Homebirth vs. Hospital birth natural way? - Page 3

[Mama_Leah]

I had my first in the hospital with a FP attending. It was very calm and peaceful and "natural". I didn't even have a birth plan! I had the baby around midnight and we left the next afternoon. Didn't have to fight for anything or really even ask for anything. They would offer something and I could decline or accept. No pressure. My subsequent homebirths were wonderful also but no more special to me than my first at the hospital.

[mntnmom]

The hospital definition of a natural childbirth is: no pain medication. Depending on who you ask, all it means is a vaginal birth. Anything else can fit into that description.

A homebirth definition of "natural" is: letting the body do what it needs to in its own time, while watching respectfully for potential problems, and hopfully avoiding them. No pit, no wires in your vagina stuck to baby's head. No cutting. No pulling out the placenta. No needles except in a REAL emergency. No pressure to feed babe on a schedule.

Do I sound a little biased? It's because I've done both. First birth was traumatic. Second was a relatively good medical experience. #3 was as natural as it gets in the hospital. I thought that was a GREAT experience, until #4 was born at home. Short of something life threatening, I will NEVER give birth in a hospital again.

[onelilguysmommy]

oh..and i completely forgot. homebirth you dont have to GO anywhere! ugh. i was induced the first time as he was almost 43 weeks and i felt like i was being led to have him out.. anyway my second i went into labor and i never in my entire life, EVER want to be in labor in a flipping car ever, ever again. i wasnt even in the worst pain of my life or anything but wow is that not fun. especially when ouve got a mom that for some unknown reason decides to use her cars gps thinggy and it takes the longest route ever to the bc over every historic brick road in the dang county.

[Mrs Bee]

My natural hospital birth included a heplock, constant fetal monitoring (forced, I objected) fetal scalp monitoring, one-hour of stitches (lots of drugs for that) a false diagnosis of hemorrhage (lots of drugs for that) and daddy having to travel with baby to the nursery at least four times for procedures and tests.

For me, this is nothing to do with loss of power, empowerment, feeling like a woman, any of those things. I was betrayed by the hospital machinery, not any one person. Honestly, I just want to do what is best for my family. And the above scenario is not it. We were poked, prodded, separated, treated like idiots, and the food? NOT ADEQUATE FOR A NURSING MOTHER!!!!

After baby was born, I had to fight really hard to get him back from everything his life had entailed so far. We had to work at reclaiming him as ours. I don't know if that makes sense to you, but it was almost a year before he felt like MY son. He wanted his Daddy (the one who had held and comforted him while the good folks at the hospital tended to the mess they had made of mommy) instead of me. We had a horrible time nursing. This is not natural.

Also, for us, the word "natural" doesn't necessarily mean "perfect, good, works right all the time." We think of "natural" childbirth as a commitment on our part and the part of our homebirth midwife to attempt using natural solutions rather than technical autocracy to solve any diffculties that could occur. This is because we look at the body (moms and babies) as "wonderfully made" and believe that the interplay of mom and baby during labor generally works.

Anyway, "natural" childbirth (as though it could even be thought of as "unnatural?") at home is beyond fantastic! I trust my midwife completely, she has excellent OB backup for the infinitessimal possibility of something going wrong, and I feel safe, happy, and my babies are protected from the great gods of medicine who don't know them nor care about them.

[desertpenguin]

