? for mamas who breastfed and delivered vaginal

[kayleesmom]

Well i got the news on monday at my OB appt that he doesnt think it is necessary to do a C-section. so now it will be another vaginal delivery. I want to try to go with out a epi. maybe try stadol?
But my question is for mamas that had vaginal birth and breastfed. Did you have your own private room at hospital? Did your hubby room in with you? If you didnt have a private room was hubby still allowed to room in? and if you breastfed did you room in with baby and have a roommate? how did that work out? was the other mom breastfeeding too? any advice cause i have a feeling that i wont get a private room this time. we are gonna have Cigna HMO if that makes a difference on wheather you get a private room or not.

[bamamom]

Congrats on your upcoming baby!

First of all, i wouldnt do stadol. You can do it!! You can do it without drugs. So many of us have done it. I wouldnt have it any other way, and Stadol can make the baby drowsy and hard to nurse after birth.

We birthed in a freestanding birth center and then at home, but in the hospital , dads are almost always allowed to stay there now. And if you opt for rooming in, the baby will be with you almost always..

as for the private room , I hope you do get one. But if you have a vaginal birth you wont be there that long anyway, and then you can go home to your own bed.

i am assuming from your post that you already have one baby?? How was that birth?? Were you confined to bed?? allowed to eat?? How do you feel about those things??

If there are things that bother you about your first birth, I suggest you hash them out now, and go into this birth with a fresh perspective.

Stay out of the bed unless YOU want to rest.

Eat, Drink , and be merry during labor.

Moan, Rock, Sing, and Sway...do each contrax and then let it go. Its just one at a time...

Try to push/birth squatting, or on your hands and knees. It makes a world of difference.

And last but not least, have it all written down, and just find a nurse (if you can) who is supportive. And be prepared to say NO a few dozen times. Have your dh on board with you.

I highly suggest the book by Barbara Harper RN. Called Gentle Birth Choices. try to get the one with a DVD with it and watch it. It will open up your eyes to how birth can be.

Good luck mama!

[luckymamato2]

I gave birth in a freestanding birth center, and if there is a third child, it will be born at home. BTW, our first child came to us through adoption and yes we had our own room, my dh was allowed to stay, and I breastfed.

I would think your dh could stay and the room would be private IF there are private rooms available.

Do not allow yourself to be induced, get an IV, have continuous monitoring, etc. because I believe all of that will make it that much harder to do it without drugs.

You can always leave when you're ready to, there is no need to wait if you feel unfomfortable with a woman in the same room. I went home at 12 hours.

Congrats and Good Luck!

[hubris]

I did have a private post-partum room after each of my births. DH stayed overnight with me both times. Both times, my baby slept in my arms or on my chest, we had no nursery stays either time.


I have heard awful things about stadol. It makes a woman *look* like she's in less pain, so the people around her feel comforted. Meanwhile, the woman is still feeling the pain, but due to the effects of the narcotic, her ability to cope with the pain is diminished. Not something I would ever want to do.

Read lots and lots about normal, natural births. Learn about the natural feedback mechanisms, the way your body's own chemicals help labor progress and help the mother to cope with discomfort. Birthing From Within (Pam England) has a wonderful section about the feedback loop and the way that medication breaks the loop. Figuring out what your own experiences with pain have been and what your attitude about pain (especially labor pain) is is very important. The discomfort during labor is related to the work your body is doing. It's physiological, not pathological. Having a positive mindset about that right from the outset is very, very helpful in how you cope with labor and birth. You can do it! Oh, and let me tell you, endorphins are awesome. I don't remember having a high after DS1 was born, but I sure got an endorphin rush after DS2's birth, and WOW. The body does amazing things.

[alegna]

I had a homebirth.

-Angela

[Momma Aimee]

all the LDR rooms were private 9as far as I know at both big hospitals here). didn't matter about insurence -- that was just how allt he rooms were. check differnt hosptials

DH roomed in. We were are Meth -- so i was in a normal hos bed and he was ina pull out recliner beside me -- babe with me. Mercy -- I think -- has double beds in Recovery -- (I was in an LDR room and never had to change at my hos -- but at Mercy the mom does move after delievery)... which would be nice....

more tomorrow

[charmander]

I think it depends on the hospital. I toured two when I was pregnant with DS. the first (which had the highest cesarean rate in the city btw) had the setup where you deliver in one room, and then are moved to another room, not necessarily private, right afterwards.

