Wednesday, January 20, 2010

The birth of change

(talks briefly of a lost baby, and touches on past negative birth experience, you may want to avoid this if you are sensitive to those things)

My first birth was NOT super.  We were 19, unprepared, and just trying to survive in a whirlwind of family judgment, and financial strain.  Our little surprise blessing was born 3 weeks "early"after 38 hours, drugs that made me unbearably itchy, epidural, a vacuum extraction, tearing and cutting, and more stitches than my doctor cared to count.  We were of course thrilled to have our beautiful little girl, but aside from her, the only good thing I walked away from that experience with was a longing for something better for all of us.

After about a year, we got the internet and I met some amazing women online that I'm still friends with today.  They challenged me to think beyond the norm, and I spent an unfathomable amount of time learning everything I could about breastfeeding and parenting in general.  Then one day I found a brochure for a midwife in our local area and a light bulb came on!  I hadn't even thought such an option would be available here!  Then it was on to furious learning about birth, although I wasn't even pregnant again or even trying yet!

We planned to have a home birth.  I learned deep relaxation techniques using Hypnobabies.  The knowledge and experiences I found online blessed my heart every day and I felt like we were moving in a really positive direction.

We finally decided to try for baby #2, and were successful on the 2nd month after having my IUD out.  Baby was due around the same time our first little girl would turn 3.  We were THRILLED.  Then, Hyperemesis hit me.  I'd had it the first time too, but this was considerably worse.  As the infamous Heather Armstrong, aka Dooce would say, "It sucked and then I cried".  Anyway, I survived that hell with my sanity barely intact.

Later in my pregnancy, a dear friend of ours moved in with us briefly as she was between homes.  She had lost a full-term son right before I found out I was pregnant.  Despite my fears that it would be too hard for her to be around me pregant, she was the epitome of a perfect friend, and I loved that time with her.  We spent a lot of time crying and laughing together.  One day, we all sat in the living room, and I commented on how unusually active baby was being that day.   My friend said that baby was bound to come at any time!  I said "Nahh, I'm only 36 weeks, baby has to finish baking".  That night, I put plastic down under our sheet, just in case, not anticipating putting it to use for some time.  I had felt all along that baby would be "early" like my first, but I was still hoping I was wrong!

I guess there is something to be said for intuition!  My water broke in bed the next morning.  I said to my husband "Wake up!  But don't roll over!"  He mumbled grumpily, and of course rolled right into the enormous puddle.  I had leaped out of bed, and still continued to gush shocking amounts of water onto the floor.  HOW was there that much inside me?!  Hmmm... no contractions.  I hopped in the shower while my husband got things together and called Debbie, my midwife.  She came over and we had some things to discuss.

Group B Strep (GBS) had shown up in a very early pregnancy urine test.  This meant I was "highly colonized" at that time.  I had also tested positive for it in my first pregnancy, and the early breaking of my waters with no contractions was another warning sign for GBS.  All these things together meant I was "high risk" for GBS.  She had me swab myself so we could send off for the results and at least get them back after the birth so we'd know whether to watch baby for signs of it.  In addition to all this, I was also 4 weeks "early", AND Rh negative (risk of blood incompatibility junk).   Since our local hospital SUCKS and is now a student hospital to top it off, I decided there was no way I wanted to count on those people to take care of a serious problem if need be, or to even handle a few little tests or something afterwards if it was needed.  On top of that, I was plagued with memories of my own first birth there, years of my grandpa being in that hospital, AND being there with my friend as she had to birth her angel baby.  I REALLY wanted to be as far as possible from there.

We made the decision to go to the free standing birthing center in a bigger city about 45 minutes away.  My midwife volunteered there, and it was right near a good hospital.  As my labor had not even begun, we figured the long drive would be no biggie.



The birthing center was amazing.  It was just like a great big house, and we had the top floor to ourselves.  A "family area" which was just a big living room and kitchen.  My room was just like an actual bedroom with a big bed in it.  Nothing was "clinical" feeling at all.  It was really comfortable.  There was an incredible big tub too.  I was in HEAVEN!!!