i agree with whomever said that having a good hospital birth experience not only depends on the hcp but also on the hospital and hospital personnel. your hcp might be great but that doesn't mean that the nurses at the hospital are going to be great. ds1 was a hospital birth, and even though i had a pretty good OB who respected most (but not all) of my wishes, i had problems with the nurses. also, once in the hospital, sometimes it can be hard to avoid the cascade of interventions that might follow. though ds1's birth was pretty decent as far as hospital births go, it was still very managed and things were done that were unnecessary. for ex: i wanted to wait to cut the cord until it was no longer pulsating, and told my OB as much. she had dh cut it about a minute after ds1 was born and they whisked him off to give him oxygen because he wasn't pinking up yet. ds2 was an unassisted home birth and didn't pink up right away, though he was breathing fine (as ds 1 was as well) and we left the cord attached. the cord continues working and giving the baby oxygen until they are getting enough on their own through breathing. so the cord continued working for perhaps 20-30 minutes after the birth. no stealing my baby away to give him unnecessary oxygen! they also refused to let me nurse ds1 after the birth until i had eaten first and they had done all of their stupid hospital routines to the baby. so i had to wait an hour to get to nurse him, by which time he was starving and frustrated and screaming. after that he wouldn't root anymore (he had been rooting that whole hour) he would just scream instead when he wanted to nurse. this made our breastfeeding relationship very difficult. OP: check out "Birth as an American Rite of Passage" by Robbie Davis-Floyd

Originally Posted by mntnmom

The hospital definition of a natural childbirth is: no pain medication. Depending on who you ask, all it means is a vaginal birth. Anything else can fit into that description.

yeah, i have had people tell me that they had a natural hospital birth but they had medication, episiotomy, and vacuum extraction. to me this is not a natural birth, but everyone's definition is different.

[honeybee]

Well, here are two of my birth stories: first is unmedicated hospital, and the other is homebirth. Both were good births, but I would never go back to the hospital without medical reason.

http://www.mothering.com/discussions...316&highlight=

http://www.mothering.com/discussions...904&highlight=

[clutterbug]

I had a drug-free vaginal birth in hospital (with a family doctor) for my first, and a home birth with midwives for my second. The only thing that wasn't different was the discomfort of the contractions and crowning (yup, it still hurt...darn it!). We had a lovely nurse (trained as a midwife) at the hospital and a great doctor, but it still had the hospital feel of administration, paperwork, routines, etc. I still was coached through pushing, given vaginal exams, baby was taken away from the bed to be weighed, clots were manually removed from my uterus (ouch!) etc. It just wasn't as comfortable and safe-feeling as my own home with midwives who respect the process and weren't in such a frickin' hurry to get a bunch of tasks ticked off a checklist. And the hospital stay versus snuggling right into our own bed after the birth...no comparison.

That's just my experience. I thought everything was hunky dory with the hospital birth until I had the second one at home. Now I wouldn't like to go back to hospital births unless it's medically necessary.

ETA: LOL i jsut read the post previous to mine. Is there an echo in here??

[claddaghmom]

Originally Posted by Vicky P

What is the difference between homebirth and hospital birth in natural way? I heard one thing that if we choose hospital birth even though we already planned to have natural childbirth, nurses or even midwives wouldn't be so patient. they want us to progress as soon as possible, otherwise we would end up c-section? Does this happen a lot? If so, I would rather just plan to have a natural homebirth. Please let me know your thought. Thanks

I think if you have a doctor who is really onboard about providing a natural and open birth in the hospital or even his/her office, then go for it.

My aunt has had all of her deliveries in the hospital with a doctor who is very pro-natural birth.

I personally have not clicked with a care provider enough to consider this route. I also have a paranoid view of hospitals in terms of germs.

[Teresa221]

I've had 3 births all at the same hospital - whose maternity ward is run just like a birth center (in fact they call in the "birth center" at Such-and-Such Hospital). The midwives greatly outnumber the OB's (4 midwives to 1 or 2 OB's). I labored, birthed and recovered in the same room. The staff couldn't have been more respectful and wonderful to me. They were very supportive of my natural births and breastfeeding and followed my birth plans to a "T".

My first baby was a failed epidural (I got it very late - they didn't realize how fast I had dialated after being in labor for quite some time). After that experience I started researching natural birth because I had NO idea that could happen and thought I needed to be prepared to birth naturally.

