Homebirth! - Page 2

[DoulaClara]

Why have you planned a homebirth? Because I read and re-read Kim Wildner's Mother's Intention: How Belief Shapes Birth about a hundred times in the past two years. I just feel better being at home.

Have you had a previous homebirth (or births)? No

Have you had a previous hospital/birthing center birth (or births)? No, but I worked as a doula for births last year that made me very upset (in the Chicagoland area) and I saw things done to women that horrified the hell out of me. One Doc came into the room pissed off (after the nurses called him for over an hour telling them that the baby was pretty much almost there- the mom was at 0 or lower, and dilated), didn't bother telling my client "Hello," or "Hi," or "F-You," and grabbed a glove, stuck it on, and jammed his hand inside of her. I wanted to bash his head in. My client had opted for an epidural, and didn't appear to notice. Another woman was given drugs that dialed her Cxs up and down and all around in what ended up being a nightmare of an induction. Still another woman... but, you get my point!

I choose to do what is best for me and my baby, nd I'm not giving the power of my birth over to anyone else. I am going to personally make it happen, instead of hoping against hope that a medical staff will honor my decisions when I'm deep in my labor brain.

Clara

[bbrandonsmom]

I want to have one as well. With ds there were too many things that we did not like at the hospital. I just have to fully convince dh on it, otherwise it will be the birth center, and we'll be home opnly a few hours after birth. Now if there are complications and I have to be attended to in a hospital, we will have a doula or midwife-they're the best.

[KlutzyGirl]

I am pregnant with my first and am planning a homebirth with very low-tech. pre-natal care (only fetal stethoscope, no doppler or sonogram). I completely trust my body to birth a baby without interference. I believe that medicine has it's place, but not in normal, natural birth. Medicine and hospitals are for really sick people, and I don't think being pregnant is a sickness. I believe that all animals, including humans, will seak out the safest most comfortable place to birth in and for me that will always be home.

[party_of_seven]

Why have you planned a homebirth? I do much better laboring with privacy. I can't handle the total lack of privacy that goes on in a hospital setting. When too many peole are around I feel inhibited and my labor slows. Things progress much easier for me when I am alone and I have the freedom to move...I'm better able to listen to my body.

Have you had a previous homebirth (or births)? 3 glorious and wonderful HBs

Have you had a previous hospital/birthing center birth (or births)? My first was a 30 hour labor that ended in a forceps delivery. The labor itself was not bad. I labored with no drugs, and had very little pain. When it came time to push I was strapped to the bed by the monitors and afraid to move and mess them up. My big 9# little girl was just not going to come out with me sitting on my butt. I was tired, and I thought that if there was something else I should be doing the doctor would tell me, right? LOL. The forceps delivery was a nightmare though, and poor dh is still traumatized from seeing that. Needless to say, I will never set foot back in a hosptial unless there is a serious need for it.

[tiffany21074]

i had a freestanding birth center birth with my dd; we wanted to put off homebirth until we knew what to expect. this time, we do! We are so excited, and because last time I almost gave birth in the car on the way to the center, it will be very nice to just labor whereever i am at!

[Panthira]

I called my insurance company and they DO NOT pay for homebirths, and since I'm going for a VBAC (this will be my 3rd VBAC!), it's illegal for me to have my baby in a birth center in California, the oh so progressive state.

We cannot afford to pay for a midwife for a homebirth out of pocket, so I'm a little worried. I do NOT want another hospital birth! I had a midwife hospital birth last time, but still had to have a heplock (needle in my hand) and couldn't give birth in the tub. I also had to stay for 24 hrs after and that sucked!

I'm not sure yet what we'll do...

ETA: the closest hospital where I can have a midwife in attendence is in San Francisco, 50 minutes from my home. I labored on the way there last time and that was not fun.

[KlutzyGirl]

Panthira,

Please excuse my ignorance, why can't you simply check yourself out of the hospital if you don't want to stay the 24 hours? I thought hospitals couldn't keep people if they demanded to go...

I hope you get your homebirth. My DH was a little miffed to discover that the insurance we have had for over a year (and not used at all) will still not be used because Blue Cross Blue Shield HMO doesn't have any homebirthing midwives in their plan, but I insisted we go out of plan for this. Maybe you can barter with a homebirthing midwife, perhaps get a reduced or extended payment plan. It's worth checking out your options.

[aileen]

panthira - i agree with klutzygirl. i know of many homebirth midwives (if that is truely what you want - don't mean to sound pushy) who have never turned away a mother for lack of funds. i have many friends who pay a small amount every month for births that took place years ago. (some do sliding scale, even!) in fact, one of the midwives we interviewed last pregnancy actually made a point of telling us that no one was ever turned away before she even knew our situation. we are lucky and had been able to save it up, but i still cried when she announced that because i found it so incredibly touching. (she's quite famous - coined the term VBAC even )
there is a thread in the homebirth forum that discusses creative ways to pay your midwife and i know some states have loop holes that you may be able to find and jump through. maybe if you asked in your tribal area? (like in oregon, OHP doesn't cover homebirth except there's a "sneaky" way you can get it covered if you don't sign up till X # of weeks...)
50 minutes in a car in possible san fran traffic sounds frightful, friend.
yikes.
i hope you can find a way, but heck if you're headed to alta bates, (maybe you can just read "babycatcher" on the drive...) there's proabably not a better hospital to be at.

[Panthira]

It wasn't just the hospital stay but things like the heplock, when they couldn't find my vein and kept sticking the needle in my hand over and over and it got massively bruised. That hurt more then the laboring. Then after I gave birth and I was so tired but I was pinned to this wall and they wouldn't help me get off the wall so I had some more issues that are probably TMI right now.

I know about leaving the hospital. I left the hospital on my first VBAC against doctor's orders when they wanted to hook me up to monitoring machines and have me lay there. I gave birth 48 hours later. I can only imagine that would have ended as a C/S had I let them keep me there. But once your baby is born, they sort of harrassed us and threatened to call CPS if we left because his temp was a little high. They kept coming in and swaddling him in 4 blankets! I told my DH I wanted to just leave, but he was too nervous to do that when they were threatening us.

I'll have to call around and find some local midwives to see what our options are. Thanks for the suggestions!

[Ashersmum]

There were so many things about the experience of a hospital birth that has steered me towards the decision of HB. I hated that I was made to lie down for fetal monitoring. The nurses took my baby from me immediately to 'warm him up' under a lamp for what seemed like hours whilst he was screaming! The fact that I was woken up every half an hour for bp tests etc. No emotional support or encouragement from the nurses/doctors on staff.
I am so excited to have a homebirth. I'm going to go the whole nine yards = waterbirth/hypnobirth/homebirth. It just feels so right. We just recently moved house and I instantly pictured the location in the house where I would deliver our new baby.
A couple of people I met recently used the midwife that I have chosen and they both said that it was an incredible experience

[KlutzyGirl]

Panthira, I got a sick feeling (not related to pregnancy!) when I read about the hospital threatening you with CPS. I can imagine how awful that is and I'm sure I would have stayed too with that hanging over my head. It's disgusting what people in positions of power can do to make you comply with something that you don't want to do and are supposedly protected by your rights... reminds me of a conversation I had with DH yesterday about how the schools require vaccinations to be able to enrole and that's how they assure compliance (I'm bucking that by homeschooling if I have to, humph!).