This is NOT a fish tale. I repeat: This is NOT a fish tale. Everything said here is to-the-minute truth. I have witnesses who will be happy to verify the facts contained herein because it’s not really verified by Snopes. Although that would be cool. I decided to share this because over the course of [...]
Did I REALLY just watch this segment on “The Doctors”?
I sure did.
Dr. Lisa Masterson, along with Jillian Michaels just hosted a segment called, “What’s Worse, Natural Birth or C-Section”.
If you have any intelligence whatsoever, you will know the the correct answer is, “C-Section”. It is a surgery where doctors cut through the muscles in your stomach, into your uterus, and pull your baby out through your stomach.
In a vaginal delivery, baby comes down into the birth canal and through the vagina just like God intended.
While I know that some people are ill-equipped for vaginal birth and require C-Sections, the question here is not which is BETTER. The question is which one is WORSE.
I’m pretty sure that if I were to ask any mother who has had both a vaginal delivery and a C-Section, she would flat out tell you that a C-Section SUCKS.
I’ve had three vaginal deliveries and each recovery was fantastic. I was up and walking around within minutes of delivering and the only pain I had were the after-pains, where your uterus is contracting to resume its original size.
So now that we’ve established THAT, Dr. Lisa goes on to show how a C-section is performed on a lovely honeydew melon. After talking about what she called the “main” risk of a C-Section (a very minute risk of infection per the good ole’ doc), she goes on to tell the audience about the practice of episiotomies. Do doctors really even DO episiotomies anymore?
I told my doctor when I had Styles 10 years ago that I didn’t want one and he said he only did them in emergency situations. I told the same thing to each doctor to delivered my subsequent children and they concurred: no epiosiotomies. My latest OB/GYN went on to tell me that epiosiotomies don’t heal as well as natural tears and are at a greater risk for infection than a natural tear. Hm. Imagine that.
Dr. Lisa went on to tell the horrified audience that when you deliver vaginally, you run the risk of tearing from your perineum to your anus. She acted like this happened ALL. THE. DAMN. TIME. I know one person who had a 3rd degree tear. Others had a few stitches here and there. I had 2 stitches with Styles, 1 with Madilyn (who was born face-up), and none with Grady although slight tearing which I DIDN’T EVEN FEEL during delivery (I delivered all three children without any sort of drug intervention). Perineal massage is more common nowadays, and much more effective than an epiosiotomy in the first place.
I guarantee you EVERY childless woman in that audience, will now elect for a C-Section when their time comes.
So I looked Dr. Lisa Masterson up on the interweb and according to insiderPages, Dr. Lisa gets 2 out of 5 stars from her patients. WOW. Some women said that they felt pressured into elective C-Sections. I guess that speaks volumes by itself.
I still can’t believe that Dr. Lisa said, unequivocally, that a Vaginal Delivery is worse.
WHAT. THE. FRIG.
I’m done watching The Doctors. I’ve been annoyed with Dr. Lisa for quite some time but this really takes the bacon and they’ve lost my viewership.
May 022011
Things happen in my life on a near-daily basis that prove Murphy’s Law as truth. Each Monday is now dedicated to showcasing my life’s crazy moments.
If it can happen, it will happen.
My third, wonderful child was born exactly 8 weeks ago today. That Monday, Murphy’s Law was tested.
I was admitted into the hospital the morning of March 7, 2011 to get 2 bags of Penicillin due to a positive Group B Strep culture administered before my induction would begin. The induction began at 11:30 after two full rounds of Penicillin and as a third round was administered. Fast forward to 5:30PM and I still wasn’t in labor, despite the fact that the Pitocin was turned up to a 24 out of 30. My doctor came in to check me and decided that we should break my water (like I said I’d never have done again) because the baby was still at a -5. My water was broken at 5:45PM and my wonderful doctor stayed to monitor the baby and me until 6PM. At 6PM I still had not had a contraction so my doctor decided to leave the hospital to check on another patient of hers that was at the other hospital just down the road. This particular patient was a first time mom and had been progressing slowly all day so she thought she’d just hop over there, show her face, and come back to deliver my baby since I have a history of rapid labors. I felt my first contraction around 6:15PM. As history dictates, my contractions were pretty well one right after another but not super painful. I had to pee at 6:55PM. I had one contraction on the way to the restroom and one on the way back from the restroom. I decided to jump up into the bed and lie on my side. My next contraction caused a huge, strong reaction in my uterus and the nurse noticed the look on my face. She checked my cervix and I was 8cm. But in the next contraction I could feel the baby moving down into the birth canal. My baby was born at 7:10PM into the hands of two nurses.
