For thoses that started with a HB, but ended up in the Hosp OR have had a hosp birth THEN had a...

[lovebug]

my DREAM is to have a homebirth! i just cant wait and really think i can do it. but with little to no support i have a little voice inside me that says... what if?

so here are my freak out questions...for HB turn Hosp birth...

why did you have to transfer?
at what point did you 'just know' you were off to the hosp?
how did you feel?
if you had to do things over would you have tried to stay at home longer?
were you a first time mom birthing at home?
and advice... it IS SOOO WELCOME!!!

ok now for my had kiddos at hosp then had kiddos at home...

was it easier then a hosp birth? why?
why did you choose hb after hosp?
what was the best part of your hb?
would you do it over again?

i know this is a 10000000 questions! but i really need my nerves calmed! DH and i are trying to make the best choices for us. we are talking about TTC again before he leave. this mean he wont be here for the birth (not that he would be a huge support anyway) so i am hoping it will be my BFF (although she has been a bit dist lately :shurg and my mom. maybe my sister and my friend Kelly. Kelly well prob be the only one on my side- my sister would do a good job too.

this is one of the BIG reasons i wanted to stop TTC for now... and the more i think about it i dont want to STOP TTC i just need advice on what it was like for others...

THANKS i hope you dont mind if more questions come up...

[onlyboys]

Originally Posted by lovebug

ok now for my had kiddos at hosp then had kiddos at home...

was it easier then a hosp birth? why?
why did you choose hb after hosp?
what was the best part of your hb?
would you do it over again?

My homebirth was SO much easier than my hospital births. And, I had outstanding hospital births, by general comparison. (I had three in hospital and one homebirth). If I had it to do over again, I would birth them all at home. It was easier because there was no one there to irritate me with the little things that you don't realize happen in a hospital. Like nurses changing shifts and the new one comes in and performs the same assessment that the other nurse JUST DID. And having to explain my eccentricities to everyone who walked in the door. Also, it was super irritating having other people think they had some sort of claim to my baby. I was forever saying, "No, you may not take him. No, he doesn't need a bath. No, I don't want photos. No, I want him assessed in my room." It was exhausting, and honestly happens 24 hours a day.

Other little things: crappy showers, uncomfortable beds, people coming in to bring me breakfast, lunch, and dinner and then again to take the tray away. People offering me newspapers. (I once saw someone walk in to ask if the PUSHING mom wanted a newspaper!!!)

My homebirth, on the other hand, was perfect. I was bathed, fed, debriefed and in my bed sleeping with my family within 2 hours after birth. It was so great. This is by far the best memory I have.

I chose a homebirth after my three hospital births because I didn't need anything the hospital had to offer. I refused the IV, all meds, their bed; I ate and drank as I wanted and wandered around the hospital halls. I didn't need to be there.

Our family is complete, but I would TOTALLY do it again at home if I was having more children.

Good luck making your decision. The what-ifs never really bothered me because I had a huge "what-if" happen at the hospital which was handled terribly. I lost my faith in an OBs ability to prevent catastrophes after that. And, I lost my trust, too.

[notjustmamie]

I'll answer what I can of both as I transferred care from a homebirth MW to a hospital-based practice at 30 weeks with DD and transferred from a homebirth to the hospital in labor with DS.

why did you have to transfer?
With DD, my BP was higher than my HBMW was comfortable overseeing. She recommended we transfer care before we risked out as my numbers were not going down. With DS, we transferred in labor when I started bleeding heavily. My MW was concerned about the possibility of undiagnosed previa or a partial abruption.

at what point did you 'just know' you were off to the hosp?
With DD, obviously I knew ahead of time. With DS, I never quite believed that the homebirth was going to happen, but I knew for sure when I felt the big gush and looked down on the chux pad to see a pool of dark red blood.

