Rich Morris' Comics - YAFGC and The ComixBlog

Oh, I learned something today! I always wondered why the terms didn't seem to line up, duh.

As for the homebirth, yup, it is really what I consider a "normal" birthing place, not a mental stretch. I know it's not for everyone, but since I'm personally much more frightened of hospitals and back-needles than I am of labouring in my own space, it works for me. In fact even at the height of transition I remember thinking, "at least there are no tubes in me." Some people feel so much more relaxed with doctors and options around them, whatever they choose to do, I can imagine it's a million times better in hospital.

And though it was the hardest/most painful thing I've done in my life, I had a textbook first homebirth with no tearing or stitches or what-have-you. I'm hoping doing the first 21 hours (9 active, .5hr push) naturally will mean it's quicker and easier this time.

....Well, I'm still frightened to go through it all again, but my midwives feel pretty confident about it being better ("women should skip having their first baby and just have their second, it's so much better") that I'm starting to feel good about it, anyhow!

I feel like doctors push too many interventions... I know with my little boy, I was so excited because I was going to try things more naturally (albeit in the hospital) and we went in when my water broke- within half an hour, they were pushing pitocin on me. And as educated as I am on childbirth and as much as I'm against pitocin just to augment labor without a trial run of allowing a mother to labor on her own, I backed down... Heck, I even wrote a paper for my Medical Ethics class about inducing labor for the convenience of the doctor and I STILL wasn't able to say NO.

If we had a birth center here, I'd sooo be there. From what I can tell, they seem to be the middle ground between hospital births and home births.

We're lucky here in that the local maternity hospital is very low-intervention oriented and very good about working with doulas and such. We had a doula, I'd done the prenatal yoga, I was going to do the whole natural childbirth thing, with the birthing balls and the squatting and the walking and the hot baths...

Until 9 hours in when I hadn't progressed past 5 cm, it was all back labour (which I had not anticipated), and (though we didn't know it at the time), my pelvis was flying off in opposite directions and sitting on the birthing ball gave me pain worse that the contractions. They broke my water, and I actually regressed back to 3 cm. I had no idea that could even happen. After that, my inability to stand the pain even with all the LaMaze techniques, the meditations and affirmations and the counterpressure and such, won out over my fear of epidurals. I proposed marriage to the anesthetist when he was done.

And while I felt like a massive failure for ages afterwards, but quite frankly, I'm glad I did it - I was in labour for another 12 hours after that, all of it back labour, and there was no way I'd have managed it unassisted.

I'd like to do it drug-free next time, if possible, but if it's back labour again? Screw that noise, and hook me up as soon as we get in the door of the labour room. I am not going through that hell again.

You definitely have a reason to have loved your epi! I feel like- if they push pit on you right off the bat, it's a snowball effect where you then end up with pitocin, an epidural, a catheter, and whatever other interventions they think are necessary. Where, if the pit is NEEDED- fine and good. If it wasn't needed, was it worth all of the other interventions? Highly doubtful.

I just heard, this pregnancy, about someone regressing in their dilation. Man oh man, you think you are getting somewhere and suddenly, you regress? I'd be about done, myself. I'd probably be asking for a c-section!!!

Hubby is trying to woo me, but it's hard to be romantic when you know there are ulterior motives!

The IWK is very low-intervention, compared to what I've heard about US hospitals especially. It wasn't until I was approaching official 'failure to progress' numbers at nine hours that they even started suggesting drugs, and when I refused the pit drip they were fine with it. Up until then it was all "where's your birth plan? How's it going; let's take a walk, have a hot shower, would you like a popsicle?" low-key stuff. Having the doula on hand definitely helped with that, mind you; she was an excellent advocate.

The hospital I've chosen this time is pretty laid back in regard to birthing... So I'm hoping this will do the trick for me to get a chance at a natural birth. Really- I don't care if I end up with the epidural and whatnot, but I want the CHANCE to do things on my own. How things actually progress and whatever happens- happens. I'm not a stickler on anything in this regard

It's funny because there are three of these hospitals in our area and we chose the bright, pretty, brand-new fancy one for my Bub- and they were the ones who pushed the pit on us ASAP. Actually, when I called on our drive up there (my water had broke)- they said, "Well, we don't have any beds!" Um! Okay? What do you want me to do about that??? LOL!

