Lets make this a new topic!
Tell YOUR birth story or a friend's
lend us your knowledge and experiences
What about interventions?
What effects do they have on mother and infant and breastfeeding?
What are the stats?
Epidural
AROM (artificial or assisted rupture of membranes)
Pitocin
Induced labor
Narcotic Pain Releivers
IVF (Intravenous fluid)
fetal monitoring
foreceps
suction
c/s
episiotomy
other...
I told some of my story in the other post- after AROM and having to lie on my back- my doc wanted to speed up labor, so after few hrs and only 2 more cm,(to 6cm) wanted pit- I was afraid of the pain so agreed to epidural- which he said would relax me and make me open more- I don't know b/c after that last exam I suddenly had much more painfull contractions (this is before the pit) probably transition should have had him check again, had to wait for anesth. to come- wanted it "light" he laughed at me and said it was a 'walking" epidural- which should mean ligh- but I still had to lie down afterwards- I have to say- I got very light headed and giddy- they started pit- must have been very strong b/c they kept turning it up and down since my daughters hrt rt would drop- I felt absolutely nothing, in less than 2 hrs they paniced b/c my daughter's hrt rt dropped- actually I don't know if they had a remote in the nurses station (it is a tertiary care center) but I was the one who told them the hrt rt was in the 80's (so much for fetal monitoring) they checked me and I was fully dilated -if not I probably would have had a c/s- pushing in lithotomy even though I told my OB at every visit that I wanted to be up and squatting- my baby's head was stuck- they gave me a big painfull median episiotomy and she came out in only 20 min- about 10 pushes or less- the worse part was that I didn't feel her coming out at all! very surreal- I looked at the clock when he was done stitching and joked that he would get home in time for dinner (it was 6:00 pm) I had gotten to the hosp at 3 am, they waited till 5 to call him- after getting me set up- he came at 8 am went to his office hours at 9 came back at 12 thats when he did the AROM- epidural was 3:30 and pushing 4:40 birth at 5 was that really a labor that was too slow? I went through 3 shifts of nurses, it was the last one who I knew for about an hour who did the anoying counting for my pushing- okay bottom line- thankfully healthy mom and baby- gotta go she's calling me

Thanks Amy for voicing every concern that I had when i made my decisions. My first son was born at a birthing center in Florida. We were 2 blocks to the hospital and, like you said on the other site, there were 2 midwives present- one was the head of the center and the other was finishing her training. There was a physician who over saw all of the patients from the center and was on call for any emergancy. Also, the center was set up to handle nearly anything that could go wrong, except the obvious like the c/s. I didn't make this decision lightly, after all of the research and finding all of the information that you posted before, this was the only way for me.

The second one, I had at home, not because I really wanted to have him at home but because I REALLY didn't want to have him at the hospital after the great experience of having my first. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to find a birth center in Texas. This lead to the at home birth. There, we were also near the hospital and had friends and family near us who were or were training to be physicians.

I am very satisfied with the ways things went but I have to say that I would have prefered, in the begining, to have them in the hospital but I really didn't want to feel pressured by the doctor. Going the way that I did, I was able to be with my family, have them in the best position for me (my contractions also slowed or stopped when in bed) and they weren't carted off to the nursery. Of course there were other reasons but those are the most memorable. :cloud9:

Oh also, no episiotomy and no rips!

We were up and walking right away (went LIGHTLY shopping within a few days)!

I guess the last thread did get a bit off track. I don't disagree with "natural" birth. I can't say I agree with home birth, but to each her own. The only point I'd really like to get across is that elective c-sections are the most desirable method of birth for some of us, period. As mentioned, there are pluses and minuses of both methods, and we have to live with our choices...complications from the method we choose included. If I decide to have a vaginal birth at home, and something goes wrong, and my child suffers, that's something *I* have to live with. If I have a vaginal birth, and I tear (and some women do...statistics mean nothing to the individual) I have to live with that. If when I'm 40, and I'm leaking urine, I don't want to think to myself "this wouldn't have happened if I had the baby my way." We have to live with the results of our choices...so let me choose. That's my entire point. I don't mean to sound as if the birthing process is completely screwed up and everyone should opt for elective c-sections. Afterall, we've been having babies since the beginning of man/womankind...and it works well without intervention (usually). But there are many factors to consider, and to say that one way is better for everyone is very closed minded. As mentioned, being closed minded sets us up for misunderstandings, intolerance, hate, frustration, and lawsuits. I'm just passionate about my choice...and am simply stating another (very valid) method of childbirth.

BTW, I didn't have a complicated pregnancy. I am an ER trained physician working at an academic institution here in California, and my sister is an OB (maternal fetal medicine subspecialist attending) at John's Hopkins. I know what I'm talking about, and have great references. But, no matter, because the medical literature doesn't speak for MYA. I speak for Mya. I must live with these choices.

