Natural Birth

New here, with some questions

I am a FTM with baby's EDD August 8th.  I've always wanted a drug free birth and more recently I've been leaning towards a water biirth.  I also want skin to skin contact for a couple hours after deliver, BF only, and rooming in.  I currently go to a hospital about 40 mins from where I live and have an OB.  They do not have a water birthing option there, no rooming in, and you most likely will have to switch rooms between delievery and recovery and I will probably be sharing a room with other women in recovery.  There is a womens hospital with CNMs who specialize in natural birth and from looking at their website it sounds absolutely amazing, but it's a litte over an hour away.  Is that too far?  I wouldn't think so since I'm planning a natural birth and we can hit the road after my first few contractions or water breaking.  Also, my insurance should cover it with it being a womens hospital right?

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Re: New here, with some questions

  • Also, during my first trimester I tried bringing up a birth plan with my current OB and she kind of laughed and said that she doesn't agree with birth plans that they always seem to make things more complicated and that whats most important to her is baby's health.   Her response made me kind of unsure that I wanted her delivering our baby.  But being a FTM I don't know if i'm overreacting.
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  • I would definitely drive the hour to have a better experience. That is a long way to go in labour, and as such I would recommend leaving really early, as you said- partly to make sure you make it in time, but also because being strapped into a chair in the car for an hour in advanced labour will be horrible. I would want to leave early, even if it meant spending some time walking around the park/a parking lot/grabbing a bite to eat/hanging out in a rented hotel room so you have access to a bathtub and bed/whatever when you get there to kill time if it's still too early.

    Good luck!

    ETA: yeah, your OB's comment would bother me, too. She makes it sound like a birth plan puts baby's health at risk or something.

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  • I would recommend checking with your insurance to be sure about coverage (us being random people on the internet you shouldn't rely on anything we'd say! :-) ) As for distance, in the end it prob. depends on what your labor is like. In my personal experience, we had a 45 min drive, and actually labored quite a while at home. As it turned out, I was fully dilated by the time we arrived, and felt the need to push once I got settled (fortunately not before!). My husband is insisting that next time we leave sooner :-) but yeah, I think if you left early, generally (Again, it really depends) and hour in terms of TIME would likely not be a problem. The challenge will be waiting long enough for labor to be well established. The midwives (who are prob. used to others driving just a far to get there) will be able to give you good advice.
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  • I don't think an hour away is too far. Before you get your hopes up about the place though try to find someone that has personally delivered there. Sometimes those places are not all they are cracked up to be. Since it is attached to the hospital a lot of time the MW's have strict rules and guidelines to follow. GL!  
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  • An hour's not a big deal - my mom had to do that with my brother and lots of women in big cities have to take a long time travelling between traffic and wanting to make sure that they get a good hospital. Just make sure that you don't take too long to leave the house!
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  • imageKaylaC0514:
    Also, during my first trimester I tried bringing up a birth plan with my current OB and she kind of laughed and said that she doesn't agree with birth plans that they always seem to make things more complicated and that whats most important to her is baby's health.   Her response made me kind of unsure that I wanted her delivering our baby.  But being a FTM I don't know if i'm overreacting.

    Run!  Seriously, that is a huge red flag.  More complicated for HER!  

    You are already driving 40 minutes an extra 20 really isn't that big of a deal!  Right now we live pretty close to a hospital that is very pro-natural childbirth, but at some point know we will be moving 1hr + away, but I don't care I will still go to this hospital because I know I will get the best care without sacrificing what I want.  

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