re: epidurals

[Guest guest]

I used Hypnobirthing with my daughter's birth and it was amazing. No epidurals,

just 15 minutes of real pushing, and only a tiny tear resulting. My midwife was

so impressed that she used it for her labor 6 months later.

 

I made sure to choose a midwife practice that would embrace my choices; they

didn't know about Hypnobirthing, but they were interested to learn about it.

Also, they respected the birth plan that my husband and I drew up. (They knew

we were vegan and suggested we speak to a dietician. But after asking us lots

of questions about nutrition, it was clear that we knew as much as the dietician

did about our nutritional needs.)

 

Frankly, I was much, much more afraid of that huge needle than the pain people

told me to expect. In the end, my daughter's birth was peaceful and joyous...no

big noises, no bright lights...and I was up and around soon afterwards. It's so

unfortunate when people view birth as a medical procedure.

 

 

 

 

Get on board. You're invited to try the new Mail.

 

 

[Guest guest]

Very cool, that you got the gentle birth that you pictured and had a great

experience.

And you inspired the midwife in that way. Hope you have your birth story

written down.

 

Just curious, what area are you in?

Peace,

Laura in MD

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

i'm a student midwife and proponent of homebirth. i planned a homebirth for

my first and i'm planning one for this one. i'm well aware that epidurals

can be a tremendous blessing for many women. sometimes they can save a

woman from a cesarean and that is a worthy cause. but they can also CAUSE

cesareans. the woman who wrote in earlier about it helping with her

posterior baby -- you are very, very lucky. epidurals are notorious for

stopping a baby's descent and rotation, ESPECIALLY with babies who are

malpresented. so yes, they can be a blessing, and perhaps nowhere are they

a bigger blessing than for women who have cesareans, because they allow them

to stay awake. but i will say this. here in utah, we have one of the

highest epidural rates in the country (along with one of the highest birth

rates). several hospitals here have epidural rates well over 90%. that is

insane. something somewhere has gone extremely awry with how women and

physicians approach the birthing process when that many women are put into

situations where they cannot maintain a normal birth.

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

Anyone seen Monty Python's The Meaning of Life? " The Miracle of Birth- Part 1 "

comes to my mind right now. It's this lady in the hospital about to have a baby,

and they've got her on the stretcher and they smash into every door on the way

to the room, and when they get there they set up every machine you could think

of, then there are all these doctors and nurses and the hospital director, then

there's a whole crowd of " spectators " with cameras. Very funny. Then the baby is

born and John Cleese, the doctor, says " Now show it to the mother! " and they

hold up the baby for like, one second, then they throw the baby in an incubator

and chase everyone out. The mother asks if it's a boy or girl, and John Cleese

says, " It's a little bit early to start imposing roles on it, don't you think? "

Then he leaves and the poor woman is all alone in the room, confused. A great

satire-type show. The funniest part is when the mother asks, " What am I supposed

to do? " and Dr. says, " Nothing,

dear, you just leave everything to the professionals. " Sounds familiar to me!

 

Kadee Sedtal

 

EM <epteach67 wrote: I used

Hypnobirthing with my daughter's birth and it was amazing. No epidurals, just

15 minutes of real pushing, and only a tiny tear resulting. My midwife was so

impressed that she used it for her labor 6 months later.

 

I made sure to choose a midwife practice that would embrace my choices; they

didn't know about Hypnobirthing, but they were interested to learn about it.

Also, they respected the birth plan that my husband and I drew up. (They knew

we were vegan and suggested we speak to a dietician. But after asking us lots

of questions about nutrition, it was clear that we knew as much as the dietician

did about our nutritional needs.)

 

Frankly, I was much, much more afraid of that huge needle than the pain

people told me to expect. In the end, my daughter's birth was peaceful and

joyous...no big noises, no bright lights...and I was up and around soon

afterwards. It's so unfortunate when people view birth as a medical procedure.

