Homebirths vs Hospital

[TheLurkingFrumper]

Yes! A birthing pond with a koi midwife in it! :)

http://koibirth.blogspot.com/

Ooooh! I hadn't conisidered koi! I was thinking dolphins!

www.drmomma.org/2009/10/birthing-among-dolphins.html

(They have a lot more rigorous training, imho. Plus, koi eat their young, but if you're looking for a bargain birth, they might do.)

[LadyBlue]

On My OB Said WHAT?? There's a great running theme that midwives have unicorns and twinkle lights for births.

[TheLurkingFrumper]

My husband seems to think all homebirths involve the laboring woman wearing something made out of hemp and laying a mud puddle in the back yard, while other woman dance around chanting and throwing flowers at her. Depending on his mood, sometimes there are frogs in the mud puddle.

Frog assissted birth?

[Blahblah]

Well personally I think birth via sonic screwdriver is the way to go. Wielded by the best Doctor in time and space of course.

[crazyforkate]

Just as long as it's not that thing that Luke and Leia's mom gave birth in. They couldn't even save her from "losing her will to live". Pffft.

[Irishy]

In the UK, hospital births are usually midwife-led (certified nurse midwives), doctors are involved in emergencies only. Even with home births, every woman gets two midwives, who are equipped with gas and air (not sure if it's called something else in the US, but it's for pain relief) and a resuscitation kit. Not all women are given the go-ahead for a home birth though, only low-risk pregnancies and multiple births must be delivered in hospital.

The differences between the US and UK versions of One Born Every Minute are startling.

I don't think they have gas & air in the US. Or anywhere else outside of the UK and Ireland. Which is insane! It really was my best friend and helped me avoid an epidural for all my births.

ETA also called Entonox or Nitrous Oxide/Oxygen. And a quick look on google shows that it's used in Australia and Sweden too. Probably more.

[Avalondaughter]

ST Voyager showed me the best way to give birth. Just beam the baby out!

[Lulu]

Hospital, home, wherever all I ever wanted was to be respected as a person. Homebirths in Australia don't have gas and air or didn't when I had mine. Strangely my homebirth was the least painful of all mine, biggest baby too, go figure.

[OkToBeTakei]

I just wanted a healthy baby. By the time I was pushing I couldn't have given two shits where I was, who was there. There could have been chanting koi, fundie pretend midwifes, Dr McCoy with a crocheted placenta on his head, salesmen with placenta print paper and recipe books, a frog chorus and I would not have noticed.

To each their own. Homebirth just equalled more laundry to me. I was deadly happy being fed and two of my current best friends I met on the labour ward.

[eohiken]

I don't think they have gas & air in the US. Or anywhere else outside of the UK and Ireland. Which is insane! It really was my best friend and helped me avoid an epidural for all my births.

ETA also called Entonox or Nitrous Oxide/Oxygen. And a quick look on google shows that it's used in Australia and Sweden too. Probably more.

We have it in Canada. But our midwives can't carry it, and only certain hospitals have it.

[DistantStar]

As far as I know in the US the only place nitrous is really common is dentist's offices. Great stuff.

Given that due to various issues I would have to be knocked out totally and have a c-section if I pulled off a pregnancy - if I wanted to in the first place, which I don't, kids are great but I don't want them - I am going to mostly stay out of this one. Though I do think properly trained specialist midwives are a great thing and if I had a choice I'd want a CNM in a hospital setting. Just in case.

[August]

I think all babies should be born with the mom strapped to a centrifuge to rocket the baby out. Someone actually tried to patent a device for just that:

http://www.cracked.com/article_20435_th ... abies.html

I want a Star Trek birth.

[Coconut Flan]

Nitrous was availabe in the US for births something like 30 or 40 years ago. I'm not sure exactly why it was stopped. It maybe it has more effect on the baby or someone felt the other drugs were more effective.

[OkToBeTakei]

Nitrous was availabe in the US for births something like 30 or 40 years ago. I'm not sure exactly why it was stopped. It maybe it has more effect on the baby or someone felt the other drugs were more effective.

Or more expensive :think:

[littlemommy]

I'd love to have a homebirth since I'm the cheapest person on the planet, but I like hospital births because I know I'd have to be the one to clean up after the home birth. No way my husband would do it; I had to change the kitty litter after getting home from the hospital with my first son, even though I had to hobble down a flight of stairs clutching my c-section incision. Birth is beautiful and all that, but it's also messy and painful and pretty unpleasant.

Wonder if they can do a caesarean birth for this baby in that froggy mud puddle?

[Violet]

Or more expensive :think:

That's odd - it's commonplace here, not just for women in labour but also used when people have broken/dislocated something. Also surely epidurals are more expensive than gas and air?

Having the NHS means that I (hopefully!) won't have to worry about which birth location is more expensive. Personally I'd like to be in hospital where they have epidurals ;) If other women wish to have homebirths then that's fine (as long as there are qualified midwives present.)

[meda]

According to this Dept of Health study, nitrous may be making a comeback inthe US. Five hospitals offer it now, there is increasing interest because it is a cheaper alternative to epidurals.

http://effectivehealthcare.ahrq.gov/ind ... layproduct

[yewchapel]

That is so weird that nitrous isn't offered as the norm in US hospitals, I know many women for whom it prevented the need for an epidural. As Violet says, hospitals in the UK use it for other things too. How strange!

