Partner is staunchly against home birth
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We’re in Surrey, U.K. ill see if I can find some local talks for us to attend 💛 thank you xxx
i’d remind him that as the mother it’s ultimately your choice, and he is supposed to support you! maybe he can talk with your midwife and she can ease any anxieties he might have? listen to positive home birth stories together so he knows what to expect?
My husband was sceptical at first, but mostly because he didn't have enough information. As others say, see if your local homebirth team/hospital does any Q&A or support sessions, as that was a great way for him to ask questions and hear real experiences from other families who had had a homebirth. The other thing that really helped my husband was knowing how close we are to the hospital, and how quickly the midwives can get an ambulance out if needed (homebirths get higher priority than cardiac arrests, for example, as there are two lives involved). We also get two midwives during the birth who are 100% focussed on mother and baby, as opposed to a hospital birth where staffing is more dependent on who is on shift at the time, etc.; you may be less likely to get the same dedicated attention at a hospital. Plus there are so many other benefits in terms of being in a low-stress/familiar environment where the mother has more control, and the partner can be much more involved.
Also, not sure where in Surrey you are, but we're with the homebirth team based out of Frimley Park Hospital and they are absolutely fantastic, so if you're anywhere near there then you'll definitely be in good hands!
Birth Time is a lovely documentary online, I watched it with my partner Also Born at Home They are both Australian based though
Home birth with a midwife is known to be just as, if not safer, than hospital. I’d get him some literature, Immaculate Deception might be a good one. But I’d be asking why he’s so against it.
My husband was initially not too keen on the home birth, but when we met with a home birth midwife, she explained to him what they would do in different scenarios and what safety measures they had in place. That ultimately put his mind at rest. I also made him listen to the audiobook: Reclaiming Childbirth as a Rite of Passage, so he could understand where I was coming from.
We are planning our third home birth, happy to put him in touch with my husband, who had everyone around him telling him home births were a daft idea, and is so glad he listened to me as we are the only people we know who had home births, and also the only people we know who would describe our births as untraumatic and calm 😅
What county are you in because that makes a massive difference. Has he explained why he is against it? Our local unit runs a regular talk and Q&A for parents who are potentially interested. Again, our area, but you can change your mind at any point that it is physically possible, but the pre and post birth check-ups being done at home are soooo much easier. So for us it was worth registering with the home birth unit even though in the end I wasn't able to have a home birth (combination of covid and induction).