Home birth...

My mum had a lot of homebirths and a lot of people thought I'd follow the example. For my first child, I was not so sure about the whole experience and I felt more secure being at hospital. As it turned out, I started haemorraging mid-labour and had to have an emergency c/s. So now I would never have a home birth because I was so grateful for everything being on hand for that situation. I had had a perfect pregnancy, not even morning sickness, so it was a huge shock for us all and just shows that you can never tell what will happen.

On the subject of older siblings being at the (home)birth, my mum's first home birth was when I was almost 23 mos old and I still remember the experience to this day! My grandmother was there to read stories etc but I was interested in what was going on so I flitted between the bedroom (birthing room) and the lounge (where granny was) throughout the day. I don't remember moaning/screaming at all, but at one point Mum was sitting on the loo and the mw said "I can see the head!" and I panicked. Mum said I was terribly pale as she was whizzed past me but no one else noticed. It was not exactly a pleasant experience for me. I saw more births as I got older, the next one I was almost 8yrs and I had a far better understanding. But I was freaked out at all the blood and the dr/mw talking in concerned voices about the placenta (after it was birthed) was not lost on me. My mum never had the emergency c/s situation like I had but she did have a couple of haemorrages at different times and it was not something I could cope with well. I do think that 8yrs+ is okay to watch a birth (if interested, and I was) but you really have to think through what is to happen if complications arise.

One other thing, I am so grateful for being able to just sit in a hospital bed for 48 hours after birth should I wish, after reading your accounts of DH's expectations!! But that's more a joke than the other things I have mentioned. I was freaked out a couple of times as a child from homebirths and it is something I feel very passionate about.