 

 

Get on board. You're invited to try the new Mail.

 

[Guest guest]

Yeah for you!!! I am a lamaze teacher and I love when I hear such success with

birth!!!

 

EM <epteach67 wrote: I used Hypnobirthing with my daughter's

birth and it was amazing. No epidurals, just 15 minutes of real pushing, and

only a tiny tear resulting. My midwife was so impressed that she used it for her

labor 6 months later.

 

I made sure to choose a midwife practice that would embrace my choices; they

didn't know about Hypnobirthing, but they were interested to learn about it.

Also, they respected the birth plan that my husband and I drew up. (They knew we

were vegan and suggested we speak to a dietician. But after asking us lots of

questions about nutrition, it was clear that we knew as much as the dietician

did about our nutritional needs.)

 

Frankly, I was much, much more afraid of that huge needle than the pain people

told me to expect. In the end, my daughter's birth was peaceful and joyous...no

big noises, no bright lights...and I was up and around soon afterwards. It's so

unfortunate when people view birth as a medical procedure.

 

 

 

 

Get on board. You're invited to try the new Mail.

 

 

[Guest guest]

I used hypnobirthing, too. I didn't make a sound, didn't break a

sweat. When I got to the hospital and the midwife saw me, she

thought she was going to have to send me home, bc obviously I wasn't

far enough along in labor bc I was just lying there. Meanwhile, when

she checked, I was 10 cm!!! I really chalk up my success more to

having studied meditation than hypnobirthing though...breathing

through every sensation, and WOW, what sensations they were! But

paralysis...no thank you!!!! I was LITERALLY running down the

hospital hall the next day with my newborn when he was having

breathing problems...no need to wait for the nurse to arrive. As a

side note, my baby was fine...they had to clean his lungs.

 

, EM <epteach67 wrote:

>

> I used Hypnobirthing with my daughter's birth and it was amazing.

No epidurals, just 15 minutes of real pushing, and only a tiny tear

resulting. My midwife was so impressed that she used it for her

labor 6 months later.

>

> I made sure to choose a midwife practice that would embrace my

choices; they didn't know about Hypnobirthing, but they were

interested to learn about it. Also, they respected the birth plan

that my husband and I drew up. (They knew we were vegan and

suggested we speak to a dietician. But after asking us lots of

questions about nutrition, it was clear that we knew as much as the

dietician did about our nutritional needs.)

>

> Frankly, I was much, much more afraid of that huge needle than

the pain people told me to expect. In the end, my daughter's birth

was peaceful and joyous...no big noises, no bright lights...and I

was up and around soon afterwards. It's so unfortunate when people

view birth as a medical procedure.

>

>

>

>

> Get on board. You're invited to try the new Mail.

>

>

[Guest guest]

yup! that's the same movie with the machine that goes beep, right? get the

machine that goes beep! we don't know what it does or how to work it but it

will impress people because it's big and expensive and a new technology!

henci goer says, the electronic fetal monitor is the machine that goes beep,

and after even a cursory glance at the research, one would be inclined to

agree.

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

No hypnobirthing here. Would certainly be something to look into! I didn't have

too rough a time, but it sure would have been nice to have something to think

about other than " OW. " I know a lot of these epidurals are given to young

mothers, who I guess are easier to convince that they can't handle it. I was 20

when my daughter was born (the day after my birthday!), and they really treated

me like I didn't know what I wanted. Two other girls I went to college with had

their babies in the couple of months before, and both of them had had epidurals

after their doctors told me how safe they were, and both of them, very close to

my same weight and build, had c-sections. I said NO THANK YOU!! My doctor had

told me how very safe it was, and that it was just a little prick- doesn't even

hurt! Still, NO! When I went to the hospital at about 11 that morning, didn't

have a single problem. The only thing that really freaked me out was that I had

a boy name all picked out, lots of

cute boy things at home, and at right after 4 p.m. they informed me that I had

a baby girl. I asked, " A baby what?? " Sort of like what I call " drive-thru

syndrome " - " You want a WHAT burger? " No epidurals here, I did just fine. Even

with my son I got nothing for pain and all I did was get mad at my husband for

being so weird and asking why there were so many people in the room.