how did you feel?
It sucked, both times. I soooo wanted to have a homebirth. The slight difference was with DD, I felt pressured into being at the hospital, like my options had been taken away from me, whereas with DS, I knew that we were heading in for a valid reason, not just some legal technicality or fear on the MW's part.

if you had to do things over would you have tried to stay at home longer?
With DD, yes. If I knew then what I know now, I would have found somebody else who would have attended my birth at home. I might have even decided to go unassisted. With DS, no, I think we made the right choice. It did end up being a partial abruption and if I'd insisted on staying home we might have gone in too late.

were you a first time mom birthing at home?
That was my plan with DD.

and advice... it IS SOOO WELCOME!!!
Find a MW and a back-up OB that you TRUST. You hire professionals for their expertise, so make sure you're hiring somebody who you can believe in. When I lost my HB with DD, I was upset because I didn't feel I was given a real chance. With DS, I'd been in labor for 4 days before we transferred. I knew when my MW said we needed to go in that we really needed to go in--she wouldn't have recommended it otherwise.

was it easier then a hosp birth? why?
Laboring at home (before we transferred with DS) was so much nicer than being in the hospital. I could eat and drink and rest and nobody was giving me grief about my water being broken for too long or needing to start a Pit drip or anything.

why did you choose hb after hosp?
My hospital experience with DD was lousy. I felt disrespected and not listened to/believed. Even though I'd put in my birth plan that I needed to eat (and the head MW of the practice had signed off on it), when I tried to get food, I was informed that I'd been restricted to clear fluids. When the hospital staff got busy and ignored me for nearly an hour, my contractions picked back up (my labor had been stalled for most of the day). When they got around to coming to see me again, they insisted that I needed Pitocin. I asked for some more time alone as that seemed to be quite effective in getting labor started again, the idea was poo-pooed and I was told that wouldn't be possible.

what was the best part of your hb?
What I was most looking forward to was giving birth while not being hooked up to a bunch of machines, nursing my baby right away, and snuggling in bed with my family after the birth. It didn't quite work out that way, since we did have to transfer and DS was born by cesarean, but that was what appealed to me.

would you do it over again?
Yes and no. If we do have more children, I may have the next one in the hospital because it would likely be a VBAC (or else it would be RCS, in which case it would definitely be in the hospital ). However, after transferring before labor with DD, I was certainly ready to sign up for HB all over again. Even if I had known I would have to transfer in labor with DS, yes, I'd still have gone for the HB again.

If you have additional questions, feel free to PM me.

[LiLStar]

I transferred with my first, and ended up with a c-section. I transferred when I was probably 42 hours into labor, had been fully dilated for close to 24 hours, and purple pushing on and off for 6 hours or so. I just couldn't move her She was posterior and asynclitic. As for when I knew we were off to the hospital.. when my midwife said, I guess! Well, it really was probably several hours before then, when I was thinking "this is impossible. she's never coming out. i'm going to end up in the hospital with a c-section I just know it" BUT that was probably transition talking. I was stuck with transition like contractions for nearly a full day. BRUTAL. I think the transfer decision was sort of a game of chicken, lol. I so, so desperately wanted a homebirth and dreaded going to the hospital so I couldn't bear to utter the words. After about the 6th pushing position.. my midwife suggested the hospital. And I agreed. I don't wish we had kept trying longer because seriously.. enough is enough. I am glad that I had an amazing, patient midwife who stayed with me for over 24 hours (when she arrived, I was 8-9 and fully effaced!) and I know she gave me a REAL chance. I do not regret trying for a homebirth even though it ended in a c-section, and even though we paid OOP for the midwife.

I did have an HBAC with my 2nd, he was positioned well and I had a "normal" lengthed labor. Active labor was only 10 hours And he was 10lbs 2oz.. much bigger than the baby who I couldn't push out! I would absolutely do it again.

