A FTM birth plan thrown to the wind

@maximus1215 Yes, even the ones that were inductions. The last one involved pitocin and I slept through the first five hours of it, by the 5 hr mark though the discomfort woke me up and they reached the max pitocin they could give anyway so I got the epidural then before it got so intense that I couldn’t sit still for it. Two births prior to that I labored in my bathroom for four hours before going to the hospital and that was straight horror show. No sleeping through that pain, position changes, getting in the tub, keeping the room warm, nothing helped by the time I went to the hospital. Contractions were about 1.5-2 minutes apart and I gave birth about 2.5 hrs after getting to the hospital.
 
@snowtrekker I went through the EXACT same thing. I was dead-set on as natural as possible. It wasn’t until after 24 hours of grueling labor with that fact that I went without sleep for the 24 hours before that, I decided it was time to start preparing myself for the reality that what was best for baby’s and my health was to get the epidural.

I was sticking to the original plan so hard in the beginning that my nurse at the time sat down next to me and reassured me that it was okay to switch plans and have the pain go away. I remember sobbing into my husband’s arms telling him it felt like I was stuck in the hardest decision I’ve ever had to make. Once the anesthesiologist was in the room I couldn’t back out. I don’t regret making the choice to get the epidural looking back on it now. I couldn’t have gone through the following 12 hours it without it. And I’m glad you did what was best for you and baby.

Congratulations, you did it!
 
@snowtrekker I was the same as you with my first, but when labor actually started my body would not relax enough to open so that the baby could actually be born until I had the epidural. I labored without meds for 16 hours and couldn't get past 3 cm (which is what I'd been at when I arrived at the hospital). Once I had the epidural, I took a nap and woke up and was at 10 cm. It took two pushes for her to make it down the birth canal. I have no regrets for my choice to use pain meds because it was the right thing for my body and my baby. I'm glad I tried to have the birth I'd envisioned before taking a different tack. It just didn't work out the way I'd hoped!

For some people, a low-intervention birth works out great. For others it's just not in the cards. The biggest lesson I learned from that birth was to be flexible and forgiving of myself.
 
@snowtrekker I was the same with my birth plan, I labored for 4 hours without pain meds and couldn’t take anymore, but it turns out I’m too sensitive to the numbing stuff in the epidural so once I got to 10cm i pushed for 2 hours without any headway, after that we made the decision to turn off the epidural completely, I pushed for an hour without it and I was getting too exhausted from the pain so the nurse convinced me to allow them to turn it back on just a little so I could have some relief, that little bit of relief was enough to get me through the last hour of pushing. It was rough but I did it, wouldn’t have made it without the epidural though because the pain was exhausted me so much.
 
@snowtrekker I had back labour with my first and my plan was always to have an epidural. My epidural completely failed due to placement and it couldn't be safely done again after 3 tries. Ended up with a pain med free birth that took 25hs and it was the most horrible experience of my life.
 
@snowtrekker Back labour suuuucks. My first was transverse & back to back and that shit hurt. Felt like I was being stabbed over and over! I told my husband I’d be marrying the anaesthetist who did my epidural.

Second baby was mild-moderate period cramps and felt nothing like the first. Gas and air did the trick!

I also wanted an intervention-free birth but just got unlucky. It helps me to remember that so much is down to the position of the baby!
 
@hsong I don’t think you’re unlucky. I thing the women who have no access to modern medicine during labor and delivery are unlucky. You’re so incredibly lucky to have had options to help your body get through these painful labors.
 
@roseallan Very true! I just meant unlucky with baby’s position. My care team were incredible and if it wasn’t for them, neither of us would be here.
 
@snowtrekker Interventions were my life line—I, too prepared in all the ways…I’m a breath work coach for a living. I labored for 41 hours and ended up in c-section. Got the epidural at 20 hours in…once I did my progression was so much smoother, though I needed four boluses because the back labor on my left hip was so freaking painful—no trick in the book could pull me out of it. Baby was probably asynclitic and wasn’t coming vaginally or naturally.
 
@snowtrekker My goal was intervention free too, but I was never fully against epidural. I also had back labor. Contractions for 30 hours before finally going to the hospital. So I didn't sleep for 2 days. A few hours after getting to the hospital, I decided I wanted the epidural. I also forgot all of my distractions I had prepared and Bayshore medicines I wanted to try before the epidural. Lol
 
@snowtrekker Reading through all these comments and if the plan went accordingly or not I think people being happy and at peace with their birth is the best outcome. My plans all went out the window as well with a breech birth. I cried I couldn't labor when I first found out and was devastated but ultimately had a planned c-section. It was so peaceful, happy, and relaxing I couldn't imagine a better birth for me and my now healthy 2 year old. He was hopelessly wrapped in his cord and any other option just wouldn't have been possible.
 
@ohiobeekeeper I was sent home at 3cm and contractions 3-5 minutes apart. I didn’t progress while in triage and they knew I wanted unmedicated so since baby was doing well they said I’d be more comfortable at home. 🤷🏻‍♀️
 
@ohiobeekeeper If I wanted an epidural right away I’m sure they would have. I was trying to go unmedicated so they were more like- if you don’t want an epidural, we recommend you go home to be more comfortable.
 
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