Please tell me it ain't so!

[bluedotsmom]

Okay, all you wonderful mama's. I'm pregnant with #3 and am planning a homebirth. I've been reading all sorts of birth stories on the 'net and it's starting to look like no matter where I go, there'll interventions.

I even read about a woman's 6 'unassisted' births - with constant vag exams by hubby, him pushing on uterus to get the kids out & her comment that she never tandemed nursed before & sure wasn't going to start now (side gripe, if you believe God wants you to have a dozen kids, great, but He also created us to breastfeed them until they're ready to wean!!!)

Midwife stories are full of stripped membranes & herbal potions.

Maybe I'm just seeing the negative, but I'd sure like reassurance that our bodies are made to birth babies and there are only rare instances where interventions are trully needed.

Thank you for your ear!!!

[kama'aina mama]

I had a homebirth with a midwife. No interventions. Two vaginal exams total, one to check that I was fully dilated (I was) and once between pushes that probably doesn't even count as an exam, more of a 'well, if you are gonna lie down between contractions let me glance in there and see how we're doing' sort of thing. It definitely can be done!!!! Interview the heck out of your midife.

[lunarmomma]

Same here. One internal check when she got to the house. Intermittant doppler checks to make sure baby heartbeat was ok. And frequent ones at the pushing stage.
Mostly she stayed in another room and left me to labor.
If I asked for her, she would come. Like when I started pushing. It was so soon I wasn't sure that was what the heck it was. Had not given birth before.
She got involved when it was time to push the baby out. They got everything ready and then coached me on how or when to push, or not etc...
It didn't feel invasive to me at all at any point.
Some people just don't want ANYBODY there. They are great candidates for an unassisted birth.
I like my midwife and trusted her to know what she was doing. And she trusted my ability to give birth. As did I. It was a good match.
I would use her again if there is a next time.
Best of luck to you!

[wildmama]

i just had my third baby in jan. with no interventions whatsoever. it was an unassisted birth because we didn't call the midwife in time. my two boys were hosp births with epidurals, forceps, monitoring etc. this birth was so much easier and just an absolutely thrilling experience. i did a ton of reading and totally trusted my body the whole time. that trust made all the difference. you can do it! just never stop believing in your ability to birth your baby naturally and you will do great!

[candiland]

I also had a midwife-attended homebirth. She arrived when I was just starting to push, but since I was a first time mommy, I wasn't sure that I had to push, because I figured I was only three or four centimeters or something. So she did one vaginal to confirm, for my sake, that I could start pushing. Then she basically listened to heart tones and held warm compresses on my perenium, as it felt wonderful to have something to push into. Three and a half hours later, baby was born. Those two things are pretty much the only "intervention" I received. I'm birthing with the same midwife again this May. It was a wonderful experience!:love
I just wanted to edit this post to add that in many cases, interventions are requested by the mommies. I know a couple of ladies who used the same midwife as me, and had prolonged first stages. They wanted to try castor oil, blue/black cohosh, the works!, to get things moving along. As long as a midwife considers such potions safe, it is up to her to do the mom's bidding, not the other way around;)

[Greaseball]

Some midwives - especially CNM's - seem just the same as doctors. I don't know why they wanted to be midwives. Maybe they flunked med school.

Yes, intertview them. Some are so trained in the use of certain interventions they do not know how to deliver a baby without them.

[sarahwebb]

I think it ultimately depends on your choice of practitioner. There are doctors who attend hospital childbirths and allow their patients to labor naturally with support and few or no interventions, and there are midwives who are used to interventions.

My best advice is to be very specific very early on. I thought I had a great situation with my ob only to find out at 33 weeks that the natural childbirth he had been supporting and encouraging me to have bore little resemblance to the natural childbirth I wanted to have. Make sure when you interview your practitioner that you are very, very specific in your questions. Don't assume that just because you use the same words for something that you understand each other.

Good luck,
Sarah

[bluedotsmom]

thank you for your responses and reminding me that it's my birth & I have to be clear on my desires and choices!

And it's funny, after I posted yesterday I decided to join Birthlove and there was a wonderful, beautiful unassisted birth story that really brought home the trust factor - trust in myself and trust in whoever I choose to attend me.

[fourlittlebirds]

Yeah, I know where you're coming from, even most homebirth stories I read seem awfully (unnecessarily) interventionist and intrusive to me.

My first birth was at home with a CNM -- typical obstetrical-style midwifery -- never again, it was horrible. A wonderful "hands-off" midwife attended my second, no interventions or management other than FHTs. Fantastic. My third was completely unassisted -- even better. ;)

[Nursing Mother]

With all 5 of my homebirths I was never given an internal exam without me wanting it. For 4 of the births I never was even checked for dialation. The body just knows what to do. I refused all invasive stuff. Never knew what station I was at or what dialation phase I was. I made sure my midwives didn't meddle, I just wanted to be left alone.

My 5th homebirth my dd had shoulder dystocia, so the MW had to do a manual position check which was very painful, but necessary. Other than that I have been very fortunate to have such positive birth experiences.