Random musing on NB in home vs hospital

amandaleigh1 · February 2013

I was just listening to a local radio program that was interviewing a midwife and an OB and discussing the ins and outs if a home vs hospital birth.

On the whole I was super impressed with how collaborative and non adversarial the two guests were with each other.

Then there were a couple of call in comments

One was the scare you type one thank goodness we had a hospital birth because x y and z happened...

The second call was from someone who had a home birth. She made a point that really made me want to call in: she described being empowered to get through the pain of childbirth with her midwife, whereas people in the hospital get the opposite. That they are constantly asked what they are feeling on the pain scale and if they need any analgesia for the pain. So instead of the hospital experience being an empowering one, it is riddled with pain and fear if pain.

I planned a NB in hospital and ended up with an no pain medication induction. My birth plan, which I discussed in advance included that I did not want to be asked anything about pain or pain scale. This was a suggestion from my hypnobirth class.

My OB actually singled that out as a really good point, and it was something that she really agreed with being a good idea when we discussed my birth plan during an office visit.

During my induction, every medical professional abided by my wishes and never asked me about any pain. It was a really effective way to stay on my own course during my hospital birth.

I'm not sure where I am going with this, but I think having a no pain scale request in a birth plan is a really simple and effective thing to implement, but isn't something I often see in NB intended birth plans.

JCWhitey · February 2013

I actually thank you for this! I know it's early but my mom has asked that I start writing a birth plan now so I can make sure it's what I want it to be when I go into labor. This is definitely something I'd like to add. I already had that I don't want to be asked if I want pain meds, but didn't even think about them always asking if I'm in pain.

aylafsu88 · February 2013

That is pretty interesting. In my NB in the hospital I told them right away that I did not want to be offered any meds. They never did and they never asked me about my pain level. I can see how a women who goes into birth with the plan to "see what happens" caves in to meds when she is constantly being asked how her pain is. I bet in her mind she thinks if she is already at a level 7 she will never make it through and ends up getting the epi.

nosoup4u · February 2013

aylafsu88:
That is pretty interesting. In my NB in the hospital I told them right away that I did not want to be offered any meds. They never did and they never asked me about my pain level.

Yep, this. I wasn't asked after I told them I didn't want any offers of pain meds. The second time, I showed up pushing so it was a moot point.

Nechie122 · February 2013

You know, it's interesting, but part of the reason I think I had a successful natural birth is because I kept questioning whether I was in labor for the first several hours. I really expected it to hurt a lot more. So I stayed home, probably longer than I should have, because I kept waiting for "real" labor to start. I got all the way to transition before I was like, oh, wow, I guess this is the real thing. And at that point is was too late for an epidural ... heck, we barely had enough time to get to the hospital.

All that to say there's definitely a mental component to it.

tokenhoser · February 2013

I laboured at home and ended up arriving fully dilated. This was a good strategy for avoiding silly questions about pain (obviously, I was in pain, but when you're ready to start pushing they no longer harass you to get an epidural).

I'm not sure I'll aim for 10 cm again this time, but I will definitely labour at home. As much as the car ride sucked, I just don't feel that labouring in the hospital offers me anything so much as hinders me. At the same time, delivering in the hospital is the right choice for me (especially since there was no room for me at the midwife clinic).

starlightstef · February 2013

intheflowers:
Putting that in your birth plan is a great idea. It is the nurse's job to assess pain in the hospital... Standard of care is to assess pain scale as part of hourly rounds, it is considered the 5th vital sign and pain treatment is part of the patient's bill of rights. So putting it in your plan relieves the nurse of this duty making her/his job easier since it'd be considered neglecting your care otherwise.

Yep, this! We've included in our plan that we'd prefer not to be asked about pain scale or offered meds.

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