Home Sweet Home

Most women in the UK assume that they will have their baby in hospital, but there are other options. Baby Hampshire talks to local midwife Chalotte Morris about the benifits of giving birth at home.

“When women come in for their first appointment most of them are automatically thinking of having the baby in hospital, hardly any are aware that they could have a home birth and many are surprised that they are allowed to.

“In fact women don’t actually have to decide where they’re going to have their baby until they are in labour.  We can go and assess people at home and if they are doing well, they can make the decision there and then. The home birth rate in Winchester is about 4.8%, around twice the national average. We are trying to get the message out there that there is a choice.

“On average we book between 8 and 10 home births a month, we would like to do more – though it would mean needing more resources for community midwives. We are working towards having more midwives based in the community and in the future we are hoping that midwives will be working in small groups, following a mum the whole way through, whether they go into hospital or have a home birth.
 
“If the home birth is planned we take out a ‘home birth box’ after 37 weeks with equipment that will stay at the house, we also carry  the contents of a mini-labour ward in our cars. When the labour starts a midwife will visit and assess the situation. In general, our home birth women are so well prepared and respectful of the midwife that they don’t call until they really need us.  It isn’t healthy for the woman and her partner if the midwife is there watching during early labour as it puts pressure on them, but we usually pop in a few times in during the day.  If it’s a second or subsequent baby then the woman will usually wait longer to call and the midwife will stay there. The second one can be really fast.

“Midwives are trained to look out for anything that’s not normal and as soon as we get warning signs that things are not going to be straightforward we will transfer the woman to hospital.  The chances of an emergency situation that we have not had warning signs of beforehand are very small.  If anything does happen we carry emergency resuscitation equipment for the baby and we are trained in basic life support.

“As in hospital, we always have two midwives at the birth, in the very unlikely event that we do need two pairs of hands. If something happened we would have one midwife dealing with the baby and one on the phone to get the emergency ambulance. However, if the baby were to arrive before one of the midwives got there, one midwife is perfectly able to cope with a straightforward birth on her own.

“There are massive benefits of having a home birth. Labouring at home gives women a huge amount of confidence and a sense of achievement. It also increases the sense of partnership between her and her partner because he will have taken a big hand in helping her through.  Both parents can feel more in control and confident in their own environment. They can be more involved and the midwife can take as much of a back seat as the woman wants and just do necessary things like monitoring the baby’s heartbeat.

“What could be nicer after giving birth than getting into your own bath? Usually Mum gets in the bath and we put the baby in with her and then they can all get tucked up in their own bed as a little family. The partner doesn’t have to go off and leave the mother by herself in the hospital with a new baby. The confidence that the women have afterwards is amazing; they think that if they have achieved that, they can do anything!  The look on their face when they have had the baby and done it by themselves, in their own space, is just incredible. 

“Pregnancy is not an illness.  I looked after a Russian girl once and when I asked her where she would like to give birth, at home or in hospital, she answered “why would I want to go to hospital? I am not ill.” Different cultures have a completely different angle on what pregnancy and childbirth are all about.

“Home birth is not for everyone, though, and both the woman and her partner have got to be on board.  If it isn’t really what they both want, then they won’t be calm and confident. Of course there are some women who do need medical care, we are not advocating that everybody should be having a home birth - that would be going back to the Dark Ages.  It’s about finding the right place for each woman.”

“Most women have an active birth at home. They wander all over the place - we have delivered in the kitchen, the bathroom, all over the house. In your own house you have the freedom to go wherever you want and we would never restrict a woman as long as it’s safe. Women seem to labour better at home because they are relaxed in their own environment.

“I still get goose bumps at a birth, especially if I am with a women that I have looked after all the way through her pregnancy and got to know her partner and her other children, there is no feeling like it. It is a privilege to be a part of that very special time in their lives. Midwives are very good at building up a rapport, whether they know the couple or not they tune in to their needs very quickly.  You have to be there for the baby and the mother. It carries a lot of responsibility but that’s our job and  I don’t think there can be any more rewarding work in the world.

 “We are doing as much as we can in our area to change the way people think about giving birth, but it doesn’t help that in magazines you see celebrity births reported and every one seems to be a drama.  It is getting better slowly – Davina McCall had a home birth and Cindy Crawford had her two babies at home.  Birth is portrayed as a drama in so many magazines and TV programmes, we need a more balanced view. We are getting women who have had a home birth to come to the birth preparation classes and talk to pregnant women.  We are having coffee mornings where women who might be thinking of home birth meet the community midwives and talk to women who have either already have had or definitely want a home birth.

“Of course caesareans are absolutely necessary in some cases, but it’s not good for young girls to grow up thinking that the celebrity caesarean is the norm.  Labour is hard work, but it prepares you for the hard nitty gritty of motherhood. If children see that giving birth is a normal family event, then the next generation will grow up and not see it as such a medicalised thing.

Charlotte Morris is the Clinical Community Manager for the Winchester Community Midwives.

Enjoy it because you will never get that time with that baby again.
Don’t worry about the housework. 
Make sure you get enough rest and eat well.
Spend as much time as possible together as a family.