booked a home birth

[lilpearl]

I've finally made an official decision and booked an independent midwife. After going to the "booking in" appointment at our local hospital, there was no way I was going to have my baby there! Here in Melbourne there is little choice for women who have had a previous caesarean section and a very uptight attitude amoung the medical establishment. I do not know how they justify the management of VBAC's in hospitals. The risks are far far less than for most other things that "could go wrong" in birth. It's ridiculous....simply doctors trying to take control of what is fast becoming more than a minority group. My husband and I had caesarean alarm bells ringing when the hospital midwife basically told us that she has no say in how things are run. She's a midwife! Bloody hell, midwifes should be IN CHARGE of maternity units. It all disgusts me...anyway, here I go getting worked up once again. I really have decided that it would be ridiculous of me to give my power over to the medical aliens when I so believe in the rights of women to birth as they wish and the rights of babies to be born into an optimal environment whenever possible. No change will occur if people like me say one thing and do another. So I'm going to practice what I preach and have the most empowering birth experience possible - a home birth! I'm so excited!

[Lilys*mummy]

:wave: Just wanted to say best wishes for your upcoming home birth! How exciting for you!

[youngbrismum]

Hi Liana,

Unfortunately hospitals are extremely political and the midwives really don't have much power. I think that a homebirth is a fantastic choice!! I had a HB with DD and planning an unassisted homebirth with #2 due mid March.
Unfortunately there has been a lot of witch hunting of a dear Brisbane midwives this year and they are now few and far between. I hope you have a wonderful birthing experience.

[lilpearl]

:) Thank you very much.

What a shame about Brisbane midwives! Here in Victoria, things are starting to look up a bit for independent midwives and there has been a lot of pushing for them to have access to insurance again. I just find it unbelievable that in eighty years, although the birth 'industry' has changed a great deal, womens rights and beliefs are still being neglected and disrespected as much as ever when it comes to their role as childbirthers and mothers. While the trends in the system have changed, and there has been a great improvement in birth becoming "family friendly", there has been no major change for the better as far as intervention rates go, etc.....it's just different stuff. The power is still being given over to the medical community who, lets face it, rarely have a real need in the birthing environment.

Anyway, at 20 weeks pregnant, I finally feel at ease and ready to sit back (so to speak) and enjoy the rest of my pregnancy, happy in the knowledge that no one is going to try and walk all over me.

Thank you again for your kind words.

[melissa.r]

Homebirth... Good choice...
DD2 was my homebirth babe and I had a wonderful experience.
Goodluck.

[AM]

Yay!
Homebirth rocks!:yelclap: :yelclap: :smiliedance: :smiliedance:
Can't wait to hear more of your journey!

And the woman you spoke to at the hospital sounds like a MEDwife, grrrrrrrr

[the_queen]

Yay indeed! Good choice :yes:

Angie said everything I was going to say :yelclap:

[Shanaynay]

I'm so excited for you :D

I can't wait for the day when I plan my homebirth :smiliedance:
(Which won't be for a few years though!)

[mummyof5]

Yee ha Liana,
So glad to see you have sorted out what you are going to do! Hope it is the best birth ever!! I know it will be...

Angie is so right, homebirth rocks big time:smiliedance: :smiliedance:

[Funkychicken]

:yelclap: That's wonderful news for you. I wish you all the best for a powerful home birthing experience. How exciting!

[lilpearl]

Thank you, thank you! It is feeling more right by the day...I'm really quite excited. Today I just realised - I don't have to pack a hospital bag (maybe a small 'emergency' one), and I can stock my fridge with whatever I want for myself and my support people without a care in the world about carting things into an "unknown zone". It's going to be so handy!

[Tam-I-Am]

Wow, congratulations! I'm not pregnant yet - but I made this decision for myself recently after a bad experience with my DD's birth! I can understand the relief you must be feeling now, and the excitement of being able to plan for being in your own environment for the BIG DAY!

Well done, and all the best for a wonderful pregnancy, and a magical home birthing experience!

[AM]

I've got some really good recipes for 'labour-ade' drinks if you are interested, they are all formulated so they have an equivalent electrolyte balance to a hospital IV. Very good for keeping your energy up, and helping stop dehydration.

[Tam-I-Am]

Ooooh, I'D be interested in that, AM - would you mind posting them here? Or if you'd prefer, could you PM them to me?

Cheers :)

[shed]

Man, I am so JEALOUS. You are so LUCKY.

When I was pregnant with DS I wanted a homebirth so badly. Whenever I would imagine having him at home I would get excited, whenever I imagined having him in a hospital room I would feel dread. Not dreading the labour and the birth, dreading being in a poxy hospital.

The hospital was exactly as I expected. Icky.

Anyway, congratulations!! Good on ya and I look forward to following your journey.

[AM]

Laborade Recipes:
These recipes are elecrolyte balanced mixtures which are the rough, organic equivvalent to the I.V. solutions routinely given in the hospitals.

