is there anyone here who have had lovely births????

[psychomum5]

there are so many sad sad threads here of women who have had truly awful times, and someone (sorry, can;t think who now), commented that we only really here the awful stuff and never the nice births.

so, in some type of helpful way, maybe we can have a thread where women can go that can be an encouragement that some births can be lovely and fabuous........VB and CS births.

will post this now and then come and say mine

I had a wonderful homebirth second time around, seriously lovely, there was virtually no pain and I would, without hesitation, do it again right now if I could.

It can be done, knowledge is power, and power is control, and control gives confidence, and that makes for fabulous minimal-pain births.

So for all thise first time mums-to-be, READ, READ, READ; Sheila Kitzinger, Michel Odent, Grantly Dick-Read, don't bury your head and hope it won't happen, educate yourself and enjoy your birthing!

Monkies

I think mine was lovely 13.5 hours start to finish...was in bath for most of it, just had gas and air and some lovely music playing DH was most supportive. Apparently it was a text book birth, MV recommends home birth next time. Wanted to do it again

jammi - that gave me something to read at this time of the morning!

I had two lovely births. Not painfree, and not necessarily easy, but each was wonderful in it's own way. Both times I felt a real sense of achievement and yes empowerment because I did it MY way. First birth in hospital, very long, posterior baby but no drugs and baby born in a quiet dark room with skin to skin immediately. I was bloomin' exhausted by the end of it but on such a high. Bless those endorphins! Second birth was a fantastic homebirth, probably the best day of my life. DD2 was born direct posterior and had the cord wrapped twice round her neck, but it was still a lovely birth. My only regrets are that I never managed to breastfeed DD1, but that's another story.

I agree that preparation is vital - good reading, and also good childbirth classes can really make a difference. But too much reading can also not be good - there is an element of being prepared annd knowing what you want but at the same time being prepared to go with the flow as you never know what kind of labour you will get. A Thinking Woman's Guide to a Good Birth by Henci Goer is a really good book, IMO, as is The Birth Book by Dr. Sears. Birthing from Within is also good for dealing with fears.

The second key thing is support - I was really lucky and had an amazing doula for both births and that really helped me to feel groundned and to knnow that things were progressing. I think her support helped me feel confident - so although DD1's labour was very long I knew when to rest and when to be active, when to eat and when to sleep, so by the time I got to hospital I was already 8cm. If you don't want a doula of course your partner can be great too and mine was, but somehow having the support of a woman was even better - so I'd definitely recommend considering it.

2 pregnancies under my belt and yes I have to say I would describe them as 'lovely' in comparison to other ladies labour stories.
DS1 hospital delivery with gas and air.
DS2 homebirth no pain relief.
Of course having a baby hurts like hell but I had no tears, no complications, text book deliveries, immediate skin to skin with baby latching on.
DC3 due in 5 weeks and pray God will allow me the positive experience.

dd1 - an okay birth.... wasn't terrible but wasn't wonderful... just long and drawn out... i always put this down to the epidural that they gave me (due to high blood pressure... supposed to bring it down!)... but dd1 was born safe and sound and wonderful....

ds1 - this was a wonderful birth due to the quickness of it... was at home... had contractions, thought they were peculiarly strong and fast for so early and after 45 mins... ds born halfway betweeen the downstairs loo and hallway.. dh delivered with help of paramedic over the phone and my poor (male) friend (who i've known since primary school)who was greeted upon his arrival (to babysit dd1 whilst we went to hospital - well that was the plan) with me on all fours on the floor with ds about to make an entrance...... i will always remember the sight of his great big boots/doc martins as he clumped upsatirs to get towels (be quiet or you'll wake dd1! i hissed at him! ) Makes a great birth story and dh willalways say that ds's wonky head is due to him being soo slippery! - he dropped him!

Whereas dd2 was a wonderful birth in the classic sense... went in... no fuss, gas and air, lovely midwife, no one running in and out... jsut me, dh and midwife and the quiet labour room, dimmed lighting... about 1 hour of proper contractions... dd2 born no probs... lovely!

I have had 2 lovely home births. Birth of DS1 (now 4) was quite magical as it was a really misty night, labour lasted about 6 hours with a quick last stage and spent most of the time in the bath (I might be romanticising a bit ). Birth of DS2 (15months) was really good too, my sister and my DP were both at the birth which was really nice (for me, not sure what my sister thought!). I was hoping that DS1 would be away from the house but although waters had broken in the morning and my parents took him out for the day, my labour didn't properly start until he was back home, tucked up in bed. He slept through it all.