The hospital that I delivered at was everything- in-one- room. Labor, delivery, recovery. They had a built-in bed for DH. The baby never left the room until we were ready to leave the hospital.

[ndunn]

I loved my homebirth for this very reason! Dh and I just went through the labour & postpartum period alone, it was great!

[brookerenee]

I had vaginal births at a hospital with both of my girls. All of the postpartum rooms are private at my local hospital, so there was no worry of getting a roommate. My husband (or any support person of my choice) was allowed to room in. My husband had to work following the births of both of my daughters, so he chose not to.

Just some encouraging words for you - I had a terrible birth experience with lots of intervention with my first daughter (nubain, pitocin, ARM, ineffective epidural, hooked to every machine imaginable), and it was long, painful and stressful. I was expecting a duplicate experience for my second labor and delivery, though I hoped to go natural. Well, I read a lot of birth books and did mental and physical preparation, trusted my body, and had a great birth experience, with not a single medical intervention. Use a birthing pool if your hospital has one - it was wonderful. Take it one contraction at a time, relax, trust your body, and you may be surprised at what you can do!

[PGNPORTLAND]

Originally Posted by alegna

I had a homebirth.

-Angela

Originally Posted by ndunn

I loved my homebirth for this very reason! Dh and I just went through the labour & postpartum period alone, it was great!

I think this posters question had to do with having a HOSPITAL birth.

Anyway to the OP: I had a vaginal hospital birth and I breastfed. I started breastfeeding my daughter minutes after she was born. The nurse helped me get her latched on but my partner and I had taken a breastfeeding class and we did pretty well on our own. We nursed and rested and admired our beautiful new daughter. After I got up to go pee and felt pretty good, we were moved to our room. It was a double room which was something I was worried about before I had her but at the time I really didn't care. I did, however, ask for a private room as soon as one was available and, after a short nap as a family we moved to a private room. There was a nice daybed in the room and dp spent the first night with me and then my mom came and spent the second night with me while dp went home to take care of our dog. My baby roomed in with me the whole time. The hospital I gave birth in does not have a nursery for healthy newborns - they encourage rooming in. I saw a lactation consutant twice before I went home. They were wonderful.

As far as pain meds go, I would recommend learning as much about natural pain relief and coping methods as possible before your birth. Also learn about medical pain relief and side effects from it. You CAN do it. But if you decide to get pain relief, make informed choices and don't beat yourself up about it.
I wish you a beautiful birth

pauline

[kissum]

I had a private room, and my now ex was allowed to room in, but he mostly didn't ( I was there for 3 days, baby in NICU).
I didn't have an epidural. I think the most important thing there is to be prepared to handle the pain. Attend a birthing class, read some books, practice visualization, things like that.
I've heard the stadol makes you loopy but doesn't help the pain much anyway.
Since I had a private room, breastfeeding was fine. Make sure if the baby is out of your sight at all you make sure they know you don't want bottles or pacifers, both of which can make a new BFing relationship difficult.
Good luck- I wish you a great birth!

[mamanurse]

Originally Posted by kayleesmom

Well i got the news on monday at my OB appt that he doesnt think it is necessary to do a C-section. so now it will be another vaginal delivery. I want to try to go with out a epi. maybe try stadol?
But my question is for mamas that had vaginal birth and breastfed. Did you have your own private room at hospital? Did your hubby room in with you? If you didnt have a private room was hubby still allowed to room in? and if you breastfed did you room in with baby and have a roommate? how did that work out? was the other mom breastfeeding too? any advice cause i have a feeling that i wont get a private room this time. we are gonna have Cigna HMO if that makes a difference on wheather you get a private room or not.

I had an unmedicated hospital birth with my dd about a year ago. I had a gorgeous private room overlooking the West Hills of Portland. Hubby never left the hospital and slept on the pullout couch. Baby never left my side the whole time.

One thing I had beef with was the nurse discouraging me from feeding my babe right after birth. I asked to try and she said "Oh! Babies never breastfeed right after their born." WTF???

Anyway, I hope you have a fabulous birth and I encourage you to try it without drugs. Babes of mothers who have not had narcotics during birth are more alert and have less breating problems. If you just can't cope without, then I recommend Fentanyl over Stadol.

