Why Hospitals Are Not Ideal for Normal Childbirth

I have no regrets about the way Jane was brought into the world. I did everything I could to have the birth I wanted, and for the most part, I got it. But if I ever have another child, I will definitely try for either a birthing center or a home birth. Here's why:

1. As I walked from the triage room to my delivery room, I had to stop at the nurses station to breathe through a contraction. Somewhere in my consciousness I heard a guy in scrubs say, "Someone needs an epidural." At this point, I was not lowing like a cow, and so I'm not sure what incurred this comment. But I do know that it was incredibly unsupportive, truly undermining, and most inappropriate and unprofessional thing for someone to say to a woman in labor - and coming from a person who apparently works in labor and delivery, no less!! Un-freaking-believable.

2. The four attempts to start an IV kept me from the comfort of the beautiful jacuzzi tub. Boo.

3. Neither the midwife nor the doctor told me that I was getting an episiotomy. I suppose the procedure was justified because my water had broken some 30 hours earlier and they were monitoring the baby's heartbeat very closely. They were also preparing to vacuum her, but the episiotomy was all it took. However, they simply cut me without letting me know. How is that legal?

4.   The delivery room was chaos for the last 25 minutes or so of the delivery. There must have been at least 10 people in the room, despite the fact that there were no serious issues.  So much for a calm and peaceful birth.

I look distressed instead of elated!

5. I had dreamt about holding my baby right after she'd been born since I never had the opportunity with Buzz. However, a crazy nurse scrubbed Jane down as she was lying on my chest. I asked if that was necessary, and she replied, "actually, it is." We had learned that the vernix left on the baby's skin would be absorbed, and besides, so what if she's a little messy? The nurse also clamped and cut the cord without telling us, which was incredibly not cool. It was important to us that the cord finish pulsating before being cut, and though the midwife told us that it had when we asked, there's no way for us to know for sure. This nurse was not part of my dream of holding my newborn.

Paul watching the nurse

6. After things calmed down, Paul noticed that my IV stand had a bag of Pitocin on it. SERIOUSLY? My labor moved so fast once I was in the hospital that I didn't have time to get in the tub. From the moment I had the urge to push until the baby popped out, maybe 30 minutes had passed. What the F*%& did I need Pitocin for? For a woman laboring with contractions as intense as I had them, Pitocin could only be a cruel form of torture. Besides, there was absolutely NO NEED to speed anything up! Argh...

So though I had my natural VBAC, I wouldn't recommend birthing in a hospital to anyone that can avoid it. As hard as I tried, my healthy, natural childbirth became a "medical" experience. You have to wonder how women managed for billions of years to get their babies out without medical intervention...