I just went back and reread Amy's last post on the previous thread. I agree totally with the progression of events hospitalized women typically go thru when having a baby. That's right on target...and many of the interventions are premature (in my opinion). But, I guess I don't see an elective, planned, desired, c/s as an unneeded intervention, always. I totally agree with more "natural" vaginal delivery process. It makes lots of sense that supine positioning, IV's, NPO, AROM, pit, etc is not (?usually) the best thing for mom. Studies are showing that an epistiotomy is probably more detrimental than allowing a woman to tear naturally. I know all of these good things, and of course a simple vagianl delivery beats intervention of any sort. However, if I *choose* intervention...

I think Nature (God) made us well...and I don't doubt that many of the things we do to "help" people actully don't (in many, many areas). When I was pregnant I thought I'd have a NSVD...we took Lamaze, we looked into birthing centers, the whole deal. And in the end, I requested a c/s. I had my (many) reasons. Sure, if a pleasant, vaginal, uncomplicated delivery happened to me, that would have been great. And women can strive for that. I don't have a counter argument that can oppose this. But, this isn't everyone's experience, and when it doesn't happen this (perfectly natural) way my arguement becomes valid.

The age of elective C-sections is def :boggled: initely coming down the pike...and soon I would suspect...not sure whether that is good or bad but it is coming.
Witnessed my girlfriend's vag delivery ( only time I've been in a delivery and NOT BEEN the MD)....she did not want any "residents touching her, much less FP residents" - she is a pediatrician- so her RN checked her 3pm and said she was complete- got an epidural sometime in there ...I had to run to a class to teach...called at 530 knowing that of course I had missed it- no, they said " NO baby yet!" ?!?!?!?!
I arrived at 6 pm...still no baby. Turned out she was never complete at 3pm...she pushed for an hr for nothing....finally at 545 she really was complete and we had a baby finally at 615 pm.
And I def watched the OB cut a second degree that perhaps could have been skipped- heart tones were fine...but you know, she "was in a hurry..."
I have never ever spoken to this friend about what happened bc honestly I do not know if she realizes the big screw up...once again, healthy MOm healthy baby so who cares...BUT...

When I had my first, my daughter, I was young and so very unknowlegable about what was supposed to have gone on...had the baby at night, didnt see her until the next day, had a routine episiotomy.
When I had my second, was in the healthcare prof., had pitocin, contractions were too close together lasting more than 2 minutes, saw fetal decelerations, pressed the call light and the CNA, who did not know I was a nurse, said it's okay, nothing's wrong... I couldnt help it, but I said " Can YOU read the monitor?!" I mean come on, dont come in here not knowing the seriousness of what is going on, and not have the education to tell me everything is OK, a person who does that is stepping way out of bounds. The pitocin was turned off, I got in epidural, the nurses forgot to connect it to the drip, so when I started to deliver, I felt EVERYTHING. Oh, and the ultrasound was off about 3 weeks as far as the due date.
My last pregnancy was with a stubborn IUD, who refused to come out and give my baby some room. It finally came out at 8 mos, so in a month's time I delivered an IUD and a baby. Opted not to get episiotomy and ripped upward laterally in opposite directions. So much for not opting the episiotomy!

Love the topic!

My first birth, 1996 was interesting. I had a great preg and loved my OB. My due date was May 12, 1996 Mothers Day! How great is that. :boggled: :weeping:

Thanks, can not wait to read more!
Michelle

My birth experience was wonderful.

Like most of us, I initially planned for a vag birth. My husband and I took a Natural Child Birthing Class, we purchased all of the gizmos to help with the laboring process (big balls, soft music, soothing pix) we toured the L&D suites of our local hospitals. We even considered birthing centers, but found that they were too far from our home, and the quite expensive for us at the time.

I had a "window" of time off in which to have the baby, so I was pretty anxious to have it "on time." At 40 weeks gestation I began to feel very anxious and physically very uncomfortable. I tried various techniques to induce labor "naturally" such as nipple stimulation, and walking miles a day. :yes: I even went swinging on a swing because I heard that helps. :no:

The reason I'm in favor of elective c-sections is because, had I not "convinced" the OB to perform one, I feel I would have ended up having an emergency c/s (eventually) thereby placing myself, and my fetus in greater danger. As it worked out, I had a couple of weeks with my baby before having to return to work (residency). I was able to *plan* for the birth. And best of all, in the future, I can plan the birthday from the beginning.

I was truly blessed on this subject, twice.

