I'm due with my first in mid May, and am dead set on home birth unless something goes horribly wrong in the meantime. I hate hospitals and am fully convinced by everything I've read about the benefits of homebirth. My MW has given me the go ahead (I'm in the UK, so things are a little different and MWs are definitely part of 'the medical institution', so I was really relieved at how easily she accepted it, I didn't have to fight at all which was a real weight off my mind.)
My boyfriend has been really supportive, he believes 100% that everything is my choice and he will support me. But this doesn't stop him from worrying. He was really OK with everything until speaking to a colleague of his, who casually mentioned after he said we were planning on delivering at home that her baby would have died if it wasn't born in hospital. Obviously, I don't know the facts, but I think just hearing it put doubts in his mind that weren't there before.
I've tried hard to reassure him, given lots of statistics etc, told him that the midwives come fully equipped to deal with huge varieties of situations, and that we are within 5 minutes of the hospital. But when he asks what would happen if the baby needed critical treatment within minutes or seconds, I'm not really sure what to say. Are there any situations where this is truly the case? Baby/mother needs intervention that can only be performed by a doctor/with hospital equipment, and needs it in a matter of minutes? Am I right in thinking midwives carry resuscitation equipment and oxygen in case they are needed (in the UK that is)? I was kind ofstumped at how to reply to this, and it got me thinking too. Obviously it's incredibly unlikely, but the what if is always there.
I know that he wants me to have a good birth experience, and he does understand that I hate hospitals, but his primary concern is having a healthy baby at he end of it (as is mine), and I think he worries that my fear of hospitals (it really has reached quite irrational levels, which is difficult for him to understand as he works in one as a ward housekeeper) is leading me to disregard our baby's safety. I was hospitalised early on in this pregnancy with a threatened miscarriage,and it has increased both of our anxiety levels hugely.
Any solid, fact/experience based answers to the 'what if baby needs hospital treatment immediately or would not survive' question?
My boyfriend has been really supportive, he believes 100% that everything is my choice and he will support me. But this doesn't stop him from worrying. He was really OK with everything until speaking to a colleague of his, who casually mentioned after he said we were planning on delivering at home that her baby would have died if it wasn't born in hospital. Obviously, I don't know the facts, but I think just hearing it put doubts in his mind that weren't there before.
I've tried hard to reassure him, given lots of statistics etc, told him that the midwives come fully equipped to deal with huge varieties of situations, and that we are within 5 minutes of the hospital. But when he asks what would happen if the baby needed critical treatment within minutes or seconds, I'm not really sure what to say. Are there any situations where this is truly the case? Baby/mother needs intervention that can only be performed by a doctor/with hospital equipment, and needs it in a matter of minutes? Am I right in thinking midwives carry resuscitation equipment and oxygen in case they are needed (in the UK that is)? I was kind ofstumped at how to reply to this, and it got me thinking too. Obviously it's incredibly unlikely, but the what if is always there.
I know that he wants me to have a good birth experience, and he does understand that I hate hospitals, but his primary concern is having a healthy baby at he end of it (as is mine), and I think he worries that my fear of hospitals (it really has reached quite irrational levels, which is difficult for him to understand as he works in one as a ward housekeeper) is leading me to disregard our baby's safety. I was hospitalised early on in this pregnancy with a threatened miscarriage,and it has increased both of our anxiety levels hugely.
Any solid, fact/experience based answers to the 'what if baby needs hospital treatment immediately or would not survive' question?
