Discussion»Questions»Pregnancy» Pregnant girls: If you go into labour alone at home and no means of getting to a hospital, will you be able to deliver your baby yourself?
I don't think we have any pregnant Muggers at present, though I could be wrong.
In this day and age, it's hard to imagine a situation in which that could possibly happen. A first-time mom will be in active labor for about eight hours... that's not including all the lead-up to it. You're in labor for the better part of a day when you deliver your first child. That's loads of time to call an ambulance, get in touch with a friend, go to a neighbor's house, etc. Subsequent births are much quicker, but you still usually have hours.
I think all moms instinctively know what to do. It's the hospitals that mess us up. Women in labor naturally want to get into positions that ease things, but when you're in a hospital, they're all about getting you on your back and keeping you still which is dumb. You don't need a hospital or any special education to give birth. If you did, our species would not exist.
That's not to say we don't ever need medical interventions, just that I don't think delivering at home should be a major worry for most.
Normally that is the case. I never went into labor naturally. I was induced and had my first child in 2 1/2 hrs. But yes generally you should have time to get to the hospital.
Inductions and medical interventions change everything, often needlessly. If you went past the 42-week mark, perhaps induction was necessary, but that still changes the timeline entirely. My doctor told me she would leave the hospital and someone else would deliver my first baby if I refused pitocin about 9-10 hours into labor. I reluctantly agreed. They told me I'd still labor for another hour or two and then left the room. By the time the came back to check on me 30 minutes later, my son was already crowning. I nearly delivered him alone in the hospital. The speed of the delivery resulted in me getting a 4th degree tear and needing stitches, as well as increasing my recovery time significantly. That delivery caused far more pain and recovery issues than my c-sections did, and it still ticks me off to this day because it was pure selfishness on the doctor's part. It totally changed how I viewed medical interventions in delivery, as well as how I view doctors and the trust I place in them. Yes, interventions can be necessary, but all too often they are involved and totally unnecessary. There will always be variants. Some women may deliver quicker naturally. Some women will fail to make progress after a day of labor. Sometimes interventions save the lives of mothers and babies. I'm not anti-intervention, I'm pro-informed consent. Truly informed consent, which most women don't give because their arms are twisted by their physicians and they consent without knowing everything they should and under duress.
True. I was 42 weeks. My 2!ad was induced at 39 weeks as the Dr was going on vacation. There were complications but I think from an intern braking the water not from the induction. He was an excellent dr other than the habit of inducing several before vacations but I did know this habit before using him. I worked with a former nurse for the hospital and he was the only one she did not have a horror story about. I did know the inductions and he was a flirt. Sorry for your experience, they should never have left immediately after admistrating a med like that.
I think csections are easier to recuperate from. I had the one induced natural. And one emergency csection and one planned csection. The easiest recoup was the emergency. They knocked me out and when I came to it was over. After I was able to get out of the bed, I felt fine.
I agree with JA's skepticism toward a hospital birth - which can be more tailored to fit their convenience than yours. But would point out that one of the reasons they ask you to schedule as they do is to give themselves more latitude in dealing with other things that may come up for them. So not necessarily all bad.
Ideally we should all be set and prepared for whatever we choose whether hospital or family/ midwife, home birth so everything is in place well before we expect to go into labor. And I would dispute JA's figure of eight hrs labor first birth which must be some kind of average because of many friends whose first labor was only a fraction of that. A lot depends on health.
Just Asking 