Okay here's my story: My son was born last year. The whole "labor" thing for me was just sad and scary. I developed gestational diabetes and my son got so big. You can imagine a 5 foot woman delivering a 9 pounds 14 oz baby. I didn't even gained that much weight. First time pregnancy of course I let myself go whatever I craved I ate. Mainly sweets. I gave birth to my son here in Germany. I tell you German doctors are all about pushing without any drugs :-) but of course since I was scared I decided to get one. My water broke around 4am and I pushed from 5 to 1 pm. Nothing happened. So they decided to do an emergency C-section.That whole ordeal I still remember to this day. They numb me on my belly area and as soon as they opened me up I felt everything and at that time I rather be shot than being in that room. My husband was there on my side and I remember saying "it hurts, it hurts" then a doctor came over and gave more drugs and I was out. I remember hearing my son first cry but that was it. I was out and woke up 30 mins later. I didn't get to hold my son for the first time. It took me a while to just bond with him because they took him away to get checked. He had low sugar so they monitored him more closely. It took me 3 months to bond and look at him straight in the eyes. Now that I'm pregnant again with my second child I'm afraid I will experience the same thing. I've been really careful with this one. Eating small meals (5) times a day and avoiding sweets.
So far the baby is good. I'm almost on my 2nd trimester and my weight still the same. I haven't gain any and I haven't lose any. I'm hoping with this one if everything goes well I can delivery naturally. My doctor said that its okay if everything goes well. My scar is healing fine and if the baby isn't too big. But I hope to hold this child as soon as he / she comes out. Right now I'm just praying.

Wow, I can see why you would be scared to go theough another labor and delivery. My first was born in a military hospital, the experience was horrible. I was very reluctant to go through it again so it was 4 yrs before I could even consider doing it again. My second MD was a civillian, he was appalled at the way my L&D was handled.

Are you still in Germany? If you are able to get a different doctor you will most likely have a better experience. All the doctors my daughter had to choose from took time to establish what kind of birth she wanted to experience and made sure she was happy with her choices. Her experience was wonderful, she is anxious to graduate college so that she can do it again.

There is no reason to believe that history will repeat itself as long as you can find a MD that will work with you on what kind of birth you are hoping to have.

Good luck

I had a bad experience to but not as bad as yours. I went to the hospital in full labor and 5cm and moving up fast. Because I did the normal thing and threw up the contents of my stomach and eliminated everything in my bowels the hospital insisted on giving me 2 bags of IV fluid before they would consider any pain relief....not even a shot and my labor was hard and fast. They also spent 20 minutes questioning me about my health, weight, insurance, etc which I had filled out in a pre regstration form and when I told them I was hurting to bad and to ask my husband they would only let me answer all questions. I ended up scaring that nurse away.

It ended up taking every nurse that was not delivering a baby in the ward...if I recall right 8 of them and a 3 hours of full on labor before someone could figure out how to get an IV in me..ended up in my wrist OUCH. Then they made me wait another 30 minutes for 2 bags of IV fluid to get in me...they over hydrated me which caused me to have high blood pressure for a week and required a longer stay. Then they never gave me any pain relief shots until the epidural lady came in and they told her I was 9.5 cm and she finally gave me an epidural that lasted 2 hours...just long enough to push out my daughter...when they were stiching up my episotomy it started to hurt and then they had to give me a shot for that. So much for the birth education nurse telling us we would be able to get some pain relief immediately

Oh and the doctor who delivered my daughter...never looked over my chart and assumed I was a teen mom and started telling me I should never have a kid again because if I did I would have a c-section if it was much more than 6 pounds :hurl:

I hope my experience iis better at a new hospital...I was told they have IV specialist who will get an IV in even the worst person in a few minutes. I also have a better doctor...he will give you anything you ask for during labor

Jen

I had a horrible first pregnancy myself, delivering wasn't much better either. Just about anything that could go wrong with my first, i had it. Early bleeding, placenta previa, high blood pressure, 9mths of morning sickness (day and night), toxemia,bed rest, etc. I was constantly poked and proded and given ultrasounds. Ended up being induced for 3 days straight, labored to 10cm, and he got stuck in the birth canal, had the nurse from H*LL screaming at me to breathe thru it and keep pushing. Ended up with an emergency c-section that they wouldn't let DH sit in on. I never got to hold my son until the next morning. It wasn't the best experience for a first time mom and definitely not the magical moment like they portray in movies or on tv.
I was scared to have another,i did not want to go thru that again!! Dh started bugging me about another child when ds was about 2 1/2 yrs old. I dragged my feet about it. Finally got pregnant when ds was about 3.
The 2nd pregnancy was nothing like the first, much easier, only about 6 weeks of morning sickness. We had to switch doctors and the hospital i was to deliver at,because of insurance coverage reasons. Let me tell you though, i was prepared this time to stick up for myself and make demands about how my baby's birth was going to be. I was too young and uninformed the first time around, this time i was gonna call the shots!!! I even told my new doctor on the first visit that i wanted to have my tubes tied after the birth of my 2nd and if she had a problem with that, i was moving on to the next doctor and wouldn't waste her time or my time.She totally respected that, and we got along great. The 2nd time around was a much better experience, i only wish i had that the first time around!

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"Go on, get outside, get the stink blown off ya!!"

I will be here in Germany to deliver my second baby . I didn't deliver my first child in the military hospital it was in a local hospital and there was a language barrier too. I lost a lot of blood,high fever, and I was throwing up bad. I'm glad I made it through and I'm still alive today. It was a horrible experience. I can still feel a little bit of pain in my incisition area. I don't know if that's normal. But I'm glad that I'm not the only one out there who had a similar experience.

You might find the following website helpful: FAQs

Is there any way you can locate and hire a doula? Research show they can have a significantly positive impact on your labour and delivery, and after such a traumatic experience, it might be something to consider. Let me know if you have any questions about it!

Tara

I had a less than ideal birth experience with my DS, I still get a little if I talk about it. I had a terrible epidural in which I couldn't feel anything from the neck down and then 20 minutes later felt EVERYTHING. The cord wrapped around my son's neck and the resident couldn't move him, not for lack of trying with me in a terribly embarassing position in front of a bunch of nurses and three other residents. They were wheeling me out for an emergency c-section when things stabilized but I never progressed past 9 cms. The nurse tried to "get me to 10cm" and have me push but nothing happened. I ended up with an infection and they decided to go ahead an do a c-section hours after the first emergency c-section prep. I was a little worried about our second baby but elected for a repeat c-section. I am so glad that I did because it allowed me to be mentally prepared. It was a lot better than my first c-section but twice as rewarding Good luck mama, let me know if you have any questions!

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Angie
Married to my best friend 9.99
Mother since 4.04 to "Bobo" and his "baby" 9.06