Anyone regret their homebirth? - Page 2

[Peppamint]

Absolutely not... I do regret my hospital birth though!

[guest9921]

Not one bit. I can not imagine myself hospital birthing again.

(I, on the other hand, am glad I had both experiences [ds1 was hospital, ds2 was home]. It gives me perspective.)

[Arwyn]

As another poster said, even the women I know who transferred do not regret the homebirth choice, and the ones who do not have a medical indication for hospital birth after the transfer plan on planning homebirth again.

There may of course be women who regreted homebirth for one reason or another, and their feelings are valid, but that does seem to be a very small minority feeling.

[Gray's Mommy]

No regrets in choosing a homebirth. I am sad that I didn't waterbirth like planned, but the pool was too far away from my bed I don't regret my first born's hospital birth either since that is what helped open my mind to "alternative" birth choices.

[lc81002]

Nope, no regrets about having a homebirth here. It was incredible.

[Peacemamalove]

Never!!!! Mine was wonderful,amazing and so liberating..I tell everyone how wonderful it was!!!

[honeybee]

Originally Posted by Gray's Mommy

No regrets in choosing a homebirth. I am sad that I didn't waterbirth like planned, but the pool was too far away from my bed I don't regret my first born's hospital birth either since that is what helped open my mind to "alternative" birth choices.

Exactly, except for me I was never able to make it out of our bathroom after I threw up!

That doesn't mean that my homebirth was everything I expected, though. I, too, was expecting this really spiritual experience after reading Ima May. I mean, I knew it would probably hurt (my first one in the hospital did, after all), but I still expected to feel the angels singing, or something. Nope. The birth was so fast and intense that I just held my baby in my arms in shock, feeling like I had just been run over by a freight train. I was actually more mentally "present" for the exact moment of ds1's hospital birth than I was for ds2's homebirth.

Of course, with the recovery after birth there was no comparison. PP at home was the blissful, peaceful, spiritual bonding time for me. But, the experience of such a fast birth could've been pretty traumatic if we were rushing to the hospital or delivering on the side of the road, so I don't regret the homebirth at all.

I'm just hoping #3 will take a tad bit more time arriving!

[curlqueenmama]

I have no regrets...I have had 2 out-of-my-homebirths (one in a hospital, one in the elevator of the hospital), 2 homebirths (one unplanned unassisted---wow, what a way to be introduced to homebirth, no?, and the second attended by the midwives who are waiting, along with me, to catch my 5th baby!)

I am so inspired and committed to homebirth, that we will be having our first breech baby right here in our bedroom!

I can't wait!

I have no regrets.....none at all.....

Though I do wish I had more food prepared for my midwives following my daughter's birth...this time, I have planned to have a fried come over and make a huge supper for all participants.....

[greenmom4]

No regrets at all - probably the best decision I ever made was to follow my gut and go for a homebirth.

[rootzdawta]

Another voice chiming in with a "no"!! I had a fabulous, life transforming experience birthing at home and I can only pray that my future births will also be in the comfort of home.

I am now and forever a homebirth advocate. I hate bumper stickers but for homebirth, I'd put one on!

[mama~bear]

Absolutely not ... just had my third at-home-birth a week ago today. I can't say enough about how happy we are to birth our babies at home. My bathroom, my toilet, my tub, my bed, etc. I remember saying to my dh while laboring on the toilet that I couldn't imagine being comfortable in a hospital bathroom. Anyway, we're planning many more!

[echodonn]

Never regretful! My two HBs were wonderful. I'm glad I had Ana at the hospital and she introduced me to my midwives

[Belle]

No regrets about the hb. I wish that my first had been born at home too. But I had to have her in the hospital because I wasn't at a place in my life where I trusted myself to give birth yet. I had to grow into that.

I do wish I'd given the video camera to somebody who knew how to operate it. I ended up with some video of somebody's sandaled feet. But, that's just a minor thing. One of my mws got great still pics of the birth.