[Theia]

Originally Posted by lovebug

my DREAM is to have a homebirth! i just cant wait and really think i can do it. but with little to no support i have a little voice inside me that says... what if?

so here are my freak out questions...for HB turn Hosp birth...

why did you have to transfer?
at what point did you 'just know' you were off to the hosp?
how did you feel?
if you had to do things over would you have tried to stay at home longer?
were you a first time mom birthing at home?
and advice... it IS SOOO WELCOME!!!

First time mom. Started at home, xferred to hospital. My blood pressure was too high, to the point where MW was afraid that I could possibly stroke if it went higher. My BP had been steadily increasing in the last tri due to stress. I had the super swollen feet, etc. I think at the hosp they did diagnose me as pre-e. I knew I was off to the hosp after MW continued to be very concerned about me. I had already been in labor for over 12 hours. I wouldn't have stayed home longer because I understood that this could be a very serious condition if it got worse, and I was exhausted. The MW had informed me on the issues weeks before. At the start of labor my BP top number was 140ish, it was 160ish when we went to the hospital. My normal BP top number is rarely over 100. Part of my exhaustion was due to the fact that anytime I sat or laid down the babys heartrate dropped dangerously low.

I was so completely unprepared to go to the hospital. I didn't even have a bag packed, cuz I was completely sure I'd get to birth at home. But it wasn't as bad as a hospital birth can be. All the information I had gotten from all the wise momma's on MDC made a huge difference in how things went in the hospital. I had to be hooked to an IV and given a med for my HBP. They put the fetal heart rate monitor strap thing around my belly. I finally agreed to an epidural after being stuck on my back for 2 hours. That was when my BP finally went down to a less scary level. The Dr mentioned several times because I wasn't progressing fast enough that the baby might be too big and need to come via CS. When I said "NO", he then wanted to hook up an internal fetal monitor (I think its the one that goes INTO the baby's scalp), I said "NO" again. Same thing with the pitocin. The poor Dr must not have been told "NO" before because he didn't know what to do and left pretty quickly. He came back of course. And of course he pushed those same things at me (several more times before it was all done), and I had the same response. Firstly, my MW was pretty sure the baby was 8ish pounds. Not a huge baby that might be too big for me to birth as he tried to suggest. Secondly, I KNEW intuitively that the baby was fine, and the secondary monitor thing wasn't necessary. DD was finally born about 21 hours after labor started. She did have the cord around her neck, but it had enough slack that it wasn't super dangerous. She was just under 8lbs. I also refused lots of the other aftercare they offer infants in the hospital, the eye cream, vitK, etc.

I do wish I that I would have had the homebirth I wanted. But, a hospital birth, when necessary, doesn't have to be all that bad. Just be informed, and have your support people informed of what your wishes are. And be prepared to say "NO".

ETA: Labor was just like my first trimester in that I was unable to eat or drink anything without it coming back up. My last nourishment before DD was born was dinner the night before.

[broodymama]

DS was born in a hospital and it wasn't a bad birth, I didn't really have any complaints. he was induced via AROM (we were evacuating for a hurricane and I was already 6 cm dilated, was unprepared for a roadside UC) but no other interventions. I just refused the routine items that I didn't want (IV, external monitoring) and the birth went fine. At the time I was living in a state that was not homebirth friendly, I had just moved there right before getting pregnant and didn't have the contacts to find a homebirth midwife. I would have loved to have a homebirth with him.

DD1 was born at home and it made all the difference in the world. Labor was quick, ~2 hours, and the birth just flowed smoothly as a routine part of our day. I did it again with DD2 (another quick 2 hour labor), and will do it again with this babe. I was more comfortable, more relaxed, my body labored and birthed much more efficiently, it just felt more right.

[Kidzaplenty]

[Belle]

was it easier then a hosp birth? why?

Yes. Much easier. Both were unmedicated, but I didn't have to fight to decline anything at home. A laboring woman should not have to fight for anything. Also I didn't need to drive anywhere while in labor. That sucked. At home there was laughter and smiles. At the hospital there was panic and fear.

why did you choose hb after hosp?

