is home birth possible with history of exploding babies?

[zane]

I have 2ds's (2.5y and 5.5mo) both were hospital births. I was GBS + with both, and they were BIG babies. First was with epi and took a about 24hrs total. Second was natural, 20min to spare at hospital, 3hrs total. Local hosp it reasonably friendly to bf and natural birth - as long as you advocate strongly. I was not impressed with OBs or prenatal care. After the first I was tempted to do UA just to avoid the Drs. So baby 3 is still just an idea but I would like to do a home birth this time.

Here is my concern:

Ds1 (epidural baby) was very sleepy and didn't want to eat. Nurses were 'very concerned' about his blood sugar. Then he made a snuffley noise when he was nursing and they FREAKED out. Called every nurse, pedi and Janitor to come look at him, drug him off to the nursery for observation, gave him formula through a gavage tube. I am still not sure what the real problem was, but was glad to get home with us both alive.

Ds2 (FAST delivery) baby was very eager to nurse, all was well until about 12hrs later. He started breathing really fast. Again staff FREAKED. They took us down to nursey, did lots of monitoring, called Pedi, x-rays, antibiotics, over night in nursery with tube and wires, extra day in hospital, etc. Culture came out negative, baby was fine.

So I am not too worried about birth part but concerned baby will explode at home. Not entirely clear what happend with babies the first two times. Were their conditions just over zealous hosptial staff or reeal concerns? Would a midwife be around to monitor us 12 hrs later? If there was a concern would I have to haul new baby back to hospital right away? I belive in natural gentle birth and baby care but don't want to put life and limb at real risk either,

your thoughts?

[LoveChild421]

I think the a sleepy baby who won't nurse much is pretty common from epidurals so you most likely won't have that problem at home. I think a lot of babies breathe rather rapidly when they're first born- ds's breathing was really rapid at times and my midwife didn't seem concerned- he was fine. I would feel comfortable going with homebirth if I were you. And, although it would be no fun, if there was a problem with the baby you can go to a hospital (like if you notice signs of infection in the baby). But it's better to at least start out at home IMO. My midwife came back the next day to check the baby. And I could call her or her apprentice directly any time day or night if I had a question or concern. I called her about my son seeming jaundice (which no doubt the hospital would have raised a fit over, insisting on bili lights and formula :irked: like they did for my friend who had a slightly jaundice baby) and she asked me questions about how often he was feeding, did he seem lethargic, etc and we determined he just had normal physiologic jaundice and nothing needed to be done except taking him out in the sun and nursing often. so often medical staff see problems where none exist.

[Charmie981]

I can't say if you'd end up at the hospital later. Probably with the first, they were concerned about a low blood sugar...or maybe infection. Both can cause breathing issues. With the second, a high resp. rate is indicitative of infection. How high was it? Was it really a concern? I don't know.

I can assure you, though, that if you have a baby at home and end up going to the hospital because of something with the baby, you will know that whatever it is was indeed a concern and your baby did need medical treatment, rather than wondering why they're doing all of those things to him/her.

That's really my biggest issue with birth the way our society does it today: normal babies don't belong in a nursery with some stranger, and yet many hospitals just don't seem to "get" that. I loved having my baby with me the WHOLE TIME and only leaving him with someone else when I was ready to do it (at about three months old!). I wouldn't trade that time with him for any drugs in the world ;).

[alegna]

From your stories it sounds like nothing was wrong with either baby. Hospitals freak out. It's what they do. Sounds like you'll be SAFER at home.

-Angela

[indie]

With my first birth the nurses overreacted about minor jaundice and wanted to treat dd but luckily the doc. told them to shove it even though they were calling her office every hour about it.

With second birth dd had same level of jaundice and MW told us to sit in front of the window with her.

[candiland]

Yeah, the hospitals have to react to every situation as a worst-case scenario because: A.) they want to avoid lawsuits and B.) because it's hospital policy and there's no way around it.

That's what I loved about my two home births: the midwife didn't have to answer to the hospital and insurance company's protocols. That meant that each individual situation, with its unique issues or concerns, could be handled as she saw fit, instead of forcing a one-size-fits-all protocol on us.

My first was a very, very sleepy baby. She didn't nurse for the first two days. She was also very jaundiced. She gave us lots of information on different natural, non-interventitive techniques to deal with this.

