Considering a home birth but hubby not keen

Hi Nix,
I am in Pretoria, so can't offer advise on which midwife would be best in your area. But I can tell you about what happens at a homebirth when things go wrong...

For my 3dr baby, I planned a home birth. It was lovely, I went into labour completely relaxed. Phoned my doula, midwife and photographer, they arrived at around 22:00. All was peaceful, I dilated quickly. Baby's heartbeat showed that he was happy. I was about 8cm by 23:00. My water broke around 4:00 am. By 8:00 am I was tired and baby was not coming down any further.
We decided to transfer to hospital, but baby was still stable.
It took about 20 mins to get to hospital from when the decision was made to transfer.
At hospital, baby was still happy. But the back-up OB decided to do a c-section. I spent the hour waiting for the theater in the bath, on the birth stool and then got prepped for theater. The OB came in to fetch me and decided to take another look, he asked if I wanted to try again. I reluctantly (tired!!!) said yes.
Baby was posterior and had turned his head skew as well. The OB used a ventouse to keep his head from slipping back up after a contraction. He was born after 2 contractions.
He was fine, came out kicking! Latched on like a champ and is a happy one year old now.

So what I want to get across, is that we are often afraid of emergency situations when at home. But I know now that midwives don't take chances and will transfer you if there is a possibility of a problem, usually before an emergency arises. If I was transferred during an emergency, the theater would have been ready when we got to hospital.

Hope you have a wonderful pregnancy!! And please, I know that being "far" from your birth place could feel like a problem, but its soooo worth it to travel a bit for a good experience. I have clients (I am a doula) who travel from Ermelo, Brits, Potch and Dundee (KZN) to Pretoria or Johannesburg to give birth in a birth house or active birth unit. It really is worth it!!!

Hi Jana,

Thanks for the info, I emailed Marianne today but she can only see me at her rooms in muizenberg or rondebosch on Wednesday's. I work full time and that is just too far away for me. I live and work in the northern suburbs. I have asked her if she can refer me to someone she knows who is based in the Northern Suburbs.

Kim mentioned that there is a new birth centre due to open near panorama in November so that might be an option.

Thanks again

I know it's early to be thinking about this at only 5 weeks pregnant.

I have read as many threads as I could find on the subject and have also been on websites etc. This is something I have been thinking about for a long time. I am drawn to the idea of a home birth as it makes me feel like it would be a better experience than a hospital birth. The idea of being in a hospital makes me feel anxious but at the same time I am scared of not being in a hospital in case something goes wrong.

I would really like to find out more. Who has had a home birth and who was your midwife? What was your experience? What were your actual expenses for the birth?

From what I have read most hospitals do not allow independent midwives and Vincent Palloti is not a possibility as it is too far away. I stay in Joostenbergvlakte in the Northern Suburbs.