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Someone is going to get hurt - Lay Midwives


countressrascal

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Ok, let me add to my story. My son dropped at 36 weeks, directly onto my cracked tail bone. I was miserable. I had all the pain that is normally associated with pregnancy (back pain, tender breasts, etc) but him sitting on that tail bone was a non stop pain fest. At my 40 week check up the CNM wanted to go ahead and schedule an induction. Not what I was planning, but I was literally in so much pain that I felt like I really needed this induction. A week later I went into the hospital to be induced. The CNM on duty talked to me about my birth plan, and yes, epidural, please! She had no issue with the epidural, and started my cervadil. The cervadil has to be in for 12 hours, so let's jump to 8 oclock the next morning after shirt change. They had removed the cervadil and started my new pitocin and the new CNM was on duty. This was our conversation:

CNM:"So.... Erin, this can't be right, it says you wanrt an epidural. Was there a mistake?"

Erin:"No, no mistake, gimme an epidural, spinal tap, I don't care, gimme the drugs and lets get this going!"

CNM:".....I see.....Well, let's check your ovulation and see if you are far along enough to get the epidural............that gush you just felt was me breaking your water."

Erin *immediate contraction, harder than anything I have previously experienced*"Ok, was I far along enough?"

CNM:"What? Oh, hahaha, no, you're no where neeeeear far enough along for that epidural you want so bad. Looks like you just have to suffer."

As she left the room she told the nurse helping me labor that I wasn't allowed out of the bed. I went through three hours of rolling contractions every 35-45 seconds and every single one hit directly on my tail bone. I wasn't allowed to stand, roll over, or walk to help alleviate the pain.

I know this was long winded, and some people might not see the point. That CNM was punishing me for my choice of having an epidural. And there was no one to stop her! This kind of thinking is poison.

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Since we are all sharing birth stories, might as well share mine. I'll leave out my first one, since that happened before viability. That one lasted 3 hours and was totally natural, since I was sent home when contractions started happening since 'nothing would be done'.

Second one, I was induced due to mild pre-e. The mag sulfate was worse than the pitocin. Eventually got an epidural because OMFG it hurt for HOURS. The OB on staff in the morning was a bitch from hell, and started pushing for a c/s after 8 hours of induction on mag sulfate for a first time term mom. Yea, cunt lied near about 5pm, saying my platelets were crashing, we had to go to an OR stat. Freaked my husband and mom out, by that point I was exhausted, in labor for 22 hours and fighting said cunt since the morning. After my mom took long enough to breathe, she asked said cunt why the rush, if my clotting factors were crashing, shouldn't we avoid a c/s? Cunt "oh, well, actually her platelets are stable". Bitch wouldn't let me sit up either because it messed with the baby monitor too. Even though in the ONE hour I was allowed to sit upright, I went from 4cm to 7 cm dilated. Cunt.

Third one, I went to the hospital with regular contractions. I won't even go into how hard I had to fight for a VBAC at a 'VBAC friendly' hospital. Sure, friendly in the press. In person, I was getting badgered about setting up a c/s date for 39 weeks, etc etc. They checked me, I was only 3 cm, but they brought me in because I was 'high risk' due to previous c/s. Um, according to ACOG, no I'm NOT high risk. Shit anesthesiologist (I won't go into details, but suffice it to say I thought I was dying, ass ignored me. The head anesthesiologist was the only one allowed to touch me after that, by her orders). Anyways, this one was back labor the entire time. Sign me up for 40hrs straight of pitocin labor from my second birth anytime. That was a walk in the park. Labor hurts anyways, but backlabor feels like my hips were being ripped apart at the same time contraction pain hit. Fun times. By the way, ErinisSik, I will gladly help you punch your CNM. What the hell is it with sadistic asses in L&D? Anyways, late into the night, baby began crashing AFTER contractions. I had the internal monitor, and that sucker would PLUMMET, I'd feel baby go completely still. After being yelled at by the nurse to keep flipping around, rubbing the belly, I said fuck it, c/s me. Much as I hate surgery and the recovery, I'd rather have my baby. They put it down as failure to progress (never got past 4cm) but baby was born with an APGAR of 1, had pooped, and I'm happy with that decision. Had the OB for this birth been there for my second, I would have never had my first c/s.

And now, if I were to ever get pregnant again, my choices are homebirth (not comfy with that, have one dead child already and a close call the last time), or a repeat c/s even though the ACOG says a trial of labor for VBA2C is SAFE.

For me, I urge women to birth vaginally (pain meds or not, whatever mom is comfy with) because I see that choice is severely taken away after a first c/s. ACOG says VBAC/VBA2C is safe. However, there are soooo many hospitals who outright ban VBACs much less VBA2C, that it's not as simple to say elective c/s is the way to go, kwim?

