Home birth

PostingHome truths

Not off the hook after all for the home water birth. Not just yet, anyway. Structural engineer got back in touch to veto bedroom for the birth pool. But said our smallest room - the hall - looks like it will take the weight. Husband due to pick up pool, pipes, bleach, colander, heating pad tomorrow evening. Will buy waterproof torch, anglepoise lamp, waterproof sheeting at weekend. Scared? Me?

Unsure about giving birth in hallway. Doesn't feel quite right somehow. Will it be sufficiently private? Can't even remember how much privacy matters in childbirth. Is it a big issue? When was having Beanie, midwife got concerned about daughter's heart rate. Army of green-suited doctors, anaethetists and paediatricians entered through flowery curtain.

"Hello. Where have you all come from?" I asked.

"Did you not see your midwife press the emergency button?" one of them replied.

"Errr... no," I mumbled.

"Don't push," said the midwife, looking up from her notes. "Whatever you do, don't push."

"I'm not pushing!" I said, feeling like small child.

Funny the things you do remember; many of them were wearing clogs. But seemed fine with that. Not embarrassed, the way I would have been. There were phone calls, booking a place in the resuscitation unit, asking if theatre was free. No, we'd have to stay put. They brought out the forceps (I didn't look at that bit). Hauled daughter out of me as fast as they could. Beanie shrieked with displeasure as she emerged. I was a bit sore afterwards. Relief on face of  clog-clad paediatrician posted down bottom end to greet Beanie. "Baby can go straight to mum," she said.

After that drama, I liked idea of giving birth in tranquillity of own bedroom, where, ahem, this whole project started back in October. But do not want to become stupid and obstinate about home birth.

Read cautionary tale about woman who broke down in jealous hysteria when she got text message saying sister-in-law had 'achieved' a home birth. This woman described herself - no, defined herself - as HWBA3C. Yes, my thoughts exactly. Stands for 'home water birth after three Caesareans'. She claimed the Caesareans were violations 'inflicted on her in the name of medical science'.

Spoke to my midwife, whom I trust. Asked if true NHS does unnecessary interventions. "Look at it from a practical point of view," she said. "The NHS is careful with its resources. It has to be. There's not a lot of money available and funding is always being squeezed. Nobody likes to make things more complicated than they need to be. It's expensive to do a section. It's a question of beds and staff time. We only intervene when necessary."

Friend whose wife had their second child last year said: "It's the head count at the end that matters."

Posted 19 June 2008 10:20 | Number of comments: 15 | Comments

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PostingHot water

Bad news, I'm afraid. Looks like home birth could be in jeopardy. Husband has decided we can't risk having birth pool in flat without first getting engineer to check on wisdom of placing seventy seven gallons of water and pregnant wife on 200-year-old Georgian floorboards in second-floor flat. Such a spoilsport. Husband spent couple of hours yesterday afternoon taking up fitted bedroom carpet, prising off floorboard in the corner where I was hoping to site pool and discussing - in agitated manner - benefits of hand versus electric saws. I watched, worried, offered tea, felt guilty about causing him worry, tried (and failed) to think of something useful to say about the saws (knowing little of such matters) and did my best not to wince at the mess. ovalpool_Small.jpgWhen the structural engineer arrived, we tried to have laugh with her about the birth pool; but she just rolled her eyes and said she does this type of work a lot. They've seen it all, these people. Walk-in safes - for people who don't like banks. Hot tubs. What's a birth pool to her? She knelt down, donned big gloves and, after borrowing one of Beanie's plastic spoons, used it to scrape away at the layer of ashes under the floorboards placed there 200 years ago to 'deaden' noise between flats. They do a good job. We never hear a thing from downstairs. Fear, though, even ashes might not stop neighbours hearing me crashing through floor, chanting mantras learnt at pre-natal yoga, breathing imaginary gold ribbon in through the nose, out through the mouth, as taught in classes, and meditating. Husband, midwife and doula peering down from hole in ceiling. Would not be neighbourly thing to do.

This 'investigation' was meant to be a formality. To satisfy the insurance people. But it seems we may have miscalculated. The engineer put down Beanie's spoon. Looked serious. Said something that sounded like it should have been said by Scottie the Engineer on Startrek: "The floor joists can't take it." She would send us a full report today, but wasn't optimistic. Mostly, I was disappointed. But part of me felt something else - relief. Now I have to work out if I can handle a home birth without the pool....

