Would you consider a home birth?

MA Nurse · Apr 12, 2006

An epidural is the only way to go for me, I've had 3 children. Meconium aspiration is nothing to mess around with.

MA Nurse · Apr 12, 2006

I am just a lurker - a pre-nursing student, however I think this is a fantastic discussion. I am a homebirther - or I tried to be, and I am a little shocked at how many babies you guys have seen from the failed homebirths. You don't really hear about that ever in my circles. You never hear the stories from when things go wrong.
I ended up transferring when I started pushing at 8cms and swelled up my cervix really bad - at that point I had been 16 hours since PROM, I was GBS+ and had some meconium. So it really was time to throw in the towel and get moving. Baby was doing fine - and did just fine. But it was a very stressful experience (imagine hitting rush hour while pushing - it was a scene from a movie!)
The difference between laboring at home and the hospital was night and day. I LOVED being at home, and would do it again in a heartbeat, but next time husband insists on something a bit closer - so we will do a birth center.
I question why more people don't combine the strenghts of both medical and holistic birthing. My friend ended up sectioned after 36 hours of labor (homebirth transfer) and it turned out that she had a low-lying placenta that would have been easily detected in an ultrasound. She still maintains that she is so glad she never had an ultrasound and she is glad she went through those 36 hours of labor blissfully unaware..... yet she could have been spared so much pain just with that one minor medical intervention. It just would not have been worth it to me.
Its my goal (someday - providing I pass all these crazy pre-reqs!) to combine both into a place where women can be autonomous and powerful, babies can be welcomed into a warm, loving, gentle environment, AND we can have back-up just around the corner for when things go wrong. Utopia exsists, right??? :wink2:

Also, did you get Penicillin IV for your +GBS? I received it for GBS. You should not skip that, GBS is very dangerous to babies without treatment.

MA Nurse · Apr 12, 2006

All of you are right and I can't really argue with your logic. And yet, and yet, what I experienced with my homebirth is something that I could never get in a hospital. The relaxation, feeling of total control, being *inside* my body and so aware of what was happening. Doing the things that I needed to do to manage pain -- not the things someone else thought I needed to do. That absolutely amazing adrenaline rush after the birth, the feeling that I could run a marathon, the exclusive bonding time with baby - these are things I did not and could not experience in a hospital birth. I have 2 healthy homebirthed babies, and I strongly believe that my relaxed state of mind during labor contributed to the healthy outcome for them. Of course there are all kinds of reasons why babies go into distress but distress in the mother does affect the baby!
If my baby was in the 0.001% that had problems because of my decision to homebirth (meaning a problem that shot out of nowhere and became critical in seconds, which is an extremely minute risk) I would of course be devastated, but I don't think it's that different than the what-if of things going wrong because of hospital interventions. Homebirthing is my epidural. Women take the risks of epidural because they want to minimize the pain of labor. For me, giving birth at home in a stress-free atmosphere helps me keep on top of the pain more than anything else.
OF course I'm one of the homebirth success stories and the amazing experience I had is part of the reason why people do choose it. But like skiing and skydiving it has its risks.
You're right that I'm still learning and I am respectful of your knowledge and experience. Maybe if I found this site 4 years ago you'd have talked me out of homebirth, and I would have missed out on something very special.

Every woman is different. And every hospital experience is also different. I had 3 children is hospitals. Hospital staff never tried to convince me to do anything I didn't want to do. I was very relaxed with my last birth because I received the epidural at 2cm! Finally women do not have to wait! I am much more relaxed when my pain is under control, and no amount of breathing or massaging, talking, hypnosis or whatever else is going to help the level of pain I have. I even have to get stronger anesthetic at the dentist because I can feel the drilling in my mouth! We all have different pain toleration.

The hospital experience was great for me. I had labor and delivery all in one room with my husband at my side and he helped deliver our baby, too.

The staff was even accomodating of us not wanting a nurse midwife.

I don't take risks with childbirth because of what I've seen at work. Yes, we only see about 10% of births, but I don't want to risk the chance of homebirth going wrong.

To each his own, this is always a hot topic to me.

