well a midwife came out...

[Manda&Thomas]

...STILL no home-birth kit though
she came out just to do checks me and baby are both fine she said he has a lovely strong heartbeat which i thought was an odd thing to say are they not normaly strong??
only one problem where he has gone from lol to back to back and lol in a week and a bit he has now completly disengaged
im not too worried as my sister went into labour with her eldest when he wasnt engaged just annoyed more then anything.
i thought my pelvis felt a bit "empty"
anyways she told me to rock my hips on my ball to try and get him back in there and also to put my feet up to help my excessive swelling (not sure how im ment to do both)
she said nothing about my home-birth kit or when it will be brought out just booked me in for a sweep on tuesday if ive not had him by then and told me that if they are busy i WILL have to go into hospital to have him!!
so not sure what to make of it all im no closer to getting my home-birth kit but atleast i have seen some-one now and know for sure that he is ok in there
manda xx

 

[Sherlock]

she said nothing about my home-birth kit or when it will be brought out just booked me in for a sweep on tuesday if ive not had him by then and told me that if they are busy i WILL have to go into hospital to have him!!

Awww one step forward, two back.

And erm have a read of this from the Homebirth site on staff shortages etc. It sounds to me your HA isn't really supportive of homebirthing in general and could do with a kick up the backside. I'd stick to your plan and don't feel you *have* to go into hospital. Also on another pregnacy forum I post on, a woman had similar to you but was still attended by MW for her homebirth anyways. She refused to go into hospital and lo, a MW was out there for the second stage and to help deliver.

What about staffing shortages?

Women planning a home birth are sometimes told that the local health authority may not be able to provide a midwife on the day, because of staffing problems. If you hold out for a home birth in these circumstances, you may feel guilty that you would be taking midwives away from other women who need them on the labour ward. This is an understandable concern, but it is important to remember that staffing levels are the health authority's responsibility, not yours. You may sympathise with their problems, but remember that “where there's a will, there's a way”. Trusts which are fully supportive of home birth find a way around this problem; so can yours.

While sympathising with the health authority's staffing problems, you can ask what they are doing to resolve their staffing problems. Advertising vacancies is insufficient - perhaps providing their midwives with more autonomy and job satisfaction, for example with the opportunity to attend births at home, would improve their retention of midwives.

If women are persuaded to abandon their home birth plans on the grounds of staff shortages, the health authority will have no incentive to improve its services for other women - so by holding out for a home birth you are helping to improve choice in your area, and helping to make midwives' jobs more interesting - and you are also saving money for the NHS (see below).

Every health authority has access to what are called 'bank midwives', and most use them regularly when they have staffing problems in the hospital. These are midwives who work on a temporary basis, sometimes for just one shift at a time (a bit like supply teachers). Some will be midwives who are employed by the same health authority, who are taking on extra work - doing overtime - and others will be midwives who want to work part-time but who have not obtained a permanent part-time job, or midwives who are currently taking a career break to look after their own children, but will work occasional shifts, or semi-retired midwives. All 'bank midwives' are all fully-qualified midwives. If there was a genuine shortage of midwives on the labour ward then the health authority should always be able to arrange cover on the ward from a bank midwife, thus freeing up a community midwife to attend home births.

In some areas, independent midwives work as 'bank midwives' when they are not needed by their own clients. On occasion, independent midwives have attended home births on behalf of health authorities who could not arrange cover from their own employees. Sometimes such arrangements are made in advance - when people talk of arranging an 'extra-contractual referral' to an independent midwife, they mean that an independent midwife would be booked to attend you, but would be paid directly by the health authority.

See 'Home Birth Bullying' from AIMS for suggestions on dealing with this situation, and also 'Home Birth Alert' for a sample letter to send to your health authority. If you still have difficulty in arranging your home birth, please contact Beverley Beech of AIMS - she is very experienced in supporting women in this situation, and would far rather that people contacted her, than fought on alone.
What if you phone when you are in labour, and are told no midwives are available?

Many homebirth advocates feel that it is still important to stand your ground in this situation. If the labour ward is really this busy, is it a safe place for you to labour? You do not need to feel guilty about making the labour ward manager's job harder; while she may have a tough job, you are having a baby. She has ward crises every week and, by next week, will have forgotten that you ever existed. You, on the other hand, will remember this baby's birth for the rest of your life.

