These birth stories come from my sister who previously worked as a nurse and is currently a stay-at-home wife and mom to her two beautiful children.
Adrienne experienced the difference between having a doctor versus a midwife manage her pregnancy and deliver her baby, and that difference had a huge impact on her satisfaction with each birth.
She also experienced the difference between having an epidural versus having no medicated pain relief during an induced labor – something few women have achieved according to my doula!
Here are her stories …
When I found out I was pregnant with my second child, I knew I wanted to have a midwife. With my first pregnancy, I just used my regular doctor’s office and was seen by different residents all the time, which made consistency of care difficult. Although the resident that I was most often seen by, and who delivered my baby, was very nice and I did like her a lot, my pregnancy and birth experience were anything but ideal.
I was induced at just over 39 weeks due to “high blood pressure” which was actually only high in the doctor’s office but normal at home, and the whole process took 48 hours from the time they started the induction to the time she was born. I wasn’t allowed to eat during that time except for a short period about 24 hours in when they turned off the Pitocin and let me have a meal.
I only slept for about four hours during that whole 48 hour period due to being uncomfortable and being interrupted during the night. I was hooked up to IVs and monitors and it was a hassle to try and get up and move, and I had been told that because I was being induced I wouldn’t be allowed to use the tub for pain relief.
I had been planning on trying to have a natural birth with no epidural, but with no energy from not being able to eat or sleep, not being able to get up and move around or use the tub for pain relief, and having extra strong contractions from the Pitocin, it didn’t happen. I got an epidural about three hours after they broke my water when the contractions kicked it up and were on top of each other so that I wasn’t getting any breaks. She was born seven hours later after an episiotomy and an hour and ten minutes of pushing.
My experience with a midwife this second time around was completely different. The midwives really took the time to get to know me and my preferences and desires for my birth. They knew that I wanted to do things as naturally as possible and they did the best they could to make that happen. I was keeping track of my blood pressure at home since it tends to be higher in the office, and since I was having normal blood pressures at home they were not going to induce me, though they did have me see the maternal fetal medicine doctor at the end of my pregnancy just as a precaution.
However, between 36 and 37 weeks, my blood pressure at home spiked. When I went to my 37 week appointment my midwife had me do bloodwork and urine samples, and since I had a maternal fetal medicine appointment down the hall from the midwife’s office the following day, she told me to stop by afterwards to go over the results.
Well, the results came back as positive for preeclampsia so I was sent straight to labor and delivery after that appointment. Fortunately, they were willing to wait until the next morning to start the induction so that my parents could have time to get here from Michigan and watch our daughter so that my husband could be at the hospital with me, and they just monitored me overnight.
The next morning I got to eat a good breakfast, then they started the “induction” by just sweeping my membranes and having me walk the halls because they thought that may be all I need to get labor going. I was already 3 cm dilated to begin with, and my cervix was low and butter soft, they said. So even though I was just shy of 38 weeks, they said my body was ready for labor, which put me way ahead of where I was with my first birth when my cervix was high, hard, and completely closed when they started the induction.
Sweeping the membranes and walking the halls did cause me to have some contractions, but nothing too strong or consistent, so they did end up using Pitocin a few hours later. They gradually turned it up until I was having good contractions, then broke my water and started turning the Pitocin down. The contractions did get pretty intense, but were never on top of each other like with my first birth.
When I felt like I could no longer stand the pain I got in the tub (because if you have a midwife, apparently you can use the tub even if you’re being induced) which only barely took the edge off. I stayed in there for a while and then started asking for an epidural. They started the bag of fluids that you have to have before you get an epidural, but I heard them mumbling under their breath that I wasn’t going to actually get an epidural. I think they knew I was in transition and there wouldn’t be time.
They were right. Before the fluids finished, I got out and had to push. I pushed for half an hour while the midwife was applying oil to my perineum to prevent tearing, and then he was born. It was excruciatingly painful, and I didn’t necessarily have that high that people talk about after having a natural birth, but the experience was much more pleasant than my first birth.
From the time they swept my membranes until the time he was born was only ten hours. I was allowed to eat the whole time and I never even missed a meal, I didn’t miss too much sleep beforehand, and I only ended up with a couple small tears, which made the healing process about a thousand times better and less painful than with the episiotomy. Overall it was a much better experience than my first, though I don’t know that I would go without an epidural if I had to be induced with Pitocin again!
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