MA Nurse · Apr 12, 2006

Every woman is different. And every hospital experience is also different. I had 3 children is hospitals. Hospital staff never tried to convince me to do anything I didn't want to do. I was very relaxed with my last birth because I received the epidural at 2cm! Finally women do not have to wait! I am much more relaxed when my pain is under control, and no amount of breathing or massaging, talking, hypnosis or whatever else is going to help the level of pain I have. I even have to get stronger anesthetic at the dentist because I can feel the drilling in my mouth! We all have different pain toleration.
The hospital experience was great for me. I had labor and delivery all in one room with my husband at my side and he helped deliver our baby, too.
The staff was even accomodating of us not wanting a nurse midwife.
I don't take risks with childbirth because of what I've seen at work. Yes, we only see about 10% of births, but I don't want to risk the chance of homebirth going wrong.
To each his own, this is always a hot topic to me.

Oh, and the bonding with my baby was great. I held her immediately afterwards for a long time, infact we had to ask the nurse to weigh her so we could finally find out her weight! The postpartum nurses were great, too.

I just think there is a lot of misunderstanding and rumors of what the hospital is like. You can refuse whatever yo don't agree with, but I'm sure most people would allow medical staff to save their baby if something was wrong, ie: csaection, suctioning, etc.

And Penicillin for GBS should be given to the mom.

End of rant.

Mom2EllaBella · Apr 12, 2006

Yes - I had penicillin in the IV 2X at home administered by my midwife - she also gave me my Rhogram shots. I am a granola-crunching hippie, but not totally wacked! :bugeyes:

rainbows4me · Apr 12, 2006

Then, what's so ironic is when some of these babies end up in the NICU, the parents are so angry because baby needs our medical help to "recover".
The baby would probably not be in the NICU if it wasn't birthed at home!

Now let's be fair. You honestly think that bad things don't happen in hospitals? That a bad birth at home would have been a great birth in the hospital?? I hate it when people assume that a failed/bad homebirth would have been a better outcome in the hospital:angryfire

Four of the worst outcomes I have seen in the last six months were hospital births. Two were from our very own level three teaching hospital and resulted in taking 30 & 39 weekers off the vents due to flat EEGs. We have had a couple of failed/bad homebirths during this time as well, but both of those kids were home in a week.

It also amazes me that we, as NICU nurses, tend to diss those homebirth or even birthplan parents who have such a difficult time seeing their baby in the NICU. Doesn't it bother you more to see the parents who don't care? I see (or usually don't see much of) so many drug-addicted, no prenatal care, DSS involved parents, that even though they may demand more of my time and attention I'm glad when I have parents who care enough to be angry!

2curlygirls · Apr 12, 2006

Angry is one thing. I've had parents vehemently refuse antibiotics for their obviously septic child. Most of our homebirth transfers are just very scared though.

And I do think a lot of outcomes of homebirth's gone awry could have been avoided. Of course there are bad outcomes in the hospital, no one is disputing that. Birth carries risk with it in whatever form the birth takes.

But then once you transfer, you become a hospital birth and are out of the "homebirth is safe" statistic pool.

lisamc1RN, LPN · Apr 12, 2006

Thank you for that. I agree with you. I don't think it's fair to say that any poor homebirth outcome would have been better if it have been in the hospital. I would love to see research on how many babies who had poor outcomes were actually because of the homebirth itself and how many are just poor outcomes, no matter where they were delivered.

Also, I'm reading two different things on here. I'm reading from some that they would only deliver in a level III NICU hospital. This makes sense to me. I can see where they are coming from. Where I get lost is when it comes to saying ANY hospital is better than a homebirth. To me, if my baby is going to be transferred (and my baby was) I can do it faster than a hospital can. Been there, done that, have the scary pictures to show for it. I had a homebirth the next time and a much safer birth with a healthier baby. Which is what we all want, right? :)

Now let's be fair. You honestly think that bad things don't happen in hospitals? That a bad birth at home would have been a great birth in the hospital?? I hate it when people assume that a failed/bad homebirth would have been a better outcome in the hospital:angryfire
Four of the worst outcomes I have seen in the last six months were hospital births. Two were from our very own level three teaching hospital and resulted in taking 30 & 39 weekers off the vents due to flat EEGs. We have had a couple of failed/bad homebirths during this time as well, but both of those kids were home in a week.
It also amazes me that we, as NICU nurses, tend to diss those homebirth or even birthplan parents who have such a difficult time seeing their baby in the NICU. Doesn't it bother you more to see the parents who don't care? I see (or usually don't see much of) so many drug-addicted, no prenatal care, DSS involved parents, that even though they may demand more of my time and attention I'm glad when I have parents who care enough to be angry!