And for the person stating that fear of pain is a reason for a c/s, fuck you. Ok, not really, but seriously, a c/s is MAJOR pain. The only thing that comes close is a 4th degree tear, and that's basically when your bladder, vagina and colon are no longer separated. It's MAJOR abdominal surgery, with the attendant pain and suffering. The first 24hrs after, they put you on narcotics to 'manage' the pain, it's that damn bad. You are not allowed to lift anything but the baby for 6 weeks, and you have to be careful not to overdo it. Coughing or laughing feels like your stitches will rip and your insides will come out. Walking, shit that's hard. I won't even get into stairs. Anything you need your ab muscles for, you WILL feel. Any abdominal strength you had, is GONE. Completely GONE. Type in c/s on youtube and you will see that opting for a c/s to 'avoid' pain is about as smart as whipping your child to make them 'good' people.

The amount of acceptable blood loss for a c/s, when compared to blood loss during a vaginal birth, would be labeled a hemorrhage. The body doesn't care WHY it happened, it's trying to deal with a massive blood loss. This impacts everything from healing times to breastfeeding.

Sorry about the rant. I'm just tired of people telling me I 'got off easy' having 2 c/s, and acting like it's nothing. People expected me to be up, cleaning the house, doing the cooking, going out for walks and general socializing soon after birth. When, after a mile long walk 6 weeks out of a c/s to a festival, I had people rolling their eyes at me when I talked about it having been difficult. You know, because I'm a fat lazy slob. Not because my stomach got cut open or anything recently, and unlike other surgery patients who are allowed rest, I have a newborn waking me every hour or two. Making a c/s seem easy or trivial does a HUGE disservice, both for the women who opt for it 'just because' (not talking about medical need) and society at large that views a c/s as a minor procedure, rather than the major one it is.

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A lot of hospitals are banning VBACs for insurance reasons. The malpractice companies can dictate that they will not cover the hospital unless they do not do X.

Whoever said it was not so painful: I once broke 3 fingers at a party in high school and I set them myself on bic pens with scotch tape so I would not have to leave right away. It was a fun party :lol: I have suffered through migraines in which the room was turning funny colors and I could not take meds because I had to take a physics test (with the migraine). I was hit by a car while walking home from high school. And none of those things, not even put together, were anywhere near as painful as even 15 minutes of labor. And I had hours, even days once, of that with all of my children's births. Fuck that shit.

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I think, in the end, the important thing is that everyone is entitled to medical care with a provider who is highly-trained, who listens to the patient's concerns and answers them, and whose opinion the patient trusts. I mean, I'm paying the doctor to know more than me, so as long as they can explain their reasoning and back it up, I shouldn't have to go around doing my own "research." (Sorry, but people who think Google University grants them a medical degree annoy me. For example, I can find all sorts of legit looking stuff that tells me AIDS is caused by the anti-retroviral pills, not HIV).

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A lot of hospitals are banning VBACs for insurance reasons. The malpractice companies can dictate that they will not cover the hospital unless they do not do X.

Whoever said it was not so painful: I once broke 3 fingers at a party in high school and I set them myself on bic pens with scotch tape so I would not have to leave right away. It was a fun party :lol: I have suffered through migraines in which the room was turning funny colors and I could not take meds because I had to take a physics test (with the migraine). I was hit by a car while walking home from high school. And none of those things, not even put together, were anywhere near as painful as even 15 minutes of labor. And I had hours, even days once, of that with all of my children's births. Fuck that shit.

But do they ban other procedures that go against medical advice? Or is it just that, as women, we are not that important?

Labor is painful (I've had natural, pitocin and back labor. Pain relief during labor should be offered freely). But a c/s is NOT less painful. Opting for a c/s due to fear of pain from labor makes no sense. That is all. If all of yours were sunny side up, I wonder if you had back labor. As far as I'm concerned, that is hell on earth. Pure and utter torture. Like I mentioned in my super long post, pitocin labor was so much easier. I'd take days of pitocin labor over even an hour of back labor. :o

Are your migraines more optical? I've had that happen once, but usually all of mine make me sense of smell crazy strong. I also get super nauseated during them, so the super smell makes things worse, along with moving around. My personal record was 8 days of this. Grrr. Now I know to take super duper meds + caffeine at the first onset and I'm good.

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I was all set for a drug free birth with my first and then labor started and I was like "Hell no! This fucking hurts way more than I expected, pass me the drugs!" And I may have cussed at my husband when he gently reminded me all the stuff I had said about having a drug free birth. :lol:

:lol:

I was "keeping my options open" and lasted 'til about 3 cm before calling in Mr. Epidural Man. And it was goooood!

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A friend of mine had 3 c-s, the first one after some hours of labor nothing intense but emergency c-s as in they put the foetal monitor and she had the baby 15 min later or something like that: very hard recovery; second c-s after about 30 hours of labor: hard recovery; 3rd c-s: planned c-s after a difficult pregnancy: she was walking within 2 days, felt very good (and I talked to her on the phone 5 days later and she actually sounded awesome, much better than two weeks before when she was still pregnant).

I think recovery really depends on the person and if you actually labored before and of course if you have any side effects.

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If I had to choose between a c-section or labor with no drugs, I would take the c-section every time. Every person is different, birth is not one size fits all. Women just need to decide for themselves.

