So- how are you birthing? « Back to Group Discussions

[WindyCityMom]

Obviously this is all subject to change ;)  but how are you planning to birth?  Hospital with an OB?  Midwife?  Homebirth?  UC?  

This time around I'm hoping to have my first homebirth- a HBAC actually.  DD1 was vaginal, birthed in a hospital with me all drugged up (horrible experience) and DD2 was my cesarean baby.  She was breech, I was conflicted about my decision to UC, so the midwives supported me and I had my c/s.  I'm not brave enough to UC yet- HBAC is the route we're taking.

[Robynee]

I'll be having another hospital birth. If my last birth hadn't ended up as an NICU nightmare, I would be planning a homebirth instead. Now I'm looking at a highly managed, high risk birth.

Since this is my 4th baby though, I feel ready to take on the OBs, medwives, and hospital staff and I am pretty confident that I can make the best of it.

[amydiane]

I'm back and forth between home and hospital.  It will be a VBAC, so my options are somewhat limited here.  Birth centers are out for legal reasons, and there aren't a lot of hospital providers who will even consider a VBAC in my area (and of course some are more supportive than others).  We've met with a MW from the hospital-based group and overall we liked what she had to say, but it concerns me that a couple things didn't line up with what another mama who recently birthed with them had said (like monitoring requirements, which are pretty black and white - they told her that internal is required for a VBAC and that's what she had, but they told us that intermittent is fine).  We don't love that it's a large practice, though we were told that all the MWs practice the same way (but maybe not, given the previous discrepancy).  We've also met with 2 homebirth MWs and liked them both.  There are at least 2 more that we'd like to interview as well.  I messaged one but haven't heard back yet.

[MadiMamacita]

planning a birth center birth. last time we were planning a home birth, and ended up induced with pit and an epi in the hospital 3 weeks early, for low amniotic fluid. I'm really hoping not to go that way this time! Our midwife is a very good friend (we became friends after my first birth). Her birth center is maybe 5 minutes from my house.

[cryswilkins]

Hopefully a Homebirth in the water.  DD was a hospital birth with every intervention short of a c-section and DS was an unmedicated birthing center birth, because I wasn't confident enough that I could do it without medical intervention.

[womenswisdom]

Planning another home water birth. Had a great experience with my hbac and would love to do it the same this time.

[Monkey Keeper]

Hospital birth with my amazing OB and a doula or two :)  Hoping to at least labor in the water this time. This will be my 2nd VBAC. I have toyed with staying at home, but I'm not sure my DH ever would go for that, and there is, of course, the insurance thing.

[amydiane]

Originally Posted by PinkBunch 

Hospital birth with my amazing OB and a doula or two :)  Hoping to at least labor in the water this time. This will be my 2nd VBAC. I have toyed with staying at home, but I'm not sure my DH ever would go for that, and there is, of course, the insurance thing.

That may play into it for us, too....I need to call them and go from there.

[norskelove]

I will be having a hospital birth.   I have always wanted a home birth, but after some very scary things that happened during my first labor (we came very close to losing my daughter), my husband and I only feel comfortable in a hospital.   With my second daughter, I was able to labor in the tub until the very end.  In retrospect, I wish I would have given birth in the water, but for some reason I wanted to get out and lay on the bed.  This time around I might just stay in the water!   We have wonderful midwives, nurses and doulas in our hospital.......I hope to have another wonderful hospital experience this time around.

[evillager]

I know I'm in the minority here (that's putting it lightly), but I am planning on a scheduled second CS. I birthed naturally in a hospital with a midwife with my daughter- labored until 10cm and two hours of pushing. Ended up with an emergency CS due to a 25% placental abruption. It is very scary for me to think back to that  day, and I know I will not handle my anxiety of a vaginal birth well at this point. And truth be told, although it was something that I was desperately trying to avoid, my CS experience ended up being great.

Please don't attack! (Yikes!) Just being honest.

[Robynee]

Originally Posted by evillager 

I know I'm in the minority here (that's putting it lightly), but I am planning on a scheduled second CS. I birthed naturally in a hospital with a midwife with my daughter- labored until 10cm and two hours of pushing. Ended up with an emergency CS due to a 25% placental abruption. It is very scary for me to think back to that  day, and I know I will not handle my anxiety of a vaginal birth well at this point. And truth be told, although it was something that I was desperately trying to avoid, my CS experience ended up being great.

Please don't attack! (Yikes!) Just being honest.

No attacks here. This is the first time I have started off a pregnancy making an appt with an OB and she is referring me to a perinatologist. I am facing the possibility of lovenox shots throughout my pregnancy and after narrowly avoiding abruption with my youngest babe, I am prepared to have a csection if that is what my OB thinks is best. So far though, she is open to another VBAC. I am more than a little gun shy after a traumatic NICU experience.

And that is coming from a mama who really wanted a homebirth with my last two babes(but couldn't afford it when the insurance company wouldn't help out). We all make our own best decisions based on our experiences and medical history.

[MadiMamacita]

not to turn this in to a health care rant, but it really upsets me that we can't have the births we choose because of what our insurance companies will and won't pay for.

[Robynee]

Originally Posted by MadiMamacita 

not to turn this in to a health care rant, but it really upsets me that we can't have the births we choose because of what our insurance companies will and won't pay for.

Ugh, I went through such a ridiculous ordeal during my last pregnancy because not one of the three hospitals within an hour of my house would allow me to VBAC, even though I had already had a successful VBAC.

