How was the birth of your first? - Page 3

[MamaofLiam]

Originally Posted by Birdie B. 

I had a homebirth-turned-hospital birth. We wanted to be at home, but my water broke and my midwife had to transfer my care after 24 hours of ruptured membranes (state law). Once I got to the hospital, they wouldn't let me get out of bed and I had IVs and monitors all over the place. I couldn't handle the pain lying flat on my back, so I opted for the epidural.  Not my first choice, but it was really hard at the hospital. Since I didn't plan on being there, I had no idea how to cope.  My daughter was born pretty easily about 6 hours after we got there, so it all ended well. 

I had a similar experience to you, OP. I had 4 friends seeing the same midwives around the same time I was due.  All of them ended up transferring to the hospital, two had C-sections, one had vacuum. It seemed like a really odd coincidence, and definitely made me wonder.

I just hope it goes smoother this time around!

First off, I want to say I'm sorry that you didn't have the homebirth you had hoped for.  Ultimately, it's so good that your daughter was born easily and all ended well. 

I have a question - what state were you in? I had a very similar situation to you in that my water broker before labor started, and at 24 hrs my midwife informed me that we were past 24 hrs and that in order to continue at home I would need to sign a waiver. Which I did. 4 hours after the 24 hour mark DS was born at home. I was living in California at the time. This is slightly OT but - does anyone know if the ruptured membranes 24 hour law is common in a lot of states? If this is too off topic I will edit and remove. 
 

[Greenlea]

I was very happy with the birth of my first child.  We did a Bradley class and learned a lot from it.  I was having a hospital birth with a CNM.  My water broke at home and I went to the hospital 6-7 hours later when I felt contractions were bad.  But, my contractions pretty much stopped once I got to the hospital and I was there laboring for another 12 hours.  But being a first time mom, I thought the contractions were bad enough, little did I know they would get much worse LOL.  Luckily no one tried to give me pitocin to speed up my labor or offered me pain meds as they knew I wanted a natural birth.  I was able to have a water birth with no interventions.  Good, I think, for a hospital birth.  Oh, I did have to get an IV, but that was because I ended up getting dehydrated cuz I couldn't keep any food or water down.

With my second, I had an all natural homebirth in a birthing pool.  It was only 4 hours of labor and baby came before my midwife was even there.

[JamieB]

I voted epidural even though that seems a little ridiculous since I used laughing gas for about an hour of my 54 hour labor. Lol. So no, my first birth was not natural but it very easily could have been if I stayed home. It is so hard not to cave to the pressure of those mess once they are avaiable. My birth also could have very easily been a c section if I had an ob.

Also, I just have to say that a couple of posts in here left a bad taste in my mouth. I consider myself lucky that the stars aligned and allowed my to have good birth experiences. So many mamas don't get that, no matter how informed they are, how well they eat, or how much they tell themselves they don't need interventions.

[Midwesterner04]

Natural OOH waterbirth using Hypnobabies. Being out of the hospital with the support of a CNM made it possible and Hypnobabies and a birth tub made it glorious. :-)

[Birdie B.]

Mama of Liam- I'm in Florida. My midwife is very cautious and very concerned about protecting her license. She told me later that it would have been fine to stay home, and maybe we could have fudged the timing, but she opted for transfer.  Midwives are pretty heavily regulated here, which is good in some ways. It means they're easy to find, and most insurance will cover their services, and they have hospital back-ups.  But it means they have to stick closer to legal requirements, like the 24 hour rule for broken membranes. 

This time, I'm just not going to tell her when my water breaks!
 

Originally Posted by JamieB 


Also, I just have to say that a couple of posts in here left a bad taste in my mouth. I consider myself lucky that the stars aligned and allowed my to have good birth experiences. So many mamas don't get that, no matter how informed they are, how well they eat, or how much they tell themselves they don't need interventions.

I agree!

[Monarchgrrl]

Originally Posted by JamieB 


Also, I just have to say that a couple of posts in here left a bad taste in my mouth. I consider myself lucky that the stars aligned and allowed my to have good birth experiences. So many mamas don't get that, no matter how informed they are, how well they eat, or how much they tell themselves they don't need interventions.

I agree! Just because you "imagine" and plan for a natural birth, doesn't mean you will get one. Staying at home increases your odds, yes. But sometimes, it's just bad luck and you gotta do what you gotta do to get your baby out.

P.S. Re:  a previous poster- I'm a fat mama that didn't exercise and I had a perfect home birth! I didn't eat like crap, but our bodies are amazing: you can eat crap and still have a natural birth. Our bodies are made for birthing, most of the time. But sometimes sh*t happens and interventions are very much needed! There shouldn't be any judgments involved.

