Birth stories - Natural hospital birth with epidural

Birth stories - Natural hospital birth with epidural ^Featured

Kerry (28) planned a natural hospital birth with no interventions. But had two failed attempts at a spinal block.

She delivered baby Maia after two failed attempts at a spinal block, an epidural that later caused a spinal headache, oxytocin to speed up the stalled labour and a vacuum assist. She and her family are in the USA temporarily and she also gave birth there.

Before the birth, she researched endlessly. “I read books - including The Pregnancy Book by dr. Sears and Natural hospital birth by Cynthia Gabriel -, blogs and online forums. I decided on an intervention free labour, largely because I know that each intervention increases the chance of a C-section.I also think that the passage of a natural birth does amazing things to straighten a baby's spine, push any mucus out of their lungs, etc. I was worried about drugs adversely affecting the baby. I chose a hospital birth because I felt I needed a backup option in case anything went wrong. In the end I was glad to have an OR right next door, just in case.”

Completely ready

When she went into labour, she says she felt completely ready for what lay ahead. “Afterwards though, I was unprepared for the negative emotions I would come to associate with the labour.” She woke up on 07:00 on 8 April last year. It was a Sunday and Maia was born on the 9th. "I had a false labour the Friday evening, but somehow I knew this was different. I tried to sleep through the first contractions, but I had to get moving. I started pacing the room, timing the contractions. Eventually I woke my husband to let him know ‘today is the day’. My parents had just arrived in the US for Maia's birth, and they were so excited they could hardly contain themselves. My husband seemed excited but completely nervous. I felt calm and in control. It all felt surreal.”

All was well - then...stuck

For the first 18 hours of her labour, she had plans and backup plans. Labour positions, pain techniques she learnt – it was all going well. “But baby was stuck, the pressure was unbearable. I was stuck at 9 cm's for 10 hours. At that point I felt like I was reduced to a primitive animal. I remember telling my husband, ‘I can't do this’ and he would make me repeat over and over, ‘I CAN do this’, ‘I CAN do this!’. At first, the doctors left me alone, which I was happy with.But when I ran into trouble they really didn't know what to do, because they were not faced with circumstances like mine very often. In fact, one of the nurses turned to my mom in shock and asked is this the way we give give birth in Africa?" Her baby was posterior asynclitic. The angle of her head meant Kerry was unable to push her baby out by herself.(Click on image for more information). “I pushed for four hours over two sessions (epidural in between). I also had a retained placenta that needed to be yanked out by the doctors. This resulted in a tipped uterus. And I had a spinal headache from the epidural (or failed spinal blocks). I suffered from chronic back pain for six months afterwards.”

Wish she had known

She says no-one ever told her what was wrong.”My labour progressed perfectly normally until 9 cm. I knew my labour was stalled and no one would tell me why, or what I could do to improve the situation. I only discovered later on that the baby was in a bad birth position. I had vaguely heard about such things but I had no idea how common it was. I wish I had known to try to correct baby's position through my own movement (although I did labour in a number of different positions). The gynae on call was not my own doctor and she didn't ever offer any encouragement until right at the end. Then she called me by the wrong name... I was frustrated that the anesthesiologist recommended a spinal block simply based on the fact that I was 9 cm dilated, without knowing anything about my labour. I accepted his suggestions, but I later realised that a spinal block would have only worked for a short period of time (he thought I was near the end, and crazy for requesting pain meds at that point, but I had been in labour for 18 hours and actually still had 6 hours to go) and a spinal block doesn't work when the baby is pressing against the spine like mine was. I remember when the spinal block didn't work, he said ‘Oh, are you having back labour? Oh, it doesn't work in back labour!’ Well then, why didn’t he ask first? I know that the three injections in my spine highly raised my odds of getting the spinal headache, which I did.”

Spinal headaches

“Because of that I could barely stand up to look after my baby for the first week of her life, which I regret. I didn't deal with it particularly well. I felt I had failed my little girl by giving in and asking for the interventions, but I realise now that there probably wasn't any alternative. Time has dulled the anger and frustration. Looking back, I ammost surprised by how little the hospital staff new about a natural unmedicated birth. They were so unused to seeing a woman in pain. The vast majority of women get an epidural as they walk in the door. I was also amazed by how strong my daughter was. After all the pressure and pain we experienced, she was completely healthy and beautiful.”

Strenght and perseverance

She says she felt immune to the emotions of others. She could hear her mom ugently asking the nurse at what point they would consider a C-section, but I couldn't bring herself to care about anything more than just surviving. “I experienced no fear. I felt strength, perseverance, desperation, and then defeat. I reduced everything to one contraction at a time, one breath at a time, one moment at a time.”

Next time?

For her next birth, she would look into visiting a midwife or doula. “Although my husband is still trying to convince me that there might BE a next time! I researched bad birthing positions a lot after my experience and so I am armed with new knowledge. But I would still choose a natural hospital birth.” – Jana Engelbrecht

Baby’s weight: 3,5 @ 38 & a half weeks

Labour lasted: 24 hours

Birth date: 8 April, 2013

Birth stories - Natural hospital birth with epidural Featured

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Birth stories - Natural hospital birth with epidural ^Featured