I want a home birth... in hospital!

[Heidi137]

I am definitely not a fan of home births. My second child had to be delivered by emergency C-section due to fetal distress. There wasn''t even enough time for an epidural. I got a spinal instead. Thank goodness I wasn''t at home.

 

[DIAMOND*QUEST]

Date: 7/21/2008 9:48:26 PM
Author: Blenheim
Diamond Quest, if you give me citations for what you said, I''d be happy to read them and form my own opinion.

Greeting Blen,

Sorry I didn''t respond right away last night, but I needed to get off my computer to spend some time with my dear husband. I would love to give you citations for all that I wrote, but I really don''t have the time. I will say that my Nursing Practice was a culmination of formal education, countless continued education hours at professional forums, professional affiliations with Sigma Theta Tau Internation and AWHONN, hours and hours of working at the bedside of women during childbirth, and working with other professionals in my area of expertise. If I did have the time to meet your challenge, I could pull evidence based journals to support what I''ve said and contradict what I''ve said due to an ever changing science. Of course, we''re only 2 people, but Gemm12 and I posted 15 minutes apart and we are pretty much in alignment with her experience in Australia and mine in the US.

 

[DIAMOND*QUEST]

Date: 7/21/2008 9:55:14 PM
Author: LaraOnline
Thanks for responding ladies!! *heart* I really appreciate it!

I think I''m just pregnant, I haven''t bothered to get a test or go to a doctor yet...

It''s interesting lying on the side... if I have my first doctor (doctor of choice), he is a proponent of natural birth, he allowed me to go for ages the first time, and did not give me an episiotomy with the forceps. Fine by me.

I wanted him the second time too, but he was on holidays, go figure. The second guy was older, I think the episiotomy was ''judicial''.

Neither of my previous labours have involved drugs, because I''m worried about this apparent inability to push that last 5-7cm, I think I''ll go drug free once more.

I think I''ll try lying on my side of the last stage?

Do you think the reason I tear is simply because I can''t get the baby''s head to that last few cms? If I had a full unassisted birth, perhaps it wouldn''t be a problem for me.

I mean obviously the forceps create pressure, but I''d like to get the baby out by myself this time.
The problem is the failure to get this last few cms.

I feel reasonably physically fit and flexible, etc. I recovered physically quite quickly from labour, I have reasonable tone, no weight gain or anything. The second labour moved quite well until that last few cms as well!

Congrats sweetie on your newly discovered pregnancy! Perhaps your difficulty with stalling at the end is due to the passenger. Were they large babies with perhaps broad shoulders? And it may be the combination of size of the passenger and the shape of your pelvis and that''s why you stall the last few cms. And, its not uncommon for contractions to space out during pushing. Its nature''s way of giving your body more resting time inbetween urges to push. Of course, its hard to tell by a picture, but you look fair skinned and its possible that your skin integrity is more friable and that''s why you have torn with instrumentation. Another thing to try at delivery is use of warm compresses at the time when you approach crowning. Anyway, just more food for thought.

 

[LaraOnline]

thanks DiamondFan, it is exciting! I'm hope I'm right!! But in any case, I'll be 'making myself available' next cycle, so it's only a matter of time...

Back to the matter at hand: my babies each were 7pounds, ordinary to smallish size babies (I myself am 5 foot nothing, and my husband is 6'4', but he was a small baby too. So I don't think it's size. Of course, for both my deliveries, I did not have any significant *sewing problems* until the forceps were introduced.

The first delivery, the powers-that-be did delay the forceps delivery until it was clear I wasn't going anywhere...the second delivery was more rushed, the foetal liquid didn't seem that crash hot ...

Perhaps it's the shape of my pelvis, that prevents that last few cms? Is there any exercises I can do to improve my chances? Should I do weight bearing exercises, that improve core muscle strength? Would sit ups (of a certain type) help?

My labour time did improve markedly with baby number 2 (as to be expected)
Perhaps this time I'll go 'all the way', unassisted. My lady bits would thank me for it, if I could go au naturale!!!

ETA: yes, I am fairly fair skinned.

 

[DIAMOND*QUEST]

Hey Lara, I don''t know the answer about increasing your core strength. But thinking about it common sense wise, it couldn''t hurt. And, babies move through the pelvis during labor and pushing kind of like a cork screw. Do a search on "cardinal movements in childbirth" and I think you will be able to see how the shoulder of the baby can get "hung up" causing difficulty for you at the end.

Lastly, you know the saying the 3rd is the charm. Maybe its not even going to be an issue! Do you do "positive visualization" exercises? I know it may sound koo koo, but It helps me focus more positively about something difficult. Visualize yourself giving birth as you would like it to be.

 

[LaraOnline]

Thanks DiamondQuest! I''ll be visualising this baby popping out like a cork...to the other side of the room!

Thanks for the tip about ''cardinal movements''. I have done some strength training (in the gym) before, and found it very useful for general core strength...

anyway, guess what, the excitement is over for another month now, I was just overdue!

But, like you said ''the third time''s the charm'', my third cycle ''available'' is the next one! Perhaps I should join the TTC thread now! lol Thanks for the tips girls.