 


We had hoped our daughter could be there for the birth if she wanted, but since we didnt even know when labor was going to START, we let her go stay with her favorite aunt who was right there in town.  Then we waited.  I was still losing a lot of water any time I sat for a while and then stood up.  I had forgotten the small detail that the water never stops being produced, lol.  Messy!

I rocked on a birth ball, I walked all over the neighborhood, I went up and down the stairs over and over... NO labor.  Just a few weenie contractions.  They wondered if my Hypnobabies training was SO effective that I was in labor and just not realizing it, lol.  I didn't think so.  I opened myself up to feeling anything, and there was nothing.  Then I tried some homeopathic stuff my midwife had (gasp!  I know, an "intervention!").  Everyone was loving and supportive.  Nothing was done without me fully understanding and wanting it, and that made all the difference in the world to me.  Still... no labor.  We even locked ourselves in the bedroom for a few hours and tried nipple and clitoral stimulation (all scrubbed up of course).  I got to have some fun, heehee, but still... no labor! 

Boy was I glad to not be in a hospital, because they would have given me a c-section after 24 hours, because of my broken water and the "risk of infection".  I took some immune boosting herbs every few hours, and did rinses with grapefruit seed extract in water every time i peed, to cut down my risk of infection.  Our vitals were monitored closely, and I didn't have even a hint of a fever or anything, so I said that as long as we were both doing perfectly well, we’d stay at the birthing center.  I felt very at peace and in-tune with baby.

My husband was a doll.  I asked for some food from the grocery store, and he returned with about a week's worth of groceries, lol.  He said he just wanted to make sure I had everything I could possibly crave.

Finally, after 43 hours of being STUPID and wearing myself out trying to get things going,  I asked if we should do an internal exam to see if there was something we could discover.  So Debbie (my midwife) and I scrubbed up really good.  I was still only at 2 or 3 cm after all that time, but VERY stretchy.  The problem was, my baby was posterior, and her head wasn't down in the right way to get my cervix to open up.  Turns out, my cervix was also pointing way towards my back.  She could feel the baby moving her head and trying to get into place.  My wimpy and sporadic contractions were totally ineffective of course.

I decided to have Debbie try to manually dilate me, and BOY was I glad for my Hypnobabies training then!  I got down on my knees and supported my front on a birthing ball, because she couldn't even reach my cervix with me laying down.  Over the next 6 hours, she managed to dialate me to 8 cm, turn the baby’s head, and pull my cervix forward.  I'd have hard contractions then, but every time I got up to pee and come back, everything would be back to the way it was.  Cervix at 2-ish and posertior, and baby was again posterior too.   We went though this several times.  I used my "deepening" cd for hypnosis to keep me under.  It was incredible.  I didn't feel a thing, and I had no sense of how much time was passing.  I was able to support myself on that ball that whole time without even moving.  They said my legs started to shudder a little from exhaustion, but I didn't feel that either.

FINALLY, things got in place and stayed that way!  My contractions hit fast and furious.  Instead of begging for an epidural, I found myself begging for a nap, lol.  I was so exhausted from spending all that time walking, going up and down stairs, using the birthing ball, doing pelvic rocks, and all that jazz.  I got into the tub.  My mom was a HUGE help, and my poor husband was at this point useless and just trying not to pass out.  I had practiced my hypnobabies in complete silence, so when my birthing time came, every little sound was distracting me.  Oops!  A contraction would come, and I’d start to fight it, then my mom would put her hand on my shoulder and say "release!!!", and BAM!  I’d go as limp as a noodle.  They had to keep the water shallow because I’d shut TOTALLY off and just sink way down.

Then suddenly, I was pushing without even meaning to!  It was such an amazing feeling!  I hadn't been able to feel that when I gave birth to Brooklyn.  They had to TELL me to push with her.  This time it was "well, apparently I’m at 10, because my body is pushing without me!"

