Natural or typical hospital birth?

Question

For moms who've had one or both- I want your input!
I'm not a mom yet but TTC and I've been thinking a lot about my first birth experience. 
I would love to do a natural birth at a birthing center but I get anxiety and wonder if it would be smart to have my first birth at a hospital where i can be monitored in case anything happens like hemmoraghing or something. The birthing center would send you home a few hours after birth with the baby.
In my area, there are no birthing centers connected to hospitals- only freestanding birth centers that offer ZERO pain relief (my other fear is that the pain would be so bad I'd end up wanting an epidural/other pain meds but not have them available to me).
I've heard scary stories from my own family about their hospital births and wouldn't want so many interventions. I would prefer the natural route but have nobody to talk to about it!
I want to know your experience! Do you think a first time mom can handle it totally natural? If you had both, which do you prefer/recommend?

Answer

Birth center, hands down. OB’s are surgeons and they are not natural minded. They will most likely have you push in your back which causes sooo many problems for people and that’s IF you can avoid the drugs because they will offer, if not push it on you which often leads to c-section. More money in their pockets. 
A midwife KNOWS birth. They trust their patients bodies and know how to help babies out of awkward positions to avoid intervention etc... Most midwives will not push their agenda and will allow you to choose the birth experience you want and give you the opportunity to opt out of anything you don’t want to do. Midwives are also equipped to deal with emergencies like hemorrhaging, resuscitation etc... 
It’s also extremely important during labor to feel safe. So wherever makes you feel the most comfortable is where you should be. A lot of times arriving at the hospital causes women to stall in labor because they treat birth like an emergency and that’s scary. A midwife will reassure you that birth is natural and normal.
A birth center is 100% safer than a hospital. No if’s and or buts.

Answer

If hemmoraging is worrying you, midwives have medicine to stop the hemmoraging and medicine to stop with lots of other emergencies. They are prepared for anything 💜 I had a home birth.

Answer

I had my baby girl at a birth center with midwifes. No medication or medical interventions. It was lovely. I was worried at first about potential complications but my midwives were entirely prepared for any complications and assured me if at any point I needed more care than they were able to give they would transfer me to the hospital. 
Nothing went wrong, it was the perfect birth 💕

Answer

My first birth was at the hospital, unmedicated. I was annoyed with the nurses constantly coming in to check me and baby all through the night. I was uncomfortable and cold in the hospital bed.
My second birth was at home and it felt soooooo good to be able to get in my pjs and into my own bed with my little family after I gave birth. And the midwife left 2 hours after birth so my husband, son and I got to bond with the new baby. 
Having another home birth in May.
If you're hesitant about a home birth but don't want a hospital birth, I think the birthing center is the perfect middle.

Answer

I had a hospital birth and honestly, I won’t go any other way. There’s so much comfort for me in knowing that anything or anyone (medical pro wise) I could possibly need is easily and quickly accessible. I DID have a medicated birth (epidural) but my nurses were super chill with me about everything—I put off the epidural for the first 12 hours of my labor and they only asked me once about it until it was brought up by my husband for me later on. Everyone was supportive and comforting and it was as pleasant as it could be for a birth like mine! I know it’s not like that everywhere, but I like to think that’s kind of normal?

Answer

I gave birth in a hospital and the nurses weren’t pushy at all about medication. I went in thinking I’d want an epidural, but while I was there, I changed my mind. They asked me once and I said maybe later. They told me to ask if I wanted it and that was that. I personally prefer being in the hospital. I chose a hospital that was slightly further from the one closest to my house because they had a better NICU. Those sort of things are important to me and that’s how I made my choice.

Answer

I planned for a natural hospital birth with midwives. I ended up with a horrible “medwife” who was not at all supportive and bullied me into pitocin when I was so exhausted from a long back labor I couldn’t think rationally to tell her to eff off. I ended up agreeing to an epidural because when my water broke I wanted to jump out the window. No way will I ever give birth in a hospital again unless its life or death. From my experience, unless you walk in ready to push, it can be very difficult (but by impossible) to not have interventions pushed on you especially if your birth deviates at all from the “norm”...which is BS. Even if you go med free, you may still be “encouraged” to birth on your back with interventions. 
I’d say 100% go for an out of hospital birth if you can and if you want to. Obviously there are lots of women who have natural hospital births, but that’s much less likely than if you’re at home or at a birth center with midwives you feel comfortable with! 👍🏻

Answer

Birthing center! As long as you’ve been low risk throughout your pregnancy, they are totally prepared for whatever curveballs happen in birth. It’s their job! My midwives are board certified, same as OBGYNs, so they are just as knowledgeable. My favorite thing about them is that they do a lot of preventative care to keep you low risk, and minimize your chance of hemorrhage. You’ll hear a lot about people hemorrhaging in hospitals, and it’s often because they weren’t given the same preventative care. Hospitals are equipped to give you a transfusion so they don’t focus on  preventative care. But why have a transfusion if you can possibly avoid hemorrhaging all together?!
I feel very safe and well cared for at the birthing center. Anything can happen, but anything can happen in a hospital too, it’s not inherently safer. I’d rather give birth where I can at least feel safe and secure, giving my body and baby the best chance for success!
I highly recommend interviewing a midwife and touring a birthing center. They can answer all your questions. ☺️

Answer

The hospital I go to actually has a birthing center attached to it so you can be taken to the hospital quickly if necessary, so I’d make sure your hospital doesn’t have that option. Otherwise if you can find a birthing center that’s relatively near a hospital I don’t see why not as long as your pregnancy isn’t complicated! I’m planning on a natural birth but I’m just going to the hospital because it’s easier for me personally

Answer

What about hiring a doula to help advocate for you at the hospital?  Where I delivered, as long as everything was great and healthy you don’t have to be hooked up everything but a doula will help make sure if that.  You can definitely do unmedicated as a FTM.  My epidural didn’t work and I felt everything but I went for a second baby.  It hurts a lot but it’s worth it and it’s temporary.  You don’t have the pain forever.

Natural or typical hospital birth?

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