If you don't do well in a hospital setting...

WifeyMommy2011

What are you doing to prepare for your labor/birth? I'm one of those people who tend to pass out and just all around don't do well in medical settings. Any advice?

indiana101

I'm planning a homebirth. Not an option for everyone, but sure solves that problem!

mrsdugger

I'm not a fan of anything medical. I tend to worry about every little procedure they attempt on me whether it's taking my blood pressure or something more serious.  I've been quite calm heading towards labor though and I mostly attribute it to knowing this is going to be a happy experience.  My advice is to not let yourself build this up negatively in your mind.  I'm only thinking about the good and allowing myself to trust that the people there do this same thing daily...I'll be in good hands. 

Your labor doesn't have to be scary and neither does the hospital. Just try to concentrate on the excitement of it all! Good luck, you'll be fine

missdaisie04

I dont know if this helps. but have you tried checking on giong to a birth center instead??? its ideal if you have a healthy pregnancy, and not high risk. Also its idea for no medical interventions. If not try bring things from your home that will make you comfortable in the hospitals, bath robe, slippers, pillows, anything. ipod is good too. good luck!

tinydancingqueen

I was really nervous about going to the hospital and giving birth there, and doing some hypnobirthing/meditation/positive affirmation has really helped me with the fear, anxiety and nerves.  Also, I had to go into L&D 3 times already over the last 3 months, and with each experience it made me feel less afraid because I became familiar with the L&D rooms and personnel. Those experiences and also taking the tour of the L&D dept gave me things to meditate on (like familiarizing myself with the L&D rooms in my visualization, visualizing myself in a hospital L&D bed in a peaceful relaxed state, visualizing the actual birth in the labor room and meditating on the feeling of peace that I'm striving for during the birth).  For me, this has helped tremendously.

lala1608

I am one of those people who can't wait to get into the hospital and have the baby...and then as soon as the baby is born, I can't wait to get out of that place and go home!  With both of my kids, I begged to go home early. 

I think that you will be so wrapped up in the moment that you won't really have time to be nervous about the hospital setting.  Have you went to visit your L&D unit yet?  That might help to calm your fears and give you an idea of what you will be walking into.

cecilyandgautam

I don't like hospitals but am not deathly afraid either - I just think a lot of their procedures are unncessary, such as hooking everyone up to an IV, and I'd rather relax in an environment where that's not the SOP. I'm going with a birth center but we do have a hospital back up in case a transfer is necessary and to ease our concerns, we're going on the maternity ward tour, we're writting up a few different versions of our birth plan (one for a textbook labor uncomplicated labor at our birth center; one for a precipitous labor - my mom had 3 of those so who knows if I will; one for a non-emergency hospital transfer; and one for an emergency transfer - sure, it's more typing & prep on our part but we want our wishes to be clearly stated and this way we can just hand them the appropriate 1 pager rather than ask everyone to read through a multi page document), and overall, we're just doing lots of prep ourselves - labor practices together, daily exercises for me, and keeping up good nutrition to stay low risk.

smilelari

Last time I took 2 tours of the hospital and took pictures.  I wanted to feel like the space was familiar.  Also be sure to ask lots of questions about what to expect.