Natural birth in a US hospital. Actually possible?

[Viking15]

Hi ladies! I am very interested in doing a natural birth but not interested in doing it at home. My husband wants a hospital. I'm ok with that as long as I can give my very best effort at delivering naturally and actually get support from the doctor and staff. I've been trying to research the facilities here where I live, but I haven't had much luck. Any ideas or suggestions? My first visit wit an OB will be December 6. I would like a midwife, but I'm not having any luck researching these things. Thanks so much !

 

[lynnikins]

you can try for a birth centre perhaps it will give you a better chance of a natural birth than a hospital one with OB will, id want to get some stats from your OB like how many instrumental deliverys they do how many c-secs etc.... what facilties are avalible at your hospital

 

[NaturalMomma]

There are many hospitals and OBs who do actually supprt natural/unmedicated births. Sometimes they can be hard to find, but it's possible. I would suggest hiring a Doula, especially one that is familiar with the hospital you will be using.

 

[nightkd]

I planned a homebirth, but we ended up transferring to a teaching hospital because I had a very long labour and became exhausted. The hospital I went to was very supportive of me doing what I wanted to do (encouraged me to use a birth ball etc - though at that point I just wanted to sleep!) and commented that they were going to try and do things my way, since I had transferred from a homebirth.

There were a few things that bothered me (like constant monitoring, trying to push the vitamin K shot etc) but if you stay strong and are well informed, it's easy enough to tell them no and avoid the pressure.

When I transferred I had my MW with me (one or t'other) and found it REALLY helpful to have them present to advise me (ie recommending I request to transfer to MW care in the hospital as I automatically got put under OBGYN care, telling me to decline having my waters broken as there was no point etc etc) so a Doula would be a really great idea! Then you don't have to worry about fighting the staff at every turn, you just discuss your desires with your Doula beforehand and know that they will stand up for you and provide a voice when you are busy concentrating on labouring etc.

 

[1hopefull]

doula's will be a great resource for this. you can ask this question when doing interviews with them if you are interested in having one attend your birth. from what i have learned, the choice of hospital and provider makes a huge difference in your chances for achieved a natural hospital birth.

 

[spidey]

the doula suggestion is great Also search for birthing centers in your city. There are 2 within 30 minutes of my house and 1 is attached to a hospital. For the most part you need to avoid OBGYN's and stick with midwives. I was supposed to give birth in a birth center but was a hospital transfer and still had a wonderful natural birth with my birthing center midwife. The only thing I didn't like was the hospitals policy on constant fetal monitoring. I had a fetal HB monitor, a contraction monitor around my belly and an IV coming from my hand. It was a bit silly and annoying in my opinion (especially the contraction monitor )

 

[Viking15]

Spidey, did you find the monitoring cumbersome? Stressful? I am looking into touring the hospital facility I would be using if we go with the OB that was recommended to me by a friend. I asked the receptionist who scheduled my appt if the doctors in that group were willing to work with a natural birth plan, but she said I would have to talk to the actual doctor to get any answers. I don't know how to get a midwife covered by my insurance. I think that would take some research. I think I would be okay with a birth center, but I have talked to my DH about it some and he wants a hospital. So, I think I will check out the hospital first and see what the options are there and make my decisions based on what I see there.
I like the idea of being at the hopsital in case something goes horribly wrong, or I can't stand the pain. I think I am mentally tough enough to make it thru a natural delivery, but you don't know it until you are in it. I've certainly never done this before so it is all beyond my experience. I think it would be hard to resist a bunch of white coats pressuring you to take the drugs and the pitocin and having a midwife seems more my style. Have to do some more research. The only birthcenter I could find in our area was kinda sketchy looking to me from what I saw on their webpage. Very low end and not very homey feeling. That would definitely drive my DH away. In all fairness it wasn't appealing visually to me either. More research is needed.
Thanks for your input ladies. I appreciate it.

 

[PepsiChic]

I had a 110% natural hospital birth.

I didnt even have an IV. no pain medication, no epi...not even a tylenol!

I stayed at home untill my contractiosnw ere 3 minutes apart went to the hospital,t hey checked everything and then i walked around the room.

birth went really well, didnt tear and the whole thing was a blessing. i didnt use a doula or anything like that. i just went in told them exactly how i wanted it done and they were fine with it. I also had a obgyn who i saw the whole pregnancy and she delivered my son so she knew the game plan too!

 

[spidey]

Viking, I originally envisioning a water birth, so I was initially thrown off by being in a hospital bed hooked up to different monitors. But I quickly got over it and still had a beautiful birth. The only part of the monitoring that I did not enjoy was when I was in mid contraction and the nurse would be moving the monitoring belts around on my tummy trying to relocate the heartbeat. I used hypnosis for pain relief (hypnobabies) and I needed full concentration during a contraction and being touched threw me off a few times.

Both birth centers near me allow you to deliver in the birth center or in the hospital while being attended by one of the midwives. Some insurance companies don't cover birth center deliveries and in my state you're not allowed to have a VBAC in a birth center, so the midwives attend a fair number of births at the hospital.

