WVUturtle514

I did have the baby! Here's the (long) story: My water broke at 6pm on my due date (12/21).....how ironic, huh? Anyways....I never started having contractions....contacted my midwife and she told me to either call her back when I started having time-able contractions or to meet her at the birth center at 6am if labor hadn't started by then. So 6am rolls around and still no contractions.....we meet the midwife at the birth center and she checks me. I was still only 90% effaced and 2cm dilated (same as at my last appointment). So she gives us two options: we can go home and hope that labor starts within the next 6 hours (they will only let you go 18 hours with SROM), or we can go ahead and go to the hospital and get started on pitocin. My husband and I were afraid that if we went home and waited, that we would end up at the hospital on antibiotics anyways, so we opted to go ahead and go to the hospital then. Well wouldn't you know that on our way to the hospital I started having MAJOR contractions, coming every 2-3 minutes. By the time we got up to L&D my contractions were 1-2 minutes apart. 2 hours later I was full effaced, but barely 3cm, so my midwife decided to start the pitocin. I made it to 5cm before the pitocin contractions won and I decided to get an epidural. After I got the epidural I dilated from 5cm to 9cm within an hour. This is where things started going downhill....the baby was very low by this time (+2 station), but started having major decels. My midwife consulted with one of the OB/GYNs and he actually wanted to take me for a c-section then, but since I was so close to being able to push he said he would give me another hour. An hour later I was still at 9cm and the baby was still having lots of decels and was taking a long time to recover.....on top of that, the baby's baseline HR had increased from the 140's into the 200's.....doc did not like that. Sooooooo.....off to the OR we went for an emergency c-section. My midwife stayed with me the entire time....I think she felt terrible because she knew that wasn't what we wanted. But in the end, I have a beautiful, healthy baby and I am healthy as well. When the doc got in there not only was the baby sunny side up, but he had somehow wedged himself into my pelvis at an angle, which is why my cervix wouldn't dilate that last centimeter. So that is how the little buggar decided to come out. We were able to come home on Christmas Eve and I am recovering well. Here are some pictures of the little man who gave his mama such a hard time!! Matthew Preston Born 12/22/08 at 12:27pm 8lbs. 2oz. 21.5 inches

Yuck....sounds like that was not a good work environment....I bet you're glad you got out of there! If I go to the hospital, my midwife will still deliver me there unless there is a major complication and she needs to transfer my care to one of the MD's. So it's specifically the nurses "protocols" that I'm worried about....

Well, I don't really consider this a birth plan. These are merely my preferences for after the birth, assuming of course there are no complications. And these requests will only matter to me IF I have to deliver at the hospital, which again, unless there is a complication I do not plan on doing. At the birth center going "natural" is my only option.....so unless a complication occurs and I would need to be transferred, then I will have no choice in the matter...

Our midwives require that you attend the birth classes they offer if you want to deliver at the birth center.....if you don't attend they will only deliver you at the hospital.

Well, according to the lady who ran my birth classes, these things are NOT standard practice at the hospital where I will be delivering (if I have to go to the hospital). Apparently, after delivery they will hold the baby up to show you and then immediately take the baby to the warmer for all of the "standard procedures." Once all of that is done, they will let you have the baby until it is time to transfer you to the post-partum floor....then they take the baby to the nursery until you get settled into your post-partum room. She said that you usually only get to spend about 15 minutes with your baby during the first 3 hours......that's why I felt like I should write my preferences down and pray that the nurses will honor them....

Well, all of these things are standard at the birth center....so as long as I am able to deliver there, then I won't have to worry about anything. However, these are requests that I would have to make at the HOSPITAL if I have to deliver there.....that's what I'm worried about.

So I thought I would post this here because I'd probably get the most honest feedback. My due date is this Saturday. My husband and I are really hoping for a natural, intervention-free birth, so we have decided to deliver at a birth center near our house. I really have no desire to deliver at the hospital and I'm going to try to do everything I can to avoid it. However, I know that there is the possibility that if I go extremely overdue and they need to induce me, that I will be required to deliver at the hospital. With that in the back of my mind, I have a few preferences that I wanted to run by you L&D nurses and see if they are acceptable or if I will be viewed as one of those PIA patients. All of my preferences are regarding AFTER the birth of the baby. Barring any complications and/or medical indication that would prevent otherwise, my husband and I would prefer: 1. Baby be placed immediately on mom's chest after delivery 2. Newborn assessment be done with baby on mom's chest 3. Delayed clamping of cord until pulsation stops 4. Delayed weighing/measuring/shots of baby until mom is ready and/or mom has spent at least 20-30 minutes bonding with baby 5. Baby is to stay in room with mom at all times unless mom asks otherwise 6. No bottles or formula to be given to baby Are any of these requests TOO far out there? I really don't want to be a "difficult" patient, but these are things that are very important to me and this is why I am opting to deliver at a birth center in the first place. How should I approach this subject with my nurse so that it doesn't seem like I am being pushy or confrontational? Any suggestions and comments are appreciated!!! Thanks in advance!!

