Natural Child birth

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Originally Posted by nuthinbutpink

I totally get it about wanting to be in the moment, connected, etc. but maybe it is just me or I was fortunate enough to have a good team of midwives/doctors(a midwife delivered all but one of my babies) but I always felt in control, never ever felt like I would have a C-section for any reason at all and they let me labor and did not force me to do anything I didn't want to do. I also got to deliver my babies. I was the one to grab them and pull them out(of course the midwife/doctor made sure nothing happened) but it was not any scary or out of control expereince at all. Very quiet. Very peaceful. 2/4 did not cry much. My last one screamed his head off...that is his personality though!

Nobody can force you to do anything no matter where you choose to deliver.

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I have no doubt that if I went to the hospital I could have a good birth. But I am a stubborn, overbearing kind of person. And now I have 4 births under my belt and know how it's done :p A lot of women do get bullied into a birth they don't really want at the hospital, though.

But in the end, for me, I don't like hospitals. I don't care if I could have a good "normal" vaginal birth there. I don't want an IV, I don't want a hep-lock. I don't want anyone telling me anything I can or can't do about food or drink. I liked that DS3 was born with no lights on, just candlelight. I liked that I had DS2 and DS3 in the water... not just laboring in the tub. I liked that I had my baby, got into my bed, and stayed there cuddling my LO without having to "go home."

There's just a million reasons I liked being at home. Having run a website on natural birth for 5 years now, I also understand that a lot of women choose differently. I have tons of birth stories on my site and many, many of them are from great hospital births - I read all of those and I respect the choices of all of those women.

But for me, I can't imagine having my last 4 births in the hospital would be in any way as awesome as it was having them at home. I have no doubt I could have had nice hospital births, but I'm glad I didn't go that route. I deal with hospital/medical staff during my pregnancies for u/s and other tests we opt to have - and those are generally good experiences... but in the end I want to have my babies at home with no interventions and no procedures :) It works for me.

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Originally Posted by Azuremyst

That's awesome!! May I ask what website this this? As far as going natural im so looking forward to, I cannot wait. The only thing according to the baby book that I think would stop me is if the baby happens to be breech when i go into labor, I pray that this doesn't happen. She's not breech right now, but im 28 weeks, they told me she's got plenty of time to move back into breech. ugh.!

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My site, if it's ok to post, is Natural Birth and Baby Care.com :)

Also, there is a lot you can do to help your LO stay head down. Firstly, it's very good that she's already that way - mine have always turned around that point and have never turned again. Good posture will help her stay that way (do not slouch back in chairs... such luxuries are not for pregnant women!) Also, "cat stretches" on your hands and knees help encourage babies to be in a good position. Doing *anything* on your hands and knees is good - prop up on pillows to read or watch TV, etc. Also, since she is already in a good position, lots of walking, especially on stairs, helps her settle into that position for good.

Having said that, under most circumstances I would try and birth a breech baby vaginally :) It's not as easy now because most care providers automatically section for it and have forgotten how to deliver breech. But it can and does happen, and there are still older OB's and there are midwives who are skilled in breech deliveries.

Thanks for the link! I am checking it all out right now. I will be having my LO in the hospital. Im very happy w/ the care there though. I use a team of supportive midwives, one of which will be there when Olivia is born. One of my midwives runs our mindfulness childbirth based class which DH and I both attend and practice at home. They will allow for a waterbirth there as well. This place has honestly amazed me. They really push against drugs and interventions. They don't even offer epi's at my hospital, it's something simliar though. They have even advised against those women expecting sons against circumsing their babies. This truly is an amazing hospital im very lucky (so im told by the staff! lol)

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Originally Posted by december

Decels. As is heart decelerations. It's actually normal for a baby's heart rate to dip during a contraction. It's usually only a big concern if the heart rate stays down. I'm not sure why they tried to pressure you into an epidural though. That makes no sense. I'm sorry your doctors were so intervention happy. :(

It sounds like your next birth went really well! Congrats.

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Ahhhhh...Decels...makes sense to me now....thanks. I couldn't understand why they were so worried...everything felt just fine to me and I still think it would have been. They did say bub's heart rate was taking longer to increase after each contraction but that only started happening after they gave me the syntocinon drip (which they pressured me into after I told them I had noticed a small amount of lightly yellow/green colouring in my waters-had only seen it initially upon breaking and no sign of it again). That synto really sucked...I will never have it again...I truly think neither bub nor my body were ready for labour yet and it was forced on me. That's why I found my natural birth so wonderful...my body just knew what to do and so did bub. I know the doctors were under alot of pressure during my first birth as there were two other ladies in labour at the same time as me that were both only 27weeks along (one baby made it and one didn't) and to be honest I think they were trying to push me along so they could deal properly with the other ladies...understandable but I truly hated feeling that pressure from them and would have rathered if they had just left the midwives to deal with me without their intervention.

