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From hard-core natural childbirths to high-intervention medicated birthing...from water births to emergency c-sections...if you've got a story, please share! We all enjoy those awesome and empowering birth stories, but we can also learn from the more difficult and traumatic ones.
Intervention Rollercoaster Healing Home VBAC
Inspiring Homebirth
So far, I have only my own birth stories and one other. If you would like me to include YOUR story, feel free send it to me! I would be happy to include it. Please be sure to indicated in the subject line that your message includes a birth story for my site (IE "SUBJECT: Birth Story for Your Birth Pages"). Thanks in advance!
Christy & Sam's Story:
The Intervention Rollercoaster
I became a hopeless birth junkie after my son’s birth in may of ’99. I was not nearly as informed as I should have been, or assertive about my preference to
have a natural birth, low-intervention, and ended up having my labor augmented with pitocin, being confined to bed, having an epidural and eventually, having a c-section. Here’s the Reader’s Digest version...
My membranes had ruptured before the onset of labor at 36, and we made the mistake of letting our first-timer anxiety get the better of going and us to the hospital right away. In hindsight, I probably would have stayed home and tried to augment labor on my own. Regular contractions started fairly soon after we arrived at the hospital and continued to intensify at a god rate (or so I felt), but I was “not progressing quickly enough” and labor was augmented with pitocin a few hours later. The pit required continuous EFM and I was pretty much confined to bed from that point on. Without the ability to change position, walk, use hydrotherapy, etc. to make myself comfortable and more easily cope with contractions (and after a ridiculous amount of pressure from the attending OB, the nurse on call and the anesthesiologist) I ended up with an epidural. Once complete, after pushing (flat on my back) for three hours, the baby’s heart rate started to drop slightly with each contraction, and I was told my baby was “stuck” (I was so out of it with meds at the time, that is all I remember - determined later that he was asynclitic). I was given the option
for a forceps assisted delivery or a section, but the attending OB seemed very uncomfortable with the idea of forceps, so I opted for the section.
The surgery itself was quick and uneventful, but I was ignore when I asked question about what was happening and was not allowed to have any physical contact with my son after her was born. We were separated for several hours. I woke up in a large multi-patient recovery area, and when I asked about my son, I was told that he was "probably in the nursery" and that it was "not their job to keep tabs". I felt so awful...someone on my HBAC group compared waking up after her section to being a used plastic bag in the bottom of a wastebasket…I couldn’t come up with a more perfect description of I felt! I also felt very much like a failure for allowing this to happen and not delivering vaginally. It took a very long time to recover emotionally; in fact I don’t think I will ever be totally over the experience. And as happy I am happy to have a healthy son, I am still VERY angry about how I was treated, and about how I allowed the birth of my son to be robbed from me.
I realize that I am responsible for most of the events that lead up to Sammy’s birth being such a difficult one, and I am more than willing to take responsibility for that. But I also got a wake-up call to how messed it is that we (as birthing mothers) have to fight tooth and nail for what we feel (what we KNOW) is best for our babies and ourselves, and have to defend ourselves for the decisions we make regarding our births. I suppose the fact that I feel so strongly that changes need to occur in the birth community, and that women need to regain control of their their birth experiences through education and awarenss of ALL the opptions available.
Christy & Emily's Story:
A Healing Home VBAC
I awoke at 3:45 am on the 8th to a small gush of fluid. At first, I doubted that it was my membranes rupturing but, as time went on and I continued feeling small gushes of fluid, I was pretty sure that was the case. I decided to try and get some sleep and give everyone a call later that morning, but I wasn’t able to relax. Even though I knew that the circumstances of this birth would be totally different - I would be allowed to remain active and labor as I needed to - I couldn’t keep my self from dwelling on the fact that labor was beginning as it had with Sammy and how wrong things had gone with his birth.
At about 5:oo am, after lying awake in bed for the next hour or so, we decided to give my midwives and the others who would be attending the birth (my friend/doulas, Lisa and Judith, and my MIL who would be caring for Sammy) a call. My midwife suggested getting some rest and calling back once I started contracting more frequently and consistently. I was still not able to relax so I went down stairs to do some straitening up in an attempt to take my mind off things. At that point, I was having contractions that were anywhere from 5 to 7 minutes apart but no stronger than the Braxton Hicks I had been experiencing for the last several weeks of my pregnancy. I didn’t think I was anywhere near active labor, but I was wrong.
An hour later, at about 6:00 am, those mild contractions became extremely painful and went from every 5 minutes to only 2 or 3 minutes in-between. I had Don call my midwives and doulas back and let them know that the contractions were much closer together and MUCH more intense. In the mean time, we had got the labor tub ready and started filling it, so we headed upstairs to the master bedroom and I got in. The warm water felt good and it help to have some of the weight taken off my belly, but the tub (a 150 gallon Rubbermaid livestock feed trough) was pretty high on the sides and I felt too confined, so I got out after only a few contractions. In retrospect, I wish I had given it more time – tried some different positions before giving up – but labor had become so intense so quickly, and I was not thinking too clearly.
About 15 or 20 minutes later, one of my doulas arrived (the other was detained and wasn’t able to make it until after the birth). I had been moaning loudly through the contractions and, by that point, the low moaning was turning into short, rapid borderline hysterical breathing. Judith helped me to keep breathing deeply, reassured me that things were working properly and that it would all be over soon. She suggested trying the tub again or getting in the shower, but I refused both. Standing, leaning slightly forward with my hands braced on either someone or something, or sitting on my birth ball were the most comfortable positions for me. I had also started feeling kind of pushy. Being that my midwives had not yet arrived, I started freaking out even more. At that point, Don had spoken again with my midwife who had informed him that it was her policy not to attend a birth without having received payment. I had sent a check the week prior, but it had been delayed in the mail, so he was preoccupied with finding our missing checkbook. Sammy had woken up and MIL had not yet arrived, so he also had his hands full of excited toddler. Judith was my only support until the midwives arrived at about 7:30 am.