 

Kadee Sedtal

Lisa Veg*n <vegetariankids wrote: I

used hypnobirthing, too. I didn't make a sound, didn't break a

sweat. When I got to the hospital and the midwife saw me, she

thought she was going to have to send me home, bc obviously I wasn't

far enough along in labor bc I was just lying there. Meanwhile, when

she checked, I was 10 cm!!! I really chalk up my success more to

having studied meditation than hypnobirthing though...breathing

through every sensation, and WOW, what sensations they were! But

paralysis...no thank you!!!! I was LITERALLY running down the

hospital hall the next day with my newborn when he was having

breathing problems...no need to wait for the nurse to arrive. As a

side note, my baby was fine...they had to clean his lungs.

 

, EM <epteach67 wrote:

>

> I used Hypnobirthing with my daughter's birth and it was amazing.

No epidurals, just 15 minutes of real pushing, and only a tiny tear

resulting. My midwife was so impressed that she used it for her

labor 6 months later.

>

> I made sure to choose a midwife practice that would embrace my

choices; they didn't know about Hypnobirthing, but they were

interested to learn about it. Also, they respected the birth plan

that my husband and I drew up. (They knew we were vegan and

suggested we speak to a dietician. But after asking us lots of

questions about nutrition, it was clear that we knew as much as the

dietician did about our nutritional needs.)

>

> Frankly, I was much, much more afraid of that huge needle than

the pain people told me to expect. In the end, my daughter's birth

was peaceful and joyous...no big noises, no bright lights...and I

was up and around soon afterwards. It's so unfortunate when people

view birth as a medical procedure.

>

>

>

>

> Get on board. You're invited to try the new Mail.

>

>

[Guest guest]

Yes!! That's the one. And the most expensive machine in the hospital- " Don't you

feel lucky! " : )

 

Kadee Sedtal

 

earthmother <earthmother213 wrote:

yup! that's the same movie with the machine that goes beep, right? get the

machine that goes beep! we don't know what it does or how to work it but it

will impress people because it's big and expensive and a new technology!

henci goer says, the electronic fetal monitor is the machine that goes beep,

and after even a cursory glance at the research, one would be inclined to

agree.

 

[Guest guest]

-just curious what is your surgical birth rate?

 

 

-- In , earthmother <earthmother213

wrote:

>

> i'm a student midwife and proponent of homebirth. i planned a

homebirth for

> my first and i'm planning one for this one. i'm well aware that

epidurals

> can be a tremendous blessing for many women. sometimes they can

save a

> woman from a cesarean and that is a worthy cause. but they can

also CAUSE

> cesareans. the woman who wrote in earlier about it helping with her

> posterior baby -- you are very, very lucky. epidurals are

notorious for

> stopping a baby's descent and rotation, ESPECIALLY with babies who

are

> malpresented. so yes, they can be a blessing, and perhaps nowhere

are they

> a bigger blessing than for women who have cesareans, because they

allow them

> to stay awake. but i will say this. here in utah, we have one of

the

> highest epidural rates in the country (along with one of the

highest birth

> rates). several hospitals here have epidural rates well over 90%.

that is

> insane. something somewhere has gone extremely awry with how women

and

> physicians approach the birthing process when that many women are

put into

> situations where they cannot maintain a normal birth.

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

>>just curious what is your surgical birth rate?

 

who is this question for?

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

sorry-for you earthmother

 

earthmother <earthmother213 wrote: >>just curious what is

your surgical birth rate?

 

who is this question for?