So, my 2 other births were completely natural. I did not have an IV of any sort, was allowed to eat and walk as I wanted. The only thing missing was the more "hands-on" support of labor management. Dh took a hypnobirthing class with me though and not only was prepared, but a very good labor helper for me.

I never had anyone say a peep about me not having drugs - they were not offered at any time nor were there any disparaging remarks. Only at my second birth did the nurse say she had never attended a midwife/natural birth before (she had just moved to this hospital after working at a large university hospital). She was actually very excited to participate.

My 3rd birth was very quick and I got to the hospital right before I started pushing. It was also the middle of the night so the midwife did stay with me the whole time (did take a few minutes to check in on another mom in labor). She let my dh catch the baby and my kids cut the cord. I should add though, that she did used to do homebirths.

Like pp's said, I think ultimately you experience depends on your care provider and the environment.

[sbrinton]

I have had two hospital births. Both were uncomplicated, relatively quick vaginal deliveries. With the first, I ended up with an epidural. With the second, I had a totally natural birth. I have moderately risky pregnancies and did not have the choice to be at home. Many moms are in this position. The decision is not "which is better" but rather "which is right for me and my baby."

I believe it is possible to have a good birth experience in a hospital with the right labor support. It probably depends on the hospital's policies too. I was at a hospital where I was free to eat and drink during labor, to turn off the lights and play music, to be in the tub during labor, to walk around, etc. and where they monitored the baby only 10 minutes out of the hour. They had balls, stools, bean bags, things for massage...in other words lots of tools to help moms who wanted a natural birth along.

I had a midwife in the hospital, which was the best of both worlds for me. With my first birth with an OB, I had to fight for what I wanted and did not have support for my decisions. With the midwife, she fought for what we wanted and we felt supported and relaxed.

[applejuice]

I really think those of you who are praising the hospital environment should keep in mind that it was the homebirth movement and natural birth movement that demanded these changes in the hospitals.

That is why you no longer are required to have a useless enema, useless perineal shave, futile denial of nurishment and water by the mouth, useless confinement to bed, futile requirement of an IV, useless bladder catheterization, and continuous monitoring. These changes came about because plenty of women questioned their necessity and many of those women went on to have home births with subsequent children.

Yet the caesarean section rate still gallops ahead to 100%.

[LotusBirthMama]

Originally Posted by applejuice

I really think those of you who are praising the hospital environment should keep in mind that it was the homebirth movement and natural birth movement that demanded these changes in the hospitals.

That is why you no longer are required to have a useless enema, useless perineal shave, futile denial of nurishment and water by the mouth, useless confinement to bed, futile requirement of an IV, useless bladder catheterization, and continuous monitoring. These changes came about because plenty of women questioned their necessity and many of those women went on to have home births with subsequent children.

Yet the caesarean section rate still gallops ahead to 100%.

Whoa. It is not putting homebirth down or making it somehow less to share our positive hospital experiances. I am very pleased at the changes women have fought for in regards to birth, in and out of the hospital.

[applejuice]

When I had my first child, there were no free standing birth centers, no midwives (legally), and no alternative birthing centers. I had my baby at home. That was my choice. Having Fathers in there was still a novelty and not guaranteed.

Within ten years there was two free standing birth centers and a couple of ABC or LDR in the local medical centers, but no one used them - I never knew anyone who gave birth in them.

Changes are made because people demand them and the powers that be see an advantage in change for themselves. Usually $

[organicmommy05]

I was induced due to Gestational Diabetes and had a relatively natural hospital birth. I was on Pitocin, however, no pain meds and my L&D nurse was great about keeping anyone but her and my OB out of the room, dimmed lights if she saw DH and I were in the midst of breathing through a contraction, she left us alone.

It was a long delivery but I went in Wed night and they let me labor till Friday night when my child was born. My OB only brought up C-section once and it was never in a threatening way.

I also had my birth plan hanging in about 3 spots. They knew I didn't want an epi so they only asked me once before the point of no return.

OB also massaged peri and let me tear vs. an episotomy.