hospital policy re meconium / waterbirth

[agnieszkaj]

I recently attempted a hospital mw waterbirth. The hospital policy apparently says you cannot birth in the tub if any meconium is detected. According to my mw, the nurse found a small amount of meconium when my water broke and made a huge deal of it. My mw said it was very minor and not a problem. The nurse enforced the rule, and my mw got me out of the tub. I was already pushing at the time. My baby was born 5 minutes after getting out of the tub.

I had an amazing birth, but I am disappointed about not having a waterbirth. I find it especially irritating that I had to get out while I was pushing, 5 minutes prior to birth.

I wonder if there is anything I could have done. Could I have declined the policy? The nurse was draining the water, so I couldn't have just refused to move. Is there anything I could have done? I really want to have a waterbirth with my next baby but am afraid this would happen again.

[kochanyk]

*shock* I have no clue but that is horrible that they made you move in the middle of pushing. Glad you still feel it was a good birth experience!

[coobabysmom]

I'm sorry you didn't get the waterbirth you wanted, especially since you already pushing & were a mere 5 minutes away from pushing your baby out.

I think many mws would be okay with a scant amount of mec, but you got zapped by hospital policy and a stringent nurse. There is a big teaching hospital where I live that has the same policy.

Next time, I wouldn't be afraid of the mec, but I would choose a different birthing location and discuss the mw protocol and the hospital policy upfront. Consider a different hospital, a birthcenter and of course, there's hb.

[chandasz]

Next time- change hospitals. Or better yet- stay home!

[KD's Momma]

i would have simply told the nurse to get out of the room, you want a new nurese, NOW!! by the time someone else got in there you could have been done. I hate you had such an experience, some nurses just have a power thing going on.

Our policy is that you can still have a wb with light mec but not thick.

[agnieszkaj]

My mw was 100% okay with me waterbirthing with the meconium. She said she can almost always get away with it (even though against hospital policy). She said I got a bad nurse - one who is in love with rule enforcement. If my mw would have defied the nurse, she would be at risk if getting kicked out of the hospital. She brought waterbirthing to this small, community hospital and can't take a chance of getting kicked out. I am understanding of that.

When I had to get out of the tub, I was at a point where I couldn't talk. If I hadn't been in the pushing stage, I would have been able to fight back. I would have fought back, too. At this point, I needed someone else to fight for me. My dh was apparently not realizing it was a problem. I feel like my doula should have said something, at least to my husband to tell him to fight for me.

I'm just wondering if there is anything I could have done.

I wanted to hb this time, but my dh just can't handle the concept. Maybe he can next time.

[applejuice]

i would have simply told the nurse to get out of the room, you want a new nurese, NOW!! by the time someone else got in there you could have been done. I hate you had such an experience, some nurses just have a power thing going on.

I am sure they would have sent in a meaner nurse in that case.

When a woman is in the hospital, she is subject to the rules and regulations and all of the permission slips she signed to get in there. Face it, it is not home, a hospital is an institution that makes its own rules.

[tanyalynn]

I wanted to hb this time, but my dh just can't handle the concept. Maybe he can next time.

This seems like a really common pattern, and given how smoothly your birth seemed to go (in terms of safety stuff), if you give it a few months for things to settle down and talk to your husband again, he may very well be fine with staying home (and if not, you can start pulling out the "read this... and this... and this..." until he's overwhelmed by data ).