If everything is ok medically, home births are really nice, you can do what you want. For some reason I crawled under the table at one point (like cat)during birth of DS2. The midwife had to coax me out so she could examine me! I had gas and air both times. Strangely felt quite in control of everything which is odd cos the rest of my life is chaotic.

My waters broke 3 weeks early with DS2 on Christmas Eve just before midnight. The labour obviously was painful but not too long. He was born at 7:20am on Christmas Day. Had a lovely relaxing bath and my own room and the midwifes had decorated the crib with ribbons and christmas bows. Then had Christmas lunch. Best Christmas ever!

On Wednesday I had my fourth dd at home, delivered by my dp. Previous 3 pregnancies all induced...

Waters broke at 4pm, midwife came at 6.30pm and i was 1-2cm, laboured in the bath, pain relief was the ipod! told dp i could feel "something", made it into the bedroom. Dp delivered her onto warm towels on our bedroom floor at 10.10pm, just as the midwife arrived on the landing.!!!

Still flying from this......

congratulations hetty! That's lovely. Does she have a name yet?

Thank you everyone for this thread - my first is due in 4 weeks or so and I'm trying to relax!

I suspect it will either go fairly smoothly, in which case I'll be fine, or if there's some complication then I know I've got an excellent hospital to back me up, so it should be OK. I think I can deal with pain so I'm only really concerned with exhaustion, what with first babies taking longer, etc. But I've had good antenatal care so no reason to believe that won't continue.

(shuffles off for another nap)

that was the best piece of advice my pal gave me after she gave birth to her son. she just said 'mine wasn't a particularly NCT-tastic birth (we'd met at NCT) but when the shit hits the fan those guys REALLY know what they're doing'. and they do, imo and ime.

FWIW, my first (and so far only) birth two months ago was terrific. I was worried about all sorts of what-ifs and spent a long time on my birth plan - I fully expected a 30+ hour marathon with all sorts of complications - but to my utter astonishment the best case scenario was basically what happened. Spontaneous and quick (9 hour) labour three days before my due date, early labour spent at home in the bathtub, then a swift taxi ride and a waterbirth at the birth centre with an unobtrusive but supportive midwife, no pain relief (though i'd planned on TENS and gas and air at the very least). The pain was intense but felt productive and never overwhelming; I did tear a bit and needed a couple of stitches but that's all.

I was absolutely prepared for the worst, having helped make a documentary on birth pre-children...

However my labour started with hardly a twinge (can this really be it?)and did not feel much worse than period pains, my husband was absolutely amazing and my 3 midwives (I had a home birth, and had a rush of midwives at the end) incredibly supportive.

By the end of the 6 hour labour, on less than 3 paracetamol, and a tens machine (which I had scoffed at ahead of time), I was tucked up in bed with my beautiful baby daughter and husband eating a bacon sandwich and feeling incredible.

Of course, it hurt like hell, but somehow was ok - maybe it was being in water, maybe the lovely midwife who I had met lots of times, or maybe reciting the alphabet through contractions made all the difference!

baby big too - 8 lbs 6!

I've had two extremes with my sons: horrible first birth (35 hour labour, forceps, 3rd degree tear, haemorrage, infection afterwards) so I DREADED the second one. But it was amazing! Less than 5 hours from first twinge to birth - he was almost born in the hospital car park so I did it with no pain relief. Really painful bit was in back of car to hospital (40 minute drive) - sounds cliched but I made myself breath to deal with it and it really worked. Both boys were 8lb 8oz so I don't know why one was so difficult and one so easy. I think I was more relaxed and confident second time round which made a difference. After he arrived I was on a real high - I could walk around immediately afterwards and had no drugs in my system - made a huge difference to recovery. I would have had him at home had I known he'd been so easy.

2 'fine' births for me. Both exactly 4.5 hours from start to finish (at the same time in the evening too which is spooky). Drug free (paracetamol don't count). The only complaint being that they both arrived at 11.30pm-ish and so after shower and feed, I was f*cking starving and couldn't sleep in anticipation for breakfast. Have a feeling that might be a minor problem however

I had too much intervention - I think they were trying to hurry things up before the night shift came on. Lots of stiches. Foul and useless 'care' in dirty hospital I could moan and moan...they couldn't even discharge me without my husband hassling them. Anti-care - worse than no care! Interferring MWs when I got home...