At that point, after quickly getting all the birth paraphernalia organized (way more stuff than I had expected for a homebirth) my midwife had me sit on the birthing stool and checked my cervix. I was completely dilated. I stayed on the stool and gave into the now overwhelming urge to push. The second stage was intense and me memories of it (and the entire birth, for that matter) are pretty fuzzy. I know I went from laboring on the stool to hands and knees to squatting and back to the stool. I remember begging to take a nap and saying over and over that I couldn’t do it. The reassurance that I WAS doing it, and even looking into the mirror to see my baby’s head emerge from my body, was not much consolation until I actually felt her body slide out and saw my husband catch her. She was born at 8:20 am.
The aftermath was also more intense than I had expected. The third stage contractions were almost as bad as transition and I couldn’t seem to catch my breath. I kept flip-flopping between amazement with what my body had done and the new little person in my arms to confusion at how much pain I was still in. After I delivered the placenta and had a chance to lie down and relax for a bit, I got into an herbal bath with my daughter. It was wonderful! I felt much more relaxed and able to deal with the after pains. After spending some time in the tub with me, Emily went to be examined and measured. We expected her to be big – 9lbs had been the estimate – but she surprised us by measuring a whopping 10lbs 12oz and 23 inches long (minus a couple ounces soon after since she
pooped in the scale). I got out soon after that, but the water had been a bit too hot and I got up too quickly so I passed out on my doula. I actually felt pretty refreshed when they roused me and made sure I was okay – I finally got that nap I had been begging for ;o)
Within the next few hours, everyone gave us their best and left us to get to know one another. Sometime soon after the herb bath, MIL had come in with Sammy and he met his new sister. He seems to be just as in love with her as we are and is a great little helper – although he is REALLY POed at Don and me these days.
Looking back at the experience a week later, I am stoked that I was able to give birth vaginally this time around. Of anything that I could have done differently, I wish I had just allowed myself to let go and not tried so hard to maintain control. The experience was primal as was my reaction to it, and I think I wasted a lot of positive energy trying to stifle that reaction. Above all though, I am ecstatic to have a big, beautiful, healthy baby girl!
Kathleen & Chloe’s Story:
An Inspiring Homebirth Transport
I planned on a home birth from the moment I got pregnant. I love
the Mid-wife we chose and the 2 amazing assistants that work w/her. We all
spent many hours together discussing nutrition, keeping my Iron up,
relaxation techniques and a full amount of discussion on Birth and how to
envision a beautiful one. The night I went into labor I felt so empowered and
excited that our child was going to come into the world that very day. I
cleaned my whole house (and had been for weeks), and did many loads of
laundry- sterilizing everything. I called everyone on the phone or e- mailed
them w/ the news. My Mid-wife came over and checked me and I was 4cm.
dilated. I felt great and she told me to call her when the contractions got
my attention and off she went. I had the best time for about 4 hours just
getting my home ready for our lil' angel. As soon as we were all together my
contractions were getting more intense and I was having back labor. We
assumed at this present time that the baby was posterior and had one arm over
her forehead. They kept trying to push back the hand. My water broke on the
toilet that I loved spending a lot of time on- how perfect. I had 20 minutes
of bliss and then started getting pounded with contractions and shooting
pains in my hips and lower back. I was needing to get down on the ground when
a contraction came and the force of it was pretty intense. I just kept
wondering why I wasn't feeling anything like a bowling ball coming down.
After a few hours of moving around and pushing or grunting, they checked me.
This was awful to be on my back. Pain engulfed me when I would lie on my
back. Even when I was just starting labor. As long as I kept moving I was
fine. By the way the book Active Birth by Jan Balaski was my Bible. So she checked me and pulled out a hand full of Meconium and said that the baby was breech and what we thought was a hand is a foot. The baby was foot first. So off to the hospital we went - it was the longest 10 minutes of my life. I knew that there was no way this child was coming out unless they opened me up and the thought of a Spinal thrilled me. Before I new it I was in the OR and wondering where my partner was when all that time he was in the back room writing a birth plan! I love my man. Chloe was born not to long after that and started suckling in the recovery room where my birth team supported us. Stephen never left Chloe’s side and the hospital respected all of our wishes. I am grateful I got to labor at home and am also grateful that the hospital was close by. I want to help inform and motivate women on having beautiful births and making wise birth choices.
Many thanks to Kathleen (and Chloe) for allowing me to share your stories!
Informed Consent Questions
Here is a list of questions to ask when interventions or unplanned procedures are proposed at any point during your pregnancy or the birth of your child:
- Is this an emergency or do we have time to talk?
- What are the benefits of doing this?
- What are the risks of doing this?
- If we do this, what other procedures or treatments might we need as a result?
- What else can we try first or instead?
- What would happen if we waited before doing this?
- What would happen if we didn’t do this at all?
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| Choosing a Care Provider | Choosing a Birth Environment | Building a Birth Plan |
| Your Labor Support System | Pain Management | VBAC | Common Interventions & Procedures |
| Breastfeeding | Birth Stories | Recommended Reading | Doula Services (Denver)
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