If you've ever seen the documentary "The Business of Being Born", they interview several OB/GYN residents. When asked how many natural, intervention-free labors they had been involved with, all of the docs just kinda looked around at each other. Of course, their answer was "none." They are taught in med school all of the things that can go "wrong" with a delivery and they don't focus on how natural birth is.....

Unfortunately many women don't have this option. I am lucky that I live 5 minutes from the birth center where I will be delivering (granted this baby doesn't get too comfy in there and go extremely overdue). However, it is the only birth center in the ENTIRE STATE where I live. In many states, especially those with very rural areas, birth centers are few and far between....and in several states homebirth with a midwife is actually illegal and/or there are no midwives in their area who perform homebirths. So basically these women have no choice but to deliver in the hospital.....even when a natural birth is desired. And then they run into attitudes like some of the posters on here have displayed......because let's face it, most hospitals do not in any way cater to "natural birth"....

I'm a CRNA and I just finished my last day of work this past Friday. I am currently 39 weeks.....I worked as long as I could, but it eventually got to be too much. I've had a very healthy, uncomplicated pregnancy, but it got to the point where I was just exhausted and being on my feet all day was killing me. I started having major swelling in my feet and ankles and I was just tired ALL the time. Plus, I think it was a lot of mental stress, knowing that I had to be at work everyday. Good luck to you and congratulations on your pregnancy!!

Very nicely put.....I couldn't have said it better myself!!!

The original post is the exact reason that I have no desire to deliver in the hospital. I am currently 39 weeks pregnant with my first child. I knew from the beginning that I wanted to keep my pregnancy as intervention free as possible. Luckily, I live in an area that has a midwife-run birth center or the option of a homebirth with a CNM. Unfortunately, many women in the US just do not have any other option than going to the hospital. I am a young, healthy woman who has had an uneventful, uncomplicated pregnancy. The childbirth educator who conducted my birth classes was very frank about what to expect if we chose to deliver at the hospital: to have an IV placed upon arrival, frequent lady partsl exams, must be in bed on the monitor for at least 20 minutes out of every hour, NPO upon admission, etc, etc.... I'm sorry, but for someone who is healthy and low-risk, there is absolutely no need for any of this. And if you refuse any of these interventions you are, of course, seen as a "difficult patient." I am a very educated woman and have taken the time to research exactly what I do and do not want as part of my birthing experience (of course, should the need for intervention arise, I will not be inflexible). However, I feel that a lot of women have an idea of what they want, but have not fully done their research and therefore come across as "demanding" or "pushy" to the nurses when they want their requests honored. I truly feel for these women who want an intervention free birth, but have no other option than going to the hospital and dealing with these types of hostile attitudes toward "natural" birth....

I'm a CRNA and I'm currently 35 weeks pregnant with my first child. Today's anesthesia machines have scavenging systems that evacuate the anesthetic gases through the hospital's vacuum system. Plus, most anesthetics are given in a closed circuit, so you will have very little gas actually leaking out into the OR. Now, with that being said, you should try really hard not to be in the OR when they are inducing a child with gases because that is considered an open system. I will not do pediatric cases for that reason....but if someone needs a helping hand it's not going to hurt me to be in the there for a few minutes every now and then. So basically, what I'm trying to say is that if you can avoid being in pediatric induction cases you should, but I wouldn't worry about a one-time exposure to the gases or any adult cases. Good luck!

I did my anesthesia training in Washington, DC where we have a fairly large Hispanic population. It always amazed me that almost ALL of the hispanic moms who came in to deliver always went naturally. As a CRNA we were required to see everyone when they were admitted to L&D just on the off-chance that an emergency would arise, we would already be familiar with the patient. Usually the first thing the Hispanic moms would say were, "natural birth".....and almost all of them went completely natural. I wonder why the difference between them and Caucasian/African-American women?

I have a radiology badge for both myself and the baby that measures the amount of x-rays that I am exposed to. I wear it during every case. The badge is tested every month and it lets you know if you're being exposed to higher amounts of radiation than you should be. As far as lifting goes, the CRNA is usually at the head of the bed and in charge of the airway, so the only thing that I usually lift is the head when we're transferring a patient from the stretcher to the OR table. We all have chairs up near our anesthesia machines....I usually try to alternate between sitting and standing because I can't stay in one position too long. But I'm still up and walking a lot because I have to get ready for my cases, make sure my room is stocked and set up, etc....Good luck to you!