With my first, by the time we realized I was in labor and got to the hospital, the nurse could see my daughter's hair! So, I walked through my whole labor, including into the delivery room while fully dilated. I had always thought I'd have pain relief, but there was no time, and while it was uncomfortable, it was a beautiful experience. I had only a teeny tear or two that healed quickly.

With my second, I decided to tell them to encourage me not to have pain relief, but to provide it if I should really need it. My water broke early on, so I knew what was happening that time. The resident on call had seen me several times throughout my pregnancy and knew my history, and she was comfortable just watching me and judging my progress by what I said (she checked once only). Later she commented that I must have been the only patient all year not to even have an IV! I feel really fortunate -- I was in no way pressured to have intervention, but I felt good being in the hospital if something should go disastrously awry. I feel this was possible because the doctor knew my history and wishes and respected them (even at a place that tends to do a lot of interventions).

It sounds like this is a rare situation, which is too bad. Do you think birth plans help with this at all? I didn't have an official one, but it did really help that the doctor knew my preferences.

I had my daughter at Duke and it looks like my expereince there was a lot better than I originally thought.

I went to the hospital twice (a 30 minute drive from our home) because the Nurse said I was laughing too much to be in true labor, I guess I'm natuarlly too happy, laughing in between contractions. So of course by the time I got home, we had to turn right back around because the contractions were just minutes apart. My ex-husband rermarked that I was mooing like a cow while in labor, a thought I still find hilarious to this day :rotfl: .

So I get to the hospital and BEG for an epidural which was given by an nurse anesthetist (SP?). The time is almost 12 hours since my first trip to the hospital at 9:00AM, and I had my daughter at 9:59 PM. No tears, no major complications for the vaginal birth but I did have a cather becasue I couldn't urinate on my own. I did have to INSIST on this which is a shame. I also breast fed for 3 months, with bottle feedings also.

Overall, it was a great experience but becasue I'm now considered high risk at age 37, I'm VERY concerned how the next pregancy(ies) are going to go.

Well, a lot of us are made well, but not all of us! I've been enjoying these stories, and feeling a bit envious of your "natural births"!
I have so much gratitude for all of the interventions available to me during my 2nd and 3rd pregnancies.
My 2nd: At 30 weeks into a pregnancy accompanied by daily N&V and incredible fatigue, I was suddenly surprised by fluid retention and just a little elevation of my BP, then within 24 hours, WHAM, I started bleeding and had a c-section (no labor, just pain) due to placental abruption with full-blown preeclampsia, delivering my tiny 2 1/2 lb daughter. She's 9 now, healthy and normal, but we had a tough first year, esp being in full-time private practice in internal medicine.
My 3rd: We thought ... that can't happen again. So after I sold the practice, joined a group, had coverage all set up, I started another miserable pregnancy (constant nausea) ... then at 27 weeks my husband noticed my ankles were swollen, I checked my BP at 150/100, and my ultrasound showed my little daughter with very little amniotic fluid and a very little placental blood flow, so 48 hrs after having IV cortisone, she was delivered by c-section, only 1 lb, tiny tiny. She's 6 now, and also very healthy, but needing various interventions esp during her 1st 2 years.
I feel such gratitude for these interventions, knowing that I would probably not have survived my 2nd pregnancy, and that both of my daughters are here today, healthy and happy.

I sit at the other end of the spectrum! For three nights prior to the birth of my son, I had been up ALL night (for THREE nights) with false labor. By the third night I had had enough...I was SOOOOO tired I couldn't even think strait...so off to the hospital we went! Within minutes of arriving AROM (yeah from my point of view!!) Then several hours later when in full blown labor I requested an epidural (yeah!!!!) and SLEPT for three hours strait!!!!! When I awoke the nurse in my room told me that My contractions were "piggybacked" and I probably hadn't progressed but that they decided to let me sleep since I needed rest so badly. However, when I was checked I was at 9cm.!!! What a way to go!!!!! An hour or two later I was fully dilated and never felt a contraction! ...two pushes later and "He" arrived ....no cuts no tears. He was born at 5:20 in the evening and we were released at 11:00 the next morning. What a WONDERFUL experience!

I hoped to repeat the experience with my second, and for the most part did. However, the epidural only "partially" took so I didn't get the nap
However, it was a short lived labor and after ONE push "SHE" arrived. Since she was born at 7:20 in the morning, I stayed until the next morning...but that was MY choice. I wanted to take an afternoon nap without my three year old and figured that my insurance was already paying for that day so I might as well take advantage of it!!!

