Where are you laboring/birthing?

[jenniferadurham]

I'm sure there's a thread out there somewhere...but I couldn't find it.

So where are you planning on giving birth? Hospital, BC, home....car(LOL).

I was going to go to a hospital this time(same hospital as first LO, BC-transfer to hospital with 2nd LO). Found a doula, and she made me think of what I REALLY want. Which is a HB...or a BC. Ideally it's a HB...we will talk to our 'about to be' MW and maybe she can calm DH nerves about it. I want a NCB so bad! I'm also a little worried about telling my mom a d MIL. Oye. My mom is VERY supportive, but after having to transfer last time, and a slight heart problem on my end(that isn't serious and won't cause harm) she's said that she worries about me not being in a hospital in case something happens to me. Now my MIL on the other hand....she was a MESS at the BC last time. She works in hospital and is VERY hospital minded. She is going to flip out when we tall her. I wouldn't mind her at this delivery(as she was at the last one)...but we are going to have a come to Jesus talk beforehand. We will need help with the other kids...and she is a good grandma, so I would like her to help with them, and if she wants to participate some with me thats fine too. BUT she has to be calm and adult about things...or she gets the boot! Lol


So what are yalls plans and thoughts about your delivery?

[KimMamaLove]

I plan on homebirth. My first one! My first two children were born in a hospital. I'm looking forward to being active & in charge with this birth, as opposed to being just the middle(wo)man between the baby & doctor with the last two.

My mom & sister are not happy about the HB, but they've gotten used to me doing things drastically different from them. Plus, they live 4 & 5 hours away and won't be a part of the birth anyway. My in-laws are just fine with the decision (also 4 hours away). Although, if my MIL were cognitive (in late stages of Ahlzheimer's) she'd probably not be too happy. She was a Navy nurse in the maternity ward.

FYI: It took some time for my husband to come around with the idea of a HB. He met me half-way with insisting on choosing the CNM (as opposed to CPM). I had interviewed 2 CPMs and 1 CNM at that point and found them all to be wonderful. It didn't make a difference to me which one we used, as long as I could have a HB :-)  Maybe a CNM would easy your husband's (and family's) worries?

[KimMamaLove]

BTW: when I first read the subject of this thread, I thought you meant 'where in your house are you giving birth?'  Which is a good question for me because I think I want to be all over the place, but my bedroom is upstairs (which is where the supplies will be stored). I may even want to go outside, who knows!

[allical1284]

We're planning a MW-attended home birth.  The roll call includes: me, DH, our MW, her apprentice, DD (2 yo), my Mother, and our friend/birth photographer.  

My job is to have a baby ;) DH's job is to take care of me.  My mom's job is to take care of DD.  The MW and her apprentice's job is to step in if needed, and my friend's job is to capture the scene without being intrusive.

We are attempting to get away with not telling any family our plans to birth at home. We haven't even told my mom yet (will do that next month).  I don't think anyone would have anything downright negative to say, but I'm really not in the mood to hear anyone in my family's opinion on my birth choices (positive or negative).  My mom was there for DD's natural hospital birth w/ a MW (the only intervention was a shot of pitocin after the birth for some heavy bleeding), so I hope that helped her to see how beautiful birth can be when left alone.  

[bleumoose]

i'll be in the hospital for this one. First one was hospital, second was homebirth. We can't afford a HB.. or rather we can but we cannot afford to pay for hospital AND HB in the (admittedly small) case of a transfer. There are unfortunately no birth center options around here.

i'm feeling pretty good about it, although I do regret not being at home. The OB-MW practice I'm with is about as close to a birth center style birth you can get in this city. The MWs will labor-sit with you when they're able, they're so laid back about everything (seriously, they are. I was a doula at a birth with them and the nurses were flipping out over the baby's decels and the MW walked in looked at the monitoring strip and said "oh that baby's fine, but we'll keep and eye on you"), and will do water births, assuming you get one of the four tub rooms in the hospital. There aren't any other practitioners in the city who will do WBs. I would seriously consider UC and telling the practice that "it went too fast" but I don't want them to be hesitant to take future moms who've had homebirths, by making them think there's a risk of that happening (does that make sense? it reads funny to me).

My current dilemma is whether to stay the full stay at the hospital after the birth or come home as soon as I can. Part of me wants to be home, but I remember how after DS2 was born, DS1 wouldn't leave me alone, and all I wanted was to babymoon. Being at the hospital would give me that chance. If they can work with my dietary needs (GF/DF) I'll probably stay.

