hi, congratulations to everyone who had their home birth and good luck to everyone else waiting!
I just have a few questions
After the birth, who cleans up? is it really messy?
how much room will i need? I live in a 3 bedroom house but only 1 living room downstairs (fair ish size but not massive!)
do u have to live within a certain radius of a hospital?
when would i need to let midwife know i wanted a home birth?
think this is it for now
if there are any websites any one could recommend that would be great also xx

Hi i had my boy at home 2 weeks ago.
You dont need alot of room. I gave birth in the living room but i did have a birth pool so i needed room for that. As for cleaning up you will need someone to do that for you my husband tidyed up after ours. but if you put down plastic sheets (i used shower curtains 88p from asda) you can just take them up and throw them away so not much to do.
You can tell the midwife anytime up until the birth that you want a home birth but they like to "book" you for a homebirth at 35/36 weeks.
It doesn't matter how far you live from the hospital.
xx

Hi

As Michelle said you don't need a lot of room at all. i planned to give birth in the living room - started there, then ended up in the bathroom (tiny) and finally gave birth in my bedroom (not enough room to swing a cat and the bed takes up most of that). I had an Independent midwife and she did most of the tidying up with help from my husband but there was hardly anything to tidy up (we also used the Asda shower curtains). I told the hospital I wanted a HB at booking had a bit of trouble with them towards the end (long story) and hired an IM at 40 weeks (gave birth 40+4).

The best website is

www.homebirth.org.uk

Hi,
I had my little boy at home 2 yrs ago and gave birth in our bedroom, which is quite small The midwives cleared up everything at the end, they were fabulous. I think tnhey have to clear up because they have to incinerate all the mess!!!! And yes, you need to tell your midwife that you want a homebirth.
Good luck

thank you very much, i have midwife in less than 2 weeks so i think i will tell her my intentions then and see how it goes x

I find those of us that have had a home birth get a bit evangelical about it and can't understand anyone wanting to do anything else. Just be prepared for your midwife not to be as excited. I have a community midwifery team who are fantastic, the local hospital midwifes aren't half so positive about anything much (in my experience anyway). It really depends who you see. If you don't get a positive reaction I'd find the number for the community team and speak to them about seeing someone who can advise you. Most important is that you remember this is your baby, not an NHS statistic or an illness. The most important thing to me is that my son was born into our calm and cosy home, tucked up in dad's dressing gown while I was stitched and asleep in our bed within a couple of hours of being born, just the peaceful and perfect introduction to the world I wanted for him.

Thanks again, thats just how I want it to be. I had GD last time but am avoiding anything with sugar in this time (i was diet controlled last time so should be ok this time too) and Im O neg blood, should this make a difference? x

your blood group should not make any difference.
x