Homebirth?

I’m wanting the same, birth progressed very quickly the first time round and we are 45 mins away from hospital, and there would be nothing I’d love more than to shower and recover in my own bed rather than a hospital, my husband is starting to come round the the idea but still talks as though we will be going to the hospital, I’ve got the midwife on Monday and I’m going to get him to come and talk about how it works and everything and get more info myself, at the end of the day it’s my body my decision, but we both need to get informed and have a good chat about it

I’m commenting so I can follow the responses - my midwife suggested it yesterday at my 25 week appointment but said we can discuss later but wanna see what other people have been through!

I’m hoping for a home birth for our second. We are 45 minutes (not including traffic) from the hospital. My midwife lit up when I said I wanted one! My first labour and birth was straight forward. Am a bit nervous though about being so far away should I need to be transferred 😅

Sorry I can’t give any previous experience, but also wanting a home birth, this is my first baby and 30 mins away from hospital. My husband was very nervous initially but is slowly coming round the more I talk about it and share info with him.

Not sure if you’ve heard of Better Birth on instagram, however she shares lots of info on birth statistics and home birth. Also has podcast episodes of home birth stories, and I’m planning to do her online hypnobirthing/antenatal classes to prepare

Heya, while a home birth isn't on the cards for me this time round, I was looking into it for my first baby. The stats undeniably say that home birth for second and subsequent births are the lowest risk option (assuming you're having a normal pregnancy / are generally low risk etc). Go for it, home births look amazing!

I’m planning a home birth, he’s my second baby & I am also a 30 min drive from the hospital. Both myself & my husband are extremely ‘for’ a home birth!

I work for the ambulance service & I can tell you now that anything that comes down as ‘birth imminent’ is categorised as a category 1 emergency call. This means that the response time averages at 7 minutes. They’ll usually arrive with other resources too eg a car or a motorbike. Don’t forget you’ll also have 2 trained midwives with you who also carry life saving drugs & things can also go incredibly wrong in a hospital setting!

The only thing I'd say is my aunt was Brighton area and ended up labouring on paracetamol because (something like) 2 midwives were needed to administer gas and air and only 1 could be located. She had a really awful time and did a hospital birth with the second. That said I totally see the appeal so I'd go armed with a list of questions for your midwife about it so you can make informed choices, things like what is their protocol for gas and air, any stats on availability of ambulances for home births that have required transfer etc etc. I think they sound really lovely even if I personally wouldn't want to take on the risk xx

Home births for second time mums have the same outcomes as hospitals for the baby and better outcomes for mum. Would highly recommend the experience too 👌