Posted 17 June 2008 15:53 | Number of comments: 11 | Comments

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PostingWhy there's no place like home

hrowan300_Small.jpg Telegraph writer Rowan Pelling has written this excellent article about having her second son at home last month. The decision to go for a home birth followed a traumatic delivery first time round in which Pelling got to 9cm dilated - and still ended up under the surgeons' knives with an emergency C-Section. Personally, I just managed to escape a section when giving birth to my daughter. But I did have a tough time delivering a baby who weighed well over 10lbs - so I can  sympathise with Pelling (pictured).

As Pelling jokingly points out, home birth in the UK has an unfair reputation  as the preserve of 'masochistic, tree-hugging yoga freaks'. Just 1.8% of new mothers in the UK give birth at home. But research suggests home births are as safe as hospital deliveries - indeed, possibly even safer, since there's less risk of contracting MRSA. And birth is less stressful in a familiar environment, studies suggest. There's also less risk of intervention; birth is allowed to take its natural course. There are no doctors rushing in to speed up labour artificially, which can lead to all sorts of problems. There's no pressure to agree to using forceps or ventouse if mothers overshoot hospital guidelines for permitted length of the second stage of labour.

Since I decided on a home birth for my second child, due in July, I've had to put up with acquaintance who have a) sneered at my decision  b) suggested I might die in the experience. Friends, especially those who had easier deliveries with their second children, have been more positive. But my mother still looks terrified at the mention of home birth and refuses to acknowledge I'm serious in my plans for one. My husband's hands shake slightly when I discuss it with him and he starts discussing the engineering behind our hot water system - always, I suspect, the first defence of a man troubled by what he's hearing. So it was good to read a positive account of home birth from another woman (also, at 40, a slightly older mum like myself) who felt empowered by the experience.

Pelling attributes some of the success of her home birth to hiring an independent midwife (for around £3,000). I have a fantastic community midwife - but unfortunately there's no guarantee of it being her who comes out to me when I'm in labour - and I'm trying to decide whether it would be worth the expense of hiring an independent midwife. That way, at least, I wouldn't have the stress of wondering about what the midwife will be like.

By the way - here is a useful tip for any woman about to have a baby or looking after a newborn. I've learnt recently that every woman has the right to insist on a change in the medical staff looking after her, including midwives, obstetricians, anaesthetists and health visitors. This would have been nice to know when I was giving birth to my daughter, and I suffered at the hands of a midwife who was like one of my old PE teachers at school. I will never be able to cleanse my brain of her instructions. "Push down through your bottom," she kept telling me, like I was a lazy army recruit who needed whipping into line.

If I'd known back then I had a legal right to tell her to push off and get a replacement, I'd have done so. So, if anyone reading this finds themselves suffering from authoritarian medics who act as if they have the god-given  power to tell them what to do, remember: you have the power to ditch them. There's a small but potent minority of medics who take advantage of their perceived power to bully women. And let's face it, who's more vulnerable than a pregnant or newly-delivered mother? 

Posted 28 April 2008 12:47 | Number of comments: 11 | Comments

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PostingWeekend, or, what if you die?

Shedworking, one of my favourite sites, is running a theatre review I wrote for them about a production of Walden, a one-man show from Magnetic North about a man who flees civilisation to live in isolation in a hut in the woods. It was great fun going to the theatre (they even gave me a complimentary press ticket, something I haven't enjoyed in years) and because I went on my own I chatted to other people in the audience afterwards. Nothing to do with late parenting, but a mini-highlight of the weekend.

Somewhat closer to home, Va-vay, Beanie and I went to our local Home Birth Support Group at the weekend. Beanie was entranced when a pregnant lady stuck her tongue out at her (in a friendly way) - and revealed a rather splendid tongue piercing. I knew I needed the Support Group after I told a friend last week I was planning a home birth and she said: "What if you die?" My friend, who is not from this country, then said: "Well, maybe compared to an NHS hospital birth it is the best thing to do." Huh. It's one thing for me to criticise the NHS, but I don't like it when other people do. The Support Group nodded and smiled when I recounted all this, before bursting into tears, and said they hear this kind of thing a lot. They said that statistically home births are safer than hospitals. That people who are negative about you having a home birth are often just worried for you. Beanie beamed as I sat cross-legged on the floor, weeping, then made friends with a small boy wearing a T-Shirt saying "Born at Home". Although not yet two years old herself, Beanie loves pointing out "babies" she sees out and about, saying the word "baby" in great excitement, as if the child in question belongs to a different generation from herself. When in fact there's an age gap of twelve months between them. She spent the rest of the event cuddling the "baby". His mum was there too. Alive and well.

