Thinking about home birthing, but still have a few questions.

[Merla]

So at the moment DF and I are in month 4 of TTC, and the whole time he has been trying to convince me to have a home birth.

We have already decided on a water birth, now it is a matter of where, and how.

As I currently live in Brisbane, my options are again limited. I'm aware that the RWH has a birth center, but I'm not a huge fan of any type of hospital.

We have private health insurance, and cost is not a problem.

Are there many midwives who do home births in Brisbane? Who also will not patronise us because of our age, can you make any recomendations?
Will private hospitals agree to be a "back up plan" for homebirthing, or will we need an OB (something we would like to avoid if possible) as well?

Thanks you very much for your help :)

[doulacara]

I am not from QLD, but I understand there is a fairly active homebirth community up there. Perhaps someone from Brisbane can drop in and let you know the details.

Generally, should you choose to homebirth with a midwife, your back up would be a public hospital. There are very few OBs who would support a homebirth. But it is just a back up - somewhere to go if you needed a little help. You actually don't even need to book into a hospital if you don't want to. Some homebirthers do, some don't. As long as you have a plan of where you would transfer to if it became necessary.

With regard to your age. An independent midwife is much more likely to treat you as a birthing woman. It would be in hospital where you would risk patronising comments, IMO.

There are not many private health insurers who cover midwives, so check with yours first. Otherwise the cost will be born entirely by you as there is no govt assistance either. Most of us use the Baby Bonus to pay the midwife.

Staying at home for your first birth is the best way to avoid birth trauma and unnecessary intervention. It is also the gentlest entrance into the world for your baby.

Your body is made for doing this.

Best of luck with whatever you decide.

And lucky you for having a supportive partner.
:thumbsup:

C

[mixy]

Are there many midwives who do home births in Brisbane?

There are a few midwifes in brisbane, and depending on where in brisbane you are, some will travel from the sunny coast/ gold coast

Who also will not patronise us because of our age, can you make any recomendations?

I am 21, hubby is 23 and we are having our third baby, the home birthing midwives that i have met have never ever mentioned our age. We also attend the Home midwifery assiciation meetings, and i have never felt judged there either. The midwife i have chosen travels from toowomba, and is not doing brisbane any more, so i cant really recommend her, try homebirth.org.au, they have the most current listings for midwives around here.

Will private hospitals agree to be a "back up plan" for homebirthing, or will we need an OB (something we would like to avoid if possible) as well?

I really could not tell you if they would "agree,"
i doubt any ob would agree to be a back-up, obs can be very narrow minded in my experience. I have booked into a public hospital as my back-up.

A home birth for your first baby is a wonderful thing, i wish i had of been able to do it. And it is fantastic to hear that your partner is so supportive of the idea.

If i were you i would attend a HMA meeting, as there are lots of other homebirthing mums there, also there are usually some midwives that come along. it will really give you a chance to ask any questions face to face.

[Mum2Bella]

Merla how do you feel about birthing at home?

[Merla]

Thanks for all your answers, they have been really helpful :)

Ive still got a few more questions and things to work through, like finding the right midwife, backup plans, and hiring a birthing pool, but ive got plenty of time :)

mum2bella- At first I didnt like the idea much, I was pretty worried about things going wrong. However after some bad experences with both Private OB's and public hospitals I decided that I was not going to be birthing in a hospital unless I didnt have a choice (the saftey of my child was at risk). So I guess I'm starting to feel pretty good about it, I like the flexability of having the tests and scans that I want, and being in control of my pregnancy and birth.

[Mum2Bella]

i had my 1st at hospital n i swore i would never have another baby at the hospital,i had 3 free births n did it rthe way i wanted.

you need to be comfy with what you decide

[demeter]

Its great that you're looking into your options so early in your journey! I did the same :)

Homebirth is a great option for so many reasons, and one being that waterbirth is very hard to get in hospitals, sadly. You might find that your midwife or doula provides a birth pool as part if her service.

We homebirthed our first without a midwife and we wouldn't change a thing, it was by far the most exciting, intimate, powerful and happy experience of our lives!

My DH, like yours, was very keen on homebirth, and I'm sure yours will be great support, as mine was :cloud9:

[Merla]

So yesterday I got my :bfp:, so now I can start my journey into homebirthing :)

I have already contacted one midwife that sounds really nice, so I'm hoping to meet her soon and find out if she is right for me. Has anyone got any pointers on meeting a prospective midwife for the first time? I really am in uncharted waters here.

[mixy]

I think the most inportan thing to remember when meeting midwives is to take a list of questions, there does not need to be maby questions, just what it really important to you, but with out the list you are likely to get over whelmed and off topic really easily :D :ecomcity:
maybe this could be a chance for you and DH to chat about what you feel is important for this upcoming birth.

:goodvibes:congratulation on the growing bubba!

[Duchessa]

Congratulations! I'm excited for you. Homebirthing is an awesome experience. And by adding water, it just makes it even better!

[ikis84]

Congratulations!!

I homebirthed my second daughter - it was awesome, and I had much superior care from my independent midwife than I did when I had my antental care and birthed in hospital with my first. What a great thing to choose homebirth for your first - I wish I had!

Good luck on your journey!

I asked prospective midwives about their transfer rates, if they would support me if my pregnancy was 'higher risk'/variation of normal such as multipes, breach, diabetes, postdates etc, philosophy of birth/what she sees her role is as a midwife, costs and if she would accept most of the payment from the baby bonus, what these costs include (such as birth pool, how many appointments, travel, etc), how long they have been a midwife, and particularly how long in private practice, what equipment she would bring... gosh, I could go on, sorry it's a bit of a ramble! It's late and I should be in bed! Mostly, I could tell from the first few questions if they were the midwife for me :)

[fai firinne]

Congratulations! Woo hoo! Have a wonderful journey to birth.