Ideal Birth Story for YOU

[jraohc]

What is the ideal (realistic) birth story for YOU?
Do you want a hospital birth? A birth center? A home birth?
Who do you want to be with you?
Do you want a water birth? A land birth?
What else?


I once again read a comment like "as long as mom and baby are healthy" and I know that's not what I want out of birth. I mean, of course I want everyone to be healthy, but I also know I want more. I'm curious what other people want. What I want (or at least what I want right now):
- home birth
- I want dh, dd, midwife, doula, caregiver for dd to be there
- I also would like a midwife-in-training and/or a doula-in-training to be there to learn and to help - I think they bring a special sort of energy with them
- I have no interest in a water birth, but I'm not sure if that's just because I don't know much about it or if it's because dh considers it less safe than a homebirth and I fear I'm going to have enough trouble talking him into a homebirth that I'd never even consider a waterbirth
- I would like a few hours of easy labor and then a few hours of harder labor and then a short transition and then a rest before having an urge to push [perhaps too much realism for a daydream, but on the other hand, I have this image of being in hard labor and having people attending to my needs (mothering me) and I like that part]
- When I have an urge to push, I would like to squat and catch the baby myself and bring him/her up to nurse and cuddle
- I would like a chance to snuggle with dh and dd and new baby
- I would like to be mothered and cared for during labor and after

Okay, I'm not even pregnant. I should stop daydreaming and get back to work. I'm just curious what other people dream about when they think of labor/birth. What do YOU want?

[loving-my-babies]

Well, my first was an emergency c/s, my second, a midwife-assisted hospital VBAC, and hopefully my third will be a homebirth. The ideal situation would be midwife, dh and me, and ofcourse my children

[karendrema]

It's funny how not getting the birth you want the first time can really boil down what is important to you.

I want:
- To feel in control - in terms of what medical interventions / procedures are being done to me and my baby
- To be present both before, during and after - during my c-section I felt totally out of it and that carried over into a few hours after birth.
- To be left alone (with family) to bond - Naturally after the c-section we were checked on constantly and I couldn't wait to get out of there and be able to start mothering my baby they way I knew I could!

The rest is just cake.

[stafl]

I had my ideal birth: http://pages.ivillage.com/stafl/id16.html

might not be what anyone else would want, but it happened exactly the way I wanted it to.

[fiddledebi]

For me, it's not so much about feeling imposed upon by the medical folk surrounding me, but about getting to my delivery feeling strong and ready and prepared emotionally. So, this time, I want:

-to be healthy when I arrive
-to have prepared emotionally and have a plan for escalations in my sense of fear or discomfort
-to have a plan for help when I get home

So much hinges on that first item on my list! I think that going into my first delivery exhausted, itchy with PUPPPs, and with high blood pressure made it difficult for me to do all the other things I needed to. I couldn't use heat for pain relief because it aggravated the itching -- so hot showers or a hot tub or a rice sock were out. I couldn't walk around once labor was really cooking because my blood pressure was so high -- so changing positions or squatting were out. I was so tired that I got to a point where I felt I couldn't handle the labor pain any more, so I ended up with an epidural. If I had gone in healthy, I could have avoided so much of all of the above, and done so much more for myself.

So, I have to work on my own health in this pregnancy and especially leading up to the delivery. That's my goal!

[LoveChild421]

Of course I want both of us to be healthy and there to be no complications (hopefully my blood pressure will cooperate), but what I want from this birth more than anything else is for it to be a spiritual, intense, sexual, other-worldly experience. I don't want small talk or chit-chat around me, I don't want to be aware that the world exists.

I think I will get that by-
-having a homebirth
-having only my man, my midwife, and her assistant present
-spending the majority of the time with my man
-having a waterbirth (I like the idea of being in a pool- like it defines my personal space)
-having Matt catch the baby
- just holding and relishing the baby for as long as it takes for me to "come down" from the high of it all

As far a labor, I hope I wake up in the middle of the night, have intense contractions for a few hours and then feel like I need to push- I hope getting the baby out is slow, but not too slow I just want to take it easy and know he will be out soon enough. Then I want to climb in bed and marvel and cuddle and all that good stuff

[Teensy]

I think I'd like to be one of those women that doesn't realize she's in labor; goes to use to bathroom; and realizes the baby's head is coming out. I think that would be my ideal labor!

[Teensy]

Opps - sorry - just realized you asked for realistic. Hmmm, have to think about that. But I am planning to mostly labor at home, and give birth at a hospital (like I did with #1 & 2). I guess I'd like a l&d that begins in the morning, instead of midnight like my others. And if it could be shorter, I wouldn't be so exhausted by the end. And I am going to ask DH to boil pots of water for me this time so if (when) the hot water runs out, I can stay in a warm bath.

[Evergreen]

Unassisted

Outdoors

in a garden blooming with azaelas

Probably in a clear pool under with a waterfall in the background

[cottonwood]

I got very, very close to my ideal birth; the only thing I would change, if I could, was the back labor. I had complete privacy as I needed it, no distractions or "help" to interfere with the process, no self-consicousness or inhibition to take me out of it, and I had absolute and perfect support from my husband (my only attendant.) And afterwards, again, no interference or distraction whatsoever. It was WONDERFUL. The other details, to me, could change in a million ways (music, lighting, position, water, room, length, time of day, etc.,) and it wouldn't matter. The most important thing to me (in addition to us being alive and healthy,) was that there be nothing to create emotional or spiritual complications. And that's what I got.