It's so great to read everyone's birth stories! I ended up having a wonderful birth experience--in a hospital with my family all around, doc, nurse, and a resident. No pain relievers, but some pit to move things along when walking failed (my water broke and labor didn't pick up on its own for 12 hours). Making all our birthing decisions was a nightmare! My husband's family believes firmly in home birth (at the hospital "they'll" just try to knock you out, get the baby and hide it in the nursery): they thought it was men trying to take the birth experience away from women. At the other extreme, my aunt was insistant that no one should even try natural birth--a woman doesn't need to go through such pain: natural birth was men trying to make us uncomfortable! No one could believe that I could feel safer in a hospital and that I trusted my OB to work with me or, conversely, that I could not take the painkillers! When did this become a feminist issue? I found that my nurses and doc really cared about how I wanted the birth to go and respected my choices.
I'm with Mya--it's all about choices, not "The right way" to have a baby! I found what worked right for me because I was relaxed and comfortable (as comfy as possible during contractions that is) and I know some other people have hospital phobia and could never be that comfortable there, hence disturbing their birth process! Isn't the most important thing to have a healthy baby whatever way you think you can best accomplish it? I got so tired of natural birth nazis and epidural nazis! We each choose what is best for us!
Sorry for the ranting, I just had to get that out!

By the time I was ready to deliver, I was starting to get really nervous about the hospital delivery. Starting to think I should've hired a doula, and had sneaking thoughts about homebirth (even though I wouldn't have done it, too risky for me). As it happened, I had everything the natural-birth books warn you about just short of episiotomy and c-section. Turned out fine & I'd certainly do it again this way.

I'd been pretty open to drugs, since I had no idea how painful this might actually be. I think "disembowelling" is probably about the right pain level. My contractions came really fast, too, before I was dilated much at all, and there was no rest. I got the epidural in ASAP and think I may put the anaesthesiologist in my will.

That said, all the "cascade" stuff short of c-section did happen to us. Got stuck in bed (fine with me, by that point); my contractions slowed, and the midwife got the pitocin started...though of course with the drugs in, it wasn't the intensely painful experience I'd read about. After a while my temp started rising, and after a few hours I started shaking uncontrollably, which didn't help the rising temp. That went on for a couple of hours. Eventually my midwife told me to get this baby born and start pushing, and I suspect that if I'd gone a whole lot longer I'd have been in for a c-section. I was greatly annoyed that I was pushing without feeling anything -- it just felt dumb -- and I was in the semi-reclined position & doing Valsalva maneuvers in the way all the books tell you is just plain horrible and puts your child at risk. Didn't matter, though; Liesl slipped out after what must've been an hour or so of pushing. (Kind of lost track of time for a while). But I felt fine, afterwards. Wasn't exhausted during the pushing.

While I still like the idea of birthing centers, I'm pretty sure I'd be an epidural girl again if the pain was anything like what I went through this time. And at that point I guess you may as well be in the well-regarded tertiary hospital down the street. (Unless someone can correct me?)

The two things I'd change: More frequent bladder draining (who knew I could hold over a liter?), and put a loud baby in the nursery much faster and more often. Liesl was a screamer from go, and we got practically no sleep. Nursing staff and peds teams coming around every 1.5 hours didn't help. The second night we were such zombies I asked the 11 pm nurse to take her to the nursery, and the nurse _still_ stayed to chat and hand out advice till I basically told her to leave. Yep. The two days' recovery was heinous, but the actual L&D were just fine.

amy

I have three beautiful boys, all induced on Tuesdays and born on Wednesdays...

Son One: I was induced on a Tuesday morning(Pitocin)dialated to 2cm after 12 hours that night at all so when 5:45 rolled around I did not want to start the process all over again. I only progressed to about 2cm again by 1pm and I was starting to get very frustrated :goodvibes: Four hours later Boy two popped out. We were ready for a bigger baby this time but when he came out he was only 7lb 11oz. Compared to our first it was like taking home a premie!

Son Three: Day one - exactly the same as Baby boys one and two.
Day Two - I was progressing slowly again and my OB broke my water at about noon. I figured it was going to be awhile so I told my husband he could run a few errands just as long as he was back in an hour or so...Well he is gone only about fifteen minutes when my nurse came in to drain my bladder. As I am being emptied I feel my whole body lurch and I went from 3cm to fully dialated in about 3 minutes. Apparently, my full bladder had been holding him up and away from the cervix and when it was drained he just dropped like a stone. I paged my husband with 911 and hoped he would understand that he needed to get his behind back to the hospital ASAP. AS my OB is getting scrubbed up my Hubby comes in to the room huffing and puffing. He sprinted from the car and up two or three flights of stairs and got their just in time. Boy three was born about 15 minutes later weighing in a 7lbs 12oz.

**Oh all three of them were born around Finals Week...So I was writting papers and studying the whole time I was in the hospital.

Kind of ironic how at the "tour" of my delivery unit (at the private hospital where I was a surgery resident) the only pamphlet I was interested in was the one on anesthesia...I agree with Amy, that guy is going in my will!

