Vbac water birth

I'm planning water VBAC with intermittent monitoring. I'm already a week overdue though and the hospital is pushing really hard for induction which at the moment I'm planning to refuse for as long as baby is happy in there. Not sure if I have a cut off for the midwife led unit though... If I manage to do things my way, I'll let you know how it went! X

My due date is today and I’m planning for a water birth at home 🤍

I had a water vbac at home 🥰 happy to chat more if you have any questions. Sending best wishes to you all and hope you get the birth you want!

@Paulina have you been told you're allowed on the MLU? The only thing my midwife has said will be an absolute no go is going on the MLU, which I'm gutted about as that's where I laboured last time before having the c section and there's only one pool on the delivery suite which is what I will have to use but apparently its still quite nice so I'm hoping so xx

@Sabrina that's amazing. How did you find it? Did you have intermittent monitoring? I'd love a home birth but I'd just worry because of my previous labour but I want to be at home as long as possible to minimise the interference of everyone x

@Valerie that's exciting! 🥰 I hope it all goes well for you

@Tammy it was incredible to be honest, the most amazing experience and so different from my first (“failure” to progress induction that ended in C-section) The home birth midwife was very experienced and she would check me when she felt she needed. I asked to not be told much unless something was really off so I was left to labour and focused on that. I was so keen to go in the pool, but the midwife asked me to wait till I was pushing. It felt amazing 🥰 I never imagined I’d have a home birth but it was the path my vbac took me. I also wanted to stay at home as much as possible and having a home birth meant I would be with the midwives instead of on my own or just my doula. I was pretty open to going to hospital if needed. As my midwife said, lots of births start at home 😊 I recommend chatting to the home birth team if there’s one in your area just to see what they say.

@Tammy yeah, I didn't think I'd be allowed either but an obstetrician I saw earlier in the pregnancy mentioned that it was a possibility so I contacted the birth choices team at my hospital and made an "out of policy" plan. Plan B is to ask for the only pool at the delivery suite, but I'm worried it's not going to be available...

@Paulina good luck with everything. If you don't want induction please don't agree. If you and baby are medically ok best to wait for labour to start.

Not expecting baby #2 yet but I am having a HBAC even though I know it will be out of guidance. For me it's the only way I feel I will get my water birth and consultants cannot interfere during the actual birth.

@Nyasha oh definitely not planning to! Might agree to a sweep at most (even though I know it's a form of induction) if it feels like the right thing to do.

@Sabrina yes I would like a home birth for that reason as there's just less people around and easier to just be free and labour as you wish but I think part of me would be worrying incase something went wrong again and that might throw me off from labouring as peaceful as I'd like xx

@Paulina I worry about it not being available also but my midwife has said it is very rarely used but I have an appointment tomorrow with my consultant at the hospital so I will mention it to them and see if they can also put something in place. The only reason my midwife said the hospital don't allow it is because if something goes wrong the theatre is on the same floor as the delivery suite whereas in the MLU I would have to be transferred up but it is only one floor away so I don't see it as much of an issue but he seems adamant that it wouldn't be an option at all xx

@Isabella yes I'm worried about the interference as I'm already going against what they would like not having the constant monitoring but I feel nervous about a home birth and feel like it would be in the back of mind something going wrong so I do feel more comfortable in the hospital I'm just hoping they all leave me alone 😂 my partner was quite good last time advocating for me so I didn't have to speak much so I'll just have tell him before hand to tell everyone to go away 😄

@Tammy I'm the same when it comes to home birth! I love the idea but I think I'd have it in the back of my head that should anything go wrong I'm fairly far away from any help... As for MLU, mine is on the same floor but a bit further away so officially it's an 8min transfer rather than 3min (although the midwife said that realistically it's more like 5 min, tops) so I figured that's an acceptable risk

@Tammy I understand! If you are thinking about it, I recommend talking to the homebirth team near you. You don’t have to commit to anything, just have a chat and see what they think. The team I had did an assessment first to confirm we could have a home birth. For me it gave me a lot of reassurance. For example, the fact that I could be home with midwife support and that at least where I live, if I needed to go to hospital I’d get there a lot quicker as the midwives have a special number they call to get an ambulance and they help you triage to hospital a lot quicker than if I’d gone on my own.