birth stories. I wanna know what position do most women give birth?

Question

I've had 3 drug free active labours, ie never on a bed. My first delivered standing holding hubby with foot on the bed. 2nd and 3rd in the bath. I've experienced 4 contractions total on the bed, which was the worst pain ever. I'm interested to know
What part of the world you live,
What type of care/ place (Obsgynae/Midwife, doula with you, hospital, home, birth centre)
Position during labour and at the birth of your baby
Were you happy with your experience, did you feel in control, calm etc.
Tears/ episitomy/ventouse/forceps/apgars etc
And yes it is possible to have a drug free, relaxed empowering and happy birth-day! (Makes for happy contented babies too!)

Answer 1

my first was in the hospital i was induced and got an epidural...i gave birth on my back.....HORRIBLE birth experience the Dr. and nurses were wretched and due to medical retarded accident by son bleed a pool of blood the size of himself onto a white hospital table (how no one saw the bright friggin red pooling i don't know) because of this i swore I'd never go back again...my next two were at home very wonderful!!! my second i delivered in my bathtub on my side...my third in a birthing tub squatting.

Answer 2

I live in Wollongong which is south of Sydney Australia. I had my babies in a public hospital with pre natal care by midwife.

Well I had 2 emergency c sections amd am pregnant with my third which will have to be an elective. I really wish I could have delivered "normally" because i feel that i have missed out on an experience I should have had however my babies and me are luck to be alive.

I went to pre birth exercise classes and learnt relaxation techniques and exercises to keep the labor moving along. My first was posterior and with hindsight I was in true posterior labor because all the techniques i learned didnt work, after 4 days of long unproductive labor i was still only 2cm dialated. I spent about 12 hours with contractions 10 mins and over a few days and my birthday was the 3rd day they got down to 5 mins early on the morning of my birthday i went to hospital to get checked and was sent home because I was only 2 cm dialated and told to get some rest. when I told them that labor started 3 days prior they didnt beleive me because if that was true then the baby would have been born. So I went home had my birthday dinner and the next morning I could not cope any longer contractions were now 3 mins and when i phoned the hospital to see if i should come in they told me to have a shower rest and have breakfast, i started to cry and decided to go anyway i was struggling to take it, this was the 4th day. Luckily I went in because the baby was now in distress and i ended up having an emergency cesar under general anesthetic. The situation was bad they failed to beleive me and I failed to make them beleive i suppose because i thaught they were the experts.

Second time was tricky we had to be careful i was more than 2 weeks overdue because i wanted to go into spontaneous labor and have the baby properly. My waters broke and contractions still had not started after 48 hrs and due to the risk of infection It was best to have the cesar also i could not be induced because of the previous cesar scar on the uterus.

I have 2 of the best kids in the world and am having another. what more could I want?

Answer 3

I live in Townsville in Northen Queensland, Australia. I went through our public health system and delivered my little boy at the Townsville General Hospital. I took part in shared care, seeing my regular GP for pretty much all of my appointments except for appointments at 20weeks, 32weeks, 38weeks and at 40weeks because I had not yet delivered. I saw different midwves and doctors every time I went to the hospital. I had a loverly senior midwife when I delivered my son, along with a new midwife (my son was the 3rd baby she had delivered). My mother and partner were also present when I delivered my son.
When I was in labour, I moved between laying in the bath, sitting in the shower, sitting/bouncing on a big rubber ball and laying in a beanbag with a hole in the middle for my belly. When I had my son I was semi sitting up/laying down. I used the gas and only used it until I was moved to the bed for delivery (at that stage i forgot all about it). I did not have any other painkillers. I had a small tear (due to not listening to the advice of the midwife - I pushed too hard, when I shouldnt have pushed hard - my son was born on his side so his sholders got me).
yes I did feel in control once I got to the birthing suite. I was very happy with the expirience and felt very lucky that nothing went wrong. I don't know how calm I was...my mum tells me I was pretty calm.

:)

Answer 4

Hi. I have had three chilren and three totally diffrent labours and deliveries, all in hospital with midwives to care for me, appart from my second child.

My first came 3 weeks early, (my waters broke) and i felt i was not ready or in control. I delivered on a bed, when i would have prefered to be standing. But in saying that the labour and delivery was very quick, and i didn't know what i wanted. I also had no pain relief or stiches, which i felt was much better for recoverery for me and was a benifit for my baby.

The second came 10 weeks early and was an emergancy c-section, as i had placental abruption! I was put under for that and i HATED it. Obvisouly i was scared as i was loosing a lot of blood and didn't know what was going to happen to me or my baby. Thankfully all went well and he was a good weight so only spent 3 weeks in hospital. The recovery for that was hell, it felt so alien to me i wanted to just get on with caring for my baby but couldn't. I didn't even see him properly for 3 days, only by looking at a photograph.

My thrid was so quick. I was 1 week overdue and was dialating with no labour pains, so i was kept in and put on the drip to start the labour. I felt nothing only back ache and then all of a sudden she was coming, i was in the middle of the corridor!!. The midwife didn't even get a chane to put gloves on properly and she was delivered with tissuse paper on her head. What a shock to the system, back ache and then a baby. Again i had no pain relief or stiches, i was on such a high and felt so good that i couldn't sleep so i went home 6 hours later.

If i was to have another i would definitly have natural, any day.

