During labor....

The experience with my singleton births have been that I enjoy walking around, squatting, etc in the early-mid parts of labor. I feel it gets things moving quicker and steers your mind away from the pain a bit more.

If my little ladies cooperate and at least Baby A gets vertex so we get a go on the vaginal birth, is there any reason to believe that I cannot do this during my twin pregnancy labor?

 

I can only think of two things that might interfere with your plan: the fetal monitoring and the epidural. Some doctors insist on giving you an epidural during twin labor just in case an emergency c-section is necessary. Without the epi, they'd probably have to put you under general anethesia in the event of an emergency, and who wants that? You'd miss the whole delivery. And they also typically want to monitor twins a little more closely than singletons; so those monitors may prevent you from getting up too much. You should definitely talk about these issues (and about your hospital's standard twin protocol) with your doctor and write a birth plan where you specifically state that you want to wait as long as possible before getting the epidural and that you want only periodic, as opposed to constant, monitoring.


QUOTE(MommaJ @ May 1 2009, 12:15 PM) [snapback]1296459[/snapback]
The experience with my singleton births have been that I enjoy walking around, squatting, etc in the early-mid parts of labor. I feel it gets things moving quicker and steers your mind away from the pain a bit more.

If my little ladies cooperate and at least Baby A gets vertex so we get a go on the vaginal birth, is there any reason to believe that I cannot do this during my twin pregnancy labor?

 

I was monitored for a while then they let me walk because I was contracting every 2-3 min but not dilating.I ended up being induced the next day.They didn't let me walk as long as I could with the singelton's but I was able to a while,the hooked back up to the monitors for about an hour then I could walk again.

 

QUOTE(rogerdodger @ May 1 2009, 10:58 AM) [snapback]1296531[/snapback]
I can only think of two things that might interfere with your plan: the fetal monitoring and the epidural. Some doctors insist on giving you an epidural during twin labor just in case an emergency c-section is necessary. Without the epi, they'd probably have to put you under general anethesia in the event of an emergency, and who wants that? You'd miss the whole delivery. And they also typically want to monitor twins a little more closely than singletons; so those monitors may prevent you from getting up too much. You should definitely talk about these issues (and about your hospital's standard twin protocol) with your doctor and write a birth plan where you specifically state that you want to wait as long as possible before getting the epidural and that you want only periodic, as opposed to constant, monitoring.



When youdo go into the hospital, wether for labour or induction, tell them that you understand that you need to have an epidural placed, butwould ratherthat they wait to put the meds in (if you are even getting them) until later. I discussed this with my OB, and he said absolutely. They will place the epidural around 4 -5 cms with me, before the hard labour begins, and I have until 9 cms to opt for the meds. This will make it so you can walk around during what you refer to as "mid labour". Its a great idea, and I plan on doing the same. I have also told him that I will be fine with the fetal monitoring, as long as its 20 minutes on, 20 minutes off, so i can still walk around. he said no problem, the only thing that can cause me to be monitored the entire time is if the babies heartbeats are reactive to thecontractions. In that case, I will have to be monitored the entire time, which will take walking out of the picture.

 

At the hospital I delivered at, I was able to walk 40 minutes of each hour. Then 20 minutes of monitoring. If the babies were cooperative, they took the monitors off and I walked. It helped greatly. Especially the outdoor patio for laboring moms. It felt so good to breathe fresh air.

I asked for the epidural to be placed later in the process. The staff was just fine with that.

Remember that you are ultimatey in charge of your own medical care. Just tell them what you want. If there is not medical problems with you and your babies, they should not stand in your way.

Jenn