Can I get some info from non-US moms, please?
 

If you are not in the US, can you tell me the following:

What country you are in
Are homebirths covered by your country's health care system
How common are homebirths in your country (rare, they happen, normal, that kind of measure)
If you had a homebirth, was that decision accepted by your community (feel free to PM me with that if you want or just don't answer - my goal here is not to be personal)

Re: Can I get some info from non-US moms, please?
 

Canada.
Yes.
They happen.
People who disagreed with me kept their opinions to themselves, although apparently I am an intimidating person Nobody said anything unaccepting to me directly, but I know I had family members who thought it was a dangerous choice. My community overall was supportive of my decision.

Re: Can I get some info from non-US moms, please?
 

Hi!

I'm in the UK. Home births are covered by our health care system (NHS) and every pregnant woman is supposed to have the choice of where to give birth (home, birthing centre, hospital - obviously this will depend to an extent on the needs of her and her baby). Midwives are generally supportive of home birth (though not all are); doctors tend not to be.
I believe the home birth rate nationally is around 2%, though it varies according to area. I think it's as high as 4-5% in some places, and I imagine it's virtually unheard of in others, depending on how supportive the local hospital is. Some places have dedicated home birth teams whereas in others it's dealt with by ordinary community midwives who also have to fit ante and post natal care into their workloads.
I had two home births and I would say that most people were positive, though I'm sure a few were just too polite to say anything! It was a relatively well-known choice where I had my babies.
Please PM me if you have any more questions, as I have some contacts in the birth world who may be able to give more details if you want them.

Re: Can I get some info from non-US moms, please?
 

Canada

Not covered at all in my province

They're VERY rare here, as our only option is UC

I UCd two of my babies & I had a small support network of moms who'd also UCd, and they were literally the only people who knew the plan. My family knew nothing (though I guess weren't surprised the second time).

Re: Can I get some info from non-US moms, please?
 

Sorry, I forgot it was province-by-province here, as Sundance pointed out. There's a good summary at the bottom of this page.

Re: Can I get some info from non-US moms, please?
 

Thanks!

Re: Can I get some info from non-US moms, please?
 

Australia
Not covered. Also, midwives can't get public liability insurance for homebirths. (Afaik that hasn't changed)
It can be very hard to find homebirth midwives, so homebirth is rare, although occasional freebirths happen, too.
I had one home birth and one in a birthing centre run by private midwives. I don't remember anyone giving negative opinions, but... they know better :shifty

Re: Can I get some info from non-US moms, please?
 

State by state. In my state there is a conservative HB program I was eligible for by having no risk factors or complications and used twice. It was fully subsided by the state government so no cost and it included the prenatal plus the check ups afterward. For women who do not meet the program’s criteria there are private midwives you can hire out of pocket. I thought the indemnity (same as malpractice in the US) insurance issue was resolved.

Re: Can I get some info from non-US moms, please?
 

We are in the UK. Each county is run by a local council, mor example, Moray Council,Perthshire council, Edinburgh council etc, and we have the Scottish NHS and the English NHS. Home births are covered by the NHS, you can of course pay for a midwife who is private but I've never heard of anyone doing so. The mws here are very good, in my county anyway. I didn't home birth because of my previous cs with autumn and the fact that my amniotic fluid disappeared so the last 3 babies needed to be induced because it was getting dangerous for them. But home birth is supported here in my county and I believe it's the same all over the UK. Dh's Aunt had 4 himebirths, I think H (her last) is in her teens now and their eldest (D died from leukemia when she was 10) would've been 25 and I believe she had a hb with her too. There are usually 2 mws on duty during a hb and all are highly trained. It's 100% covered by the NHS. The only thing you'd need to pay out for was anything extra you particularly wanted.

Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk

---------- Post added at 12:38 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:37 PM ----------

I should also say his aunt is in England so she is covered by the English NHS and I am covered by the Scottish NHS.

Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk

Re: Can I get some info from non-US moms, please?
 

How common are they and how much are they recognized in society as part of the 'norm'?

Re: Can I get some info from non-US moms, please?
 

Re UK, which is where I was born/grew up:
National statistics show annual rate varying between 2.1% and 2.9%, depending on the year.
30 years ago I was born in the hospital because my mum's GP sort of discouraged her from home birth (like, eh I'd rather you didn't, especially for your first birth). But she gave birth to my sister at home in 1997. The midwife was awesome, and there was a student midwife with her too.
So I'm used to home birth being normal, obviously it's actually pretty uncommon. But my impression is that it's not too out there. My school friend's sister wanted a home birth, some other person from school wanted one. Medically they may have not worked out, but that shows the desire/interest is greater than the 2%. I've also noticed that some friends who seemed very medically minded at the time I gave birth were much more natural by the time they gave birth, part of which seemed down to the info they received from their midwives. So home birth might have seemed odd when they were 20, but, even if it still wasn't their cup of tea, it seemed much less odd after they'd been through a pregnancy themselves.
I tried to find county rates and couldn't, but I did find that my region, South West, had the highest rate in England & Wales! North East was lowest. Scotland is even lower, less than 1%.

Re: Can I get some info from non-US moms, please?
 

Interesting. I do wonder about homebirthing second (and beyond) pregnancies.:think Here, you don't get homebirth info unless you seek it out and even then, you have to know to look for it.

Re: Can I get some info from non-US moms, please?
 

1)I am in Australia, in NSW
2)Home births are covered by Medicare (public health) if you fit the criteria I believe. You can also have private home births that are covered to some extent by private health cover if you have it
3) I would say home births are not common here, but they do happen
4) I would have loved a home birth but sadly pregnancy complications meant I was not eligible

Hope that helps :D