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I have a history of big babies, my first was induced and i had a epi back in 2003 due to low amniotic fluid, when he was born he was 10 lbs 13 oz at 38 weeks, there was plenty of fluid. He had bad shoulder displacia and was stuck for around 4 mins before the doctor broke his collar bone to get him out. Traumatic birth. My second pregnancy I had the same doctors who told me they would not let me do vaginal birth, they would only c section at 40 weeks. I really did not want a CS if I could help it so I switched docs at about 30 weeks. I new this baby would be slightly smaller if I could deliver 37-38 weeks but felt if I did 40 weeks he would be just as big if not bigger. I was told she would watch my pregnancy and when the time came we would make a decision, if I did a induced vagnal birth at 37 weeks and there was any sign of complication then it was CS for me. My second birth went perfect, i had a epi half way through, pain became to much and i was not progressing at all, once I had it I relaxed and body did its thing, he was born after 8 hours 3 pushes and came out fine no shoulder issues.
I'm currently pregnant with my third child, I went in today for 15 week check up with my midwives, I was told due to first pregnancy and history of big babies being induced I had two choices, scheduled c section if things were looking big again, (questin is whats big to them)or a closely monitored natural labor, no induction ( which is fine I hated potosin) I could not do water birth at all weather baby measured on time or not, there goes that dream :-( they would not use ultrasound in end to determine measurements as they believe its inaccurate, they will go by tummy measures. After some discussion I got them to at least allow me to labor in the tub and get out to push if I do end up doing vagnal/natural birth. But they said if my baby measures big CS it will be. I feel that I can deliver a big baby, but I also know I cannot have a epi in order to do it, because ill need to be able to move positions etc, I understand there concern I just hate the thought of CS. And maybe its just pregnant hormones but I almost feel like that's what was being pushed, like they didn't really have any hopes of me delivering a smaller baby. Which was suprising because its a midwife, Is it true every baby gets bigger? What do you think?
Perfectly normal, stick with your midwife.
Keep midwife and wait till your further along, gage for yourself what you think and if need switch later or
Get another opinion and possibly switch now?

Hi, I had a bad birth first time round that has left me with a lot of internal scaring (some is quite high up) that is still painful 18 months on. I was just wondering if anyone knew how big the chance is of these scars splitting if I try a natural delivery again?

No epidural for me! I'm so glad I stuck with my plan of giving birth natural. My daughter was small 6.8 oz but ill tell you nothing feels better than looking at how beautiful my birthing experience and baby are. I will admit I ddnt think I was gonna make it lol

I work at a salon and we all were discussing birth. I said I planned on having a home birth. Well this guy who works at a hospital started acting like I was taking this huge risk and I think he was trying to scare me out of it. It didn't work. It did cause me a little anxiety and it was kind of upsetting.

Today we got this horrible news in regards to my MW. I'm not pregnant atm so not currently seeing her but she still is *my* MW. I am just so heartbroken for her.

If you ladies please could just pray for her & her family in this time I would really appreciate it. She has brought so many other moms babies into this world & now she's lost her own... No momma should ever have to go through that. :,(

You women are my heroes! I'm a weeny and will be doing my birth in a hospital with meds.

But seriously?! KUDOS TO YOU! :-D Just wanted to say that.

This is from a NYC doula list serve:

I'm currently working on a documentary called From Courage To Strength: Vaginal Birth After Cesarean. From Courage To Strength follows the story (so far) of one mother who had multiple cesareans and wanted to vbac but could not find a provider willing to take her on. There are many women in the United States who have had one or more Cesareans and who have a hard time looking for a provider. Women are being threatened by the hospitals, doctors and even some Midwives that they are a ticking time bomb waiting to explode in subsequent pregnancies after their primary Cesarean.

From Courage To Strength takes you into the stories of women who had the Courage going into the Operating room not knowing what fate their future will hold when it came to having their babies, to the Strength that they needed to fight for their vbacs. Filming is currently being done for this documentary and we are in search of at least two more mothers who are currently pregnant and have had more than one Cesarean whose story we can follow.

I am also looking for Obstetricians and Midwives who I can interview whether or not they agree with VBACs. I can be contacted at info@fromcouragetostrength.com, fromcouragetostrength@gmail.com PLEASE FEEL FREE TO PASS THIS INFO ALONG!

Need some advice. After looking through tons of research, it's become very clear to me that I would like to refuse continuous monitoring. The evidence for its use just isn't there and it's actually not recommended by a number of agencies for low risk women (which I am).

I usually see a midwife, but her son broke his ankle and had to see one of the practice's obs at my last appointment Friday. Thought it would be a good time to bring up my wishes. Started talking about EFM ad he basically told me that, even though they know continuous EFM doesn't improve outcomes and likely leads to more interventions, the hospital doesn't have enough nursing staff to do intermittent monitoring. So that basically takes away a lot of my mobility - not happy. Anybody run into something like this and figure out a way to get around the issue?

This is the best option in the area to deliver (trust me, the other hospitals are way worse) and I like all the midwives, homebirth isn't an option, and there aren't any birth centers within an hour and a half (I don't feel comfortable being that far away.). So far my plan is to just stay at home as long as possible to avoid the whole thing!

And just in case it sounds like I'm nitpicking this ob, I actually have liked all the ob's I've met there, they just come from such a different philosophy and have their hands tied on a lot of stuff. It frustrates me that so many involved in obstetrics refuse to update standards based on the best available evidence!

I woke up around 4 oclock to painful period cramp feelings (contractions?).I don't want to get excited over nothing but they have continued since becoming more frequent about 5-6 min apartnot quite a minute long though. I haven't let my midwife know as its the middle of the night and they aren't excessively urgent yet. Maybe I will meet my little girl soon. Please pray I am able to have the beautiful home birth I have prepared myself for.