If your doctor leaves your hospital to check on a patient at another hospital because you’re not even in labor yet, you WILL have your baby in the one hour that she is gone.
If it can happen, it will happen.
Courtesy www.visualphotos.com
I’m writing this as I wait for my doctor to approve some massage therapy for the horrendous muscle spasms I’ve been having in my rib cage this week. I’ve never been in so much pain in my life. Not even during labor, and here’s why I think my labor experiences have been so fantastic, and why I was able to endure labor pains without medication. Read on for the science behind my experience.
During my labor with Madilyn, one of my very best friends attended the birth to help me deal with the pain. She is a Licensed Massage Therapist who owns her very own Massage studio where she and her colleagues specialize in Therapeutic Massage. She arrived at the hospital before my labor began (I was induced). Once in the throes of labor, though, her touch was so strong and steady that the pain of each contraction was greatly diminished. She eased my contracting muscles and knew all the right places to touch to alleviate the pains in my uterus. It amazed me then as much as it amazes me now that her touch on my lower back helped ease pain in my pelvic region. But the more I thought about it, the more it made sense. Imagine having a horrendous headache then falling down a few stairs in your house, bumping your funny bone on the way down. You’re not thinking about your headache anymore, you’re thinking about your funny bone’s aching and shooting pain up and down your arm.
The same is true during labor. Heating pads, therapeutic touch, and proper positioning can help with pain during labor, resulting in a natural, drug-free experience that is surprisingly devoid of intense pain. The reason that massage during labor is so effective at reducing pain, is due to the “Gate Control Theory”. This theory is based on research that your brain can only process so many signals at one time. Add two or more sensory aids to labor, and pain is greatly reduced.
I am currently experiencing debilitating muscle spasms in my rib cage. My doctor had me on muscle relaxers and pain medication to be taken “as needed”. I despise taking medication when I’m not pregnant but even more so when I AM pregnant. I only agreed to the Stadol drip while in the hospital because I literally could not breathe through the pain. Since coming home with my little bottles of pain relief, I have found that a heating pad applied to the spasming area relieves the pain even more so than the pain killers did. I haven’t taken a single pill in over 24 hours but have been applying moist heat and the pain is infinitely better. When I massage the area immediately following the application of moist heat for 1/2 hour, the pain is nearly gone.
I will definitely be using moist heat AND massage during my next labor.
Research suggests that massage during the early stages of labor helps a laboring woman save her energy for the more difficult active labor. The stress hormone, Adrenaline has been shown to reduce the effectiveness of Oxytocin, the hormone that causes labor to begin and progress. When massage is employed during labor, adrenaline is greatly reduced and Oxytocin is able to flow, causing labor to progress naturally and quickly.
It is no secret that massage loosens muscles. The same is true during labor. Massage loosens the pelvis, allowing it to open up in anticipation of the baby descending into the birth canal. It can also reduce the severity of contractions. While still having contractions, the pain is greatly reduced, allowing your uterus to relax naturally which aids in a much quicker labor. My own massage during labor experience resulted in a 75 minute labor where my uterus did ALL of the work of pushing my daughter out of the birth canal. I didn’t have to actively push one single time. I fully believe it was partially because of the massage I received while in labor. My uterus was relaxed and free to do what it was meant to do. Read my story here.
I know of many women who plan on having a drug-free birth but then are unable to withstand the pain of labor. I fully believe that if these women had employed alternate methods of dealing with pain such as massage, heat, water, or a change of position, they would have successfully been able to deliver without medical aids.
Epidurals not only slow labor in a woman who is laboring normally, without problem such as high blood pressure, they pose significant risks to mother and child. While I respect every woman’s right to choose the way that she gives birth, I think women often jump too quickly at an epidural before allowing their bodies to prove that they can not only handle the pain of childbirth, but that they can work more effectively without pain medication.
Along with massage during labor, I employed The Mongan Method of Hypnobirthing. This method utilizes deep breathing and visualization of your uterus as a ribbon, loosening (not tightening) during each “contraction”. Fear of pain actually does a disservice to laboring women. It causes your muscles to tense up which is completely counterproductive to what your uterus is ultimately trying to achieve. When you focus on something other than the pain, your uterus is able to relax and not only is pain reduced but labor is allowed to progress quickly. Add massage to the breathing and visualization and your body is even that much more prepared to work properly, more efficiently, and less painfully.
Add this to your arsenal when trying to decide on whether or not to endure a pain medication free labor. It really isn’t that bad, especially when you arm yourself with knowledge and practice breathing and visualization beforehand. There really are techniques out there that help ease pain naturally. You CAN DO IT, MAMA!
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Come to Our Nest 
