Frum Homebirth story on A Baby Story!!!

observer

Tue, Feb 01 2011, 10:10 pm

Chavelamomela wrote:

jaysmom wrote:

Did you have back labor in the end? I know you said you felt some pressure in your back at one point.

Nope. I had back-labor with my first labor, but I found out that back labor is quite manageable if you have someone doing counter-preassure on your lower back with every contraction. Otherwise, it's quite difficult. Since I had my doula and DH there to apply counter pressure, it was totally manageable.

This time, I was very much interested in preventing back labor, and focused on my sitting posture in the last weeks of pregnancy to keep he baby facing in the right way. It worked. No back labor this time.

I've had back labor and it's very difficult. The only way I got through it was by having by dh give TONS of counterpressure at the specific spot. At one point, the nurse told him "I'll give you a break for this contraction" and she did it for that one contraction....BIG mistake. Her counterpressure was like a gentle rub...what I needed was heavy duty, man strength full force pressure. That was the only way I managed it. And it was a good thing my water didn't break till the end!

So, what is there to do during pregnancy to prevent it? And my dr told me that the baby was not posterior, but was facing my back. He said that sometimes women have back labor without baby posterior.

observer

Tue, Feb 01 2011, 10:12 pm

freidasima wrote:

Folks, some of you are too funny for words.
Then of course there is skin. Flesh. Well one birth was so interesting that they had a group of med students, mainly guys, maybe 30 of them packed into the bottom of the room watching the midwife deliver me with all the gore. There I was, legs spread, feet tied in stirrups, fluff flying (they only shave the "below" not the front) and me screaming. One of them asked if it is always like it, and I with my wonderful sense of humor even then screamed back "look close guys, free show, this is exactly what it is like at the end for all your wives, girlfriends and whatever, makes you really wanna run home and have s-x right?"

Let's see, five turned green, one actually puked and the midwife was bent over so much laughing that the baby who was in the process of coming out almost hit the floor instead of her hands.

OMG friedasima, you are HILARIOUS!! Is it my imagination or do you always have the funniest stories happen to you?

Chavelamomela

Tue, Feb 01 2011, 10:25 pm

I totally get what you mean by "man-strength" counter-pressure for back labor!

Quote:

So, what is there to do during pregnancy to prevent it? And my dr told me that the baby was not posterior, but was facing my back. He said that sometimes women have back labor without baby posterior.

As you enter the 3rd trimester, its good to note your posture - when you sit on a couch or a deep chair, dont slouch - prop a few pillows behind your back. Slouching creates space for the baby to flip posterier, while sitting up straight makes it less possible bc the heaviest part of the baby is the back of the head, and that will naturally drop into where there is space.

also, when I began early labor (even before any contraxions, but I woke up feeling "off" and sure enough, contractions started about an hour later...) I did a modified childs' pose - I sat on my knees in a chair, placed a pillow on the floor below me, then leaned onto my arms resting on that pillow. I hung out like that for about 20-30 minutes, to ensure baby was properly positioned for labor (this was at the recommendation of my doula, who had shown me at our consultation this pose to prevent posterior presentation). (This pose is also helpful to prevent/turn a breech baby before the head is deeply engaged in the pelvis. )

Inspired

Wed, Feb 02 2011, 9:07 am

das wrote:

Am I the only one that doesn't find this beautiful at all?? (I didnt read all 12 pages of comments but the ones I read seemed to be in agreement) She seems tortured. I had a beautiful birth experience-relaxed and PAIN FREE because of an epidural. Dont see whats so beautiful about crazy pain when it can be alleviated.

Women who ended up paralyzed from the epidural no doubt said the same.
Educate yourself. It is not as simple as you are making it out to be.
Birth where the woman works and feels it is beautiful. You don't have a monopoly on beauty.
What will happen when you only prepare for birth by being able to say "epidural now" and you can't get one due to medical or other reasons?

Mommy3.5

Wed, Feb 02 2011, 10:04 am

das wrote:

I have given birth with and without the epidural. epidural does not = pain free. Sometimes they do not work. I had more that didn't work, and it made the birth much harder.

saw50st8

Wed, Feb 02 2011, 11:30 am

das wrote:

I had a wonderful, epidural birth. I had a wonderful, epidural-free birth.

The after birth high without the epidural is much better. And you can go to the bathroom on your own right away.

Chavelamomela

Wed, Feb 02 2011, 11:33 am

BinahYeteirah wrote:

Hashem_Yaazor wrote:

It's not crazy pain for the ones going through it. It's pain, but awesome pain.

I agree. I do not have pain-free births; pain is there and all the feelings together are intense and powerful, but not crazy. I wouldn't want it any other way.

Yeah, this.

Also, people think the pain of birth is constant, never-ending pain. It is very different from, for example, a bullet wound, or, perhaps more on-point - dental pain, mouth pain.

These other kinds of pain I listed above are pain that is throbbing, shooting, stabbing, excruciating pain.

The pain of childbirth is intense, like the most incredibly deep muscle ache (or cramp) you've ever had - and it comes in waves. There are breaks in between. When you're over the peak of each contraction, you already start to feel a bit better, and can prepare yourself for the next wave to hit.

Recovery from unmedicated births is statistically much better than interventionist births.

