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Stolen from MM: Childbirth Choices
Here's the original question (although geographic region doesn't really apply to this board):
A few people talked about having drugs pushed on them or only being able to labor in one position or other ways that they were pushed into one way of having birth that they did not desire when giving birth at a hospital in the birthing center thread. I have always wondered if this is a regional thing and if hospital cultures in some parts of the country allow more freedom in making birthing choices than others.
Some of of what was said seemed very foreign to me because as far as I can observe it seems like our local hospitals are fairly natural birth friendly. But, all of the local grocery stores have large natural foods sections, people ride bikes a lot, it's not unusual to meet someone who cloth diapers and most people I know with babies have a wrap or sling carrier, so maybe I just live in a crunchy area.
So, my question is, where do you live and do you think that your local hospitals allow women to make their own choices in giving birth? Or, do you think the hospitals push women into birth experiences they don't want?
Link to OP
Re: Stolen from MM: Childbirth Choices
I live in Central Massachusetts, and delivered at UMass Memorial in Worcester.
With my first pregnancy, I went into labor on my own, and the nurse who was with me throughout much of the day was wonderful. She encouraged me to keep on doing what I was doing (walking around the room, swaying, and breathing through my contractions), and I only ended up laboring on the table from about 7cm on. I did not feel pushed to take any pain meds, but instead, was cheered on for my own body's dealing with the pain. When I asked for meds for some relief (after my water had broken and my contractions were rolling in right on top of each other), I didn't feel like I had disappointed anyone. We were all rolling with the punches, and taking it as it came. The only thing that happened during the laboring/delivery was that the doctor called for suction since my daughter seemed very content to stay put. That was all the incentive I needed to push her out on my own.
With my second pregnancy, I was induced... a bit sooner than I would have liked, but I trusted my OB and when she told me that she had scheduled me, I didn't complain. I would have rather not had to deal with Pitocin and the godawful contractions thereafter. I couldn't do it on my own, I begged for an epidural, but I was dilating too fast and he was coming. My only saving grace was that I jumped from 6cm to fully dilated and ready to push in such a short period of time that it was over so quickly. I felt a bit more pushed to do things (but they never pushed the epidural on me before the pit... I kind of wish they had) than I had with my first. But, it was such a different experience with being induced vs. laboring naturally that it's like comparing apples to oranges.
I don't know if I would have done anything differently with regards to my upfront 'plan' if I were doing it over. Honestly, I didn't really have a plan for either pregnancy. But, knowing how I felt during those 20 extremely painful minutes of pitocin contractions with pregnancy #2, I would insist on getting an epidural before they administered the pit. NEVER AGAIN!!! Fortunately, #3 is not in the cards for us, so I should not have to go through it again anyway.
I delivered DS at Kent County. During the childbirth class we took there, they gave lots of useful info on how to deal with the pain naturally, in addition to all the medication choices the hospital offered and how they were dispensed (any nurse could give IV pain meds with a dr's ok, but getting an anesthesiologist to the room for an epidural might take some time).
I wanted to go naturally because of my horrific fear of needles and epidurals. I can honestly say that I was more afraid of the epidural than pushing a baby out on my own. I also have an allergy to some pain meds, and because I've never had the medications they could dispense to me, I was afraid to take anything. My OB is very pro-natural birth, but we also had a plan in case I couldn't handle the pain and because in her experience, many people want a natural birth but end up with medication of some sort.
When I showed up at the hospital at 4:30am, the 3rd shift nurse that was on duty was less than impressive. It was very clear from the get-go that despite my desire for a natural birth, that she was basically waiting for me to fail at handling the pain so she could order meds instead of helping with techniques to handle it on my own. She asked if I was sure about my decision to decline an epidural after I was 4cm dilated at first check. She made me lay on the bed often so she could monitor the baby (whos heart rate was perfect every time she checked) even though I was begging to be able to stand or kneel. I hated laying down. She was pushy about silly little things like taking a shower to "help me progress" when I first got there and she had no idea how quickly I was progressing. I threw up a couple of times when the pain got worse suddenly, and she was pushing for an IV of fluids. She wouldn't let me drink or have ice chips (I have no idea why, and as soon as he left the room DH got me the ice anyway). This particular nurse was nothing like the L&D nurses I had met on my tour or later that day.
Luckily for me, I did handle the pain well. At the 7am shift change, I got a wonderful nurse who brought me a birthing ball and suggested alternative positions when I was hurting too much. They didn't all help, but I felt like she was really trying to support me. At 7:30, I started to doubt my ability to handle the pain. It was so much intense pressure at that point that I was going nuts, and contractions were so close together that it felt like they never really stopped. I stuck it out because I knew my OB would be there any minute, and I really wanted her opinion and to be checked again. When she got there, I was 8cm but my water hadn't broken on its own. She broke my water (I wanted it at that point, and I felt so much better for the next 60 seconds!) and immediately dilated to 9.5. The nurse positioned me on the bed to help the baby shift and fully dilate me, and 15 minutes later the doc was called back in so I could push. With DH and a med student holding my legs and cheering me on with the nurse and OB, Tynan was born at 8:15.
I have to say overall it was a great experience. Next time I know that if I get a nurse like the first one, I can just switch because most of the nurses were very different from her.
I was so scared of being induced, for just this reason. Some people react fine to the pitocin, some people have worse contractions like you. I felt like I was going to pass out when they put the IV lock in my hand, never mind an epidural! But, I was pretty sure I was going to suck it up and get the epi if I had to be induced. Hoping that if we are lucky enough to have #2 that it will be a repeat of DS's birth, although I know the chances of that are slim.
It took 5 failed IUIs and a failed IVF, but our FET worked!
My pregnancy after Infertility Blog
Our baby girl was born on April 27, 2011!