# Anyone else have a fabulous hospital birth story?



## Nanners (Nov 28, 2004)

I am a big proponent of homebirth, it just isn't for me and my family, just a personal preference. I have had 2 hospital births. The first was not what I wanted, so I made the decision that the second one would be, and it was. I was allowed to drink water freely in labor, had no interventions at all, pushed on my hands and knees, the cord had stopped pulsing before it was cut, my midwife and 1 nurse were the only attendants (other than dh and SIL), the baby was put immediately on my chest to nurse, and left there for nearly 2 hours before he was weighed, measured, etc. They did take him to the nursery, but waited until I was to the point that I could take him there myself, so we were not separated at all. He was never out of arm's reach during our whole stay, which was only 24 hrs. Nobody balked at that, either. I see very, very little anywhere about positive hospital birthing, and just wanted to share my experience!


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## Herausgeber (Apr 29, 2006)

I've never known anyone to have a positive hospital birth, but I'm really glad that you did.


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## spero (Apr 22, 2003)

I had four good, relatively non-interventive, hospital births; all at the same birthing-center-within-a-hospital. The first was in 1990, the last in 2000. It was interesting to see how procedures changed there over the course of 10 years - each time I went in to have a baby things were different/even better than they had been before.

The third, my first waterbirth, is really the only one I would call "fabulous". That birth was EXACTLY as I wanted/planned/hoped. It was really beautiful and peaceful.

My fourth was also a waterbirth.

I had some issues with the on-call OB the night I went in with my second labor. He was a HUGE problem, very traditional and old school - and after that experience, DH and I were much more proactive/assertive about MY needs & wishes being met.

The things I'm happy about were that I always had a private, cozy room for delivery and for my stay; I never had a heplock, IV, or any type of medication; I breastfed my babies as soon as they were born, my babies roomed in with me (except my fourth, who had a life-threatening issue and had to be transferred to a NICU in another hospital), and I had wonderful labor nurses. (Shortly after I'd had my fourth baby, a nurse came in to change my bed, and I exclaimed, "Hey, I know you!" She said, "Are you sure? I haven't worked here in years." I said, "Yes! You were my labor nurse when I had my first baby, ten years ago! You had laryngitis and you were losing your voice, and they kept telling you to go home; but you refused to leave me until my son was born." She was like,







"Omigosh, that was YOU?! I do remember that!"







)


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## DoomaYula (Aug 22, 2006)

I had a pretty darn great hospital experience with my first birth, which was twins.

I had a friend (who is an ICAN regional representative) who had had twins via c-s and then gone on to have 2 hbacs, and while I was on bedrest she gave me a ton of great books about childbirth. TWG really changed my life and at that point I realized it was MY birth, and for the most part, *I* could call the shots.

In retrospect, my doc was very liberal in even "allowing" a mom with twins to labor. He was a high risk perinate who specialized in mults, and he had a lot of vaginal mult births under his belt. Anyway, I was induced, due to Twin-to-Twin Transfusion Syndrome, and that was okay with me because all I needed was cervidil and my body just went right into labor. I had my friend with me, and she held all the belts in place, and I labored basically standing up and rocking back and forth. When I was puking she was like, "That's awesome! You're doing so great! That's probably another cm!" Anyway, I ended up having both kids vaginally, 1 small tear because baby B was a footling breech, but no real interventions.

No AROM, No IV, no episiotomy -- none of the really annoying hospital type interventions. I even labored in my own clothes for most of it.

HOWEVER. I have to say that my knowledge/expectations were different than they are now. I was young and a single mom of twins, and I wasn't a doula. I lived in a big city. I didn't really know my options, and I thought the hospital was the "safest" place to have a baby. Now that I am older, more knowledgable, and live in a very small town with a very old-school hospital that triages laboring moms AWAY FROM THEIR PARTNERS/HUSBANDS/DOULAS/ETC, I can honestly say I'd never give birth in a hospital again.


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## Megs_BK (Jul 26, 2006)

I had a great hospital birth here on Okinawa. The US Naval Hospital here delivers over 1200 babes a year (to a population of about 30K), so they've got it DOWN. The OB staff are largely CNMs, so definitely have the holistic lean. They don't see many natural births at all (lots of really young, scared, unprepared mamas), but my CNM was very encouraging toward my plan and never skeptical at all. The labor nurse that taught our childbirth class was definitely pro-NCB. When I asked her about the epi rate (over 90%), she just said it was really sad. ANYWAY, my CNM encouraged me to write up a birth plan just because I had such clear plans and had educated myself well on why I wanted a NCB. I'm glad she recommended and that I asked all my questions about hospital policy, because the nurse on shift when I arrived was new and kept spouting incorrect policy at me ("Oh no no no, you can't eat that Luna Bar later... only ice chips and popsicles once you're admitted!"... "Yes, we DO have to put you on the IV bag, it's *hospital policy!*"). Anyway, thankfully, she went off shift and the next crew had either read my plan or talked to my midwife or just actually knew what the hell the real policies were. Everything went exactly as I'd hoped (except I didn't get up and squat at the end, but that was my own fault) and my labor went really well and calmly. I really trusted my CNM and the labor nurse and corpsman were very calm. No one offered me drugs and they left me off the monitor for the most part so I could be on the ball and do things the way I wanted to. I'm mainstream enough to be OK with some of the procedures like her first bath, APGAR, yada yada -- and my husband was with her if I wasn't. Other than all of that, she was with me from moment zero and breastfed within minutes. My stay in post-partum for 2 days was kind of annoying just because it's hard for me to sleep with chit-chat out in the hallway, but the staff there was really kind and left me alone with Nevie almost 100% of the time. They did a baby round-up every 12 hours for the pediatrician to check them out, so that got a little old... on the other hand, I trusted the staff and I used that time to just lay back and process everything that was happening.

So, all that being said, if home birth had been an option this go-round, that would have been neat. It wasn't and I don't feel cheated. The only thing I really wish they'd had were big tubs. The staff wishes they had them, too -- but the hospital is old, slated for demolition, and the Navy isn't throwing any money at it right now. I think I had a great labor and awesome crew helping me through it and I'm not sorry that I was in a position to get immediate help if I'd needed it or Nevie had needed it. I won't be sorry to do it at home someday, either, now that I know better how this process goes.


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## BirthInStyle (May 4, 2006)

I had a wonderful hospital birth too. I had a great nurse who requested me when she heard who my midwife was. No continuous monitoring, no heplock or IV, the only intervention at all was that my midwife broke my water at 9 1/2 cm at my request. I could eat and drink whatever I wanted and move about freely. And I loved being taken care of postpartum. The nurses were so good to me.

That being said, I have had Doula clients give birth at the same hospital and have completely opposite, horrible experiences (although they have had a different caregiver).


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## savithny (Oct 23, 2005)

Both mine were born in a small community hospital that is, I now know, really unusual.

I went to a large combined OB/midwife practice, but saw only midwives for prenatal care (CNMs).

Hospital does not (didn't then, anyway) offer epidurals, mostly because they're so small they don't have an anesthesiologist to devote to the materntiy dept. You could get an intrathecal, but they told everyone interested in one to wait as long as possible because they only last about 90 minutes and wear off very quickly... *lots* of unmedicated birthers here, even very mainstream moms. All my coworkers with children had undrugged births. They also do a lot of VBACs, I think. My coworker's daughter who had a C with her #1 wasn't even offered a repeat C date - it was assumed she'd VBAC when #2 was born.

I labored in the tub both times, no rules about food and drink, non-obtrusive (to me) intermittent monitoring (came in quietly, asked if it was a good time to listen for a minute). Heplocks aren't routine (though I had one with #2 for abx for GBS - I discussed it thoroughly with the midwives and elected to go ahead with it) I picked my own position to birth, no coached pushing, no routine episiotomy. Meconium in the water with #1 wasn't a panic and no ped was called "just in case." Breastfed immediately both times. All exams of the baby were done in the room, most with baby in my arms. The nursery was empty both times because rooming in is standard. Many nurses trained as LCs, got *great* breastfeeding advice, and never saw a drop of formula, nor coupons. Went home with a medela manual breastpump, a baby t-shirt, "goodnight Moon" and (with #2), "Helping Mommy Breastfeed" for big brother







but no "breastfeeding success formula pack." Oh - and they use cloth diapers on all the babies in the hospital and all cloth chux pads.

All that said, if I have another, the only thing pulling me away from homebirth is the fact that I genuinely like the CNMs who delivered both my babies and would love to share another pregnancy and birth with them. If we were to move away from here I'd almost certainly be homebirthing, since I'm pretty sure that in many hospitals, #1 would have wound up being a C-section because labor got off to a slow start and never "got established" according to the charts in the Dublin Protocol. It was actually a short labor for a first baby, but it was atypical in a bunch of ways that would have freaked out a control-freak OB.


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## Kirsten (Mar 19, 2002)

I had dd1 in a hospital in '96. I was happy with that birth. Not sure I'd call it fabulous but it was very good, especially compared to 99% of hospital births. I drank water, I walked, I labored in any position I wanted, no IV, no fetal monitoring except the fetoscope. No extra people in the room - just me, dh, midwife and one nurse. Lights were dimmed; it was quiet. I held dd for an hour after she was born - before anything was done (except Apgar which was done while I held her on my chest). She never left our room. We skipped all the normal poking and prodding (me and baby) for the most part. My birth plan was followed to the letter - with respect.

However, dd2 was born in a freestanding birth center. Now THAT was fabulous!!!!

Dd3 was born at home at that was also fabulous!!!!

So I would rate my hospital birth as good - very good as hospital births go.


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## CEG (Apr 28, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *savithny*
Both mine were born in a small community hospital that is, I now know, really unusual.

I went to a large combined OB/midwife practice, but saw only midwives for prenatal care (CNMs).

