Heres my situation..................................................................... I am 7 months pregnant this is the first time i have been past 6 weeks or so ( first pregnancy i had a miscarriage) any who heres the problem........ I am am debating on giving natural birth no drugs no nothing...... BUT what if i need an emergency c- section. Would i have to be put out or would the doctors numb the area where theyd cut me??? I am so scared . I mean i dont know what i want to do. I dont know if i want to get an epidural cuz i know a few girls who had to be stuck several times with the needl and to this day theyre backs are still messed up from the epidural. I dont know if i just want to numb the birth canal or just go all natural..... what did you go with while giving birth???? any thoughts or suggestions would be great thanx ~Fallen Fairy~
If you have to have an emergency c-section, you will be fully awake and alert throughout the procedure. You will be given an epidural which numbs your lower half of your body. They put a sheet up so you can't see what's going on-believe me, you won't want to-Anyway, the only thing I felt when I was cut was like they were pulling open a huge zipper. No pain, just that weird feeling. And when baby comes out, you feel the doctor pulling her/him out. I you want to try for a natural/no drug birth, go for it. It's normal to be a little scared. And, if at any time you feel that you want get the drugs, the hospital will be happy to oblige. But don't let them pressure you if you're set on no drugs. When you get an epidural, you have to sit up on the edge of the bed and hug a pillow. Kinda arching your back, like a cat. They will prick you with the novacaine, and then insert the epidural. It really does make all the pain go away. Then, the problem is you are stuck in the bed. You'll probably need a cathader because you won't know when you have to pee. Also, it's hard to tell when you are pushing when it comes time. My mother had three of us naturally. Then, with the fourth, she had an epi. She couldn't tell how hard she needed to push because she couldn't feel it. Anyway, fallenfairy, whatever decision you make, or whatever situation arises, don't get discouraged. Having a c-section or getting drugs doesn't make you any less of a fantastic mother!! ps has your doctor suggested that you may need a c-section? Do you know what position the baby is in (or @ how much she/he weighs)?
Well actually if it is a emergancy c-section. i.e. the baby is in distress, they are more than likey going to put you out. It takes like 3 seconds for them to put you out, but takes a couple of minutes to administer an epidural. But lets just say that they say you need a c-section, after hours of labor, with no prgressing (this happen to me) and the baby is doing fine, he just not going to come on his own. Well then they would be able to give you a epidural. Just to let you know the pain of getting the epidural is nothing like the pain of labor. I didn't even feel them give me mine becuase I was having horrible contractions.
Being petite has NOTHING to do with whether or not you will need a section. Don't have an epi just "in case" you might need an emergency procedure (IMO, this is like starting an IV every time you drive your car, just "in case" you get into an accident and they need to start one in a hurry!) Are you taking child birth classes? Bradley or something on that line is probably the best. (I am not a big fan of Lamaze.) You need to be prepared. NOT from a hospital class, though, they teach you how to "be a good patient" and how to obey hospital rules, more than they prepare you for childbirth. They spend more time on anesthesia and C sections than they do on the actual labor. Get a private Bradley Instructor and you will be prepared. Also, look into a Birth Doula. They can reduce your "need" for pain meds by like, 70% (is that right, Brig) and reduce C section rates a LOT! Husbands and boyfriends are fine at the birth, but a Doula is the one who will really help you stay comfortable and avoid unneccesary procedures. Also, have a good birth plan in to your doc or midwife by 35 weeks or sooner. Then he or she can OK it, sign it, and make sure every part of the hosptial you or your baby may be near will have a copy. (My OB had 7 copies of my birth plan around the hospital.)
Most C Sections are NOT "emergency" sections. Although many womyn who have unscheduled sections call them "emergency" sections, this is not usually true. Unless there is severe distress to the baby or to you, most sections leave plenty of time to start regional anesthesia when you need it.
