To the OP, i had similar worries to you and they came true!

With my second baby i was in labour less than 10 minutes and she was out.

I was told that a baby that comes quickly will be absolutely fine as they know what they are doing..a slow long birth is worse for baby than a swift one...its just very shocking for mum!

DP called mw/ambulance after she was out and we were told to just wrap her in a towel and for me to get down onto the floor with baby. This was instinctive anyway and we did it as soon as she was out. You don't have to do anything with the placenta/cord as its fine to leave them all be!

I was terrified it would happen with my third baby but luckily MW arrived just in time to catch her.

I have a history of fast birth and my third homebirth was 27 minutes aswell so the worry has been in my mind everytime i get past 6mths pregnant.

You can't really prepare for a BBA but make sure you have all the stuff in one place and if you feel things are happening unlock your front door so help can get in when it arrives.

My last homebirth bucked my trend for quick births and took me 6 hours so just goes to show that all babies are different so hopefully you will have enough time to get someone over to assist!

Good luck, hope all goes well for you!

Sorry, I should make it clear it is not my 1st home birth. This will be my 3rd, I've had 3 children in hospital and 2 at home so far.

I worry if I'm home with my 2 youngest and things happen too fast what should I do? I'm sure I could talk someone through delivering a baby but not sure how I could do it alone iyswim as in a practical way.

I'm probably worrying over nothing, well I am pregnant so I am meant too

I dont have any links im afraid that could help but my hb was 3hrs from 1st sign of labour and i called mw when contractions were constant she arrived 40mins later and my son 5 mins at the back of her lol. So i was at the desperate to push stage by time she got there. Instinct does take over big time and i got myself ready on the bed just incase with my df having a peek so see everything was fine, you just know what to do so if you do find ourself in this situation dont panic just go with the flow. Id say if you like labouring like that then just make sure you have a big pile of towels or covers for bubs to slide into if need be and just turn round right away and scoop bubs up for skin to skin till mw gets there.

hth x

Hi, I had a home birth with me second, and I can honestly say it was the best thing I ever did. 

Wow! The feeling of being in your home afterwards is amazing.  I do think it totally depends though on how much you trust your midwife.

I had all the same anxieties, didn;t want to call my midwife in the middle of the night if it wasn't the real thing or incase they were off duty and I woke them up etc.  But as expected you just know you are in labour and it all fell into place.

I called my midwife and she arrived at 12.40 and my boy was born at 3.50am (with no pain releif!!).

Please do post another thread if you think I could be of any help or answer any questions.  I just know how your mind races with questions about it all. xxxxxxxxxxxx

i think however it happens hun your natural instinct kicks in and you just do it without even thinking about it.

i know a couple of people who have gone it alone not through choice and they are the sorts of people who are against things like homebirths but got sent home from hospital as they werent in labour enough for them and both of them have said it was a very relaxed none panicky experience because their instinct kicked in. if they can do it without panicking when they wouldnt be comfy with a homebirth then you will be fine if it were to happen.

it was a close thing with my last homebirth i tend to labour fast and i was starting to push as the midwife arrived but was only 7cm dilated and i kinda knew it wasnt time as me and dh were far too panicky at the time lol.

I'm worried about someone being there to "catch" the baby. I like to birth on my knees, would I just need to lower myself? I know this probably sounds daft

I've wondered this too. Are you worried about what you'd do after baby's born, or the birth itself??

If its the birth there's loads of women who end up going it alone just by accident. Equally if its the baby, there's not much you have to worry about. Cutting the cord etc can wait a bit. But I too have wondered about this as I have no idea what I'd do if I had baby by myself.

Is what if the MW doesn't get to me in time. I was wondering if any of you ladies could find some links for home birthing in an emergency.

If I wait until I'm in pain then there is no way anyone would get to me in time. My last labour was 3 hours less than 30 mins was painful at the end. I am due in term time with this one all my others came during school holidays

I know it is very unlikely that I would be on my own as I seem to "know" when labour has started. I woke up and got out of bed fast with my 3rd and my waters went 10 secs later.

What I want is a just in case action plan