You are pregnant, and excited! You like the idea of a home or birth center birth, but think that, for your first baby, it would be a good idea to be in the hospital just in case there are any problems. After all, you don’t know yet if your pelvis is big enough, or if you’ll have other complications. Maybe with your second you’ll consider a home birth.
You’d like to have a midwife, but there aren’t any midwives with hospital privileges in your area. But you’ve found a great OB who definitely has the heart of a midwife. She even encourages you to write up a birth plan! You’ve toured the hospital labor unit, and the rooms are beautiful. Some even have large jacuzzi tubs to labor in. You’re confident you will have a lovely, home-like birth in the hospital. You’ve done your homework, and are looking forward to a beautiful experience.
Wait a minute. . .factor in your labor nurse. Or nurses. No problem, you think. The nurses have to follow whatever orders the doctor gives them, right? Right?
During my birth with Noah, my first nurse, I don't even remember because I was hiding out in the bathroom in the shower the whole time...someone came by to check baby's heartbeat...but other than I was in la la land. My second nurse... was ... by no means, against natural child birth or anything but.. just not great. She had a thick foreign accent and came by periodically to tell me I was doing great but offered no advice or assistance or help. The other thing I remember is that she gave me the worst IV ever. It hurt sooo bad... as I got the epidural, I needed to have an IV and while pushing, all I could think about was the fact that my IV was killing me and my whole arm was numb...not allowing me to actually use my arms to assist me in pushing. I couldn't really feel my contractions so I didn't know when to push...and I ended up on my back beause I couldn't hold myself up any other way... because of the IV.
Anyyway... she wasn't awful..but she definitely impacted my delivery experience.
Thankfully, I didn't have to deal with any of the nasty comments referenced in the article above. I do know someone who worked as a labor and delivery nurse and she said she couldn't get out of there fast enough. Thankfully, there are SUPER great and supportive labor and delivery nurses but you never know who are you going to get.
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