I realized after my first birth that the hospital didn't offer me anything but people to annoy me while in labor and charge me thousands of dollars to do it. At home my mom did that for free (semi-kidding)

what was the best part of your hb?

Hospitals are really good at scaring people. I felt no fear, panic, or anything else at home. Nobody told me that I was birthing "wrong". I gave birth my way.

would you do it over again?

yes. No question.

[perditafoster]

First birth: induction two days after due date (puh-lease), AROM, pit, epidural, etc. Stalled at four cm all day, gave in to a c-section for failure to progress. 9 pound, 1 ounce baby. Told "you can never have a vaginal birth unless your baby is less than six pounds."

Second birth: attempted home birth; transferred after 26 hours active labor and four hours pushing; diagnosed with maternal exhaustion at hosp; got an epidural and IV fluids; pushed for two more hours and had a vbac!!!! eight pound, seven ounce baby. Verdict: not a bad hosp experience because I was desperately in need of pain relief and nourishment. OB vbac friendly, nurses didn't have any other patients so they were supportive of me and patient. I had simply been in labor too long and I was completely worn out. MW was fairly supportive at home but much too hands-on and frantic to check baby's hb too often. That got on my nerves really badly. Had my mother, doula, dh, and mw helping me labor; in retrospect, too many people, too much interference, not enough trusting in myself to birth the baby the way I wanted to and needed to. Was at 10 centimeters for the ride to the hosp; holy crap, that was terrible. Oh, I was only in hosp for about 36 hours after having the baby, so that was nice.

Third birth: planned hosp birth with a doula; went into labor and remembered how long I labored with dd #2. Delayed waking dh, calling doula, going to hosp, etc. because I figured I had plenty of time. Wrong! I had three hours! Ended up with an unassisted home birth! Crazy! DH caught ds Baby was eight pounds, six ounces. Perfect in every way. Doula got there about 30 minutes after he was born and delivered placenta. I must say that the home birth was absolute paradise. Sure, labor and delivery hurt like a mother you know what, but when it was over, it was over. I held ds for eight solid hours; the doula measured him, weighed him, and gave him right back. I didn't even let dh hold him until the next day! He stayed on me, nursing and comfy: pure heaven compared to the hosp where they take the baby for hours on end and I had no idea when I would see the baby again.

Fourth birth: planned unassisted home birth with doula/mw on call. This was twelve days ago So I'm fresh from the trenches! Anyway, called mw 30 minutes before dd was born, told her to head on over. She got there about 40 minutes after she was born! DH caught dd and delivered placenta five minutes after she was born. Perfect birth experience! No complaints whatsoever! Considering hiring dh out as a midwife for some extra Christmas money... just kidding, he wouldn't do that for anybody but me! Oh, baby was a tiny thing, six pounds, eleven ounces, three hours total active labor.

I would never have a hospital birth again unless there was a valid medical reason, like with dd #2, for me to have one. I would have another unassisted home birth again, of course. I do not like anyone looking at me, talking to me, monitoring me, checking me, touching me, breathing heavy near me, or otherwise interacting with me at all during labor. I like to squeeze dh's hand while he stands beside me. I don't want him to say or do anything! I occasionally, during my last labor, had him do counter-pressure on my back, but that's it. No touching, rubbing, patting, talking, nothing! Leave me alone! And let's face it, that kind of thing doesn't happen in the hosp! I can check my own cervix, I can tell myself what my contrx are doing, i can tell when I'm ready to push: if I had a legitimate need for medical support, I would of course go to the hosp. Also, if I had a lengthy labor or difficulty in moving the baby down, I would have the mw come sooner and give me advice/coaching/etc. But I didn't want her here while I labored and delivered; I knew that I could do it with just dh and me! Good luck with your decision; home birth is definitely not for everyone, but I sure did love it!