Hospital does not (didn't then, anyway) offer epidurals, mostly because they're so small they don't have an anesthesiologist to devote to the materntiy dept. You could get an intrathecal, but they told everyone interested in one to wait as long as possible because they only last about 90 minutes and wear off very quickly... *lots* of unmedicated birthers here, even very mainstream moms. All my coworkers with children had undrugged births. They also do a lot of VBACs, I think. My coworker's daughter who had a C with her #1 wasn't even offered a repeat C date - it was assumed she'd VBAC when #2 was born.

I labored in the tub both times, no rules about food and drink, non-obtrusive (to me) intermittent monitoring (came in quietly, asked if it was a good time to listen for a minute). Heplocks aren't routine (though I had one with #2 for abx for GBS - I discussed it thoroughly with the midwives and elected to go ahead with it) I picked my own position to birth, no coached pushing, no routine episiotomy. Meconium in the water with #1 wasn't a panic and no ped was called "just in case." Breastfed immediately both times. All exams of the baby were done in the room, most with baby in my arms. The nursery was empty both times because rooming in is standard. Many nurses trained as LCs, got *great* breastfeeding advice, and never saw a drop of formula, nor coupons. Went home with a medela manual breastpump, a baby t-shirt, "goodnight Moon" and (with #2), "Helping Mommy Breastfeed" for big brother







but no "breastfeeding success formula pack." Oh - and they use cloth diapers on all the babies in the hospital and all cloth chux pads.

All that said, if I have another, the only thing pulling me away from homebirth is the fact that I genuinely like the CNMs who delivered both my babies and would love to share another pregnancy and birth with them. If we were to move away from here I'd almost certainly be homebirthing, since I'm pretty sure that in many hospitals, #1 would have wound up being a C-section because labor got off to a slow start and never "got established" according to the charts in the Dublin Protocol. It was actually a short labor for a first baby, but it was atypical in a bunch of ways that would have freaked out a control-freak OB.

That sounds lovely. I'm moving to where you live!


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## Maggi315 (Aug 31, 2003)

I would say that two of my births that were in a hospital were positive experienes. There was no separation, nobody really bothered us (I had a doula-necessity in my humble opinion), nurses were great, gave birth to son on hands and knees and doc let me stay like that to deliver placenta because I felt I couldn't move. Took early discharge with one with no hassles (stayed with other because I wanted some alone time with baby).

My son was very fussy right from birth, so one of the nurses held him for me while doing paperwork so I could get a shower.

I am a homebirth midwife, but homebirths are not for everyone. Nor is everyone who wants one going to be able to have one, so I am always happy to hear good hospital stories. There are lots of hardworking nurses out there trying their best under less than positive circumstances! I know, I was one!


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## Katie Bugs Mama (Feb 1, 2004)

I had an excellent hospital birth, largely due to my excellent CNM. When my water broke almost 4 weeks early, she fudged the dates a bit so that I could avoid all of the "standard" interventions that the hospital insists on for early babies. Her only concession to SOP was that I had to have an IV port-thingy inserted, but she covered it with plastic so that I could get it wet.

As a result, I was able to labor in water and in the shower. Between the soothing water and the amazing doula that the hospital provided for free, I was never tempted to ask for drugs, even though I had many, many hours of back labor and pushed for almost 3 hours.

After Kate was born, they handed her to me immediately so that we could get to know each other a bit. Then the nurses and dh held her while the CNM stitched me up. DD was right next to me for the entire time I was in the hospital, and no one ever gave me a hard time about BFing or co-sleeping.


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## Cujobunny (Aug 16, 2006)

I feel I had a great birth... knowing now what I do, it doesn't sound so great, but I have no regrets.

I had contractions 5 mins apart for 12 hrs after which I was 3 cm (ouch). I had an epidural.







: I was able to rest and relax enough that 12 hrs after that I pushed my baby boy out into the world, the proudest moment of my life.

The hospital where I gave birth had a "family birthing centre". I had a FANTASTIC nurse who was with me for much of my late labour stages and all of the pushing.

The birthing centre has a rooming in policy. I was able to stay in the same room for labour, delivery and recovery. Again, I had a great nurse who tucked Trent and I into bed together propped up with blankets and showed me how to breastfeed him lying down.

I would definitely go back there again, but next time I think I will go with a midwife and I will be more educated (and experienced) so that I can avoid so much intervention. However, I feel good about the experience I had, that it was happy and peaceful.

I guess this won't sound fabulous because of the epidural and what not but you live and you learn. I guess I'm lucky it turned out so well.


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## courtenay_e (Sep 1, 2005)

Just attended one a week ago. Granted she was only there for an hour before the baby was born, but absolutely no interventions. Laboring (and checked at her request when she felt rectal pressure) in the tub, pushed in her own time standing up, birthed squatting. No iv, ate what and when she wanted, you name it, it rocked. That all said, she had a very young and inexperienced resident and a very experienced, pro NCB nurse and a doula. The doc pretty much let us call the shots, was hugely easygoing about pretty much everything...except for pushing in the tub. You could tell she had never SEEN, let alone caught a baby born in a tub, and there was a look of "oh, crap, what do I DO if she won't get out!" written across her face for a moment there!

They CAN happen! However, they're few and far between.


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## Sillygoose (Oct 20, 2005)

I had a great hospital birth. I laboured at home, I transferred to the hospital with my midwife when I was about 6 cm. I laboured in hospital in the company of my primary midwife, the midwifery student, and my husband. When I started to push (on my own accord), the midwife brought a hospital nurse in because the law says the second midwife needs to be there to catch the baby, or else they have to call hospital staff, and my baby was coming so fast they second midwife wasn't gonna get there in time!

I *was* subjected to the midwife whispering "push push push" at me, and because I'm sort of goal driven and I worried that something might be wrong with the baby, I pushed with everything I had, and tore (3rd degree-nuchal arm). Next time, I'll specify that no one tells me to push unless there actually is something wrong with the baby. I gave birth on hands and knees, the baby was put skin to skin right away, then later given to my husband while I squatted and pushed out the placenta. Cord was allowed to stop pulsing, we nursed right away, no poking and prodding until after we'd gotten an hour to chill. I was discharged from the labour room, two hours after delivery. I was in hospital for a grand total of 4 hours. Home by 3am, asleep by 4.

Drive by birth. I highly recommend it. I'd do it again.


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## bri276 (Mar 24, 2005)

My dd's birth was traumatic, but that was beyond the control of anyone in attendance. She has a rare chromosome disorder and wasn't breathing well at birth, so was whisked away to the NICU.

BUT- labor and delivery itself was not a negative experience at all. I had wonderful, supportive nurses and two great midwives. My first midwife encouraged me to wait as long as possible before getting the epidural (I was on pitocin). And my second midwife, the one who delivered dd, was calm about me pushing for 3 hours, never mentioned the word c-section, and I only had a tiny tear. Everyone supported my decisions on position, when to walk, when to have my cervical checks, etc.

in an ideal world, she would have been born at home, but with all her health concerns I'm glad we were at a hospital with a high-tech NICU, she came home after 5 days. I was encouraged to pump by several nurses the night she was born and the lactation consultant visited the next and and literally patted me on the back when I said I wanted to continue to bf for at least a year.


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## Belle (Feb 6, 2005)

I had a mostly good hospital birth. The nurses were wonderful and really respected my wishes. Here's a link to my dd's story.

I don't know if I'll be so lucky next time. I've doula-ed at the same hospital where I gave birth since then and I've seen things happen that I don't want happening to me. I'm not going to take the risk next time, I'm either birthing in a FSBC or at home; haven't decided which yet.


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## Galatea (Jun 28, 2004)

I had 2 great hospital births, the first one an induction that was still beautiful and wonderful and the 2nd totally natural and even better. I would like a homebirth but I really like my midwife practice and they don't do homebirths anymore. The midwives have hospital privileges and they have L&D nurses that work in their style so you can have a nice birth even at the hospital.


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## DeeEast (Dec 4, 2005)

Yes, I had a very positive hospital birthing experience with my first DD. PM me for details because I fear that putting them here will lead to censorship and the thread being deleted.


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## yequanamama (Aug 30, 2002)

I would actually strongly prefer to give birth at home or in a freestanding birth center (as I did with my second), but I live in a state that makes it a bit difficult. As soon as we get the laws changed (and maybe before if I get fed up enough) I'll be giving birth at home!

That said, I had a marvelous hospital birth this year! My nurse was excellent - volunteered to take me because she knows the types of births my midwife handles. I wore my own clothes, ate my own food, drank my own power drinks, was massaged with my own aromatherapy blend (rose, neroli and jasmine...mmmmmmmmm








), wasn't poked with a single needle, strapped with a single wire....you get the idea. I labored in the water until I started pushing, and could have stayed to give birth, but chose to hop out. Ds only left my sight once - with dad to do the hearing test.

We left 12 hours later in a snowstorm (I can't sleep in a hospital!), and I could not have been more satisfied, for a hospital. It can happen - you just have to know how to get it all set up beforehand.


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## WNB (Apr 29, 2006)

Birth of my daughter was exactly as I wanted it: drug free, minimal interventions (external monitor, pitocin after delivery), baby given to me immediately and stayed within arm's reach (more accurately, mouth's reach) for probably 90% of the entire 36 hours we were there.

I believe this was in large part a result of my husband's medical background and his understanding of my desire for a drug-free delivery: I labored at home for most of it, and we left for the hospital at quite possibly the last moment possible for us to actually REACH the hospital before the baby was born. She wasn't crowning when we hit the parking lot, but she was born about 20 minutes after I got out of the car. He knew when we HAD to go, and I knew I could trust him to make those decisions correctly, and if necessary (unexpected traffic, flat tire, whatever), deliver the baby himself.

I got lots of support from the hospital staff in establishing breastfeeding: the baby was on the breast almost the whole time we were in the hospital, and they were very willing to delay whatever tests or checkups they had to make until she was finished feeding. Toward the end of our stay, I realized she'd not be finished, likely, ever, so would just pull her off for the few minutes they needed and then resume. There was no pressure from the staff, though, to do this.