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A friend of mine had 3 c-s, the first one after some hours of labor nothing intense but emergency c-s as in they put the foetal monitor and she had the baby 15 min later or something like that: very hard recovery; second c-s after about 30 hours of labor: hard recovery; 3rd c-s: planned c-s after a difficult pregnancy: she was walking within 2 days, felt very good (and I talked to her on the phone 5 days later and she actually sounded awesome, much better than two weeks before when she was still pregnant).

I think recovery really depends on the person and if you actually labored before and of course if you have any side effects.

I think there is something to this. Like I wrote, my c-section was a scheduled one; I had no labor beforehand (I didn't even have braxton-hicks contractions at any point during my pregnancy; I think if my baby had had his way, he would have stayed in there until he was 20 pounds). And like your friend, I was walking within 2 days, too. I had no problem with the stairs in our house when I got home, etc. I realize just how lucky I am, because before going in for the c-section, I was reading the online recovery horror stories and starting to freak out about how I'd be incapacitated my entire leave from work.

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I think recovery really depends on the person and if you actually labored before and of course if you have any side effects.

Yes, but it is still major surgery. There are studies that show recovery after a vaginal birth is quicker than after a c/s. That would make sense. I was walking after both c/s within 24hrs, since that's required. But compared to my friends/sister who've had vaginal births (all with pain killers), my recovery took a LOT longer. Compared to my natural birth before viability (which I had to get a d&e because the placenta wasn't detaching), recovery wise was a lot shorter AND I could, for the most part, move around easily afterwards. Again, it makes sense. Major surgery is in a different league than a normal bodily function, like a vaginal birth.

As I stated above, I had a natural birth with no pain meds because they sent me home. Notice how in both my subsequent labors I chose epidurals. I am totally 100% for pain meds.

It's not c/s or unmedicated labor. That's a false juxtaposition, unless you are a conspiracy crunchy birther. A labor with pain meds versus a c/s, I'd choose labor with pain meds, hands down. Making a c/s out to be less painful than labor with meds, to me, downplays that a c/s is major surgery, attendant with all that entails, recovery wise.

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I think recovery really depends on the person and if you actually labored before and of course if you have any side effects.

This. I also think it has a lot to do with what kind of help you have at home.

I had a terrible time recovering from my c-section. No labor - but had an accidental dural puncture- I vomited for hours and couldn't even hold my daughter until that night with a headache that lasted for days. Then at home I didn't have any help with the other kids, overdid it, and wound up with an infection in my incision that needed to be packed (and left a not- all- that- attractive scar for my underpants to settle into). Honestly, it took months to recover for me, where with natural births I was back to normal, for the most part, in a couple of hours.

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So does anyone really argue that an unmedicated, vaginal birth isn't the best option for the health of the mother if possible? Of course what matters most is the final outcome, but avoiding an epidural and its possible complications was important to me (and I found labor was not nearly as painful as all the BS you hear would lead you to believe) It's the same as breastfeeding -- what's most important is feeding your child, of course, but breastfeeding is still the best option if possible.

Put down the crack pipe. :roll:

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Recovery from a C-section also depends on the type of incision that is made. I had the traditional longitudinal incision because my son was large and it was an emergency. The longitudinal incision made it easier for the doctors, but he still suffered some temporary damage to his arm. I think the "bikini cut" has less complications and blood loss.

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As someone who is hopefully imminently going to give birth like ANY SECOND NOW-

I'm planning a drug free birth NOT for "crunchy woo woo granola reasons" but because first off, I got the epidural headache from my son's birth, second off, my blood pressure has been SUPER LOW, and my CNM hospital midwives even said "yeah, we should probably avoid an epidural unless you're going in for the surgery so you don't bottom out".

However, had that not happened? and my BP was normal? I would definitely consider signing up for the drugs. If not the epidural then for SURE the shot of stadol. ~ I do have a severe phobia though of IV's and needles, so it'd be a hard call. Its so severe that I was having anxiety attacks over the results of my GBS swab- turned out to be negative, but IF it had been positive, I would have had to had IV antibiotics for girl fetus' safety and I literally did NOT SLEEP FOR THREE DAYS at the mere POSSIBILITY that I might have to have an IV. (its that bad)

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Recovery from a C-section also depends on the type of incision that is made. I had the traditional longitudinal incision because my son was large and it was an emergency. The longitudinal incision made it easier for the doctors, but he still suffered some temporary damage to his arm. I think the "bikini cut" has less complications and blood loss.

I was down a couple pints after my bikini cut. But it had nothing to do with the incision. I was sore but able to push a stroller a few miles by week two PP and went back to work at week three. By week 4 I was ocean swimming a couple miles and by week 5 surfing. I was 35 when the DD was born.

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I was down a couple pints after my bikini cut. But it had nothing to do with the incision. I was sore but able to push a stroller a few miles by week two PP and went back to work at week three. By week 4 I was ocean swimming a couple miles and by week 5 surfing. I was 35 when the DD was born.

My sister in law was doing heavy yard work 3 weeks after her 48 hour labor followed by a C-section. I was amazed. Shit, I still am, she refused all pain meds until they decided they were going to do surgery! How, HOW!?!??!?

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