Hospital, Birthing Center or Home « Back to Group Discussions

[EJTmommy]

Where are you all planning to give birth? What were your previous experiences.

I'm trying to decide where to have DC#2. I had DS1 in the hospital. I didn't do too much research the first time and kind of just went with the flow. I told the OB that I wanted a natural birth and he was ok with that. Unfortunately, he only allows you to go 1 week overdue. I was able to push my induction date 1.5 weeks out. But I was induced... the pitocin made contractions too fast too strong and after 4 hours I was only 3-4 CM and requested an epi.  So my natural birth went out the window.  OB did allow me to push for 3 hours and although he wanted to "help" he allowed me to eventually push DS out myself. Although he did give me an episiotomy and I tore.  Recovery was h**l.  

So I'm hoping things will go differently this time!  I'm researching midwives, birthing centers etc. and hope to interview some very soon.  I'm interested in a water birth but I can't help but remember that pitcon contraction pain. What if I can't handle the contractions and I have no other way of managing the pain if I'm at somewhere other than the hospital.

Looking forward to hear what you are planning or what you've experienced in the past.

[JoyofBirth]

I had a really traumatic loss at 22 weeks when I was 18. In the hospital. It made me very anti-hospita;. I was studying to be a home-birth midwife about 8 years laters and got pregnant with my oldest daughter. I ended up with complications and had to use the hospital. I was terrified and very prepared for a fight. Fortunately, I had found a group of nurse-midwives. And the one on-call when I got there was fantastic. It could have gone very badly, but I had a beautiful birth. I got lucky and she was on call again when I had my second daughter. Another beautiful birth. Both times, I went into labor on my own. WIth my third daughter, I developed pre-eclampsia at 39 weeks. I was induced with pitocin. My labor was excruciating. The birth didn't go as well, because it was a different midwife. So the provider really matters in a hospital setting. My biggest reason for wanting to share with you is that I had 2 natural labors and 1 with pitocin. The pitocin contractions are in no way like regular contractions. Natural ontractions are much, much easier to deal with. So you can totally do it.

[sillymom44]

Birthing center....planned on a homebirth, there aren't many HB midwives around here and I wasn't impressed with the selection.... Driving an hour to get to the center!!! (Eeeek)

[saralm]

I had my first birth in a birth center that was part of a hospital.  I had a CNM.  I had a really good experience.  I was having a very hard time with contractions, probably about the time of transition, and I got in a tub of water.  It was still very intense but I was able to deal with the contractions and had a natural water birth.  My understanding is that this is pretty typical - many people find that getting in the water is about as effective in controlling pain as an epidural.  

I plan on a water birth at a different birth center (because we have moved to a different state) again this time.  Last time I tore some, but forward instead of backward.  I am going to try really hard to request more support from the midwives as the head emerges this time because I was also unhappy with the healing process. 

[BabyXMama]

I'm probably in the minority here, but I'll be in a hospital, with an OB and I already know it'll be a C-section since I had one last time and have no desire to attempt a VBAC.  My daughter's birth in 2009 was awesome - we got an appointment for the C-section, showed up, my doc (who is also my neighbor) delivered her, and I could walk stairs and carry her no problem 2 days later.  Super fast healing and no long lasting effects. 

Fingers crossed that this one goes as well :)

[OkiMom]

Ive had 1 unplanned UC and 2 hospital births. My first was the only "negative" hospital one.. I was pretty much pushed into an epidural that I really didn't want then they hit my spinal cord when they did it.. Now I have permanent damage to my back..

Second came so fast we didn't have time to make it to the hospital.. Had her on the bathroom toilet, transferred to the hospital and she ended up spending a week in the NICU.. Its a mixed experience.. the birth was fine, after wards was hell :(

Third was another hospital birth.. I should mention that I don't have "normal" labors, my contractions don't even out and when I'm in a lot of pain I talk and joke around.. Its just how I deal. So, I checked in and the corpsmen that hooked me up mentioned my contractions weren't regular but they were going to monitor me for a bit since I was GBS+ and might be in early labor.. 10 minutes later my water broke.. I had him less than 30 minutes after that. I had a great midwife who was super supportive and it was a bit of a difficult birth. He wasn't position correctly and I tore pretty badly.. I also bled heavily after birth and ended up with a shot of pitocin to slow the bleeding (it was heavy enough to make me so light headed I stopped the baby from nursing and handed him to my husband so it was really bad.. It probably took almost a week for me to be able to stand and walk without feeling like Im going to pass out)..

Unless some miracle happens or this one decides to come to quickly we will be having another hospital birth. We can't afford the only midwife in the area and shes 1 1/2 hours away.. Since my 2nd labor was only 1 1/2 hours long I don't know if I want to pay someone a lot of money for them not even making it to the birth. My husband has no desire to do a planned UC since I bled so heavily after birth last time.

[pregnova]

Nice to hear that a lot of you had really great previous birth experiences! 

We'll be planning a UC with this one. I was a planned birth center birth last time that ended up in the hospital for pitocin augmentation after laboring on my own for nearly 36 hours and failing to progress very far. (my waters had also broken earlier on in the labor) My midwife basically dropped enough hints that without the pitocin I was almost an assured C-section that hubby and I opted to transfer although it was the LAST thing we had planned on. I labored for an hour on the pitocin, progressed to 6 cm from a stretched 3cm during that one hour and basically couldn't keep it together any longer. The contractions on pitocin were insane, and I was having constant contractions with no breaks between the massive wave of pain. Just awful. 

So, we had them turn off the pitocin and I labored another 6 hours on my own before dilating fully and pushing ds out in less than an hour. Labor without the pitocin on, was massively different. I mean, for me at least, it still did hurt, but it was NOTHING like the pain and scaryness of labor on pitocin. I feel pretty good about doing this again on my own. I think I'm more worried that I'll have another long labor than anything about the pain. I KNOW that without pitocin it's manageable (for me), and beyond that I know I just need awesome support and we'll get through it ;-)