Homebirthers, would you have done it unassisted? - Page 4

[stephbrownthinks]

Oh congratulations! I didn't see your update before I posted! I'm glad you got the birth you wanted:)

[augustashley]

I have had 3 hospital births and one unassisted (unplanned and super fast) homebirth.  In a nutshell, my first labor was 46 hrs long, I went in and out of transition 3 times when the nurses would check/manipulate/monitor, my labor would just completely stop and regress.  It was awful.  For my second baby I resolved to not go to the hospital until I was closer to delivering.  I had NO idea it was going so quickly-less than 2 hours after the very first twinge of "I think that *might* have been a contraction" he suddenly descended and was crowning-no time to go anywhere.  He was born in two pushing contractions, and was fine, however, the fast birth caused a huge bruise down his face.  So there I was at home, with lots of knowlege and a natural birth with my first under my belt, with a baby with a purple face.  I was terrified that he had some lack of oxygen prior to delivery, and we hurried to the hospital.  Not having monitoring equipment, I had no idea if his heart had had issues or he had suffered prior to delivery, and it was terrifying until he was checked out to be fine.  With that experience, as much as I desired a homebirth, without an assistant, I wouldn't want to put my unexperienced self at the reins when something can quickly go wrong.  I went to have my two subsequent babies back in the hospital setting.  I'm now pregnant with my 5th, and have found a wonderful midwife who agreed to travel an hour to deliver this baby at home-I'm just trying to find a way to pay for it, my insurance is the pits.  I may end up back at a hospital again (ugg) just because $4K is so hard to stomach for a 2 day experience that will most likely produce a healthy baby either way, despite how uncomfortable and annoying the experience is.

[augustashley]

Just saw your update, I'm really glad that everything turned out fine for you.
 

[JamieCatheryn]

I posted my answer to this the day before I found out I was expecting my third. I said I could UC but would prefer someone experienced around just to reassure all was normal and ok, since normal can vary so much. Now I'm in a new place and have no hb mw option here, but do have a sort of birth center option with a midwife. I'm going with that, but if my DH were supportive of it I'd much rather stay home and UC. If it was a choice of hospital or UC only, I think I'd have to travel to somewhere else when I was due to gain some other option, again just because DH can't support UC and would try and force a transfer.