grasshopper - if you encounter baby heart rate issues in another labor you could ask the team to let you change positions. My first bub's heartrate went down and started having trouble coming up and my midwife had me get on my hands and knees, which corrected the problem immediately. She said sometimes they get into a position that stresses them, and moving around lets them change positions, too, and get back to being born :)

With #1 I had a c-section because the baby had decels before I was in labor. With #2, I spend my life researching VBACs- vaginal birth after cesarean and joined ICAN. I hired a doula. I was more obsessed with vbac than I am in pgd for a boy. I got the epidoral after 7 cm, the baby was in a posterior position, and she was having decels and when I pused she did not come down at all. I just hear the word decels, posterior and a million other things when interventions are used. For some though it works for. Like some float above water and some drown. So I had a cbac with her- Cesarean birth after cesarean. It was devestating. I felt like such a failure.

For #3, I hired a doula again and I used the Webster Technique at about 32 weeks. This is a technique used by chiropractors to keep the baby in an optimal position.

My doula was amazing. We stood in my house for most of the labor and when we got to the hospital, I was 9cm. I will not lie I wanted to take something to relax me. After that it was time to push and the baby came out and it worked for me. I had a vaginal birth.

So for me part of it was going natural would give me my best chance to birth my baby vaginally.

Now to go of the topic one of my dreams came true (the vbac) but I have 3 girls so my new obsession and ream is to have a boy :)

Giving birth flat on your back seems the most unnatural position to me...I did it with my first because I was told to and vowed I wouldn't do it with my next...I wanted to use gravity and a different position to help open up my pelvis.
With baby #2 I was on my feet during the whole labour process in our apartment until I got to the Birth Centre...I was already crowning when I got in the car but noone seemed to believe me (not DH not my sister and not the midwife when I got there)...think I seemed too calm. The Midwife told me to pop onto the bed so she could take a look...I told her if I laid down that I would not be getting back up and I didn't want to give birth on my back and she assured me I wouldn't...noone believed I was that far along. It was the ONLY mistake throughout. As soon as I laid down and the midwife took a look I knew that was it. I couldn't move as I just had to push and she was out in a couple of pushes. So I ended up birthing both on my back. Next birth I will be 100% listening to my instincts...I shouldn't have worried about the midwife needing to see and just squatted and pushed...I was doing my best to hold on and wait for everyone else and I honestly wanted to push her out back at the apartment...I had been in agony trying NOT to push. Next time I will be birthing as soon as I feel the need no matter where we are. Even giving birth is a huge learning process (actually it's probably more of an UNLEARNING process...unlearning all of our preconceived western ideas about how we SHOULD be giving birth). We don't trust our instincts enough I think.

I had a natural birth with DS1 just used a tens machine - they gave me gas and air and I tried and didnt like it - I was completely fine until the head crowned and then I wanted pethadine but it was too late!!! I was all set for the same with DS2 (whom we thought was DD!) but the tens machine decided not to work and he was back to back and I was at home and the midwife gave me no choice but to have gas and air! He came out weighing 10lb so I was grateful of the gas and air!!! DS3 was born with gas and air in a birthing pool - definitely my favourite place and would opt for every time if I could!!! The reason I didnt want an epidural was because I am absolutely terrified of needles and was petrified something would happen should I have an epidural!!

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Originally Posted by OneLastDream

I had a natural birth with DS1 just used a tens machine - they gave me gas and air and I tried and didnt like it - I was completely fine until the head crowned and then I wanted pethadine but it was too late!!! I was all set for the same with DS2 (whom we thought was DD!) but the tens machine decided not to work and he was back to back and I was at home and the midwife gave me no choice but to have gas and air! He came out weighing 10lb so I was grateful of the gas and air!!! DS3 was born with gas and air in a birthing pool - definitely my favourite place and would opt for every time if I could!!! The reason I didnt want an epidural was because I am absolutely terrified of needles and was petrified something would happen should I have an epidural!!

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I am in the US (New York) and at the end of my pregnancy I was dying to get a tens machine, but I just could not find a way to do it. My doula was not trained in using it and dona.org said that some on the list use tens machines but I was not able to get a new doula at that point.

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Originally Posted by NYFamilyOfFiveRoses

I am in the US (New York) and at the end of my pregnancy I was dying to get a tens machine, but I just could not find a way to do it. My doula was not trained in using it and dona.org said that some on the list use tens machines but I was not able to get a new doula at that point.

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We can just hire them in the UK - you can hire them from lots of different high street shops or online or you can even buy your own - they are very cheap to hire. We dont have doula's (well I dont know anyone who has had one) although I like the sound of them! They are very good but I didnt use one with DS3 as was in the birthing pool. Congrats on your pregnancy x