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## Galatea (Jun 28, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *DeeEast*
thread removed by moderator for UA violation

No, it wouldn't. Lots of us have positive hospital births. Relax.


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## dentmom3 (Aug 10, 2006)

Just had our htird baby this week and had our best hospital experience yet! I will say that I am just now inching away from the 'mainstream' and starting to educate myself more on choices in having a baby and how to raise them. That's why I'm reading this board so much! Having literally found this site a few weeks before giving birth there are things I would have changed if it was earlier on, but I wasn't going to switch from and OB to a CNM with a week to go...

I woke at 1:31 AM with a leak in my amniotic fluid. We hung around the house when I went into labor since I didn't expect things to move all that quickly. When we got to the hospital it was 4 AM. I was checked once and was 7 cm. Was sent to a room immediately and was 9 cm when they checked me again. I labored on the toilet for a few minutes and got back to the bed. DH never left my side. They dimmed the lights for us without us asking. DH tried to set up our radio but things happened a little to fast to get the iPod hooked up to it (I had a set of songs for each baby's birth and wanted to labor to them) I asked for an epidural







: since I had never delivered without one and thought it would still take me an hour to push. It had taken that long to push both other babies before and I didn't think I could do it. The anesthesiologist, however, knew I could do it and he only put the test dose in the epi and told me to lean back. When I leaned back I felt my water break. I pushed once, felt his head crowning. Pushed again and got the head out. The nurse was so encouraging and was just telling me that I knew what I was doing, that I had great control and that I would deliver just fine! I felt his shoulders rotate and then two more pushes and he was out! All in less than 3 hours from when I first woke up. I was amazed! I had my smallest tear of all three kids and I felt great! A big thanks to the anesthesiologist who gave me the not-really-an-epidural epidural! He knew I didn't need it even when I thought I did. I picked up DS and nursed him ASAP. I was up and out of bed within half an hour. And my MIL (who is not known for her kind remarks) said that I looked like I had just gotten back from the store, not that I had just given birth! I think that is due to the ease of pushing which was due to me actually being able to push effectively and not pushing for an hour with no effect. They listened to and followed all my requests (no eye goop, delayed exam, baby never left me for the entire stay, early discharge from hospital) even with no birth plan since I didn't even think of these requests until the week or so before the birth! Oh, and I also labored and bore our son in my own tank top, no hospital gown or anything.

If I were to have another baby I would probably do a birth center (if we even have one around here - I don't know since I never looked into it!) and a CNM. I know myself as too much of a worrywart to be comfortable laboring at home. Then again, maybe a few more kids and I would....


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## sciencemama (Nov 13, 2004)

Two postive hospital births...and at VERY different types of hospitals. One in a big city teaching hospital and another at a rural, small-town hospital. In both cases, as soon as I made it clear I was not having an epidural, I was treated with great respect. The only intervention that was really advocated by the OB was pitocin post-delivery. (I agreed to that as long as it was not administered by IV-- didn't want the swelling.) Ate, drank, used the jacuzzi tub on my own schedule. With my 2nd, I held him and nursed him for over 40 min before anyone even tried to weigh him, clean him, etc-- and that was only because it was the end of their shift and they needed to go home. Rooming in was expected at both hospitals. I co-slept with ds in the hospital (though I was too hyped up to actually sleep) and no one said a word. With both births, I left the hospital early and felt terrific.

I do think that I had good experiences because dh and I had educated ourselves and were very clear about what we expected.


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## Lilcrunchie (Jun 16, 2004)

I was very happy with our birth experience with DS. We had a midwife-attended hospital birth. My water broke at 8am, midwife wanted me at the hospital within an hour as I had been 3cm dilated a few days before that at my regular appt. Our doula met us at the hospital.

I drank freely in labor, could have eaten if I wanted to, I mostly walked around listening to my hypnobirthing CDs and talking w/ DH. Hypno worked like a charm, the nurses just watched us like we were insane as we were laughing and talking during contractions.

The hospital did "require" (I probably could have refused this) EFM, but my midwife was okay with doing it every hour and a half or so for a few mins. That was the only time I had discomfort, and my L&D nurse wanted me on my back in bed to do the monitoring (which is why I was uncomfortable). The doula was a great asset and basically suggested the nurse figure out a way to hook me up to the monitors without me being on my back, and while it took some effort, she did that. THe nurse basically left me alone, which is what I wanted. I didn't really need my doula's assistance for the most part, but she was still a wonderful presence.

I labored in the tub during transition. This hospital did not allow water births but I don't feel I missed out. I didn't feel strongly that I needed to have a water birth, but liked laboring in the water. I was ready to get out after 20 mins or so though.

My biggest complaint is that this particular midwife, when I told her my plans to do hypnobirthing and when she read my birthplan, kind of laughed at the notion of "breathing the baby down" saying I'd want to push and push hard when the time came. It kind of annoyed me. I specified no coached pushing, but somehow, the L&D nurse and midwife kind of forgot about that aspect







: and considering my midwife's previous comments, I shouldn't have been surprised. At that point though, I was not in the mood to discuss it. DS was out with 15 mins of pushing anyway. He nursed immediately (doula helped). I specified in birthplan we wanted cord to stop pulsating before cut, time to bond, etc.and those things were adhered to. We were with him about 1.5 hours before he was taken to the nursery (which I did not want, but they did the exam there with DH watching). Overall, I had an easy recovery (took one motrin for muscle soreness the next day), but I think not having the whole forceful/coached pushing would have helped prevent some of that. My entire labor (first baby) was 6hrs 20 mins or so.

Overall, it was a very good experience. This time around I'm using a birth center, and there will be no EFM and I will discuss beforehand my experiences with my previous midwife (different state) with the midwives at the birth center.

The hospital stay itself sucked (my nurse forgot to bring me food after the labor, they never brought me dinner, and DS was on the list to be circ'd somehow even though every single piece of paperwork said NO circ. Fortunately DH was at the nursery and a nurse asked him about it and erased his name from this list







: . I didn't get much rest from being woken up repeatedly all night long to take my temp and push on my uterus...which seemed pointless since i felt fine. We roomed in and barely saw the nursing staff other than their temp checks, so it felt kind of ridiculous, and I think I'll recover better at home this time. I should have asked for early discharge but wasn't sure if I should speak up...which was stupid in retrospect, as I would have gotten much more rest at home. No problems with refusing vaxes. We were fine with Vit K and we did do eye ointment, although this time I'll skip it for sure.

Overall though, for a hospital birth, we had a great experience. No pressure to give formula, we had a decent LC come visit us before we went home, and pretty low-intervention overall. I could have possibly avoided some of the other interventions if I pushed hard enough I'm sure. I avoided the ones most important to me though. I didn't care for recovering in a hospital, and that's one thing that has pushed me toward a birth center this time around (would have done it last time but the nearest was a long drive away).

I wish you the best. I think the keys are your care provider (midwife or OB), and their personal philosophies and openness to natural childbirth (so many talk the talk but don't walk the walk, kwim?), researching as much as you can beforehand, learning hospital policies (the hospital closest to my house still required hep locks, no eating/drinking in labor, etc. so I traveled 45 mins to a hospital with more sensible policies and one that had midwives), and having a good birth plan. Remember you can say NO to most interventions once you are there but the pressure may make that very difficult.

HTH.


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## Kidzaplenty (Jun 17, 2006)




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## amityfree (Jul 23, 2005)

I did with both births, and I had no clue until I went online and talked to other ladies and saw how it's done in other areas.

Both times, I was allowed to walk around as much as I wanted, use a birthing ball, drink what I wanted, eat what I wanted (although I prefer not to eat at all during labour... I'm mostly focused on the task at hand)







, the hospital is VERY pro-breastfeeding with LC on hand at all times, no nursery (ALL babies room in... if you're having problems you just get extra nurse attention). Although I don't remember much of my births (pain med free and I was in a haze), there was only one nurse in there the whole time that would come and go.. she wasn't there constantly. As I was giving birth, a single doctor would come in to do the actual birth. There was no coached pushing. I told them when I felt like pushing, and was allowed to push through the contraction as opposed to the set ten seconds. Episiotomies are not routine, and I actually don't know anyone who has had one.


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## RockStarMom (Sep 11, 2005)

Well, mine was what most would consider fabulous. Even my doula thought it was a GREAT birth. And I am grateful that I had such an unusually fulfilling hospital birth. But it wasn't good enough for me, and my biggest regret is not having a homebirth. My birth story is here. Basically, I was only there for 2.5 hours before giving birth, had no medication, was able to move freely, only intervention was EFM, baby was delivered by a CNM, I was able to eat and drink, was never separated from my baby, and left that day.
What frustrated me was being given a hard time and trying to be coerced into doing what I wasn't comfortable with. For example, the nurse tried to get me to start pushing when I was at 7 cm and felt NO urge to do so, the nurse almost refused to bring me the birthing stool, they had me switch from hands and knees to being on my side because the baby was coming so fast, and they tried to get me to agree to cut the cord before the placenta was out. I felt a lot of disrespect from the way I was treated. The nurse lied to me at one point by telling me the baby's heart rate dropped, to force me to lay down during a contraction so she could monitor the baby for a moment. She later was trying to get me to lay down to monitor again, during a contraction, and towards the end, rudely told me the contraction was over. I thought, _Don't tell me what's going on with my own body!_ After my daughter was born, they said she was having trouble breathing and suctioned her, which I wanted to avoid and found unnecessary.
The worry of being hassled, or someone doing something against my wishes, as well as the fear of being under the care of people I don't know and don't trust, just isn't worth it to me. Everyone I know IRL thinks I'm crazy for having any complaints about my birth experience. It completely depends on your standards and what you value during birth. My birth was nowhere near as fulfilling and sacred as it could have been if I had stayed home.