I recently attended the birth of a woman who was 4'11 inches, weighed 115 at term (20 pound weight gain), and delivered a 8 pound baby with no tears and no drugs. They don't make them much smaller than her! I have attended vaginal births after cesarean with babies that weighed a good 1-2 pounds more than the baby they were sectioned for. Here are my thoughts on this. A true emergency c-section is a rare, rare thing. Like mrs. eads said, if you do need one, you will be given general anesthesia, or a spinal block, if you don't have an epidural in place. Why did your mother and sister end up with sections? It is quite likely that your mother had her subsequent sections because she had the first (once a section, always a section), same for your sister. Most c-sections are done for failure to progress (failure to wait, in my opinion) and cephalo pelvic disproportion (where the baby doesn't fit in the pelvis). Being inactive, like laying in bed, especially when medicated, increases the instances of both. In both cases, there is plenty of time for an epidural. You can be a pro-active birthing woman, instead of a patient, if you choose. Things that increase risk of c-section are pain medications, including epidurals, inactivity, depriving a labouring woman of food and fluids, and lack of support. If you really want to avoid the whole cascade of medical interventions, including section birth, and an out of hospital birth is not an option for you, hire a doula to help you with the birth. Depending on where you live, a doula can cost anywhere from 200 to 1000. You can also hire a student doula who volunteers to do free births in exchange for her certification. If there's a midwifery school near you, student midwives need to observe a number of births before they can assist, and will also act as a doula for free. A doula will come to your house while you are in early labour, stay with you for the entire labour in the hospital, provide you with non-medical comfort, explain the medical lingo so you can understand what is going on, massage you, encourage you, stay with you after the birth to make sure breastfeeding is established. A student doula has been fully trained, but needs to attend a certain number of births and be evaluated by you for her certification. I think every women planning a hospital birth should have a doula! You can contact any doula organization for student contacts if you want a free doula. http://www.charm.net/~totoro/doula.html http://doulanetwork.com/ http://www.childbirth.org/doula123.html You can also minimize the risk of a section by helping your baby stay the perfect size for you. The last few months are when the baby puts on bulk, as much as 1/2 a pound a week. You should eat a diet high in good protein sources and fresh veggies. Limit your simple carbs, NO white flour products, like bread and pasta, limit white rice, NO fruit juices, eat a piece of fruit instead. Juices are loaded with sugar and makes little fat babies. Eat all the fresh veggies you want. Limit your fat intake, but use real butter instead of margarine, you can have all the olive oil you want. Eat small amounts of whole grain breads, pastas and brown rice. Make every bite count, loads of vitamins, minerals and proteins, little fats and carbohydrates. Healthy mama and baby, without piling on the pounds (for both of you!) Towards the end of pregnancy, see a chiropractor for regular adjustments, make sure the chiropractor has experience with pregnant women. A chiropractor can help your baby line up nicely with your pelvis. Avoid slouching in chairs, or sitting in overstuffed sofas. Practice good posture, tuck your butt in when you stand and stand as straight as you can. Take walks in the morning or afternoon. Exercise tones your muscles and readies you for birth. Remember this; You are a woman. Your body was perfectly designed to grow and birth babies. Without interventions meddling with the process, birth works perfectly 98% of the time. And if you do end up with a section, you will know you did everything you could to birth your baby.
Maggie, yes, 70% less pain meds and up to 70% less cesereans with a doula. I think too much pressure is put on Daddies to be the perfect birth coach. They are wonderful to have around, but most women would prefer their baby's father to simply hold their hands and make eye contact. Just having him near, to smell his closeness and hang on to, is what they both need. Plus, it's his baby too! He needs to be free to have the emotional bonding experience with his woman and baby, not worry about rubbing her back the right way or making sure her ice chips are replenished. Doulas take care of the Dad too, by giving him a back rub, getting him food and drink, running for ice and extra pillows, reminding him to go pee and take over holding her hand if he needs a break. I definately recommend having a doula!
I had the chace to hire a duola. But when I mentioned it to my husband he was like "But that's what I am there for" ... Yeah. all he did was sit there are watch me labor for 12 hours. Not that I wasn't glad that he was there, but I think If I wasn't having a csection this time around to I would hire a duola, no matter what hubby says.
I had to have an emergency c-section and was not put under. I was in the process of delivering Virginia, when her umbilical cord started coming out before the head. My doctor had to hold Virginia inside of me while I was being wheeled to the operating room. She told me that Virginia would die if I were to try to deliver her vaginally. Whether it was actually true or not, I'm not sure, I felt that she could have just tucked the cord back inside of me, but I'm no doctor. I wasn't about to risk my baby's life to find out!
sugrmag, you had a prolapsed umbilical cord, one of the true life and death emergencies. A c-section is the safest and best option in a cord prolapse. Did you already have an epidural in place? In that case, they simply top it off and add more medication. Did she put you in a knee chest position?
