Where are you having your baby? - Page 2

[Patti Ann]

Planning to birth at the hospital where I am an l&d nurse. The same cnm who delivered the first 3 will deliver this one. I feel comfortable there because they know my style. I was only there for a little over an hour with the last one. Did the initial FHR check and then I feel bad for my friend who kept trying to intermittently listen to the baby while I was standing by the side of the bed. I kept knocking her hand away. This time I will labor as much at home and then go to the hospital. Only 6 miles away. Planning on having the kids with us and someone to watch them. Either my mom or mil. I am planning on delivering the baby to my belly again once the midwife delivers the head and shoulders. That was the best last time. I pulled her up onto me and was the first to see she was a she. I'm opting for an early discharge as long as everything goes as planned. Hoping to be home 6-8 hours later. Depending on the time of day. Too bad my family practice group uses the pediatric hospitalists to see their babies in the hospital. They might give me some flack. I've talked to my group so hopefully things will work smoothly.

tatooedjess-I hear you about the uncomfortable beds. We get comments all the time from our patients about how bad the beds are.. That is why I want to be home in my own bed. The last time I slept one night on the pull out chair bed. Even that was more comfortable than the labor bed. They serve the purpose of breaking apart to put legs in stirrups, but that is about it. Glad the midwives don't break the beds apart. Plus I keep the baby with me the whole time so what is the point of me even being there. My friends would feel guilty there wasn't more they could do for me.

Patti

[kerc]

patti, if I recall correctly, my hospital swaps beds...as in the bed for l and d is not the same bed you sleep in. At least that's what happened when I had the csection.

[Carsonsmama]

Will you guys laugh at me if I tell you I still don't know??

Midwives are VERY hard to come by around here but I am still searching....and praying that one will take me on this late in the pregnancy.
If I end up being lucky enough to find one we want to try a homebirth...
And if we never do it will be a hospital delivery...though I will do everything in my power to have it before we get there!
I want to stay home AS long as I can....the comfort level is just so much higher at home!
So we'll see....fingers are DEFINITELY crossed we luck out and get a midwife! That would be AWESOME!

[amanda2b2]

Carsonsmama- Where are you in Canada I have a few Doula friends in Canada maybe they could suggest some midwifes to you.

[Patti Ann]

Kerc-Yeah we have special med/surg beds that we give to patients after they have had a c/section. This is because they are on bedrest for 12 hours at least and stay in the hospital for 4 nights. We also give these beds to our antepartum patients who spend a couple of nights with us to a couple of weeks. We only have a certain number on the floor and in our extra stash area by the elevators. Sometimes our c/s rate is so high that even c/s patients sleep on the labor beds for a couple of nights. Guess they could make an exception for me , but I really just want to be home.

Patti

[catholicmama]

HOMEBIRTH!!

First two kids- freestanding birthcenter
3rd, c-section(horrible long story)
So now I'm planning my first VBAC at home.

[RyvreWillow]

Originally Posted by EmoMom

RyvreWillow: midwifery being illegal in your state does not affect YOU. It is that in the event of something going horribly awry and the authorities find out, the midwife can be arrested and charged. But YOU cant. Just wanted to clarify.

On an unrelated note, my grandma lived in Osage Beach while I was growing up, and I was there a LOT. Wondered if you were near there in your "Ozark Mountains" location!!

I totally lack the confidence to entertain the thought of an unassisted birth, though it's super-cool that some can do it

i'm about 3 hours south of Osage Beach. I've been there once; a little wild for me though, lol. I grew up on Table Rock, and it's quite a bit different! i don't recommend going out on a boat on Lake of the Ozarks while pregnant, haha! I thought my first child was going to fall out going over some of those crazy wakes! Heck, i don't recommend going out there at all, unless you have a huge boat, preferably painted a florescent color.

[FitMama]

We're doing another hospital birth. With DS, I labored at home for about 16 hours, then we headed to the hospital when I felt "ready". Turns out I was only 3cm, but I progressed pretty quickly in the hospital shower, and delivered 4 hours after being admitted.

I also do not dig wearing that FHR band around my belly, and being treated as if I were sick. Last time I developed a low-grade fever and they put me on IV antibiotics. Ugh! Other than that, I went unmedicated, and plan to do so again. I do hope my labor is shorter than 20 hours this time, though.

I don't know why L.A. doesn't seem to have any birthing centers...there are a whole bunch in Ventura County.

[Sagesgirl]

Amanda~I've put some thought into what more you have shared of your situation...And I don't have advice, but I do have a couple of points you might want to consider. The first is that women tend to labor best in their own homes. This is why labor so often slows down when women go to the hospital--subconsciously they are reacting to being out of their own territory (Birthing from Within explains this phenomenon quite well). How well you would labor at your friend's house depends on how certain you are that you will be completely comfortable there. If any part of your mind is worried about making a mess or making a scene or being "unguestlike," you might have problems.

However, you also have to take into consideration the impact a birth attendant with a negative attitude is likely to have on you. If your midwife doesn't want you to birth at home, even if she consents to attend you, you're probably very likely to wind up with a transfer to the birth center anyway. Her attitude will transmit itself to you, and if she's against homebirth IMO she's that much more likely to push for a transfer that might be unnecessary.

If I were you, and comfortable with laboring at my friend's house, but uncomfortable with the idea of UC (which is actually what I would do ), I would go to her place and labor there as long as physically possible--hey, you've got three kids, you know how long you tend to stay in transition, right?--and only go to the birth center when I absolutely had to. Or, you could stay at the friend's home with the idea of an "oops" UC, so you'd still be close to the birth center if you felt the need to go in.

Just a couple of thoughts.

Patti Ann, I think I'd have killed someone if they'd tried to keep me in the hospital 4 nights after my sections! Two nights were more than enough; I was planning to call my husband to sign me out AMA the third morning after I had Linda, but before I could an OB came in and cleared me to leave. :LOL My recovery went so much better after I left the hospital it's not even funny.

[Patti Ann]

sagesgirl-I know what you mean. We have some patients that leave after 3 nights, but others don't ever want to leave. They know they get 48 hours after a vaginal delivery and 96 hours after a csection. Sometimes we have patients staying the full 48 hours even if that means leaving at 11:30pm at night. Totally crazy to me. Glad you started getting better once you got home.

Patti

[Juliacat]

At home (I hope).

[Amoreena]

Originally Posted by FitMama

I don't know why L.A. doesn't seem to have any birthing centers...there are a whole bunch in Ventura County.

Really??? Nothing in LA??? I know Hollywood BC closed, but surely that wasn't the only one?

I know of 2 in Ventura (city) and I think there is one in Simi Valley but I'm not sure and don't know the name.

That's all I know of in Ventura County. But that doesn't mean that's all there are. I've only been here a couple years. But our local AP group talks a lot about these things, and these are the only three birthing centers I've heard talked about, so far.