I just got finished watching The Business of Being Born, which I think every pregnant woman should watch. . . Especially if you live in the United States. I was just curious to all you mommy, and soon to be mommy bloopers, how was your birth experience? What did you do, natural, epidural, c-section? What was your outcome like? And if you live in the U.K. and Australia, how many of you, and in the U.S. as well, used a midwife? :) I'm filled with questions, haha

I just finished* lol "I just got finished". . . i'm such a dufus. ;D

lol i wont bore you with the details of my two L&D's. The cliff notes version would be like so:
Oldest daughter i had an OB. SHE was ok, the rest of the staff I would love to hunt down and give a peice of my mind to.
My youngest during the preg I had an OB but for the delivery I had the most wonderful midwife and a male doula who was SO very wonderful. The two experiences were night and day. both were vaginal, no epidural for either

I loved having a midwife. I was under midwifery care through my whole pregnancy. Then in the end I was switched over to physicians care bcuz i had pre-e. my physician wasnt that bad either but they were less personable and sympathetic than the midwives. the tried to induce me bcuz of my BP b4 they diagnosed me with pre-e. they put me on patocin it didnt work but it brought down my BP. so the next day they the physician let me go home. that was a friday. my mom flew out to tx from fl to be with me that friday so that i would L&D alone. so i left so sad and depressed cuz my mom flew out and i thought i was going to meet my son and got the boot out the door. the following monday i went back for BP check. it was high again so they decided to induce me....again. it (the patocin) didnt work again and my BP went back to normal. they talked about sending me home again. i was fed up by this point. but they decided to stop the patocin and monitor my urine for 12 hrs to see if the protein levels showed i had pre-e or not. so i hung out in the hospital for the next 12 hrs and did nothing. then they came in and said yes u have pre-e. so they tried the cervidol (sp?...the pill that is put in ur cervix to help it soften) the first time i was given it my nurse put it in. that was the worst pain i have ever felt in my life. my mom watched and said that the nurse stuck her whole hand inside of me. then four hrs later they checked me for dialation progress. none was made. so they wanted to give me another pill. this time the dr did it. it didnt hurt at all. i told my mom that didnt hurt at all. the new nurse was in the room and she said did it hurt last time. i said oh yeah i almost crawled backwards through wall into the next room. lol. my mom mentioned the previous nurse did it. and the new nurse looked soooo shocked. she said that the dr.s are the only ones supposed to do that. that it isnt the nurses jobs and she has never done one and never would. needless to say i was infuriated. then they waited 4 hrs and did another pill. nothing happened after 12 hrs so the dr came in and said they were gonna try the patocin one more time. (in 2 days i made no progress) so the did the patocin came in and broke my water (they wanted to wait to break my water to lessen the chance of infection to me or the baby had i not went into active labor in time) so once the dr broke my water the contractions started. Now mind u i had told everyone and their grandma that i wanted an epidural as soon as i walked in the door. I told the nurse immediately that i wanted the epidural. I ended up asking for the epidural 5 mins to shift change so the nurse told me i had to wait. i asked for something in my IV and honestly idk if i ever got it cuz if i did it didnt help for shit. so an hr after i asked for the epidural i am flipping out i wanted it so bad. and the nurse told me the anestisiologist (sp? sorry red fraggle if i spelled it wrong) went to another room first. UGH! then she tells me they need blood to run some labs b4 i can have my epidural. I freak out WTF? i have been in the hospital for 5 days now and now u want to run labs when i am dying for an epidural cuz i am in extreme pain. thanks so i ended up waiting 1.5 hrs in extreme pain for an epiural which felt like 5 hrs. lol. but once the lovely epidural woman came in i was so scared when she mentioned "u have scoliosis?" i said yes. i was scared she was gonna say i couldnt have one bcuz of the curve in my spine but she did an awesome job and i am so thankful for that. after i got my epidural she tested it by wiping me with a wet wipe to see if i could feel if it was cold. i couldnt she said it worked. i could tell instantly. i wanted to sleep for alil while those 2 hrs wiped me out. but i had dialated 2 fast. i went from 3 cm to 9cm in like 3 hrs and then i felt the urge to push. the dr did a cath, and put internal monitors on the babies head, then i was wheeled to a delivery room (my sons heart rate was dropping slowly and since i had pre-e i had to delivery in a delivery room incase there were complications. my son was delivered after about 4-5 pushes. the cord was wrapped around his neck but the dr fixed it immediately and he was healthy. i had a minor tear. my labor wasnt bad at all after i got my epidural.

