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Childbirth

Share experiences and get support around labour, birth and recovery.

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Original poster

who gave birth lying on a bed in hospital?

160 replies

ratclare · 27/10/2006 15:43

why do they make us do this ? surely standing or squatting would make this easier ,what with gravity and everything . I am a nurse and i would only make some one have a poo in bed if there was no physical way of getting them out !

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KellyKrueger1978 · 27/10/2006 15:47

i did. I found standing unbearable, no way I could have squatted or anythuing like that. Whenever I stood up the contractions seemed to merge into one long neverending pain. I've always wondered why other woman seem to get relief from moving around!

GODisGOOD · 27/10/2006 15:47

I AM GOD AND I KNOW EVERYTHING. its Henry the 8th fault.

alexsCURSEDMUMMY · 27/10/2006 15:49

i don't think they do make us d this anymore do they?
i had both mine on the floor on all fours in hospital.

TooTickyTheAppleBobber · 27/10/2006 15:49

Squatting is easier andquicker. I wasn't allowed to

lulumama · 27/10/2006 15:51

spent most of my labour at home & active..tried lying down in hospital...midwife made me get up as the pain in my back from OP baby was unbearable...stayed upright a while longer..baby turned and i was sat upon bed to deliver...

i think giving women the freedom to do what they need to do in labour..and the freedom to listen to their bodies is the key.....

whether it is moving.squatting, rocking, or lying down....

but gravity does seem to help....

MacdogOnElmStreet · 27/10/2006 15:51

I wanted to give birth on my front, but by the time i got to delivery room the contractions were too strong and fast to turn over.
I was forced to deliver lying on my back, sliding down the bed, wshing i could get help to turn over!.
An absolutely horrendous experience.
But worth every second!!

pupuce · 27/10/2006 15:51

Alex - God yeah they do!!!!
Most women give birth on a bed and NOT on all fours or on the floor or squatting!
It's the MOST convenient position for healthcare professionals !
Never mind you can actually open your pelvis FAR better in just about every other position!!!!! You tear less too!
At least in the UK you're not in stirrups routinely anymore !

JessaJackOLantern · 27/10/2006 15:55

I did...
It was my first, and I was far too distracted by the pain to think about demanding to have the monitor taken off me to allow movement. And none of the (admittedly loveley) midwives suggested it either...

Later I had an syntocinon (sp?) drip in and then an epidural which sort of limit movement....

katierocket · 27/10/2006 15:55

Me - it was awful. I was continuously monitored and it was a long hideous affair where I ending up in stirrups.

expatinscotland · 27/10/2006 15:56

I did, BUT I was turned round hugging the bit that elevates up b/c I needed to be on my knees.

There's NO way I was moving from that position b/c I was 9cm on arrival.

The midwife and student midwife were great and just did what they had to do w/me on my knees like that.

My baby wasn't delivered straight onto me b/c I wanted to stay in that position until the placenta was delivered.

So I just went w/what my body was telling me.

tiredemma · 27/10/2006 16:04

epidural- made me bedridden!

nailpolish · 27/10/2006 16:07

i agree ratclare, i always voice this whenever i see women giving birth on telly etc

lying on my back was the LAST postition i wanted to be in

i was standing both times

i did try to lie down a few times during each labour (as i was pacing about for hours and got tired) but it was most uncomfy

alex8 · 27/10/2006 16:07

I looked at some ones baby pregnancy magazine and they had an article about giving birth on all fours and how unusual it was. I was really shocked becasue in my nct classes and hopital antenatal classes they were really advocating that position. And they had this fab pelvis prop and a ball and showed how it went through better like that. And lots of my friends gave birth like that. Those magazines are soo crap. Glad Ive never paid for one.

Plibble · 27/10/2006 16:10

I ended up with a c/s (apparently because of crap pelvis) but before that spent so much time being monitored that I definitely wasn't allowed to move as much as I felt I needed to. All my labour pain was in my back and it was agonising. The fact that I was continuously monitored is the one bit that really upsets me even now, 4 months later.

I still don't know why they kept monitoring me. I had a high bp, but this was controlled with medication. Afterwards it turned out that some muppet had written in my notes that I was induced, as I had been scheduled for induction when I turned up at the hospital already in labour, so I wonder if this was the reason.

The annoying thing is that I was at a hospital with a good active birth centre and, although I wasn't in the ABC, I did not expect to be continously monitored. Problem is, it was a first labour and I was too overwhelmed to protest much after the first few hours.

MamaGhoul · 27/10/2006 16:11

I did both times. First time I was exhausted, full of epidural and was happy to do it that way.

SEcond time was so quick (pushed for 5 mins) that I didn't really have time to think about changing position

nailpolish · 27/10/2006 16:12

thats such a shame plibble

where i gave birth was great, not a sniff of a doctor, mw's running the show (waahey)

Greensleeves · 27/10/2006 16:15

I was in a wheelchair for 6 months with severe SPD, and was then made to labour on my back on a bed for 24 solid hours, they would not let me change poeition or get up because I had drips/monitors/whatever all over me because of other problems. It was later I read that women with SPD should never labour on their backs. Quite a few of the midwives who drifted in and out didn't know what SPD was, I had to explain it to them.

I've blurted the details of that birth enough times on here, but the being pinioned on my back with all the pressure on my pelvis for 24 hours was one of the worst things.

Azure · 27/10/2006 16:17

Oh yes, stirrups for me. After a longish labour and no joy with the ventouse and forceps, I was taken up to theatre and prepared for a c-section. They managed to yank DS1 out with forceps just in time to prevent surgery, apart from the repair to my third-degree tear.

katierocket · 27/10/2006 16:19

It's grim isn't it. Stirups were so depressing and they didn't help bugger all.

I am so desperate for next birth to be different.

popsycal · 27/10/2006 16:21

i lay down for both
with ds1 they tried to get me to stabnd up but i was adamant that i didnt want to
with ds2 i was just being examined and it was pretty much too late

nailpolish · 27/10/2006 16:21

I had forceps with dd1 but i didnt have to lie down

SoupDragon · 27/10/2006 16:25

I did. Nobody made me do this, it's what I chose.

My birthplan for DS1 stated I wanted to choose my positions and it so happened that the position I chose was wimpering at the foot of the bed. With DS1 & 2 there is no way I could have done anything else as my legs collapsed with every contraction. DD was a home waterbirth so I was fully supported (andI didn't have a bed in there )

katierocket · 27/10/2006 16:26

Home waterbirth sounds so lovely.

expatinscotland · 27/10/2006 16:27

They'd have had to pick me up and turn me over themselves, b/c I was on my knees gripping the gurney as they wheeled me into the delivery suite - I was not able to stand up anymore and felt literally locked into that position.

I'd travelled to hospital in a nightshirt and dressing gown w/nothing underneath.

SoupDragon · 27/10/2006 16:27

It was.

Still bloody painful though

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