My birth team will be the MW, DH, and I think my friend/doula will be there also. We'll possibly have another friend or two to be there with the boys (if we decide to try and have them there for the birth or shortly after).

[pattimomma]

Home birth for the third time.

Jennifer- I started a poll based on your  thread because I thought it would be interesting to see how the graphs look.

[mrsberman]

We're having a hospital birth. I would love a HB, but DH is a no go on that one and the hospital 5 minutes from us has a VBAC ban. We have to drive over an hour to our hospital, but I've heard so many good things about this hospital and VBACs that I think it will be worth it. I'm hoping to stay at home for as long as possible, but it all depends on the time of day/night (traffic) and if DH's brother will be in town to take care of DD or if DD will be at my friend's house. I'm not sure how comfortable I'll be in labor if my BIL is there. He's awesome and I know he would never say anything, but I feel it's something that should be between DH and me and that's it (well MW and nurses too).

[Blanca78]

Same situation for me (since we're in the same city!). A birth center is my ideal, but you know--it's hard when there are none. I think I know the hospital/practice your'e talking about and wish I could go with them! They sound so great, but because of insurance I'm stuck with the university hospital. Aiming for natural birth, doula is hired, which makes me feel a lot more confident in the likelihood of achieving a birth that works for me. My main sticking point is while my OB has a reputation for being hands off, and has told me I can basically do whatever I want, she's pretty unyielding so far about wanting me to have an IV. Not a heplock/saline well, which I would be fine with, but she wants me tethered to a pole. My doula says that will really interfere with my ability to use the shower for pain relief, so I'm going to see if I can get my OB to agree to a compromise. Maybe not put in the IV until I'm 8 cm or something? Having never done this before I don't even know if that makes sense as a request.

At any rate, the doula is going to help me labor at home as long as possible. We are only 5-10 min from the hospital, so my hope is that we can get there pretty close to pushing time, so that I have maximum autonomy for as much of the labor as possible.
 

Originally Posted by bleumoose 

i'll be in the hospital for this one. First one was hospital, second was homebirth. We can't afford a HB.. or rather we can but we cannot afford to pay for hospital AND HB in the (admittedly small) case of a transfer. There are unfortunately no birth center options around here.

[Sihaya]

We'll be having our second home birth with a midwife. At this point, I'm planning on having me, DH, DS, our mw, her apprentice, my mom, and MIL there. But my mom and MIL will not be in the room with me. One of them will be in charge of DS and the other in charge of DH since he nearly fainted last time because he forgot to eat/drink/generally take care of himself once I was in active labor. I'm going to play it by ear on whether DS will be in the same room as me during labor/birth, but I'm hoping he sleeps through the whole thing.

[gumshoegirl007]

This is my first baby and my ideal is a home birth.  That's what I'm planning for pending some forthcoming test results. My brother has von Willebrand's which is a really common blood clotting disorder and because it's genetic I could have it, too (it would have been really nice if any of my care providers over the years would have noted that I should be tested for it).  I don't have any of the symptoms.  The neat, but tricky thing, is that if you have type 1 von Willebrand's your body compensates and produces more of the clotting factor in pregnancy, thus eliminating the risk.  From what I understand, depending on the type, there is a risk of hemorrhage and prolonged bleeding after birth (way longer than the 6 weeks).  If I have this, I'm likely type 1, and don't have any risk.

I had to get a referral to a hematologist and have had the tests done which should come back normal, but I won't know until mid to late-February.  Cross your fingers for a normal test, because if I get wonky results not only is a home birth out of the question, I get transferred from my MW to a high-risk OB AND a hospital birth .

ETA - The one thing we haven't figured out yet is what to do with the dog.  When I hurt my back last week, I did have quite the crying/moaning breakdown at one point, and he just went nuts barking.  He was trying to protect me from the invisible thing hurting me, which was nice, but most certainly annoying.  Anyone else have a pet that might not be so home birth compatible?

[bleumoose]

The university hospital isn't too bad for birthing. As a doula, I attended some great births there. It's all about the nurses--keep in mind (and I'm sure your doula will remind you too) that you can always request a different nurse if the one you're assigned isn't working out. That goes for any hospital, of course, not just OSU.

The IV can make it more difficult to move about while laboring, but it's not completely un-doable. Laboring at home as long as possible will really help obviously!

Originally Posted by Blanca78 

Same situation for me (since we're in the same city!). A birth center is my ideal, but you know--it's hard when there are none. I think I know the hospital/practice your'e talking about and wish I could go with them! They sound so great, but because of insurance I'm stuck with the university hospital. Aiming for natural birth, doula is hired, which makes me feel a lot more confident in the likelihood of achieving a birth that works for me.

