Monday, April 25, 2011

What if something goes right?

I love reading birth stories where everything goes right. Where mothers plan and prepare and get what they want. Where their wishes are respected and they feel elated at what they accomplished. Where things work out perfectly in the end, even if labor throws them a curveball or some initial plans have to be abandoned.

Here are a few such stories I'd like to share:

First off, my youngest sister whose son was born two days before Inga. She had care with a hospital-based midwifery practice and also hired a doula. She hoped for a spontaneous, unmedicated vaginal birth--and that's what she got! Read all about it here at Grayden's birth story. Way to go little sis!
baby Grayden, from low-maintenance.blogspot.com
Next is the story of Busca's fourth child and second home birth. Busca blogs at Birth Faith. This was her longest pregnancy, going to 41.1 weeks. Her other three children were all 5-10 days early. She also had a much different labor pattern this time, hardly feeling any pain or intensity until the last few minutes. Read her story of Surrender in four parts: part 1, part 2, part 3, and part 4.
Busca with her newborn baby, from birthfaith.org

And you've probably heard that Gina, aka The Feminist Breeder, just had her third baby! It was her second VBAC and first home birth. Gina also had a different labor pattern than her first two. After lots of prodromal labor, Gina finally got labor to kick in using a combination of sex, breast pumping, and AROM. She even took a nap at around 9 cm dilated (and still wasn't feeling much pain at that point). Gina, you rock! Read the story of Jolene's birth here. She also had a friend who live-blogged the birth, where you can watch video clips of labor and pushing.
Gina & Jolene, from TheFeministBreeder.com

And finally, Desiree of Hitting My Stride had her baby Sofia! We started corresponding during our pregnancies and have become friends along the way (and she's letting me stay with her during the Lamaze conference this September!). She has two serious clotting factors, which meant heparin injections twice a day throughout her pregnancy. It also meant induction if she didn't go into labor by 38-39 weeks. She was induced at 39.2 weeks with a very favorable Bishop score and had a fantastic birth. Her birth story comes in four parts--Suck Ball City, Labor Faces, The Mirror, and After Birth.

All I can say is: a Pitocin induction with no pain meds? Amazing! She also sent me her birth video, and I was amazed at how non-medical it felt. The atmosphere in the room was calm and quiet. No shouting or coaching or anything, just her pushing and vocalizing when the urge hit.
Desiree, Drew, & Sofia from desireesdaydreams.com

A big congratulations all around. And here's hoping for many more birth stories where everything goes right.

23 comments:

  1. I gave birth to my second child today, 4 years ago so it was a perfect day to see this post. It was a beautiful, perfect unmedicated birth. I went into labor on my own just 5 hours before I was scheduled to be induced at 39 weeks (for IUGR). My little girl wanted to come on her own time and arrived after just 3 hours of labor! It was everything I had dreamed birth could & should be! Calm and peaceful! Thanks for sharing these wonderful stories! These are the births moms need to hear about!

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  2. After having 1 hospital and 2 homebirths with my midwife, I was fairly upset to learn my midwife's regulatory body would not permit a homebirth with twins. I have to respect that she is following the rules that permit her to practice here in Ontario.
    The other big upset was that I had to consult with high risk OB, as it was twins. I was fortunate to find a high risk OB that was willing to work with my MW, and would allow her to participate in the birth.
    I believed the whole pregnancy that everything would go right. After being pushed, shoved, and guided towards an epidural, I shocked the medical community when I strongly declined it. I was told that they had never seen a non epidural twin birth before. Booya to them.
    Babies born after induction by membrane rupture only at 37wks. I was 3cm walking in to the hospital, and was induced due to my remote location in snowstorm season. Babies born exactly 2 hours later, 3mins apart. No drugs, caught by my MW.
    I pushed(lol) for my birth, and yes, midwives can catch twins. But then again, I could have caught them myselves anyway:)

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  3. thanks for posting this...i am expecting my second baby, and my second homebirth, this summer. lately some doubts have been creeping in, so it's great to hear some empowering, encouraging stories!

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  4. Hooray for when things go right! I had a great VBAC where everything went right, but I also have had an everything went wrong birth, so I truly appreciate and understand the joy when things just go well.

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  5. What an encouraging post! Lately I've been feeling very secure and excited about my decision to birth at home with my second, whereas a month ago I was feeling lots of anxiety about it. I'm feeling more optimistic that it is more likely things will go right. Reprogramming my brain to see birth as a beautiful process instead of a constant emergency that could fly out of control at any second!

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  6. Everything went right with my second birth! I had a beautiful labor - on the "long" side (16.5 hrs), but it didn't feel long, because the contractions were manageable for so long. I was so happy and relaxed the whole time, and that's what makes that labor such a happy memory. I couldn't believe it was possible to feel such intense rushes of joy during labor. It was a midwife attended hospital birth - everything was very quiet and dark and calm in the room. (No continuous monitoring, no IV, though I did have a hep lock because of dehydration fears connected to my first labor.) The baby was OP, didn't turn, and I'm hypoglycemic during pregnancy, so after 3+ hrs of pushing I was starting to lose heart. But nobody in the room lost confidence in my ability to do it, and eventually I pushed him out face up, unmedicated. The nurse blurted out that she'd never seen an OP vaginal birth in the hospital. It was so beautiful and peaceful.

