Any advice for a wanna be homebirth mama?

[squeakermansmom]

Hey there! some advice.....

i am seriously considering a homebirth for my next pregnancy, but i have one big concern. let me explain a little first though....with my son my water broke and i went to the hospital shortly thereafter. i was having some mild contractions but nothing unbearable....i had group b strep so the nurse tried to start an iv.....it took 5 tries and all i remember is that sometime during the time they we're trying to get the iv in my contractions just took off. within two hours my pain was out of this world and i was crushed to learn i was only 2 cm dilated. all of my pain was in my back and i later learned that this was b/c of his position. now don't laugh....but all i remember was literally begging my dh to get me pain meds ASAP! i ended up with an epidural in the end and of course most of my pain was relieved. this was all before i knew anything about natural childbirth or AP.

i would so love to do a homebirth for so many reasons. i can honestly say this is the only thing that i worry about. i worry that the back pain due to his position will be so excrutiating that i won't be able to take it and i'll end up transferring to the hospital for pain meds. i have read that women who have back labor b/c of position (there's a name for it but i can't remember what it is) are more likely to have it again with another pregnancy.

i know logically i'm being ridiculous.....millions of women have done natural childbirth for millions of years.....but the back pain is still so vivid in my mind.

any words of wisdom??

thanks,
jodi, mom to joseph 3-31-02

[candiland]

I have to ask: what positions were you in? Were you active, ie... walking, rocking on hands and knees, while your husband applied firm, continuous counter pressure on your back? Did you have massage? Heat and/or cold applied to your back? Upright positions, lunging positions, to help your babe maneuver itself to an anterior position?

[squeakermansmom]

none of the above. i wasn't even aware until recently that i could have helped him to turn into the correct position. i was on my back which is where i was told i needed to be (i can't even remember why). do you think this would have made a difference?

jodi

[georgia]

IME, which sounds similar to yours, is that everything I was *told* in the hospital was counterproductive to birthing a baby normally. Within the midwifery model of care there is SO much that can be done to work WITH labor, rather than against it. Birth works when left alone and when mother is able to follow her instincts and have her needs met---listen to her body not a nurse or monitor. I'd take back labor at home (had it for quite some time w/my last hb) any day over the pain of being flat on my back hooked up to an IV......and I mean that from the bottom of my heart! My unmedicated hb was ten million times *better* than my epidural hospital birth. There cannot be enough said for laboring and birthing where you feel safest, most comfortable and loved

[sistermama]

When I had horrrendous back pain with ds, hot water helped immensely. I was in the tub for a couple of hours.

[cottonwood]

I've had back labor with all three of mine (and hoping to bypass it this time by avoiding reclining positions in pregnancy), so I can sympathize. I know exactly what you went through. And there is NO way you could get me into a hospital under those circumstances -- their routines and "rules" would only serve to make it worse. For instance, being made to stay on your back in labor. Not only is that stupid from a safety point of view -- the main vein that supplies blood and oxygen to your baby is compressed when you lie down -- but it is stupid from a pain management point of view. I actually was on my back for the last part of my first labor -- I didn't know any better either, I thought I had to be -- and I can't tell you the difference in made in my ability to cope to be able to move around and labor in different positions. (And make as much noise as I wanted without being shushed.)

Anyway, I have absolutely no doubt that had I been in the hospital I would have gotten the epidural, despite its risks. But at home I didn't have that option, and I got through it, and I chose to do it again, and again. This is something that you *can* do, the only question is how important is it to you?

[candiland]

Yup, it sounds like your back labor was mismanaged at the hospital...... which is totally common, because most women who birth there want drugs, so they have very little experience in dealing with the normal variations of labor.

There are a lot of things you can do in the event of back labor. The first and foremost is finding a position that is comfortable and will facilitate the rotation of the baby. When I had clients with back labor (I'm a doula), most of them preferred the all-fours position while I provided constant, firm pressure on their lower backs.

Sometimes the woman's partner would push one hip firmly while I pushed the other hip firmly - think of it as two people trying to push the woman's hips together - it took some of the strain away that comes from providing intense counter pressure for hours on end. This also can help open the pelvis a little bit, allowing the babe to rotate.

Heat and cold can also help immensely. So would a soak in a deep, warm tub (or pool!) of water. Many women prefer soaking in a very warm tub while counter pressure is applied.

Remaining upright and active is also a very good thing for back labor. Posterior babes are more common in women who are induced and then receive pain medication: they are flat on their backs, and without the ability to walk back and forth - their pelvises wriggling the babe's head into the proper position - they are more likely to require intervention such as forceps and vacuum extraction. Or, a cesarean birth, because the babe can't handle the labor that well due to the mom's positioning.

Hope this helps! It is copeable if you have an experienced natural birth attendant. They have many alternatives you could try before resorting to medication.

Good luck!

[squeakermansmom]

thank you everyone for all your information. i feel fairly confident that if i educate myself as much as possible about natural childbirth than I, too, can also have a successful homebirth! thanks again,
jodi

[Aorere]

Best preparation for homebirth

Hi, the best advice I can give is to become well informed on every aspect of your body, birth, and all the issues surrounding birth, and to own the process of birth. Find a midwife and support people who will support that, and not tell you what to do, or decide, rather follow your lead. For good information on what you can do for your body go to www.birthingbetter.com. "The pink kit" which you can find there has revolutionised what I know, and empowered me no end. Happy birthing

[2+twins]

I also had back labor with my first. I actually found it to be an easier labor than my 2nd where I didn't have back labor, but I think that's just because the 2nd labor was extremely fast. I remember my Bradley instructor talking about how women will tend to spend the moments between contractions dreading the next one when they should be spending the contractions looking forward to the next break. I found my back labor to be an asset in the sense that I had no time for dread because it always hurt! Is that weird? It did hurt though - no denying that. Laboring in the tub (which is where I stayed until pushing - I wasn't pushing effectively there b/c of her position) really helped. Can't recommend waterbirth/labor enough. Also my water didn't break until I pushed so I'm sure that eased my pain as well. And like the pp's said, there's lots that can be done to both help turn the baby and deal with the pain. Read read read, find a good midwife and/or doula, and you should be fine! Oh, and the position is called posterior (did someone already say that?). Good luck!!!