I ended up having to get out of the tub to finish birthing her.  My body was too tired to support myself well enough.  They also lost her heart beat with their little hand-held doppler and said I had to get her out ASAP.  So... she was actually starting to crown WHILE I got out of the tub and moved to the bed.  It turns out that my scarring from my last birth was so deep that it wasn't allowing me to stretch very well.  It was a tad scary in that time, because they still didn't have a heartbeat on her, and I was having trouble stretching enough.  My midwife used her hands to help push me over baby's head, and at 8:45 am on the 13th of March, it FINALLY happened.

She came out perfect and screaming.  All was well.  My darling husband, mom, and grandma all cried.  My husband told me that it was a girl (we hadn't known), and then promptly had to call and tell everyone, lol.  My grandma cut the umbilical cord after a while when it was done giving our baby all her blood.  Having my baby girl placed in my arms was so amazing.  Its such a different experience to not be doped up.  It was the high of a lifetime!  I would never do it the other way again.  All in all, it was about 49 hours of waiting and only about one hour of real labor and birth.

I just needed 3 little stitches from tearing, no biggie.  Hubby, baby, and I all curled up in the bed for a little nap.

Debbie brought us some incredible Thai food.  Once I had eaten and rested a bit, I was up and around and feeling fantastic beyond belief!  When I talked to people on the phone, they joked about how much drugs I must be on, but it was pure birth bliss.  I think most of them were under the impression that a birthing center is just like a hospital, lol, when in reality it was just a beautiful house.  We went home that SAME afternoon.  We even stopped to briefly visit my in-laws and let them meet our still vernix-covered baby. 

Alas, our adventure was still not over.

The next day, baby was starting to look a little yellow.  By that night, when Debbie came over to our house to check on us, she was looking REALLY yellow.  It was a bit unusual for jaundice to show up so early.  Since I’m a negative blood type, and baby is a positive one, we had to make sure that it wasn't an issue with blood incompatibility.  We decided that we shouldn't even wait til morning, so we took her in to the hospital to get it checked out.  That ended up being a total nightmare.  It was my mom, Debbie, and I with the baby, and they tried to tell us there couldn't be that many people with her, but I promptly told them to bite me.  It certainly wasn't hurting anyone for us to just be sitting in a room with her.

They spent 3 HOURS just trying to get enough blood out of her for the tests.  They couldn't use a heel poke as they do for some other tests, this particular blood had to be straight from the vein.  They were all confused as to why there was a newborn coming in to them at all.  Shouldn't we have been up in the maternity ward where they are used to this sort of thing?  -sigh-  It had to be the worst 3 hours of my life.  It was after 8 in the morning before we finally got to go to the maternity ward.  We’d spent all night in the ER.  They put my mom and I in a room WITH the baby (I’d have liked to see them try and tell me she had to be in the nursery), and got her set up with the special lights for her jaundice.  They had ruled out blood issues, and determined it was just normal jaundice, so that was a relief.



My mom and I spent 2 nights in the hospital with her, until her levels were down "enough".  Our insurance wouldn't cover having the lights machine at home like they had for our first daughter.  Forrest had to stay home to be with Brooklyn.  I missed him a lot, but we decided it was better to keep things as normal for Brooklyn as possible, instead of sending her to be with someone else so Forrest could be with me.  It was so hard to be away from them, but hey, at least I didnt have to cook.

Despite being 4 weeks early, baby was well baked, lol.  6 pounds 14 ounces.  She nursed like a champ too!  The hospital said she might have problems with that, and offered formula.  I promptly told them to screw right off.  They didn't even ASK how nursing was going, just threw out that assumption.  Any time she had to get her heel poked for the jaundice test, they wanted to just cart her off to the nursery with out me.  That was another big hell no.  I would hold her the entire time, or they weren't allowed to touch her.  Then they looked at me like I was the meaneset mom in the world for refusing to give her sugar water before and during the poke.  "What, you don't want to lessen your baby's pain?!"  HELLOOO.. I have BOOBS.  Duh.

