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Natural Birth
Ohio Mamas (and others, too)
I'm trying to gather as much information as possible on birth options and experiences here in Ohio. My goal is to increase birthing options here, and hopefully around the country. I have started a facebook group called Expanding Birth Options in NE Ohio & Beyond. There is a survey on there I'd really appreciate you all taking if you feel up to it. Just because you aren't from Ohio/didn't birth here, doesn't mean you can't participate or that we don't want your ideas/opinions. I'm hoping to see this go nationwide. Here, we have no freestanding birth centers. We have a handful of hospitals that offer waterbirth. I've heard horror stories about women not being allowed to birth in the tub they labored in and being forced out, of women being dosed with Pit until they became stuck in a contraction. I want to make these hospitals that have driven away our birth centers more friendly places to be. If we can't have birth centers, the hospitals should provide us the options we have lost!
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Re: Ohio Mamas (and others, too)
I'm an Ohioan, but I don't have FB, so I can't participate in your survey. I am in NW/NCentral Ohio and my experience is similar. We have no freestanding birth centers and in my area there are no more CNMs practicing in hospitals within 45 miles. Hospitals around here have atrocious c/s rates and things are just not very pro-natural birth. There is one tub in the entire county and most OBs aren't willing to use it. I think there are only two and even then, they place many limitations on the mothers. The only option for a mom like me is a homebirth, and I have to drive an hour and a half to get to my prenatals.
I love living in Ohio, but this is one thing I dislike about our state!
I'm in the Cleveland area and birthing at St. John's which does offer water birth through their holistic birth center. I wanted to try for a home birth originally, and this is the compromise my husband and I settled on, and I'm very happy with everything so far.
From what I understand, Lakewood hospital offers labor tubs although I've never personally researched that. The definition of a labor tub is that you are not allowed to birth in it, so unless it was a "birthing tub" the mom would have to move prior to delivery. Are you saying that these hospitals that offer birthing tubs are forcing moms out of the tub? I thought that only happened in very specific circumstances and was not common.
The St. John's birth center is expanding and they are putting more money into it to make it bigger very soon from what the midwives told me. They also just completely renovated the midwives' office making it bigger and completely modern.
I agree that our options here are slim from what seems to be available in other areas. I think that is a consequence of having such major medical centers in the area. And also the clientele in the area..... I just heard that 90-95% of our laboring mothers get epidurals (not counting ones who planned for it and were just "too late" getting to the hospital) and our c-section rates are so high because we of the choices that we make (partially).
I don't have access to facebook right now but I'm happy you are trying to do this and I hope you are able to gain some ground.
I will try to check out your survey next time I'm on FB.
I'm in Columbus and while I feel grateful to have some options that I know not all mamas have access to, it's certainly not enough. As far as I know there is one small practice (3 CNMs and 1 OB) that practice more of a traditional midwifery model of care that deliver in the hospital. There is also a group of local CPMs that do homebirth, so that's awesome, but no birthing center. I have friends who have delivered with the homebirth midwives and they said that the group has been trying to get a birth center off the ground for years now and it keeps getting blocked somehow. I would love to have had access to a birthing center. As it is, I'm with the small CNM group who delivers in hospital. I really wish I had known about this practice for my last baby.
There is a hospital here that offers tubs in some of the L&D rooms, but I've heard that the hospital is hard to work with. When I went on my hospital tour last time I was told that hospital policy does not allow moms to labor in the tub once their water has broken and of course they typically break your water about 5 mins after you walk in the door of the hospital. It made me feel like it wasn't a feasible option to me. They also said you are never allowed to deliver in the tub. I've heard stories from friends where the hospital will try to claim things like the tub hasn't been cleaned properly or something to prevent moms from using them and the MW will actually have to clean the tub herself so that they can go on about their business. It's really strange. They're the most baby- and natural birth-friendly hospital here, for sure, but it's like they still don't want to embrace it fully.
Anyway, after talking with my MWs they basically override the hospital on a lot of the tub policies and have no problem with moms laboring in the tub after membranes have ruptured or with actually birthing in the tub. The one thing I was disappointed to find out about is that since I'm attempting a VBAC I will not be allowed to deliver in the tub. My MWs said that the hospital is extremely strict about that policy so... I'm hoping that I'm in the mood to move out of the tub when the time comes. I wonder if I'm really against the idea of leaving the tub if I can just say eff it and do what I want anyway? I mean... how could they really stop you if that's where you wanted to deliver?
So yeah, I would love to see expanded options around here. I feel like OB practices are a dime a dozen around here, but they're pretty much all the same and it's hard to sift through to find the good ones. There are several major hospitals, but of course they're all pretty much the same too.