My second was 9.4, came out totally blue and limp, then I hemmorhaged pretty badly. I thank GOD that I was at home, because everything was dealt with calmly, swiftly, and with the absolute MINIMAL amount of intervention necessary. I am certain that if we had been in the hospital, the entire thing would have been extremely traumatic for both me and my son. Example: she never cuts the cord right away. He received O2 from the cord... if it would've been clamped shortly after birth, it would have spelled disaster.

When he was limp, blue, and not breathing, she never once removed him from my chest. He stayed on me, skin-to-skin, while she first tried gentle mouth blows and stimulation, then the O2 tank. I rubbed him, spoke to him, we were connected by the umbilical cord... and she stayed perfectly centered and calm like it was the most normal thing in the world.

When I started hemmorhaging, he was nursing at the breast. Again, he never was taken from me. She started out with the least interventitive approach... homeopathic tincture and tablets, then a shot of Pitocin, pills of Methargin, then another shot of Pitocin, while he nursed his little heart out. She also swept some clots from behind my cervix.

It sounds traumatic, but at the time, everything was dealt with so gently and effectively that I never felt it was a "bad" experience. There was no panic, no rushing, no bright lights, no separation... just consistent and gentle care.

She monitored both babies on and off for the next few days, stopping by to check respirations, heart rate, tone, etc. It's normal for their breathing to be somewhat unsure off and on at first... it IS the first time they've ever breathed air. I would look into your local home birth midwives just to see how you "click" and what they think about your individual situation.

[Mamajamz]

I would say homebirth all the way, just from what you've said. They probably freaked because of the GBS + risk. Everything you mentioned is something I see our midwives deal with so easily and calmly. No big deal. Mommies watch their babies much closer than any nurse would with 10 others in her charge. Choose a midwife who is readily accessible at every point of your care. She should see the baby the day after birth and should be accessible by phone 24/7 should any problems arise. A gurgly baby should just be suctioned if that was all it was, and I'm wondering if there were other factors beside just the fast breathing rate? Sometimes our babies breathe fast when they get hot...and some babies just get hotter than others, and then they breathe fast, and then we just unwrap them or take off their hat and then take their temp. again. It's SO not a big deal. For GBS+ moms we give them the option of taking antibiotics during labor or using douche preparations during the last weeks in conjunction with regular cultures in the days prior to birth. We have never had a sick baby. I was GBs+ with my last two. With the last baby there was no time for antibiotics and my cultures weren't proven either, but my MW told me what to look for after he was observed (at home, undisturbed) for a while and she would have come over immediately if I was concerned that something wasn't quite right.
So...I say homebirth all the way.

[zane]

Ds1 was 10-6 and sleepy so they did the formula tube thing. >:l I didn't know better at the time. The snuffly breathing I am thinking they thought was that heart/lung problem where baby can't breathe and eat. They definately panicked too early because he only did it that once.

ds2 labor was so fast no time for antibx in labor. He was fine until about 12hrs later. Just breathing fast and kept breathing fast for couple of hours while everyone in hospital listened. We tried unwraping him, feeding him, etc. Then they did xray adn found cloudy spot on lung. Decided it could be nothing, or it could be some horrible infection and he might DIE. So they went with panic procedure and hooked him up to every monitor in the place, kept him over night in the nursery, big deal. We couldn't go home until his blood test came back and it takes 48hrs. By the time it was back they finally let me keep in my room, but nurses came to check on him very frequently.

I delivered in a hosp several towns over to avoid my local one. I cringe at having to go local if newborn has problem at home. BUt maybe with home birth there would be no problem.

Since ds2 came SO fast, our doula missed the birth. What is the general policy/procedure for a mw for moms wtih speedy deliveries? Guess if #3 comes as fast or faster hb will hapen on its own:)

On a side note - HUGE kudos for moms who pump for premies. Just having to wander down to nursery and dodge all the tubes and wires to try to nurse him for that one night SUCKED! I was ready to say - just bring him back when you are done then I'll feed him.

[anonymommy]

Just wanted to say that it's been several days and I still find your subject line VERY funny. (Funniness has not worn off.)

[alegna]

I think homebirth sounds like a perfect match for you. Newborns are snuffly by definintion- they've been living in WATER for 9 months.

-Angela

[celestialdreamer]

Just wanted to say that it's been several days and I still find your subject line VERY funny. (Funniness has not worn off.)

yeah me too! :LOL When I first read that, I was like 'huh???? exploding babies, haven't heard of that one!'