juno midwives

You can’t have a home birth with your first baby.

It’s entirely YOUR choice where you plan to have your baby – whether its your first or seventh. The current NICE guidelines advise that if you’re having your first baby, home birth is slightly more risky for your baby than birthing on a midwife-led unit or in a hospital. Despite these guidelines being updated in 2023, the evidence used for that guidelines is from 2011 and more recent evidence published in the Lancet in 2019, shows that even for first timers – home birth is a safe option. Even just planning a home birth (regardless of where you actually end up giving birth) is associated with reduced chances of c-sections, instrumental births and epidural analgesia. 

Home birth is more dangerous than hospital birth.

Research shows that, particularly for ‘low risk’ women, home birth is a safe option for women, birthing people & their babies. Home birth has been shown to have many benefits to women and birthing people, notably significantly less interventions. Home birth is however not common, with only 2.4% of births occurring at home in 2020 in the UK and it is a common perception that it is not the ‘safe’ option. Some people are concerned about being far away from the hospital just in case something goes wrong at home. Skilled intuitive midwives, who you know and trust, will be quietly observing and monitoring for signs that everything is on track or if there things to be concerned about. In our experience, most transfers to hospital are not ‘blue light’ or drastic emergency transfers. You may have chosen to be transferred or we may have picked up on some concerning signs and recommended transfer to hospital for further monitoring or obstetric input. 

There isn’t enough space in my home to give birth.

Babies don’t need much space to be born and you can absolutely get creative with your space. You may also be surprised if you’ve ever given birth in a hospital at how small hospital rooms can be – with little space to roam around during labour. Birthing in your own space, no matter how big or small, allows you to move freely during your labour – intuitively going where feels right at the time. Being somewhere where you feel comfortable and safe during labour and birth will help your oxytocin to flow!

I can’t birth at home because I’ve had a previous c-section / gestational diabetes / a GBS+ result (insert condition or risk factor!).

In the UK, you have the right to choose where you give birth – regardless of what has been recommended to you. You may have been advised that it would be safer for you to give birth in hospital with close monitoring and the reasons for this may be valid and evidence based. Sometimes, risks can be blown out of proportion and ultimately you have to decide what feels right and safe to you. There is less research on home birth for high risk women, and generally in the research all high risk women get lumped together regardless of what their risk factors are, however choosing to birth at home still results in fewer interventions. If you are considered ‘high risk’ but would like to plan a home birth, we can support you with your choice.

Birth is noisy – I’ll disturb the neighbours.

This is a common concern we hear amongst women and birthing people who are considering birthing at home. During labour most people do make sounds (these changing sounds usually get your midwives quietly excited!) – but women and birthing people are never as loud as they think they are. In our experience, your neighbours will be none the wiser that a baby is being born and even if they do hear some noises – people love a new baby! The Positive Birth Movement has videos of women giving birth on their website, these can be really helpful to dispel common misperceptions about what birth looks and sounds like as portrayed in the mainstream media!

You can’t home birth or use a birth pool if you live in a second floor flat.

A birth pool is safe to use in an upstairs room. Think about all the other things an upstairs room could hold – beds, wardrobes full of clothes, multiple people! Your birth pool is not going to fall through your ceiling! You can totally birth at home if you live in a second, third, fourth etc. floor flat – paramedics will be able to access you regardless of where you live if we need them.

Home birth is messy.

There is of course ‘mess’ associated with birth, but you’d be surprised at how adept midwives and doulas are at cleaning up after a birth – nothing to see here! Absorbable bed pads (fondly known as ‘inco sheets’) go a long way, old towels and blankets, a shower curtain to protect a bed or a sofa all help to minimise the glorious mess that comes with birthing a baby. Don’t worry about the mess – there’s far more exciting things happening! That being said…if you do have cream carpets or a cream sofa – get prepared with some protective coverings beforehand!

There’s no pain relief available at a home birth.

Midwives have many things they can suggest to support you during your labour – movement, breathing techniques, massage, aromatherapy, birth pools, combs, TENS machines and even gas & air. What we don’t have at a home birth is access to an epidural. Childbirth is generally not without any pain, but how you prepare and approach this pain makes a huge difference to how you experience it. Using hypnobirthing techniques (and practicing these techniques beforehand) can make a huge difference to your birth experience. Even choosing wisely the people who you want in your birth space can make a difference to how you cope with labour. Got someone scared and tense in the room? You will pick up on that energy during your labour and birth. Check out our local services page – there are some fabulous people offering antenatal education and hypnobirthing support!

Only ‘hippy, alternative’ people choose a home birth.

Women and birthing people choose home birth for a variety of reasons and come from all walks of life. Some people feel safest at home or perhaps associate hospitals with illness and death. Some people may have had a previous traumatic birth experience and wish to have a more positive birth experience the next time. Home birth is the logical, normal option for many – especially if there is a family history of home births. Some people have read the research and know that home birth is associated with excellent outcomes for women, birthing people and their babies. There’s no ‘type’ when it comes to women and birthing people who choose a home birth – even Queen Elizabeth II had home (or should we say, palace?!) births!

Women used to die at home during birth! That’s why hospitals exist!

We are fortunate in the UK to have a low maternal death rate in childbirth and sure, historically more women would have died during childbirth before we understood about things like infection and sepsis or had medications to manage heavy bleeding at home, or access to a robust ambulance service for transfers when necessary. We have many things in place to keep women and birthing people safe when birthing at home. Julia Allison wrote a great book, Midwifery from the Tudors to the 21st Century, which explores birth and death registers from the Tudors and the provision of safe midwifery care. She also tracks the changes and challenges midwives have experienced over the centuries, highlighting how the move away from midwifery care saw an exponential increase in maternal deaths in the early 20th century from puerperal fever – a consequence of medical men not washing their hands after dissecting cadavers and before attending childbearing women! Marjorie Tew’s research in the 80s also debunked the myth that hospital birth was improving outcomes. 

If you’re considering home birth, we’d love to support you! Get in touch for a free, no strings attached consultation. It’s YOUR birth experience – we would love to help you make it a great one.