Tuesday, 03 June 2008

• Reader Stories: Birth Story #4

  from mom2basharndanny

  With my first son (he's almost 4 years old), I went to the Lamaze classes and all the classes for breastfeeding and baby care.  I was so determined to give birth without an epidural.  My water broke two weeks before his due date, and I went to the hospital 2 cm. dilated and in labor.  Matter of fact, I'd been in labor from the night before, but I didn't realize it.  At 5 cm. I had an epidural and about 5.5 hours later, my son was born.  I was disappointed that I took the epidural, but didn't think much about it.

  My younger son (almost 3 years old) was born one year and two days after my older one.  I didn't have much time to think about having a more natural birth because I didn't even realize that I was pregnant with him until I was nearly 7 months along.  I'd been breastfeeding my older one and was so busy with him that I didn't even realize that I was pregnant, but that's a whole other story.  My younger son was born on a Sunday and the hospital nurses weren't sure if I'd be able to get an epidural so they offered me something to take the edge off.  I didn't know what that meant, they didn't explain anything to me about the "something to take the edge off."  It was awful, I was drifting in and out of consciousness.  They broke my water at some point.  My son's breathing/heart rate was slowing and they had to put an oxygen mask on him.

  When I became pregnant with my daughter who is now 5 weeks old, I read a lot.  I had a midwife.  I read Ina May Gaskin's book, the name escapes me at the moment.  I read a book by Naomi Wolfe entitled Misconceptions.  This time around, I was determined to not take any drugs or any medical interventions that weren't necessary.  I dealt with my regrets of not being better informed with my two sons' births.  I blogged a lot about it.  She almost was a home birth, had I not gone to the hospital when I did, she probably would have been born in my bath tub.  When I arrived at the hospital, I was fully dilated and ready to push.  My water broke in the bath tub at home.  I managed labor by changing positions frequently, walking around, sniffing lavendar and peppermint essential oils, and finally by taking a bath.  My daughter was born half an hour after I arrived at the hospital.  It was an extremely empowering experience.  I was fully alert when she was born.  My only regret is that my midwife was not there for the birth, she arrived say 5 minutes after my daughter was born.  Neither was my husband, he was filling out my admission papers and arrived minutes after she was born.  I also feel sad that I didn't get to hold her for as long as I would have liked after she was born.  But she roomed in with me, I breastfed her on demand, and I feel like I bonded with her more quickly than with my older two sons.  During my entire pregnancy with my daughter, I was dealing with my regrets with my other two labors and deliveries.  I can say this time around that I Gave Birth to my daughter, she was not delivered, and no one can take that away from me.

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