A Natural Birth Should Be A Home Birth

by sara
(uk)

I am not sure if this is a great story but it is a true one and one I would hope may encourage expectant mothers to release any fear and trust their own universal power within.

I was pregnant in a country (not my own) where in order to give birth in a clinic or even at home would require taking out a small mortgage and so I returned to my homeland of England.

The National Health System (NHS) do support home births but my mother whose home I was staying in did not and also my husband and family members made it very clear that it would be selfish of me to have a home birth, I had to think of the baby's safety etc.

My local hospital did have a 'state of the art' (their words!) birthing room with pool so that was my compromise, ok as long as I got the pool room.

My bags were packed - I had my herbal remedies, arnica tablets (for healing after)sports drinks, dextrose sweets (for energy), raspberry leaf tea (for encouraged contractions) and the most important my which clearly stated I was to have no drugs and that I wanted a pool birth, the pool would be my only source of pain relief.

1 day after due date I noticed some brownish discharge and called the hospital they said you had better come in. I didn t have to wait long and a very nice lady doctor examined me.

She concluded that the amniotic sack was intacked, nothing to worry about and I could go home. The following day the same thing happened so off I popped to the hospital again. This time I had to wait but only to be told the same thing and be sent home. Before I even made it out of the hospital I had a show of blood so naturally I turned around and went back to the delievery suite where I had been previously examined. They ushered me upstairs to the labour ward where I was told to wait for another doctor. After some time spent in the dreary 1970 s 'lounge' I was given my own room and at the same time informed the doctor would probably not make it till the morning and that I had to stay in hospital to be monitored (haha!)

That was the last time I saw anyone until 6am when I asked to be released (and I say released as I felt like a prisoner). Refused and told I must wait for the (mystery) doctor I returned to my room alone to continue with my mild contractions which had started at 2am and wait for my husband who was not even allowed in the premises till 9am!

By 9am contractions are considerably stronger, yes thats right of course the brownish discharge and the show of blood were signs of the onset of labour, I mean any fool reading the internet would of known that!


My poor dear husband arrived and until 4pm he acted as my midwife. 2 blondes dolled in makeup poked their heads in once each and asked if i was alright in response to my screaming! One even offered painkillers y know like you would take for a headache??? Desperate I took them only to vomit them straight back up, I hadn t eaten since 6pm the day before.

I went to toilet once the most horrific experience, I had to walk out of my room down a public corridor to a communal bathroom and back again in my lovely hospital nighty having contractions along the way. Completley uncomfortable in every respect.

At 4pm an angel appeared in the form of an Irish midwife after a swift examination to check dialation said, 'you are in early labour' to which I replied having already begun to leave the planet mentally speaking, 'its not early I was due last friday' , of course she meant first stages of labour.(Mmmmmmmmmmmm tell me something I don t know!)

She quickly departed and quickly returned telling me off for my screaming she said it wasn t helping she also said it was time to go downsatirs. we waited an hour for someone to come and wheel me downstairs.

Yes I was in the pool room thank god. The pool wasn t ready and so I went inside the quite small (by anyone s standards)shower cubicle, the calming and pain relieving effects of the water far outwayed my claustrophobia. A few strangers payed a visit and finally someone showed up claiming to be my assigned midwife.

Ok great I asked her if I could go in the pool now to which she replyed, 'no, no I can t let you do that I have to supervise another birth and I m not allowed to leave you alone in the pool.'
I was devastated all I could mutter was, 'but thats my only pain reief.'

Seeing my utter disapointment she said she could fill the pool as if it were a bath and I could sit in it a while.

Well I was in that bath/pool for 3.5hrs and I gave birth in it. The midwife who wasn t actually a practicing midwife anymore, she constantly kept reminding me of how she came to be there. She was now a teacher and had been in the hospital that day giving a talk/teaching when she had been approached to help out in the delivery suite due to a high number of births taking place and a shortage of staff.

Apparently women were being turned away at the door that night. So I listened to her repeated moans of how she shouldn t be there and that her husband would be wondering what had happened and how hungry she was throughout my last stages of labour.

Another midwife joined her at the end and she kept saying to her, ' I ll stay till the baby is born but I m not doing the paper work!'

When my contractions began to lessen she complained about being there all night. In the end I was so sick of listening to her that I didn t wait for a contraction and just pushed as hard as I could as long as I could. I saw the head or rather the hair floating in the water and then I went somewhere else, I don t know where I was and then I heard, 'hold your baby!'


She actually scooped him up and gave him straight to me. Afterwards the other midwife was stuck at her computer for about 3 hours so trying to get my baby to breastfeed was left to me and washing myself was left to me with a little help from my mother.


The midwife was keen to get the placenta out and offered me some drug to do so but I insisted the raspberry leaf tea would do the job and it did.
After the paper work was finished we were taken upstairs to a single room where I was left alone with my firstborn child unable to sleep as I was watching over him. He actually slept the best part of 7 hours but I couldn t.

They kept me there for 2 more days, the longest of my life. Refusing to let me leave as we were struggling with breastfeeding. I would press the buzzer next to bed in the middle of the night either no one would come or someone not a midwife would come and say sorry I can t help you they are really busy they will come as soon as they can, they never did.

I had to go to the toilet with my baby I didn t wash the whole time I was there as there was no one to help me or watch the baby. When I finally got to see a half asleep midwife on the second night and express my concern that my baby had not fed since birth she merely suggested she take him and bottlefeed him.

I was so tired and so upset I said if thats what needs to happen ok bt I don t really want to do that so she said she would take him and check his bloodsugar. On her return she told me he was fine. Of course some time later I discovered that is perfectly normal for a baby not to feed straight away.

On the second day I appealed to the Irish midwife, I told her I had to leave that I was literally going crazy in there and would soon be very depressed. So she sent my husband off to the chemist for nipple sheilds and meanwhile had me manually expressing the colustrum to feed my baby. It all worked and so she could tick the box that he had fed.

My first night home I actually was able to fall asleep though I kept waking quite delirious from my lack of sleep/food/rest of any kind. I remember waking 2 times in such a panic once I shouted, 'where s the baby???' and another time, 'what s going on, what happens next???'.

In hospital there was a constant stream of people coming in my room just knocking and entering, cleaners, menu ladies, breastfeeding experts 2 came at once on one occasion,some ridiculous lady from 'bounty' doing a survey, unbelievable. It was hell, a lonely fustrating hell no place for a precious life to begin and no place for someone to begin recuperation.

I was angry and upset for a long time after and I suffered physiaclly the consequences of pushing so hard at the wrong time.

I did manage though to birth my son without any medical intervention or drugs of that I am proud and eventually we conquered the feeding.

I hadn t wanted another baby perhaps due to this experience however I am pregnant again and this time no hospital and I will be having a natural birth, I figure if I can do it once I can do it a second time. I ll let you know what happens.