I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes at 27 weeks which meant the torture of finger pricks 4 times a day, pretty much not eating anything that actually appealed to me and twice a day insulin shots. Luckily, my OB had decided that he sends all "surgery residents developing complications" to one of his high risk friends so then I started having double the number of appointments.

Double the number of appointments turned out to be good because the high risk OB did an ultrasound every time to check the size of the baby (have I mentioned how woefully inaccurate that is?) and was able to catch my pre-eclampsia pretty early on. Well, me being me, I just couldn't slow down and couldn't seem to drink enough fluids so I got oligohydramnios added to my diagnosis. Not too terrible for me, except for the horrible swelling, but the kid didn't enjoy it all that much.

At 33 weeks I got sent to the hospital for fetal monitoring and a non-stress test because my high risk told me I would probably have a C-section that day to protect the baby (Oh yeah, did I mention that the little bugger was breech, sitting on my pelvic bones with her little head shoved up into my liver...not the most comfortable position for either of us!). As you can guess, that didn't help my rapidly rising blood pressure any! Luckily, they were able to get the baby moving around again and my blood pressure went down a little, so after instructions not to leave my bed I was able to go home. (I wasn't supposed to leave my bed, but they sure did want me in the office...both offices...very frequently isn't that ironic?). I left the hospital with the high-risk OB saying "I really hope we can get you to 37 weeks, but it is not looking very good".

After 3 weeks of bedrest (and for the most part I was pretty good...thank god for my laptop) my OB scheduled my C-section and all was good. The high-risk did a final ultrasound the day before my C-section and said "I don't think this baby will be more than 6 lbs". As big as I got, I wasn't sure how she could be LESS than 6 lbs, but I know better than to argue with those who can actually get her out!

The day of the C-section was bliss...epidural before any pain, quick, uncomplicated C-section, beautiful 7 lb 5 oz baby girl, husband present, mom able to fly in the day before, lot of visitors and admirers, normal blood sugars and I made it to exactly 37 weeks!

I'm lovin' these stories, but then don't all of us who have ever given birth love these stories It's most definitely a thing where you can't really appreciate the obsession with the details unless you've been there/done that.

I won't be able to resist sharing my 3 experiences, but that'll wait for another time when I have more than a few minutes.

MOMSURG...I saw your post and wondered if we might've gone to the same high risk OB/practice. I know you're doing your residency at one of the medical schools here in Houston and my doc's practice was the perinatologist OB/GYN group associated w/ that same med. school. PM me if it's the same w/ the name of your doc. I had one primary one their, but saw a couple over the course of the pregnancy.

It's so interesting to read everyone's stories on this topic! I thought I should add mine instead of just reading all the others. My husband and I were caught totally off guard when I went into labor 5 weeks before the due date. I was scheduled to take the MCAT at week 36, and in addition to studying like mad I was also working full time as a research tech, so basically we put off all baby prep until after the MCAT (it's our first child and frankly, I think we were still a little freaked about the entire concept of becoming parents). Huh, well this little munchkin had other ideas, because at exactly 35 weeks my water broke at 5:15 pm. I wasn't having any pain or contractions at the time, so called my husband at work at told him I'd just drive myself to the hospital and meet him there since his office is close to the hospital and we live nearly an hour from there. Thankfully, he had the judgment to over-ride my crazy thinking, because by 5:30 I was having very painful contractions, and by the time we arrived at the hospital at 7:15 my contractions were less than 2 minutes apart. The doc and nurse in triage were very laid back and because it was my first child, felt sure that I wouldn't deliver until the next morning sometime. I was in pretty serious pain, but had wanted to hold out as long as possible on the epidural in hopes of avoiding one. We didn't know if the babe was in the right position b/c my OB hadn't had a chance to check that yet since I never made it to my 36 week appt., so the ob on duty was trying to determine the position while I was writhing in pain. He seemed to take forever, and finally said, "ummm, I can't seem to find the head with the ultrasound, I'd better just examine you." And as he did, he chuckled and said, "you're about 5+ cm dilated and the baby's head is right down here getting ready to come out!" I was whisked into the L&D room and 45 minutes and 5 pushes later our daughter was born - a healthy 6 pounds with no complications. In the days following her birth I was still fixated on the fact that I might have to miss the MCAT (which was an easier thing to focus on than the fact that our daughter was born and we were totally unprepared to bring her home!!). I took the MCAT 7 days later, which was one of the hardest (and perhaps craziest?) things I've done, but no regrets. Umm, the only regret I have is that next time I might be more open to the idea of an epidural.... my contractions were so different than what I expected, none of this 'breaks in between to rest' idea that they told us in birthing class. I felt it was one constant pain, and then of course there was the major tearing and pain that occurred when the baby was actually making her way out of my body!! If we ever have another child I will aim to be prepared at 34 weeks, and be ready to move swiftly once I begin labor!

