Where will you birth your child?

[soccermominsd]

I am VERY seriously considering a homebirth. DH is in agreement for whatever I want. I had such an awful experience with the hospital birth of my 16yo DD that I won't go through the restrictions of being stuck in a bed the whole time. They wouldn't 'allow' me to get up not even once No way Jose. I'm still not sure if a homebirth is the way we'll go-but it sure seems more appealing than the typical hospital strap-down experience to me.

I live in San Diego, California (Carlsbad to be exact)...anyone else live around here and have a good birthing experience (non-restrictive) at a hospital? Scripps La Jolla is where I had my DD last time but now they added a labor & delivery center in Encinitas. I was considering going to the Scripps L&D unit and inquiring about what their policies are now (as far as restrictions, ect) as well as the UCSD birthing center.

I met w/ the midwife yesterday and she has 3 levels of service she can offer: Doula services where she is basically an advocate during the birthing process, Monitrice where she does all the clinical midwife prenatals and assists you during labor UP until you are ready to go to the hospital-then she goes with you; or Midwife services where she does the whole nine yards including homebirth. It's either Monitrice or homebirth for me.

I would love to hear your thoughts and what you 'think' you may do when the time comes

[Earthy~Mama]

I just typed a long reply but my 6 yo just came and pressed esc so... I will go with the short verson. I want a homebirth. I had two hospital births and one waterbirth. The latter was definitly the best! The likely hood that I will have homebirth over here is slim

[mom2sweetboy]

At the same hospital where I had my son. They have rooming in with your baby and are very pro-breastfeeding (no botttles, pacifiers, etc).

[mama2silas]

Same hospital as with DS. I had a horrible experience, BUT not because of hospital policy or staff. The nursing staff was awesome, and the policies are even better now -- no baby leaves mom unless mom requests. They also have a level II NICU. I never thought that was important, but DS had a pneumothorax and was in the NICU for a week.

Plus, my new doctor is kinda head honcho there, and he is VERY pro-VBAC and low/no intervention, and what he says goes.

While my DH entrusts all pregnancy decisions to me, he is very against us having a homebirth. With DS, we were at least very close to a hospital (5-7 minutes). Now we are a good 15 minutes, and that hospital doesn't support vbacs, so I'd hate to have to go there in an emergency. I'll hang out at home for as long as possible though.

[umami_mommy]

homebirth rocks!! i would never consider birthing in a medical environment unless i or the baby were literally dying.

this time we are further away from a midwife so we just borrowed a copy of "emergency childbirth!"

[umami_mommy]

to the OP... my son and i were looking at some homebirth photos last night and here's a few links to maybe help you make up your mind (don't know what your last births were like, but you might want to learn more about how different homebirth is to a medical enviroment)

http://www.nandu.hu/English/Childbir.../csbirth01.htm

http://www.waterbirthinfo.com/photos.html

http://www.fruitfulvine.com/story.html

HTH!

[chrissy]

definitely homebirth!!

my first was born in a hospital and it was not a good experience, to the say the least.

my second was born at home and it was absolutely the most beautiful, empowering experience of my life. i can't wait to do it again!

[ariahsmum]

We will plan to set things up for a home birth- or maybe even an outside-under- the-moon birth.

Even though I have done it before (well, while in a drug-induced coma in an operating room) I can NOT imagine birthing in the hospital unless it wass an emergency life threatening situation.

Still undecided on UC... but we can wait to decide until the baby's head crowns

[mommy_milky]

I can only speak about my experience, but for us, homebirth was an amazing experience! The best way that I can describe our homebirth was peaceful. We labored, some friends, my mom and our midwife came by, and our daughter was born. Then, we crawled into bed and just hung out with our family! Obviously, not all homebirths are the same, but it felt great for us.

[chaibaby]

I would love to have a homebirth...my trouble is having to convince my husband. His sister gave birth last August two months early and so his only birth experience is an early birth that required our nephew to be in neonatal ICU for two months.
Regardless, we are reading lots of great books and researching all of the information in order to make an informed decision.