 

 

[Guest guest]

i'm sorry, i guess i'm confused about your question. do you mean the

surgical birth rate in utah, where i live? it varies from hospital to

hospital, practice to practice. i believe our rate is around 25% overall.

the national average right now is about 28%, so we have a somewhat lower

rate, which hospitals here attribute to our very healthy population -- the

LDS word of wisdom phenomenon. my midwife has a 2-4% transport rate and her

cesarean rate doesn't even compute, even with transports. the birth center

here has a rate between 5 and 10%, just what the WHO says it should be. the

cesarean rate in this country has gone up every year with no appreciable

difference in maternal or neonatal health -- in fact, every year we've

dropped another slot in the WHO's list of the safest industrialized

countries to give birth in. i believe we're #28 now.

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

Earthmother-

 

thats fine- You were just stating your epidural rates in an earlier post, and

they sounded high I just wondered if your rates(in your area) for surgical

births were higher than national average. The hospital I teach at has rates just

below national average, but I sure would like to see it alot lower. It makes me

so sad to think how low we are on the list for safest countries to give birth.I

think it has dropped since they production of the video Gentle Birth Choices-I

was astounded how low we were when I saw that video

 

Just a side note- I know as a student midwife, you must have many wonderful

resources, but I was just looking last night at The Labor Progress book by Penny

Simkin and another person and It really is such a great little book to take have

handy-at least for me as I am beginning to work for my DONA cert. Thought if you

didn't have it ,you would want to check it out.

 

 

earthmother <earthmother213 wrote:

i'm sorry, i guess i'm confused about your question. do you mean the

surgical birth rate in utah, where i live? it varies from hospital to

hospital, practice to practice. i believe our rate is around 25% overall.

the national average right now is about 28%, so we have a somewhat lower

rate, which hospitals here attribute to our very healthy population -- the

LDS word of wisdom phenomenon. my midwife has a 2-4% transport rate and her

cesarean rate doesn't even compute, even with transports. the birth center

here has a rate between 5 and 10%, just what the WHO says it should be. the

cesarean rate in this country has gone up every year with no appreciable

difference in maternal or neonatal health -- in fact, every year we've

dropped another slot in the WHO's list of the safest industrialized

countries to give birth in. i believe we're #28 now.

 

 

[Guest guest]

oh yes, that book is excellent! our epidural rates here are through the

roof. the hospital a few blocks from us has a 95% rate, with a 30% cesarean

rate. that is criminal! i think in the GBC video it says we are #22 --

we've dropped several spaces since then.

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

My OB " claimed " that my vaginal exam revealed I had GBS and that I would have to

be hooked up to antibiotics during my baby's delivery. I refused to have this

done because I didn't believe her diagnosis (my previous OB never told me I had

GBS when I delivered a previous child with no problems!). Fortunately, my baby

came so fast, there was no time to do anything other than lay me down on the

delivery table! My baby came out perfectly healthy.

-

baker

Thursday, September 21, 2006 11:41 AM

Re: re: epidurals

 

 

Earthmother-

 

thats fine- You were just stating your epidural rates in an earlier post, and

they sounded high I just wondered if your rates(in your area) for surgical

births were higher than national average. The hospital I teach at has rates just

below national average, but I sure would like to see it alot lower. It makes me

so sad to think how low we are on the list for safest countries to give birth.I

think it has dropped since they production of the video Gentle Birth Choices-I

was astounded how low we were when I saw that video

 

Just a side note- I know as a student midwife, you must have many wonderful

resources, but I was just looking last night at The Labor Progress book by Penny

Simkin and another person and It really is such a great little book to take have

handy-at least for me as I am beginning to work for my DONA cert. Thought if you

didn't have it ,you would want to check it out.

