By Bronwyn

It took me a year to start to dissect my c - section and begin to question my midwife, S - who I had previously ensconced on a pedestal. She gave us so much information on the pros and cons of home vs. hospital during the 22 hours of antenatal classes we attended, and is still one of the most knowledgeable people on the subject of birth that I have ever met. I became so radically opposed to everything to do with hospital that in the end, the sense of failure and mortification I had to bear when I ended up in that dreadful place was unbearable.  

By Kathryn

My first child was conceived on the heels of my second (very early) miscarriage – literally, I got the positive pregnancy test five weeks after I lost the previous pregnancy.  Because of my history, I spent my entire pregnancy in daily terror; I had no faith in my body’s ability to carry or birth a baby.  I asked my family practice doctor, who was also an OB, if she would provide my pregnancy care and deliver my baby, and she was thrilled to do so.  At the time, I thought I was getting a pretty standard OB experience – I only found out later how lucky I’d been, really.

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By Tessa

Appeared originally on May 7, 2010 at Aimed at the Heart

So last night I had a strange dream. And stranger still, it was one of those dreams that you remember with such clarity that you wonder if it was really a dream at all. In this dream I went to the RD Regional Hospital “Birth Office” (that’s how I knew it was a dream because I’m pretty sure that office doesn’t actually exist). I sat down with the lady for an “interview” of sorts about my birth experience with the hospital.

What I told her (in my dream) went something like this:

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By Annie

“There were too many things going on that we couldn’t explain.”

This, ultimately, is what led to my surgery.  I have to backtrack to get the whole story out.  I am going to be elusive as I am afraid someone might figure out various people I’m talking about as I recount all that’s happened, as I wonder if anyone else has ever had the same series of events. 

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Before I became pregnant, I knew I wanted a hospital birth, but did not want any doctors to intervene or pressure me to “hurry up” my labor process unless medically necessary. I just wanted to be in the hospital in case of an emergency, and, if there was no emergency, I wanted the nurses and doctors to just let me birth, uninterrupted.

I didn’t know who my delivery doctor would be, because the practice consisted of about 2 dozen doctors. Some people said that that was a disadvantage. I knew it was a blessing in disguise. Because I purposely scheduled and met a new OB during each prenatal visit, I had the opportunity to establish a rapport with many doctors, and became very comfortable communicating with every doctor, as my due date drew near.

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Sixteen weeks ago I failed to give birth. I use that word quite deliberately, failed, because that is what I feel happened. I didn’t have a medical emergency that required intervention, my life, and the life of my baby weren’t in danger, I just wasn’t in labour. My caregivers were either unwilling or unable to support a wait and see approach so despite there being no medical need, I was given an induction which ultimately ended in a C-section.

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I had my first child by c-section, I was 41 weeks when my water broke, so we did the right thing and went to L&D to be checked and since I was GBS positive I agreed to induction which meant pitocin.   Well, pitocin is a bitch as you know and the epidural that the anesthesiologist tried to give me for what seemed like hours, twice, while I was vomiting and contracting never actually worked despite 10 pokes to find my epidural space.

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I had a c-section after 22 hours of labor (3 of that pushing) with my oldest daughter. She was 9lbs 1oz and I was told that she was stuck because my pelvis was too small. When I got pregnant again I searched for an OB who would let me VBAC. I found one not far from me and was very excited. I had read a ton of books and had talked to a lot of educators in the health field. I had great support from my family, found a doula and was rearing to go.

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Kelden “Kelty” Andrew 10-3-03, Licking Memorial in Newark, OH

Early on in my pregnancy I learned from my good friend Megan about The Bradley Method and the benefits of natural childbirth.  I read books such as “The Thinking Women’s Guide to a Better Birth” by Henci Goer, “Husband Coached Childbirth”, and the like.  Frankly, I was a bit frightened to have my baby in a hospital after reading those books!  There were no natural birthing centers in our area and we never really considered having a homebirth at the time.  So we opted to find a midwife who practiced out of an OB/GYN doctor’s office.  We found a Bradley Method instructor 45 minutes away and began weekly classes at around 25 weeks. 

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Dana switched to the care of a midwife at 30 weeks pregnant after discovering that the hospital at which she planned to give birth had a 43 percent cesarean rate.

Olivia’s Birth from Dana Lee jones on Vimeo.

Now that I’m pregnant again, all those emotions from Buster’s & Noodle’s births are coming back to haunt me. So much that happened was not what I would have chosen & so many women who’ve had Cesareans have run the same emotional gauntlet as I have. And yes, I know that I’m extremely blessed and I should be thankful that I had healthy babies… but there’s this part of me that always feels cheated. From that first moment the Dr gave up on my body’s ability to birth a baby the natural way…

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My name is Danielle, I am a cesarean section mother, and I love the Unnecesarean blog. Why? Because of my experiences as a pregnant woman and a mother. It all started what seems like forever ago, but in reality it was only April of 2007. I learned I was pregnant with my first child Camden. I was not really educated about birth, pregnancy, or natural birth in general and in turn I paid the price. I started seeing a practice of two female Obstetricians thinking the care I would get through them would be similar to the midwifery model of care, and I was completely wrong. At 21 years old, healthy, and having the typical bumpy, sick, miserable pregnancy, I was labeled high risk and it seems like everything from then on out was as medicalized as it could possibly be. But I was so blinded by the mentality that doctors know everything and that I was doing what was “best” for my baby, because that is what they told me, that I followed along like a lemming walking straight off of a cliff…

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Jessica’s HBAC and “The Green Glove”

By Susan Scott Gill, LM, CPM 

      Written on a green glove…TOB 9:55 pm, HR 140. That’s all that got charted up until Jessica’s birth.  It was written by my apprentice Lindsey who had just walked in the door as Luther was being pushed out and into Jessica’s loving, waiting arms.   

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There have been a few different versions of this story and I lost the original when I edited it for the Colorado Midwives’ newsletter awhile back. So, this is my attempt to breathe some of the life and details back into it. But, it’s a bit long. ;) Our love and thanks to so many friends and family who made this story what it is. Each year, I sit in disbelief and I remember this story and how blessed we are to have these girls.