Recipe #1
1/2 cup apricot nector
1 cup apple juice
2 cups orange juice
1 cup pineapple juice
twist of lemon or lime

Recipe #2
1/2 cup apricot nector
1 cup pineapple juice
1/2 cup orange juice
1 1/4 teaspoon sea salt

Recipe #3
2 cups tomato juice
1/2 cup water
2 dashes tamari
juice of 1/2 lime

Recipe #4
1/3 cup real lemon juice
1/3 cup honey or more to taste
1 tablet calcium lactate, powdered
water to make one quart

I had one of these on hand with a bendy straw thing, much easier to drink with in labour.

You can freeze them into ice cubes if you wish, and just suck on the ice if you prefer.

[lilpearl]

thank you for your kind words, everyone.

Thank you so much for those drink recipes! What a handy thing to know! I'll give them a go:)

[becca74]

WOOHOO!! :smiliedance:

How exciting! Cant wait to start following your journey :D

[Zan]

Good luck and I'm sure you'll have a great pg and birth experience.
Zan (PS It is a good idea to pack a basic hospital bag just in case and also so you have everything you need together in one place when you give birth - helpful for the m/w and or hubby to find things you want. Not that I have even given it a thought for this baby, lol)

[demeter]

Congratulations on the HB decision! Sounds perfect for you! Its definitely on my agenda too :)
Seems its the only way to have an empowered and unmedicalised birth experience these days :( the politics of birth these days are truly depressing. I'm glad so many women are taking matters into their own hands and homes
:smiliedance:

[lilpearl]

demeter - yes, hopefully the medical establishement will start to think "hmm, we're not so popular. Why?"....but of course, there needs to be far more awareness in society for the majority of women to feel empowered. I'm starting childbirth education classes soon (running them), and I'm really excited to have the opportunity to give un-biased information to my community, which has a large childbearing population. It seems that most women, on discovering they're pregnant, decide, "ok, now I have to find an ob because isn't that what you do?/that's what my mother did/my friends are dishing out names left right and centre". If only women knew "high risk" women have better outcomes with midwives/the public system than "low risk" women have with obs and the private system. If only they knew, midwives ARE the experts when it comes to birth....obs are the experts when it comes to problems, and surgery. Anyway, I'm all for choice. But the problem is, women aren't given the facts to make a balanced decision that takes into account all that is important to them. Most women think if they pay the big bucks for the "best" ob, and the private room, they'll get the best care. Well, that really depends on what one classifies as the "best" care when it comes to bringing their baby into the world, doesn't it?I like this quote from (obstetrician) Michael Odent (1984): "The history of obstetrics.....is largely the history of the gradual exclusion of mothers from their central place in the birth process."

[melissa.r]

I couldn't agree with Liana more. The challenge I find is changing mainstream views on birthing. This is a very difficult process as many women truely believe that birthing is a dangerous and scarey process and have no faith in their own capacity to delivery naturally. Sure, I do not doubt that medical intervention is required in some cases, but statistically this should be much lower than it is in Australia. Changing this view needs to be done from the grass roots ie: children. I am sure that if we all work hard, that are DD will have a better understanding of their own bodies and powerful birthing experiences.

[lilpearl]

absolutely, Melissa - I really want to go do enducation within schools - for boys, too! I think that's so important. I think another huge hurdle is the fact most women see birth as a means to an end - not as a right of passage. Most don't have an indepth knowledge of the hormones of birth, and the importance of the birth process in setting up ones feelings of self-worth and confident mothering. I see birth as the most important thing in life. Just as one wishes to die in peace, one should wish to birth in peace, and be born in peace. It sets the whole scene. Of course, i don't think babies born via caesarean are necessarily going to be worse off as adults...I prefer not to go into that sort of debate, as I believe that many many influences contribute to the health and safety of a human being. But certainly, it will set the scene....it's nice for children to hear their birth stories while seeing a huge smile on their mother or fathers face. I always heard the horror story of my birth, with my mother in 2nd stage for 12 hours, and an eventual high forcepts delivery, and then me in shock. I truly believe that that story was in my head somewhere when I had such a similar experience with my own first birth. And the funny thing is, my mother doesn't know why I would want a homebirth,a s it costs a lot of money..."why would you pay that money when you can have your baby int he hospital for free?". It's frustrating...and I'm so surprised that she of all people still trusts the hospitals! I guess it's a case of believeing the birth process to be dangerous, not the fact that the care you recieve largely determines the birth outcome.

[spiritedfamily]

Its always great to hear about woman choosing homebirth - great choice:thumbsup: hope it all goes to plan for you...your hearts in the right place.

I agree with educations in schools, it has to begin when they are forming their views on birth and in this day and age boys should so know whats going on..why should they be kept in the dark...they are our supporters, obs too. I feel strongly about this area too...I hope to get involved in our local programs that help bring the message to our young teenagers...I have attended a couple and it can be heartbreaking how early they are already forming opinions on their birth choices..its still worth bearing witness, they won't know natural birth is possible unless its shown to them.