You might still want to check out the birth center that you found. My birth center's website was very out of date and all of the pictures were taken from the 80's The decor was very "grandma" and the whole website really turned me off. But in person it was much better. If you could see midwives for all your prenatal stuff and then deliver in the hospital, that would be the best way to have a natural delivery.

My last bit of advice is to ask lots of questions of the OBGYN (if you decide to see one) and really go with your gut. There are many who will roll their eyes when you talk about a natural birth. Also don't be afraid to change doctors if half way through you realize your doctor is going to get in the way of what you want. Ask them about induction too. Having an induction brings your c-section risk to 50%. Watch "the business of being born" if you can- you can rent it on netflix. It's really hard going into this desiring a natural birth when it's your first baby. Everyone says things like "oh, you'll see.." With this being my second time around I can tell them all to shove it!

 

[Viking15]

Pepsi, was that your first labor? It sounds like you did great!
Spidey, I had time to do a little bit of research last night and my insurance does cover the one birthing center in my area, and a few midwives. All of them seem to be affiliated with a hospital I was encouraged to avoid. I can't remember why I was told that, or who told me that so I can go poke around that person's brain some and see what she was referring to. I am more than a little concerned about trying to go natural this being my first birthing experience, but we are planning to just have one child and this will be my only experience most likely. My sister tried to have a vaginal birth with her first, but ended up on pitocin and an epidural. I am not sure how early on she went to the epidural. She ended up having a c-section and was devastated. I don't think she wanted to go natural though. She couldn't get her baby out because the shoulders just wouldn't budge. Since she had the epidural she couldn't move around to try to get the baby to shift. Another friend of mine had blood pressure issues and was considered high risk. They induced her on her due date and she had a very long birthing process that just sounds horrid. I do not want to get induced. I don't really understand why they needed to induce her, but I'm not a doctor. She said the epidural was heaven and she wouldn't do it any other way.
My current plans may all go haywire and that's okay. My DH may find that a little difficult to deal with. He will definitely need to go with me to the appts and have an open mind if I decide to go with the birthing center. I think it may be time to schedule some tours now that I have a better idea of what my options are. I wish my current GYN still did deliveries. I feel pretty comfortable with her and her staff.
I don't personally know anyone that has done a natural birth. Most of my friends will think I have lost my mind and will definitely give me the "you'll see". I don't know how well I will deal with that. Hopefully they will be tactful about it.

 

[spidey]

Your thought process was much like mine when I was newly pregnant with my daughter. I watched 3 friends go through pregnancy. 2 were diagnosed incorrectly as having "gestational diabetes" and had to be induced due to a "large baby" Their babies were 6lb and 7 1/2 lb The 6lb baby turned out to be a c-section since it was a failed induction/pitocin/epidural situation. The other one was delivered by episotomy/forceps and had a broken collar bone.. the mom was too numb to push properly. My other friend was threatened with an induction if the baby went more than 1 day past due. She was told by the doctor that she needed an epidural "just incase" the situation turned into an emergency. The doctor scared her by saying that if suddenly she needed an emergency c-section, they would have to knock her entirely out, whereas if they already had the epidural in, the could cut her open and she could be awake for the delivery. That is the silliest thing I've ever heard. My friend was 6cm and was confidently handling her contractions and the baby was just fine. She has regrets that she couldn't experience the birth- she actually cried when she told me about her regrets to get an epidural when she was handling things so well. So after watching all 3 of these girls go through the system I decided I wanted something different for myself.

People will totally think you're crazy for wanting something more natural. My advice is to tell people very little of your plans otherwise they will shower you with horror stories. Simply saying "I have a midwife appointment" will freak some people out People are full of advice and opinions and you'll be sick of hearing them by the end.

Here is a link to my very very long birth story if you're interested
https://www.babyandbump.com/birth-s...baby-kiras-natural-birth-aug-14th-2009-a.html

 

[PepsiChic]

yes it was my first birth, and he wasnt a large baby but wasnt small either, he was 7lbs 6oz so pretty average!

Im really happy with the hospital birth, i looked at birthing cetners near here and none of them looked anywhere near as nice as the hospitals.

one thing to consider is doy ou want to be moved room to room? i picked a hospital that the room was equipped to do everything, so i was int here for the abour, delivery and recovery. made things a lot less stressful and much more relaxing.

 

[Leahmasie]

Just want to wish you luck! It is tough to have a natural birth in some places, my one piece of advice is to get a doula. Every labor is different, but a good doula will help with every kind. Even if you have a supportive friend, that's better than no one. You may only have energy to tell them once you don't want X, and they keep asking, and it helps to have another person to say "she already said she didn't want X".

We were planning for a home birth, but agreed to an induction when baby still had not arrived by 42w6d. The induction was terrible, but, we did manage to avoid a C-section, and an episiotomy (I was so scared they were going to cut one without telling me, but they didn't). We had cervical ripener, then Pitocin. I was out of my mind with the pain of contractions, and give a shot of Stadol at some point. Epidurals were not offered, I don't know what I would've chosen if they had been, because I literally thought I was dying. I did not die thankfully . My baby was okay but I'm still angry he had to endure those unending contractions. I did not experience a blissful break between contractions that many women talk about.