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## freebirth2 (Apr 26, 2006)

Yeah I don't see how very many women can have a great hospital birth. I don't see how any women wants to go to a hospital and have a bunch of people touching and staring at their privates even being in a position that they make you be in is humiliating call me ultra modest but I don't see how any women can deal with that just the thought of it grosses me out. I would totally be closing my vagina if people other than my husband were touching me down there. We did not create our children with a person around so why should we birth our children with a person between our privates? It dosen't make sense to me. 95% of births can successfully take place at home.


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## DeeEast (Dec 4, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Galatea*
No, it wouldn't. Lots of us have positive hospital births. Relax.

I'm relaxed. But thanks for your concern.


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## jessanddanny (Jan 11, 2004)

I had an AMAZING birth with my youngest!!!!

I was due the day before the anniversary of my sister's death and the possibility that my new baby would be born on that day was really not a good thing emotionally for me. With this being my 3rd baby, I went to my m/w appointment the day before my due date and requested to be checked. I was 5cms/50%effaced and baby was fully engaged. I was only at -1, but, this was a 3rd baby afterall and things would go fast once started. I begged for her to get things going so I would *hopefully* not give birth on the anniversary day. I cried with my midwife and we talked for about an hour. We decided to get me into the hospital and induce me that evening. Well, I got to the hospital was given prostglandin gel and that was enough to put me into labor. I never had external fetal monitoring on. I was never checked other than at admission until 90 minutes before I gave birth and that was at my request. I asked for a birthing ball right away when they put the gel in. I was assigned the most FABULOUS nurse!!! Once every 30-45 minutes she would come in and just listen to baby's hb with the doppler and respect my birth bubble I'd created. I was NEVER ONCE told I couldn't do something or that *policy* would restrict my choices. I was left to labor my own way in my own time. It was fabulous. I walked the halls and just was in my zone. I laid in the tub and just moaned as needed. Finally about 90 minutes before I delivered (just 6 hrs after admission to the hospital) I requested to be checked since I felt in there and baby's head was about an inch in. I could only feel a little cervix left and I was getting *grunty*. 8cm/fully effaced +1. She called my m/w. The birthing tub was filled and I got in. I pushed as *I* wanted. I was only told to slow down the pushing so I wouldn't tear. When baby came out I pulled her up onto my chest! The cord was not cut until I was ready to get out of the birthing tub about 20 minutes later to deliver the placenta. It was cut at my request since Megan's cord was very short and too difficult to get me and baby out of the tub connected. I declined hep b, vit k, and eye ointment. The nurse was laughing that as I was pushing I took the time to yell "No hep b, vitamin k or eye goop!" All baby vitals were taken with her on my chest either being held or nursing. She was never held by any nurse or doctor at the hospital. We put every cloth diaper and article of clothing on her. The nurse asked if I would like to wait to bathe Megan until I went home!!! Megan and I were discharged less than 10 hrs after delivery!!! The experience was the best it could have been!!! If we have any more babies I would be blessed to have as fabulous of an experience as we did with Megan!


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## emcare (Sep 11, 2005)

I've had two really wonderful hospital births. The first was medicated up the wazoo (I did not know then what I know now), but was exactly what I wanted at the time. The second was totally unmedicated and, again, exactly what I wanted--peaceful, quiet, happy. Neither time was I pressured to do anything that I didn't feel comfortable with.

I think that I would do a homebirth with the next one, but my husband has veto'd that option and I feel great about going back to the same hospital that I used for my other births.


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## Emilie (Dec 23, 2003)

what does your husband know about hb? If you really think you want to- call a mw talk to her. get some solid info for our husband. hb is great ,,,,, check out my new sig line.


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## emcare (Sep 11, 2005)

I think I should have said that he has veto'd it as of right now. I'm still working on him, mama.


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## Emilie (Dec 23, 2003)

yeah!!!! Have you read birthing from within- the art stuff I'm not toointo- but it is an easy and informative read i feel. dh was not on board either. we had a really bad hospital experience tho- so he was willing to listen.


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## emcare (Sep 11, 2005)

Not yet. I'm working my way through some other things right now. It's on the list, though.


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## Emilie (Dec 23, 2003)

good! i never would have considered it- omg- central il? where- my mw covers you and she is the best there is! .....if you are interested sometime in talking pm me- i promise- ill be nice! hb changed my life- i am passionate about it.


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## lilyka (Nov 20, 2001)

My first birth was a hospital birtth that was just a horrid experiance. so i had a home birth for my second. also horrid. so we went back to the hospital for #3. finally we had a winner









My midwife was amazing. She agreed to only have one nurse in the room (instead of the standard two) and she hand picks and trains the nurses in OB. She was supportive but realistic of my birth plan. She really did offer me options. if I wanted a test fine. if wanted to wait and see with something fine. when I was spotting and wanted to know right then what was up she didn't even hesitate to give me an ultrasound even though it wouldn't change anything or even predict if the baby would be ok. but it comforted me to see her there doing the happy dance. i would have been a wreck not knowing and being calm was more important than avoiding an unsessecary scan. she understood and respected that.

so when the big day arrived, I went in for my regular prenatal, I had been having some cramping and wanted to see if I was getting any closer. I was 10cm. i'll say they were getting me closer. The whole thing was a train wreck. my water broke during the cervical check (it was buldging . . she wasn't expecting it to be there) and I stood up fast. Ava crashed into my pelvis hard and we lost her heart beat. fortunately she was out in under three minutes (no tearing thankyouverymuch and my midwife assured me that was because of her awesome skill








) but ava was in shock and completely unresponsive. her apgars were 0 and 1. she finally came around but was still having issues breathing and they thought she was having problems with oxygenn because she was blue. (an obvious conclusion). The whole time my MW was calmlyexplaining to the panicing crowd (we were still in her office at this point) that things were being handled, could someone please go get some oxygen, mother and baby do not wish to be seperated . . . If the NICu thinks thier services are needed they can come down here, etc. .like this just happened every day and nothing terrible was happeneing. So by this point I am having some sort of hormonal break down and start violently shaking, almost to the point of convulsions (I still think this was a good birth







) so they put me in a wheel chair, throw a blanket over me, give me may baby and throw some more blankets on us and run us over to OB.(her office was in the hospital compound and connected by tunnels and skywalks) So we get to the room and the baby is put on the warming table, given some oxygen through a mask, gets a O2sat meter thing, is assesed and they are trying to figure out whats wrong with her and why she won't pink up, they are piling hot blankets on me and bringing in heating lamps trying to stop the shaking (it was below zero outside an they are thinking the walk over gave me a chill). after about my 5 minutes my midwife walks in and says "STOP! the mom has a birthing plan" I say "I htink that ship has sailed" not to mention I didn't have it with me. it was back at home with all my labor stuff etc . . . BUT the MW had committed it to memory and what I wasn't aware of was they were about to move on to routien infant shots and goop etc. Saved by my superhero MW (my husband was with her. we got the special elevator that you don't have to wait for as it is for OB only and they got stuck in the general elevator that stops at every floor etc). So by this time it had been decided that she wasn't blue but that she was bruised from hitting my pelvis (which evidently was a pretty violent blow that more or less knocked her out. So make a note. if you're laying down when your waterbreaks and your baby has not yet settled in your pelvis all nice and snug don't make any sudden movements. no jumping up allowed. bad idea. give them a few minutes to adjust to thier new accomodations and get in a safe place.) it turns out she also had a broken collar bone. but once we got over all that initial trauma (ermember it was a 3 minute birth so this stuff didn't go on forever) we settled into a back corner room (everyone else was up front), it started to snow for the first time that year, and quiet sweet nurses came in every now and then to check on us gently and respectfully. they ask permission before laying hands on us, never ever woke me or the baby, and request were made such as "this is what we usually do, what would you like us to do" . . "you were sleeping when we usually do this, when would be a good time to reschedule" . . "here is when we would like to do her hearing check, would you be able to make it down to the nursery then or would you like us to reschedule". They had to do a lot of blood work (GBS initial blood work came back wonky and they were concerned then she wouldn't bleed) when I asked for a NICU nurse to come and do it she was already on her way (my needs were anticipated!). overall the stay was very positive, the nurses were amazing and attentive and respectful, the rest of the staff was freindly and gentle and loving. I wouldn't do it any other way.

I really enjoyed being somewhere where away from home too. it was nice to not worry about it. no one tok mykids when I had a home birth but tell people you are going to the hospital and they are lining up to help. i didn't have to climb stairs, do laundry, tend to children. just me and Ava and our little babymoon. with friendly sweet attendants coming in to gush and love on us and bring me snacks..


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## pinuchkin (Nov 3, 2005)

I had a terrific post-birth with DD (won't post here about the c/s though I was respected even with that







). My hospital was the first in my state, (and one of only a few to date, I believe) to win the "baby-friendly" name for support of positive early parenting and breastfeeding. The rooms are big, very private, and have great bathrooms with tubs and big showers with benches & hand sprays. Family-sized rooms, with lounge chairs, recliners, benches. You can't see any medical equipment (entertainment-center-type wall cabinets). I was the first non-medical person to hold DD within a minute of her birth, DH was the *only* person to touch her until I was back with them (nursing staff keeps all family/friends away as a matter of protocol for postop moms so that they never have to hear "while you were recovering DD did the cutest little face..."). They _assumed_ I would nurse, had no formula-company-sponsored bag of crap, and when DD was proving herself to be a ravenous little hog not satisfied with my slow/little colostrum initially, helped me to pump and to use a supplemental nurser tube to keep her on breast while the milk supply built. Rooming in is assumed and the absolute standard. It's assumed that whoever you want will sleep overnight with you, and double bed is available if dad wants to cosleep too. Nurses assume you're doing all in-room baby care yourselves unless you specifically ask/ring for them. No testing out of our arms. Pediatrician rounds & weight checks were done in my room with me. Cosleeping encouraged and supported. All nurses LC trained, and two LC's specifically on staff. Fantastic support ... can't wait to have a VBAC there with my nurse midwife!!


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## kathan12904 (Jun 23, 2006)

Skimming through all these posts, I've noticed that the running theme in most of your positive hospital stories is the use of a midwife. Hear that ACOG?!?