 

 

earthmother <earthmother213 wrote:

i'm sorry, i guess i'm confused about your question. do you mean the

surgical birth rate in utah, where i live? it varies from hospital to

hospital, practice to practice. i believe our rate is around 25% overall.

the national average right now is about 28%, so we have a somewhat lower

rate, which hospitals here attribute to our very healthy population -- the

LDS word of wisdom phenomenon. my midwife has a 2-4% transport rate and her

cesarean rate doesn't even compute, even with transports. the birth center

here has a rate between 5 and 10%, just what the WHO says it should be. the

cesarean rate in this country has gone up every year with no appreciable

difference in maternal or neonatal health -- in fact, every year we've

dropped another slot in the WHO's list of the safest industrialized

countries to give birth in. i believe we're #28 now.

 

[Guest guest]

you can indeed colonize GBS between pregnancies, so that's not out of the

question. but they cannot tell just from doing a vaginal exam whether or

not you are colonized. did they do a test? GBS works like this: about a

fifth of the population is colonized at any moment. it's normal intestinal

flora -- it's not correct to refer to a positive mom as " infected. " a tiny

fraction of moms who are positive will pass it to ther babies. of those

babies, a tiny fraction will become sick, and of THOSE babies, a tiny, tiny

fraction will become so sick they might die. it is such a small statistic

it practically doesn't even compute. almost all babies with GBS+ moms do

just fine, and there are several arguments against having a woman on

antibiotics in labor. there's a lot of controversy surrounding GBS right

now, but the way my midwife handles it is, i choose whether or not to be

tested (and i haven't decided), and if i'm positive, we do some things to

try to fix that, and if they don't work, then my baby is watched very

carefully, and nothing, absolutely nothing, is done to interfere with my

labor, since that raises the risks. so when i hear of women who are GBS+

going in and being induced, having their water broken, having an internal

monitor and lots of internal exams, i think they're not actually taking that

risk very seriously, ya know?!

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

A vaginal exam does not reveal GBS status. They do a swab and culture it to

determine that.

Your GBS status can change from one birth to another. Nice that your baby

came fast and healthy.

Laura

 

My OB " claimed " that my vaginal exam revealed I had GBS and that I would

have to be hooked up to antibiotics during my baby's delivery. I refused to

have this done because I didn't believe her diagnosis (my previous OB never

told

me I had GBS when I delivered a previous child with no problems!).

Fortunately, my baby came so fast, there was no time to do anything other than

lay

me down on the delivery table! My baby came out perfectly healthy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

I never did write down my birth sotry; that's a great idea!

 

I delivered in NYC (Brooklyn).

Esa

 

 

, VAP79 wrote:

>

> Very cool, that you got the gentle birth that you pictured and had

a great

> experience.

> And you inspired the midwife in that way. Hope you have your birth

story

> written down.

>

> Just curious, what area are you in?

> Peace,

> Laura in MD

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

-

earthmother

Thursday, September 21, 2006 5:39 PM

Re: re: epidurals

 

 

you can indeed colonize GBS between pregnancies, so that's not out of the

question. but they cannot tell just from doing a vaginal exam whether or

not you are colonized. did they do a test? GBS works like this: about a

fifth of the population is colonized at any moment. it's normal intestinal

flora -- it's not correct to refer to a positive mom as " infected. " a tiny

fraction of moms who are positive will pass it to ther babies. of those

babies, a tiny fraction will become sick, and of THOSE babies, a tiny, tiny

fraction will become so sick they might die. it is such a small statistic

it practically doesn't even compute. almost all babies with GBS+ moms do

just fine, and there are several arguments against having a woman on

antibiotics in labor. there's a lot of controversy surrounding GBS right

now, but the way my midwife handles it is, i choose whether or not to be

tested (and i haven't decided), and if i'm positive, we do some things to

try to fix that, and if they don't work, then my baby is watched very

carefully, and nothing, absolutely nothing, is done to interfere with my

labor, since that raises the risks. so when i hear of women who are GBS+

going in and being induced, having their water broken, having an internal

monitor and lots of internal exams, i think they're not actually taking that

risk very seriously, ya know?!