i had a friend who has 2 babies. her first the epidural was too strong and she couldnt tell when she had to push or not and so she says she had to have an episiotomy. that tramatized her so much when she had her 2nd baby she found a birthing center covered by medicaid. she loved every aspect of her experience there. her prenatal care was amazing, she went to hypno birthing classes, and she delivered within 20 mins of getting there in a big comfy king sized bed and after 2 hrs of r&r she was back at home.

i knew nothing of hypnobirthing til after i had moises. but the next time i am pregnant i plan on going to a midwife and practicing hypnobirthing without an epidural. i think you should google hypnobirthing bcuz all the ppl that i have read about said they had such a painless natural L&D.

In the UK we say 'anaesthetist' and in the US you'll say 'anesthesiologist' (spelled without the extra a. In the UK we spell a lot of medical terms the latin way ;D), although from what I've read I believe in the US epidurals are in fact often done by CRNAs (nurse anaesthetists), which is not the case in the UK, where they're only done by medically trained anaesthetists.

They should have checked your blood as soon as they knew you wanted an epidural, as with pre-eclampsia, there's a risk of your platelet count being low (putting you at risk of bleeding... which is bad if someone is sticking something in your back), so although they were right to chek your bloods before doing the epidural, I'm sorry you had to wait so long.

Unfortunately I've also been in the position where I've had to make women wait for an epidural as I'm either busy doing an epidural in another room, or busy in surgery with an emergency c-section. Labour ward is a really busy place, and the anaesthetist is often run off their feet. I'm glad you got it eventually though.

grr i posted and lost it all!!!

okay, in the uk we all have midwives unless you're high risk then they refer you to a consultant. midwives deliver the babies in the hospital unless something isn't going right, then they bring in a doctor.
I wanted an all natural waterbirth, but i got something different! i was semi induced because maica was 12 days late,and she was back to back.

We arrived at the hospital on the 7th, they put us in a room and left us there for an hour, and then came and put me on the monitor, which i quite liked until later.i was contracting every minutes(i've been up all night before with them) and when she checked me i was 2 cms dilated already.She gave me another sweep(and stretch). which REALLY HURT. she was leathal and i was holding back tears. she then told me to walk alot, so we walked and paced alot. the contractions got to every five minutes, and then around 4ish she came back and said they were moving me to the delivery ward.