Other News

A friend is organising a fertility afternoon at the Aditi Yoga Centre in Edinburgh on Sunday 2 March from two till five. This is a chance to hear expert speakers on how to improve the chances of becoming pregnant, maintaining a healthy pregnancy and much more.  Topics covered include acupuncture, chinese herbal medicine, homeopathy, mind and the body, natural ovulatory cycle, nutrition and yoga. Open to all.  Donation £5 per person.

Posted 04 February 2008 11:01 | Number of comments: 8 | Comments

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PostingSpiritual midwifery



6141GGAP87LBO2204203200PIsitbdp500arrowTopRight4564OU01AA240SH20_Small.jpgMy copy of Spiritual Midwifery by Ina May Gaskin arrived yesterday from the Book Depository after the pregnant wife of one of Va-vay's colleagues recommended it to me last week. Many readers of this blog may already know of Ina May Gaskin, (I have to confess I didn't) but for those who don't, she is a 'self-taught' lay midwife who has helped pioneer ideas we nowadays take for granted in modern obstetrics, like fathers being present at births, the usefulness of breathing techniques, and an end to routine episiotomies. She was one of the first people to present pregnancy, childbirth and breastfeeding from a spiritual perspective and is known as "the mother of authentic midwifery". I stayed up till 2.30am last night reading Spritual Midwifery, literally unable to put it down, fascinated by stories of women giving birth at home in a hippy commune in 1970s Tennessee known as The Farm. Although the photos of beautiful, long-haired Madonnas and bearded husbands date the book to a vanished era, the book has a universality and timelessness that makes it as relevant today as ever. Inspirational and uplifting.

Posted 30 January 2008 11:22 | Number of comments: 2 | Comments

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PostingSpooky

213beJvhqKLAA115_Small.jpgI have made up my mind about one thing. My baby will not be having a supernatural birth. Trawling through Amazon, I came across Supernatural Childbirth. It promises 'a practical and realistic look at God's promises for conception, pregnancy and delivery'. Supernatural Childbirth even includes a 'powerful teaching section on ex-planning [sic] the curse on Eve in the Garden of Eden.' As if labour isn't bad enough, who wants an exorcism to boot?

Call me a sissy, but Unassisted Childbirth isn't high on my list of preferences either. The blurb promises advice on giving birth without medical 'intervention', pointing out that women did exactly this for thousands of years. Curiously enough, the blurb doesn't mention that millions of women died in the process. You know, all that curse on Eve stuff that the supernatural crowd were going to remove. Am still aiming for a water birth at home - but if it doesn't work out that way, I'm not going to beat myself up with rolled-up copies of Unassisted Childbirth. As long as the baby is safe - surely that's all that matters? And I'm certainly not planning on doing it alone. Please, no.

Afterthought

Friend at dinner on Friday: "Did you know that flats strong enough to take birthing pools command a premium in the Edinburgh property market? Estate agent particulars list them nowadays."

Posted 28 January 2008 17:12 | Number of comments: 16 | Comments

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PostingBirth Resource Centre

WaterBirthBook_Small.jpgAnybody planning on giving birth in Edinburgh might be interested to know about the city's Birth Resource Centre. They have birth preparation days for couples, pre- and post-natal yogal classes, a library of useful pregnancy and birth books (I've got my eye on The Water Birth Book by Janet Balaskas) and a support group for home births. More importantly, their staff are warm and kind. And they rent birthing pools. Last time I was pregnant I dragged Va-vay along to NCT lessons - and we were lucky enough to meet a great crowd of people, almost all of whom we still meet up with regularly. Life would have been pretty dismal without the NCT crowd, who've provided company and good cheer over the past couple of years. I hope they don't mind me saying that. But Va-vay and I were slackers during the actual lessons - we kept skiving off for dinners out, thinking (correctly) we wouldn't have much chance to go out once the baby arrived. Va-vay is also incorrigibly private - and curled up with embarrassment at discussing pregnancy in front of people he didn't know at the time. Not my problem, really. It's more getting me to shut up that's my issue, especially when I get nervous. But, anyway, my knowledge of childbirth and labour positions is sketchy - though I have no-one to blame but myself. This time I'm going to try and learn up a bit more. Less skiving. More swotting.

