I need some encouragement for birthing at hospital - Page 2

[alegna]

Originally Posted by tessie

With the greatest of respect I don't think that was a particularly comforting thing to say to a mama who might have to have a hospital birth. Plus it's likely inaccurate.

In the climate in this city, it's very accurate. I have exceedingly long pushing stages that no one in town would have allowed.

It's a factor to consider. I would move heaven and earth to avoid birthing in a hospital short of a true medical need.

-Angela

[fyrwmn]

i completely understand feeling anxious about a hospital birth! i worried for most of my pg with ds (almost 5 months old). with dd, i had a midwife attended hospital birth. it went well, but wasn't everything i had hoped for. labor lasted nearly 40 hours with 3 hours of pushing, and because i was so tired i agreed to nubain to help me rest a bit. the nubain made me hallucinate and although it wore off well befor etime to push, i just hated the way it made me feel.

due to multiple losses, the practice we were with would no longer let me see a midwife. so, we changed practices and although the new practice was only drs, we chose them due to a good friends recommendation. they went above and beyond with making sure our emotional needs were met! we had weekly u/s for the 1st trimester to reassure us. with each loss, the only way we found out was because they do an u/s around 11 or 12 weeks. the new drs seemed really pro c-section, so i made up a birth plan and had a doula present.
when we got to the hospital, i was already 6 cm dialated. none of our drs were on call for the night (a true blessing i think) and we got an awesome laid back dr who completely respected not only our birth plan, but our birth space as well. we had expressed a wish to have dh "catch" (we're both emts). the dr had no problem with that and he basically sat in the rocking chair quietly until dh needed his help. ds was born into dh's hands and then i got to bring him up to my chest. overall, the birth experience was very empowering! i think what helped so much was just mentally preparing myself for what i wanted out of the birth. i was determined to have a nice quiet room, no interventions (besides the iv for gbs), and to just trust my body to do what it needed to.
it was so close to a homebirth experience that it was everything i could have hoped for. now, i feel ready to have an actual homebirth the next time around. dd (4 yrs) is already talking about how she wants to be there and to get to cut the cord. now to make her understand that we aren't planning on another baby for a while

[SunShineSally]

I am happy this thread is here I know that there is a huge ban on children being in hospitals but when Dh and I were talking yesterday (I found out that this is bothering him a lot now that it is so close to baby being here) I said to him how are the doctors nurses and staff and the adults that come in any cleaner they (the doctors and nurses) are working with mothers who could have the flu and children who have the flu and IMO adults can be germier than children there is no one reminding them over and over to cover their mouth when they sneeze and cough, to wash their hands regularly ect... so to me I understand the ban but I don't at the same time.

I just hope and pray I can be released within 24 hours! I am going to talk to the OB to see if he will sign me out within 12 hours if there are not complications if there are I totally understand being there but I am also hopeing that I have an oopps he is born at home and with how Ds came I can see it actually happening as an oopps! My neighbor is a L&D nurse and came over to tell me if my labor happens like it did with Ds to send someone over to get her as she is on vacation right now but I will not intentionally have an oopps I am to much of a worrier if I had the chance to have a MW homebirth I would TOTALLY have one I wanted one to being with!

I hope that the ban comes off before we have the babies!

[tessie]

Originally Posted by alegna

In the climate in this city, it's very accurate. I have exceedingly long pushing stages that no one in town would have allowed.

Maybe you just weren't doing it right?

Seriously though, that's an opinion based on your personal situation and not particularly helpful to someone who might not be fortunate enough to have an alternative.


To the OP, have you made any decisions?

[alegna]

Originally Posted by tessie

Maybe you just weren't doing it right?

Seriously though, that's an opinion based on your personal situation and not particularly helpful to someone who might not be fortunate enough to have an alternative.


To the OP, have you made any decisions?

She has said she DOES have an alternative, she is simply deferring to her husband's wishes.

-Angela

[thefreckledmama]

Originally Posted by SunShineSally

I just hope and pray I can be released within 24 hours! I am going to talk to the OB to see if he will sign me out within 12 hours if there are not complications

It's generally not your OB that you'll have a problem getting to sign you out-and you can even sign out AMA. It's the pediatrician who has to release your child, and although you can sign your child out AMA, it can get sticky in terms of them allowing it, or calling CPS.

