Hypothetically speaking...

[Lynski]

I am not planning a UC, and unfortunately will be giving birth in a hospital due to finances. However my labors are pretty quick once they get truly going. DH works 40 minutes away and I don't plan to leave the house if it looks like I am going to have a UC in the car. I realized last night that it's truly possible that he could arrive just in time to catch, or too late altogether. He missed DD's birth because he was putting DS in his carseat to go to daycare.

So if we do birth at home and everything is fine, do we really need to go to the hospital afterward? I'm guessing no, but all the info we got "in case of emergency" for my first baby involved calling 911 or at least driving to the hospital asap after birth. I feel like if the baby is healthy and so am I, what's the point?

What supplies should I have onhand, and can someone point me in the direction of some reading regarding what to do? With both births I remember almost nothing after the baby is actually out. Hospitals wisk everything away immediately, and my midwife cleaned up everything quickly too. I vaguely remember birthing the placenta, but I don't remember if it was a strong urge or the midwife's suggestion to push. I also don't know how much bleeding is normal or when to cut the cord, etc. All I really remember is holding the beautiful baby.

[mama_in_PA]

It might not be a bad idea to check on homebirth kits. They average around $40 but range upwards of about $30, depending on what you get. They generally have a pic and a list of contents of the kits so you can see what's in it. They have the cord clamps in them too. My last labor was really short too so we're planning a homebirth. We're in the process of getting our supplies together now. From what I experienced and stories I've heard of other women, in the hospital they cut the cord immediately unless you specify that you want them to wait for the cord to stop pulsating. I don't think there's any danger in keeping the cord intact too long. After a few minutes it will stop pulsating and then it's ok to clamp and cut. Other than that just make sure you've got a lot of towels on hand. I'm planning to have my midwife come because last time I needed stitches from tearing. Otherwise I'm sure I could handle it all myself.

[Lynski]

Shoot, I forgot about stitches. I'll probably need those too, I tore last time along the episiotomy they gave me the first time.

[dogmom327]

You might try cross-posting this in the Homebirth or UC forums. If it were me, I wouldn't call 911 if the baby was breathing and looked okay. If you think I'd torn and needed non-urgent medical attention then I'd go to the emergency room maybe a few hours later (once things had calmed down and I'd had a chance to nurse the baby). However, I would make it clear to the ER staff that the baby was there as my guest not as a patient. I would not let them try to admit the baby or check him out. That's just a slippery slope in my opinion.

In addition to getting an inexpensive birth kit (which I'll bet you could sell on the TP if you don't end up using it), you might want to check out the Emergency Childbirth book.

When we were planning our homebirth, we had the conversation with the midwife regarding what to do if the baby came quickly. She pointed out that babies who come that quickly rarely have anything wrong with them (there just isn't time for something to go wrong) and that as long as they breathe okay (may need to be stimulated a bit), then it's not a big deal. Just wait to clamp and cut the cord which buys the baby some extra time to get breathing established.

Hope that helps

[sunnymw]

Originally Posted by Lynski

Shoot, I forgot about stitches. I'll probably need those too, I tore last time along the episiotomy they gave me the first time.

I do believe that if you birth in a position that does NOT involve lying flat on your back, you are MUCH less likely to tear.

My backup MW said that in 15 years of attending HBs, she has never had a tear large enough to need repairing. Which included those that had episiotomies in the past .

You might want to bookmark this part of this site right here in case anything happens, or print out/study some of the info (basically just as you get closer to your due date, and only the stuff that's most crucial to you... ie, if your baby is head down obviously don't read the breech stuff).


Good luck and happy birthing


Oh, and don't worry about clamping/cutting the cord... it would be better for babe if it was born at home so it's not prematurely clamped! But don't rush to do it... some women even leave the entire placenta attached until day 4-5 when it comes off by itself

As far as placenta goes... if you let your body do what it's meant to do naturally, it will come out in due time. If it's taking a long time to come out (ie, several hours) I may transfer to the hospital... or if you are running a fever I'd go. Otherwise, there's no need to expose that babe to more germs if it's not necessary!

[Lynski]

THanks ladies for the info and links! I still think I will likely tear along the old scar, I did w/ DD who was a homebirth and I was not on my back. It was just so fast, and I tend to scar badly so the tissue doesn't stretch much. I'll have to think on that a bit.