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## ldsapmom (Apr 8, 2002)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Herausgeber*
I've never known anyone to have a positive hospital birth, but I'm really glad that you did. 

I am wondering how many women you know? Maybe you don't know many who have hospital births?

I have had two phenomenal hospital births. Granted my first was about as bad as it could be, but I learned from it.

That said, I would love to have my next baby at home.


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## thefragile7393 (Jun 21, 2005)

I'm glad to see this thread....it's nice that there are ways to have a good positive hospital birth







There's a lot of reasons why some women need or prefer a hospital and it's nice to see that it is possible to be able to have a great experience. I still would rather stay farrr away from the ones here but I know if I had to go (absolutely HAD to) that I would fight hard to make it as great as possible.


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## Celery (Jun 28, 2006)

I had a great hospital birth, mainly because I got to choose a great hospital.

Excellent midwife, excellent nurse. I really felt like they were on my side and I didn't have to worry about them pushing something on me.

It's definitely possible if you choose your midwife and your hospital carefully.


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## Megs_BK (Jul 26, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *freebirth2*
Yeah I don't see how very many women can have a great hospital birth. I don't see how any women wants to go to a hospital and have a bunch of people touching and staring at their privates even being in a position that they make you be in is humiliating call me ultra modest but I don't see how any women can deal with that just the thought of it grosses me out. I would totally be closing my vagina if people other than my husband were touching me down there. We did not create our children with a person around so why should we birth our children with a person between our privates? It dosen't make sense to me. 95% of births can successfully take place at home.

Please tell me how you think this post was helpful or related to the OP's actual question. If you don't have something productive to add to a thread, why post? Take the high road and leave it be.


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## cam&kat's_mom (Jan 12, 2006)

Hopefully in about 6 weeks I'll have one to share with you








I've had 2 hospital births and they were pretty good, other than being induced, and having that damn IV~ Other than that they were more than accomodating for whatever i asked. Or i just did what i wanted and they dind't complain! LOL
But I'm hoping that this time i will not swell up and go on my own and have a wonderful experience


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## KittyKat (Nov 17, 2002)

Yes. I had an amazing wonderful birth in the hospital. It was not quite as nice as my home waterbirth, but it was close enough, and it worked well for me and for my DH. Actually, after Liam's death any birth that ended up with us taking home a live baby would have been OK. The fact that her birth went really well was just gravy! And yes, my birth was attended by a CNM, and it was a waterbirth (just barely!)

Jubilee Hope's birth story:
http://www.mothering.com/discussions...d.php?t=441874


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## lilyka (Nov 20, 2001)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *freebirth2*
Yeah I don't see how very many women can have a great hospital birth. I don't see how any women wants to go to a hospital and have a bunch of people touching and staring at their privates even being in a position that they make you be in is humiliating call me ultra modest but I don't see how any women can deal with that just the thought of it grosses me out. I would totally be closing my vagina if people other than my husband were touching me down there. We did not create our children with a person around so why should we birth our children with a person between our privates? It dosen't make sense to me. 95% of births can successfully take place at home.

I think this attitude is why so many women end up having terrible hospital births. how defeatest. I never expected to be treated poorly in anyway and was confident that my every desire would be respected without a lot of fuss. And i was right. i was treated like a queen. I was confident in the hospital environment because i had educated myself, chosen an axcellent advocate in my midwife (maybe we should start a thread on how to have a good hospital birth) and expected great things. and I got them. When you assume you are helples in the hospital and that everyone is ignorant of how birth should be and out to get you that is what you are going to get. I wanted a hospital birth because I hated everything about my homebirth and had no other options for a homebirth midwife (and was not into a UC for many of the reasons I hated my homebirth to begin with).

I liked being out of my house away from kids and responsibility (in theory, I ended up giving birth in the office with about a zillion people around. good thing we didn't stop for bagels on the way in like I wanted







. . . . at least the people standing around new how to be helpful and were mostly people I knew), i liked having a clean quiet place with compassionate people taking waiting on me hand and foot, giving me options (including medical ones) and not judging my choices. The plan was to have no one in the room but my husband, my midwife and her assistant. Even in the chaos in which I gave birth (i didn't really labor) I felt protected, sheltered, I gave birth in the same position i would have at home . . on the floor on my hands and knees . . . when my baby was having trouble it was comforting to have a trained professional working on things gently, respectfully and without panic and someone else attending to my husband and me (who were in full panic mode).

but then we went into it with a good attitude. we chose people who would defend and support us. we expected that our desires would be respected and communicated that to the staff. there was never an adversarial relationship. I realy think confidence and pleasentness go a long way towards the universe giving you what you want. but I will admit. nothing helps nearly as much as having a hospital midwife who is there primartily to advocate for women rights on the OB floor. She could do homebirths but feels passionately that women laboring in hospitals need an advocate and hospitals need to change and she was in a position to do that (she had leverage - two huge hospitals in town were fighting over her and she had demands - she completely rewrote ob policy and went with the hospital who met the most of her demands). and it is not just her paitents that benifit, she trains all the nurses and teaches them things like how to ask permission before touching a woman or her child (so simple, means so much), and exactly how to you work with a woman who is laboring/birthing on her hands and knees (my friend does childbirth classes for the hospital and caught a glmipse of this. she totally thought they were in there playing twister until she took a closer look.







). So i won't pretend like I wasn't at an advantage but i think with the right attitude also went a long way towards the nursing staff treating me like a queen. and I was treated like a queen. and my little princess . . once they realized her general bluish tint was not lack of oxygen and recovered from the fright, they treated her like she was the only baby they had ever laid eyes on. nurses came form all over the floor (and then some) just to welcome her. it was heavenly.


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## ZeldasMom (Sep 25, 2004)

I get the feeling some folks are feeling judged for having hospital births. This bums me out. Gayle Peterson's Childbirth: The Ordinary Miracle talks about empowerment and support of women with various brith experiences. Here's a taste:

_In the media and other segments of society, motherhood and childbirth too easily become relegated to just one more "performance" for women to validate themselves in a world in which they are invisible in so many ways. Women are encouraged to describe their birth as a product: a "home birth" or a "hospital" birth, a "natural birth" or a "medicated" birth. The emphasis is not on the woman as birth-giver: "I gave birth at home", or "I gave birth in the hospital", or "I gave birth with medication", or" I gave birth without medication" or "I gave birth by cesarean". The woman's experience of herself has gone from process to product._

Okay, ZeldasMom here again. I gave birth the first time in a hospital, the second time at home. Both were positive experiences. If I had another baby it would be at home for reasons I won't go into now.

Here are some things that helped giving birth in a hospital be a positive experience for me:

-I labored at home a long time--I was 9cm when I was arrived at the hospital
-I had a midwife and a doula
-I did a lot of prep for the birth
-I brought cookies for the nurses


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## Shonahsmom (Mar 23, 2004)

I had a wonderful hospital labor and birth experience that was a result of a HB transfer. My MW's were obligated to recommed transfer/decline to attend me at home because of thick mec in my fluid and I am ultimately glad I was there because my babe was born very sick. But the actual labor and birth were awesome. The clinc that my HB MW's worked out of also had hospital priveldges, so my HB MW attended my hospital birth. I ate, drank, was in and out of a wonderful deep tub and the shower. I squatted, walked, used a birthing ball that they hospital provided. I had music, low lights, no one in the room except dd's father and the MW, who both kinda sat off to the side and let me do my thing because I was seriously in another world and didn't want to be talked to, touched, etc.. I delivered on my hands and knees, which was the only time I was in the bed my entire labor. My amazing MW made the neo-natal resuscitation team wait outside until babe was out. I declined pitocin and there was no fuss or pressure over it. I felt very respected and supported. Having a sick babe in a NICU is a whooooole other story though.


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## Oana (May 15, 2006)

I had a pretty good VBAC hospital experience. The whole story is here:
http://www.mothering.com/discussions...=1#post5910440

Oana


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## earthmama369 (Jul 29, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *lilyka*
I think this attitude is why so many women end up having terrible hospital births. how defeatest. I never expected to be treated poorly in anyway and was confident that my every desire would be respected without a lot of fuss. And i was right. i was treated like a queen. I was confident in the hospital environment because i had educated myself, chosen an axcellent advocate in my midwife (maybe we should start a thread on how to have a good hospital birth) and expected great things. and I got them. When you assume you are helples in the hospital and that everyone is ignorant of how birth should be and out to get you that is what you are going to get.

Hear, hear.

I had two lovely births in a hospital. (And I didn't even have a midwife!) Nakking right now, details are in past posts by me -- Nov. '04 and June '06. My birth plan was respected both times. I checked in when I wanted to, labored as I wanted to. The second was better in that I knew better what I wanted, but that's on me, not anyone else.


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## Herausgeber (Apr 29, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *ldsapmom*
I am wondering how many women you know? Maybe you don't know many who have hospital births?

I know plenty of mothers, nearly all of them who birthed in hospitals. I only know one woman IRL in my general age group who had a home birth. My sister's two births ended in C-sections, after a cascade of interventions. Ditto for my SIL. Outcomes among my friends who birthed in hospitals haven't been great either, even for educated women with written birth plans, etc. The hospital staff just ran roughshod over their wishes. Since I've been pregnant, the women I work with who've had children in the past few years have all been confiding their extremely disappointing and/or traumatic birth experiences to me.

But I recognize that some hospitals are better places to birth than others. I imagine it's partly regional.

I did have a nice conversation with my great-grandmother this weekend about her birth experiences. She had both of her children at home, the very home we were sitting in, in fact.


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## majazama (Aug 2, 2003)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *ZeldasMom*
Here are some things that helped giving birth in a hospital be a positive experience for me:

-I labored at home a long time--I was 9cm when I was arrived at the hospital
-I had a midwife and a doula
-I did a lot of prep for the birth
*-I brought cookies for the nurses*

(emphasis mine)









You have some good things to say, zeldasmom~


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## mamanurse (Jan 22, 2006)

My hospital birth was a bittersweet experience for me, but probably falls in the "good" category. Due to finding out about my pg in the second trimester and having a diagnosis of lupus, I felt I should have a hospital birth.