[Sweetmilo]

I'll be able to tell you soon, but after my hospital birth with my first baby, I'm almost positive I will NOT regret having my baby at home

[bobandjess99]

Regret is such a hard one...do i regret my kids, no of course not..the births....ehhh...

In some ways, no, but honestly, in some ways, YES, i do regret my homebirths.

I am glad my babies got to come into this world without the potential invasiveness, harshness, annoyance of a hosp birth, but the births themselves were horrible. There are LOTS of times where I have regretted not being able to get drugs. The pain was just...shocking, brutal, ..yes, it was a transforming experience, but NOT in a good way....

I'm glad i had them at home because I avoided all the arguments and annoyances from potential conflicts with doctors, etc, but to be honest, I'd have loved to have been able to choose a medicated birth. IF true informed consent were a reality and I could have consented to a hosp birth with pain meds but not other interventions, etc, I absolutely would have. Or if I copuld have had a homebirth but with pain meds like they have in England, I would have...etc.

This might seem like a really jaded way of looking at it, but I keep thinking that i "paid" for my babies so much more than the other women I know. By this, I mean for example my duaghter in law had about 30 minutes and 0 minutes of pain before her epidurals, in order to get her babies, whereas I had 16 and 10 hours of agony, absolute torture, in order to get my babies. The price was really high, and there have been times I've regretted paying that price, when I could NOT have....true, there would have been "payment" in other ways, like I've mentioned, dealing with docs, hospital procedures, higher risk of complications, etc...but looking back...to be really honest..
I really wish I hadn't paid such a high price for my babies. At times, it has made me resent them, which just makes me feel horrible to say..... it's sort of like buying something and then realizing you could have had it for half price if you had gone to another store..... I desperately wish I had just been "normal" and gotten a couple of epidurals, and maybe instead of years of post traumatic stress, I would be able to look back on my births as happy, wonderful events, instead of desperately wanting to black out all memory of the unspeakable agony that I endured.....

not to be a downer, but you did ask...

I hope you have a wonderful homebirth, and are among the majority that love their homebirths, even if they weren't what they expected, etc....

[Angela512]

I had my DD in the hospital...induced with pitocin and managed to do a full natural vaginal, no drugs or epi birth with her. After that experience, though, there was no way in HE!! I was going to do that again.

I had my DS at home. And, honestly, it wasn't anywhere NEAR as intense as my DD's birth, but the pitocin made those contractions super strong, so the difference between those contractions and the natural ones I had with my son...made a big difference.

I have no regrets having a homebirth. I'm having my next one in June. Let me tell you...being able to control the heat (it was FREEZING in the hospital), choosing to get in the shower or bath whenever I wanted, being able to walk around my room and labor in anyway that felt comfortable to me (the hospital discouraged too much movement as it interfered with the IV's, etc), and knowing that there are no super-germs in my home...and having my DD so close was great. It was great to not have to change rooms. Not having nurses coming in and bothering us every couple of hours (even through the night). It was great to have homemade food and wake up in my own comfy bed. Everything about it was just so much better than my hospital experience.

The hospital experience had it's place...but I'll never do it again.

Good luck with your homebirth!!!!

[sapphire_chan]

Originally Posted by bobandjess99

not to be a downer, but you did ask...

I'm glad you shared. I was actually getting kind of worried that people had had negative experiences and were scared to post.

[SleepyMamaBear]

another mama with NO regrets here. i LOVED my HBAC and if i ever have another baby, it will be birthed at home as well.
the only thing i wished differently, is i wished it were my own home, not a rented apartment, but we arent homeowners yet,,, so bah to that.
i would do it all over again in a heart beat. i paid for both of my babies, in different ways, and i would much rather "pay" for them at home like dd2 than i did in the hosp like dd1.

[AdinaL]

Nope. I regret that my hubby didn't catch, and that there weren't more pictures, and there was no video. But overall, I loved it.

[Peppamint]

Oh, good point Adina.... I do wish I'd had video and if we ever did have another baby I'd ask for video.