My family have been very supportive as they know how phobic I am of all things medical and how stressful I find it, dh's family just know I'm stubborn and I think it amuses them when I go off on one like this and dh's american side of the family think I'm staying at home cos we're too tight to pay the medical costs lol.

lol enjoy it hunni hope its a good one for you

Jobrads... in the words of my mother.. "it was when men got bloody involved in something they knew nothing about that things started to go wrong. As per usual"

My mum, thankfully is a great believer in home births.. Its strangers and friends of the family I have a problem with. In response to one such FOtF's "you should be in hospital. They can help you there and they have pain relief" I simply said "this is my choice, drop the subject.. and besides, its not the pain I'm scared of, its the 'help' you keep going on about"

Sat here in labour at home at the moment. I'm in a hell of an amount of pain but I tell you... Never felt better

I am reading an excellent book from the library called 'rediscovering childbirth'.

It explains how through the ages and the world how women helped other women give birth. When the Victorians doctors decided they are better equiped to help deliver rates of peurapal fever increased and many women died, (cos they weren't sanitary I mean how many men do you know who probably don;t wash their hands when nipping for a quick wee, think mints in a restaurant).

Most women were taut by older women to stand and move about in labout to aid the birth process, when you lie on your back it slows everything up, thats when the docs intervene and ceasarens and episiotomy rates shoot up.

So you go with what you know will be best for you and baby.

Jo

i agree its just years and years of ignorance and people having it drummed into them that hospitals is best and that we need all this monitoring and help to do something (because women have only been giving birth for the last 50 years you know before then the stork would bring them lol).

wasnt long ago they were giving women pelvic x rays to check that their pelvis was big enough to give birth i mean wtf was that all about???

i had it all from my mum (rip bless her) as we were all born in the 70's when homebirths were pretty much none exsistant in favour of being on a ward with an epidural shoved into your spine. she was induced with all 4 of her labours and had epidurals with all of them and i actually felt for her as she had never actually experienced childbirth for herself!.

she scoffed when i mentioned having a homebirth with my third child and even when i did it without pain relief her words were 'why go through that pain when all that pain relief is available' not 'well done sweety'

you are right to ignore them and i can totally understand it making you think negatively. when people ask me about this babies birth and i mention homebirth i get some funny looks i think its sad in this day and age that many women homebirth doesnt even cross their minds infact some still have no idea it is an option!!! which i think is awful.

you are doing the right thing and you are right the positives far outweigh the negatives with homebirth and as with all negatives they can be worked around so are never truly negative anyway. people wouldnt expect you to live in a plastic bubble for your whole life because of the 'what ifs' so why should childbirth be treated that way.

rant over from me lol.

i had all the bad points from every1 but my dad when i had dd 11 months ago. was the best thing i ever did. when i fell preg wthis time dh, despite not wanting one last time and only doin it for me, asked if we could havea hb this tiem! we have talked abotu it and even he prefers the slightyl added risk of a hb rom 35 weeks to going into hosp to delivery baby.

read the "ppl think were crazy" thread hun n pring it off for anyone who decides 2 tell u its safer inhospital!

keep goin 4 ur hb hun - it'll b hte best thing u ever do!

xxx

Its years and years of people being told what is best for them and like mugs they go along with it, my mums generation were told that formula was superior to breast milk, and they swallowed it!?!?!

go with your instincts hun, childbirth is  in my opinion something your body is programmed to do, and without all the intervention that people are scared into (except in unavoidable life threatening cicumstances) many more would have a positive experience.

i know that family etc have good intentions but i hate the fact that all they think about is the negative, they never once think about the positives to having a home birth.  its only dps family that do this so i just let it go over my head lol but it gets me thinking negatively and then i need to slap myself to get back to thinking positively lol.  there are so many good things about it and im finding it tricky keeping dp on side but he says if its what i want then do it.  just a rant.