Edited to add that narcotics are indeed painkillers. They don't do an effective job of relieving labor pain in my experience on an L&D floor, but they do dull it. A narcotic is what's administered through an epidural and that obviously can be very effective at relieving pain.

[katiesmom]

I had stadol with dd before I got the epi and believe me, all it did was make me really doped up feeling, but it didn't even take the edge off the pain. It just made me want to pass out, but I couldn't because I was in so much pain!
With ds, I had a pit induction without epi and it was not unbearable until the last hour, but I'm sure it would've been fine without the pit (which I don't recommend either!) Like pp's said, just read up a lot on natural birth. Contractions usually only last about a minute. Just keep telling yourself you can do anything for a minute!

With my delivery it was a hospital birth with a midwife. They put ds to the breast immediately and he never left my side. Dh didn't either. We left after 24 hours.

[sargasso]

I had an unmedicated birth at a hospital. You can do it, mama!

Anyway, to answer your question, I had a private recovery room. I'm pretty sure they were all private. The hospital staff was very supportive of breastfeeding, but I did have a bad experience with one LC who freaked out when she found out how often I was putting the baby to the breast. She said that newborns are only supposed to nurse once in the first 24 hours. Luckily, DD and I knew better. DH spent the night in the pull-out chair and the baby never left our sight.

[Mama Poot]

Originally Posted by kayleesmom

Well i got the news on monday at my OB appt that he doesnt think it is necessary to do a C-section. so now it will be another vaginal delivery. I want to try to go with out a epi. maybe try stadol?

Congrats on your doc "allowing" you to go vaginal. You want to know about Stadol? I'll tell you all about Stadol. They gave me an enormous dose of it, kept letting it run into my veins until I started hallucinating. Because of that drug I have little recollection of my first child's birth, and I have memory problems that will last me my entire life. I'm not trying to scare you, but I think you need to be given a straight education about pain meds in labor before you just go consenting to them without researching. Pain medication is not necessary, and you will have a LESS painful labor and birth if you just listen to your body, move around, and birth in a position that is best for YOU, not best for the "delivering" doctor. I had an unmedicated homebirth and it was nowhere even close to being as painful as my hospital birth. Some doctors will tell you that epidurals and other narcotic drugs have "little effect" on the baby and breastfeeding. THEY.ARE.WRONG. ALL pain killers have some detrimental effect on the newborn and their ability to breastfeed effectively. The baby needs to be as alert and awake as possible and before ANYONE does anything, that baby needs to be handed to you and nursed. No apgars, no weight or height measurements, no tests, no bath- Preferrably have your husband gently towel the baby off and hand him/her to you to nurse the moment they are born. Tell the hospital staff they need to wait.

With regards to the rooming in, I believe the majority of hospitals have that now, and even if it isn't their "policy", its YOUR child and YOUR right to have the child by your side at all times. If they hassle you, just leave. They can't chain you to the wall and force you to stay. ( Besides, you'll do much better recovering at home and not eating nasty hospital food ) When I delivered in the hospital I had a private room (well, meaning I didn't share it with another patient. It was anything but private with the endless parade of nurses and doctors coming in to check me ) Your husband will be allowed to stay with you. They had pull out beds at my hospital and my husband slept on it. I've seen them at other hospitals as well.

You seem like you are worried about privacy during breastfeeding. I agree that a newly delivered mom needs her space and should not be disturbed. You and your husband will have to be proactive at keeping people out of your room during your stay. You need to put a sign outside the door that says "Do not Disturb, Mom Breastfeeding" and "Please Knock" If you get really lucky your door will have a lock and you can use it. I had a hideous time breastfeeding my first baby in the hospital because people kept interrupting me every time I would get him latched on.

Good luck with everything. Hopefully your hospital encounter will be more humane than mine was and you will have lots of help and support. One more word of wisdom about pain meds- They just make the pain and the labor last longer. Do you really want to be in pain LONGER than you need to be? Skip the drugs- your body is completely capable of delivering a baby without them.

[snowbunny]

Did you have your own private room at hospital?
Yes. All new mommas get private rooms at our tiny hospital.

Did your hubby room in with you?
Yep. He slept on the bed next to me.

I would encourage you to delay all non-necessary procedures until you have breastfed--and keep your baby with you as much as possible. Make it absolutely clear you want NO artificial nipples, fingers or anything besides a boobie going into your baby's mouth.