and so we moved. my midwife was lovely down there. but this is where it started to go wrong i think! she asked me if i wanted my waters broken, and i said i wasn't sure, but the next thing i knew they were breaking my waters anyway. the Midwife's boss came becuase helen couldn't do it. then all of a sudden she was like right.. lets get you hooked up to a drip and get an epidural. i said i didn't want a drip or an epidural, and she told me the baby is the wrong way round and that i wouldn't be able to cope without one 'you came in to be induced! this is what we're doing' she said.. i cried. i asked them to wait an hour so i could get my head round it. my midwife helen managed to get that for me. so i had a bath. and called my mum. and cried. but the time i got out of the bath 20 minutes later, my contractions were already 3 minutes apart.
i asked for gas and air and a birth ball. and i managed on them for a while. then the biggest mistake they made they put me back on the ctg monitor to monitor Maica's heartbeat. they never let me off after that, i think it was becuase of Maica's heartrate being flatish.. basicly because she was sleeping there was no variability so it was staying at the same rate the whole time instead of changing.
By laying down the contractions worsened and they wouldn't let me off the monitor. it got to the point where i just couldn't cope with the pain anymore, i asked her to check me and if i had got far then i'd managed, if not i wanted an epidural. i was only 4 cms. so i requested an epidural.
I had to wait for the midwives to change shifts (must have been about 8pm by then)and even then she waited waaaay longer i don't know how long i waited but if felt like forever. When the aneasthetist FINALLY arrived and kind of mumbled his way speedily through the risks(does anyone listen to them??) i declared my love for him. he was very good looking too. shame i had to get my arse out in front of him.
it took him FOUR tries to get the epidural in. but funnily enough as i sat up the contractions felt ten times better. i think i might have managed better had they let me off the monitor. the bruise on my back was REALLY nasty from all the poking. and at one point i felt blood... it does make you slightly worried when hes poking you with a needle and it hurts and he says where does it hurt... and i say in my leg, and he repeats 'IN YOUR LEG?!' sounding shocked...
but when he finally got it right it was heaven. i slept for a while.
by about 12 i was 9cms dilated and contracting fine on my own without the drip. however Maica was still sleepy and people kept coming in and out to check the monitor. then the nasty midwife came in and said they wanted me on a drip to speed up the last centermeter. i said fine as i couldn't feel anything anyway. BIG MISTAKE. as the syntowhatever kicked in the epidural kicked out. i was in AGONY in my back and the more i cried and asked for help the more they seemed to ignore me. eventually they turned the epi up, but it still hurt so they topped me up more. i had no feel at all below my boobs down, whereas before i could feel my legs but no contractions.
I then felt really sick. the midwife seemed completely unresponsive and took ages for me to have something to be sick into.
By then i was 10 cms, so another midwife said i could start pushing. i couldn't feel anything to push, but i tried. and Maica's heartbeat dropped seriously low..... i kept pushing while all these midwifes and paediatricians were watching the monitors. they said they needed some of Maica's blood to check oxygen levels so they scratched her head and took some. thankfully they came back fine.
i still pushed and pushed and by a miracle they saw the head - told me she had hair.
this part was all of a blur i kept pushing and the scary doctor said i'd need help delivering and they were going to use forceps. i said fine becuase me and oscar were so worried about the baby. I pushed and she gave me an episiotomy (i didn't know this til after) and then the forceps were in and before i knew it they plonked my baby onto me. it was amazing... i couldn't believe she came from me. 5.27am. i can't believe i laboured so long.(27.5 hours they said)
they cut the cord before it had stopped pulsing..i'm disapointed i didn't even get that one bit of my plan. placenta delivered.
the scary doctor then stitched me up for ages. i asked how many stitches and she changed the subject, she THEN told me about the episiotomy(arn't they supposed to ask before doing such things?) and said it was quite a 'good' cut.

so thats about it, next time round they can monitor me on the birth ball... no way i'm getting on that bed!!!
it took a long time for me to get over it. i didn't get anything i wanted except for the baby at the end lol i was debriefed by my own midwife afterwards and i'm thankful for that, she got me a copy of my birth notes to understand what went on, (i recommend that to anyone whos birth doesn't go to what they wanted)... so thats Maica's story lol.
xx

Yeah they're meant to get your permission for an episiotomy, but I've heard a lot of women say they only were asked if it was OK as the cut was made, or not asked at all. They generally have to do them if you have a forceps delivery or they can't fit the forceps inside. But they don't usually explain that.
It's really hard to stay assertive in labour, or in fact any time when they are waving the 'baby in danger' card in front of you. I got monitored at 28w because of bleeding and I HATED it, god knows how it must be when you're in labour.

I'm very against epidurals because I've had one before and it fucked my back up, so I'm going to put in my birth plan (oh most ignored document!) that I don't want to be OFFERED one. And also that I want to tear rather than be cut.

Sorry your birth didn't go to plan :( Hope you're Ok about it now x

i'm fine about it now..so much so i'd do it again for another! LOL. i wanted to tear rather than be cut too :( i wanted sooo many things and got none!!
i didn't mind the first batch of monitoring, it was the first time i'd ever been on a ctg, but the night after she was born all i could hear was this heartbeat in my heart and the feeling of panic it was horrible!!! i wanted to be monitored intermitantly so i would be able to move around more!! ah well, whats done is done!!
i hope you have an easy time of it!!

ah shit wrong diary! lol

lol, this is why I only have the one :d

In my experience 'the baby in danger' is not a card, but a reality. I've never seen an obstetrician tell a women they need to agree to a course of action because the baby was in danger, unless they actually were.

An epidural fucked your back up?

I didn't mean that quite the way it came out. What I meant was it's hard to sometimes get a full explanation on a procedure or course of action, to give informed consent, while it's happening because the ob/midwife is concentrating on the health of the baby. I have tried to research as much as possible into the causes of intervention before having my own baby so I don't feel it's all happening out of my control.