Posted 23 January 2008 15:41 | Number of comments: 6 | Comments

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PostingThe Business of Being Born

mposter_Small.jpg Should most births be viewed as a natural life process, or should every delivery be treated as a potentially catastrophic medical emergency? The Business of Being Born is a movie documentary just out that tackles the controversial debate between at-home and hospital births in the US. I don't think it's yet reached the UK (but if anyone's seen it in this country, please let me know). The chronicle follows the stories of married couples opting for home childbirth. You can see a trailer here. Executive producer is Ricki Lake who was inspired to make the film following the unsatisfying birth of her first child. Here is an interview with director Abby Epstein, who became pregnant herself while making the movie. Going by the trailer (I haven't seen the full movie) the film argues that hospital births are managed to suit doctors - and not mothers, who are losing out to the business side of medicine. It shows women in hospital hooked up to enough kit to power the Star Ship Enterprise, being bullied by scalpel-happy doctors. And yes, the mums having home births look fecund and womanly. I cried when some of them delivered their babies. Home birth is growing in popularity in the US - not surprising going by The Business of Being Born. Once I've seen the film, I'll report back in more detail.

Posted 18 January 2008 11:56 | Number of comments: 9 | Comments

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PostingThat's my baby

Met Lorna, the midwife, yesterday for my pregnancy booking visit at our local health centre. I'm fourteen weeks pregnant. Va-vay and I are quietly ecstatic. Sorry to have been so coy about it - but after the miscarriage I didn't dare say too much and we had some wider family issues as well.

Huge relief to see it was Lorna doing the booking, as we know her from having Beanie. She took so much time to listen to us and treated me like a human being – not like I’d lost my marbles because I was having a baby, or was a lower form of life because I didn't have a medical degree. She was warm, intelligent and kind - I felt so grateful I hugged her at the end.

Lorna held the Sonicaid to my stomach to listen for the baby’s heartbeat. "Don't freak if I can't find it," she warned me. "It’s still really early days to pick up a heartbeat."  "Don't worry, I won't freak," I fibbed, then clambered up onto the narrow bed. But she found the little tiddler and we heard the heartbeat thudding away. Tears splashed down my face. Va-vay red-eyed too. Lorna looked pleased.

We talked about the delivery. "What we normally suggest for someone who's had a previous delivery like yours is one of three options - either an elective section, a deep, elective episiotomy or..." and she paused, presumably seeing from my face how I felt about doctors getting their knives out on my private bits again: "a home birth".

And as soon as she said 'home birth', I knew that's what I wanted. Have been thinking a home/water birth for ages, but didn’t dare suggest it. Thought the hospital might get funny about my age, plus the delivery last time round wasn't that straightforward (forceps, theatre, blood transfusion).

The hysterical part is that Va-vay is going to get a structural engineer to come and see whether the floor joists in the flat are strong enough to take the birthing pool. It would make a great scene in a movie, but I don’t want to plunge through to the flat underneath us while giving birth. Can't imagine the neighbours would be too thrilled either. But I’m so pleased – a water birth.

Lorna is going to find me a different consultant this time. I was meant to have the same woman as last time, who reminded me uncomfortably of another (fragrant) doctor. The only time I met her I was 'plumbed in' and bleeding heavily; I could hardly walk (much less sit down) and my brand-new nightie (bought by Va-vay in honour of the occasion) was covered in blood and meconium. I'm afraid it's no exaggeration to say I stank. A farmyard would have been fragrant in comparison. Photos of me show a face so puffy from exhaustion my eyes have almost disappeared.

The consultant, in contrast, was the picture of elegance. She sat down (without effort), crossed her legs (it took me weeks after the birth to do that), put the tips of her fingers together, tilted her head back, and proceeded to pontificate on what had happened. It was like being in a tutorial. Then she asked if I wanted to be in a research project into whether 'unfit' women have more difficult deliveries. What a cheek. After I managed to point out I couldn't exercise in the final trimester with Beanie because I was almost crippled with symphysis pubis pain, Va-vay declined on my behalf. He was almost rude.

With any luck I won’t need to go into a hospital again during this pregnancy. Everything else seems so different this time round to how it was expecting Beanie. Lorna asked if I wanted blood tests for abnormalities – and when I said no, she just accepted that, saying of course she understood. Last time, the midwife frowned when I declined the same tests, and insisted on reading out statistics for the likelihood of Down’s, then pausing and looking meaningfully at me and Va-vay.

At last I feel excited about this baby – all the happiness I haven’t dared trust is bubbling up to the surface. The first three months of pregnancy I couldn’t allow myself to believe it would happen. Now I’m looking forwards to July.

Does anyone have any personal experience of home and/or water births? Please  let me know if so.

Posted 10 January 2008 17:17 | Number of comments: 30 | Comments

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