I made the decision a few weeks ago to go totally natural with my birth, but, with this being my first, I still want to have the baby in a hospital, just in case the worst should happen. As of right now, I am planning on delivering at Saint Mary's, but I am not particularly attached to my OB and I have no problem switching to another if I would need to.
What I was wondering was what your experiences either giving birth, or what your impression was during the hospital tour of the local hospitals. I'm really just wondering which one I have the best shot at them respecting my wishes and not trying to force unnecessary medical intervention on me. I would like to be able to eat a little if possible, to keep my energy up, and I do not want much monitoring done if the baby is doing fine. I don't even want so much as an IV in my arm, I would feel much more comfortable keeping myself hydrated. And, I don't want to be confined to being on my back in bed for pushing, I want to have freedom of movement during labor, and I want to try a variety of pushing positions to see which works the best for me. I also do not want an episiotomy.
I will be asking my OB all of these questions at my next appt., but that isn't for another week, and I don't start my childbirthing classes at the hospital for another month. So, I was just hoping to get some insight before then. Thank you all in advance! Any tidbit of information, even someone else's experience that you know of would be greatly appreciated!
Re: For those who have already given birth or had your hospital tours
I just delivered at Spectrum Butterworth. They were so respectful of my birthing choices. I was upfront that my goal was a natural birth but I had an open mind. We took a 13 week Bradley Course and it was so worth it. The hospital classes were a joke to me because we took both. They discussed in ours mainly topics on pain management via medication, not too much on breathing.
I had to be induced with pictoin though. At 40 weeks, I went into my regular check up and I asked him what I was measuring at. He noted 35.5. I asked if that was okay and he said..."well, you can get a pelvic check or a scan". I opted for a scan. They took a look and had me having a 8lb 14 oz baby and my amniotic fluid was at a 3. They noted that I needed to have the baby that day. I got the drip which I had to because I didn't want to jeopardize baby. I was on the drip from 2 pm til 7:30 am the next morning when my water broke. They let me walk around the floor with wireless monitors, I took baths, I was on the birthing ball, and only had 3 checks. When my waterbroke I was up the whole time. I was ready to roll at 10:00 and my son was born at 10:30.
besids the piction I had no meds. Pushing felt amazing. My husband was an amazing coach and so was my nurse who helped me a ton in the process. Eat before you go in, keep an open mind, educate yourself, and you can do it.
We are delivering at Holland Hospital. I was a little disturbed by our hospital tour at first. Basically, the nurse said we'd all probably have epidurals and that 1/3 of the class would need a c-section. They said we'd have to be hooked up to a fetal monitor. They also coached us on the ridiculous hee-hee-hoos.
That being said, they also passed out a birth plan sheet with the option of intermittent fetal monitoring, a heplock, and a statement saying 'don't offer me medication'.
I talked to the nurse afterwords and she said they much prefer natural birth mamas (much less work on their parts, I assume). I'm fairly confident that my wishes will be respected. I would make a birth plan, and give a copy to your OB, but also make sure you and your support person are on the same page. Make them the advocate for you.