Well I had an epidural for spinal surgery. I was awake of course. It's hard to say whether it was the epidural or the surgery or the accident itself that caused the damage to the sciatic nerve. But the accident and associated surgery was far to the left of my spine. So I don't know.

Please be careful what you say on here. I hate when misleading medical information is posted on the internet and your "an epidural fucked up my back" may be VERY misleading to women trying to decide if they should have en epidural or not. Particularly as I'd guess your sciatic nerve injury was far more likely to be due to the accident or the spinal surgery (although obviously no-one could say for sure). Permanent nerve damage due to epidural is estimated at 1 in 10,000 procedures, so it's incredibly rare, and epidurals are generally VERY safe.

Spinal surgery under epidural? That 's unusual (although things are done differently in different parts of the country). I've only seen it done once, and that was because the patient had a collapsed lung, and they really wanted to avoid a general anaesthetic and intubation.

I had a three inch needle (a darning needle, a really thick one) lodged in my back. The entry wound was tiny. They decided to try and get it out with me awake and put an epidural in. I was 11 at the time, no idea if age is a factor when deciding on anaesthetic risk. I don't THINK I was high risk, as I'd already had two GAs in my life!

Anyway, it didn't work - the surgeon opened me up and couldn't find it. They took it out under an xray-guide under GA the next day. The only thing I remember about the GA surgery is being extubated awake. It hurt. A lot.

I've heard that being cut heals better and faster than a tear, and that you're in less pain afterwards as it heals.

I have heard the opposite! We need to find someone who's had both!

I know my mom ripped with me, and then got cut with my little brother.
But shes not around for me to ask :(

i'm almost sure its the opposite... a tear heals faster because its got jagged edges and knits itself back together.

I'm an anaesthetist, and I'm shocked that your midwives tried to push you into an epidural like that! We only do epidurals on patients who want it, and I always ask if it's what they want before starting. The only time usually that we would strongly recommend an epidural is in women with high blood pressure (as the epidural helps bring it down). Certainly not because the baby is OP and 'you won't cope' (my friend gave birth to a 9lb 10oz baby that was OP, without an epidural).

And legally we HAVE to explain the risks, but most of my patients have looked at me as if to say "I don't care... just get a move on". Putting an epidural in is one of the most satisfying things I've ever learned to do, and the most grateful patients I've ever had have been the women I've put epidurals in.

lol i imagine it is satisfying! i was like 'i love you...' to my aneasthetist LOL
but you're right though, they should never have put the idea in my head that i couldn't cope, maybe i could have got further without one (or maybe not! lol)

One of my best friends was in labour and had been for two days when the obstetrician told her to have an epidural because she couldn't cope anymore. She gave consent, mainly at the behest of her husband who didn't cope very well, but cried all the way through it.
She was grateful afterwards for the rest, but it upset her a lot at the time and she ended up having a ventouse.

thats the down side to epidurals i think, you're more likely to have an assisted delivery like forceps or ventouse. one of the reasons i wanted to avoid it :( Maica was born with huge forceps marks on her cheek :( they pulled 3 times, and you could see the three attempts... it breaks my heart looking at the pictures and thinking how much that must of hurt :(.. as well as the scratches on her head where theytook her blood.. *shudder* poor babies!

Although, it's worth noting that the women who've had epidurals who end up having forceps or ventouse are often at higher risk of needing an assisted delivery anyway (e.g. the ones with bigger babies, or who have been in labour for a long time and who are not progressing very quickly). And there's still plenty of women who give birth without assistance, despite having an epidural. As there is also women who HAVEN'T had an epidural who may require assistance.

I've always looked at it like this: epidurals didn't even EXIST for hundreds of years, and women still had babies.

It's not like it isn't possible ;)

I never said it wasn't possible. Plenty of women give birth without an epidural. Personally I just don't see the point of being in pain if you have to be. I don't understand this attitude some women have that if they have an epidural then they're somehow a failure. There's no shame in accepting pain relief. Nor to I understand the determination to manage without an epidural. Like if someone offered you some paracetamol for a headache, you'd take it. So why go through labour in pain if you don't have to? I certainly won't be.