Home births anyone

Hi everyone

How many of you have had home births. i know my midwife wants me to have a home birth with this babby but am unsure. The doubts stem from my sisters last delivery which was a home birth. First of all the first midwife that turned up fell asleep on my sisters sofa then she decided she best leave and sent for another one, two turned up which were neither use nor ornament, they spent more time discussing the decor of my sisters house than concentrating on their job. then when my sister said she finally needed to push, they told her that she would have to wait cos they werent ready and they had lost a bag of 'stuff' they needed for delivery, she was kept waiting for nearly twenty minutes and as she was having no pain relief what so ever was not comfortable for her at all. how i managed to keep calm and not smack one of them i dont know i even had to go to the midwifes car and check she had not put the stuff in there by mistake. turned out she had thrown the stuff needed in the bin when she did sisters internal luckily the other midwife had what needed in her car. I would really like a home birth this time but as you can see this experience would put anyone off. Please tell me they generally run smoother than this

I can't tell you what it's like yet, but I plan to have this, my third baby, at home. It's quite difficult to get a non-medical view of home birth because so few people seem to have them. I do think it's something you have to be very sure about and feel totally comfortable with because established labour is probably not a good time to doubt or panick about your decision.

For me I am really lookingforward to doing it at home this time. I have had 2 good experiences previously in hospital, but didn't actually need any kind of intervention so medically speaking hospital didn't give me anything I couldn't have had at home. I feel like I'm ready to embrace the experience in a more natural and personal environment this time; and I'd be quite gutted now if I had to go to hospital for some reason.

I've only personally known of 2 people to have their babies at home, but both had good experiences and were glad they made that decision.
Ask yourself:-
1-is yours a low risk pregnancy?
2-what kind of pain relief are you likely to want/need?
3-how will you cope in your own home?
4-WHY do you want a home birth?
5-what would it mean to you if you had this baby in hospital?

I think what Kel has said is bang on hun.

I had a home birth with George. Things didn't quite go to plan and after George was born we had a little ride to hospital in an ambulance for George to be checked over after he had become distressed in labour. It was caused by a knot in his cord. This was something that would have happened even if I'd had a hospital birth.

The mw turned up to literally catch George as I had a fast labour. The second mw turned up after he was born along with the gas and air lol! The mw that delivered George came to the hospital with us and the second mw stayed behind and tidied everything up for us. (My mum was there to look after Charlotte too).

Although the birth didn't exactly go to 'plan', I still preferred it to hospital. I could move around freely and get into a position I felt comfortable in when I had contractions. I wasn't strapped to a monitor like in my first labour so could go to the loo without having to ask permission. I felt relaxed and comfortable, which helped later on.

If you feel comfortable, then go for it.

While I was researching into having a home birth, I found this website helpful http://www.homebirth.org.uk/