All this time, our baby was still without a name.  We jokingly called her "Bob 2", as we had jokingly called our first daughter "Bob" while waiting 3 days to settle on her name.  While I had been pregnant, my beloved grandpa, Charles, had passed away.  My husband had chosen the name Gabriel Charles if our baby was to be a boy, but I had nothing chosen for a girl.  I felt I needed to meet her first.  My grandmother had jokingly suggested "Charlene", as it is a feminine version of "Charles", and we didn't feel it suited her.  When I looked it up in the baby name book, I saw that Charlotte was another feminine version of Charles.  Still, we didn't settle on it at that time.  When we came home from the hospital, hubby and I talked and realized we had both gotten Charlotte stuck in our heads and had begun to think of her as that.  So we finally named her Charlotte Annalee. 

Anyway, those couple of days were long, but we finally began our lives as a family of 4.  It wasn't the simple "mom births baby in a pool of water with candles lit, and that is that" kind of experience, but it was still something I treasure.  I would highly recommend considering a midwife and Hypnobabies to anyone planning on having a baby.  It makes all the difference in the world to at least understand what your body is supposed to do, and not fear it.

Bless you all!  Please feel free to ask questions and share your own stories.  If you've hung in through this crazy long story, at least drop me a short comment to say hi :-)

40 comments:

Rebekah Costello said...

Absolutely beautiful birth story, Mama. I'm sorry your first experience left you needing to heal. I'm so happy to hear that your second journey brought you so much joy and triumph! Your babies are absolutely beautiful, of course.

Anonymous said...

I LOVE reading birth stories and I love that even though this birth wasn't ideal, you still did it on your terms and you didn't let them push you (or your sweet Charlotte) around. That's what it's all about. :)

Rainbow Babies and Sunshine Girls said...

I love reading birth stories... I think because mine were so not what I wanted the birth of my children to be. I am so happy that your second birth was so beautiful. Reading about how you wouldn't let her go in the hospital makes me need to go curl around my girls.

Sam said...

Wow, what an awesome story! You may have sold me on hypnobabies for my next birth in case it's anything like my VBAC. My first, going through the whole labor wasn't hard, but they had me pushing at a 10 and my body wasn't ready and I went into transition after an hour at a ten, so after a half hour trying to push that way, off I went to have the cesarean :( With my VBAC, I ended up with transition feeling/brain at a 2 and it lasted for 8 hours before I got an epidural. I luckily still felt the pushing stage come on and then felt pushing her out myself. I'd like the best of both labors with my next... and hopefully not another long one, lol. Definitely at home.

Katy said...

Thank you SO MUCH for sharing your story. I'm not pregnant yet but I'm already trying to learn everything I can about it. I'm about to turn 34 and it's the strangest thing, this past year it's like my body has been telling me that it's time to have a baby, just like your body tells you that you need to eat when you're hungry. Hopefully I'm preggers within the next few months!

Jessilyn said...

Oh I absolutely LOVED it! I am so glad you were able to experience the natural "high" of childbirth rather than nothing at all. Everyone of my friends said there would be no way in hell that I would do it with out the epidural (but I already had my mind set). After I had Briana, no one believed that I wasn't in pain the whole time. I told them to ask my fiance, my mom, my girlfriend, as anyone - they were all there and I am sure they would be able to tell if I were in pain. The funny thing is I never realized until the next morning I heard a gal down the hall in labor screaming blooding murder. It was at that point I realized that I never made one peep the whole labor and delivery. I still haven't written my birth story. I need to get on that! Briana is almost 7 months now - eek!

AccidentallyMommy said...

Thank you for sharing! You've inspired me to work through my pain and write Bug's birth story. Check in, I'll have it up tomorrow on accidentallymommy.blogspot.com (though, I think you're already following me, so posting the addy may be redundant.)

Unknown said...

Amazing story...With the right type of support we can do anything!
Just beautiful!!!

rosiewiklund said...

I read the whole story, and man did that sound like a wonderful experience.

Breezy Peterson said...

Loved reading this.