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The information that you are stating is not true. Ohio DOES have freestanding birthing centers - four to be exact. There might not be any in your area, but they do exsist. They are licensed by Ohio Department of Health (ODH). I strongly suggest you contact someone there to get more knowledge on this subject.
In addition, there are hosptials that have the tub option for delivering. I can think of two that are close to my office so your comment "there are only a few that offer waterbirth" is not accurate either. In the entire state of Ohio there are more than a few if I can think of two off the top of my head. A little bit of research and I could have all of them. The hospital that I will deliver our second child does not offer it and it's fine with me - I will still have a natural birth in a hospital setting.
Please do some more research. Maybe you were typing quickly or worded some statements incorrectly. Try ODH. Try insurance companies. Try OB offices. Do something besides stating things that aren't true.
From my understanding the OP was talking specifically about NE Ohio. Perhaps in that area where she lives there aren't any freestanding birth centers within a reasonable driving distance or many hospitals with birthing tubs.
Sure, there are birth centers in Ohio. But where I live I would have to drive over and hour and a half to deliver at one of them. And there is only one birthing tub in my entire county. And three of our surrounding counties do not have any in any of the hospitals (not sure about the other surrounding counties, by I am assuming the same is true there).
The location of the birthing centers and hospitals with tubs seem to be concentrated into the big city areas of our state. The problem is that those cities are quite a drive from the more rural areas. It would be really nice if some of the hospitals in the less densely populated areas of our state provided more options for mothers wanting a natural birth experience. When my friend delivered her third child the hospital didn't even have a birthing ball for her to use for Pete's sake.
This is typical of where I'm delivering also. Any prior c-section and you risk out of having a water birth and I'm pretty sure you aren't allowed in the water for labor either.
I'm still allowed to labor in the tub, just not deliver. I'm happy about that! I'm sure that has to do with my provider though, like I said they practice more of a traditional midwifery model of care. I have to be monitored, but it's wireless and waterproof so I can still be in the tub. The hospital doesn't like anyone who is being monitored to labor in the tub, but my provider allows it.
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Yay!! I hope you get a birth experience you are happy with
Blackrose, I am in NE Ohio and will go take your survey. St. John's in Lakewood is over an hour away for me, so I am with a CNM at Summa Physicians and will have a natural birth at Summa Akron City. There are two tubs there and you bet your bippy I am going to be in one of them. I have the name of the nurse manager there to clarify the rules about tub use, and my birth plan states no artificial rupture of membranes, so hopefully I will get to hang out in the tub for a while.
I have heard there is a birthing center attached to Robinson Memorial Hospital in Ravenna, but none of the CNMs my insurance covers seem to deliver there. However, my doula says that Akron City is relatively NB friendly. With both a doula and a CNM, I think my chances for a natural birth there are very good.
Cookie Monster, I would be interested in knowing the names of the freestanding birth centers and waterbirth-friendly hospitals. The only hospital anywhere near here that does waterbirths is Aultmann Orrville Hospital in Orrville--again, farther away from home than I am comfortable traveling.
ETA: Blackrose, your Expanding Birth Options in NE Ohio & Beyond FB page is well hidden. I can't get it to come up on Facebook. You may need to change the privacy settings on that page.
Over-40 parents...what we lack in vigor, we make up for with cunning.
I've never posted on this board, but lurked frequently when pregnant with my DD. I haven't attempted to find the FB group, but wanted to comment on my experiences. I'm in NE Ohio as well and while I ran into a lot of resistance, I was able to have a natural hospital birth with a doula by my side. I stuck with the same OB/gyn i've had since i was 16 and she turned out to be very skeptical of my plans, despite there being a CNM in the practice as well. i had a choice of two hospitals, and went with the one where the nurse on the tour seemed the most open to my choices.
I think a large part of my "success" was that my labor progressed extremely quickly after checking in to the hospital, so no one really had time to fight me on anything. I arrived at the hospital around 9 p.m and DD was born shortly after midnight and probably would have been earlier but they wouldn't let me push until my doc arrived. I had access to a birthing ball ( had my own in the car just in case), and while the first nurse I had was PITA and tried to make me lay down for monitoring, I pretty much ignored her. I asked to use the shower, which they were okay with but never got around to it because things moved so rapidly. I was overall pretty happy with my experience, but I was also somewhat flexible...my main requests were no iV hook up (still had saline lock) and no epi...both of those happened, and DD arrived healthy and screaming like a banshee.
But, overall I would agree with the lack of NB friendly options in the NE Ohio area, especially in my specific area...about an hour outside of Akron and 1.5 hours outside of Cleveland.