Childbirth--girls only please

[christine]

Ok Big thought going through my mind is the actual childbirth. My in-laws gave me some horror stories the other day and really freaked me out.:-0 That & I realise how much I don't know.

I'm 6months now & if given the choice Im wondering if I should give birth via C-Section or the "natural way". Im not even considering the other stuff like waterbith & God knows what else.

I have to admit I haven't really done any homework on this stuff cause I know its different for everyone but I'd like some opinions.

& just for the record I'm a huge baby when pain is involved & I don't believe for a second that you "forget the pain"(as my mother says):doh. That’s a load of crap if I ever heard it! So I know I want drugs. Hell if possible I'd like to be knocked out. LOL

[VooDooBaby]

Usually, a Dr. will only give a c-section if needed. Do it the natural way, with drugs. My best friend and I had our sons 5 days apart. Me, natural, her a c-section. I was able to walk to my room about an hour after giving birth... she was in pain for days and had to take care of her incision.

All women are different. I always heard that the first baby is the hardest. I went to the hospital thinking I picked up my half satan half boston terrier puppy wrong and hurt my back. Four hours later and not much pain at all, I was holding my baby.

Once you are in the latter part of your pregnancy, you have to go to labor and delivery if anything at all is wrong with you, which is how I ended up there. 11:40am I was admitted. sometime around 1pm I was given demoral which helps out with the contractions. 3pm, I was given an epidural eventhough all the nurses said I was handling the "pain" just fine. 4:35, my water broke, and it was time to get things done. 4:44pm, I became a mom. It was scary, but only because I had no clue.

It didn't feel good, but I'd do it a million times over if I had to. You won't remember much of the pain after holding your baby. (trust me)

As for being knocked out and a c-section, just so you know.. you would have to sign release papers stating that you are aware that there is a possibility you can die. I'm just sayin...

[Night Owl]

Christine I know I am not a girl, but From a man's perspective child birth is different for each mom. I know I attended my youngest birth and watched her come into the world. It was the greatest feeling in the world. My wife was a real trooper and refused any pain meds while in the bed next to her the woman had to be completely drugged.

It will be a precious time for you and your husband. Insist that he attend with you. I stood at the head of the bed, if that is waht they call it, and watched the procedure through a mirror. I remeber it to this day and that was over 32 years ago.

The funny part was when the doctor said its a girl, my wife looked back at me and said she was sorry it wasn't a boy. I didn't care I juist wanted the baby to be healthy with 10 fingers and 10 toes. She had all the right parts in all the right places. I actually carried my daughter from delivery to the nursery. I was walking PROUD that day.

[FieryPrincess]

My big advice for everyone is to train (yes, train!) like you are going to go wtih out drugs. You can always change
your mind and have them hook you up, but there are bunch of situations that come up where drugs won't work or aren't allowed.

I recommend a Bradley birthing class. I do not recommend the birth class at your hospital which is really just a "Shut Up and Be a Good Customer" class. Read the Bradley books on birthing - they are real eye openers.

Both of children were without pain meds. If I were to have a third I would also do it that way. My first was 4 weeks early and because she did so fabulously (did not have to clear those meds from her system) she got to go home the next day - not 3 or 4 days like they originally thought. This is from a baby whose heart rate showed distress and had some fluid in her lungs at birth. She cleared it on her own. She has since been an amazingly healthy and active child.
My son came out only 3 weeks early but 3 pounds heavier also with no issues except a litltle shoulder getting stuck. He spent his whole first house nursing.

While a C-Section and the accompanying pain meds seem like a good deal at the time, the recovery is SO much longer. Since hubby was deployed, after a few hours, I was up and accompanying my son everytime they wanted to take him away for something. He wasn't allowed out of my sight. The hospital staff did not like this much - me lumbering and swaying about.

Your brain will secrete something that will block out what the real pain is and you will forget most of it further down.

You have to train for what is coming. It will likely be the most atheltic thing your body every does. You wouldn't run a marathon without training for it first and you shouldn't have a chlid without training your body on how to handle it.

There's, more, but I'll stop now.