I went into spontaneous labor at 37w3d and labored at home with freedom of movement, drink/eating, and toileting without monitoring. I was in active labor for about 5 hours and felt the urge to push. We went to the hospital and I was complete with the head at a +2 station. An IFM was placed in me even though I was trying to refuse. I was told to push, but didn't unless I felt the urge. Somewhere in the process, I felt betadine and asked the OB not to give me an episiotomy. She answered "You've already torn anyway!" and I got an episiotomy. I pushed with three contractions and my daughter was born. We were only at the hospital for 37 minutes prior to birth and that is what probably made it mostly non-interventional.

So, I guess I could be mad abou the IFM and episiotomy, but in retrospect everything turned out fine and healing from the episiotomy was a piece of cheese.

Breastfeeding was a nightmare, though, so I think it was just the actual birth that made it a semi-fabulous hospital birth. For our next, we will undoubtedly try to have a homebirth with a midwife.


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## Jennifer3141 (Mar 7, 2004)

My first hospital birth was not the best birth but the breastfeeding help was amazing.

My second hospital birth was fabulous and I was beggng for number 3 while pushing.


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## BookGoddess (Nov 6, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *freebirth2*
Yeah I don't see how very many women can have a great hospital birth. I don't see how any women wants to go to a hospital and have a bunch of people touching and staring at their privates even being in a position that they make you be in is humiliating call me ultra modest but I don't see how any women can deal with that just the thought of it grosses me out. I would totally be closing my vagina if people other than my husband were touching me down there. We did not create our children with a person around so why should we birth our children with a person between our privates? It dosen't make sense to me. 95% of births can successfully take place at home.

We need to realize not everyone see things the same way. Just because Mama A is bothered by some of the practices of a hospital birth and wants a home birth doesn't mean that Mama B, C, and D do. People should give birth in whatever place they feel most comfortable be it unassisted, at home with a midwife, or at a hospital. I won't judge a mama for her choices.

I had a good hospital birth. I didn't find it humiliating to have a doctor examine my vagina. Why would it be more humiliating than having a midwife do it? I go to an OB every year so it wasn't like it was the first time someone looked at my private bits.









The nurses were very nice. They dimmed the lights, kept out the noise, they allowed DH to be with me the whole time. I didn't feel pressured. No one made snide comments to me. I felt respected and I acted in a way that conveyed to the hospital staff that I expected complete respect.

My hospital didn't and doesn't hand out formula bags. After I had DD, a Medela Symphony pump was brought to my room by one of the nurses to help me pump (DD was in the NICU for 3 days). I had Lactation Consultants come to my room to show me how to work the breast pump. I was even given a pump to take home for a few weeks!! A week after I came home a LC followed up to make sure I knew how to nurse DD. In short, I don't regret my hospital birth.


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## nichole (Feb 9, 2004)

yeah i didn't care who saw my privates either although it was only my dr plus two nurses who were very helpful. dh was getting woozy so i didn't mind them being there







i would have arrived there naked if dh would have let me..i didn't care.

good points: got there at 7cm. no amniotomy, no episiotomy, no augmentation, no drugs, no vaccuum extractor. ate right in front of the nurse's face. spent about half of the time sitting on the toilet or in the shower by myself. only one VE which was my choice. baby stayed with me or dh the whole time. no one trying to sneak a circ or vaccine or formula or anything like that! oh yeah baby slept in my bed the whole time. my nurse encouraged it actually.

bad points: the baby's heartrate had decels which led to a rushed pushing phaze but i don't know what could have been done about that. the cord was around his neck. two nurses did piss me off i will say, but i just ignored them and they went away. i did have pitocin for pp bleeding, but i didn't care about that at the time. probably would have been easier to not have to drive to the hospital and back, but that is what i needed at the time to be comfortable so be it.

by the way, i had a family practioner, and she went OUT OF HER WAY to pull strings for me. she put me in an upright position. i did have an evil nurse in triage but that was for a very short time and as my dr got there she hooked me up with someone AWESOME. she barely even bothered me except to remind me to breathe and some encouraging words. my dr made sure the baby didn't go to the warmers and that newborn procedures were delayed. i was exhausted (no sleep) and could barely keep my eyes open, and the nurse encouraged me to bf anyway. she practically held the baby to the breast for me b/c i just couldn't do it. so even though i had a dr, it was because of her that i had a good experience. to me, it was a good experience, but different moms are looking for different things in their birth i'm sure. i didn't get her by accident. i asked around and talked to her about her philosophy on birth during my pregnancy.


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## elanorh (Feb 1, 2006)

Well - I don't know if it was "fabulous," but it was pretty good - I thought it was fabulous 'til a few weeks ago (it was nearly three years ago) - and I'm still very happy with it (I just know more this time).

My Mom, Aunt, and sister all had NCB's (Mom 7/7, Aunt 5/5, Sister 2/3 - she had nubane to slow her contractions 'til her dh could get there, and that was her most difficult labor in the end) .... Also my cousin had an unplanned homebirth, obviously NCB. So I relied on them for my information/advice in re: what to expect with NCB and NCB in a hospital. In retrospect, I should have done some reading and research but I thought I'd done enough, with my talks and with a (very good, very pro-NCB) hospital birthing/bf course.

How things went -- we called the hospital at about midnight, told them that contractions were only about 30 seconds but were less than 4 minutes apart, should we come in? They told us we'd probably be sent home, but come in to be checked out.










So, nurse helps us settle into the room, tells us that often FTPs arrive too soon, we'll probably be sent home, etc., and when she's finally ready to check me her jaw drops - I'm 5 1/2 cm.







So -- they go into rush mode getting things ready, although not TOO concerned, I still have plenty of time.







I think they're taking their cues off dh and myself, who are calm, relaxed, I'm not in much pain really (Mom was right, it was like bad menstrual cramps) .... About an hour later she comes back to check how I'm progressing before calling our OB to let him know we're there, because, "He'll probably want to know how far along you are."

This is where she really does a jaw-drop, I'm now at 8 cm.







So, she rushes out to call the doctor and starts really rushing to get things set up for a delivery in the room. I'm in back labor, so doing pelvic tilts to try to get Ina to turn .... She asks me if I'd like to go to the bathroom now, to get that taken care of. I do, and discover that it is MUCH more comfortable to have a contraction on the toilet than I was on hands and knees ... so we spent some time on the birthing ball between pelvic tilts -- then they said the EFM was not accurate enough in that position, and asked me to do more pelvic tilts on the bed .... hands and knees .... I did that 'til I was 10 cm, which was when Ina *finally* turned. Whew!

I had to have an IV because I needed abx for a heart condition that I have - other than that I felt I had a really natural labor and the nurse and doc didn't do *anything* patronizing or try to push drugs or anything.

Nurse told me that the other nurses asked her if I "knew" I was in labor, I was so quiet and calm.







I asked her at one point if I should be shifting my breathing since I'd moved on to the next stage in labor, and she said, "Hey, what you're doing is working well for you - change it when you feel like you need to change it, you're doing a great job!"

We checked in at 12:30 am and Ina was born at 4:30 am. No pain meds, no known interventions, all good and very proud.

_What will happen differently this time:_
1. They whisked Ina away almost immediately after birth (laid her on me, dried her, then did their tests/bath/etc. with dh present in the nursery). Since I hadn't researched this AT ALL, I didn't know that this was not the way that it should have been done - that babe should have been given to me, allowed to latch, no unnecessary interventions until a full feed completed, etc. [My nurse sister, whose youngest is 6, was aghast when she figured out that Ina wasn't "in trouble" when they whisked her away - her babes all got to latch etc. immediately before they messed with anything else].

_So, this time, babe stays with me -- until s/he has latched on both sides. I'll keep babe warm, etc. Already discussed with OB and with the hospital about this._

2. _Delayed cord clamping - I didn't know anything about this with Ina, but we will be doing it this time. OB has no concerns_.









3. "Active Management of the Third Stage of Labor" - Here's where I've learned the most, actually, and am least happy with my first birth. I didn't know that it's pretty standard to give moms pitocin via IV or shot immediately after babe is delivered - only discovered it by noticing pitocin on my bill from Ina's birth when I was revamping our filing system a few weeks ago.







: It's supposed to help deliver the placenta more quickly, with less risk to mom, etc. But it's controversial (WHO recommends against it) -- _anyway, have discussed this with the OB and we will not use pitocin this time unless he's seeing signs that I'm beginning PPH, will allow baby at breast etc. to do the oxytocin naturally_.









I need to make sure we've got a detailed birth plan this time, and that dh knows what/when to really watch what's going on to make sure that I'm kept warm after delivering babe, and the cord clamping/pitocin stage -- but I'm feeling very confident that this next hospital birthed NCB will go even better than the last one.









I really do think that the key is whether you've got a good doctor/midwife. We really like our OB. He coached my aunt and uncle through my cousin's unplanned homebirth over the phone - he's relaxed, not patronizing at all, and really listens to us. I think (obviously) he'll skew toward the more medical approach unless a mother directs him differently but he isn't opposed to natural birth etc. - his office has brought a CNM in as the first CNM in the community, expressly to serve that need (if we didn't like him so much we'd probably switch to her, but whoever's on call that weekend is the one we'll see anyway).

So, my personal experience is that you need:
1. An open-minded and non-patronizing OB/MW (and good nurses are a big plus!)

2. An informed mom who makes her expectations clear ahead of time (this is where I fell down bigtime with Ina, although it still was a really positive birth). They met my expectations - I just didn't know as much as I should have about birth/labor itself. I spent my pregnancy researching bf and child development/infancy issues.