lisamc1RN, LPN · Apr 12, 2006

This is very interesting to me as I have talked to many mothers, and I also have my own experience of medical interventions gone bad that have definitely ended up with baby in the NICU. I'm not asking you in a challenge way, but I really want to know...have you never seen an induction that turned out to be too early after all and have a baby who's lungs just aren't ready? My own child was in the NICU for 10 days, 3 of which she spent on the ventilator because the doctor and I ( ) decided that it was ok if she came out a little early. The reason we justified it with was that she was a large baby. She turned out to be 6 1/2 lbs. If I had left her in there until she was ready to come out, she probably would have gone home with me the next day instead of to the NICU. I could make a list of people in my area with similar experiences. I know it's all anecdotal but I think that is one reason that some people are afraid of hospital birthing. We rely on our health care providers to be safe and to practice evidence based medicine, when in reality, that may not be the case. I have met nurses who won't birth in hospitals because of what they perceive are interventions that wind up putting babies at greater risk than having them at home.

I totally understand your reasoning for a level III NICU birth, though. If I do a hospital birth again, that's what I'll do instead of just going to the local hospital. In my opinion, the only thing that may be safer than homebirth is a level III NICU birth. Unfortunately, not everyone has easy access to that.

I've never seen a distressed baby that was in direct relation to a medical intervention. Usually the intervention, (forcepts, vacuum) were in relation to a baby already being in distress, (ie:nuchal cord, knot in cord). And I can say those thng were not brought on by a a mother being in distress.
We do only get to see the births that go bad. Things can turn on a dime in L&D. Usually the baby is OK, but 1:10 of the bad deliveries end up in NICU and then a percentage of that end up on vents or expire.
No one is knocking your choice of a homebirth, but our expereince has made us think otherwise. I've said it before, I'll only delivery in a hospital with a Level III NICU.

MA Nurse · Apr 12, 2006

Yes - I had penicillin in the IV 2X at home administered by my midwife - she also gave me my Rhogram shots. I am a granola-crunching hippie, but not totally wacked!

Great! Some moms that want a homebirth also do not want ANY medical interventions, including IV meds...so I think my question was legitimate.

In fact, most homebirthing couples I've taken care of refuse most meds for their babies as well.

MA Nurse · Apr 12, 2006

Now let's be fair. You honestly think that bad things don't happen in hospitals? That a bad birth at home would have been a great birth in the hospital?? I hate it when people assume that a failed/bad homebirth would have been a better outcome in the hospital:angryfire
Four of the worst outcomes I have seen in the last six months were hospital births. Two were from our very own level three teaching hospital and resulted in taking 30 & 39 weekers off the vents due to flat EEGs. We have had a couple of failed/bad homebirths during this time as well, but both of those kids were home in a week.
It also amazes me that we, as NICU nurses, tend to diss those homebirth or even birthplan parents who have such a difficult time seeing their baby in the NICU. Doesn't it bother you more to see the parents who don't care? I see (or usually don't see much of) so many drug-addicted, no prenatal care, DSS involved parents, that even though they may demand more of my time and attention I'm glad when I have parents who care enough to be angry!

Yes, bad births happen in the hospital. The homebirths I've seen gone bad are when the mom requests to drink tons of water instead of having an IV and the midwife agrees to it (at home) so the baby comes to the NICU with brain damage from electrolyte imbalances! That would not have happened in the hospital. Or how about when the midwife lets the baby be stuck for hours when the mom needs a c-section, so the baby is brain damaged?

I've seen enough to know homebirth is not for me. There are too many midwives who make bad decisions. I choose not to talk about any more details of homebirths gone bad, don't want to get into trouble!

This topic could go on forever.:angryfire

MA Nurse · Apr 12, 2006

I just read the latest news posted on this website about the midwife licensing issue...a must-read!