What went wrong in your L&D?

DS1 was posterior and no one knew, because being proactive about fetal positioning apparently isn't very important in the medical model of maternity care (and I'm not blameless either)

Because he was posterior, I had an insanely long, very painful labor, during which I had Pitocin to speed things along and an epidural to handle the Pitocin.

Because I had Pitocin, and because I had to lie in a bed with the epidural, DS1 had no chance of moving out of posterior. I pushed for four hours.

I had a C-section, during which they cut down into my cervix to get him out since he was so firmly lodged into my pelvis. They never told me they did this.

One week later the incision on my cervix split open right on a major artery and I gushed buckets of blood all over my bedroom, bathroom, and filled the toilet. I called 911 and hemorraged all the way to the ER in an ambulance. There was so much blood they couldn't even find where it was coming from. A gauze-packed womb, blood transfusion, and transvaginal ultrasound later, they found the laceration on my cervix. I was close to death and the doctor told DH I might not make it. He said he might have to remove my uterus if he couldn't stop the bleeding. Luckily all I needed was a stitch in my cervix.

Sorry, I guess it's hard to fit that birth into a tidy little list. I'm still mad when I think about how I could have lost my uterus or my life just because my birth was so poorly managed. Oh, and they told me DS1 never came out because my pelvis is deformed. Funnily enough, I got my second baby out of it just fine.

Wow mommas. Don't know if I even deserve to list my hindsight here after you. HBAC moms get my wholehearted admiration!

At 39 weeks with twins, with my MW planning to go out of town, and with an anxious DH, I decided to go for a home induction with castor oil. We tried a bunch of things, but it was the castor oil that worked and broke my water for Baby A. I had already bucked the medical model as much as I could. Although I knew my babies needed more time, I caved to the fears / bad study IMO that claim twins need to be born by 38 weeks or so. The claim is that neonatal mortality is as bad with twins at 38+ as with singletons 42+. I really don't buy it, but carrying my first babes and already way out on a limb with the twin HB, I caved and took the castor oil. Wish my MW had talked me down, I think my girls needed another 2 weeks. I was born at 41 weeks and I think they would have like to have been too. They were on the small side, 5.12 and 6.11, and Baby A was covered in vernex.

So the early labor is one problem, which may had lead into others. I did get contractions, but not good ones. After hours of labor and vomiting I was dehydrated and only at 4 cm. My midwife thought I was mentally blocked. Not cool. I thought I'd have to transfer, and think if she hadn't gone on vacation at that moment I would have.

Her back-up was awesome. She hooked me up to an IV and after 2 liters I opened right up and birthed those babes. One of the things the back-up MW helped with was a theory that because the twins were both head down and facing each other, the chin of one was stopping the shoulder of the other from descending. She had an assistant hold Baby B up from the outside, and with not much pushing, we had both girls out.

My homebirth was pretty great, and ended with a happy and healthy mom and twins. But it's humbling in a way. I shouldn't have messed with things and brought the girls out early. And as importantly, it was kinda a fluke that my first MW went on vacation when she did. If not for that, I don't think I could have continued at home. I needed IV fluids since I couldn't drink anything or hold it in my stomach, which either the first MW didn't have or didn't use, and I needed help holding one baby up so the other could descend.

I'm all for HB, I'm an enthusiastic supporter. But I do hesitate when it comes to MWs. How could I have known about what I'd need and what the first MW couldn't help with? I did some internet research. And the back-up midwife came in from several states away. It's not like I chose not to deal with her directly.

These are navel-gazing questions since I got the goods! And it's no different than having a good or bad doctor. I can't even say my first MW was bad, she just didn't work well with me. But for first time home births the MW is so important. Obvious, but there are my $0.02.

Best wishes all you expectant moms out there! Stay positive!

With my first baby I was determined to have a natural labor and my OB was VERY supportive of it (He even stayed with me while Dh went to get something to eat : ) It was determined my girl was completely posterior and I labored and labored and FINALLY had enough; I was puking, had loose stools, exhausted because I had been awake for over 24 hours, and I consented to an epidural I pushed for three hours, and although the nurses were whispering "section" my Ob resisted and I had my girl vaginally with a fourth degree tear, which healed AWESOME though!