[inthefall]

I'm pregnant with my first, and would like to try for a natural (water) birth in a local free-standing birth center.  However, my husband and I aren't getting much support from either of our parents - especially his.  His father was a pediatrician and his mother a neo-natal nurse.  Even though she delivered 5 out of 6 of her kids naturally, she did so in a hospital and they are angry with us for wanting to try a birth center.  My husband supports me 100% but I can see he's having trouble disappointing his parents at the same time....

[member234098]

My first birth was completely natural because I stayed home and called the midwife and doctor to come to my home and deliver me.  I like the home court adavantage.  In her own home, the mother is queen.  

No intravenous feedings, no drugs, no stitches, no forceps, no caesarean section, no shots, no episiotomy.  Life went on the way it is supposed to.  And it did.  And I had three more the same way.

[arieltron]

At 22 I had a 100% natural hospital birth. my LO's father was like a guard dog, he didn't let anyone get near me in the delivery room, and everyone thought we were stupid hippies. I couldn't have done it without him :)

I wish I had done it at home, I didn't educate myself about childbirth at all. I really didn't want to face my pregnancy at the time, I was really afraid. But when push came to shove (lol) I was right there in the moment and I knew what I wanted. 

Next time, unassisted home birth, I know I can do it.

[mt_gooseberry]

I ended up getting an epidural then pitocin after 24 hours of labor (I gave birth after more than 30 hours of labor...I'm lucky they didn't give me a c/s for "failure to progress").  My problems were:  OB/hospital birth, not laboring at home long enough (I was only dilated 2cm when we got to the hospital, but we lived 30min away so they just had me stay), scar tissue on cervix from a colposcopy which prevented good dilation, and not having enough support.  I could have easily done all natural if I had known then what I know now!  In fact, for this next baby, I'm hoping for a water birth at a free standing birth center. 

[themammy]

100% natural home birth for both my children - midwife attended for final hour of labour with first, I was already pushing when she arrived. Midwife arrived an hour after birth of second, she decided to come so quickly. Both wonderful experiences.

[LaLaLou]

Neat poll!

We had an all natural, home birth with our first. It was a great experience! It was a longer labor than I expected because my uterus was tipped and the contractions weren't able to dilate my cervix properly. My midwife told me if I had been in a hospital, I would have most likely had a c-section. I'm so thankful for the support I had and the opportunity to deliver naturally.

Lara

---

Wife to David and Mommy to Ethan

Our Simply Natural Lives

[physmom]

I had pitocin and ended up having an epidural shortly before I gave birth.  I do regret the epidural (and that was due to me not understand some of the effects of pitocin) but I don't regret the pitocin and would do it again. 

Basically, my water broke and I had meconium in my fluid with no progression... zero.  My doctor tried to let me labor as long as possible  but was getting nervous because of the meconium and we started the pitocin about 12 hours after my water broke (or when I guessed that it broke since I woke up that morning and it was already broke).  Really, they had to crank it up quite a bit to get my body going at all and the entire time the hospital kept pressuring my OB/Gyn to put me in for a c-section (thankfully she really respected my wishes and stood up for me!). 

I was actually doing pretty well with the contractions but my body was shaking so badly (I now know that was from the high levels of pitocin but I didn't know it at the time) that I could barely stand anymore (and standing leaning forward was the only position that helped me get through the contractions that were one on top of another).  I eventually got to the point where I didn't think I would be able to stand anymore so they TRIED to put an epidural in.  Nope, didn't work and the guy who put it in was so horrible that putting in the epidural hurt way worse than the contractions themselves.  Of course, then I was stuck in the bed going through contractions one on top of another and that was no fun at all.  Eventually they brought in the head of anesthesiology in and he fixed it but then I only had about an hour of two left (I was in labor a total of 24 hours) so looking back I really wished I would've been able to afford a doula that might have been able to suggest different positions instead of having to resort to an epidural. 

Next time around I plan on going the midwife+doula route.  Granted, financially we're a lot better off now than when we had DD so this wasn't even a possibility first time around.  I'm not sure if we'll have a homebirth or not that depends more me convincing DH...

[sosurreal09]

Originally Posted by ZakareyasMama 

I disagree. I know I went into labor trusting my body and set against interventions, but things didn't turn out that way. Sometimes women have real situations that need intervention such as exhaustion or a malpositioned baby or a physical problem in the pelvis, etc. that no amount of positive thinking will take away. 

