how funny the mention of your labor ‘stalling out’ due to stress– wednesday I also felt like something was happening– contractions every 5 minutes or so, painful ones for the first time, pressure in my pelvis and other things. I texted a friend who had ‘back labor’ with her kids (because that’s what I was feeling) and she said yep you’re going soon, and when I was able to stand and walk two hours later I found both my dogs had escaped the house. I had to go out and drag them back home– frightening because neither of them are currently wearing tags. I thought the exertion would send me over the edge, but instead a little later it all stopped. No more laboring since! Oh, well. Was hoping it would start on its own without induction ~sigh

I can’t wait to hear how the birth went! I really hope it was fabulous, really really really fabulous and you can write an epic tale to rub in the faces of those hideous drs. Actually, if the VBAC wasn’t deadly for you guys, you should definitely write an account, citing researched facts for why you did it, and submit hard copies to as many people in the L&D department as possible.

Congratulations again : )

@Caity, honestly, it got worse. This past Monday morning I woke up to a fair amount of blood, being that I never experienced labor with my oldest, I wasn’t sure if it was normal. We figured this would also be a good opportunity to see what the other hospital, Lutheran General, was like.

To say that Northwest is a BETTER option at this point, should show you how bad LG was. The MOMENT we arrived, they took a very long time, in an empty ER, to get me to Labor and Delivery. Once up there, they had me stay at the nurses station, HORRIFIED I wanted a VBAC, for about 10 minutes before putting me in a room. Once in the room I was accosted by 2 nurses trying to convince me to VBAC was a death sentence, they called up a resident and TWO on-call OB’s to convince me to not VBAC. The 2nd OB told me I was being selfish, my baby would surely die, that my baby was MASSIVE even though palpating my belly shows he’s average size, etc. One of the nurses got very upset with me, “are you a medical professional? no? then you don’t know what you’re talking about!”. The resident told me uterine rupture was generally a 2% chance, I told her that all the recent studies show 0.7%. So on and so forth (don’t want to bore you heh).

LONG story short, I declined blood work, signed out AMA, they lied about receiving my c-section report from Ohio, and apparently have NO record I was even THERE Monday when we called Tuesday morning about the Ohio record that was CONFIRMED they actually did receive. Insane right.

@michele, I have to admit I am VERY proud of myself for not only speaking up, correcting their “mis-information” aka fear tactics, but taking matters into my OWN hands, declining tests I did not want or NEED and signing out of the 2nd hospital AMA. Right now I consider myself to be in uber early labor, been having MASSIVE amounts of bloody show since Monday morning, started having contractions but due to some family stress (not my oldest son or boyfriend), my labor completely stalled out ugh.

@TheFeministBreeder, thank you SO MUCH. I am going to check out those links right now. Hell, I am going to PRINT them out! It’s really crazy to me how many people are interested in my uterus and vagina, only because I had major abdominal surgery to deliver my first son due to his footling breech nature. I had even commented at Lutheran General (on Monday) to the one nurse that they would NOT be treating me in that manner (verbal assault from them on the “dangers” of VBAC) if I did not have a previous c-section. I never knew a humans face could turn so hateful and red so quickly heh.

I had my VBAC in a NON-friendly situation too, but with enough grit you can do it! I wouldn’t let anybody stop me and you don’t have to either!

http://thefeministbreeder.typepad.com/the_feminist_breeder/2008/05/jules-michael-birth-story.html
.-= {TheFeministBreeder´s shared blog entry… The Feminist Breeder Goes to Philly} =-.

The doc’s scare tactics are just sad. Stick to your guns. You can do it.

I just had my VBAC (at home) 5 months ago. My previous OB said I was “too small” to deliver vaginally. She said I would fail if I tried a VBAC.

Well, I had my 9 lb baby girl at HOME, VAGINALLY. Bigger than her big brother who was “too big” for me. LMAO

I will now be on the look out for your birth story. :)

It’s also very common for women to be told they can’t handle labor on their own, so they’re given an IV and an epidural, and it’s very hard to stop a nurse giving you pitocin or other labor-inducing drugs once you already have an IV in.

As for making your own decisions, I agree. You SHOULD be able to. But many doctors are like the ones Sarah unfortunately had to deal with. They’re set in their ways, or they want the increase in pay that comes with a cesarean (Surgery and anesthesia cost a lot of money, which the doctor gets a cut of.), or they want to be home in time for dinner. (Doctors hours are 8–4, don’t let anyone tell you different. They don’t want to be there after or before.) It’s terrible, but it’s true.
.-= {Caitlin´s shared blog entry… If “…” were an appropriate blog title, all of mine would be.} =-.

.. and I wonder, if this is something that is common in the mid-west states and east coast, because my mom did not have to deal with this and well as a lot of my friends who gave birth on the west coast.
.-= {Thasanee´s shared blog entry… Monday! Monday! Monday!} =-.