[Iteachtoo]

You do not want a c-section if you can avoid one. I had an epidural with my first child and was actually laughing through delivery. My two daughters however, decided to come quickly with no time for an epidural. In my opinion, labor hurts a lot more than the actual delivery; the delivery was actually like relief. Just remember that everyone got here the same way. I am not going to tell you not to be scared because you will be, especially this first time, but it will be okay. It is not the most pleasant of experiences but I can assure you that when that baby gets here, you will forget the pain. You will not forget that it hurt, but you do forget the intensity of that pain. I can also guarantee you that it will be the most wonderful, beautiful thing you ever do. Yes, it hurts, but that pain is so worthwhile-----until they become teenagers that is:)

[stormy]

Well, I had both my kids by c-section, and not by choice. 1st one was an emergency and they did have to knock me out. We both almost didn't make it. That one was extremely painful and not seeing my daughter born was horrible for me. It took a very long time to recover. 2nd was also emergency c-section, but this time we had enough time & I was given a spinal block and was awake when my son was born. THAT was awesome, and the 2nd c-section did not hurt near as bad as the first, as many had told me it wouldn't. So, I guess my suggestion would be normal childbirth with lots o' drugs! :)

[Msradar]

I would discuss with your doctor your options for both. I personally would have a natural birth of C-sec any day. As many have posted her longer recover time. More room for infection and things to go wrong.

How much support will you have if have a c-sec? If you are planning to breast feed, keep in mind that you may have more difficulties because of the drugs and the time the baby needs to stay in special care nursery after C-sec. You could sabotage you chances of successfully breast feeding.

As far as drugs, I had some IV stuff delivering my first 4 weeks premie because we both were having some problems and my doctor was trying to avoid c-sec. I asked for epidural...but never got it. I delivered 15 mins later.

Second child...totally natural. breech until about 4 hrs before she was born. I had an IV heplocked. I was only on the monitors for about 1 hr at the beginning and for about 1.5 at the end. Very little medical intervention. she was also in trouble and had problems due to meconium. But a well managed birth and she did not have to go to NICU.

I did all the things the old folks say...walk....keep walking. No interventions unless necessary. Like no breaking water or internal monitors. No drugs, all these things keep you in bed and slow down the natural process.

As far as pain...never really had pain. I just was growing tired of being squeezed. The only pain I can remember was crowning. Which was VERY short lived. A few mins at best.

Go natural if you can....educate and plan for the worst though.

[kryptickancer]

I feel robbed of a natural birthing experience. I'll be having my 3rd c-section on the 22nd. The recovery sucked for me and they had a hard time controlling me bleeding. Natural is much safer for you and baby. Good luck! If you want more personal info hit me up with a pm.

[christine]

well I guess my answer is clear. Ya'll are great at advice.
Thanks again I really do appreciate it.:)

[siamcat]

Both my kids got stuck and I ended up having them via c-section. It takes longer to recover afterwards. I would recommend natural birth it works for most people. I would never voluntarily choose a c-section.
If you chose drugs you may want to consider an intrathecal( think that's what it's called) instead of an epidural. The epidural numbs you totally, the intrathecal just dulls the pain still giving you the experience with less pain. They are both done via the spine.
Another thing if you choose either of those options ask the pain doc to leave the needle in taped down in case it's needed later.
After you have the kid its all worth it, so don't stress. For some reason people like to tell horror stories to pregnant ladies.

[christine]

.....For some reason people like to tell horror stories to pregnant ladies.

No joke! I don't get that at all. One minute they are telling you how wonderful it is & then when you get pregnant they tell you all the stuff you never wanted to know, much less thought about happening. Its enough to drive you crazy!

[FieryPrincess]

I think that it is because after it is all over it falls into one of three categories
1) funny after the fact
2) cautionary tale to the young
3) A little badge of courage (like the old "I walked uphill to school in the snow - both ways!" kind of thing

ALong those lines:
Pack your bags now. I I figured I would wait until labor started so I wouldn't have to purchase two soaps, shampoos, etc (money was incredibly tight). Well, things didn't work as we planned. My parents took me to be checked for suspected false labor while my husband was at work and well...

Anyway, my husband got there with my stuff and it was the strangest collection of unnecessary things ever! (Not his fault)

Pack now - just in case.

[MyFoot76541]

I would discuss with your doctor your options for both. I personally would have a natural birth of C-sec any day. As many have posted her longer recover time. More room for infection and things to go wrong.

How much support will you have if have a c-sec? If you are planning to breast feed, keep in mind that you may have more difficulties because of the drugs and the time the baby needs to stay in special care nursery after C-sec. You could sabotage you chances of successfully breast feeding.

As far as drugs, I had some IV stuff delivering my first 4 weeks premie because we both were having some problems and my doctor was trying to avoid c-sec. I asked for epidural...but never got it. I delivered 15 mins later.

