tips for a low stress natural hospital birth

[knockedup]

I was hoping for a home birth, but my insurance wont cover it and I am not comfortable with an unassisted birth so I will be going to the hospital, I am looking for tips on how to make it as stress free as possible as well as tips for dealing with pushy hospital staff ect. I am still going to have a natural birth barring any emergencies and I don't want to be asked if I want an epidural yet every 30 min.

 

[knockedup]

anyone? I am looking for relaxation techniques, natural ways to relieve pain and things like that. any advice would be appreciated.

 

[JenStar1976]

You should get yourself a Hypnobirthing CD - they say to start listening to them from about 37 weeks, but to be honest, you could start them anytime. I did pregnancy yoga and I was told that if your jaw is relaxed, then your pelvis is also relaxed. I kept saying this to myself during my labour and I had a really quick delivery. I can also recommend using a TENS machine for pain relief during labour. xx

 

[5ara]

Have you checked to see if there are any birth centers near you? That's what I'm doing - it seems like a perfect compromise between home birth and hospital birth. If you do go to a hospital, I think a doula would be a good person to have around to deal with hospital staff and support your choices. Or, if you have a supportive and pushy MIL, that might be an option Good luck!

 

[knockedup]

I would love a birth center, but its not an option with my health insurance, I will have my mother and best friend with me who will both be very pushy on my behalf I will definetly look into a hypnobirthing cd, thank you both for your advice!

 

[Rmar]

A trained doula who is familiar with getting around the more stupid kind of the hospital policies is invaluable. If you can't go for a doula, I would recommend that your support people go with you for every out of hospital antenatal classes you can afford and ask tonnes of questions to the teachers about what they would recommend. If it is in your area, they would be familiar with the hospital and may have a few tips relating to that hospital.

 

[chuck]

Make sure you stand your ground with your birth plan, don't take interventions/procedures etc unless necessary make sure any procedure is explained and make sure you have the option to say no thank you.

Don't assume your body has to run to their timetable - if baby is fine then all is well, I had an EMCS because I didn't run to the hospital timetable yet my baby was never in distress.

Take things with you to make yourself comfortable - birth ball, stereo/radio, food/drink fave pillow etc The hospital I went to had NOTHING and nothing for hubby to eat all the canteens were closed so he went hungry for a whole day.

Remember it is your birth and your body and your baby do it how you want, dont be scaremongered or pushed into having things done for you/to you to 'help things along'

 

[Jenniflower]

For relaxation techniques you should definitely look into Hypnobirthing CD's as well as the book that comes with it. The Mongan Method will teach you breathing techniques that will hopefully be invaluable to you on the day.

Also make sure that you write a birth plan out, and on the top of that birth plan in HUGE writing put "DO NOT OFFER ME ANY PAIN RELIEF UNLESS MYSELF OR MY BIRTHING PARTNERS ASK FOR ME!" Or you know, something nicer.

For me, even though I'm having a homebirth, that's my biggest thing. I tend to be the type of person that in the middle of something, whilst being really exhuasted, will take anything that is offered to me. I needed to let my DH know that he needs to make sure I'm never offered a transfer or anything else unless I'm at a point where I come up with it myself. Does that make sense?

Anywho, good luck hun!

 

[niffster]

Labour at home for as long as possible, this avoids being in hospital for ages and being bossed around. It's much more relaxing and stress free at home and labour is definately hard to cope with if you are uncomfortable with your surroundings.

I did this with my last baby - laboured at home until i was getting a contraction every 3 minutes. Seconds after I was examined in hospital (6cm) i was pushing, and baby was born shortly afterwards. I would totally do that again, but maybe go slightly sooner next time so they at least have time to fill the pool up for me

 

[Mervs Mum]

I think everyone has just about covered everything. To summarise I'd say:

Arrive at the hospital as late as possible - 311 - 3 mins apart, 1 min long for 1 hour as a guide.
See if your insurance covers a doula. I know you say your birth partners will be pushy on your behalf but when emotions are running high and pressure is being applied by staff to comply (maybe using under hand emotional blackmail style tactics) and you are theyr loved one, it can be very hard to stay objective. Seeing your daughter/sister apparently in distress can be very challenging. I know! I've doulaed my sister to and it's MUCH harder! If you cant get a doula then you need to sit and talk through your birth plan with them, talk about worst case scenarios for you and how you'd like them dealing with. Mums and sisters come with with own birth baggage - this can also affect their judgement so you really need to talk through all of that too. A great book I recommend you get them BOTH to read is The Birth Partner by Penny Simkin. They can also use it as a reference in labour too.
x

 

[somedaymama]

I had a natural hospital birth just over a month ago.

I would say that one way to help with pushy hospital staff and keep from being offered interventions is to be a low-maintenance patient. Let the nurses/doctors know that you are planning for a natural, unmedicated birth and you would like to deal with the pain in the way that feels best for you at the time. Ask them politely not to offer you medications unless you ask for them. If you can avoid it, don't complain about the pain while they are in your room...if they hear that you are in pain, their trained reaction is to offer you an anecdote.

If you have a choice of hospitals, ask around and find out if one of them is more natural-friendly than the others. For example, in my city, there are 2 hospitals. When we visited one of them, they told me that if my water broke I would not be allowed out of bed. (Mobility is very important to a natural birth!) I was glad I chose the other hospital since my water broke 6 or 7 hours before my contractions started to come regularly. Fortunately, my hospital staff was awesome--they let me walk all around and eat and drink as I wished.

As far as handling stress, I agree with what everyone else said about having a CD to listen to. I brought music and something for my husband to rub my back with. I spent most of my labor sitting on a birthing ball and my husband rubbed my back through each contraction. The music gave me something to concentrate on.

Good luck, I hope your birth goes exactly how you want it to!

 

[Jenniflower]

Completely OT but somedaymama I love your banner you have in your siggy, is there a thread somewhere on the boards based from it? Also I love your bible verse.

 

[somedaymama]

Hi Jenniflower! Yes, here is the thread: https://www.babyandbump.com/ttc-groups/216711-f-t-h-forsaking-all-trust-him.html. It's technically a TTC thread, but there are girls there in all stages: TTC, pregnancy, and parenting. Feel free to join! I love that verse too, it got me through a hard time of TTC.