GL!

[Turkish Kate]

I had a hospital vaginal birth with my DD, now 13. FWIW, I had Stadol once and can wholly agree with PPs who stated that it did nothing for the pain, just made me loopy (I still remember the psychedelic dreams I had with it) and nauseus.

We had a semi-private postpartum room, which means I had a room-mate. She was incredibly young (18 or 19?) with her second baby and was a smoker & bottlefeeder with a 5# baby. Her family gushed about how beautiful her baby was until they brought my 7# 13 oz smoke-free daughter in and everyone just kind of clammed up. (I still LOL thinking about that--yeah, smoking doesn't make a difference!) Anyway, I had a lot of difficulty BFing in the hospital--the nurses were crap and since it was over the weekend there was no LC. I had never heard of La Leche League and don't know if there was a group in my area at that time. I didn't finally get the hang of BFing until we went home and then it went swimmingly. My DH didn't stay in the hospital with me and I didn't expect him to.

If you really want a private room, find out if you can pay the difference between what your insurance pays and the cost of the room. (In the hospital I used to work at, it was $25 per night.) Don't rely on the hospital's LC--try to meet her beforehand, if possible, but start going to LLL meetings now. The support is invaluable and you may need some advice/help in the early days. A good LLL leader can make all the difference.

Good luck, and definitely read up on those pain meds. Narcotics are not what they're cracked up to be and they do cross into the baby immediately, causing all the same reactions in the baby that they do in the mother.

[damselfly41]

Originally Posted by kayleesmom

Well i got the news on monday at my OB appt that he doesnt think it is necessary to do a C-section. so now it will be another vaginal delivery. I want to try to go with out a epi. maybe try stadol?
But my question is for mamas that had vaginal birth and breastfed. Did you have your own private room at hospital? Did your hubby room in with you? If you didnt have a private room was hubby still allowed to room in? and if you breastfed did you room in with baby and have a roommate? how did that work out? was the other mom breastfeeding too? any advice cause i have a feeling that i wont get a private room this time. we are gonna have Cigna HMO if that makes a difference on wheather you get a private room or not.

I see you are getting some great responses to your post. I have to jump in here and tell you, from a woman whose mom was terrified to give birth and insisted on an epi even tho her baby (my sister) was crowning and who practically insisted I could not do it with no pain meds... YOU ABSOLUTELY DO NOT NEED ANY PAIN MEDS. I birthed both of my babes med free. The first in a hospital situation, with a midwife, my dh stayed with us and the babe never left us. We bf'd. My second was born in a free standing birth center and we went home after two hours. Please, please do some reading on the epi and pain meds before you decide. The pain is "pain with a purpose", it is not constant, and when it is over, it's over, kwim? Don't be afraid of it. It helps you know what to do with your body, and the end result will be a drug-free baby who is alert from the instant he/she enters the world outside your womb. I know you can do it. I know you can, mama! And so does your babe! Good luck and I'm sending you good vibes!!

[hubris]

Originally Posted by damselfly41

The pain is "pain with a purpose", it is not constant, and when it is over, it's over, kwim? Don't be afraid of it. It helps you know what to do with your body

Absolutely.

One amazing thing to me from Griffin's birth was that as soon as he was born, I already could not really remember what a pushing contraction felt like. It was just gone. Wow.

I also believe firmly that being able to feel everything was critical in helping me to know what was happening and to work with it, especially with choosing positions in which to labor.

[zinemama]

At my hospital everyone was great about helping me get the baby latched on right after birth, and then, yes, it was on to a private room.

It seems from your post that you think you might feel uncomfortable about trying to get the hang of breastfeeding with someone else there in the room. If that's the case, let me assure you that after giving birth, having a stranger catch a glimpse of something as mundane as a breast will seem like no big deal.

Plenty of pp's have chimed in to tell you that you can birth without drugs. Which is probably true. What I am here to tell you is that IF you get to that point where you do make the decision to get them, do not get the narcotic. As so many mamas have pointed out, those drugs take the edge off of nothing but your sanity. They make you fall asleep between contractions and wake up for them. Not fun. If you truly can't go on with the pain, the epidural is the way to go. (Not that I had one, but I should have, instead of the mind-altering narcotic).

But even better, a doula can help you avoid all of that.