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Natural Birth
ifwisheswerefishes
member
natural hospital birth
ifwisheswerefishes
member
DH and i are planning on a natural birth in our local hospital with an OB-GYN. we want a med-free, knife-free, mother-centered birthing experience. thankfully our OB is very supportive of our natural mindset; however, we have also heard horror stories about people attempting to have natural births in hospitals being completely shot down and mistreated. DH are attempting to work on our birth plan now to get our expectations in line with our personal desires.
for those of you who have dealt with a natural hospital birth, what were your experiences and how can we prepare ourselves? how can we stand our ground despite the "rules" that might be set for us?
Marian Abigail :: born 9-16-2012 via emergency C/S
BFP on 11-14-2014, aiming for a VBAC
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Re: natural hospital birth
I had a low intervention, pain med free hospital birth. I used a midwife, and I think your providers attitude is important. Does your OB have a lot of experience with natural birth? What is their opinion on induction, pitocin, etc?
A lot of things we wanted were standard practice for our provider. Another provider might have different standards. So two people who start out in similar circumstances at the same hospital could have very different experiences in the end.
I will agree that the support of my care provider (in my case, my family doctor) was key. She was great.
It also helped to labour at home as long as I could. No one tells you what to do at home - I was free to move and eat and drink as I pleased.
I hired a doula. I love her. DH loves her. We'd hire her next time. It was a great comfort to know we had her on our team.
Lastly: decide you don't give a hoot about being a nice, good girl. I swear, this might be the biggest barrier women have. They want to be good and do what the nurses say and not break the rules. Decide you want your birth more and do what you need to to make that happen. Refuse to get on your back (if you don't want to). Drink water. Get out of bed. Obviously, if it's a medical emergency you do as you're told... but there is a lot of room to push the boundaries that doesn't involve an emergency. You don't need to be a b*tch about it if people are being nice to you, but if people aren't being nice to you... eff 'em.
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You've gotten some great advice, but I just wanted to add that you should find out who your OB's on-call doctors are and their mindsets on med-free births.
My OB is awesome, but she didn't deliver DD. We ended up with a different OB who was on-call for mine and had different expectations. Everything still went okay and I got pretty much the med-free birth I wanted, but a few things were a bit of a surprise.
For example, I only wanted a hep-lock if necessary (my OB was fine with this), but the on-call OB said I needed an IV and fluids (her policy, not based on her examining me). Having the IV sucked because I felt so tied to it. Now I know that I could have just refused.
When we went for our hospital tour we asked a lot of questions about hospital policies and procedures. Many of the answers were that it is up to the OB.
I'd definitely recommend talking to your OB about how after-hours deliveries are handled in regards to other OBs being on-call for yours.
BF help & support * My Charts
I would check out your hospital. Do a tour and ask questions. The hospital I'm delivering at offered a prep class that really laid open the approach to childbirth from the hospital's end. It has really set my mind further at ease that I will be able to get what I want.
We can't really afford to hire a doula, so MH and I have been educating ourselves on standard hospital procedures so he can advocate for me if need be. He's going to be awesome!
I also like the PP's advice about not trying to be nice. I have no problem telling a nurse to fly a kite if she's too persistent about something that I don't want. Neither does H.
This is some of what I've done as a FTM to make sure that I do what I can to have the kind of birth that I want.
I agree that the hospital you are delivering at is also very important. The nurses at the hospital I had DS at were literally drug pushers haha. They had tons of patients they were caring for at once and a medicated patient required a lot let attention than one going natural. Honestly, no matter how determined you are about natural birth, without a proper advocate, you're going to hit transition and start to doubt yourself. Instead of offering positive reinforcement the nurse comes in and says, "let's get you that epidural!"
The hospital I'll be delivering this baby at is pro-natural child birth. All of the nurses are trained to be supportive and encouraging. They also don't have nearly as many patients and can give more of their time.
Right now I'm reading "Natural Hospital Birth: The Best of Both Worlds" by Cynthia Gabriel and I'm really enjoying it. It covers a LOT of the concerns you've already expressed, I have already found it to be very helpful.
