Hi ladies, I haven't really decided what I want to do yet for the birth, but I am considering a home birth (although at my booking in appt I said hopsital). This will be my first baby and I'm only 11+4 at the moment. There are 2 obstacles I can see to me having a home birth.

1) At the moment we live in a small flat, with a kitchen, small bathroom and sitting room on the first floor and the bedroom on the 2nd floor (not very easy access to bed from stairs). So the bathroom is a long way from the bed and we don't have a lot of space.

2) We are quite likely to have to move house (and county!) before I have the baby, so I actually have no idea where I will be living or who will be my midwife or what the local services will be at the time of the birth! The move could be around April ish (due mid June) but I really don't know - it depends on when my hubby can find a new job. I can take mat leave from end of March to go with him if I need to.

Can anybody offer me any advice? This limbo is making it very difficult for me to decide anything about the birth!

Hi there!

I live in a fairly small maisonette and still planned a home birth for my first who is 3 months now.. (I ended up being transferred in to hospital, but I was still really glad I started out t home). I would definitely recommend it.

Firstly I would say that it is too early to be worrying very much. I know that you probably want to get things sorted out in your head, but you won't need to make a decision for a while. I would tell your mws that you are considering it though, I think it's easier to change from a home to hospital rather than the other way if you change your mind at the last minute or your circumstances change.

As for being in a small flat, I'm sure youcould make that work, but it will just take a bit of planning! For instance- if the bedroom is a bit hard to get to, could you use the living room for the birth? We had a birth pool in our living room, or you could get a cheap mattress for the floor. Then you could get to the bathroom more easily!

When I requested a home birth my mw came out to visit us, mainly to see whether they could get easy access in an emergency, but we also asked them about the setup. Once you know where you will be, the local mws might do something similar.

HTH- sorry if it is a bit long!

Thanks Poz, I guess I will just have to see how it goes and where we end up!

Hi Astraad, firstly I would recommend a home birth to anybody with a healthy pregnancy as it was the best experinece I have ever had. You really do feel so in control of your labour and to be in your own surroundings makes everything run much more smoothly.

Personally, if I had to give birth in your flat I would try and leave the upstairs bedroom as your place to go after the birth. You could have your moses basket ready beside the bed and lovely clean sheets ready for a long sleep after the birth. Homebirths are messy and I don't just mean in the bloody sence, but I was amazed at how much paperwork was spread around, and cups and plates from the snacks we had had.

You could make your living area into your birthing nest with maybe a pool, or some yoga mats on the floor and some pillows for support. Do you have a bath? If you do, you could easily alternate between the bathroom and your birthing area as you feel you want to.
The floor was my friend during labour and I was so happy being on solid ground on all fours until I got into the pool. The last place I would have wanted to have been was on a bed. Everyone is different I guess.

If you move then even better as you'll have more space to play with. Sorry you have to think about new jobs and new houses so close to giving birth. I take it you've read around homebirth a bit and I'm sure you've come across this website, but just in case you haven't ....
www.homebirth.org.uk

Lisa. x

Thanks Lisa Marie! No I haven't actually done any research yet, so I have bookmarked that website! But so many people who've had home births say it helps them to relax, that I'm starting to think about it because the idea of giving birth does make me nervous! You read those amazing stories of women able to manage without pain relief because they are relaxed and not worried and think "wow, if only I could do that!" I think it was fear really that made me initially say hospital.

I think I will do some reading and give it some more thought.

xx