[dayiscoming2006]

Home, sweet home with just my hubby, my kids and me. 

[dayiscoming2006]

I hope you get your homebirth. As far as the dog, I think you'll need to keep him outside, at a friend or family member's home or in a decent kennel place. Though, if you are anti vax for dogs, those kennels can be tough to get into. So, it depends what's available to you but hope that gives you an idea. 

Originally Posted by gumshoegirl007 

ETA - The one thing we haven't figured out yet is what to do with the dog.  When I hurt my back last week, I did have quite the crying/moaning breakdown at one point, and he just went nuts barking.  He was trying to protect me from the invisible thing hurting me, which was nice, but most certainly annoying.  Anyone else have a pet that might not be so home birth compatible?

[Julieee]

Consider yourself all very lucky to have MWs available where you live!  I live in the mountains in CO and we have 1 midwife (who practices from the hospital).  No homebirths up here and no birthing centers.  I would need to go to Denver for that and it's just too much of a hassle... so I will be having my baby at our lovely (and VERY EXPENSIVE) hospital which is 2 minutes from my front door.  The hospital up here will not deliver you if you're less than 36 weeks.  35w6d and you'll be sent to Denver.. most likely on an ambulance.  Yikes!

Anyway, I'm excited and I love where I live.  There are a total of 5 Dr.s and 1 MW here--any one of them may be the one delivering our LO.  Excited to see who it is!  I like all but 1 of them... with my luck I'll get the one I don't really like! :/

[Blanca78]

Thanks! Looking for all the reassurance I can get. :) Overall, I'm feeling pretty good about it, apart from the IV thing, but maybe she will bend on that (doesn't seem too likely, but one can always hope). I have heard that about the nurses--another reason I'm glad I have a doula because I am not very good at being assertive with other people and I think she'll give me some needed confidence if I do realize I need a staff change.
 

Originally Posted by bleumoose 

The university hospital isn't too bad for birthing. As a doula, I attended some great births there. It's all about the nurses--keep in mind (and I'm sure your doula will remind you too) that you can always request a different nurse if the one you're assigned isn't working out. That goes for any hospital, of course, not just OSU.

The IV can make it more difficult to move about while laboring, but it's not completely un-doable. Laboring at home as long as possible will really help obviously!

Originally Posted by Blanca78 

Same situation for me (since we're in the same city!). A birth center is my ideal, but you know--it's hard when there are none. I think I know the hospital/practice your'e talking about and wish I could go with them! They sound so great, but because of insurance I'm stuck with the university hospital. Aiming for natural birth, doula is hired, which makes me feel a lot more confident in the likelihood of achieving a birth that works for me.

 

[guppiegirl]

Homebirths are illegal in my state & we have no birthing centers. It's a hospital birth for me.

[Taryn237]

 Here in NJ midwives cannot legally attend HBACs so I will be VBACing in the hospital.  Hoping to actually go into labor on my own this time and stay home as long as possible (hospital is an hour away though).  My VBAC with DD was a lot more medicalized than I wanted since I had PROM and labor didn't start on its own.  If this birth goes smoothly I would really look into a traveling midwife for the future.  I have a friend who is hoping to HBAC.  She won't even reveal the name of her midwife since she could lose her license.

[StarCat]

I am planning to use a birth center.  My 1st was birth center- hospital transfer and a vacuum.  The 2nd was birth center water birth and I always said I would do home birth this time but DH prefers to do a birth center.  I guess I have until 36 weeks to convince him but I"m good with doing birth center again. 

I feel very lucky that I have the option of birth center/home birth.  I feel bad for those of you who don't have those options.  Everyone should have the choice of how they want to birth!

[gumshoegirl007]

Originally Posted by StarCat 
I feel very lucky that I have the option of birth center/home birth.  I feel bad for those of you who don't have those options.  Everyone should have the choice of how they want to birth!

I totally agree with you StarCat.  Here we have the option of either a home birth or a hospital birth (no birth centres, unfortunately).  We also have the choice of a midwife, family physician or OB to provide care during pregnancy.  And even better, in my province, all options are covered by our provincial health care program!
 

[windymama]

We're hoping for a HB with our MWs and a doula. 

Blanca - when I had DD I had an IV because I was GBS+.  I walked with that damn pole *everywhere* in labour.  Hopefully you'll be able to convince your OB to change her mind (and get it in writing!) and only have to deal with a heplock.  I was also at a university hospital so there were a lot of residents to deal with which I found a little annoying.