With my second child I was well read after my experiences having my first in the hospital. I went to the library and read up on natural childbirth. I wanted to use a midwife and looked into a home birth midwife. At the time I lived in Massachusetts and the licensing for home birth midwifes was not was impressive as it was when I came to Florida. These women, although caring and experienced had no formal education and this concerned me. What was of more concern for me was that the closest homebirth midwife was almost an hour away through rough back roads. I was concerned that I would have difficulty getting to my appointments in the harsh Massachusetts winters. Also, would she be able to get to me timely in bad weather? So, living in a small town with limited options I chose again to go with a OB/GYN at another hospital, hoping for a better result.
Having a little more experience and knowledge this time I didn't go to the hospital until I was sure I was well underway. Checked in at the front desk at 2:00pm on March 20, 1994, Vernal Equinox! Got settled in to my room at about 2:30 and the doctor came in to check me. Only 2cm dilated. I was very disappointed and surprised at this. He then casually broke my water without asking. This could have spelled disaster for some women, as 2 cm is very very early in the process and once your water breaks the hospital often puts a "timer" on you to progress or they intervene, either induction, or cesarean. Mother nature (and I swear the Equinox!) had other plans for me. I dilated from 2 - 10 in an hour and a half. I got up to walk thinking I had a long time ahead of me and I only made it half way down the hall, when the contractions hit me so hard my husband had to almost carry me back to the room. I could barely breath.
This was so different from the easy gradual labor I had had before. Rather than support, the nursing staff just kept asking what medications I wanted. "Now's the time for an epidural," they told me. Not knowing what was happening and being so overwhelmed with intense contractions I agreed. Again, I love Mother nature. She now way is this happening. I had the most amazing moment when they had all left the room to get the doctors. I had one very intense contraction and then a moment, a pause, when I could feel my baby move into the birth canal. I looked up at my husband and told him I could feel the baby move down. I was totally calm now. I started to push just a little, holding my breath and bearing down quietly. The nurse came in and said in a very concerned voice, "You aren't pushing are you? Don't do that!" When the anesthesiologist came in the nurse checked me quickly and practically threw him out of the room and shouted for the doctor to get in the room. Unfortunately for me, he did make it in time. Alyssa Nicole was born at 4:02pm after just two hours of me being in the hospital.
The best part of this labor for me was when I was left alone, and had the opportunity to feel what my body was doing and experience the joy of birthing, naturally, without being rushed or critiqued or being fed fear based information. This is when I knew I would never birth in a hospital again!
This is where I began my journey to becoming a birth doula..........
No comments:
Post a Comment