I'm pretty sure I don't want kids (I like kids but I like giving them back to their parents even more ;) ) but I'm afraid I am the least crunchy woman ever and would totally go for a hospital birth with all the pain relief I need available (I have a crazily low pain threshold). I totally support home births assisted by certified nurse midwives though, as an option for women who would prefer that. I may be biased, but I think the NHS system with regards to birth options is a good one.

[FiddleDD]

I don't have any kids, but if I do, I'll likely do a home birth. If possible, a birthing center for my first, just in case I change my mind and want the drugs. ;-) My problems partly lie with hospitals and insurance policies deciding what kind of interventions are necessary instead of the doctors... we live in such a litigious society it's hard to know sometimes what is actually dangerous vs what someone might sue the hospital over.

But I also don't agree with the rabid home birthers who insist there is never a reason for the hospital... that is insane. Just like I believe in natural medicine, but when I had a severe gallbladder attack I cheerfully accepted the drugs (such a lovely warm fuzzy feeling after being in pain for 24 hours straight) and said take it out! (Although, the subsequent non laproscopic surgery made me vow to avoid a C-section at all costs... The recovery was hell.)

[ljohnson2006]

Honestly, I think that Michael Duggar should've been born in a hospital. 18+ hours of labor and Anna as worn out as she was. Smugger should've suggested that a hospital may be a better setting than their bathroom. There's a line to draw. I wonder why J'Chelle only had two homebirths. She went on and on about how much she loved the experience.

[LadyBlue]

I'd love to have a homebirth since I'm the cheapest person on the planet, but I like hospital births because I know I'd have to be the one to clean up after the home birth. No way my husband would do it; I had to change the kitty litter after getting home from the hospital with my first son, even though I had to hobble down a flight of stairs clutching my c-section incision. Birth is beautiful and all that, but it's also messy and painful and pretty unpleasant.

Wonder if they can do a caesarean birth for this baby in that froggy mud puddle?

Actually, unless you get a really heinous one, midwives clean up after.

Water birth is less mess, but if everything is prepped well, even with land birth a load or 2 of laundry is usually all that's needed.

Unfortunately for our mattress, MrBlue only covered half in plastic...and it wasn't the half I gave birth on. Fortunately it was old & awful, so it was a good excuse for a new one.

[ShadowyOne]

I'd love to have a homebirth since I'm the cheapest person on the planet, but I like hospital births because I know I'd have to be the one to clean up after the home birth. No way my husband would do it; I had to change the kitty litter after getting home from the hospital with my first son, even though I had to hobble down a flight of stairs clutching my c-section incision. Birth is beautiful and all that, but it's also messy and painful and pretty unpleasant.

Wonder if they can do a caesarean birth for this baby in that froggy mud puddle?

Damn, I wouldn't have done that. Though I clean our litter box 99% of the time, MrShadowy is downstairs cleaning ours as I type (as I'm currently not supposed to due to toxoplasmosis and all that jazz), and though he makes a big hairy deal about it, he slogs through and does.

Anyhow, I am happily planning a hospital birth for this summer. I would have liked a birthing center birth with certified nurse-midwives, but there is only one birthing center in my area, and it had only just opened when I first found out that I was pregnant and started planning, plus it's quite a drive from our house. I am not interested in the potential risks or mess of a homebirth, so I shopped around and made sure that I found the most mother-centric hospital around (lowest rates of C-section in the region, best/highest rates of VBAC, committed to following birth plans, etc). And I will have a doula with me in addition to my husband and my mom (who won't be assisting me in a clinical sense, but she is a nurse with past experience of working in labor & delivery, so she's an extra advocate if I need one)

[lorem ipsum]

Nitrous was availabe in the US for births something like 30 or 40 years ago. I'm not sure exactly why it was stopped. It maybe it has ct on the baby or someone felt the other drugs were more effective.

Other drugs are more effective for sure as the gas only kind of takes the edge off, and doesn't last long - 10 min? Less? But according to what the (very anti-intervention, very pro-no pain meds/gas only) nurse told us in the birthing class at the hospital, this means it also has much less effect on the baby than something like an epidural since it exits your system so much more quickly. I have no idea about cost, but I imagine it must be cheaper?

Btw I'm just throwing this info out there for the sake of discussion and I don't much care what women choose - I went for every drug they offered so I don't have a dog in the natural birthing fight. ;)

[Lulu]

Home births aren't messy. or not more so than any other. Or mine wasn't as compared to my hospital births. I wasn't left sitting in my own fluids for an hour because the midwife had to be else where. My midwife and my husband cleaned up the sheet and newspapers (threw them out) and put a load of washing on. No big deal. If you are the one doing the clearing up I'd seriously be looking at the midwife, your partner and birthing support people with a little bit more than annoyance

[miffy]

Honestly, I think that Michael Duggar should've been born in a hospital. 18+ hours of labor and Anna as worn out as she was. Smugger should've suggested that a hospital may be a better setting than their bathroom. There's a line to draw. I wonder why J'Chelle only had two homebirths. She went on and on about how much she loved the experience.

I think she had heavy bleeding with the second home birth & decided another one would be too much of a risk.