To the best of my knowledge, and from discussions on the Homebirth UK email group, in every case where a mother has insisted that she is staying at home and that she expects a midwife to be sent, a midwife has indeed been sent out. It is important to make clear that you will not accept a paramedic, nor will you accept transfer to hospital in an ambulance if one is sent out.

Here is some advice from Shawn Walker of the Norwich Home Birth group:

Over the past three years, we have seen this a lot among our group in Norwich / Norfolk. Here's what we recommend if it may happen to you:
Have someone with you who is not your partner or mother or other close, emotionally involved person. This person should have ideally had a successful homebirth herself and at a minimum be entirely supportive of your plans to do so, comfortable advocating for you in a situation where you are being told that there will be no midwife sent, and able to be calm in such a situation.
Prepare your supporter by practicing the 'broken record' technique with her. No matter what they say, your supporter should keep replying that you are going to give birth at home and are expecting a midwife to be sent. When they say they definitely won't send one, she should keep playing the record -- 'Clare is going to give birth at home and we look forward to seeing a midwife.' Needless to say, you should not be involved in this exchange -- you have enough to do! And we recommend that someone other than your partner be the spokesperson, so that your partner can concentrate on you. At no time should your advocate say, 'Okay' or 'I understand' or try to reason with the person on the phone. Just keep playing the record.
Don't think of it as preparing yourself for a fight; think of it as preparing not to fight by being clear about your position and having support to keep strong in that position.

My doula colleague and I have been successful with this technique many times, even when they are absolutely insisting they will not send someone. The only time it wasn't successful was when a close family member did the advocating -- and that person was very concerned about there not being a midwife. None of the couples who chose not to have another supporter with them chose to stay at home when told they had to come to hospital. When you think about it, that's a lot of pressure for a dad-to-be to be under in such a situation.

Shawn
Norwich Birth Group -- www.norwichbirthgroup.co.uk

 

[Manda&Thomas]

thanks for that bit of info hun had a few things i dint no about on there will also show it to hubby when he gets home,
he wont let me go into hospital hes adimant aslong as me and baby are fine we are having a home-birth its nice that i can fully relie on him,
my mother has already played the "oh why dont you just go into hospital to give birth its alot less hassle" card yes mother it is for them but not for me
im going to stand my ground though il be on the forum threwout so you can all help me threw the labour
thanks again
manda xx

 

[Sherlock]

thanks for that bit of info hun had a few things i dint no about on there will also show it to hubby when he gets home,
he wont let me go into hospital hes adimant aslong as me and baby are fine we are having a home-birth its nice that i can fully relie on him,
my mother has already played the "oh why dont you just go into hospital to give birth its alot less hassle" card yes mother it is for them but not for me
im going to stand my ground though il be on the forum threwout so you can all help me threw the labour
thanks again
manda xx

Sounds like he is really with you on this so for him. It makes a huge difference having someone in your corner to speak for you also

And yup, we'll be here to offer support throughout

 

[Charlie:-)]

Good to know that you and LO are good but disappointing news about your homebirth.

I honestly agree with you and Sherlock, stick to your guns and push for your homebirth (no pun intended................sorry)

 

[muppetmummy]

Definately stick to your guns about the home birth. It's unfair how some parts of the country seem to be really supportive of it, and others will go out of their way to put women off.

At my last midwife appointment she made a comment about how strong his heartbeat was. I wouldn't read anything into it

 

[Bloom]

Sorry your homebirth plans are not coming together Manda.

 

[debecca]

I can't believe how crap your local health authority are being Manda!! It's obvious they think that by not getting the stuff together in time you'll relent and just go "Oh OK I'll go to hospital then"... eejits I'm angry on your behalf.

Great that your OH is so supportive though bless him

I got scared when I read about your baby moving and disengaging. If mine's done that at my midwife appointment this afternoon I really will cry.

 

[Manda&Thomas]

aww im sure yours hasnt done what mine has hun
manda xx

 

[Suzie and Faith]

Grrr it really bugs me how different opinions on homebirths are throughout the country!
As I said to Sherlock, come stay with me they are so pro-homebirth! Fight your cause though and it's great your OH is totally on your side!

The heartbeat thing - my midwife has always said that - i said to my OH that it seemed a weird thing to say really!

x