How I planned a home birth with a high risk pregnancy
You have probably heard that being high risk in pregnancy rules out your option of home birth, water birth, birth centre birth and everything in between, You have probably been told that having a high risk pregnancy means induction prior to 40 weeks and that you’ll need to be continuously monitored throughout labour..
Well this isn’t exactly true - the truth is, you don’t NEED to do anything and there ARE all of the above options available to you!
I was diagnosed with Gestational Diabetes at 29 weeks pregnant which immediately put me in the ‘high risk pregnant lady’ category. When I was told that I had GD I was faced with immediate pessimism from the midwife I spoke to who said “so sorry, you do have gestational diabetes, it means the consultant will need to induce you at 39 weeks”. Of course, I had already been planning a home birth by this point and had hired a birth pool so the abrupt news that I was now being induced in 10 weeks time suddenly sent my hopes crashing down. For a short period.
It was very frustrating that I had been ‘told’ I was being induced, yet nobody had actually told me what Gestational Diabetes was yet! Let alone had a conversation with me about WHY I might need to be induced as a result of it. My appointment with the GD team was another whole week away and I am not the type of person to sit and wait - so I started doing my research immediately. I read all I could about GD, why it was considered high risk in pregnancy, what the outcomes were of going to full term, WHY induction was suggested.. all so that when I went to this appointment, I could go with SOME idea of what I was talking about.
I had multiple appointments with various teams before I actually met with an Obstetrician. All professionals who I spoke with, GD nurses, GD midwifes and the Diabetes consultant, all told me I would not be able to have a home birth, that it was dangerous and that the consultant wouldn’t agree to it. Being a hypnobirthing coach I knew it wasn’t a case of whether they would agree to it - how could they physically stop me staying in my house when I’m in labour for starters?! Were they going to drag me up to the hospital themselves?
I ACTUALLY GOT A FEW LAUGHS WHEN I TOLD THEM I STILL WANTED A HOME BIRTH AND WHEN I ASKED HOW THEY COULD SUPPORT ME TO MAKE THIS POSSIBLE
What was important here was that I understood all of the risks associated with GD, the risks of having a home birth with GD, AND ALSO, the risks of what they were suggesting, i.e. induction on a labour ward - which definitely comes with its own risks.
Prior to meeting with the Obstetrician I wrote a list of all the questions I wanted to ask, things like:
Why is induction recommended for women with GD
Are the recommendations the same for women who are diet controlled vs taking Metformin vs Insulin
Are the risks associated with induction of labour greater than or equal to the risks of waiting for spontaneous labour in women with GD
All of the questions I prepared were written to give me all of the information I needed to make an informed decision for myself. When I met with the Obstetrician, he, himself, looked at his chart and told me that yes, I would be induced at 39 weeks due to my diagnosis. No conversation about it, no explanation, no pro’s / con’s list of agreeing, no question of whether I WANTED an induction at 39 weeks. THANK GOODNESS I had the preparation and confidence to question that decision, because when I did, he spent thirty minutes PLUS answering every question I had - answers I would NOT have received had I not asked the right questions.
I was able to weigh up all of the risks of intervention vs waiting, hospital vs home delivery and come to my OWN decision on where I wanted to give birth. The Obs wasn’t too happy about my decision and believed that I would struggle to find a midwife who would support me at home, so I asked my community midwife to refer me to the Consultant Midwife for my local health board who, after ensuring I was making an informed decision, wrote me an Out of Guidance Care Plan which basically means a plan outside of the general health guidance.
I managed to stay diet controlled with the diabetes through the remainder of my pregnancy and continued my home birth plan up until the day my waters broke at home! (Read Olivia’s birth story blog post to see how the birth played out!)
The points to remember are: Being HIGH RISK doesn’t mean you are ACTUALLY at risk, I was considered high risk due to the label ‘gestational diabetes’ however I was at no greater risk of complications in birth than someone without a diagnosis (Obs told me this after lots and lots of questioning from me).
Everything is YOUR CHOICE. You do NOT hand over bodily autonomy just because you are pregnant,. QUESTION EVERYTHING the same way you would if you were having any other medical intervention or treatment. Would you agree to any other type of surgery without knowing the risks and benefits of having it? Would a doctor tell you that you HAD to have the surgery without explaining everything first? Unlikely! But for some reason this often gets overlooked in pregnancy and labour,
Do your research! In order to feel confident in your decision it helps to know facts and figures around what is being suggested to you. Ask your community or consultant midwife to support you with this.
We often feel like we can’t question the opinion of medical experts, but remember, YOUR BODY, YOUR BABY, YOUR CHOICE.
If you have found yourself in a similar position and would like to get yourself in a fully informed, confident and calm place, able to make the best decisions for you with confidence that it’s what’s best for you..
I would love to help
Click HERE to see ways you can work with me and together we can get you calm, confident and in control - fully birth ready.