My health insurance (TriCare, for military families) doesn't cover any kind of out of hospital birth. Even If we wanted to pay for a HB out of pocket, we would have to talk a friend into letting us "use" their house because we live in on base housing where HB is illegal. Yes, illegal.

Somebody tell Uncle Sam that BC birth and HB are dramatically safer, cheaper and more satisfying than hospital birth!

I have FINALLY signed my first BC birth and can't wait to work with traditional CNMs, not just OBs in CNM's clothing. I learned so much from your birth story, and I am now regularly stalking your blog. Don't be surprised to see your posts popping up in my FB Fan Page stream :)

topazorchid said...

Love it! Thanks for sharing this! An important read!

Unknown said...

What an amazing birth story! It so wonderful to have a peaceful birth process.

BABS said...

I just found your blog yesterday through Woman to Woman Childbirth and I absolutely love how you are so straight and to the point with everything.

kelahamilton said...

That is a great story. It is so good to hear positive stories and not the gloom and doom. I do want to say a word in defense of teaching hospitals. Just because a hospital has students and residents training to be physicians does not make it a sucky hospital (all physicians have to learn somewhere). I delivered by son at a teaching hospital after laboring mostly at home. The resident and student that were assigned to me were wonderful, supportive and eager to learn (even from me and the nurses). They were attentive to my needs and desires and even ran interference to keep the on-call attending OB away until my OB got there. Also, it is well within the rights of any patient to refuse to be seen by a student or resident so even if you are in a teaching hospital you don't have to be a teaching case.

Mary Beth said...

I'm such a birth junky, thanks for sharing your story! I also delivered the 1st time in a hospital w/ all the drugs and disconnection from really experiencing birth, not knowing there was an alternative...the 2nd time I found an alternative and had a beautiful and perfect natural birth at a freestanding birth center in pittsburgh with a mw, it was an amazing and healing experience...hoping #3 in March will be the same :)
And I will be checking out hypnobirthing!

You are an awesome mama for protecting your 2nd baby so well in the hospital!

Kelly said...

thanks for sharing your story! I LOVE that you held on to your baby, and held on to your "birth plan"! It reminds me of the recent post on the ICAN blog, you too, like they "didn't mean to be a rebel" but you wanted to be normal!! I too, adore your direct writing style!

Brooke said...

I love a good birth story! I am about to have my third... due March 5, and am excited to try a water birth! My other two have been pretty easy... one at a military hospital (not something too fun) and the second at a really small hospital in Montana... which was a great experience, even though I was induced. I did not take any drugs for either of them, and don't plan to with this one. My doctor is awesome and listens to me and respects what I say, so they are out there! But I would love to try a birthing center (our insurance doesn't cover the one in our area, though). Your blog is very thought provoking; and although I don't agree with everything, thank you for at least making me think!

Veronica said...

Which birth center did you birth at? I love the photos!

Michelle said...

Thank you for sharing! I love reading birth stories. Here are mine, both born at home.
http://gabethebabe-stille.blogspot.com/search/label/Gabe%27s%20birth%20story
http://gabethebabe-stille.blogspot.com/search/label/Susanna%27s%20birth%20story

Fifi said...

Wonderful to hear the power of your experience!
And the huge love and support you got from your family. I had to chuckle when I read your husband's sweet gesture. It's in those moments our hubby's show their love the best way they can, and I adored it!
When you mentioned your cleanse with GSE, were you using a peri bottle to apply the rinse?
And what hypnobirth cd/book would you recommend?
I am in the last month and 1/2 of my third pregnancy. My first delivery was very long, but an amazing homebirth! My second was a planned c-section due to infections. It was a total out of the box scenerio for me. Sometimes I feel gyped. But then I look at my daughter, my soul-mate, and I just beem. I would have gotten her here safely any way I could! This pregnancy is a planned homebirth. I am thrilled to experience the intesity of a natural birth again.
Thank you again for sharing. And thank you also for giving your fans the super opportunities to win amazing goodies!!
:)
~Faye

lijhe said...

