Home Birth Group

Are you thinking about having a home birth? Do you live in the Chiswick, Hammersmith or Shepherds Bush areas?

Would you like to know what your options are and chat informally with other parents considering the same choice?

If so please get in touch with me. As well as my other stuff, I am the co-ordinator of the CHISWICK AND HAMMERSMITH NCT HOME BIRTH SUPPORT GROUP.

Encouraging women with low risk pregnancies is widely recognised as a safe and sensible strategy for increasing the number of normal births and decreasing unnecessary interventions.

At present, however, the local home birth rate is less than 2%, well below the figure which Government guidelines suggest should be the norm.

Ours is a very informal group - there is no membership fee - it is just a place for parents and parents to be who are interested in a home birth for their next baby to meet and share wisdom.

We welcome not only parents to be but also parents who have recently had a home birth and would like to support others considering the same choice.

We also welcome midwives, doulas...anyone who is keen to see the home birth rate in our area rise.

What's more, Home Birth Group members get a 10% discount on products from the Good Birth Company including birthing pools!

The group meets every month (except August and December) on the second Wednesday of the month.

Here are the dates for the remaining meetings of 2011:

8 June, 13 July, 14 September, 12 October, 9 November

Provisional dates for 2012:

11 January, 8 February, 14 March, 11 April, 9 May, 13 June, 11 July, 12 September, 10 October, 14 November

Typically we discuss subjects such as:

• How to arrange a home birth
• Your rights in choosing your place of birth
• Reasons why you might be advised against a home birth by medical caregivers
• How to get your home ready (not as much trouble as you might think!)
• Safety of home birth and common objections from family and friends
• Sharing experiences about home birth (The Good, the Bad and the Funny!)
• When you have to transfer to hospital

The membership is always changing; there are new faces all the time -  so be assured you will be welcome.

For more general information on home birth start with your local community midwives...and also take some time to read the astonishing and comprehensive www.homebirth.org.uk website run by Angela Horn.

If you are interested in joining the Home Birth Group please email me on This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it - if you can give me your name, address and phone number I will contact you with more details about our upcoming meetings.