From a very happy mother,

Dublin, Ireland

Answer 5

I live in Queensland but i had my son in 1997 in Sydney at a public hospital. I had a show one week previously and my waters broke the night my before i gave birth. I did not have a contraction unti they gave me a syntonin drip.I wanted to have an active birth but due to my son having Mecronium grade 2, i had to be attatched to a syntonin drip and a hook attatched to his head while in labor to keep an eye on how he was coping. So I was stuck to the bed which i was not impressed with. We both did not cope with the contractions.

I was placed on oxygen and gven pethedine and an epidural which did not work. The only thing that i wanted and got was a vaginal birth without tears or stiches and a short labor. I was in labor for only three hours. Which was good.
I was lying on the bed with one foot on the midwife and one foot on my partners for the second phase of labor. My son came out posterior although i had only pains in the front of my abdomen. None in my back which was a suprise to the midwife. The midwife was fantastic. I really wanted to have a a birth without stiches and she guided me all the way through, telling me when to push and when to stop.

I had a midwife who was fantastic and the intervention came in when the doctor on duty arrived. I know it was for my son and i benefit that the intervention occured.

Because he was small for dates he was immediately taken to special care nursery. When he was born he had an apgar score of 3 and rose to only 7 five minutes after. This was after resusatation work on him. I found it hard to bond with him although i did begin breastfeeding him within 24hours. They had been feeding him by tube so by the time i started to feed him my breasts had become absolutley huge and because he was only little, he did not feed that much. The hospital did not tell me to express any excess milk so i ended up with mastitis. I ended up feeding him by bottle after 4 days of mastits.

Although i did not get the labor i wanted, my son came out without too much problems and he is now a healthy almost 10yr.

Answer 6

My 1st child I was laying down in a surgical room cuz they had to use the vacume suction device to get him out cuz he had his hand up by his head & he was stuck glad they turned that epidural back on after 4 hrs of them making me push before they figured out he was stuck. My 2nd child I had in a bed sitting up. I live in the USA.

Answer 7

I live in Sydney, Australia.
My first birth I choose to have in a Birth Centre. So I could be in a more relaxed environment and use the pool etc. It was alright, I had a horrible midwife that kept looking at her watch like I was taking up her precious time and giving me horrible looks. She definately did not make for a happy or relaxed environment.
I dont know where the other midwifes were that I met before and really liked. Must have been there days off.

But I was in back labour so was in the pool, shower and bath for most of the labour. Or I was on all fours gently rocking back and forth. They were the only things that helped relieve the pain. I also tried a birthing stool or something similar but didnt like it.
I did lay on the bed, a nice queen size bed. And had some gas. I was very noisy and I think everyone else wanted me to shut up. It was extremely hot that day and I felt like I was dying so after 9 hours I asked for an epidural. They got me up to the hospital labour ward and I freaked out when they said I could be paralysed form the epi. But that is when my darling daughter decided to arrive. So I climbed onto the bed and couldnt lay down as it was too painful so I went on all fours. So thats how I gave birth, I didnt tear or have an episiotomy. I did get grazes, which I didnt even know you could get. But my daughter was being funny and played peekaboo instead of just coming straight out. Her head would come out and then go back in. She did this like 10 times.

With her I wasnt very calm, I was pretty freaked out by the whole thing. Just because I had no idea what to expect. My Mum was great, she did calm me down. She spent my whole labour laughing at me and cracking jokes about me. I know it sounds weird and not helpful. But it was, that has always been her distraction technique when I am in pain. Because if I'm laughing I'm not concentrating on the pain. She was also with me in the pool etc, rubbing my back or doing whatever she could to help. My little brothers came in a couple of times to see how I was. Another great distraction. My poor youngest (15) brother walked in and got an eyeful. So I was embarrased for him and worried about how he would handle it. My other brother came in and talked for a bit. I was on the gas at this point and thought I had failed by using pain relief so was telling him what a horrible person I was and what a bad mother I was because I felt smashed form the gas.

With my second I was much calmer and relaxed. My Mum and MIL actually had to make me go to the hospial. I wanted to wait just alittle bit longer. The contractions were really close together and quite painful, but I didnt want to be in hospital for hours and hours. Once I did get to hospital I was put on the contraction monitor. Then my waters broke so I was moved to a labour room. I tried having a shower but that didnt help so I paced instead and kicked the floor. I was really tired as I had a 2 yr old and hadnt slept because my labour had started the day before. So I laid on the bed and had some gas. My Mum sang me a lullaby and I was falling asleep. And thats when daughter #2 decided to arrive. I was laying on my side and I felt her head just come out. My Mum called the nurses in just in time to catch her.
With her I was vey calm as I knew what to expect. And it was over so quickly, I was only in hospital for an hour and a half before she arrived. Again no tears or episiotmy. It didnt even hurt to go to the toilet afterwards!!
The nurses were alright but they scared the living daylights out of me. As the rest of her body was coming out all I heard them say was "She's dead", I stopped pushing and started screaming because I thought they had just told me my baby was dead. She wasnt thank God, but they were saying that if they didnt turn off the emergency buzzer (that my Mum had pushed when my daughters head come out) then they would be dead, from the nurse at the desk.
It scared me so much and I think they should have chosen their words more carefully considering where they were and what they were doing!!! But I didnt like them either. They had asked me to be quite!! And I really didnt appreciate that. I was in pain and my way of dealing with pain is by screaming. Other women choose pain relief and I scream.
Everytime I had visited the hospital or birthing centre I always heard women screaming in child birth and I dont think it was right for them to tell me to shut up.