Clueless but interested in UC

[preemieprincess]

I am fascinated by the idea of UC, even though I am fairly certain I would not choose it for myself. (FYI, we had planned a homebirth with DD, but complications arose in the 3rd trimester which required medical intervention to save our lives.) I'm all for understanding different points of view! My biggest questions are: What made you choose UC, as opposed to a midwife assisted homebirth? As a mom of a preemie, most importantly, I'd like to know how would you recognize and handle potential complications? Are there any moms who have chosen UC after having a preemie, C-section, or other prior pregnancy & labor complications? I am having trouble sifting through the garbage online. The only kind of information I've been able to find is negative (most likely because the search engine is narrowing my search due to all the research I do on prematurity and DD's developmental issues). I'd like to know of reputable resources (preferably online) about the topic. Please enlighten me! I feel completely clueless. I'd like accurate information so I can be supportive of moms & families who make this choice.

[Almi]

What kind of things are you looking for?  If you want a website that will give you a good feeling about UC, try Laura Shanley's website - www.unassistedchildbirth.com

Why do I choose UC?

1. I have always felt it was how I was supposed to give birth.  It felt...right.  I had always envisioned my births this way, even long before I ever was trying for a baby or knew of the term "unassisted childbirth" or "freebirth."  Once I became pregnant for the first time it really hit me that it was outside of the norm, and I began to research handling a birth on your own.

2. From all of the research I did, I decided that not only did UC feel very right for me, but it was also the safest way for me to birth.  It was the way I felt most comfortable.

3. The birth experience matters.  To me, to my husband, and to my babies.  For us to achieve an optimal birth experience, UC was in order.

4. Why no midwife?  For one, we're poor, and Medicaid doesn't cover midwives in my area. I feel having any sort of "professional" caregiver attending my birth and thinking that THEY are in charge would hinder me.  I ended up having no one except my husband attend my last birth(s) (first birth, twins).  There are few midwives to choose from around here and I could not find one that would be very hands off if I chose to have her there for my labor and birth.  I also don't believe any of them would have attended a twin homebirth.  Lastly, some women have experienced birth trauma with midwives they trusted.  I'm not willing to risk that unless it means the safety of me or the baby, in which case I'd just transfer to the hospital.

[mleawicks]

http://www.unhinderedliving.com/childbirth.html

i like this site. It's a birthing class for UC and up. gives lots of good info on what to do.

[BlessedOne]

As for sites with facts......I couldn't tell you off the top of my head. But I can tell you that I do know several people that have had UC and assisted homebirths after c-sections and other complications they had with hospital births. They all turned out just fine. Including one lady who tested positive for group b strep and didn't take any antibiotics for it. (Although I personally think I would have opted for antibiotics given that my nephew died after birth in the hospital due to group b strep and no antibiotics....but their situation turned out just fine). I think the medical field just tries to scare people out of such decisions as homebirth after complications by a million what ifs that are really one in a million odds.........or less. For instance, I am rh neg and according to the medical field I would automatically get a rhogam shot for safety of future babies. After refusing the first and then being threatened to be dropped as his patient by my dr and told I wouldn't be able to find another dr, I finally gave in. With my second my dh talked me into getting one at the birthing center. But with my last two I have not had the shot and will not get the shot with this pg. I researched the odds of actually NEEDING the shot and it was sooooo slim! I posted it on here several years ago, maybe I will stumble across it some day.  Point being...drs blow a lot of things out of proportion. They treat birth and pregnancy more as a medical issue than as something that our body is created to do.
But the biggest reason why I chose to start ucing was because I HATED how the dr bullied me around by threatening me if I went against the norm. I have seen it with so many drs and it is sad. I like completely hands off.....including no tests....which doesn't fly well with drs. Plus I HATE how drs play god when it comes to pregnancy and birth.
My first was born in the hospital and I hated pretty much everything about it except that the nurses were my personal maids after delivery. My second was born in a birthing center. We had considered homebirth at that time, but wasn't feeling confident enough.....I kind of needed that security blanket to wean me from the medical field. My midwife was pretty cool and things went pretty well. I had things as hands off as possible but the main issue was that I really hated having to drive 6 hrs while in labor to go to the birthing center. Plus when it was all said and done, I felt like I was paying them 2,000 dollars to do pretty much nothing but catch the baby. My baby was born 5 minutes after arrival to the center. I spent more time trying not to have the baby in the car than I did pushing the baby out.
When I became pg again, I considered going back but just didn't feel settled. I talked with my midwife and she was confident in me that I could do a homebirth. So I started researching into local midwives and found there were not many and I talked to the ones I found and wasn't happy with any  of them. That is when I really started to consider UC.  So I started researching and educated myself on all of the what ifs during delivery and even printed them off...so if I needed to refer to them. So I felt very well educated on the matter and I had the confidence that God was there to help me. I had complete peace about it. I have uced twice and totally prefer that over any other birthing experience. I am not pg with my 5th and will uc it this spring.
The two most important things to me about ucing is knowledge and confidence. =)

Hope that helps!

[Almi]

Originally Posted by mleawicks 

http://www.unhinderedliving.com/childbirth.html

i like this site. It's a birthing class for UC and up. gives lots of good info on what to do.

This is one of the very first sites I found.  I love it and I have read it every time I've gotten pregnant.  I finally printed the whole thing out and put it in a binder so I could read it whenever I wanted. :)