I'm actually writing a paper on this topic. I was wondering if any of you ladies could help me by descibing how you felt after birth. By this I mean, given the circumstances of your labor (medical interventions, choices made or not made, etc), how did this affect your overall experience and how you feel when you reflect upon it. THanks very much if you can help.

In talking about my own labors, my first was relatively uneventful. I had mild contractions for five days prior to the actual birth. I went in a day before my son was born and was sent home. I believe one of the residents stripped my membranes during that visit. The next morning I returned. After being placed on the fetal monitor, my contractions became irregular and pitocin was advised. i declined and was admitted. as my labor progressed, I became quite fatigued and accepted some fentanyl towards the end. It helped somewhat with the pain, but I was incredibly out of it by the time my son was born. This also caused a decrease in fetal heart rate so my membranes were ruptured and my son was given a direct fetal monitor. After changing several positions because my son was not completely "head first", he was oriented correctly and I pushed about 45 minutes. I had some minor tears but other than that it was fine. I spent about a total of 5 hours laboring in the hospital.

With my second son I had an accidental homebirth. I awoke on my due date with what I felt were mid-strength contractions and felt the need to use the restroom. After completing the task, I still felt the need to go. SO I went back to the bathroom to go again. I assumed that my body was just clearing itself out in preparation for the baby. I had about 2 or so strong contractions while in there and felt the baby crowning! Strangely, the idea that I would not get to use the jacuzzi tub in the hospital flashed before me. I'm not sure how much time elapsed, but I ended up catching my own baby. I got to call the sex. My mother-in-law (she gave birth to my partner alone on a refugee boat)came in and delivered the placenta and tied the cord with thread. I think back to that day and shudder at all the things that could have gone wrong. But it was a miracle nonetheless.

Wow, Trish...oh my god. How were you while you were delivering your baby? I mean what state of mind were you in?

As for your question...I was very firm about three things:

1. I wanted Annelies out and both of us healthy.
2. I wanted to avoid knives if at all possible.
3. I wanted no med students or first-year residents in the room. Don't mean to offend anyone here, but I've done my bit for medical education elsewhere.

I figured everything else was gravy. And I felt really exhilarated after Liesl was born...I'm sure lots of stuff was going on, but she and I were just looking at each other, and then the nurse helped me get her latched on. I was less than keen on the stitching-up afterwards, esp. since my midwife kept talking about how she was only making things worse...I kinda got the impression she wasn't the world's top seamstress. But compared with the little girl laying on my chest, that was very minor indeed. Official tests afterwards have concluded that she did quite an adequate job anyway . :p

No, I didn't love the room (small, full of machines that go ping); I don't think I'll ever fully recover my taste for popsicles; I'm slightly embarrassed about watching Seinfeld while I was getting my baby born; and the wake-up-the-parents nursing schedule is just shy of sadistic, I think. But then I wasn't looking for a "birthing experience" -- I was looking to get the baby out safely. And I had two midwives I trusted. The first nurse was also a treat.

I do think we could use more ceremony and ritual around the whole thing...but I think it'd require a whole lot more thought and talk, culturally, about what becoming a mother means. While there's part of me that's romantically sorry I didn't go through some transformative drug-free trial of labor, I'm very very grateful for all the pinging machines and drips. Everyone home safe and dry. I'd choose it again.

amy

hi there..i apologize if i killed this thread by mentioning my paper

amy - thanks for your reply! considering my labor..it was funny because it was almost as if I was on autopilot. my mind went blank. i did not think at all. my arms just went down there, caught the baby and that was it. to this day, i'm not sure how i did it..afterwards i was shock..i looked down andthere was this pink little person smacking his lips..it was amazing but i couldn't help but think of what could have happened.

Well, I suspect that I can bring a different perspective to this topic. I have been an OB in Canada for 8 years, am also Board Certified, and prior to medicine, I spent 8 years doing research in fetal physiology. I would have to say that I think I have tried almost everything that my profession has to offer.
I had my 2 children in a teaching center. For the most part, I thought my pregnancies were great. My first, however, stayed breech the entire time . Then, I went post-dates (41 wks). It was also near the end of my summer break between 1st and 2nd year medicine. I had to go back to classes, so I persuaded my OB to do an induction. (BTW, my daughter is 15 y.o., I trained in a center that was expert in vag breech deliveries. This predated the Term Breech Trial, and under the same circumstances, I would choose it again.) My cervix was "ripe", and I only needed oxytocin to get started.
Although I had extensively prepared for an 'unmedicated' labour and delivery, all was not to be the case. My labour was prolonged....progress was slow. I chose to have an epidural - but I would have to say, I felt like I had exchanged one pain for another. My legs burned like they were on fire! :twocents:

