Anyone else planning a HB? - Page 3

[LauraReaux]

We are hoping for one! I had all 3 hospital births... first was awful, medicated and almost ended in a c-section (but thankfully did not!), but the girls were both all-natural with very strict birth plans.

I'm so excited... we are meeting with the midwife Wednesday evening! I'm thrilled that my husband is on board with this. Basically the only reason I'm not positive about it yet is because I have to find out if she is ok with our payment idea... we want to pay $200/month until 36 weeks... and pay $1,500 in February out of our tax refund. (The rest will be added into our down payment for a bigger vehicle.) Do you guys think it sounds like a reasonable payment plan?

[MamaCrunch]

I was planning one. This pregnancy is a gestational surrogacy and I think it might be twins... (REALLY high betas) All three of my own were born at home and I was planning to have this surro baby at home too (intended father was behind this 100%) BUT midwives can't attend twins at home here...I find out a week from tomorrow how many are in there...but I have a feeling I'm about to begin the daunting task of finding a good OB who is dedicated to vaginal twin birth (unless it is a TRUE medical necessity to do a c-sec of course)...

[BlessedEarthMother]

Yes! We are going to have a homebirth. Our first son was born at a freestanding birth center and it went fantastic. This time around we are living in a different state with no birth center available. There is NO WAY I would go to a hospital to give birth. We are so fortunate that we will be eligible for medicaid and it will pay for the midwife to attend our homebirth!! We will have a birthing tub set up in our home and we our son will be able to be there. I am so excited!!!

[overtougod]

I've daydreamed of being able to UC for some time. I've had considerable success with EMDR therapy, in as much as it turned PTSD into productive anger and a fair amount of activism, but I still get flashbacks to my first birth experience.
I spent my second pregnancy and birth expecting problems at every turn, which didn't materialize save for white coat hypertension.

THIS time I'm going to be in control! I have some risk factors, which require me to be extra vigilant, and maybe even need to think again, but anyone expecting me to compromise my dignity claiming it's for my child's safety is going to have one HELL of a ride through every disciplinary procedure known to British health care.

lol, I am mama lioness, hear me roar!

[Erinz]

oh yes! Definately!

I birthed in the hospital with a fantastic midwife last time, with some complications that ended up with me on pictocin (super high bp) but managed to go epidural free and it was a fairly good experience. I was birthing in a very progressive part of my state though (Santa Cruz, CA) which I'm sure aided in my experience. The L&D nurses rocked it for me and completely stayed out of our way.

This time I am home birthing and am sooooo so so so so excited and happy about it. I've already met with my chosen midwife and I just want to snuggle her LOL.

eta: haha funny I was wondering why I didn't recognize more names! I clicked on the wrong DDC. Didn't realize there was an August up already and just went for the second from the bottom which is all of you mamas in July! hehe

Happy homebirths and UCs to you!

[an_aurora]

Another HB mama here! DD2 was a homebirth and I just found a wonderful new HB mw here!!

[Angelorum]

Me! Dh was born at home and witnessed all his siblings being born at home too. It took me a lot of reading and thinking and time before I knew it was the right choice for me, but I'm so glad I don't have to decide now. Are there any other first time moms homebirthing? I can't be the only one.

[majorsky]

I haven't decided yet... I think I'll have a better idea in a few months. Last time I delivered in a birthing center with a midwife, and I'd be fine with doing that again, but I've always though a HB would be really amazing. But I will have to keep the HB a secret, and that may be hard. My mom and MIL are very much against it.

Kristin

[haren.13]

Me, me! DH and I interviewed our first midwife last night, and he is now 100% totally on board - yay!!! We have at least one more interview this week, but he is sure that he'll go with the one we met yesterday (and the one we're meeting Thursday is actually her backup! ). I'm so excited! We've already talked about where to put the birthing pool!

[majorsky]

Originally Posted by lindsayjean

okay, anyone else not really telling anyone about having a HB? Ahh! It's going to be so hard. My mom is a L&D nurse who is very opinionated AGAINST homebirth. But I'm hoping she'll watch DD during the birth so we'll see.... I might hire a doula or somebody for that purpose so DD can be there some.

If I go with a HB, I'll have to keep it a secret, too... it will be difficult to do, although it's a bit easier because my mom lives 2,000 miles away and my MIL is severely disabled and lives 2 hours away. It's frustrating because neither has done their homework, they just believe HB is very high risk. I can dismiss my MIL's concerns (as I often do) because she doesn't have any expertise, but my mom the NICU nurse thinks she knows everything... : I can predict my mom wanting to come visit us and meet my midwife, and then the cat would be out of the bag.

Kristin

[DahliaRW]

I had a hb with my 2nd and plan to this time as well. I already have the tub and most of the supplies!

majorsky - your LO is due on my ds#2's birthday!

[kellykins]

I am currently looking for resources to tell me one way or another. my dd was born at a hospital (in FL) and although the OB I went to initially was great, near the end I got tossed to other OBs in the practice that I didn't love and they were really the opposite of my original OB, very pushy, convinced me of going induction AND INITIALLY SCHEDULED AN INDUCTION ON MY DUE DATE.... only to get induced at 40w2d (I am and was perfectly healthy, no elevated concern on anything) with pitocin and water break, and epidural and dd spending time away in the nursery for breathing care, which on reflection I believe was due to the epi.... all uneccesary, and I do not want all of that to happen again.....
BUT
I am very uneasy about birth at home.
very.
As is DH.
Afraid if complications arise, they will be tragic, and we will feel guilty and horribile for the rest of our lives....