My second labor was MUCH better, faster and easier. I birthed her squatting, COMPLETELY NATURAL, but minutes after her birth things took a bad turn. I began bleeding profusely and passed out in fact. After blood transfusions it was determined I had placenta accreta and I had to have an emergency vaginal hysterectomy (I still have my ovaries and tubes) It did not affect my nursing relationship with my daughters at all though.

My "complication" wasn't quite during labor, since we knew about it well in advance, but I'll go ahead and tell! My son (first baby) was breech. We tried turning him in every way we could manage, even tried an external version in the hospital, but nothing worked. I had been planning to birth at a FSBC, but their rules no longer allowed them to attend me. No doctors in my area offered vaginal breech birth, and I couldn't find any other midwives in town, so I was faced with the choice of an automatic pre-labor c-section, walking into a hospital pushing, with doctors I didn't know (but I was told they would refuse to treat me if I refused a c/s), or find some other option. I'd never heard of UC at that point. Thank goodness, we found the Farm! I ended up visiting them once, coming back home just long enough to get my supplies together, then I went into labor, drove the five hours to the Farm, and had a great, natural breech birth. I'm continually happy about how things went, especially when I think how close I came at times to giving in and just having a c/s. My husband was on my side, but the worries from the rest of my family made it seem easier at times just to give in and do what was expected of me.

This is a pretty broad question... can I ask why you're asking? Just curious.

I'm not exactly sure if I have anything to post in this thread, but I can tell you about my births and how they *could* have gone wrong, and how they *did* have interventions.

My first birth was in the hospital with an OB, but not the one I had been seeing. She had wanted to induce me on my due date, but I postponed it, and ended up going into labor on my own 4 days later during the weekend. When my water broke, it had meconium, so in the hospital they gave me an amnio infusion.

I hadn't slept all night, and was having back labor because the baby was posterior. I was going to try it without pain relief, but I ended up having the epidural fairly early on. That lead to a lot of things, of course, like blood pressure cuff, IV, fetal scalp monitor, catheter. Then after awhile, the baby's heart beat stopped not recovering well, so they gave me oxygen to see if that would help, and it did. Then the nurse would check me, and she started doing this kind of twisty movement on my baby's head. She said she was just making a kind of swirling movement on the top of the head with her fingers, because the baby was posterior. I asked if that did anything, and she kind of laughed and said no, but it was just supposed to be a kind of encouragment to the baby, showing her how to turn.

After awhile they wanted me to push and that was horrible, but finally the doctor came and turned the epidural way down as I wanted, so I could feel something. He also encouraged me to sit up a bit more I guess so I could push more easily. Then all of a sudden things started happening and the baby was coming out. She did actually turn and come out anterior, not posterior.

I had a big hematoma on my perineum and got a few stitches more up in the vagina, not really on the perineum. I also had a bit of retained placenta. At this point I could feel everything and it was very odd and painful, but I swear the most painful thing was when one of the nurses strongly massaged my uterus after everything was out.

I think, all things considered, I was lucky to not have ended up with a c-section, and if I had my regular OB, I might have, because she told me a number of times I might have to have a c-section.

My second birth was at home, also meconium in the water, but things just went along fine until I was pushing. I pushed quickly, tore, and then the shoulders got a little stuck, so the midwife kind of had to tug her down. And then I needed stitches, and I was bleeding a fair amount and had a shot of pitocin and methergine, but it was all fine. The tear healed really quickly.

First, my midwife really let me down. She was a hospital CNM. I was told by her nurse in an office visit that she would "labor sit". But she did not show up until well after I was ten centimeters dilated.

Second, the hospital tub was too shallow to provide much relief to me. I had to lie on my back in it to be covered, and even then, it would not cover my belly. So I had to give up on a waterbirth.

Third, I ended up getting the epidural after being in labor about 24 hours. When it was time to push I could not feel a thing. My baby had to be vacuum extracted, and I had to get an episiotomy.

