has anyone had an unplanned homebirth?

Question

wondering if any ladies have ever experienced a very fast birth and were unable to make it to the hospital or even the car and had their baby at home. this is my 3rd baby and my previous labor was just over 1 hour. can anyone give me some advice on what to do it i am caught at home and hubby hasnt gotten home or ambulance hasnt arrived. i have a neighbour lined up just in case, im a little nervouse because none of my family live in the same state as me. and in australia doctors dont induce because of fear of fast birth. and i dont want to have my baby in the car. i saw my doc yesterday and the baby is healthy but small for gestational age. any advice is appreciated.

i looked into home birth and only miwife lives 1hour 40 minutes away and costs 2000 dollars minumum.

Answer 1

what to expect when you're expecting has a whole chapter on just this! study it and be sure you have at least the basic necessities just in case you get stuck in exactly this situation. My friend tracy delivered on her sofa with the ambulance drivers assisting! My sister had this same worry since her first labor took 4 hours, and her second took 1, and she lives at least an hour from the nearest medical facility! she made it okay though, because when she thought that she might be in labor, and the nurse said she was not dilated enough and tried to send her home, she just went shoppin across the street, just in case, and it was lucky she did, because she delivered about 5 mins after returning to the hospital, she delivered on the short sheeted bed, with no one to catch the baby, it landed on the sheets, and she had to call the nurse over to get it!

Answer 2

Please PLAN a homebirth, a planned homebirth is of course far safer than an unplanned homebirth. And birthing at home is far safer than birthing in a car. I don't know what kind of homebirth options you have in Australia, but look into a midwife just in case.

Emergency Childbirth by Gregory White is a great resource, though it is a bit expensive per number of pages.

There is lots of information on the Web as well. Just google "Unassisted Childbirth". Here are a few of my favourites.
http://www.unassistedchildbirth.com
http://www.empoweredchildbirth.com
http://www.mothering.com/discussions/forumdisplay.php

I happened to find an Australian page:
http://www.purebirth-australia.com/

Also I strongly recommend the yahoo group for "Empowered Childbirth", another one "C-birth" is also good though it is very militant. Empowered Childbirth will support your choice to have a UC, homebirth, or a hospital birth. And support your choice to go to the hospital if you think you need to or have time. They are a great group of women, and there are a few midwives and nurses on there as well. I believe there are a few members from Australia but I am not very active on EC anymore. Here are the links:

http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/EmpoweredChildbirth/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/c-birth/

(If you happen to get an "adult content" warning, please ignore it and click ok. I assure you those are the right links you aren't getting onto a porn page or anything. Just for some reasons childbirth is sometimes moved to adult and then the group has to fight to get it moved)

Congrats and good luck!

Answer 3

I work with a baby that was born at home before the ambulance could get there. She was fine, and the paramedics cut the cord and delivered the placenta when they got there.

Answer 4

I definately fall into this catagory! With my first son, my water broke early, and after no contractions, the OB decided to start pitocin. Three hours later he was there. Everyone warned me that my next baby would be quicker. I never expected it to be so fast that I would not make it to the hospital! I woke up at 9pm and thought I had an upset stomach. I went to the bathroom, but quickly realized that pain I felt was his head! I screamed for my husband, and drug myself to the car. The contractions had no breaks in between, and I knew in my mind that we wouldnt make it to the hospital. We tried anyway, considering that the hospital was a couple of mins away. We ended up pulling over and calling 911. His head came out along with an entact bag of water before we could get help. To our horror, he was stuck! I passed out, but my husband timed 6 mins before the paramedics found us! The Paramedic broke his arms, along with my pelvic bone, and pulled him out. We both hemorraged severely, and had blood transfusions. It took me two weeks to begin to walk again- at a turtle like pace. It took my son 2 mos. to come home from intensive care. He now is four years old, and is pretty healthy. We had a very long road to get where we are. He is profoundly deaf due to asphyxia in the birth canal, and has physical and occupational therapy daily to help him learn to ue the muscles in his neck, due to the paramedics tearing it at birth. He has also suffered a stroke shortly after birth. He weighed 6 lbs and 7 oz. and was born at 9:24pm ,Anyway, I am not telling you this to scare you, but to prepare you for anything. I did have one more baby, and I was so prepared, that I knew that I could deliver him if need be! I didnt leave home w/o sterile scissors to cut the cord, trash bags for the placenta, lots of towels and blankets, an ear syringe to suction the nose and mouth, rubbing alcohol for cleaning my hands, and a note to myself reminding me of what needs to be done. Also, remenber to nurse right away! It will keep baby warm and actively breathing, and will contract your uterus back down to deliver the placenta and stop the bleeding. You will also need two sterile shoe strings to tie the umbilical cord before cutting it. Remember that the cord should pulse for about 10 min. As long as it is pulsing, you do not have to cut it, b/c your baby will be getting its blood supply through it. Fortunately, my last son was born in the hospital! I felt no pain with him, but felt alot of pressure, and rushed to the OB to find that I was 8 cm dilated! No matter what, stay calm, and know that you WILL make it though! If you happen to be in your car, crank the heater up so that baby can hold his/her temp. Congrats on the baby,and may God Bless you through it all!
mamaofthesweetest4