My experiences with my 3 hospital and 2 home births - Long

[kcangel63]

This is not a post about arguing about which is better.  This is why I am so pro-home birth.  There are my stories and experiences.  It may not be as 'exciting' as the drama post, but if you have read my other home birth posts, you might just be able to understand a little of where I am coming from after reading this.

I have 5 children.  My first 3 girls were born in the hospital.  All three were born in different hospitals.  My last 2 boys were all born out of the hospital, at home.  Here are their stories...

Sadie was born on July 3, 1998 (her due date).  I woke up about 3:30 am because, like most women at 40 weeks, I had to go to the bathroom.  My water broke while I was going to the bathroom.  It was 3:30 in the morning, I was still basically asleep, and it was my first pregnancy.  Every time I went to wipe, more liquid drizzled out.  I though that maybe I wasn't done going to the bathroom.  After three times of this, I woke up and realized that I had NEVER had this problem before.  DH and I (due to financial reasons) were staying with my parents.  DH was at work (he worked the grave yard shift for ADT).  I walked around for 30 minutes, and then woke my parents.  I paged DH, and he got off work and came home.  Poor guy had been up the entire day (for his sister's 19th b-day) and up all night for work. 

We went to the hospital (15 min away), and I got checked in.  They asked me all kinds of questions (I got my birthday wrong - LOL).  Then moved me into a room.  I had to wait a little while because another mom who had already given birth gave her room to me (one of those all-in-one rooms).  I labored in there, but they kept me in the bed, hooked up to monitors, IV's, and such.  Finally, after hours of laboring in bed, on my back, I got an epidural.  I must say, it was easier, I felt absolutely nothing at all.  Then, about 4pm, they said it was time to push. They were a little agitated, because another woman was birthing at the same time.  They told me to hurry up, because they had to get to her.  They gave me an episiotomy (but had to use 2 scissors because the first - after 3 tries - would cut me).  Ooohh, I still here it clicking and twisting every time I think of it.  Two, or three, pushes later, Sadie was born at 4:04 pm.   

They had asked me earlier if I wanted her as soon as she was born.  I said I did.  However, as soon as she was born they wisked her away.  I could tell something was not quite right.  DH and I got worried, since they didn't say anything to us.  Well, they all gathered around me.  Come to find out, they had rushed me, made me push before I was ready, and tore my cervix.  Over all, it wasn't too bad of an experience.

My second birth was for my daughter Hannah in 2001.  By this time, we have moved from MO to OK.  DH was going to school for aviation maintenance.  I had been to one DR, but didn't like the hospital I was to give birth at, so I switched in the middle of my pregnancy, so I could birth at the better of the two hospitals.  During this pregnancy, I had 3 ultrasounds, to find out the due date.  Why they didn't know, I'll never really know.  DH went to school in the morning.  I went to work in the afternoon.  We saw each other for just a few minutes as we switched off to watch Sadie.  We didn't get much 'together' time.  I knew what day she was conceived (how sad).  I knew my LMP.  I knew everything.  They told me her due date was somewhere between the second and last week of December. 

In the first week of December, they advised me I would be scheduled for an induction on December 10.  I found out, that was more nerve-racking than waiting to go into labor.  DH didn't know what to do.  He had school that day and he didn't want to miss school, but desperately wanted to be with me.  His parents came to OK from MO, to be there, so I told him to go to school. 

My induction started around 8 am, and he got out about 3 pm, so things should be fine.  Well, I was right.  I sat in there for hours, once again, hooked up to monitors, IV's, etc...  DH made it there just as the pain level was picking up.  I asked for an epidural, and they did get it for me.  However, it only worked on the right side of my body.  They refused to let me lay on my back.  I had to lay on my left side, because, according to them, you can't lay on your back if you have an epi.  I knew that wasn't right, since  I was on my back the entire time with Sadie when I had an epidural, but I didn't question them.  They had the anesthesiologist come back in to look at the epidural.  He upped the dosage, and all that managed to do was numb me on the right side from my toes to my lower lip.  My left side was still just perfectly un-numbed.  When they left, I did roll onto my back, which then started to numb my left side.  Shortly after, it was time to push.  At 5:01 pm my little Hannah was born.

They moved me into another room.  That room was awful.  The bed had a leak, so every time I moved it would turn on and fill with air.  The heater was horrid.  It would spew out hot air until the room was unbearable.  Then, it would turn off and spew out cold air until the room was cool.  Then the nurse walked in and got all snotty with us.  She told DH and me that if we didn't keep the room warmer, she wouldn't allow us to have our baby in the room anymore.  I was upset, and DH was ticked.  He waited until the room was nice, then piled all my crap on the heater vent.  It stayed a good temperature after that.  I always hated how they would come in, in the middle of the night, to draw blood.  I had just gotten to sleep, and they would come to take blood, every night.  You should have seen my arms. I was not happy at all with this hospital birth, but was happy my little one was fine.