[lovebug]

thank you mamas for the most part these stories are helping A LOT!!!! i want some of you to come to my birth... any takers?

i hope more mamas post... this kind of support is what i need!

[wbg]

was it easier then a hosp birth?

YES

why?

No distractions, no stress re childcare or car ride

why did you choose hb after hosp?

I moved country and wanted to replicate the birthing environment of my previous births. Also had a crazy, knife happy, inducing obsessed ob!

what was the best part of your hb?

Sharing the birth with my other children straight away. not having dh torn between staying with me and going home to care for the other siblings. yummy food, chilled environment etc

would you do it over again?

in a heartbeat!

[wbg]

thank you mamas for the most part these stories are helping A LOT!!!! i want some of you to come to my birth... any takers?

Ooh....me me! Oh wait you live no where near me! Oh well....You are going to have a wonderful birthing journey! Enjoy!

[lovebug]

Originally Posted by wbg

Ooh....me me! Oh wait you live no where near me! Oh well....You are going to have a wonderful birthing journey! Enjoy!

well maybe i will move closer i really wish i had some smart MDC mamas close to me! i would totally in list the help of some of them... its hard because i have little support with or without DH. he is on board with a HB, but he is really hands off and wont talk about it at all! hes just like whatever...

my mom- she is very ' a hosp is where a baby should be born, but i will go along with this if you want if something happens to you though i will put you in the car and drive you to the hosp my self" thanks mom!

Best friend- she is someone i cant totally count on. she lives far away and has kids of her own. i cant even get her on the phone for a 5min convo so i am sure getting her out here will be a shot in the dark... she is the only one i trust thought so its a hard balence!

Sister- she is a nurse so she is very by the book, but is VERY open minded and loves to learn the hippie side so i think she will be fine...

DH- he will more then likely be in Iraq so other then the above... he might not even be here!

so yes i might be posting an ad for MDC mama help

[Peony]

Where in CO? Somehow I doubt you are down in Durango by me.



DD1 was born in a hospital, I thought homebirth was something crazy people did. Until I went to into labor and then all I wanted to do was stay home, I knew before that baby had even been home that I would homebirth my future children. And I have, DD2 and DS were born at home. Homebirth is 50 billion times better then a hospital birth. You don't have to travel via car while in labor, which really sucks by the way. There aren't people coming into your room at all hours of the night to wake you up. The best part of my birth with DD2 was after she was born, I walked into the bedroom, put on MY clothes, walked into the dining room and had take out pizza for lunch that DH had picked up. I was sitting in my house, eating what I wanted to eat, when I wanted to eat, holding my baby that wasn't even an hour old.


With DS, it was taking a shower in my own shower while DH held the baby. Taking a shower in my bathroom just seemed so wonderful. Then I went downstairs and snuggled with the baby while watching a movie with my other two children, it just wasn't a big deal that a baby had just been born upstairs a little while ago. I know that sounds odd to some people, but that is the great thing about homebirth for me is that it is not this huge ordeal. I'm not separated from my other children, and then I come home with this new screaming sister/brother. I have a baby in the morning and then we go on with our day.

[LovnMyBoys]

My first ds was born in hospital. It was an inductions (AROM and pitocin). I was talked into the epidural (5 hrs into it after saying no about 10 times), however the constant contractions made it easier to cave and I did start dilating afte that. It was an ok labour 10 hrs from AROM to delivery.
My second ds was born at home. It was intense but at no time did I ever feel like I couldn't do it or felt like I wanted to go to the hospital. Active labour was about 11 hrs. It was so nice to be able to move aorund wherever I pleased and have my older ds in the tub with me at the beginning. I agree with whoever said that being able to tuck into bed with my family afterwards was the best part!
We did have one appt withe the midwife where dh asked all the "what if" questions (we're both in the medical field so there was a lot of them). I had come to the decision about homebirth a little earlier than he did, but he warmed up to the idea pretty quickly.
I absolutely loved my hb and would plan another for any future babes.