The hospital we are using this time- it's older, it's quieter, and the staff are AMAZING. They know who you are before you walk onto the floor- just has a totally different vibe. A few of the rooms have tubs for labor (there are very few water births here) and they have birthing balls in the rooms... I just love the vibe

Now if only I'd have an excuse to GO there sometime sooN!

Wow, DM, I've never heard of regressing dilation either. That's insane. I know of some women who go through crazy amounts of active labour, like 20 hours, and then get the epidural, and then get the c-section, and I have always thought, holy god I would have said 'fuck it' long before then. I do believe that if something had been off, my midwives would have transferred me -- they are ex-nurses and very sensible about options. The only thing non-textbook about my delivery was that baby emerged "military style," ie. he crowned the top, not the more flexible back, of his head. That made for an entertaining ring of fire, but nothing like pubic separation and back labour for that long.

I totally agree about the cascade of interventions, Khaotic, and I'm sorry you felt out of control with your 'pitocin pressure.' Bugs me huge, and yet I can totally see how easy it is to be susceptible when you're in that vulnerable place.

And it's so true that hospitals vary, regionally and even within regions. In Alberta here you can't even get in a tub in a hospital. Very old-school, making homebirthing that much more appealing. Birth centers I'd consider as well (especially because those industrial boilers mean never running out of hot water, like we did!!), but adding a couple thou to the cost just isn't an option when you're already footing $3500 for the midwives themselves.

It royally sucks that most insurances don't cover midwives or homebirths! It seems women are really backed into the corner when it comes to the type of birth they can AFFORD versus what they want sometimes- and that sucks!

They're working on it here in Nova Scotia. We paid for our doula out of pocket, but midwives are in the process of applying to be covered by provincial medicare as an option for women instead of the IWK.

A friend of mine in Alberta had a homebirth (waterbirth) a few months before I had Bean; she was very happy with the local midwives as well. If the hospitals are all that oldschool, I can understand why! The idea of labouring in a hot bath at home is really appealing, but I couldn't imagine keeping our cats out of the room for that long. They're persistent little buggers.

Bean was 20.5 hours of active labour in total - things slowed down a lot after the epidural, which we had been told to expect. My mother was 36 hours in labour with me before a c-section (similar problems - sunny-side-up baby and failure to progress) and only four hours with her next (and last) one, so I'm hoping next round will be easier.

...

I still want one

ANOTHER BORING doctor's appointment... In fact, I'm rather agitated right now.

Had the membranes swept- painful, but nothing like labor with pit, so I managed. So far, nothing really- a bit more crampy then normal- maybe it's something, maybe it's not?

My doc had told us last week if nothing happens THIS week, we could schedule an induction at 39 weeks. Once again, not my favorite scenario, but I DON'T want my husband gone when we have this baby- and he leaves next THURSDAY (not Friday like I thought- noo, just got his travel papers and it's THURSDAY- this is so not good!) so I figured, I'd go through the hell of pitocin again so my Hubby would have time with the new baby... Well, today, asked the doc about getting that induction scheduled- for Friday- figuring that would give me a few more days to possibly go on my own- and my doctor is out of town Friday and Saturday! So MONDAY, I'm supposed to call and we'll see... I'm going to end up with a 3 day old babe when my husband leaves- I just know it!

Good thing- my family lives in town. My Mom had actually asked when Hubby was going out of town so she could come stay with me and help out and I had laughed at her because, thinking I'd have at least a week or two to recover before Hubby left, I didn't really believe I'd NEED ANY HELP. Yeah, well, looks like I'll be more then happy to get it at this point in time!

I'm just frustrated!

I... feel like there's another option, here. How about hubby reschedules? Seriously.

Hubby couldn't reschedule- he's been out of work for a month expecting our little one, so in the end- we had to work around this trip... Sad, but true!

BUT that's okay... Didn't get the labor and delivery I wanted- once again- but once again, ended up with a beautiful munchkin...

Here's my story... It's long- but I tried to edit as much as I could...

Hubby and I got up to L&D on Sunday night at 7:30 PM. They immediately ushered us to our room and I was settled in to do some fetal monitoring. I was the only patient up on the ward that night- so I got a lot of attention to myself

My attending nurse was really sweet, although I must admit- if you must get cervical exams, you don't want a a petite person to do them! It felt like she was literally cramming her hand up my throat through my poor vagina!