Clicky link to the amazon page for the book!
I am a FTM and planning the same. We are using the Bradley Method, and currently taking the classes. What I have learned is that it is a lot in how you present yourself and act towards the hospital staff. If you go in defensive and bossy then you will not start out on the right foot. However, that is not to say you should be a pushover. Just be polite and appreciative when you can. My Bradley teacher even suggested bringing in baked goods to have your nurse take to the nurses station with a note that says it is from Room X. Also, be careful how you word your birth plan. Keep it short and highlight your key wishes. Don't put stuff in it that is not important and easily addressed like lighting, music, etc....they don't care about that. Go ahead and prioritize what is most important to you now and know that as with anything it is unlikely to go exactly as planned.
I also got a good sense as to what to expect from the hospital staff by speaking with several doulas in my area...they can usually tell you which hospitals are more accepting of natural births. If your OB is very supportive, they should be able to go through your birth plan and let you know what conflicts may arise. All that being said, it is most important to find a supportive OB...so it sounds like you are one step ahead. Good luck!
I had a med-free birth in a hospital. It wasn't hard at all although I had a CNM who was supportive and was at a hospital that was known to be pro-natural childbirth.
Find out what the policies are and figure out what's important to you and write up your birth plan accordingly. Some things will be worth fighting them on, others might not be. For example my hospital encouraged intermittent monitoring, except for the first 20 minutes in triage. Being hooked up to the bed was hard for that and I asked if I could use the birthing ball on the side of the bed. The triage nurse said, "Let's just get this 20 minutes over with and then you can move around again." So I laid in bed like a good little patient until they unhooked me. It just wasn't worth the fight. But if they had told me not to eat or drink, you can bet I would have been doing it anyway
As far as standing your ground I got some good advice from my Hypnobirthing teacher. She told us that if they come at you with any intervention the first thing you do is ask if it is an emergency. Chances are it will not be then you ask the following questions: What are the benefits of what you are suggesting? What about the risks? Any alternatives? Then always ask for a few minutes to discuss with your birth partner. Most importantly educate yourself! It's far harder to push someone around if you know what you are talking about.
I agree with pp about laboring at home as long as possible. The less time you spend in the hospital the better. I was in labor for 17.5 hours, 10.5 of which were spent at home. The day DD was born was a busy day in L & D, and it's hard to imagine they would have let me just 'sit there' for that long. They either would have told me to go home, or tried to 'move things along.'
If you haven't considered it, it might be a good idea to hire a doula.
Ugh.
I hate that advice. I remember it all over third tri.
It so plays into the "be a good girl" pressure. Be such a good patient, you show up with cookies. I am not at all convinced that it helps to bribe the nurses with baked goods. If they want you to have the epi, you did not just change their mind.
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My advice is to make sure your husband is comfortable being the bad guy, if he isn't; hire a doula and tell her that you need her to do exactly that. I hired a doula to say all the things I wouldn't be concious enough to and that my husband wouldn't.
If you don't like your labor nurse or she's pushing you to do things you don't want to, tell her you want a different nurse. If she refuses, call for a doctor and tell them that your nurse isn't supporting your needs. You're not there to make friends, you're there to birth.
We had a not so great nurse who kept putting the monitor on me when I wanted to move, who abandoned me for over an hour with the monitor on and didn't check back, and who kept trying to convince me to get an IV.
When shift changed and we got Ms. Barbara, the whole world changed. She walked in and announced that she was so excited to help me have a med-free birth and that she just loved med-free newborns because they're "lively". She came up with birthing positions and assists that my doula and doctor had never even seen, when his heart rate dropped during crowning she didn't tell me but instead looked me in the eye and said "you need to have your baby right now and I know you can do it". I felt the same way and didn't know until later that it was because the cord had cut his blood supply off and we had to get him out or lose him. She screamed with me curing contractions and kept telling me that I was strong and could do it. She was 100% engaged, supportive, and gave me so much energy. She was so very important to our success.
Please, make sure you like your nurse.