My third girl was born on May 7, 2004.  We had moved back to MO (we move a lot).  I had been going to one Dr, and thought they were affiliated with one hospital, but then found out it was a different on (there are 4 hospitals in this area).  The one they birth at had a bad reputation.  I wasn't too comfortable, but thought I would keep going to this Dr anyway.  Then we had an interview with her.  She wanted to go over everything with DH and me.  I was in the middle of my second trimester.  She went over the procedures, then told me that after I gave birth, they would go ahead and take me to the OR and get my tubes tied.  DH and I were like WTH?!  We told her we didn't want that, and she seemed shocked.  She didn't like the idea of us not getting my tubes tied.  We quickly moved to another OB. 

I really liked my new OB.  She took us on, even with where I was in my pregnancy.  She was nice, but didn't spend very much time with me.  That didn't bother me too much, though.  I got to the end of my pregnancy, and then a week late.  She did the non-stress test, and everything looked good.  They talked about inducing, but I don't remember if they scheduled anything.  I went into labor on my own a few days later. 

This would have been my best home birth, if I would have had one.  I was in labor all day.  I was pretty sure I was in labor, due to my contractions being pretty steady.  I didn't say anything until just before bed.  DH and I walked around.  I ate and drank (it was around midnight).  I was in hardly any pain at all.  I was talking to some of my friends (we were staying in a group setting at that time) in the kitchen.  They asked how far apart my contractions were.  I guess they knew they were close since I would check the clock.  They didn't hurt, though.  I told them about every 2 minutes.  Pretty soon after, DH and I left for the hospital.  That is when it got painful.  I was in the car for 30 minutes and couldn't stand or walk around.  By the time we got to the hospital, I couldn't stand up straight.  They put me in the ER and monitored me for an hour, while they got my room ready and what-not. 

I labored for just a few hours.  I told the nurse, who was checking me, that it was so much better during a contraction, if I pushed.  I had never had the urge to push before, so this was not something I was familiar with.  She didn't take any notice to what I said and left.  They then gave me an epidural.  However, I was not quite 'with it' at this time.  I was focusing on pushing, not pushing, contractions, etc...  DH told me later that the anesthesiologist and his assistant had blood all over them because, they told him, there were 'complications' with the previous woman's epidural.  The anesthesiologist then belittled and yelled at the assistant while giving me my epidural.  OH, if I had been paying attention to what was going on, they would not have touched me.  It was really kind of a strange situation.  I had my little Abigail that morning (around 3am I believe).  They said she was a little bit jaundice, and put her in a biliblanket.  She was just fine, though.

Brigham was born a week late, as well.  He was born December 20, 2006.  He was our first home birth and first boy. I researched all the information while we were TTC so I could 'convince' my husband to have the baby at home. When I told him I wanted to have our baby at home, he said he felt the same way. Luckily, I didn't do all that work for nothing. All our parents were very against this. They knew I or Brigham would die. We showed them the statistics on how home birth was safer than hospital birth. They didn't get any say in the matter anyway.

It was hard to find a home birth midwife.  We still lived in MO, and found out, not many midwifes will home birth in MO.  We finally found a wonderful midwife (Suzanne - www.ksmidwife.com ) from KS that agreed to assist with the birth.  She did all the prenatal visits at my home. She made me feel very empowered and educated me about pregnancy and birth more than I could have known. I had 3 children before and didn't know squat. Funny how uneducated I was when I put my faith in the doctors. I had a friend ask me to call her as soon as I went into labor so she could take pictures and document the entire thing (she's a photographer). She wanted a home birth so badly, but at that time her husband didn't like the idea very much (she is now pregnant and due to have a home birth new month with Suzanne).  She documented the entire thing.  I got a CD of over 350 pictures from labor, to birth, to after it was all over.

I went to bed around 1am and thought, "Tomorrow morning I'll put the waterproof pad on the bed so it won't get wet if my water breaks." I'm a procrastinator and was a few days overdue. Two hours later I woke up and water hit my knees. Funny! Too bad I didn't get that waterproof sheet on before I went to bed. :) I went to the bathroom and used a little strip to make sure my water broke (I thought what the heck! May as well make sure.) I went to my husband and kind of woke him up. I told him I had good news and bad news. The good news was I didn't wet the bed. I never told him the bad news. He guessed it on his own... No sleep tonight. We called the midwife and my friend. I walked around for a while in the house and ate some breakfast my FIL brought to us. I didn't want to eat but they made me. After a while my contractions stopped so Suzanne (my midwife) checked me. She said that my water broke on the top and asked if I wanted her to she could break my water again. I agreed because I was so tired and yet so excited. I couldn't wait to hold my baby.