I can so relate to the "stupid" part -- I did the same thing (well, was encouraged to, and didn't know any better) with my first and boy did I regret it. It was long labor too, I didn't even start to dilate until 50 hours into it. If I had been allowing myself to rest all that time, it would have been a very different birth.

MomE said...

Darlin', that story is glorious and you are amazing. Thank you so much for sharing it. It may have been a trial, but it was worth it.

And GOOD FOR YOU for standing up to the 'experts.' There are a lot of things I'd change about the birth of my son, if I could (mainly i'd stand up to the experts more) but I can fix them with my second baby. :)

I love your blog.

- E

Maren said...

Loved the story. I can relate on so many levels. I am going to try hypnobabies with #3. We aren't pregnant yet but want to hopefully get to 4 :)

Unknown said...

i am 20 and going through my first pregnancy and i am very inspired and enlightened by so many of your blog posts!! this was such a great birth story and i find so many questions i begin to ask myself after reading your blog!! thankyou!

Tiffany, CLD said...

I can't help but tear up a little...thank you so much for sharing this story. What an inspiration!

And makes me think "I am WOMAN, hear me ROAR!" Amazing.

Maren said...

Loved the story. I can relate on so many levels. I am going to try hypnobabies with #3. We aren't pregnant yet but want to hopefully get to 4 :)

That Freebie Place said...

Faye-
Yes, I think it was 10-15 drops of GSE in a full peri bottle of water, before and after using the restroom.

I personally used Hypnobabies. The home study course takes about 6 weeks, but you can do it at an accelerated rate if need be. I've heard of moms deciding at the last minute and cranking it out in 2 weeks!

Since my baby came earlier than anticipated, I missed about the last week of the studying (the rest of the time, I would have been reviewing), but it was still VERY helpful.

Rebekah said...

Thank you for sharing your story. It is wonderful that you were able to have a great birth and heal your past traumas.

You look absolutely glowing in those photos!

You were lucky to have a free-standing birth centre, we don't have one in my state and I think it is something that should be choice for birthing women.

Julie said...

Thank you so much for sharing your story. Like you, the birth of my daughter was traumatic involving tons of monitoring, drugs and a stay in the NICU. Breastfeeding was almost impossible during the first few weeks because of the NICU stay and I would have nightmares and flashbacks constantly. Also like you, I started reading about everything concerning birth and breastfeeding and hope to have a much more peaceful (well, as peaceful as birth can be) birth the next time around. It's amazing how a highly medical and traumatic birth leads us down the path to more natural and gentle methods.

SherwooD said...

I'm really happy for you that you had the strength to say no, hell no, and piss off- don't remember your exact words, but those damn hospital people are really good at making you feel like you owe them obedience or are somehow obligated to cooperate with their harmful practices- separating mama and bebe. I'm proud of you for doing things differently to give yourself the positive experience that you wanted. My girl was born March 13th too- Friday the 13th is my lucky day :)

Unknown said...

I´m one of those hell no you don´t get to take my child away from me and do something to him or her with out me being present kind of parents. I had a great first birth experience because I birthed in the natural birthing ward here in Iceland. I´m pregnant again and 39 weeks pregnant waiting to do this all over again. Hoping that they will let me do this the same way again. I left the US both pregnancies to come home to Iceland to have my baby here with a midwife and in a natural uninterrupted way. I know my body and that it is capable of this, had I been in the state last time they would have drugged me up and pushed me along with pit but here they just let me do my thing no mater how long it took. I had the right to ask for drugs if I wanted them and then they would have just moved me over to the hospital but I chose to do this natural with acupuncture and I did have some laughing gas to help with some of the discomfort but nothing stronger than that.

greenapplegirl said...

Thank you for sharing your birthing stories.... and saying all the things I'd like to shout from the rooftops... I am the mom of 4 homebirthed babies..... breastfeed... familybed.... I could not fathom CIO and cry for every baby that has been made to experience it... it is so unneeded and cruel for both baby and parents (even if they don't believe it is)..... anyway.... so happy you had a beautiful birthing experience.... it is life altering and gives you a feeling of unimaginable strength that you will carry with you always... thank you for sharing your uncensored words!!!!!!!!

