I went into labor early
on May 4, 2012 I had been going to see a midwife throughout my pregnancy. When I
told my husband that I had been having contractions he wanted me to go ahead
and call. I made the call, I was told to take a shower to see if they stopped
and to call back if they continued and got closer together this was at about
lunch time. Around 2pm my contractions were only five minutes apart so I called
my husband to come home from work and called the midwife back and told her that
we would be coming in to the birth center to be checked. I live an hour from
the birth center and by the time we got there the contractions had spaced back
out, so we came home and spent the night.
I
got up the next morning still having contractions but they were spaced very
irregularly, so we decided to go check our mail. It’s not a long walk but
during it my contractions went from 10 minutes apart to under 5 minutes apart.
I called the midwife and she said to head on to the birth center. We arrived
before she did so she told us to go get some lunch, as you are encouraged to
eat during labor there. I was put on a monitor for only 20 minutes but they
were the longest 20 minutes of my life, I hated not being able to move and
forced to lie on my back. As soon as the monitoring was over, I received antibiotics
for Group B Strep, and then I got into the birth tub. I labored in the birth
tub for several hours, with country music blaring through the birth center
since I was the only laboring mom there. When it came time to push, I had
gotten out of the tub to make sure I was dilated enough to push. I was allowed
to get back into the tub as I wanted a water birth, however as I was pushing
nothing was happening in the tub. The midwife encouraged me to get out and try
other positions, I tried getting on all fours, squatting, laying on my back
which worked best for me. But I still was not really progressing, they were
telling me to go urinate but I was unable. Finally they decided to try to cath
me, within three pushing and only minutes my beautiful son was born. He was
born at 6:07pm and we were released at approximately 1am.
Germany
In Germany all births are required to have a midwife present with a doctor being optional. A pregnant woman is not legally allowed to be fired and can stop working 6 weeks before the due date and cannot return to work for 8 weeks with full pay. Then there are three years of unpaid leave available, with the third year being able to be taken by either parent. A practice that would probably never be accepted in the U.S. is that parents must choose the child's name off an approved list.
Wow...that sounds like quite an experience! Was this your first pregnancy? If not, was this different or the same as before?
ReplyDeleteThere is a huge difference in how parents are treated in the work environment here in the US versus other places throughout the world. When I took maternity leave, I was allowed 8 weeks but I had to use my earned vacation time and sick time to account for it. I didn't have enough vacation/sick time to cover the entire time so friends at work donated some of their earned sick time to me. I also had to telework a few hours every week to make sure I got paid while I was at home with the boys. Some places in Europe give mothers 1 year of paid leave!
This was my first and only pregnancy. I received no paid time off but was told that I could return early and work in the office. My son would have been able to go with me but would have had to sit in a car seat while I was there. I chose to stay home and provide in-home child care instead so I could be with him more.
DeleteWhen I had my daughter I wanted to explore the option of a birthing tub but my doctors spoke against it. Were you encouraged to have a water birthing experience by your midwife or did you explore it on your own and make the decision?
ReplyDeleteI had researched water births before getting pregnant, but at the birth center it was available to all clients. The midwives encourage women to labor and deliver in the way that feels best to them.
DeleteThanks for the information regarding the process of babies being born in Germany and how parents have to choose names from a list. My parents would of been in trouble because I know that LaShaunessye would not have made that list. smile
ReplyDeleteTonya
ReplyDeleteThat sounds like a interesting birthing experience. I always wanted to try birthing in water but I never really looked into it fully. I am please to know that you were able to go home only after a few hours.
I didn't have any trouble taking off work for maternity leave but, I had to hold on to my sick days so that I would have enough time to take off. Where I work you can stay home as long as you want but you have to have the time in order to get paid. Some teachers I know have taken off an entire year but, wasn't placed in the same building when they returned to work. Parents in Germany have to pick their child's name off an approved list? That bugs me out.
Tonya,
ReplyDeleteAwesome story! I wish we could have done something different for the birth of our babies, however since we had twins both times, we decided against taking the additional risks associated with twin births. Just curious, but did you also allow your son to try and self attach?
I'm not really sure what you mean by "self attach"
DeleteSorry, lots of studies have shown that infants can begin breast feeding without any help within an hour of being born.
DeleteThe nurse helped him latch right after he was born, because he was looking for the breast. He wasn't really able to latch, I noticed a couple of months later that he was tongue-tied and that was the reason. I pumped for him to have breast milk for 7.5 months before I couldn't do it any longer and started him on formula.
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