I labored in the living room. We had a hammock stand and I hung from the hammock. I hung from my doula (who I almost bit). Glad I got my senses back before that happened. I pushed from the hammock for a while, but I was so exhausted that I just couldn't push any more. They helped me to the couch and I decided to push while on my back. I didn't want to do this position before then, but I knew I could push from that position. I let out a huge scream and, after a few pushes, our little man's head made it into the world. I hear about the ring of fire, but I don't remember that. I do remember how bad his shoulders hurt when I pushed again. He was born a few minutes after 12:02 pm. 

It was so much harder, because I felt all the pain, the contractions, his crowning, his shoulders, the afterbirth, all of it.  I, however, bonded immediately with him.  I healed so much faster.  I was a little out of it at first.  I hadn't kept in shape like I should have.  I didn't eat as healthy as I was supposed to.  I gained more weight than I wanted, but it was wonderful. 

My littlest man, Moses, was (once again) born late (4 days).  He was born on June 5, 2008.  He was our biggest, at 9 lbs exactly.

Brent (DH) and I went to the grocery store around 7:30 Wednesday night (6-4). I was craving fruit, so we stocked up on a bunch of different fruit. I was feeling really good, even though I was 4 days past due. I hadn't had any contractions for several days, but did have some pressure pushing down on me as I walked. We got home around 10 and I ate a big bowl of cherries, grapes, a date and a bite of Brent's cantaloupe. We then went to bed.

At midnight I woke up and my water had broken. Luckily, I had enough foresight to be wearing an adult diaper for just such an occasion. (My last baby my water broke in bed and I didn't have anything to protect me or the bed.) I didn't want to wake Brent yet, because my shortest labour had been 8 hours previous to this baby, and we had just gotten to sleep a couple hours earlier.

My contractions started out at 15 minutes apart. I spent a lot of the first hour laboring on the toilet because of the amniotic fluid, which was coming out during contractions in squirts. After about an hour I woke Brent, and he asked if we should call our friend (who was helping to deliver our baby at her house). I wanted to keep timing the contractions, but 30 minutes later they were stronger and 5-10 minutes apart. We called, and she said to come on over. (She had actually already been awake for 30 minutes already.)

It took us 30 minutes to get out of the house (packing a few last minute things into the car). We left our other kids with a friend and got to our friends house just after 2am. By that time my contractions were pretty strong and about 5 minutes apart. She checked me and I was at a 4 and 50% thinned out. I laboured in the house for a little while, some times leaning on the bed with my Brent holding me. Sometimes on the portable toilet (so I didn't have to worry about what was coming out of me). Then she asked if I wanted to try getting in the bath. I agreed and she got the tub ready. I was so cold, and couldn't stop shivering. I also felt so sick, I kept asking for the bowl (I always get sick during labour) but never needed it. She checked me again and I was at a 5 and still 50%. I sat in the bath for about 20 minutes and then wanted out. She asked what I wanted, and I said, "I want the baby out". I walked back to the bedroom and laboured some more in there standing by the bed. My contractions were 30 seconds apart and I didn't know how much more I could take. They were all so wonderful, though. They kept putting hot ginger packs on my back, stomach and elsewhere. :)

Our friend wanted to check me again, and I got on the bed. After laying down, she checked me, looked at me and said, "The baby is in the birth canal." I smiled the best I could and said, "That's the best news I could here." She said baby only needed to go about 3 more inches to go. That is all I needed to go on. I barely felt the pain from the contractions then. I pushed on the next contraction. Then pushed again 1 or 2 more times (I can't really remember). :) Then I could feel his head crowning. It hurt, but I knew it was almost over. I panted a few times and then finished pushing his head out at 4:20 am. She checked and there was no cord around his neck. I asked if he was OK, and she said he was. Then during the next contraction I pushed and our baby Moses was born into this world at 4:22 am. We then waited until the cord quite pulsating and after the placenta was birthed at 4:50 am, then the cord was cut at 4:55 am.

It was such a wonderful birth experience. I love Brent for being there for me as I called for him. At one point all I could do was hold my arms out and call for him as he rushed across the room to hold me. He was such a rock for me.