Unknown said...

What a gorgeous story & family you have!

While I wasn't traumatized by my hospital birth the way it sounds like you were, stories like these DEFINITELY get me thinking about trying a different method next time.

AS said...

Thank you for sharing your birth story. Your strength in standing up for your family is totally inspiring. And your girls are beautiful. Congrats, mama!

sw said...

I love reading birth stories. Got addicted while preparing for our homebirth, but never really stopped. Thank you for sharing, even and esp the scary parts. Beautiful story.

Anonymous said...

Great story! Thanks for sharing! It is so sad that women don't know about the normalcy and beauty of natural childbirth until they are traumatized in hospitals and are looking for something better. I had a c-section with my first after pushing for 4 and a half hours and drug-free the whole time. I found out 2 years later she was posterior with her chin up and her head tilted to the side. I guess she wasn't coming out! lol I wish I had a midwife then as I know now that I could've had a natural birth with some proper advice and support. I just had my second baby a couple months ago, I had to go to the hospital because of previous c-section but I had a midwife, my husband and a girlfriend (who has 2 boys - both natural births) there with me. It was fun! Yes FUN! lol I was active the whole time and pushed him out in under 45 minutes. He was 9lbs1oz (almost 2lbs bigger than my first) and I only had minor tearing... I was out ice-skating with my daughter a week later! Going back to one of your other posts - recovery after vag birth doesn't even begin to compare to c-sec recovery! I was so happy, I felt like I was high for quiet some time after giving birth to my son! The natural birth high they talk about, I finally get it! I can't wait to have another (and most likely last one) baby! I am also looking into becoming a doula and eventually going to school to be a midwife! It's amazing what having babies does to us! lol

Holly said...

Thanks for sharing! I love her name, what a special way to honor your Grandpa!

I had a homebirth with my 2nd. Like you, I had an AWFUL experience birthing my 1st child in a hospital setting with a horrible OB. I knew from the moment I came home with my 1st, that I would NEVER set foot in another hospital to have a baby! Three years later, we welcomed my son into the world in my very own bedroom! It was bliss! I would never give birth in any other place except home ever again! NO comparison!

I'm so elated that so many moms are moving towards natural birthing and homebirthing. What a difference it makes for Mom and Baby! Yay Woman Uncensored!

Anonymous said...

I thought this post was amazing! I have had the most horrible, just absolutely terrible experiences with doctors and hospitals. I'm at the age where I'm right in between young, carefree adult and getting married, and my significant other and I have so many concerns about my well-being and anxiety in regards to hospitals and having children. It was great to hear from such a strong and passionate woman who owns womanhood like I hope to. (I can't even imagine a doctor actually listening to me in a hospital, though I've tried to set the record straight many a time.) Thank you for being an inspiration and a source of hope for me.
- Amy

Nichol said...

Oh how I wish more mothers were as open and strong as you. They way you stood up for your right to be with your baby girl in the hospital is awesome!
I went through something similar with mine daughter, having to transfer her to the NICU for breathing trouble (turns out she was dehydrated) and had to fight to stay with her, nurse her, keep formula out of her etc.

Deb said...

Thank you for sharing your beautiful story. I had three c-sections because of cervical surgical scar tissue and minimal dilation after hours of labor. I would have loved to have known that there were alternative birthing options. I have raised all three of my daughters sharing birth stories such as yours so they learn before hand that there are many options to western medicines birthing procedures. Continued blessings to your beautiful family.

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Imagine this is a dinner party. Differences of opinion are welcome but keep it respectful or the host will show you the door. If you're rude or abusive, your comment will be deleted. This is "Woman Uncensored" not "Random anonymous jackass that needs therapy Uncensored". Feel free to get your own blog and rant all you want there.

Remember what Fonzie was like? Cool. That's how we're going to be - cool. Have fun and thanks for adding to the conversation...

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