[ocelotmom]

We haven't decided between homebirth or the local hospital birthing center.

As far as homebirth goes, I'd love to, but there's a good chance that our home at the time of the birth won't be roomy or private enough for me to be comfortable, and will offer no chance of having a waterbirth (DH really wants us to move into an RV, and I'm coming around to the idea).

The birthing center... I'm a volunteer doula there, and that's definitely pushed me closer towards considering homebirth However, the births I've seen have all been fairly irregular cases - all were for non-English speakers who hadn't really communicated their desires to either me or the staff, all had pitocin (apparently their pitocin rate is around 15% normally). Most people I know rave about it - I'm just not sure they're as low-intervention as they talk.

Insurance will also play a role.

[katiesmom]

I would love to have a homebirth, but midwives aren't allowed to attend homebirths in IL. There is one place where the OB attends with the midwife, but they don't take our insurance and are $$. SO, I will hopefully have a midwife attended hospital birth. The whole insurance thing is really aggravating!

[LotusBirthMama]

A freebirth at home with my hubby and kids!

[Hayes]

home
I had 3 hospital births, 1 was tough, 1 was super easy, 1 was fine, but longer than expected.

Then, I had a homebirth. It was tough. shoulder dystocia, long pushing phase, especially considering my last babe practically fell out.

But I will be home. No way I will have another babe ina hospital unless there are serious issues with babe or me.

[chrissy]

Originally Posted by ariahsmum

We will plan to set things up for a home birth- or maybe even an outside-under- the-moon birth.l

Ah, outside!! Last time I labored all the way until the very end outside, under the moon. It was wonderful! I wish I'd have known ahead of time how much I loved it out there and I might have set my fishy pool up out there too.

[Media Mama]

We hope for a homebirth again - it was lovely - but I'm not opposed to going to the hospital if need be.

Those of you with other kids, do you plan to let them be at the birth, or will you have someone watch them offsite?

[soccermominsd]

Thanks everyone for sharing your experiences and intentions. I love hearing about the home births. Andrea, I checked out the links and loved the link that had the 100 photos of the homebirth-that was awesome.

One thing I'm curious about and forgive my ignorance...but how messy is a homebirth or is it? I have preconceived notions that it's really messy. The reason is I was at my girlfriends birth of her son 9 years ago in an L&D hospital unit-so she was lying down the whole time and there was a trash bag below the table catching everything & I mean everything. But on the photos that I mentioned above I saw barely anything, even when the baby was coming out (water birth); the midwife had a pooper-scooper in the pool which I can totally understand. So I guess since you are allowed to actually get up & go to the bathroom, there is probably less mess, am I right?

Sorry for my ignorance..

[ocelotmom]

Originally Posted by Media Mama

Those of you with other kids, do you plan to let them be at the birth, or will you have someone watch them offsite?

I have a 2.5 year old. I'd like to have him there for the birth itself, but I can't quite imagine either him or me doing well with him being there the whole time, so I plan to have a friend there who can take him out as needed or stay with me while DH takes him out.

[umami_mommy]

i wouldn't let my son miss his sibling's birth for all the world (unless he decided he didn't want to be there). we will likely have someone here to help keep an eye on him though...

as far as messy... my partner had the pool drained and deflated before we were done measuring my son. and that was it! BTW, it's part of the midwife's job to help clean up. which is really nice.

you get some old towels and sheets to use and if you wish you can just throw them out or compost them... i washed and saved mine.

some people say they like how someone else takes care of everything for you at a hosp. or birth center... but really i can't imagine trading the comfort of my own home and the lack of pressure and interventions (not to mention no c-sections at home) for someone doing some laundry and bringing a few yucky meals. (i love that birth in 100 photos too)

[mommy_milky]

Messy is not how I would describe our homebirth! On our supply list was a big bag of chux pads, which the midwives kept laying down very effectively! IAfter my water broke I labored on our expensive ottoman and pushed sitting on couch cushions, and neither the ottoman or the couch cushions were any worse for the experience. After the baby is born is when the mess really starts! Mara has now peed and thrown up on the couch, both of which left more marks than the birth!