Best Natural Birth Methods

Amores0121

Hi ladies! I really want to do a natural VBAC...at the moment I am with an OB and will be delivering in the hospital where I had my emergency C with DD.  My OB is supportive of VBAC, but has already mentioned epidural! The thing that sucks is I don't know who will actually be delivering me b/c it depends on who is the dr. on call. Of course, I will have met them all prior but it still sucks.  Anyhow, I am doing research on pain management methods..seriously considering Hypnobabies, but wondering how realistic that is in a hospital setting? I seem to remember people coming in and out of the room rather often.  Any advice on Hypnobabies or other natural pain management and how well it works in a hospital setting?  TIA!

mb314

For me, laboring in the shower at home and the labor tub at the hospital was what got me through the pain.  Ask your doctor/hospital if they will let you bring in a labor tub or have one available, or if they will let you labor in the shower (which usually requires that you are not hooked up to continuous monitoring and IVs). 

I don't have any experience with hypno babies.

Amores0121

@mb314 They do have labor tubs at this hospital and I tried doing that during labor with DD and hated it. However, I was not prepared to cope with my pain and pretty much everything irritated me once my water broke.  I am hoping to be better prepared this time. Thanks for your input.

jennybean80

I've seen a few women do Hypnobabies in hospital and most do quite well. You can always make up a sign that says 'we are using Hypnobabies during our labour and request quiet voices and dim lighting in the room to help us' (or something like that) and tape it to the outside of the door. That way everyone who comes in knows what to expect.

DebateThis

My birth story was bizarre and I was in labor for three weeks, stalled at 6cm/100% effaced and contracting every 10 minutes the whole time. The only thing that kept me sane was Natal Hypnotherapy tracks. It's from the UK and there was something incredibly soothing about the British accent of the woman on the tracks. I highly recommend it.

I wound up using a lot of it during the last hour of very intense labor and it really helped me manage well, even in a hospital.

Chichigo

I used meditation CDs called "Healthy Pregnancy and Natural Childbirth" by Belleruth Naparstek. The first CD is guided mediation to use throughout your pregnancy, and the second uses the same background music and cadence for labor and delivery (suggested to listen to it during the last month). While laboring at home, I found my yoga ball incredibly helpful. They had one available in the delivery room, but by the time my IV was in place it was too late. I was also lucky that ,y water didn't break until just prior to delivery, and my doctor was respectful of my wish to let everything go as naturally as possible. He would have broken the water without that request.

Amores0121

@DebateThis You poor thing!! 3 weeks, what hell! I can't believe that your Dr. didn't push induction on you!

Amores0121

Thanks everyone! I think I will definitely be doing Hypnobabies! My labor with DD was horribly painful, even after I got the epidural and it sounds like Hypnobabies will really help with the pain.

DebateThis

Amores0121 said:

@DebateThis You poor thing!! 3 weeks, what hell! I can't believe that your Dr. didn't push induction on you!

My midwives were awesome, and looking back I'm really glad it played out that way. I was 35+4 the day I went into labor, got to 7cm, and then labor "stalled" (dropped back to 6cm, ctx every 10 min) so they send me home. They didn't want to do anything to induce since I was preterm, but figured that I'd be back in a couple days. I spent the next 3 weeks at 6cm/100% effaced/ctx every 10 min. I was going BSC but ultimately my active labor was only an hour and 11 minutes and went really well (and DS was only 6lbs 9oz) so I know it all worked out for the best.