Baby's First Year Community

I had a hospital birth, and while I don't look down on women who would prefer home birth, it's just not for me. I would feel more comfortable and secure giving birth in the hospital, so long as I have the freedom to choose (for the most part) the kind of birthing experience I want to have. (Such as, I don't want to be stuck in the bed, I'd like to have access to water for laboring in, etc.)

I had a hospital birth both times. DD was 13 days overdue when i went into labor. Because of this and the fact she has an abnormally large hard (over 99th percentile), was 9lbs 4oz, labor stalled, she went into distress and i ended up with an emergency c-section. It's unlikely she would have fit through the birth canal and it turned out the cord was wrapped around her neck a couple of times (which I know in and of itself is not life threatening). When she was born she was purple and did not cry for a long time. that first cry was pretty pathetic. She's fine now, but I do wonder if things would have been worse had we birthed at home.

Because of the c-section, I would never have entertained birthing DS at home. i ended up having a successful vbac and probably would have been fine at home, but why take the risk of the uterus rupturing (which is a small risk, but still) or him turning out to have the same big head (he doesn't). This was a midwife attended birth, but because of the busy night at the hospital, I didn't have the opportunity to do the walking around or using the ball, tub, shower or any other tools. I was in the tiniest room there since there was just nowhere else.

So no, i wouldn't change anything. While i did get pitocin with DD because labor stalled (and I know that can create fetal distress leading to c-section), because of her size I think it would have just ended up delaying the inevitable c-section by many hours to wait and see if labor progressed. her head just was not able to move down through the birth canal.

I guess because of her situation I am a little leery of home births - especially for those not living close to a suitable medical facility. If you do live close and are attended by a certified midwife willing to call for help and don't have any contraindicative symptoms it's your call, but for me I couldn't live with myself if something went wrong during delivery and the baby didn't make it because the proper medical intervention was not available.

I gave birth at the hospital with both of my children and I wouldn't have done it any other way. There were complications right after both births; the first time the complication was with my DS and the second time the complication was with me and I had to have emergency surgery. We live about 20 min. from the nearest hospital and that's just too far away in case of a life or death situation.

My first birth went great. I labored for about 7 hours then pushed maybe 10 times to get her out. After that I think I would hav considered a home-birth. The second one she wouldn't turn and she was facing sideways. I labored for 7 hours with no cervical progress. Her heart rate dropped from the contractions and I had an emergnecy c-sec. After the c-sec my bp dropped to 75/27 and I had to get ephedrine twice before my bp went back up. I think I would rather be safe and be in a hospital. Not so much for my safety, but for my baby's. I just couldn't bear it if I knew I caused problems by not having the LO near the hospital.

I had a hospital birth 5 times. My insurance won't cover a home birth and we live 30 minutes from the hospital. In case something went wrong that is just to far for my comfort. I actually can't say anthing bad about the hospital births. The only thing I might have changed was for my last birth I got the epi before I was ready but he was all ready up on labor and delivery and if I didn't get it then I might not have gotten one as he was getting ready to go into surgery.

A friend planned a hospital birth, but ended up with a home birth.

Her first labor was so long she did not want to be stuck in the hospital. With second pregancy she decided to labor at home. Her labor/transition went so quick, her husband delivered their daughter in the bathroom with her 3 year old son dancing around with joy and excitement!

Paramedics arrived after she delivered, her nurse/midwife came over - baby and mama were great. She was able to snuggle and recover in her own bed!

If you ask her if she would plan a home birth, she would say no, but she would not have done anything different that day. She feels very fortunate everything worked out fine and everyone was healthly, including her 3 year old who was not traumatized by the event!

Elizabeth (visiting from Parenting and Parenting Preteens & Teens )

Interesting! I have a friend who had an unexpected home birth as well. Her husband is an Alaska State Trooper but says catching his little girl was the most stressful thing he's ever done!

I had a home birth with all three of my kids, if I could do it all over again I would do it at home. Home births are an excellent bonding experience between mother and child, also the opportunity a woman gives to herself to learn more about her body and a better understanding of the needs of your newborn when he or she finally arrives, you don't have to worry about your baby been taken away by the nurses once is born. The risk? These days midwifes are well trained, enough to know when is time to have an ambulance on the spot or when to tell someone with a high risk pregnancy to get the right medical attention when necessary. Our midwife delivered not only our children but she also delivered my husband, his cousins and also a few of my friends kids, she has delivered over 3000 kids where I live all I can say is that I'm thankful for her help and her experience... If you want more information you can also check out her website www. powerbirth.com