Thank you so much Brighid for the in depth information on doulas and c-sections I am going to talk it over with my fiancee and see if we can afford a doula and if not we will find a student doula.
Thank you Maggie! I also want to add something here...actually two things. First, some women are now PUPOSELY scheduling elective C-Sections. Why? Fear. But the birth process should be nothing to be afraid of. Second, some doctors tell women they need sections when they don't. This is why I am all for unassisted birth and homebirths with midwives. Unless there is a REAL emergency, a c-section should be a last resort.
LOL, maybe I'm out of my mind, but after reading this thread, I kinda want to have a baby. Hey don't get the wrong idea, no babies for me until I'm finished school and my business is off the ground. But for as long as I can remember, I have always wanted to adopt children, because the idea of having them displeased me. But many of you make it seem so natural and amazing. Thanks. Oh yeah and remind me in a few years, in case I forget. I still want to adopt, but I might not be so against having my own children as well.
It is natural and amazing! One of the few times in life you actually are present to witness a true miracle.
I agree TOTALLY! Or a situation where vaginal birth is just not going to happen with a good outcome. My story, in short. My first section was NOT an "emergency C section." I was in labor for 54 hours, I had been pushing in every position known to womyn for more than three hours, my baby simply would not decend. The pain was unbearable, I got NO releif from pushing, and could not move the baby down. I have an adroid pelvis and Sunshine was presenting acynclitic (her head was sideways in the canal.) So we finally, with me crying, went to the OR. No one was in danger of dying at the moment of the section. There was plenty of time to do regiional anesthesia. Second baby, labor was the same. VERY long (more than 24 hours, just 2 years after the first baby) pushed forever, baby never made it to the 0 station. Moon had a Posterior Brow presentation, means she was "sunny side up" and her forehead was presenting, instead of the top of her head, which is the part that forms to the opening. The next two babies were planned sections. My sections were NOT emergencies, although needed. Sunshine did have some decells in heart rate, but my doc doesn't do sections just because of a few decells. Sugmag's situation was totally different, a prolapsed cord is a life or death emergency. If the mama hadn't already had a epi in place the section is usually started AS the general is administered (often known as a "crash section.") But these situations, where they don't have time to give you regional are RARE. Most sections are NOT emergencies. Many are situations like mine, where it looks worse and worse as the labor progresses, and it appears the baby may not be born, or be born without danger, EVENTUALLY, to the mama or baby. Then there are TRUE emergency section, rare. Then there are "convenience sections" where the doctor simply doesnt want to wait for a labor he feels is "too slow." Then there are the worst, "elective sections" where a womyn simply asks to have a section, with NO medical reason, and gets one. This reason is dangerous IMO (and the opinion of many) Sections result in a much higher mother infant mortality and morbidity rate. Also it can compromise the baby's ability to breathe, as often these are done before the baby is ready to be born, and her lungs aren't mature, and also the squeezing, which clears the lungs in a vaginal birth isn't there. There are also beleived to be many hormones, which happen in labor, which prepare the baby for life outside the womb. (I had lots of preterm labor and several practice labors with my two babies who were planned sections, my OB was VERY glad this happened, as he said this results in a MUCH better outcome for the babies in a planned section. And my kids did very well, and had good lung function.) I think it is a travesty, that someone who just doesnt want to labor can have a dangerous, major surgery, with MANY probable complications, with NO medical indications. I would have done ANYTHING to have vaginal births. ANYTHING. Off soap box, now.
