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My horrible transfer - Page 2

post #21 of 31
Oh my God... I am soooo sorry that this happened to you. I live in the Houston area. What hospital and what was this doctor's name? I'll go give him a rough prostate exam for you... or at least a kick in the homeboys... What a jerk!!! I had an ER doc do an unnecessarily rough pelvic exam on me... He, however, got kicked in the jaw for it. Some people just can be total a-holes! I'm so angry for you. How dare he think it acceptable to treat you that way!

On a happy note, congrats on your little one. I'm sure she's gorgeous and absolutely perfect... Maybe you could let HER bite the doctor... Just a thought.
post #22 of 31
Thread Starter 
Thanks. It was Cy Fair Med Center. I just found out that they're building a West Houston Methodist close to my house, so even in an emergency, I will never have to set foot in that god forsaken place again.

She is gorgeous! And she is such a dream baby! DH and I joke sometimes that she's trying to make up for the birth by just being the easiest and most joyful baby ever. She just smiles and smiles. I being her mom so much!!!
post #23 of 31
yeah... Cy Fair sucks... never heard a single good thing about them. I'm trying to carefully and optimistically plan a UC... We'll see what happens. I'm glad she's a great baby. My sis when through a horrible pregnancy and delivery and got a wonderful daughter.

You seem to be really upbeat about the whole thing. I'll keep you in my thoughts.
post #24 of 31
I am so sorry that you went through such a horrible experience. Were you able to find out why she never came down into the pelvis? It sounds like a posistion thing.
post #25 of 31
I agree with TCA2008. If you feel up to it, you have many, many grounds for complaints. I am a midwife who has worked exclusively in hospitals and I am appalled by the treatment you and your baby received. In nine years of practice I have never heard anything like your story. The treatment you received was neither humane nor evidence-based and you have every reason to be upset and traumatised even though your baby is now fine.

Would it maybe be possible to talk with someone who has experience in dealing with birth trauma to help you process what happened?

I am very sorry you were treated in such a fashion.
post #26 of 31
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by LacyKay View Post
You seem to be really upbeat about the whole thing. I'll keep you in my thoughts.
I seem to be doing pretty well now. There were a few really emotional months.

Quote:
Originally Posted by homebirthing View Post
I am so sorry that you went through such a horrible experience. Were you able to find out why she never came down into the pelvis? It sounds like a posistion thing.
You hit the nail on the head. She was deep transverse - head sideways. It was her favorite position all through pregnancy, and even though she was optimally positioned many times in the last weeks, she just always made her way back.

Quote:
Originally Posted by katelove View Post
I agree with TCA2008. If you feel up to it, you have many, many grounds for complaints. I am a midwife who has worked exclusively in hospitals and I am appalled by the treatment you and your baby received. In nine years of practice I have never heard anything like your story. The treatment you received was neither humane nor evidence-based and you have every reason to be upset and traumatised even though your baby is now fine.

Would it maybe be possible to talk with someone who has experience in dealing with birth trauma to help you process what happened?

I am very sorry you were treated in such a fashion.
Thank you, while it is pretty common for transfers to be treated pretty horribly here, I seem to have gotten some extra-awful treatment.

Talking to a counselor with experience in birth was going to be my next step, but really, my midwife and doula friend/Bradley coach were so amazing and sympathetic that I think I am OK now.

I could turn into a nervous wreck when I get pregnant again, but I'll deal with that when we come to it.
post #27 of 31
I have had five babies. One of my babies was posterior brow presentation (96% of which can't be born vaginally). She was my middle child and the ONLY reason that I was able to birth her vaginally was because of the fact that I had birthed two previous babies before. It was the most painful thing that I have ever felt.

I say this because the chance of you having a baby in a transverse posistion again is very small!! A different baby means a different posisiton. Faster birth and much much easier to push when you baby isn't looking at your thigh...not to mention most likely not being flexed in the right way.

I am so sorry that you went through hell. Birth should never be like that.
post #28 of 31
Thread Starter 
Thank you. I always like hearing that.

My midwife said of 4 moms with deep transverse babies, I had the c/s, two had high forceps rotations , and only one could push it out that way - a mom with 4 prior vaginal births, AND it split her pubic bone apart!! (Was OK after chiropractor.)

I am going to be spinning babies obsessed next time, I swear - anything to avoid it again!
post #29 of 31
Let me tell you how much we have in common. It's not as severe as yours, but there are similarities.

I planned a birthing center birth with my first, and they had 4 midwives who rotated in and out for prenatals and births, only ONE we really connected with. We had prelabor off and on and the oh so mild contractions got us to 4 cm, after coming for about an hr one day then coming back a week later. So 4 cm at 41 wks. We go into REAL labor, contractions a couple min apart about a min long, and 27 hr later we are only at 6 cm. Yeah, I'm pooped, my midwife says "it sounds like a missfit". Oh, and did I mention we had every other midwife rotate through our birth except the one we connected with, what luck. So, we go to the hospital, I know we need a cs, something isn't right, baby is in there funky, but I don't know what to do about that, yes the midwife should have, but she didn't

The OB in the ER and the nurse actually tore the inside of my vagina by their exams, I literally, not kidding came off the table. They wouldn't even make eye contact with me. The OB insisted on Pit, I didn't want it, she kept uping my dosage, thankfully I had an epirual at that time. So we go back, after laboring another hour or two, and I say, we need a cs. So we go back, and the whole time it's like I'm a patient in an episode of MASH where they all talk over you about you like you are not there. Yeah, I glance at my baby, and then I hear him screaming, thankfully hubby was there to go with him.