It turned out well in the end because I ended up in a hospital with a Level 3 NICU and anywhere else would have had to transfer us, but it was so stressful to be halfway through my pregnancy with no health care provider. I had to file a grievance with my health insurance company too. What a messed up system.

[Rainabow]

EVillager...i stand behind you Mama, wouldn't it be nice if we could quit judging each other so much!   A good friend of mine recently had her first babe planned unasisted and some of the couple's friends who knew of that plan were so worried and freaked out they tried to get ME to change her mind and asked me to look into having a midwife on call to come in case!!  The birth was perfect and she transfered to hospital when her placenta never arrived after 2 hours past the birth.

I had my first babe at 22 and am amazed at how much judging i did back then...yikes!  I have run a breastfeeding support circle in my town for 10 years and through that experience i realized that actually it's pretty liberating to not worry about other people's child raising practices/choices...as in I only need to do what is best for me and i don't need to try to convince everyone else to do what i do.   I now remind Mama's at the circle that we all love our kids and want to feed them...how we do that doesn't matter really.  Now that I have a 14 yo, i have watched her and all her friends grow up to be awesome individuals and they were all birthed and fed in different ways, bedshared or cribbed it, doesn't really matter much, it's all good.....geez, sorry for the novel there

I am actually looking forward to not being so millitant with choices with this 4rth babe...for example, i would never pump and bottle feed in order to go out on a date in the past, i would just take the baby...but now i feel like it would be fine and my older kids home babysitting will enjoy that experience i think...

ANYWHO...back on topic...I plan to birth at home, i find it easier and more comfortable for after to get in my own bed and go to sleep.

MadiMamma-i feel for you American Mamas having to jump through loopholes and insurance nightmares, i don't take my Canadian experience for granted, thats for sure...However and wherever we birth, our government health care pays, we never see a bill and then we get a year of Maternity leave.  Pretty sweet.  

[MadiMamacita]

Originally Posted by Rainabow 


MadiMamma-i feel for you American Mamas having to jump through loopholes and insurance nightmares, i don't take my Canadian experience for granted, thats for sure...However and wherever we birth, our government health care pays, we never see a bill and then we get a year of Maternity leave.  Pretty sweet.  

hmm.. now I want to move to Canada! A year of maternity! that is amazing! Don't tell me it is paid leave or I will pack up this instant!

[kelantan]

What a subject! Rainabow i totally know what you mean. It is hard sometimes to try to look objectively, but to each there own! I wish you all the best homebirth, scheduled c, VBAC, whatever. Healthy baby is paramount and then hopefully each momma will get a good birth too!

I'm on the fence with what i am doing. I'm kinda scared of everything. I think i just realized that i want to roll up into a ball and pretend that i don't have to birth the baby.

My first was a c-section after being manipulated into an induction (lied to, thank you), having my water broken mid labor (lied to again), and then told my baby was in danger (lied to) when my midwife was just tired and wanted to go home (calling her a midwife is a disgrace to the name of midwives!). I was knocked out for my Emergency C and i all i remember is waking up alone, without a baby, not sure whether he was dead or alive. It was the worst experience of my life.

 Anyways... if you can see... 3 years later i am still mildly heated about it  haha

My second was a planned VBAC in a freestanding birth center with a CPM. She was nice, but really pushy in labor. She decided to AROM although i told her prior not to. And then tried to make me push. Hind sight i should have said no. After crawling into the tub again, my son's heart rate went from 160 bpm to around 70 bpm and she lost it repeatedly (granted, i was in the VERY END of labor). She started yelling at the assitants and got frazzled and then i asked if we needed 911 and she had 911 called. Hard part was, that she kept badmouthing me and yelling at me to birth the baby, but all that was running through my head is that my baby was about to die. Then she blamed the entire ordeal on me and said that i was "meant" to birth in hospitals. It was harsh. And i'm still hurt. So now i am afraid to birth out of hospital because in that second i thought my baby was going to die i would have given ANYTHING for a c-section. 

So now i am torn. Nearest VBAC hospital is 1 hr 45m away. There is an awesome doctor (Dr. Wu) who delivers in LA but the hospital he delivers at has a 41% c-section rate and i am on PLAVIX (a bloodthinner) so yeah. Do i just need to accept i am somewhat higher risk? I don't feel like it. My VBAC was beautiful thanks to a wonderful doctor who allowed me to VBAC even though the hospital prohibited it. (i was too far along anyways. I could feel the baby's head by the time i was on the table). 

I WANT a VBAC again. I NEED it. I LOVED everything about it! Coolest thing ever!!!!!

Anyone have experience with California or LA doctor's or hospitals or birth centers? What about Doulas? I want the BEST DARN doula around if i deliver in a hospital. Sorry to go on... i guess i needed to get this off my chest. I'm mildly freaking out. 

[Michaels-Mommy]

It will be a hospital birth for me. 

[Faliciagayle]

Planning on a third home water birth, please Gd.  Did hypnobabies last time and that was amazing.  Also planning on encapsulating the placenta again.

[symesa]

DD1 was an unmedicated hospital birth.

DD2 was an unmedicated birth center water birth.

#3...not sure if we'll go birth center or home water birth.  I'll be talking with my midwives at the end of January.... 

[mole]

I've applied to the natural birth center in my town. If they accept me, it will be an unmedicated birth with the option for water (I've never given birth before, so I don't know what I will want at the time!). They are connected to the hospital, so if anything goes wrong or I need medicine, it's easy to transfer to the regular part of the hospital.