The plan that night was to do Cervadil and go from there... Well, during my first exam, I was already 3-4 centimeters dilated, so my Doctor decided to start me on pitocin immediately instead of using the Cervadil. I asked if we could skip the pitocin and break my water, figuring that might push my body into a more natural labor, but since the baby's umbilical cord had been up around his shoulders and neck during our last ultrasound and he was still higher up then they wanted, my doctor said he'd prefer the pitocin.

As usual, I complied.

My Mom had stayed home because I had told her nothing would happen that night, but once they decided to start me on pit, we called her and asked her to come up. Hubby and I had skipped dinner (I really thought we had a bit more time!)- so once Mom arrived, he went to eat and I got to munch on the lovely ice chips (love ice chips- just not when I'm HUNGRY!).

The pit, on its own, wasn't too horrible. It caused contractions, on the tape, but it felt just like bad cramps to me. I was okay at this point in time.

Time ticked by... I remember looking at my Mom and Hubby and feeling bad for them- it was so very late and here I was, tied up to the bed (I could get up and use the bathroom, but that required unhooking the monitors so I tried to limit my trips as much as possible)- keeping everyone else from sleeping.

Slowly, my cervix was showing change- but the baby wasn't willing to move down to a better position to be delivered.

Sometime during the wait for things to change, our little boy managed to elude the monitor- over and over, but finally, the last time, he eluded it long enough to make me nervous. Long enough for the nurse to decide she wanted to put an internal monitor on his poor little head...

So, they decided it was time to break my water... This is where I'm a bit confused- it was either the time of night or just everything going on- but I'm not sure if the baby HAD moved down far enough OR if they forced him down further while breaking my water...

All I know was this was literally the WORSE part of my labor and delivery experience. I had one nurse shoving down on the top of my uterus forcefully while I had another nurse between my legs, at first breaking my water (which is always a horrible feeling when it is done manually) and then it seemed as though she was spelunking because I was in the most excruciating pain as she tried again and again to get the internal monitor placed on my little boy's head.

This is where I started crying... Not bawling, but just crying. I was crying for me- for the pain I was in, and I was crying for my baby, because I felt horrible for him- forcing him out into the world when he obviously was not interested in being born anytime soon...

This experience probably took five minutes- it felt like a solid hour.

Finally, my water was broke and the monitor was firmly in place. I felt, briefly, a great anger towards my nursing staff... Towards everyone and anything near me. I just wanted a normal labor and delivery experience- NOT what I was experiencing.

My feelings of anger subsided and as they raised the pitocin, my body began to respond positively to the pitocin- and I definitely could feel these contractions!

My Husband estimated I was having about 4 super contractions every 5 minutes. I was managing to breathe my way through these contractions and I must say- my Hubby impressed me this time around. With my 3 year old son, he would try to squeeze my hand and rub my belly during the contractions- this time, he got the hint. During a contraction, I'd release his hand, close my eyes, and breathe in for a count of 10 (in my mind) and then breathe out. I didn't want anyone to touch me or talk to me. I just wanted to ride out the contraction.

I had already decided, when I was told I'd be on pitocin, once again, that I would get an epidural. Previously, I had waited too long and by the time I received one, I was basically in a state of constant contractions. I did not want it to reach that level of pain again. However, I did not want an epidural too early either (what exactly IS too early?). When I asked my nurse about receiving one, she told me the anesthesiologist would take at least 30 minutes to reach the room after I requested one- and that kept haunting my thoughts.

I didn't want one too early, but I surely didn't want to be screaming and crying in pain before I received one either!

So around 6 centimeters, I asked for an epidural. The anesthesiologist arrived probably sooner then 30 minutes and easily inserted the epidural.

Soon afterwards, my body began to relax... I could finally start to let my eyes drift shut- this was probably around 2 AM. I was hoping I could take a nap- after all, what else can you do at 2 AM in the morning? However, even though the epidural helped me relax, I could still feel intense cramping with my contractions.

We decided to ask the anesthesiologist to come back- although there was a button on the anesthesia to release extra medicine, it wasn't helping.

He came in and gave me a syringe of lidocain. Frankly- I wish I had never received that medicine!

Almost immediately, I lost all feeling in my lower half of my body. Within fifteen minutes of this, my nurse came in and checked me and said I was already 9 centimeters dilated.

Wonderful! And now I couldn't feel anything!

Now, my entire body started shaking, involuntarily. My teeth literally started chattering due to the lidocain- it was hell! Really made me feel off...

And then the nurse kept asking me if I felt the need to push- and I kept telling her, I felt absolutely NOTHING!