Second child...totally natural. breech until about 4 hrs before she was born. I had an IV heplocked. I was only on the monitors for about 1 hr at the beginning and for about 1.5 at the end. Very little medical intervention. she was also in trouble and had problems due to meconium. But a well managed birth and she did not have to go to NICU.

I did all the things the old folks say...walk....keep walking. No interventions unless necessary. Like no breaking water or internal monitors. No drugs, all these things keep you in bed and slow down the natural process.

As far as pain...never really had pain. I just was growing tired of being squeezed. The only pain I can remember was crowning. Which was VERY short lived. A few mins at best.

Go natural if you can....educate and plan for the worst though.

Amen to everything that was said here. The walking until the last is a major part in keeping your muscles strong! This will be very important after the delivery, when you are left with the empty stomach "pouch". Strong muscles will relieve much back pain before and after delivery.

My husband, bless his heart, used to literally drag me around our apartment complex every night after dinner. "Come on, Babe, you gotta walk, my son needs air," he would say.. we had no clue if it was a boy or girl, but he was right in every aspect. Walk, walk, walk. Stretch your muscles - stay limber! Also, practice relaxing your lower stomach muscles, from the waist on down; also do Kegel exercises, and then try to relax as much as you can. It will come in handy at the time of birth. You can ward off much of the contraction pains if you can relax your lower stomach.

It is an awesome experience. Concentrate on the miracle of it. If you spend time worrying about the delivery, you will waste your time. If you have not experienced it, you won't be able to imagine how it goes, but if you prepare yourself fearing, you will tense up, and make things worse. The more relaxed you are about child birth, the easier it will be. After all, it is a natural thing and we are built to do it and do it well :)

[Pebbles]

I went to the classes but breathing did not cut it for me. I asked for an epidural right away. I asked everybody I came in contact with ) at S&W there is a lot). Finally I got an epidural but I was already 9 cm dialated. THe nurse said I shoud have not been able to get one since I was too far along already but she told the anthesthi..doctor to go ahead. I did not feel anything...could not feel myself pushing though either. Once the epidural was out I had feeling two minutes later. Recovery was pretty fast even with the stitches.

[bbh]

I enjoyed reading all of your stories! I was unable to get pregnant (we adopted twice), so I missed out on the "birthin'" part. I was, however, in the room with my daughter when our little granddaughter was born. It was an amazing experience, and I will never forget it. I am in awe of all of you.

Christine, I'll be thinking of you and wishing for you the healthiest and happiest birth ever! You'll be a champ!

[BillK]

The wife no longer vists here.
BUT - she swears that an epidural was the way to go - no pain. Easy birth.
Bill

[Scarlett]

I am surprised at how many men are posting on a "girls only please" topic.

That being said...Dave, shame on you for the deleted post...ugh!

And back to the topic...I had four of 'em myself. All four with epidurals. Would not even DREAM of doing it the "old fashioned-feel-the-pain-it-will-make-you-appreciate-your-kids-more" way. Are you ****ing serious? There is a lady I work with who will preach that to you...she thinks the only way you can truly love your kids is to have suffered through birthing them. Umm...can we all say CRAZY TALK!?!?!?!

I think that the fact that I COULD ENJOY labor, because I didn't FEEL ANYTHING, makes me appreciate them even more.

Do it your way...but remember...the pain is NOT NECESSARY!
And on a more serious note, I will say...you may THINK you know what LOVE is..but you don't. And you won't...not until you look into the face of your first baby. THAT is a feeling that nobody can EVER describe. You will understand what I mean soon enough.

[christine]

it is kind of odd that guys would find this post interesting...but hey I guess I shouldn't ban them completely considering they might know something. Besides I guess they just can't resist posting on something that says "girls only" :)
About the whole "no pain killers" thing that is the dumbest idea. Yeah you can do it with out drugs...but why would you want to? I most certainly will have drugs!
Now I just wish it wasn't so long till October. Pregnancy is such a beating. LOL ooo & in case I forgot to mention its a boy.
Thanks again Ladies...& Gentlemen your really helping.

[Night Owl]

Name him Chris!!!!!

[christine]

i don't know about that I think his dad wants to name him after himself.

[Night Owl]

Oh, ok so he will be JR

[christine]

Yep but i think its mainly so my husband can use his own name to get onto someone. He is in trouble so offten. LOL