We get back to the room, he didn't have to go to NICU thankfully, in that we do differ. Every nurse is rude, one even said "there is no need to be stoic, take the pain meds". The last nurse upon discharge said that they don't know if they will discharge the baby because we didn't get the vit K or the eye drops. I said, first he wasn't born vaginally so there is no need for either, and I don't have any STDs. Also, the Vit K is only good up to 6 hrs after birth, it's now 3 days. So she leaves, the Ped comes in and says we can leave (with baby) and the nurse comes back with a vit K needle IN HAND ABOUT TO GIVE IT TO HIM!! Yeah, "we are not getting the vit K" she goes, "Well, i went all the way down stairs for this". Like that is going to make me change my mind. "we are not getting the vit K".

She leaves, we leave, we have crappy BF, there was only 1 LC who came in once during our stay and was able to show me how to latch him on and have an effective feeding. The midwives at the BC said that since we had a CS, we will ahve a lot of trouble feeding, and they were no help getting me a latch and never once suggest an LC. We pump and pump and do everything we know. Looking back, we had little knowledge. So we stop BF at about 3 weeks. yeah, we had no encouragement, and a lot of bad advice. Then he get's an intolerance to milk formula, then an allergy to soy formula, and can't do the hypo allergenic formula. Things finally settled down at around 8 mo.

I was on anti-anxiety meds for about 6 months, and I had nightmares of being in the OR room for about a year PP. I had severe anxiety about everything and would cry till I couldn't breathe. It was really hard. None of my friends were supportive, all talked about how I should be happy with a healthy baby. And how a CS was just another way of birthing. That didn't help.

Now, he's 18 mo, and we are prego with #2 and are planning a HB HBAC. We have a great midwife who had a CS with her first due to acynclitism, and a HBAC with her 2nd. She is wonderful, and we will have a Doula as well.


I only have one correction/comment on your story, you said you were one of the 4% who had a cs in your midwife's practice. Yes, that may have been a long shot, but keep in mind, your midwife wasn't at your birth. If she was, she may have done something different that the accompanying midwives did or didn't do. So, even if you are under that same midwife next time, don't count yourself out. Very few moms have acynclitc babies, and the ones that do, most of them could be prevented with a few good maneuvers.

Our bodies can and will do this. We were made to give birth as much as babies were made to be born.

Hope things are better.
post #30 of 31
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by AustinMom View Post
Yeah, "we are not getting the vit K" she goes, "Well, i went all the way down stairs for this". Like that is going to make me change my mind. "we are not getting the vit K".
Ha! HAHAHAHAHAH!

Quote:
Originally Posted by AustinMom View Post
I only have one correction/comment on your story, you said you were one of the 4% who had a cs in your midwife's practice. Yes, that may have been a long shot, but keep in mind, your midwife wasn't at your birth. If she was, she may have done something different that the accompanying midwives did or didn't do. So, even if you are under that same midwife next time, don't count yourself out. Very few moms have acynclitc babies, and the ones that do, most of them could be prevented with a few good maneuvers.

Our bodies can and will do this. We were made to give birth as much as babies were made to be born.

Hope things are better.
Thank you for your story. I am sorry your experience was so bad too.

That is one thing I was talking about with my best friend (same midwife, due any day now). Our midwife is virtually obsessed with position. She checks position every time she sees you and always has suggestions for getting baby in optimal position. The midwives who came in her stead never even checked the position once! I mean, after I pushed for 9 hours there was no turning that baby, but I could put money on the fact that my midwife would have felt position first thing when she walked in the door. She will always attempt to turn a malpositioned baby, and has good success at it. Since Elizabeth had been in optimal position several times in the last few weeks, I know there was no cord issue or anything preventing it.

The more and more I dissect it, the more I feel that the midwives who attended me were merely adequate, where the midwife I chose is excellent. I try not to torture myself wondering what a difference it could have made.

The more I read and stay on ICAN lists, the more it drives home that there are real risks to VBAC - or just to birth in general. I absolutely would not accept substitute midwives next time. You're trusting someone with your life and your baby's life - my midwife has promised to be there no matter what, but if she wasn't - we would go to a hospital.

I feel like I am healing (emotionally) well. When they were wheeling me into the OR I told Chris to get the camera, well of course he couldn't find it, so my mom gave him hers. I JUST NOW got those first pictures. I kind of feel like it's good it worked out that way. Had I seen them 5 or 4 or even 3 months ago I think I would have broken completely down. I had no preconceptions about the birth. No "plan." No idea how it would go or what I would want. There was just one thing I cared about, and that was a picture, immediately following the birth, with the baby on my chest. I think that is THE most beautiful picture.

Needless to say, I still get teary thinking how I never got that moment, but my only reaction upon seeing the pictures I do have was . They are our first pictures together and they melt me - even if we are wearing shower caps and masks.

I am thankful for everyone who has commented and shared their stories with me. I am glad there is a place like this and like ICAN. I am so thankful that there was somewhere I didn't have to pretend to be a shiny happy person - where I could work through all this. There is something to be said for the healing power of fellowship - even when it is over something awful.
post #31 of 31
I get so angry about doctors like the one that gave you the rough exam. It's YOUR birth and your body but they act like THEY own it! Makes me so mad!!! I don't normally get mad easily... but honestly, this is my big pet peeve in life, women being robbed of their dignity and treated like they're stupid during a time when they are in too much pain/distress to stand up for themselves.

I'm really sorry for what you had to go through. You deserved better. Sometimes it seems like no matter how you plan, it all goes down the drain. I felt the same way with my 2nd birth. Take care of yourself!