**
The only thing I'd add is that the hospital was very pro-bf with us, checked latches etc. several times ... I didn't need a lot of help, because I DID research that. I could see a mom who hadn't researched that, needing more assistance than I received. And the "'bf' ff success baggies" were still given out ... There's not LLL here so I don't see enough support in the community for bf moms to bring the hospital in line for Baby Friendly status.







At least at this point.


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## StrawberryFields (Apr 6, 2005)

I had a good hospital birth! But, I was a hospital transport so I labored at home for the first 42 hours







I struggled with my homebirth loss for awhile and my decision to transport but not because I had a bad experience in the hospital. My midwives had called the hospital ahead of time as well as my doctor, who met us there. They did start me on IV fluids and antibiotics but I was so far gone at that point that I don't even remember them putting it in. The anesthesiologist who administered my epidural







: did a great job, I could still move my legs and I knew when to push on my own, yet I didn't have any more pain. The doctor encouraged me to try all sorts of pushing positions but when it was apparent that I was too tired and exhausted she turned out the lights, the nurses got me some juice, and they let me rest and get my strength back. I pushed when I wanted to and they didn't cheerlead me on with a 10-count. When ds was born he went directly on my chest to nurse and they didn't take him away for 2 hours. At the 2 hour mark he went off with dh to be washed and have his hearing checked and newborn screen while I took a shower, which felt great after my marathon labor and delivery. No one mentioned circ. They put a sign on his bassinet that said "No bottles-no pacifier" but it didn't matter because after his screening he never left the room again. They gave me a steady supply of awesome ice-pack diapers and Lansinoh and said it was fine for my mom to come at 3 am when we called to tell her the baby was here. He co-slept with dh that night and we checked out the next afternoon.

Now, even though my hospital experience was







I am not sure that it would have been so great had I gone straight away when I first went into labor. I will never know, of course, but I will plan for a homebirth again next time...


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## Serrendipity (Apr 12, 2006)

I had two great births at St. Joseph's hospital here in Tacoma.

The first time I gave birth I was very educated about NCB, and it still ended up more medical than I wanted it to be (but less than it could have been). It was still an amazing experience. 26 hrs long despite having pit augmentation, and I eventually got an epi out of sheer exhaustion. But at least the less-than-ideal parts gave me a better understanding of what I wanted to do differently.









The second time, I labored at home for the first 18 or so hours, and was in the hospital for the other *20*. Yeah, second labors *are* so much shorter, dontcha know.







:Anyway, it was mostly just myself, my DH, and our free doula-trainee who was on her third birth and was just awesome. I'm hiring her next time. My only complaint was my midwife wasn't really "my" midwife, she was the partner I was less familiar with since "my" midwife retired due to injury when I was 28 weeks pg.







I vocalized through all my contrx, and labored in the giant birth tub, and still would not describe any of it as "painful" just incredibly, _indescribable_, intense at times.

My only trouble came when I started to transition and I thought _yes! here we go!_ only to have it last more than _three hours_ because the baby was still up high and didn't feel like coming down to press on my cervix at all! Towards the 36th hour of labor, I asked for the tiniest epi possible, one that would let me feel everything _but_ my uterus, basically. Half hour later, I could still feel the right half of it, but it was better. I started to push just to make myself feel better, eventually. To "labor down", which somehow I hadn't been reminded to do earlier.







: If my midwife had been "my" midwife, or if my doula was more experienced, I think _someone_ would have mentioned that technique at the start of the transition that took forever when it became apparent that things were not moving right along.

Other than that, my midwife had to leave right before I started to unconsciously labor down, and twenty minutes after she was gone, I was ready to push, only I got a CNM who screamed "PUSHPUSHPUSHPUSHPUSHPUSHPUSH!!!!" at me the whole time I was getting the head out, and then "STOP!" while she did - _something_ with the head- when it was expressly written, right on the top of my birth plan, that I did NOT want anyone to yell "push" at me! If I wasn't too busy _giving birth_, I would have yelled right back, "SHUT UP already!"

Over all, it was such a wonderful experience, I asked DH if we could have another before I'd even birthed the placenta!







And despite Attila the CNM, I do plan on going back there for any future births.

Serendipity


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## MikoMum (Jan 4, 2006)

I had a pretty good hospital birth with my daughter. I never had an IV or an epidural and labored mostly in the shower. I had wonderful young nurses who had just had their own babies. I roomed in with my baby (and DH stayed with us). I did have an issue being a number on my doctor's chart. He was so busy. Having said that I had wanted a home birth even then and am planning one with this baby.


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## katies_mama (Jun 9, 2005)

I had an excellent (perfect) natural hospital birth.

I was risked out of the birth center I wanted to deliver at. The doctor I went with dealt primarily with high risk patients that were risked out of the birth center, but he was a low interventionist doctor, had a hatred of epidurals, and an 11% c/s rate including his repeats. He had an awful bedside manner but man did I adore him. He had an "of course you can" attitude about natural birth.

In the hospital, I was talked out of an epidural by two nurses in a row (I had back labor, and was extremely discouraged and frightened when I arrived at the hospital). They encouraged and supported me. I had two nurses assigned to me full time (they said because I was high risk), and they worked extremely well with my doula. My birth plan was respected and followed to a T.

They only checked me twice--once when I was admitted, and again when my water broke and I wanted to push. 6 hours passed in between these two events, and they were supposed to do a vaginal check minimum every 2 hours but they "forgot" (even though they were in the room for all six hours).

Intermittent monitoring followed by telemetry moitoring, and a hep lock were the only interventions. They were very respectful when performing these things--they would pause for contractions, etc.

My actually delivery ended up being almost unassisted, as she came out in two pushes. From the time they gave me permission to try to push through the lip and the time she was delivered was about 15 minutes, and I skipped contractions and "chose" not to push for some. There was no pressure. She went from +2 station to fully delivered in a single push, so they were caught off guard. My doula caught her head, and a CNM who was working as a L&D nurse ran in from the hallway and delivered her without gloves or assistance. My doctor arrived later to stitch me up. She was 9-9 and was born with her arm over her head, making her total head circumference quite large. I felt like superwoman when I was pushing her out!

After birth, I kept her and nursed for an hour before she was weighed. The cord was not cut until it stopped pulsing, and the atmosphere was relaxed and excited. We stayed in the hospital for 48 hours (they gave us the option to leave after 24), and I did not want to leave. We roomed in, of course, and breastfed constantly.

This was in the San Francisco Bay Area, in Pleasanton, CA. I sure wish I could deliver there again (we've moved).







: What a wonderful, ideal experience it was!


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## Nabbe (Sep 27, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Nanners* 
I am a big proponent of homebirth, it just isn't for me and my family, just a personal preference. I have had 2 hospital births. The first was not what I wanted, so I made the decision that the second one would be, and it was. I was allowed to drink water freely in labor, had no interventions at all, pushed on my hands and knees, the cord had stopped pulsing before it was cut, my midwife and 1 nurse were the only attendants (other than dh and SIL), the baby was put immediately on my chest to nurse, and left there for nearly 2 hours before he was weighed, measured, etc. They did take him to the nursery, but waited until I was to the point that I could take him there myself, so we were not separated at all. He was never out of arm's reach during our whole stay, which was only 24 hrs. Nobody balked at that, either. I see very, very little anywhere about positive hospital birthing, and just wanted to share my experience!

Here in Norway, that is the norm, we all do it like that, more or less. Relatively intervention-free births, mom can descide a lot, and cord is not cut until after it stops pulsating. After, baby is placed directly on mom, even before cutting the cord, and left to nurse a while before cleanup (usually baby is cleaned same time as mom gets freshened up to leave the labour-room and go to maternityward).

All my 3 births were like that. But now, if i ever get pregnant again, I want a homebirth.


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## kristenburgess (Sep 15, 2002)

subbing to come back and read this thread...I really want to read positive hospital stories, it's good to hear them! Most positive stories are homebirths/birth center births


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## MacKinnon (Jun 15, 2004)

I had a fabulous hospital birth with DD and have chosen the same midwives/hospital for this baby. I just can't think of a reason not to, everything went so well. Plus insurance pays at the hospital...

I had no interventions, no monitering, no drugs, no arguements or problems. I was allowed to eat and drink, move freely, labor where desired. I only had two cervical checks- one when I arrived and one when I was ready to push. I almost delivered in the shower. The only intervention was the heploc/antibiotics for GBS. I waived all eye goop, etc. without any problems. DD never left my bedside except to get her picture taken. The m/w have a queen size bed in their room. DD and DH stayed with me and we all slept together. Food is orderd like room service (DH can order as well). My nurses were excellent, midwives fabulous! Quiet, not very busy hospital. Plenty of peace but help when needed.

My only complaint is the mandatory 48 hour hold for GBS+ moms. But it was nice to stay and be taken care of for about the first 42 of those hours


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## chinaKat (Aug 6, 2005)

Another awesome hospital birth here. No complaints at all.

The basics:

- midwife assisted
- labored at home for a long time (8cm dilated upon hospital arrival)
- no medical interventions
- labored with birthing ball, in shower
- nursed right away
- never separated from baby (co-slept)
- private room the whole time
- somebody else cleaned up the mess!

I can't imagine it would have gone any differently at home, except maybe for the mess part.


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## roslyn (Aug 23, 2006)

I had a wonderful hospital birth with a scheduled c-section due to extensive prior uterine surgery. My OB is a fabulous guy. I had aromatherapy and Neil Young in the surgery. (Just the music, not the singer, though he certainly would've been welcome!) My baby was given to me and I nursed immediately. Dh held him to my chest and we had a while to bond together. He did have breathing problems, but they brought him into recovery with me in his little bubble thingy. Then he came directly into my room with me and dh and never left. The nurses were very nice, and very helpful with nursing. They didn't even give me any negativity about having had breast reduction. (I really expected them to claim I couldn't nurse--I had few problems took fenugreek and blessed thistle at a nurse's suggestion and was fine.) They never gave him formula or even suggested it. They were very supportive and I given that I'd always envisioned an all-natural homebirth it was about as good as a surgical birth could get.