[Dmitrizmom]

was it easier then a hosp birth? why?
both easier and harder. I had a hospital birth with ds, a birthcenter/hospital type birth with dd1. Both unmedicated. I knew after ds that I wanted a homebirth but we couldn't swing the finances. Labor w/ dd1 was easy, short and I felt great after she was born. Labor with ds was long, but not bad, delivery sucked and I felt like I'd been beaten with a baseball bat for a couple weeks. Labor with dd2 was the hardest, and I hemorrhaged when she was born. I didn't have to transfer as my mw knew how to deal with it and we got the bleeding controlled fairly quickly. I felt very tired/weak for quite a while, but not sore IYKWIM....

why did you choose hb after hosp?
I got to do things my way. If I wanted to eat or drink, I could. If I wanted to move around I could. I didn't have to worry about someone wanting to poke and prod me for their own information.

what was the best part of your hb?
catching my baby and then being able to sleep in my own bed afterward.

would you do it over again?
If we decide to have any more (at this point, not likely), I would have another hb in a heartbeat... even with the hemorrhage and tear.

[Birdie B.]

I've only had one birth, a homebirth turned hospital transfer. I was absolutely unprepared for being at the hospital, since I had done everything I could to avoid it. That was the hardest part - I didn't have a birth plan, I had no idea what to expect, and interventions were thrust upon me before I was even aware of what was going on. I wish I had been more prepared.

On the flip side, the hospital wasn't all bad. The labor nurse was fabulous and helped me a lot. All the post-partum nurses were also great - they weren't too intrusive, helped with breastfeeding, kept me comfy, etc. I kept Meadow in the room with me and was basically waited on hand and foot for 2 days - not too shabby!

Of course I would rather have been at home, but the hosptial wasn't as bad as I expected it to be. I had to transfer because of state laws regulating midwives: They aren't allowed to attend the birth if the waters have been broken for more than 24 hours. Since my water broke with no signs of labor for 12 hours, by the time I got to the 24 hour mark, we had to go to the hospital. No emergency, baby was fine, I was fine. It was a bummer, for sure. In hindsight I wouldn't have told the midwife my water broke. I just didn't know about the policy before. I've learned a lot, and I'm confident I can have a homebirth next time.

[SamGroom]

ok now for my had kiddos at hosp then had kiddos at home...

was it easier then a hosp birth? why?
YES and I had an epidural NO pit with my first.

why did you choose hb after hosp?
During my hospital birth I felt like they treated me as patient #1000000 and not me. Like I was an inconvenience to them. I ended up with an OB I had never met and hated from the start. I was in so much pain being on my back but they would not allow me up until I had 2 hours of monitoring so I got an epidural, something I hadn't wanted. When it was time to push the OB (a women) said to me after one push; "If you can't do this I will have to help you" I was soooo scared I felt like she was threatening to cut MY vagina. I had my daughter out in 3 pushes. Then she preceded to yank my placenta out of me while I was yelling out in pain with my daughter in my arms. I feel like that has forever effected my relationship with my daughter and me. The first time I looked at her and was holding her I was in excruciating pain. Later I was telling my nurse that I had to use the bathroom, she told me she had to check my stomach first. I said NO I REALLY have to go. She immediately pushed down on my uterus and I peed all over myself. She didn't see to care or wonder why I felt so humiliated.

what was the best part of your hb?
Everything but I loved that moment when my son was in my arms and I had DONE IT I have never in my life felt so good or so overwhelmed by pure love.

would you do it over again?
A homebirth ABSOLUTELY!!!!!!!!! In fact I am come this March for baby #3. We are a military family so hospital births cost us NOTHING not even a copay but we still choose to birth at home and pay out of pocket. It is that important to us. The love I felt for everyone, the love and care I was given. The way it changed me as a mother and women are worth a million dollars to me. I am so grateful I took the leap of faith and did it.

