Search Results for: blog monitoring baby during labor

Choosing Goals for Your Birth Plan for Labor

A birth plan is an essential part of having the birth that you want. All pregnant women should write a comprehensive birth plan that describes their preferences for labor, birth and the immediate post partum period. Before you can write a birth plan, you need to know what you want. That is where having goals is beneficial. Setting goals for your birth is a big topic. For this reason, I will split it into two blogs, one for labor and the other for the birth and beyond. In our society, we often focus on what can go wrong during birth. … Continue reading →

The Let’s Talk Blog Top Ten – Ways to Achieve a Normal Birth

TEN: Allow labor to begin on its own. Getting induced with Pitocin tends to lead to further complications and more painful contractions. Inductions should be reserved for medical indications only. NINE: Allow yourself movement. You’ll be more comfortable if you are able to move freely during labor. Your labor will most likely progress quickly if you are able to keep active and respond to your labor pains by changing positions. EIGHT: Say no to routine interventions. Ask for intermittent, instead of constant, fetal monitoring. Having belts, cords or wires on your person can tie you down and won’t allow you … Continue reading →

Pregnancy and Last Minute Changes

Yesterday I found out that one of my two midwives left the practice.  Yesterday also happened to mark a calendar month before my due date.  As you might guess, in my hormonal state (and given that I’m also just kind of a worrier anyway), I found this all upsetting. Now that there’s only one midwife, there’s a chance I might have a regular obstetrician deliver my baby, if my midwife isn’t on call when I go into labor.  Not only that, it will be one I won’t know, because all of my prenatal appointments have been with my midwives.  It’s … Continue reading →

Induction: What to Expect

Posted on by

During my pregnancy, I had no reason to expect that I would have to be induced other than the fact that my mom did. But since the doctor assured me that wasn’t necessarily an indicator that I would need an induction as well, I assumed I would go into labor naturally. If you’ve been reading this blog for any length of time, you know that I did, in fact, end up needing an induction. It was intimidating because I did not know what to expect and I was terrified of the IV. Those pesky little IV’s are pretty much mandatory … Continue reading →

An Unbelievable Error

Posted on by

I just read the most incredible story; I can’t believe it’s true. Apparently a few years ago, at the Cape Fear Valley Medical Center in Fayetteville, North Carolina, a women came into the hospital asking for a cesarean section. The doctors unsuccessfully attempted to induce labor. They then unsuccessfully tried to do a cesarean. That is, the cesarean would have been successful if the women was actually pregnant. You’re probably thinking this is an April Fools joke, but I assure you, it is not.http://blogs.families.com/admin/b2edit.php?blog=31 The woman in question was suffering from a condition called pseudocyesis, a disorder, which I’ve written … Continue reading →

Pitocin

Occasionally it becomes necessary to medically induce labor. A women might appear to be “stuck” in latent labor, she may be too far past her estimated due date, her blood pressure might be too high (hypertension), or the baby might be experiencing fetal distress. Sometimes the reasons are not medical in nature. If a woman is full term and her preferred doctor is going to be out of town, she might be induced so her doctor is able to deliver the baby. I have also heard of pregnant women being induced so their husbands can attend the birth while they … Continue reading →

Then and Now: Obstetrics

Around the 1930s, most women switched from giving birth at home with a midwife, to giving birth at a hospital with an obstetrician. Unfortunately, at this point in history, women were still better off delivering at home. In the 1930s, 1 in a 150 pregnancies resulted in maternal death. As a result, many changes were made in the field of obstetrics. Procedures were standardized and doctors were more carefully trained. By the 1950s, the maternal death rate was lowered to 1 in 2,000. Today it’s about 13 in 100,000 (roughly 1 in 7,692). Most of the progress made in the … Continue reading →

How to Have a Natural Birth in a Hospital Part 2

In yesterday’s blog post, I talked about the impact your choice of hospital has on your birth experience. The other part of the picture when you want a natural birth, free of interventions is the health care provider you choose to attend your birth. Your health care provider has a big impact on your birth experience. In many hospitals, you can have a doctor or midwife attend your birth. Choose a provider that is supportive of natural birth and won’t use interventions unless medically necessary. Doctors are very different in their approaches to labor and birth. Some are quicker to … Continue reading →

Risk in Multiple Pregnancies

You are not allowed to read this without understanding the following: risk is relative. You are at risk by driving your car, flying in a plane or crossing the street. Why do I say this? From the moment you find out that you are pregnant with twins, you will be thrust into the world of a highly managed pregnancy. That might be fine with you. It wasn’t with me, until I understood multiple pregnancies a little better. Change of Plans I have never had a home birth but if our insurance covered it, I would’ve. As an alternative, I found … Continue reading →

Understanding the Language of Birth

Throughout your pregnancy, you will likely be reading about birth. You will encounter some words and phrases that will be unfamiliar. Learning some of the common language used during birth will help you feel more confident and prepared. Active labor is the phase of labor when your cervix reaches four centimeters until it is fully dilated. These contractions are more intense than early labor contractions. Analgesic medications are used to help dull the pain of labor. Some of these medications are given intravenously through an IV and others are injected into the muscle tissue. Back Labor occurs when the mother … Continue reading →