I had two very different birth experiences. I delivered both my sons at the hospital where I was a resident and am now an attending pediatrician. Initially I felt a little funny about this, however, when one is truly laboring one really does not care who sees you like that!
My first son truly was a natural birth. I had no IV, no epidural, and I begged the OB to remove the monitor as it was so uncomfortable. THANK GOODNESS my son did not suffer asphyxia. I guess I was real lucky! I now feel I was stupid for insisting on "natural birth". He lay on my belly after the delivery and he nursed immediately. My husband took pictures which are now very precious to me.
Of course, I assumed my second delivery would be just like my first! You never think you will be the one to have a complication. Again, I had only intermittent monitoring, no IV, no epidural. However, his heart rate dropped and I delivered him in the recovery area outside the OR by vacuum extraction as the anesthesiologist was frantically trying to get IV access and looking in my throat in preparation for intubating me for emergency CS. I was begging for general anesthesia to relieve me from my pain. Then he had shoulder dystocia! What a nightmare delivery. I was very relieved to see the entire NICU team was waiting for him including the attending! Very thankfully, he was fine (normal cord pH and Apgars). I feel very fortunate.
Believe me, If there ever is another time, I will definitely opt for all the interventions!

I have had very different birth experiences from a lot of women here. Please remember that these are my choices and I feel strongly about the choices I made with my children!

I had an OB for my first son. It was a large practice and I felt like just another one in the herd. By 36 weeks I had done a lot of reading (tons!) and no longer felt that birth was a disease that needed to be managed. I was 23 and in perfect health. I switched to a CNM at that point as she was more in align with my beliefs.

I went into labor at 38 weeks. The baby was posterior but my CNM helped me through the back labor through natural methods.

Although I got the natural birth I wanted, the nurses kept pushing me to take narcotics and an epidural (I was coping quite well though!). The CNM put me in a funny position that I believe contributed to my small tear (the tear repair was the worst part of the birth to me!). The nurses also pushed formula and I ended up supplementing. Which was too bad, because he would have been fine with just breastmilk.

It was a good birth but I knew I wouldn't want to birth in a hospital again. I wasn't sick! I was in perfect health! So the next time I planned to have the baby at home, which is exactly what I did. I had great prenatal care with a homebirth midwife. And again, I was in perfect health. I have a lot of faith in the human body and trusted my body to birth my son without interventions. I used "Hypnobirthing" and I ended up having a almost painless labor. I didn't call the midwife until quite late (I didn't feel that I needed the help!) and my dh caught my baby before the midwife arrived. The baby had a huge head but I instinctively got on a hands and knees position which allowed him to be born with ease and no tearing. He just basically slipped out - no pushing. I was able to nurse right away which helped the uterus shrink up quickly with minimal bleeding. Our breastfeeding was never interrupted so we had a very successful nursing relationship.

I have worked for years as a doula and childbirth educator. I certainly agree that some women need to birth in hospitals b/c of their health or the babies. And some women want to have the drugs so they need to be in a hospital. But I firmly feel that homebirth is very safe for healthy women. And studies back that up. The only study that showed that homebirth was not as safe was very flawed (long story).

I have had women in medicine harshly criticize my birth choices and I just don't understand why. Women have been having safe homebirths all over the world for centuries. Sure, sometimes babies die at home. But babies also die in hospitals. Most homebirth midwives can see a problem coming very early in labor and they won't think twice about sending a mom to a hospital if they need one. Shoulder dystocias happen all the time at home, but thankfully midwives have a great knowledge of birth and can deal with it using the Gaskin Manuever. Midwives today are also very skilled in monitoring (with a fetoscope!) and they are also trained to do resuscitations, though they are rarely needed at home.

Because there are no drugs or forced positions (such as mom lying flat on her back which we know is not good for the heart rate, and makes delivery very difficult) there are usually much less complications. And again, only healthy women birth at home.

I'm not trying to convince anyone to have a homebirth, just trying to say that us homebirthers aren't nuts! I know there are always docs that have seen "a homebirth gone bad" but I've also seen hospital births gone bad that didn't have to.

It just works both ways - both can be safe and happy places to birth depending on what mom wants.

I felt very safe at home and would do it again and again, so long as I'm in good health. I'm even considering going into OB to provide a "natural slant" for women who feel more comfortable in a hospital, but want a more holistic approach. And still be able to provide meds for moms that want them.

-Christy

I had to add my story...so true about Murphy's Law for medical folks!

