Childbirth Pages

My Birth Stories

baby Blinkin

With my ten births, I have a varied history of experience. The range is from medicated hospital birth to unmedicated hospital birth to homebirth, I would like to describe and compare them here. In sharing, I have no desire to judge someone else's experience or decisions. I do, however, have strong opinions on my own pregnancies and births. This part of my website is indeed the most personal. A woman shares most deeply from herself in the process of having a child, and impersonalization of the facets of fertility, childbirth, and parenting are debilitating to the woman and the process.

In my first two births I had the unfortunate circumstance of choosing a tyrannical doctor. This was compounded with my profound ignorance of childbearing. The good part of the story is that my pregnancies were healthy, easy-going times (after the initial morning sickness). The formation of my baby, the changes of pregnancy were fascinating revelations and I looked forward to the birth. But back to my tyrannical doctor. Hearing some vague information on Lamaze, I asked about the possibility of finding an instructor. The response was swift and firm: if I did that I could find another doctor.

Without Lamaze classes, I continued on to delivery. Although I was handling labor well, my doctor ordered (by phone, he wasn't there) the head nurse to deliver "Demerol". Though I argued - the nurse was not to be placated, since my doctor insisted - I had to roll over and take the shot. Well, Demerol served to completely disorient me and I had no idea what to expect next; the nurses shifted me to a delivery room and told me to push, the baby is descending and then the doctor arrives to administer the spinal block. If you know anything about having babies, folks, at this point the worst is over. A spinal block at this point simply slowed the end so that (lying flat on my back) episiotomy and forceps are mandatory.

My second birth is a repeat of the first, but with the additions of induced birth(my doctor felt I was overdue) and the administration of an overdose of Pitocin ( the nurse: "Oops, who set it that high- that's way too much"). The monitor readings looked like huge mesas without valleys in between - I felt like my baby was being pounded out. I now had two sweet little girls and two lessons learned.

baby Nod First, I went to a new doctor, second, I took Lamaze classes. My Lamaze instructor was the best! Real information of the entire birth process, a lot of practice on breathing techniques, relaxation, and exercise preparation. No hospital initiation classes mascarading as natural childbirth. My third birth was so wonderful, the techniques carried me through the pain, my faith in God gave me reassurance of the outcome, and the extra-busy delivery floor meant I was overlooked as they tried to get a doctor to cover me. That was a plus- no one broke my water, prepped me, or tried to give me medication. There was just the wonderstruck intern who couldn't believe how well I was doing and my supportive husband helping me to "breathe". A good-humored physician arrived at the last to coach me through the pushing and to catch the baby. He arrived with lots of joy, I mean, we were shouting "Hallelujah!".

I had differing experiences with the hospital/natural childbirth combination. Each birth is different, but the overall observation is that the doctor, no matter how enlightened, is restrained by "hospital procedure". A heading that can hide various types of duplicity. You can describe the procedures you want, your doctor can agree, but how that's translated into the hospital environment can be a completely different equation. I found numerous problems along with the improving attitude and procedures in hospital births. While I personally like an early release, it means a crammed schedule of nurses, technicians, and salespeople parading through your room and demanding your attention. Then there are the early intervention rules, I don't even want to start! I wasn't a teenage mother, I don't have nominal intelligence (uh oh, I'm starting).

This brings me to homebirth. I wish I had gone this route much earlier , by the time I made my decision to have a babybaby at home I was in the high risk group: over 35, and had over five births. While there are other vias, I chose an experienced lay midwife and doubled the prenatal care with my regular physician. I educated myself, facilitated by my library and the midwives collection of information. The linchpin was a willingness to take responsibility for the births' outcome. I was more careful about my diet, exercise, and state of mind than ever before in my life. Or ever care to be again, if I'm truthful. The exchange in readjusting my life for nine months is to give someone else the best possible opportunity to have a healthy lifetime. That's what we try to give our babies.

When mentioning homebirth, "the risks, the risks, the risks" pop up in our minds and out of the mouths of many. Well, childbirth is risky business, it normally goes well, but there are the exceptions. And that can happen in a hospital, too. That's why each woman should make her own decision, and allowed to choose homebirth as one of the options. With resurgence of resistant strains of staph and strep bacteria, tuberculosis,and other diseases, why should hospitals be considered first choice for births? I had very happy experiences with midwife-assisted childbirth. There's so much to know on the subject that it merits its own section. which is how this website began...

Homebirth

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