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  7. So nice to read this stories. Three weeks ago I had my baby girl. We had planned a homebirth with a midwife, however, our daughter's heartrate was dropping seriously low (once in the 50s) so we transferred to the hospital...the very hospital that I had such a horrible experience at when my son was born two years ago. However, she was born in the ambulance! So I was able to get my natural, unnecessary intervention free birth, which was my goal when I planned a homebirth!

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  8. beautiful, beautiful post :) thank you so much for posting this and sharing these examples of how inherently *normal* and 'right' birth is when we just leave the process alone. much love and well wishes!

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  9. My 2nd birth, a home birth, was so MANY things. Some things went the way I had planned, some things came up (and, er, out) that I hadn't planned on. All I know is immediately after that birth, and ever since, I have wanted another one.
    But if I do have another, I'm thinking outside, under the moon, with a huge bon fire.
    Now if someone could just make Pacific North West weather cooperate....

    I am such a birth story junkie now, if any fellow junkies want to read mine it's in 3 parts (so check for all 3 entries!) on my blog. Just click on my name.

    Hoooooray BIRTH! (heehee)

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  10. Ugh, darn it blogger, why won't you make my profile public???
    Sigh......here's the link: www.thegoldendrool.blogspot.com

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  11. I had a Pitocin induction with no pain meds -- I guess I just didn't know what contractions were "supposed" to feel like (my 1st) so I didn't mind it too much. It was also in a hospital with maternal-fetal medicine OB (so he insisted on EFM).. I'm amazed sometimes that I ended up going as naturally as I did in the circumstances I had!

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  12. These were all great- Thanks! A good birth story always lifts my spirits!

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  13. Everything went right for the birth of my first son two weeks ago. I wrote up the story and haven't yet posted it on my blog, but I sent it to my Bradley instructor, who posted it on her blog. I was going to send it to you, Rixa, but had no idea how time consuming newborns are, and just hadn't gotten around to it. :)

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  14. Ha ha! I was wondering what gave me a traffic boost yesterday! Now I know! Thanks for sharing my birth story, Rixa. :-)

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  15. I just had a beautiful and QUICK 4hr labor last week. Chose to homebirth after 2 c-sections. Everyone was against us but we stuck to our plan and cannot be happier!

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  16. Thanks for sharing! I love it. It reminds me of this post that I recently wrote about some mamas I worked with. http://birth-smart.com/2011/04/21/chance-or-choice/

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  17. I birthed my 11-pound baby at home a couple weeks ago, and almost everything went perfectly. Birth story here: http://crazybutable.com/zateraul/2011/04/23/strongbabys-birth-story/

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  18. Thank you so much for posting this. I also have a clotting disorder, and finding information re: clotting disorders and pregnancy has been quite challenging. Sure there are all sorts of clinical pages full of information about taking heparin and lovenox, but there aren't too many first hand accounts of what it is like to experience pregnancy with a clotting disorder. I am so grateful for Desiree's story. I will be going through her blog over the next few days to see what bits of wisdom I can find and use.

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  19. This is awesome!! My second birth story was so wonderful for me and it was definitely the stories of other positive births that helped me believe it was possible. Here's mine. :)
    http://organicmamacafe.blogspot.com/2009/10/birth-choice-2.html

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  20. I love this round up of positive birth stories. THIS is what our culture needs to wipe out the negative associations of birth, promulgated by media and medical system scare tactics.

    Nice work~

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  21. Enjoying your blog! After two horrible hospital births, we started homebirthing. We have since had six homebirths (baby #9 is due in October). Our last 5 births were waterbirths, and the labors were so quick with #5 and 6 the midwife missed the birth, so we had unplanned unassisted births. Since that seemed right to us, we planned Unassisted births with the last two and although we see a midwife for prenatals throughout the pregnancy, when the time comes, it is our family who welcomes its newest member. I love birthing in soft light in the hot tub with my favorite music and scents. Peaceful birth is where it's at! :)

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  22. Great Blog! When I tell people I had a home birth, they comment on one of two things 1) weren't you scared and 2) no pain meds? crazy!

    Throughout my entire pregnancy, my husband and I have made it a point to focus on always being positive and pray daily for my labor and delivery. Yes there are risks to a home birth and we discussed them with my midwife, but we never dwelt on them or expected those things to happen. We trusted my midwife to handle those situations should they occur, but then put them out of our minds.

    Glad to hear of good! More women need to share their stories to turn the way the majority of woment think about birth.

    Here is my home birth, birth story!

    http://jennwatt.blogspot.com/2011/04/adventures-in-home-birthing-part-2.html

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  23. Thanks so much for posting this! We hear so many horror stories and I think it causes an unnecessary sense of dread and fear for so many. What is something goes wrong?! Glad to hear the very normal stories of things going so, so right. I hope more women can claim theirs, because they deserve it and it is something attainable.

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