BUT

It was the most wonderful moment ever and I think about it happilly all the time...nearly 14 months on and I have not come down.

I'm afraid tho flossyjim that, like me, this wonderful surprise child will be an only (not counting his 28 and 30 yr old half siblings) with 103 years between me and my husband, I daren't tempt fate again.

If we were younger I would do it all again tomorrow - at the drop of a hat.

child birth is wonderful!

Not read thread but thought I'd share a positive emergency CS story. Quickly as baby is about to wake.

DS4 was an unstable lie so was spinning around in circles and at 36 wks I had to stay in hospital as if my waters broke with him the wrong way around in would have been dangerous. I had already had 2 VB and 1 CS and wanted to avoid a CS. Waters broke at 37wks and I was wheeled off very quickly to labour ward, phoning dh to "come now" as they pushed me along. DS was transverse so cord and arms and legs all at the bottom so it was obviously going to be a CS.

Dh made it in time as they hung on as long as they could but the thing that made such a positive experience for me was the fact that as they were about to lift him out of me, they lowered the screen to let me see him being born. I can still close my eyes and see him being lifted up, he is the only one of my 4 boys that I found out the sex of the baby by seeing not being told and I felt so much more connected with what was going on than I had with my first CS. I felt as though I had given birth and it was truely a positive experience.

I hope that makes some sort of sense as I struggled to find the words to explain and am now feeling rather emotional.

we are getting so many positive stories here.......I am so pleased.

it really makes me smile seeing all these accounts written down, and just 'hearing' the joy behind the words.

'twas me who asked - pride emoticon
Someone else may have too, but I put in a request
Great to hear these stories, a friend of mine just had her third dc in less than half an hour at home, and she was holding on. Said she felt like one of those teenagers who doesn't know they're pregnant and comes out of the loo with a baby
And my first labour was so painfree I thought I was just a bit constipated, went to hospital because I was bleeding and was 6cm. 10cm ten mins later.
So glad so many have had good experiences - first timers listen and be reassured!

I had two very lovely experiences - one at the Garden Hospital - where we just waited and waited for it all to happen naturally and one at home which hardly hurt at all. The only bad bit is that babies lie to be born in the night and you then have to start looking after them the next day!

I had two reasonably long labours, ds1, 20 hours, ventouse, episiotomy and second degree tear, but the midwife that looked after me was so fantastic and funny that I can honestly say despite it all I had a good experience and even when things do go a bit wonky and not quite they way you would like them to it doesn't need to be a bad experience.
Labour with ds2 was 26 hours and completely natural birth, by the time I decided I needed the drugs it was too late (don't ask me how at 26 hours) but again I had a fantastic midwife and a wonderful experience.
I spent a couple of days in hospital with ds1 and was home within six hours with ds2. I also had no pain at all after both births despite having a lot of stiches, very good seamstress that woman!
The first time you hold that wee creation in your arms makes all that pain so worth while and every time I think about the births of my babies I get very emotional and want to cry with joy. Would do it all again tomorrow if I could persuade dh!

My birth was lovely. I was so worried about the pain in that last month of pregnancy but I honestly can't remember it being that bad now. I used a TENS machine for as long as I could at home and then went to the hospital when contractions were about 5 mins apart.

Once there I got in the pool as soon as possible and dd was born within four hours. Once my waters broke she arrived after about 10 big pushes.

My dp was shocked at the noises I was able to make on each push. And I have to say I was unaware I could be so loud!

I had my baby at the Liverpool Women's Hosp and their pool room was quiet and peaceful... exactly what I had hoped for. The midwife was in and out of the room giving me and my dp lots of time on our own- not her intention it just happened to be really busy! I actually delivered her head without the mw in the room. Pretty scary but very empowering and an amazing intimate moment that was just for me and dp.

I go back to the hospital quite a lot as I see their infant feeding team with support breastfeeding. Every time I'm there its quite emotional as remember the amazing experience of giving birth.

I was fully induced at 41+13 and was hooked up to drips. I also had an epidural after 7 hours or so. It wasn't the 'natural' birth I'd planned but it was absolutely fine. LO appeared after 40 mins of pushing which didn't hurt at all thanks to the epidural. The strong contractions hurt like hell but it was bearable.