Natural Birth
SayNoPit
member
Help me fight for a natural birth for my wife
SayNoPit
member
My wife is 39 weeks and her water leaked (small amount) last night with very mild contraction. We have Kaiser Santa Clara and called in was advised to come in to L&D to see if water really broke.
Nurse confirmed water was broken (still small amount of leakage) and she maybe offered pitocin later on to avoid infection. We were admitted and transfer to a birth room. She was asked to get a IV line and we said no. And the nurse keep on insisting... We said no IV and they left.
2nd shift comes in and offered pitocin again and more horrid story about infection. We said no pitocin.
3rd RN comes in and asked again. We said no. Again this is after just 5hrs
By 8hrs, she comes in again this time with a male staff doc, he force us to give him a time line of getting pit saying my wife's birth is not normal. Meaning water broke with mild contractions.
I made sure her temp is below 37, no yellow or green color discharge, all clean and not smelly. And I asked him which part of her birth is not normal he said I just told u! And keep on saying this is not normal and should use pitocin ASAP and we said we will decide later but in out mind we didn't want any drugs.
Right now it's been 15hrs she still on the bed and no IV no put yet.
Contraction is every 30mins
Pain level 5.5/10 according to her.
What steps should we take to ensure natural birth.
How long can we hold out here?
Is it ok to ask to go home? I am sure we will be asked to have waivers signed.
Please help!
Nurse confirmed water was broken (still small amount of leakage) and she maybe offered pitocin later on to avoid infection. We were admitted and transfer to a birth room. She was asked to get a IV line and we said no. And the nurse keep on insisting... We said no IV and they left.
2nd shift comes in and offered pitocin again and more horrid story about infection. We said no pitocin.
3rd RN comes in and asked again. We said no. Again this is after just 5hrs
By 8hrs, she comes in again this time with a male staff doc, he force us to give him a time line of getting pit saying my wife's birth is not normal. Meaning water broke with mild contractions.
I made sure her temp is below 37, no yellow or green color discharge, all clean and not smelly. And I asked him which part of her birth is not normal he said I just told u! And keep on saying this is not normal and should use pitocin ASAP and we said we will decide later but in out mind we didn't want any drugs.
Right now it's been 15hrs she still on the bed and no IV no put yet.
Contraction is every 30mins
Pain level 5.5/10 according to her.
What steps should we take to ensure natural birth.
How long can we hold out here?
Is it ok to ask to go home? I am sure we will be asked to have waivers signed.
Please help!
This discussion has been closed.
Re: Help me fight for a natural birth for my wife
I would suggest a could of things to help get stuff going. Walking may help so maybe she should take a few laps around the hospital. Also maybe try nipple stimulation. The sucking action can also help with picking up contractions. You should be able to request a breast pump to borrow at the hospital so have your wife try using it.
GL!
We're asked 5 more times by 3 different dr about pitocin! We still standing our ground. It's tough to have to argue with the dr n nurse when they bombard you with how things can go horribly wrong with pitocin?
"If we wait till she has an infection her uterus may not be able to delivery a baby"
"If we wait and baby heart rates dropped below 90 for 3 mins, we will have to do a c section right away, and risk damaging Baby's brain since there may not be enough time to do it, we would only have 12 minutes do operate..."
"Pitocin leads to less chance of having a c-section" (this is the opposite of what everyone's saying...)
It's tough and I told them to not ask again whether we want any drugs...
They made us feel like we are the bad guys standing in their way of doing what's "best" for the baby....
I'm no medical expert all I got is resource online and what I learnt from documentary. But I do feel like we are being pushed constantly to do something we don't want to.
I wished I found a midwives like I planned but I believed the kaiser ob that natural birth is respected here.
We sure don't feel that way at all.
For all future mom and dad who wish for a natural birth. I wish u never have to deal with what we are dealing with right now....
It's mentally draining..
I really want to check out of the hospital with all these non sense but after hearing the bad scenario what If the baby heart beat does drop or she develop a infection at home?
Then why are some moms waiting at home till they have very strong 5 mins construction till they come to the hospital can't we do the same now?
What I meant from my last post was that I read some moms broke their water in situation like us and wait at home till she's having 5 mins contractions to come to L&D to avoid what we are fighting through right now.
