairs and move them before hand so there will be plenty of room for a pool 4) kitchen access

My only drawback to that is that the first floor only has a half bathroom. I don't think it is a deal breaker though.

[jenfl]

Originally Posted by Kuba'sMama

Thanks a lot everyone for sharing your experiences. I did think it was ok, I guess I was more on the outlook for "nightmare stories", lol. Of course knowing how I am, I guess I will modify my behaviour a bit, because I am a bit of a people-pleaser. Telling my neighbours is probably not applicable in my case, like I mentioned everyone pretty much keeps to themselves, I'd feel weird knocking on doors saying "oh, I'm going to labour at home, so don't get scared if you hear any screaming".. and they'd be like "oh and you are...?" lol.

We didn't know our neighbors, either, and didn't want to come out of nowhere with the "we're having a homebirth!" speech. So at Christmas (DD was due in May), we went around with Christmas cookies just so they'd know who we were.

Of course, our complex was pretty high-turnover, and we ended up with a new upstairs neighbor just before the birth. So we went up and introduced ourselves and chatted a bit and brought up the homebirth. It all went fine.

[MamaMonica]

Moved to Homebirth.

[greycoral]

We live in a townhouse and let our neighbors know about a month ago, they were both pretty excited for us. I will still try and be a little quiet for their sake, but I don't think they would care.

[Marlet]

I've done it twice now. Like you, we live in a tiny building...most don't realize there are apartments here since the "store front" is quite literally a store (the bottom half of the building).

Both times now I have laboured during the day. DD2 started in the morning and she was born by 8:30 and DD3 started in the afternoon and was born by 7. This last one was on a Sunday and my town totally shuts down that day so everyone was most likely home. It honestly didn't phase/inhibit me in the least. In fact it doesn't even cross my mind until after the fact and I ask DH if I was loud. So far no one has said anything to me. We didn't give any one a heads up or anything either that we'd be having a homebirth.

[GreenGranolaMama]

Originally Posted by Pinoikoi

My bff gave birth in a dorm. Everyone on the floor knew and were excited. Well, I kind of think some college students use any excuse to party

Woah... thats pretty awesome!

[MittensKittens]

I have done it twice, including one UC. Homebirth is unheard of in the country where I live, so I definitely did not inform my neighbors in advance. I did consider putting a "labor in progress" sign up, but didn't. I had no problems at all, despite the fact that we have thin walls . I am not that loud in labor, though towards the end I did vocalize, and did wonder if I woke up the neighbors.

I love the story about giving birth in a dorm

[Peppamint]

I've attended births in apartments before and it was fine. In most cases, I think the moms had informed their neighbors beforehand. I have a duplex birth coming up this spring, and the neighbor is a nurse at the hospital just a few blocks away- I wonder what she is going to think.

[me&3]

My third birth was also in a small apartment -- we didn't even think to tell our neighbors! I labored during the day and my dd was born around 8:30 p.m. She was born in a pool - - I think my dh drained it in our kitchen sink - - he definitely filled it with a hose he bought that he connected to that sink! No one ever said anything to us so I guess they either didn't notice the noise or just ignored it.

[Belle]

We had Dd2 in our apartment. We did let our neighbors know ahead of time that we would be birthing at home. Nobody batted an eye at this. We p[ut a sign on the door while I was in labor that said "Home birth in progress, do not disturb" When I was actually in labor I moaned very loudly and was not quiet or inhibited. (I had Dd2 EARLY on a Saturday morning so I know everybody was home at the time) Nobody claimed to have heard anything from the birth but I did hear our upstairs neighbors having sex. Dh said that I inspired someone with my moaning.

[subtle]

apartment homebirth - 1 bathroom?

I am delighted to have found this thread. We will are planning a HB with our first due sometime in early May. We have talked a lot about noise and such but I am also wondering if anyone has suggestions for apartments with only 1 bathroom. Have you made any special arrangements for your husband or midwives? Someone suggested a commode to me so I have been pondering that.

Thanks for any ideas!

-Mollie