Soon, I was told I was fully dilated and positioned to push the baby out. Then we waited, probably thirty minutes, for my doctor to arrive to catch the baby!

Still, I could feel nothing.

During this time, right before the doctor arrived, the baby's heart monitor COMPLETELY STOPPED. The nurse couldn't pick up his heart with the external monitor and she called in another nurse and I felt my heart beat stop itself. I was so scared.

Of course, he had managed to wiggle his internal monitor off and they did find his heart rate externally. But man- that was scary!

When my doctor finally arrived, my Hubby and my nurse held up my legs and I was told to push- I put my chin to my chest and put it in my mind that I was pushing- although I still felt nothing at all.

Almost immediately, his head was out. I was told later by my husband that there were multiple loops of umbilical cord around his little neck. My doctor snipped them off quickly and then he was pushed the rest of the way out...

He was born at 4:19 AM and weighed 9 pounds, 8.3 ounces. I had decided since nothing else had gone according to plan to have him placed on my chest at birth- and they did that, honoring my request. He was beautiful- he opened his eyes immediately and looked up at me...

Then they whisked him to the warmer, where the rest of the adventure began... They couldn't get him to pink up right- it took probably 45 minutes for them to finally say his color was fine.

My Mom stayed and took some pics, then when she left- I was told that the baby had low blood sugar and that they wanted me to give him a bottle of formula (this was after he already latched on and started nursing like a champ). I told them I'd rather not- they said it's what they recommended- so I caved (I'm not blaming them- peds are too quick to jump on the formula bandwagon and perhaps the ped is right, perhaps the ped is wrong- I don't KNOW!).

We get moved to the postpartum unit probably around 6 AM. Hubby falls asleep, I'm up with the baby... They come in and draw his blood, repeatedly- he is so mellow, it doesn't even phase the poor little fella. His blood sugar level was above what we were originally told it needed to be- THEN we are told, "Well, this ped wants it higher- supplement some more."

GAH!

The ped comes in... Says he hears a heart murmur- says not to worry about it (okay, how does one NOT worry about these things???). Then he says that the baby is Coombs Positive and that makes him have a higher chance of getting jaundice, really fast- and that's also another reason why they want they want him to have formula- it causes the baby to poop more which somehow will help if he becomes jaundiced... Of course, they want to do more bloodwork about this as well.

I'm really feeling overwhelmed and exhausted now... My baby LOOKS completely healthy and is as sweet as can be, but they keep telling me everything is wrong- it had me sooo drained.

With the formula, his blood sugars stabilized- they told me to keep supplementing him until my milk comes in. He IS nursing, great, like a champ- but my milk isn't in yet. Poor little guy probably had 10 needle pricks just for the blood glucose tests within the first 24 hours of his life! Good thing he's so mellow, because for the most part- he didn't care. Poor babe.

His heart murmur... The nurse doesn't even know why the doctor mentioned it since it seemed to have fixed itself before six hours had even passed. It was the typical newborn heart murmur found as the valve closes.

Our babe had not developed jaundice while in the hospital, but today- at his 3 day appointment, he looked a tad bit yellow, so we are watching it very closely and feeding often and putting him in indirect sunlight twice a day.

The first night in the postpartum unit, my Hubby and I were both treated to a steak and shrimp dinner, complete with a fresh fruit bowl, cheesecake, and bubbling apple cider That was super sweet.

The whole unit- from labor and delivery to the postpartum unit- really were endearing. They went out of their way to do anything for us. I can't think of a single true complaint. The floor manager came over to ask us how they were doing and even the hospital director stopped by to ask us about our experience! I told her it had been absolutely great and I'd recommend them to everyone and anyone! (It's funny because this is the older hospital out of a chain and the newer hospital is where we had Bubba. This hospital had a totally different feel to it- definitely would recommend them to ANYONE!)

The ped who came by today when we checked out- I fell in love with her. So we're going to drive wayyy across town to see her for our Boo's 3 day appointment.

Oh, there's probably a million things more- I am sooo exhausted, I can't think straight.

Oh- odd one- when I went in on Sunday night, my blood pressure was really high, but my bloodwork came back really good. BUT my blood pressure didn't go down- not even after delivery. So they send me home on blood pressure meds! Egads!

Here's a pic of my beautiful new boy, right after he was born...

Congratulations! And welcome to the sweet little khaotikin! *hugs*

Woo hoo! Congratulations! He is a cute little munchkin.