Originally wrote 11/20/2019; copied to share here.
Before we even get started I suppose I should start out by saying, I am firm believer that as long as you are Birthing YOUR way, You are Birthing the RIGHT way.
As we get closer to our daughters arrival, I am really taking the time to think back and reflect on the birth of my son over 8 years ago. Maybe this is because we plan to do things COMPLETELY different. So here is a glance at his birth story;
I went in for my 37 week check up and was advised that I had stopped growing, my son was growing fine, but I was not so they wanted to schedule me to be induced just a few days later when I hit 38 weeks.
So It was set. I would go in at midnight Thursday evening to be induced. I got to the hospital, got hooked up to the many many monitors. When the nurse looked at me and said “Did you feel that?” I looked at her like “Yeah?”
That’s when she told me I was ALREADY in labor. Oh! That’s what that was?! I thought I just had to poop. About an hour or two later my OB came in and stated she was going to go home to get some sleep, that she would come back in, in the morning to break my water. At this point I was already Dilated to a 6. Everyone around me, including the nurses were outraged! At the time, I didn’t understand why and now looking back I suppose I understand but it wasn’t needed.
My nurse decided we were going to break my water. AND MAN DID WE! If you don’t know nurses are not allowed to use the “pokey hook” to break your water. So she pushed against me, and I pushed against her hand – and POP my water broke. EVERY. WHERE.
Shortly after this, I was convinced that NOW was the time to get an epidural. If I wanted it, I needed to get it. So with minimal hesitation, I opted to do so.
Prior to my epidural I had allot of discomfort, But I wouldn’t say there was any real pain. I remember after getting my epidural I was kind of upset that I couldn’t get up and move around. This made for an uneventful next few hours, until they finally told me I was “ready”. I had no clue! I didn’t have any signs to help me prepare because I could not feel my body progressing.
They called OB and requested she come in that I was ready to push. She showed up and not even 30 minutes later my son was born.
I remember requesting that they did not place my child on top of me immediately, how silly right? No. Not really. I was 15 years old, and completely weirded out by the whole process. BUT then I remember them taking him clear across the room, everyone else got to admire how beautiful/handsome he was as I waited across the room not even knowing his basic features. This wrecked my heart.
Finally, when they were finished cleaning him off, they wrapped him up and placed him into my arms – where / when I finally got to admire the beautiful little human I had created.
The next 24 hours were a blur. I remember sleeping in and out. Waking up to different people coming into the hospital room holding my freshly born son.
My support system for my labor, delivery, and post delivery was not what I needed it to be. It wasn’t a “Support system at all”. They completely influenced every decision I made, without really educating me on my different options.
DID YOU KNOW, you can be dilated to a NINE and ask for an epidural – they WILL give it to you. There is not cut off. Now it may not take, but that’s a risk you take no matter when you get it.
DID YOU KNOW, your baby can be born INSIDE your amniotic fluid sac?! AKA – your water NEVER has to break or be broken.
DID YOU KNOW, Immediate skin to skin can help the following;
For baby:
Better able to absorb and digest nutrients
Better body temperature maintenance
Cries less often
Demonstrate improved weight gain
Experience more stable heartbeat and breathing
Higher blood oxygen levels
Long-term benefits, such as improved brain development and function as well as parental attachment
More successful at breastfeeding immediately after birth
Spend increased time in the very important deep sleep and quiet alert states
Thermoregulation
Stronger immune systems
For mother:
Experience more positive breastfeeding
Improved breast milk production
Likely to have reduced postpartum bleeding and lower risk of postpartum depression
DID YOU KNOW, You CAN SAY NO to Inductions?! YOU CAN SAY NO! If your baby is in no harm, there is no reason why you can’t simply say NO. Or Let’s wait.
See, looking back knowing what I know now, there are things within my son’s birth I so wish I could change. I so wish I could go back educated and do things differently. The good news, at the time, I didn’t know or understand anything different so it didn’t negatively impact me. My son was healthy. I was healthy.
This time around things are very different. I am very supported. I have a support team of educated individuals. Anyone who second guesses any of our birthing decisions is simply not welcome to our Birth Space. This time around I am going into this with a birth plan, or 3 just in case things change. This time I am ready, I am prepared. My husband is ready. He is educated. He is fully involved. He is prepared.
I have been so blessed to get to parent this young wild free willed little boy that made me a mother for the last 8+ years as an only child. I look forward to what the future brings. To new birth story. To a new adventure.