my god, i cant believe some  of  the difrances of mw's atatude to hb's in diffrent parts of the country, my mw was the one that surjested me having a hb from my booking in appointment at 7 weeks!!!!!!! and everytime i see her she asks if i still want it at home and tells me the lovely hb storys that she has done recently, theres only 4 hb mw's on the team in the comunity around by me and been 31 weeks and 5days now i hope i will get to met the others soon, im meeting one at my 32 weeks aponitment.

as the otherladies said, see if u can see another mw or just say that you feel 38 weeks is to long to wait as what about the cheaks to see if you home is sutable as i heared thats if u have an open fire then you cant have one cause of the risk of exsolpsion with the gas and air etc, any way sorry for going on lol,

i hope you get your hb and get to talk about it before 38 weeks

Hi, I have this problem too. I'm 36 wks today, seeing my doc on Tues, but not seeing my MW til 2 amd a half weeks later - I'll be over 38 weeks by then! So what do I do? She knows I want a HB, and she's said she'll contact me to come out and visit beforehand, but nothing so far.... feel a bit let down to be honest, plus I thought after 36 wks you were supposed to be seen every week...??!

mw will only talk about it frm 37wk they have to get a doc sign u ok for hb and they cant do that till 37wks at 37wks they will fill forms in and deliver your pack for u so its a case of getting yourself sorted and then mw do there bit when they know u are over 37wks so u can have hb hope this helps not much point of mw doing paper work early as u could go into labour before 37wks good lck with it all

ok, thanks for letting me know x

the box i had for my hb was what the mw's brought fir their own use rather than mine full of things they will need such as labour notes, waterproof mats, e.t.c saves them all carrying a box around each.

only thing i can say keep handy is a shower curtain (cheap 99p one will do) and an adjustable lamp incase you need stitches.

thanks for the advice, im going to get on it first thing monday! what is in the hb boxes they give you? ive written a list of all the bits i can think of, but is they anything you could reccomend as an added extra? thanks again xx

my advice would be to get yourself prepared for your homebirth you seem to have read up on it a lot so go with what you want if the midwife doesnt want to discuss it before 38 weeks just tell her that with discussion or not you will be having your baby at home and that includes if you labour at 37 weeks which is the main timescale the nhs being happy with homebirths.

ask her if she is part of the hb team and if not tell her you want the hb team's number to contact them yourself if she still wont then threaten her with a letter to the head of midwufery at your local hospital. 38 weeks is too late.

my hb team do a home consultation at 36 weeks (but you can be on their books from as soon as you like) then they bring in the hb box of goodies at 37 wks just incase you go into labour.

sounds like your midwife is just hoping you will change your mind to me stick to your guns.

mara x (32wks no.5).

You're right that is too late lol! You should ask to see another mw or contact the supervisor of mw's at your hosp because that is ridiculous! My mw was the same tho, when I was 34 weeks I asked about it & she said oh it's a bit early for that even though I wasn't due to be seeing her for another 4 weeks so I would have been 38 weeks too!! Anyway, for her incompetance & various other reasons we ended up using an independent mw & it cost us £2,000 but it was the best thing we ever did! I'm not saying you have to get one I'm just saying we did even though we couldn't afford it but I know it is expensive so it's not for everyone but we felt we didn't feel we had a choice!

Anyway, I've gone way o/t lol! You do really need to take things further & get them to pass you onto the hb cmw's in your area, maybe try contacting them yourself? hth xx

im 27 wks pg, and have decided on a home birth, but my midwife refuses to discuss it with me until im 38wks, ive spoken to her about it a few times now, but all she says is " i will discuss it with you at your 38 wk apt"   but thats way too late!!!!!! i want to know and start planning it now!

my pg is normal, everythings fine, but how can i be prepared if she wont talk to me about it now? ive been on all the websites and gotten as much info as i can, but i still need her input lol!   this isnt my first, i had my son 7 years ago in hosp, my whole labour only lasted 7 and a half hours, and it went ok, but this time im more confident in my own abilities, and a hb would be perfect. ive tried talking to my gp but she just says discuss it with the midwife aaarrrrggggghhhh!!!!!! im so frustrated