Fourth, the hospital LC handed me a nipple shield to use when my ds proved to have latching difficulties. But she did not tell me any disadvantages of the shield, and she didn't say how hard it would be to wean the baby off it. She said after I used it a few days it would draw my nipples out and then I could get rid of it. Ha!

If I were ever to do it again, I would hire a doula, and I would have one of those big waterbirth tubs delivered from Waterbirth International. I would also seriously consider a home birth. It was very stressful transfering from home to hospital to home to hospital before finally being admitted. It was also a stressful two days recovering when the staff would not give me a moment's peace, constantly bombarding me. I would not get the epidural again because my mind body connection was totally sundered for a long time after getting it.

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Sounds like my birth. First baby, big baby, posterior baby - ugh. Hours of intense back labor to make it a whopping 3 cm. Labor some more to still be 3 cm. Transfer from FSBC to hospital - welcome to the machine.

You're tired, get an epidural it will help you relax and get some rest... (didn't realize it will also slow down your all ready slow labor and confine you to bed)... Yeah, now you need pitocin to get this going... and a BP cuff... and a foley... and external CFM... and an internal contraction monitor... and by the way don't eat anything! :

So 30 hours into this I am tired, uncomfortable, starving, unhappy, and all around miserable - in tears miserable - and only 7 cm. I ask for a c-section.

Now my 9lb 14oz boy is tachypnic and has low blood sugar - off to NICU he goes. He's on antibiotics for 2 days waiting for negative cultures becasue I had a low fever during labor.

Hoping for an uneventful VBAC - SOON!

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YOU CAN DO IT MAMA! And yeah, I can relate to the agonizingly slow dilation....after 40 hours of labor I was at all of 4 cm. I was VERY proactive with my next pregnancy about getting the babe in the right position!

I don't want to get into my later ones, but my first went like this:

Laboured at home for just over 20 hours - everything was fine, but contractions weren't really getting closer together. Back labour.

Went to hospital to make sure everything was progressing okay - plan was to go back home to continue labouring if I wasn't very far along. (The hospital was practically across the street and we walked over.)

After several dismissive comments from admissions and nursing, along the lines of "well, you're obviously not very far along yet", I was given a gown and a VE. I was told I was about 8 cm and 10 during contractions.

Nurse and intern asked my ex to get me some ice chips, and while he was gone, they explained that they couldn't find my baby's head. Ultrasound was brought in and confirmed my baby was frank breech. (There are about a billion people who will say it can't happen in a first time mom, but he turned during labour - no doubt in my mind.) My ex walked back in, with a cup of ice chips, and no prior hint that was any problem at all...to find me saying "no, I don't want a c-section" over and over again and crying my heart out. No attention was paid to that at all, and by the time I'd got through another contraction, I was catheterized, had an IV and was on my way to OR. The last thing I heard was "move it - she's going into transition".

I didn't have any choices to make, though...nobody was listening to me.

To make the rest of my long story short, that was almost 16 years ago. I'm pregnant for the 7th time since. I've planned three VBACs and had four c-sections. I've also had 3 m/c and my last child was stillborn by emergency c/s. I give up. I obviously can't give birth, so this one is a scheduled cut...

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Oh baby, that's a lot to go through. Not sure how you're other sections went, but maybe you can embrace this one being that it's scheduled and there's no expectations to be let down.

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I actually went into my pregnancy with my second son expecting a scheduled section...until I fell apart. The insomnia and nightmares clued me in that I wasn't okay at all.

I'm not okay this time, either. However, we don't know what killed my son. As much as I hate c-sections, going through another one, compared to another VBAmC stillbirth, is like losing a finger, compared to losing an arm...

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Pertaining to the birth of dd2

A shoulder presentation was discovered when I was dilated to 7cm after 10 hours of active labor. The "head' was still high.

I was given the choice of getting an epidural and having the ob manually reposition the baby into vertex or get an epidural and have a c-section.

I chose the repositioning and had a vaginal birth. I had to have internal cord clamping/cutting due to a very tight cord that could not be unwound. Baby had a low apgar at birth and then scored high at 5 minutes.