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Day 122 of 280 · 17 weeks + 3 days

Where to give birth

Last reviewed · 2 min read · 6 sources · Plain-text version

Seventeen weeks and three days. Hospital, midwife-led unit, or home: the NHS says start deciding now, and that you can change your mind.

Size this week
about the size of a pomegranate
Length this week
around 12 cm from head to bottom
A couple at a kitchen counter in the evening, a printed map and two mugs between them, the woman with a small bump in a loose sweater pointing at the page, warm overhead light.

Seventeen weeks and three days. Today's job is a decision you're allowed to undo.

Your baby

A whole red pomegranate on a plain pale wooden board, soft window light.

Around 12cm from head to bottom, roughly the size of a pomegranate (NHS). The eyes can move now, though they stay shut for now, and the mouth opens and closes (NHS).

Your body

On this week's NHS to-do list: decide where to give birth. It names three options, a hospital, a midwife-led unit, or a home birth, and adds the plain reassurance that you can change your mind (NHS). The same item comes round again at 27 weeks, when the NHS says to start thinking about where to give birth (NHS), so today is a first pass, not a signature. Wherever you live, the questions are the same: who will be there, how far it is, and what happens if the plan changes.

Meanwhile, this week's list of symptoms is aches and pains, tiredness and sleep problems, with earlier symptoms possibly carrying on (NHS).

Try today

  1. The birthplace shortlist

    Time: 15 minutes, together

    1. Write two options from the NHS's three: hospital, midwife-led unit, home (NHS). If only one is realistic where you live, write it and the nearest alternative.

    2. Beside each, one reason for it and one worry about it, a line each.

    3. Write the travel time from home at the hour you'd least like to make the trip.

    4. Date the page and write "revisit at 27 weeks" at the bottom; that's when the NHS raises it again (NHS).

    Make it work:

    You can change your mind (NHS). Today's list is a draft, and so is the next one.

Watch for

  • Normal

    vaginal infections are common enough to be on the NHS's symptom list (NHS).

    Call your provider

    if discharge has a foul odor, a greenish color, itching, or pain; infections matter in pregnancy because they may cause preterm labor (MedlinePlus).

  • Normal

    wondering what fluid is what.

    Call your doctor or midwife as soon as you can

    for fluid leaking from the vagina (OWH).

  • Normal

    aches and pains this week (NHS).

    Call your doctor

    if a backache doesn't get better with lying down, rest, and heat (OWH).

For you

This is a choice for the two of you, made with your midwife or doctor, and not for anyone who gave birth in 1994. The NHS lists the options without ranking them and says you can change your mind (NHS); take the permission literally. The same list has antenatal classes on it, "even if you've had children before" (NHS), and that's where the questions your shortlist raises can go.

If you're the partner: your reason and your worry go on the page too. You'll be the one driving, or the one at home. Say which option you could do well, and which one scares you, before the list is finished.

Sources

This guide is general education that summarizes published research and guidance from groups like the American Academy of Pediatrics, the CDC, and the WHO. It isn’t medical advice, and every child develops on their own timeline. Your pediatrician knows your child; if something feels wrong, call them. In an emergency, call 911.

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