We made it to full dilation, and I pushed for 2 hours. The midwife-led team really excelled at that point, they were moving me into different positions. If I had had an epidural that would not have been possible, and I'm sure it would've ended in a C-section. He had some decels, and they would change my position to get it to recover. It sounds unbelievable but every push I really thought it was the last!

So I did not get my unmedicated home birth, but I did have a vaginal birth to a healthy, big (8lb14oz) baby. I'm thin so I think they underestimated his size, which is good because otherwise I bet they would've concluded I couldn't push him out.

Good luck. Please get a doula. Or a good friend who is unafraid of birth and will support a natural birth.

 

[daydreaming22]

Viking, If you find somewhere let me know. I am TTC and will be wanting a natural birth in a hospital as well. Im also located in Tampa. Have you looked at St. Josephs womens hospital yet?

 

[Viking15]

Hi Day, I am currently booked with an OB that uses St. Joes. I am dying for the US so I'm going to do the initial appt and ask questions and see how that goes. I'm still not telling anyone so I can't start asking questions yet. This doctor group has been recommended to me three times. Twice by other doctors and once by a friend. I know this friend would never ever want to do a natural birth though. So, I'll ask questions and I need to tour the hospitals. There is a birth center covered by my insurance in Lutz. My husband isn't comfortable with that. I can understand that and if I can find a hospital that will be acceptable to me then I will respect his feelings and go with the hospital. There are a few midwives covered by my insurance as well. However they are all with TGH, and I was warned to avoid TGH. What have you heard? I guess I will just have to make my own decisions, but it's scary when someone tells you to avoid a hospital.

 

[daydreaming22]

From what Ive heard St. Joe's is one of the best in the area. I had a bad experience at Brandon regional which is where my OB delivers so I will not be going back.

 

[PoodleMommy]

My ideal would be to do a home water birth, but since we're at least 30 minutes from the hospital and I'm high-risk, I decided I didn't want to possibly risk my baby's life (if something were to go wrong) just so that I could have my perfect home water birth.

Unfortunately, my metro area doesn't have any good birthing centers.

But fortunately, my hospital allows midwife deliveries, and they have hydrotherapy tubs -- so I may get to labor in water after all! (They just don't want the actual delivery to take place there, for some reason.)

I grilled my midwife about how much pressure I'll get to do various interventions, the vitamin K shot, etc., and she TOTALLY set my mind at ease! Basically, they will not pressure me to do anything unless the life of my baby or myself is at stake. She said they can dim the lights, give me plenty of privacy, let me labor in the tub, let me walk around or using a birthing ball or whatever else I needed/wanted. I asked if they'll allow me to do delayed clamping, and she said this hospital now encourages it, even with a regular OB delivery!

All in all, I am completely at ease and even excited about this now... I had been mourning not being able to do a home birth, feeling as though I'm settling for something that will likely turn into an intervention-fest, but now I'm really looking forward to the whole thing.

That said, I do plan to hire a doula if I can afford it. My husband isn't keen on childbirth classes (as he put it, "What's there to prepare for?" ), and if he passes out or something, I'd like someone else to be at my side the whole time! And, as you all mentioned, I want someone besides my midwife (who I assume will be attending to other laboring mothers) to be an advocate for me so I won't have to fight certain battles myself.

 

[ChrissiK]

I had two natural births at US hospital, one with a midwife, one with a doctor.
I would recommend taking (or at least reading about) the Bradley Method. It's very empowering.
Most women fail at natural birth because they have not learned enough coping strategies for pain / become exhausted or because they are not strong enough to resist the docs pressure / have no strong advocate on their side (this could be a husband or a doula).
If you prepare for those two pitfalls, you should be able to give birth naturally even in the most clinical environment.
In order to relieve pain, you need to be able to move around, so checking out your hospitals policy on constant fetal monitoring and IVs upon arrival is crucial! Both monitor and IV chain you onto the bed, which is the most uncomfortable and labor-slowing position possible (but most convenient for medical staff)!

Good luck - it IS possible, but you need people on your team. You will not be yourself once the pain gets intense...

 

[SpunkyMunkey]

But fortunately, my hospital allows midwife deliveries, and they have hydrotherapy tubs -- so I may get to labor in water after all! (They just don't want the actual delivery to take place there, for some reason.)

When someone asked about laboring in water and water birthing at my hospital, the nurse said that they allow the laboring in the tub, but they can't do water births, because you have to be certified to do that at a hospital/birth center and they aren't. Could be the same reason your hospital won't allow the actual delivery in the tub.

 

[StranjeGirl]

I am using hypnobabies and my doctor is totally supportive of this. Obvioulsy if needed he will recommend induction or c-section, but he is in full support of me going naturally if everything is going smoothly. Just make sure you have a birth plan and make sure your OB is ok with all of it!