If they care so much about infection why did the rn or dr never checks or asks for the color of her discharge?
Also, you realize that when they try to sell you pitocin, they never mention the bad things the come with it? "It's for the baby". Really?
They would say almost anything they can to scare you.
First get you hooked on IV.
Glad she didn't or else she wouldn't be able to walk around freely...
IV leads to pitocin, then epidural, ....
I should stop typin my restless rant and pray that she will have a safe birth soon.
Is she walking and/or doing stairs to try and get things moving? Nipple stimulation (either manually or with a pump) can stimulate contractions too.
Doula, Placenta Encapsulator, Childbirth/Lactation Educator
Corin Andrew Dec 24/09
Ronan Edward Jul 9/12
Baby #3 EDD Aug 6/14
The risk with ROM is infection. Allow now vaginal exams and the risk is very, very low.
It's extremely rare to go more than 48 hours after ROM with no contractions/LO not arriving.
FWIW, with S. my water broke (like really broke) and consistently gushed. However, I had only sporadic contractions. My water broke as I was getting into bed. I think I had 2 contractions that night and 4 of 5 throughout the next day. The same thing happened the next night and day.
Finally, 48 hours after ROM, consistent contractions set in.
and 4 hours later (so 52 hours after ROM) S. was born.
That being said, I had no vaginal exams. I took my temperature to monitor for infection. I stayed home (to decrease exposure to bacteria in public places).
I am so glad my MW was supportive and we were still able to have our HB.
GL!
She was able to have a natural virginal birth with the help of very low dose of pitocin 35hrs after water broke. Mom n baby are healthy.
Our fear was that she would have to do a c-section when there it wasn't medically necessary had we tried other things that could have help with natural birth.
Our fear was that the provider has an hidden agenda to push for pitocin, epidural n finally a c-section.
In the end, we stand strong and try our hardest to ask for as little intervention as possible.
Key lessons we learn that could help other moms :
1) If your water broke and you are around 39-40 weeks, water is clear, you may want to allow yourself more time at home to have stronger contraction before rushing to the hospital. There are always risk after your water broke but I wish we spend more time laboring at home. Hospital is not a good environment to wait for contraction since you will be put on a clock n you will have to deal with the nurcse n doc pressure of getting IV, pitocin when you may not need it YET.
2) Try lowest dose of pitocin and make sure you and your husband carefully monitor baby heart rate during contraction induced by pitocin. We asked for low and slow dosage, started with 1mu and up 1mu every hour. But we spend almost 12 hours total on pit, highest pit was 4mu! We stayed at 3 for a long time since 1 n 2mu wasn't causing frequent contraction. Remember you can go back to a lower dosage or be completely off pit. Watch for decel of heart rate below 90. Healthy heart rate is 120-160. Pay attention to the toco number and remember how your strong the contraction is for each "level" of pitocin. Upping pit too strong too fast you may cause decel, pit too low contraction may not be strong of frequent enough. Key is to find the right balance. Doc check the cervix opening every 3-4hrs to find out if the current dosage of pit is effective.
3). Don't easily give them consent to a c-section when you feel that you should be allowed more time up labor naturally given that baby n mom are healthy n no signs of infection... The doc bring up c-section as a very possible ending many times. Ask what you could do to avoid a c-section? What are the options and how each options should be used?
4). Don't lay on the bed and wait for contraction to come even after pit is in the IV.
5). Stand, walk, pace, squat to let gravity do the work you want to get to 10cm as quick as possible before mom is too tired to push!
6). Eat fruit n drink during laboring even with IV. They don't want you to eat in case of a emergrncy c-section. If you don't have the IV in make sure mom eats n rest during labor!!!!!
7). Avoid IV when it's not necessary. It restrict your movement to the bathroom n when you pace.
8) Have your partner press your lower back or squeeze your butt with hands on your hip during contraction. This seems to ease the tense muscle.
9). Measure mom temp every 4 hrs. check discharge color n odor. A little blood is expected as cervix opens. Definitely not heavy blood, or yellow greenish.
10) Know your options at all time. Try to find out the doc concerns for every thing they suggest, if you feel it's against your will or birth plan and it isn't medically necessary, question them! Say no! Know that you are in charge because you are the one giving birth.
Hope this helps other mom!