I struggled to conceive and finally did so during my third year of medical school, using Clomid. Of course, we were elated and I remember saying to my husband that I "didn't care if I was sick every day for the duration" as long as I had a healthy baby. A day later I started gagging while brushing my teeth. I was moderately sick from 6-16 weeks and felt good after that until around 35-36 weeks. Even while doing my OB and Surgery rotations! My blood pressure started a slow rise during my last trimester and peaked at around 36 weeks, which bought me a quick trip to L & D (during which my BP remained stone-cold normal ). From then on was pretty miserable, uncomfortable, and frustrating. At 38.5 weeks my BP rose yet again and I was scheduled for induction three days later. I was also sick, sick, sick with a miserable URI. My OB stripped my membranes at that visit to help things along for the induction, which I will remember each and every time I have to do that to a patient . But I was so relieved to be getting the pregnancy over with that I stopped by Long John Silver's for some incredibly greasy chicken and fries. I felt vague cramps from the afternoon on and was vaguely ill (I thought it was the respiratory stuff plus the food). The cramps starting coming regularly around 10 PM as I was trying to get some sleep...I soon realized that they were contractions. I got up and cleaned the whole house, did laundry, and took a bath as my contractions got closer together. Around 2 AM they were 5 minutes apart and I got my husband up to go to the hospital, praying that the resident on call would be one that I liked (did my rotation at that hospital)!

I was only 2 cm when we arrived but was having nice regular contractions so they let me stay. The other OB in the practice stopped by around 7:30 AM and checked my cervix-4 cm, so he decided to rupture my membranes without really telling me that he was going to. And to beat it all there was meconium in the fluid. After that the contractions and my fear intensified and I wanted that epidural NOW. What a blessing! That nurse anesthetist was absolutely incredible. I was doing well and expecting an uncomplicated vaginal delivery and a baby by the afternoon. My friends from med school started dropping by to stay with me during labor. Life was good. My nurses were both wonderful. I had worked with them on the rotation and knew them pretty well.

I continued to progress but started coughing a lot and feeling awful because of the respiratory junk. My temperature crept up and my baby's heart rate did the same. I spiked at 101.5 and her heart rate shot up into the 180's and stayed there. Early afternoon, I really started to get frightened by the fetal monitor because I knew how to read the stupid thing. She started having little dips in her HR then started having late decels that I could see. My friends now tell me that they were trying to stand between me and the monitor so that I couldn't see what was going on.

I got to 9 cm and stayed there. My family arrived from out of town never thinking that they would beat baby by a couple of hours. The decels kept happening, I was on my side with oxygen, IV, a failing epidural and a Foley cath crying my eyes out because I just wanted a healthy baby. When I was offered a C/S at 5:30 I agreed IMMEDIATELY so long as I could have a subcuticular closure with no staples! She gave me the risks/benefits talk and I never thought about how that would affect my family. My husband and father were both crying, thinking that I or the baby might die, and there I was so relieved to be getting it done.

The C/S was a breeze compared to the rest of the day. My husband and 2 great friends were in the OR with me when my daughter was born. The hardest part of the section was not getting to see her for about 12 minutes while they suctioned her and checked her over very thoroughly due to the events of the day. I got to touch her briefly in the OR and was then whisked to recovery. I did see her around 3 hours later and was able to nurse at that time. She stayed with me for much of the time in the hospital. I was there for 3 days. I walked and got the Foley out the next morning. The worst struggle that I had during my hospital stay was just before discharge. Alisa discovered that she had an appetite and my milk had not come in yet, so we had an exhausting day of her trying to nurse every 30 minutes and crying when she couldn't get milk. I finally gave her half an ounce of formula by dropper and it satisfied her. My milk came in the next day and all was well again.

I tried to be open-minded going in as I had been through OB and knew that there were many things that could go wrong. Things didn't go as I expected but I can't say that I'm disappointed. In fact, I am inclined to go with elective C-section if I have more children. Labor was a terrible experience for me for reasons that could not have been predicted or controlled. My baby was occiput posterior, which was probably part of the reason why I couldn't dilate. Even if I had, the OB would most likely have had to use forceps, which can cause severe tears (saw a woman lose a ton of blood and get an almost 4th degree tear delivering an OP baby with forceps assistance) and which scare me more than surgery. I was still able to bond and to breastfeed (for almost 6 months) and my recovery was not bad. I was able to get out and about in less than a week and had recovered completely by 3-4 weeks postpartum. I even took the Internal Medicine shelf exam on what would have been my due date, 10 days postpartum, and did well ! The most important thing is that my child is beautiful and healthy, and that I am healthy as well. I'm even at the point where I am starting to think about getting pregnant again. We'll see about that in a year or so .