[wombatclay]

Big hugs and hopes for happy birthing!

I had three hospital births (including two vbacs) and I understand the worry. I had my first two at a mama/babe friendly natural birth supportive hospital but my most recent babe was born at a hospital that I'd heard much less happy things about. I worried and planned and worried some more but in the end I had a fabulous birth.

Things I could control:
--a fairly supportive care provider (one OB, three midwives, all with good vbac stats and low intervention records)
--a doula I'd birthed with before and who is very familiar with my philosophy/needs (we had the normal two prenatal meetings, but tons of emails!)
--a husband who would move the world to protect me, my choices, and our son. He was mentally prepared to basically bar the door and throw people out of the room. He had rehearsed phrases like "we do not consent" and researched parental rights in relation to newborn protocols at this hospital. He didn't have to use much of this info in the end, but he was ready and prepared.
--I wrote a short and to the point birth plan (less than a page, 3-4 points for each stage of labor and then a seperate short plan for postpartum). I went over this plan with each of my care providers, with a nurse on the L&D floor, had it added to my hospital file, and spoke with the hospital ped staff (our fam practice dr doesn't have rights there so we were going to see the "on call" ped). DH and our doula had copies as well.
--packed my birth bag, hospital bag, and baby bag with everything I could think of so that I wouldn't need to rely on the hospital for anything non-emergency. Just in case.
--brought stickers to put on ds's diaper: I'm intact, don't retract! and stickers for his bassinet: I'm a breastfed babe, no artificial nipples please! (didn't need them, ds stayed with dh or I at all times but like I said, just in case!)
--practiced saying "no thank you" and similar lines. Only used them a few times but when I needed them there they were... fully rehearsed and comfortable to say.
--asked for a natural birth friendly nurse when I arrived and made sure she knew what I wanted/needed right off the bat, gave her the birth plan and asked if she was comfortable attending a natural birth such as I described.

I hope you have a beautiful, safe, flu free, happy birth. Good luck!

[simonboy'smommy]

Hey everybody,
Feeling much better now (although the situation still stinks) Thanks for all your replies.
I have been communicating with the lady in charge of the birthing center and sent her my birth plan to put on file. She is really nice and it helps that I've spoken with her. We are possibly taking the birth pool to the hospital before this weekend so she can see how big it is and how it sets up etc.

My dh talked to a friend of ours who has had the last 6 kids (well I mean his wife had!) at home. Their first was a hospital birth. Anyway, he said that he thought it was great that we have our midwife coming to be with us at the hospital. He feels that really that's the best set up. He said it takes a lot of faith to birth at home. I'm thinking "it takes way more faith to step through the doors of a hospital and birth!!" lol whatever.

Thanks for the encouragement!

[simonboy'smommy]

Well, the baby is here! I had him early Sunday morning and we got to come home last night (Monday night)
Things really went great. The nurses all made sure they read my birth plan. My doctor was out of town, but the doctor that came in for him was great. We took the birth pool in and dh started getting it ready, but I was already 9cm so we thought there wouldn't be enough time to fill it so he stopped so he could be with me. The thing we didn't consider is that the dr that was there possibly would have allowed me to birth IN the pool. With my dr he only would allow me to labor in the water and then I'd have to get out to push. Wish we would have asked the other dr because it still took over an hour for him to be born.

The next day they took him to the nursery for his hearing test and he was gone a long time. They were monitoring his heartbeat and it had gone a little low so they kept him in the nursery the rest of the day. It was very tiring. At least they were nice about it and set us up in the next room where we had recliners and could rest some but stay with our baby at the same time. Eventually we got to take him to our room.

So, anyway, it turned out to be a good hospital experience. DS barely would even talk to me on the phone. He was too busy playing at Grandma's house to be very concerned about us.

It was wonderful getting to introduce him to his brother when we got home and to be back together again!!

[Kelly1101]

So glad everything went well for you

Enjoy your new baby!