Intro - Hello from April 2013

RunnerMeg

Good morning! I've been lurking, and posting occasionally, on this board since before I was pregnant. I figured it's time to come out and introduce myself.

I am 12 weeks pregnant with our first and our due date is April 15th. For as long as I can remember I've always wanted to have a low intervention/med-free child birth. It just seems like the right thing to do, for myself and the baby. I'm educating myself by reading a lot of books (Thinking Woman's Guide to a Better Birth and Ina May's Guide to Childbirth, so far) and think I am interested in hypnobabies for birth preparation.

We will also be having a doula. I think her resourcefulness and guidance will be invaluable, especially because I will be delivering in a hospital.

My one concern regarding natural childbirth stems from a previous traumatic experience. 4.5 years ago I broke my left femur in two places in a motorcycle accident. Before they could put me in the ambulance they had to set my leg in traction (pulling my leg out straight from the foot/ankle to align the broken bones). It was by far the most painful thing I've ever experienced in my life.  I don't remember the pain itself, but I remember the entire experience.

I know that that experience, a traumatic injury is very different that birthing a baby, but I can't help but feel concerned about being able to cope with the pain. 

Does anyone have any experience with an accident/injury other traumatic event that they experience prior to childbirth? Did it affect your natural birth experience at all?

Sorry this is so long!

PansyPants

Hello from a fellow April 2013 momma!

I actually had a slightly similar experience when I was a child. I broke both the bones in my left forearm and had it set. It was horrible and something I hope to never experience again. In a lot of ways it gave me confidence that I could have a natural/med-free, I figure if I survived the previous injury that clearly I could survive something my body is made to do and has instinctive responses for helping me process the pain. 

I had a very simply birth with my son, no meds, no IV, 17 hours of labor with 2 hours of pushing and during the whole thing I felt safe and capable of dealing with whatever came next. There was never the traumatic/sudden pain that happens with an injuring and because of that there wasn't any fear of it. I knew it would keep growing until it was time to push and then there would be a baby and it would all be over.

I hope this helps and if you have any other questions (no matter what! I'm very open about this experience and feel it's important to share everything with other mothers who are interested) please feel free to ask me. 

RunnerMeg

Pansy - PMing you

danuli8

Hi RunnerMeg! I am also on the April '13 board and hoping for a low-intervention birth. And yup, also hiring a doula. I have suffered migraines since childhood and some of them have been so agonizing I wished I would hurry up and die already, so I figure, how much worse can giving birth be?