What are your thoughts?

[trilliumwolf]

Anyone out there thinking about having a natural birth? What does that mean, for you? I gave birth in a hospital, with no meds, but I would have liked things to be a little different. They pushed too hard for things like formula, pacifiers, I.V.s, vaccuum, etc. I just wanted the doc there to catch, ha ha! What do any of you want in a natural birth, as far as the setting, waterbirth perhaps, and so forth?

[laughingfox]

Natural birth is a whole different animal at home than in the hospital.
One of the reasons I birthed at home (and plan to again) is that I didn't feel that I should have to fight and argue every step of the way just to have a baby in the way I feel is safest.

I've heard good things about hiring doulas for natural hospital births, not only for labor support, but also for acting as a go-between for the mother and doctor, so you don't have to spend your time arguing when you're busy having a baby.

[JennTheMomma]

My NCB-
At home
No pain meds (obviously at home can't have any)
Breastfeeding as soon as possible afterwords
DH and/or I catch baby

[jecombs]

I really wanted to have a HB this time around, to make my goal of NCB easier. Like pp said, the policies and procedures of most hospitals just aren't NCB-friendly. Unfortunately, it is just not financially possible for us to have a HB, so we're going the hospital-route again.

I am birthing with a very NCB-friendly group of MWs, which I think makes a huge difference, and at a fairly Mom-Baby friendly hospital. The last time around, my MWs had no issue with allowing me to continue pushing for almost 3 hrs (!), when most OBs cut you off at 2 hrs. They also have a very low rate of c/s and episiotomy. My hospital also has tubs for water birth, birth balls, birthing stools, etc. Unfortunately they also have the policies about doing 20 min. of monitoring upon admission and heplocks on every patient.

The hospital also hardly ever separates baby and Mom. Also newborn assessments are done in Mom's room, except the hearing test. LCs are available to help with BF 7 days a week. The hospital does not provide pacis and only gives you bottles upon request.

Like you, OP, the only thing I really want is to be left alone to labor in peace. Unfortunately, at a hospital that's just not going to happen, which is part of the reason I want to labor at home as long as possible. The last time I was able to stay home until I was 8cm, which is also my goal for this time.

[thefreckledmama]

While I know natural (no meds for induction, augmentation, or pain relief) births are possible in a hospital, one of the main motivations for me to have a home birth is all the procedures and policies hospitals have after the birth that I want to avoid.

Yes, I can decline things, but I don't even want to have to be "on guard" immediately after having a baby to make sure nothing goes on with the baby that I don't want.

The reason I chose a home birth is because I want to be able to labor and birth as naturally as possible. I don't want to have to worry about a doctor trying to give me pitocin "just to speed things up a little", or have nurses telling me when and how long to push. I don't want to be limited on how long I am able to leave the cord intact, and hold the baby following his birth before he's weighed and measured because I have an OB that needs to get back to the office, and nurses that have other patients they need to get to. I don't want nurses coming in telling me that I can't doze off in my bed while holding my baby.

I think birth has existed for thousands of years, and while there are definitely situations that warrant proactive intervention and a place for the medical model of care, I really think the best way of babies being brought into the world is with as little outside interference as possible.

[freistms]

I didn't really feel that my first birth was all that natural, whereas my second was *felt* decidedly moreso. Both were hospital births without any drugs.

The biggest difference between the two was when I got to the hospital. I thought I had done great the first time because I was 6cm at my triage check. But there were still four hours of active labor and pushing after that, which is plenty of time for intervention (amniotomy at 8cm, coached pushing in midwife-suggested positions for about 45 minutes, some of which included side-lying with people holding my feet - the memory of this is still very traumatic for me as it felt so incredibly disempowering).

The second time, I walked intp L&D basically complete (midwife said "9+" so as to not to freak out the nursing staff too much). They basically ignored me, aside from running my bath, for the next half hour. It was only when my nurse saw me feeling a bulging bag of waters (I was crowning with an intact amniotic sac) that she decided to call my midwife back to the room. I had zero coached pushing, pushed only with my natural urges, and for the most part chose my own positions. In processing this birth, I knew that the reason it felt natural is because I was ignored.

I think the biggest reason we're having a homebirth is because my DH doesn't want to deliver a baby on the highway! We'd have over an hour drive, and I would never again want to get to the hospital before the very end.

My homebirth midwife asked me to please not wait so long to call her (she's over an hour away). I told her I didn't think that would be a problem because I knew she wasn't going to push me around or threaten to cut me the way they might in the hospital.