Brighid (or anyone else, really): Now that we're all talking about the birthing process, I have a few questions-- You talk about how size has nothing to do with it, but I have heard of some women fracturing their tailbones during labor. Does this have to do with size? If not, why do some women fracture their tailbones in the process? You've also said that 98% of deliveries naturally go off without a glitch, but then why is it that in developing countries, there is often a maternal death rate of up to 120 per 1,000 births--meaning that roughly 12% of births have fatal complications? I realize that hygene is not up to code in many of these places, but then that would mean that 300 years ago (before anyone knew about hygene), the maternal death rate would be about the same (meaning that more than 2% of labors had severe complications, even when done naturally). I'm not accusing you of lying, of course, I'm just wondering. Also, my mother had to have an episiotomy with my birth, and I'm pretty sure I remember her saying that it had something to do with her size (or maybe it was my size--I was 9 lbs, 10 oz, lol!) She said that if she hadn't have had one, she would have been incontinent...Is this true? Why do they perform episiotomies, and when/how often are they necessary? Do they tend to do them more often then needed? Also, if it is about preventing incontinence, then why would your body heal an episiotomy but not an obstetric fistula? Are episiotomies done to prevent fistulas? Thanks mamas! Kate
Good questions! Either the position of the baby or the mother. Sometimes if the baby is facing up, (occiput posterior is the fancy shmancy name for it) the back of the head can cause the tailbone to fracture. Especially if the baby's head is sort of positioned like he's saluting (called military presentation). It is the largest possible circumference of a baby's head. Most babies are facing the mother's back, with their heads nicely tucked in chin to chest. This is the smallest circumference of the baby's head, and usually fits quite nicely. If a woman is laying on her back, with her legs pulled back to her armpits or worse, in stirrups, the pelvic diameter is smaller, especially the front to back (anterio-posterior). The pressure from being on her back causes the tailbone to curve inward, the baby's head, when passing, causes pressure making it fracture. Poor nutrition is responsable for the vast majority of negative birth outcomes. (here in the US as well!) The leading cause of maternal death anywhere in the world is post partum hemorrhage. A woman who is anemic can not tolerate even a moderate amount of blood loss, inevitable in childbirth. A woman who is malnourished can not tolerate labour. A woman with a poor diet will be at risk for many complications such as pregnancy induced hypertension, gestational diabetes, placental abruption, pre-term birth, small for gestational age baby, post partum infections, the list goes on and on. A woman who has been malnourished since infancy may have had rickets or other bone related disorder and have grown with a pelvis that is contracted and malformed. Such a woman would not be able to give birth vaginally and may die from obstructed labour. There was a study done in the 1920's, with women who lived in the tenements of NYC, and who had a high maternal and infant death rate. (This study is what spearheaded the WIC program, btw) Workers delivered to the women every day 2 eggs, 1 quart of milk, 1 orange, and 4 ounces of cheese. Birth outcomes improved by (I'm not positive off hand) roughly 80%. An amazing improvement with very little, but good quality, food. Lack of prenatal care is another (and still remains the reason why the huge disparity in maternal/fetal deaths among White and Black American women. Black women in America are 3 times as likely to die during birth than white American counterparts. Their babies are 4 times more likely to die in the first year of life. Black women have less access to quality prenatal care.) I had 7 babies, without episiotomies. 1 was 9 pounds 12 ounces, and one was 10 pounds 8 ounces. My smallest was 8 pounds. I do not pee myself when I laugh. Many doctors used to do (and some still do) routine episiotomies. This harks back to the "Twilight Sleep" days, when women were under general anesthesia and had to have their babies yanked out with forceps. The classic hospital lithotomy position, mother on back with legs in stirrups, also creates great stress on the perineum and can make it very tight. Also the method of coached pushing, where a nurse screams, "Take a deep breathe, now hold it and PUSH! 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10, let it out, AGAIN! PUSH! 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10, once more, deep breathe, hold it and PUSH! 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10!" Try it and see how you feel! This causes poor oxygenation of the tissues, poor oxygenation of the baby, and causes the tissues to become more friable and easy to tear. It also causes the baby to become distressed by lack of oxygen, and the urgency to get the baby out causes many doctors to cut to hasten delivery. Incontenece is due to either poor muscle tone, which is why we should all be doing our Kegel exercises!, poor nutritional status (poor nutrition makes weak muscles) or damage done by traumatic or instrumental vaginal birth. It's better to tear naturally than to perform an episiotomy. A natural tear will usually be much smaller than an incision. PLUS, episiotomies have a tendency to tear further. Natural tears, however, take a bit more time to repair, and most OB/GYN's would rather not take the time to repair it properly. HOWEVER, natural tears rarely extend beyond the first or second degree, episiotomies are ALWAYS much deeper and go into muscle. Some tear further into the rectal sphincter and need a plastic surgeon to reconstruct. take a piece of fabric, fold it in half. Holding the folded edge up, grasp the edges in your hands and try to tear it down the middle. You probably won't be able too. Now, make a small cut in the fabric, and try to tear it. Shocking! You're welcome! Feel free to ask me anything!