[lotus.blossom]

I had a homebirth transfer......

why did you have to transfer? After a relatively easy 10 hour labor and 5 hours of pushing it was clear that no matter what we did he was majorly stuck. Posterior and likely acynclitic, and I have a very narrow pelvic arch.

at what point did you 'just know' you were off to the hosp? Like I said 5 hours of pushing in every position known to man, my midwife tried one more thing. Had me sit on my DH's lap facing him and I hung down off his legs while they checked me. They said at that moment that they knew that he just
wasn't going to clear my pelvic arch. So we made the decision to go to the hospital for a c/s.


how did you feel? defeated. panicked about how I would make the 40 minute drive while having back labor and strong pushing urges with no relief.

if you had to do things over would you have tried to stay at home longer? Nope. I did everything I could. I'm lucky that my DS tolerated it and there was never a threat of distress.

were you a first time mom birthing at home? No. First labor was another transfer and c/s from a birth center for FTP. I guess I am really unlucky.

[jljeppson]

MN, huh? You sure you don't want to come back to the great white yonder? I'm in Moorhead and we could really use some more mamas out here. My first baby was a not so thrilling military hospital birth. 34 wk appt I ended up in the hospital over night with the threat of a c-section because I gained 5lbs (whoop de doo, I didn't gain more than 15-20 entire pregnancy) in one week, amniotic fluid was measuring almost nonexistent, and doc didn't like my sons FHT's at the appt. Sent home next day barely able to fit into my shoes (darn i.v.'s) and with the instructions to call if I felt any contractions (I had contracted regularly for most of the time while there). Following week on my anniversary (21st) I kept having fluid trickles when I sneezed and about 4 contraction an hr so I called in like instructed and was told to come in. They told me my water had broken (turned out to be a forebag leak that resealed while I was there and happened with my next two pregnancies. Both times resealed and I went a few more weeks) and was admitted around 11 that night. They wouldn't let me hubby stay and sent him back to work the next day, put me on pit the next morning (22nd) and strapped me down with monitors. I wasn't allowed to eat or drink the entire time I was there, get out of bed to pee, or anything. Nothing worked though they kept cranking up the pit. I was contracting but was pain-free and not dilating past a 3. Next day (23rd) they turned the pit off and allowed my husband to come back, a Scottish doc came in and manually dilated me to a 5 (worst pain EVER and I've had 6 kids with 2 being killer labors), broke my waters (I was super pissed since they told me it had already broken), and had a pill placed (pretty sure now that it was Cytotec and was super pissed afterwards). Lots of antibiotics and one shot of i.v. Demerol later (I was so tired I slept through it's effects, it's wearing off, and for a few hrs beyond) and woke up in transition. I had my son vaginally as they prepped the o.r. for my c-section. Even had all staff in the room because they all had met me and wanted to see (some had to go racing out as soon as he delivered because another dad came racing down the hall screaming that his wife was pushing and wouldn't stop and the head was out; they had left her room for mine!). Episiotomy for 35wk 6 lb 7oz baby that a stupid resident stitched and took forever to do because he kept asking the doc to look at each stitch. 56 hr total labor and we went home Christmas day. Have never been angry or anything about the way things went, just didn't see a reason to go back. My dad and his brother were born at home (his sister was the first in that family line to be hospital born and the nurses killed her) and had a neighbor that did it when I was a kid so thought it was a typical alternative. Didn't know how alternative it was considered until I chose to do it! I've since had 5 at home, 3 waterbirths total (2 which were pain free) and #'s4 and 6 were unassisted (would do it that way again if I had more kids). I loved eating when I felt, moving around, having the kids there for 4 of them (my kids have cut the cord for 4 of their siblings), and being able to concentrate on hubby during pushing. For my last 4 births it was like we were the only two in the room. I now do HB's myself, though I think eventually I will go family practice so I can have more contact with my families, order my own labs, etc. And continue to do HB's of course.