And then there's a well-kept secret among natural-brirthing women - something that many women who have experienced natural birth can attest to - there's something called a "birthing high" - you get this incredible amount of adrenaline and oxitocin, and these hormones actually make you feel GOOD! Like you just ran a race that you won! Or worked so hard in your whole life and you achieved EXACTLY what you wanted! It's an amazing bracha to feel this intense high (its a natural high - not drug-induced). And its something that women who have epidurals just don't feel. (You can ask women who have had both types of births, and they will verify the difference).

That's not to say that epidurals and interventions don't have their place. And its a legitimate choice for a woman to make. But it's also a completely rational and normal choice to choose otherwise, to choose to experience the pain of labor and birth.

Tova

Wed, Feb 02 2011, 12:08 pm

I had baby #1 with an epidural.

For baby #2 I wanted an epidural but got to the hospital too late to have one. Labor was totally fine and manageable. I now have no fear of natural childbirth so in retrospect I am very happy that that is what happened. I did slightly panic when it was time to push (I told them it was time…they were paging the anesthesiologist because I had just reached the point in my IV drip that they agreed to give me one) and sure enough I was 10 cm. The anesthesiologist was actually so so sweet. I still remember his kindness. When I told him I wanted the epidural before pushing, he said “you don’t need an epidural. In the time it takes me to get it in place the baby will be born. The baby is minutes away from being born.” His words really gave me the strength and stamina to push through the pain…and 2-3 pushes and probably two minutes later she was born.

It was truly awesome….but, I have to say that with baby #1 I had a tremendous high even with the epidural. Maybe it was because the epidural wore off a bit as I definitely felt urges to push. I don’t know but it was definitely there – I clearly describe it when I look back to my write-up of the first birth even before experiencing an epi-free birth. So I don’t think there is a secret between only natural birthing moms that medicated births don’t share. Once baby was born I was just totally focused on him and did not barely noticed the birth of the placenta and didn’t at all feel the stitching (no episiotomy; just some small tears) because of the after effects of the epidural. Great recovery, no afterbirth pains and I didn’t even take the high strength Tylenol/Motrin that they offered me.

Although I felt very good also after birth #2, I still left a lot of pressure until the placenta came out. Then it was very difficult getting the numbing needles for the stitching. I felt every prick. I was holding the baby but had to give her back to the nurses because I was scared I would drop her. I had a lot of afterbirth pains (probably typical of a second birth). Therefore, overall I have less positive memories of the birth/ recovery than my first baby which was medicated.

realeez

Wed, Feb 02 2011, 1:26 pm

Mommy3.5 wrote:

das wrote:

I have given birth with and without the epidural. epidural does not = pain free. Sometimes they do not work. I had more that didn't work, and it made the birth much harder.

Yes - this. I had 2 epidural births and I couldn't understand why a woman would choose otherwise. Then I had #3 where the epidural only worked to numb my legs so did nothing for pain and I wasn't in control so for #4, I planned to go without and was happy I could. I was able to be in control of my position while pushing and felt so much better the whole next day than I did after the other ones (even after leaving the hospital 3.5 hours later Wink

)

sky

Wed, Feb 02 2011, 2:45 pm

Chavelamomela wrote:

And then there's a well-kept secret among natural-brirthing women - something that many women who have experienced natural birth can attest to - there's something called a "birthing high" - you get this incredible amount of adrenaline and oxitocin, and these hormones actually make you feel GOOD! Like you just ran a race that you won! Or worked so hard in your whole life and you achieved EXACTLY what you wanted! It's an amazing bracha to feel this intense high (its a natural high - not drug-induced). And its something that women who have epidurals just don't feel. (You can ask women who have had both types of births, and they will verify the difference).

I've done both and the difference is unbelievable. The feeling after the unmedicated birth is like nothing else in the world [but that doesn't mean I'm sure I'll skip the epidural next time]

IloveHashem613

Wed, Feb 02 2011, 4:04 pm

saw50st8 wrote:

The after birth high without the epidural is much better. And you can go to the bathroom on your own right away.

I'm not saying that my experience is the rule, but personally, I was able to go to the bathroom right after I gave birth with an epidural. And I definitley felt an awesome high even though my birth was medicated. But maybe I would have felt an even greater high without drugs... I don't know.... I'm just saying that I personally didnt experience any of the side effects that people said I would with an epidural. I also bli ayin hara had an easy recovery...

saw50st8

Wed, Feb 02 2011, 4:09 pm

IloveHashem613 wrote:

saw50st8 wrote:

The after birth high without the epidural is much better. And you can go to the bathroom on your own right away.

You didn't have any leg numbness at all? Did they stop the epidural long before? Most people I know were required to lay in bed at least an hour after birth before being allowed to walk after an epi as a precaution. I'm talking about 5 minutes after birth I was up and about. Ah the joys!

Oh and I didn't need an IV after birth. That was great too.

Barbara

Wed, Feb 02 2011, 4:14 pm

saw50st8 wrote:

IloveHashem613 wrote:

saw50st8 wrote:

The after birth high without the epidural is much better. And you can go to the bathroom on your own right away.

I swear my epidural didn't take, but that said, I had one, and pushed from a standing / squatting position, a la Bradley.

IloveHashem613

Wed, Feb 02 2011, 4:18 pm

saw50st8 wrote:

IloveHashem613 wrote:

saw50st8 wrote:

The after birth high without the epidural is much better. And you can go to the bathroom on your own right away.

I don't know when they stopped the epidural but I was able to move my legs when I had to push but I didn't feel the pain of pushing/crowning or the baby coming out. I went to the bathroom after the placenta came out and after they finished stitching me up, about 30-40 mins after the baby came out.