I think what happens is that in an attempt to advocate for intervention-free birth and encourage other mothers, we forget that sometimes women need interventions and it's a balance. Of course not every woman needs every intervention every time (and that's what can happen in a sue-happy medical environment), but it's also not the case that no woman ever needs an IV, epidural, pitocin or a C-Section. We want to encourage other women to try for natural birth, but we shouldn't make them feel like a failure if it doesn't happen.

My intention was not to say anyone was failing ect. Obviously their can be complications....I didn't know I had to spell that out
 

[plantmama]

It never occured to me that my first child's birth was unnatural because I had an iv.  I guess I was thinking in terms of pain relief.

He was born at 30 weeks after I had PPROM and several days of intravenous antibiotics as well as 2 steroid shots to help develop his immature lungs.  I am completely satisfied with the way things went though obviously sad that he was born so early.  We had planned a home birth and I was well educated about birth etc...  I have gone on to have 2 super homebirths.  Last one was so fast the midwife didn't make it and dh caught her.  I do think it got easier.

[Sweetsummer]

I had a 100% natural homebirth. I agree it is easier to do it all natural at home so if you do go to the hospital be very strong and knowledgable about your committment to natural.

[kythe]

I also don't believe an IV hinders labor's progress. I once saw a waterbirth video with a CNM in attendance, where the mom had an IV. She was fine as long as she kept that hand out of the water.

My first birth had few interventions (including no IV's), and I was in a free standing birth center with a CNM. I remember using oxygen toward the end because of lowered fetal heart rate, but that was about it. I had back labor because dd was sunny side up, and spent most of labor upright or leaning forward. My birth would have been very different in a hospital. I know I would have had an epidural because if they had me on my back even for cervical checks or the standard 20 minutes per hour of continual fetal monitoring, I would not have been able to manage. I also had a 3 hour pushing stage, but a hospital would have intervened after 2 hours.

[goldenwillow]

Originally Posted by Monarchgrrl 

I agree! Just because you "imagine" and plan for a natural birth, doesn't mean you will get one. Staying at home increases your odds, yes. But sometimes, it's just bad luck and you gotta do what you gotta do to get your baby out.

P.S. Re:  a previous poster- I'm a fat mama that didn't exercise and I had a perfect home birth! I didn't eat like crap, but our bodies are amazing: you can eat crap and still have a natural birth. Our bodies are made for birthing, most of the time. But sometimes sh*t happens and interventions are very much needed! There shouldn't be any judgments involved.

It was not my intent to offend anyone.  My apologies.  I worked very hard to ensure a positive birth as I am sure most do as well. 

[Bokonon]

I had severe preeclampsia and had a c-section at 32 weeks.  I would have loved to have a natural birth, or at least a full-term one, but it truly wasn't in the cards for me.

[LadybugMamma]

My first (only, so far) was born naturally, no pit, no pain meds, in a hospital with a midwife. I would have gone with homebirth if my husband was more comfortable with the idea and if insurance woulda paid for a midwife who would birth at home. I had to have oxygen for about 20 minutes just before I pushed. The hospital has policy to administer pitocin after birth to help shrink the uterus and prevent bleeding. I bled very little, my midwife joked she would have to fib the amount on the paperwork or they wouldn't believe her. My water broke at home, just before bed. I was concerned I'd be too exhausted if it lasted too terribly long. I'd intended on laboring at home and going with a 4-1-1 rule before going in, the longer you're in the hospital the higher the chance of interventions. I'd planned beforehand to stay mobile and upright as much as possible unless it began in the evening, since it did, I focused on resting between contractions. When my water broke before contractions began I worried that I'd have to be induced but they started on their own before we even got to the car. I was able to sleep between contractions and labored in the jacuzzi a lot. It was all kind of a blur. We opted not to be checked often, to help avoid infection, but when the pain and pressure hyped worse, the midwife and I agreed I should be checked. It was almost time. I pushed through 4 out of 5 contractions. I took a break for one to ease a leg cramp. We opted to delay cord clamping, to help prevent anemia.
My daughter was born 7 hours after my water broke. She got a 9/10 then 10/10 apgar score. I had a minor tear that was healed 2 days later. One of my midwives said I should go for homebirth next time. My daughter took right to breastfeeding. We took a childbirth class and I read bunches of books. we kept an open mind and decided to go with the flow. I had decided I would be ok using IV pain help, if I needed it to take the edge off to help me rest or something. I thought I wanted to squat for pushing but my legs were tired and it wasn't hard to push reclining back.