The closest birth center is a good half hour drive from here.

The hospital close to here offers whirlpool tubs for laboring in...
but I am ooked of some reason about using a tub at "someone elses" place--- hospital, hotel, birth center, someone elses home.... I can't explain it, I just am ooked. (shudder)

I am so conflicted on this, and am having a hard time finding reliable info that is not biased regarding hospital birth vs home... I'm looking for a true comparison of pros and cons and cant seem to dig em up...

sorry, didnt intend to get long winded and all haha!

[majorsky]

Originally Posted by kellykins

The hospital close to here offers whirlpool tubs for laboring in...
but I am ooked of some reason about using a tub at "someone elses" place--- hospital, hotel, birth center, someone elses home.... I can't explain it, I just am ooked. (shudder)

All the round water birth tubs I've seen are covered in single-use plastic liners that are thrown away after they're used. So if you're a germaphobe like me, there's not an issue of someone else's germs present in your water birth tub. But you'd want to confirm that practice with your midwife early on.

Kristin

[Reha]

Originally Posted by Angelorum

Me! Dh was born at home and witnessed all his siblings being born at home too. It took me a lot of reading and thinking and time before I knew it was the right choice for me, but I'm so glad I don't have to decide now. Are there any other first time moms homebirthing? I can't be the only one.

My first was born at home, and I've attended lots of first time mamas at home! I think it's a great way to start off your birthing-babies.

[rjruiz_415]

I REALLY want a UC. I delivered at 1 of the 2 local hospitals w/DS (epi) and wanted a natural birth with DD. My only options were a birth center in a hosp, or a FSBC, both about 40 minutes away, so i went with the hosp birth center. So hopefully the UC will work out. I hope it will, as i have a friend in Doula training and in midwife training with a woman whos kids i went to school with....so we will see

[ratrodgrl]

I'm planning a homebirth, hopefully water birth as well. I had DS via waterbirth at a hospital with a midwife... it all went as well as it could, for a hospital birth. They made me do an IV for + Beta Strep, and because they had 'concerns' about the heartbeat of the baby they made me keep the external fetal monitoring straps on the whole time til baby's head was out :-/ Baby's umbilical cord was short, and ripped in half as he shot out. No one noticed for the first minute and he bled out into the water. The birth had been fairly uneventful until then; at that point they whisked him away and did a gentle warm up in the room, and then took him to the nursery They kept him there for about 4 hours without the doc ever coming to see him, and then decided he was fine to go to the room with me. My first nursing experience was within the recommended one hour, but was horrid: I was sitting in a wheelchair and the nurse was pressuring me that if I didn't get him to latch on she would give him a bottle with sugar water (they thought his blood glucose was low). Thank goodness I had a doula with me, I know it would have been a lot worse without her.

This time, we're in a new town and they have tons of homebirth midwives here. I actually (accidentally) picked the one that was at my husband's birth! I go see her today for an official visit (I saw her for my pap smear in May) and I'm pretty excited to see the difference of visiting a HB midwife from the get-go. The hospital ones were nice, but still very hospital-ish. Best of luck to all hoping for a HB!

P.S. to those whose families are not on board, I thought that "The Business of Being Born" was a great film to open people's minds up to the truth about hospital birth vs. home birth. You can rent it from netflix, even set up a temporary free account if you don't have one.

[mags]

I would like to have a HB, but I have some factors that make it difficult. For one thing, I will probably be on progesterone for the first trimester (just found out I am pg today, so calling ob tomorrow for labs), which is what I had to do for my first two pgs since my progesterone is low and I have a history of m/c. Secondly, I don't believe our insurance will cover HB. My DH is actually an employee at the hospital and I think for my last two pregnancies, my out of pocket costs was only about $400 for each baby. My hospital stay was free, my prenatal care was free, only the internal u/s at the ob and some urine cultures were out of pocket. My hospital births were not horrible, worst thing was an episiotomy both times, but otherwise I feel lucky compared to some of the hospital horror stories I've heard about from other women. I also get severe nausea and vomiting... hoping that this time around it won't be as debilitating as it was in my prior pregnancies, I am not sure if the midwives are allowed to prescribe anything if I need it. I do not believe any of the midwives in my area are actually nurses.

I have a friend who has the same ob and he has agreed to release her into the care of a midwife as long as everything looks ok at her 20 wk u/s, b/c she wants a HB. So, I will have to pick her brain to see how things are going. However, if the cost for a HB is entirely out of pocket for us, I don't think we'll be able to swing it. Paying NOTHING for the birth if we do it at the hospital again (I have two kids already) makes it really hard to have to pay out for a midwife/hb that may not be covered at all.

[Sk8ermaiden]

Originally Posted by Angelorum

Me! Dh was born at home and witnessed all his siblings being born at home too. It took me a lot of reading and thinking and time before I knew it was the right choice for me, but I'm so glad I don't have to decide now. Are there any other first time moms homebirthing? I can't be the only one.

This is my first!

[amandaleigh37]

me too

Just like you OP, I also had my DS in the hospital (induced with pitocin, but no epidural) and am planning a homebirth this time. I'm so excited about it too!!

(I'm technically due June 30 but am popping over here occasionally since there's a very good chance I'll have a July baby)

[icollectkids]

That's the plan!

I've had 4 homebirths and 1 hospital birth. (pitocin happy too)