Thoughts or Opinions on My Situation????

[LockandKey]

Here is my story, sorry if it's a bit lengthy.

I really wanted an all natural labor and birth with DD, no medical intervention or pain relief, well everything was fine until I got to 5 cm, then I was having contractions right on top of each other for some weird reason, The pain got worse, I didn't have time to rest in between contractions, and I started to hyperventilate. I tried everything I learned in my lamaze class, I tried walking, bouncing on the birthing ball, squatting, breathing exercises, but nothing seemed to work. After 2 more hours of dealing with these irregular contractions, I gave in and asked for the epidural, mainly because my doc said that after those contractions had started, my labor did not progress so he would have given me pictocin.

Anyway the epidural relaxed me enough to where my labor progressed again. This bothers me a lot, I don't know if I should have or could have done anything different to help, I feel like I failed myself in a way. I talked with my mother and she said the same thing happened to her with all of her pregnancies so she had to have a c section with me and my brothers. Could this, what ever it is, be genetic? Has anyone ever heard of this happening before? Does anyone know if it's a medical condition, or does it have a name?

I do want more children down the road, and I desperately want an all natural birth, water birth next time, but I'm afraid of this happening to me again. I know birth is supposed to be an all natural thing that our bodies just know how to deal with and go through, but I feel like this might not be true for me. Just thinking about how my body can't labor like it should upsets me to no end. I don't want to be a c section mom, I want to do this on my own, and know that I can do it on my own, I want that experience, but, I don't know I just feel so flustered. Sorry I am ranting.

 

[madasa]

Did you try water last time? Where were you? What was your support like?

Part of it could be mental/psychological. Talking about your fears and previous experiences beforehand might really help.... but I'm guesing you already knew that

 

[LockandKey]

I really wanted water too! Last time I was in a military hospital in Hawaii and the hospital didn't allow us in water after my waters broke because of risk of infection. That's what they said, which I think is completely bogus. I only had my husband at the time as we were so far away from our family and friends. I wasn't afraid of labor before though. Once I had started going into labor I was excited. What if it's not a mentality thing?

 

[booflebump]

I think it sounds like you got yourself in to a panic cycle, which made your body fight agaisnt the contractions. Hence why when the pain and panic was taken away with an epidural, your labour progressed well

I think next time round, that making sure you have good labour support is essential - someone who will be able to talk you down out of the panic cycle. Have you thought about having a doula? There is no reason why you can't have a waterbirth once your waters have broken - and if you find water soothing usually (ie you enjoy a long soak in the tub) then you might find it very useful in labour. Are you receptive to aromatherapy? I find certain oils have a strong, relaxing effect on me - finding out what works for you before hand might be an idea as well

xxx

 

[LockandKey]

thank you, it will be a while before the next, so I guess that will give me plenty of time to find soothing therapies for me that works. I will definitely look for a hospital that does water births too