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## SweetTeach (Oct 5, 2003)

I also had a positive experience in the hospital with my ds2. I was induced (blood clotting disorder, previous stillbirth of ds1 and funky bloodwork) at 37 w 2d. My homebirth midwife has privileges at the hosp so she was there the entire time and that was key, I believe. One annoying nurse who wanted to be "in charge" got off duty 4 hrs after we got there and the next nurse who came on was wonderful, respectful and stayed in the background.
Intermittent monitoring, 2 VE's upon my request, aromatherapy, low lights, sitting in the shower and getting back rubs from dh and my mom- it was a very intimate experience for me/us. Of course, ds2 coming out ALIVE was the best part of it all. We checked out the next day- couldn't get any rest after the fact.


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## faithinrosie223 (Sep 29, 2006)

I had a hospital birth with a midwife. It was a positive experience for me. I was induced with pitocin due to complications, but was allowed to eat, drink, walk around, use the jacuzzi, sit in the rocking chair, etc. I had to have fetal heart monitering once every 15 minutes because of the induction. I was very in control of what was going on (as much as I could be with an induction) and was only checked for dialation three times during my labor. (when I asked for IV narcotics, when I asked for an epidural, and when the baby was crowning) I was not permitted to get up (obiviously) or eat anything besides jello or clear fluids after I received the epidural. (I was about 7 CM when I got it) I had the help of two doulas, my best friend and my midwife. Pictures where taken at all stages of labor and during the actual birth. I caught my baby when she came out, held her on my chest while they did all the tests, cut her cord, and nursed her within a few minutes of birth. I would do it that way again in a heart beat. (minus the induction, those contractions are very painful)







:


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## KsMum (Nov 1, 2006)

This is my first post here, this place is a bit intimidating, but this thread was calling my name!
My water broke at home at 37 weeks, man, we were so surprised and excited, I had actually just packed my bag a couple days before, so we packed our bag in the car, and we went off to the hospital.
I know some folks wait as long as they can to get to the hospital, but I was excited to get there, they had amazing showers there with these vibrating shower heads, and they were much nicer (and cleaner!) than our shower at home







The rooms are also very comfy, and with beautiful views.

We got there around 9pm and they checked me into a triage room to see if my water had indeed broken (which it had) and then moved me into a delivery room. My first nurse was Shana (from Saskatoon) and she was really nice, and they watched to see if I had started contracting yet. Once it was determined that I wasn't really contracting they put me on pitocin. For the first couple hours, the contractions started, and DH would help me with breathing and relaxing and massages (he was WONDERFUL!)
At about 6am I was still only 4 cm dilated, and the contractions were about a minute and a half apart, and really painful. I had wanted to delay the epidural for as long as I could, but when the nurse said that they were "moderate" and that I still was only half way there I realized it was time for the epidural. The other benefit to having the epidural at that time was that the anesthesiologist that was on call at that time gave "good epidurals" because they were lower or half doses, so you could feel more, and he was off at 7am. It was a bit uncomfortable holding my back arched for so long, and still during the contractions, but it was sooo worth it! I still felt the contractions, but they didn't hurt like they did before. This was probably around 7am when he finished. And my biggest fear about the epidural was not being able to feel my legs, but I could completely still feel my legs, they were really heavy, but I could move them around the bed a bit, and wiggle my toes and feel them, so that was great.
I was able to rest a bit, and call my family, and DH had a quick snooze.
At 10 - 10:30 I started to really feel the contractions again, and was worried that the epidural wasn't working, but the nurse (now it was Stephanie, who was really great, and a wonderful support for me) said that it was just that I was getting to transition, and that I'd be pushing soon.
At 11am I started to push. When we started I remember looking at DH and he had started to get a bit teary, which completely made me tear up too. It was just amazing that we were about to become parents, and really made me focus and think about what was about to happen.
Stephanie suggested that we lower the dose of the epidural, so that I could better control where I was pushing. That was a great suggestion. I really did feel like I could concentrate more on the exact region to push, and there really wasn't an increase in the pain. Pushing was a lot of work, but it was very rewarding, and not really painful. It would be painful to not push during the contractions; actually getting to push was a relief.
In my birthing class they told us about using focal points, and so I had brought to the hospital all these cute little things that I thought represented DH and my life, and what do I end up using as a focal point, the red "Wrong Way" sign that I could see outside my window. Worked great!!
I had a lovely CD that I had made up with "slow baby tunes", and that was playing in the background. That was also a really wonderful thing for me to have, as I really did listen to it in the background in between pushing, and it helped to relax me. The nurse Stephanie even said that she loved the CD too, and so I gave it to her afterwards as a thank you.
After an hour of pushing, Dr. was in there with a resident, and a medical student, and they realized that DD was facing the wrong direction ("sunny side up") so they had to turn her over.
(It was a lot of fun having a resident and one (sometimes two) medical students there for the birth, it was interesting to talk to them, and to listen in on them as they were quizzed by my OB, I think I heard more about what stages I was in because of their presence, and the science of birth is absolutely fascinating)
As I was closing in on the 2 hour of pushing mark, the nurse had heard Dr. talking about thinking about getting the forceps or vacuum ready to help out, which I didn't want. So she told me and that gave me an extra bit of determination to get DD out soon. Her head was starting to crown, and the nurse called DH and told him to look over here, and I remember him looking at me and saying something along the lines of "ok baby, this is it, you really have to push now, she's almost here" and that gave me an extra bit of energy. I remember thinking that he looked really excited/nervous/happy all at the same time, and I wanted to push hard to make him happy.
Our beautiful daughter was born at 1:16 pm on Thursday May 25th, and she was just perfect. She cried a bit, but not too much, and they placed her on my chest as they wiped her off a bit. DH and I just looked at her and told her how much we loved her, and it was really the most wonderful thing in the whole world. They eventually took her to the other side of the room so that they could check her out, and she did great. DH said she had her arms all over the place, and was really active. Her apgars were 8 and 9, and she was soon back to me all wrapped up in a blanket. She was very attentive, she would follow our voices as DH and I talked to her, we were fascinated by her. She was so calm, that she completely calmed us down too, and we were just in awe starting at her and learning how to nurse her.
The doctors continued to deliver my placenta, and sew me up (I had the episiotomy and a "second and a half" degree tear) and collected DD's cord blood to be donated (they say they got a really great collection, way to go DD!) I was completely oblivious to all this, we just couldn't take our eyes off our beautiful new baby girl.
After about a half an hour he doctors had finished with me, and at about an hour after her birth they wanted to take DD to the nursery to weigh her and check her out. DH went with her, and she once again did perfect. She weighed in at 7 pounds, 3.4 ounces, and was I think 19 inches long (although DH said the nurse said "probably more like 18 but with her cone head she's 19 now!)
At some point they moved us out of the delivery room, and into the post partum room where we stayed for the next two nights. DD was with us most of the time, except when they needed to check her weight and vitals, and for two times when I needed to get an hour sleep or so.
We were discharged on Saturday, with both her pediatrician, my OB, and all the nurses commenting on how perfect and beautiful she is. We are very lucky parents, she was a dream the whole time we were in the hospital, and she's been a dream baby ever since we got home two days ago. We are so in love with our beautiful little girl.

I went into the whole labor process with some, but not many expectations. I wanted to wait as long as I could for an epidural, if I indeed needed it, I was hoping that I wouldn't have to have pitocin, and I was nervous about the episiotomy, and was hoping against vacuums or tongs or a section.

I loved my birth experience, and without knowing it ahead of time, it was exactly how I wanted it. I was in charge. The pitocin was unfortunate, but because my water had broken and they wanted to start the contractions, I was totally fine with it, and it ended up not being a big deal at all.
I was really happy to have time without the epidural, because I got to try out my birthing ball (which was fun), and got to practice breathing with my husband (which really was a bonding experience for us), and got to 'feel' what I've been thinking about for all these months. But when I was ready for the epidural, I was really ready for it. I was ready to stay in bed because of it, I was ready for the catheter that you have to get because of it (how awesome is the catheter really, after all these months peeing every two minutes it was fun to not have to worry about that!) It was the complete right decision for me. I got to rest before pushing, but I still felt contractions, and felt the process.
I loved my birth experience, I really felt comfortable with the people who were in the room with us, but in all honesty, there could have been 10 more strangers in there and I wouldn't have cared. All I cared about was that my husband was there by my side telling me to push for two hours, holding my legs up, wiping my forehead, and telling me he loved me. I loved my birth experience.


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## USAmma (Nov 29, 2001)

I was very happy with my second hospital birth. I went in knowing what I wanted, brought 2 girlfriends, a doula, and my dh with me to be my advocates and support people. It was really a great birth.


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## mrmansmama (Jul 8, 2005)

My birth was in a birth center attached to a hospital. It was midwife assisted, I labored in the tub most of the night (did not birth there, but I could have). I was monitored once for 10min. when I first arrived and the rest of the time was just checked with a hand held. Could eat and drink anything I wanted (didn't eat, but could have). After the birth my son was placed on me with the cord still attached. Also, everything was done in the room; labor, delivery, recovery, all the babies weighing and measuring etc. He never left me the whole time I was there. Plus a great bonus, the hospital offered a 'special meal' the day after the birth. I had lobster..and it was really good!







)


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## ollineeba (Apr 12, 2005)

My first birth in a hospital was awful.. ended in c/s.

My second birth in a different hospital was AWESOME. It was my VBAC and looking back, there is very little that I would change (like I had a hep-lock because I didn't want an IV- next time I won't even have a hep-lock). I had awesome midwives and they really respected our wishes. The nurses were awesome and sooo helpful with breastfeeding. Many of them were also doulas. The hospital room had a jacuzzi tub to labor in and aromatherapy kits & a telemetry unit so that we could check on baby every once in a while and I didn't have to be in bed for that to happen.
They brought us a menu and DH and I were able to order our meals for the next two days.. it was a peaceful time and we were able to really rest and relax. It was great


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