Good article..

http://www.self.com/health/2010/07/birthing-plan-controversies

I thought this article was great, especially now.. This is what i wrote to Self magazine:

I am 37 weeks pregnant with my son and am having trouble realizing that this birth does not need to be like my daughter's birth. I was induced at 39 weeks with her (i was 21 years old) because they said she was 9lb 1 oz (ultrasound) and would be too big the next week for me to deliver.. i wanted a natural childbirth but thought i could go without pain meds during induction. I was on pitocin (nothing used to ripen my closed cervix) for 12 hours the first day with nothing happening and no eating or drinking that whole time. The second day, they started my pitocin again at 6am. (they should have sent me home). At 830 am, my dr came in and said i was 1 cm dilated and broke my water and left me sitting in the puddle. They wouldn't let me get out of bed because they needed to monitor me, so my mobility was completely taken. After that, the contractions came like gangbusters. I asked for an epidural and they told me i had to be dilated to 3cm before i could have one. I got up to use the bathroom at one point and the entire toilet was filled with blood. At 12 noon they checked me and i was 3 cm so they called the anesthesiologist down to place my epidural. It took him 20 min to get there and I was shuddering from the contractions that had no breaks in between. They examined me one last time and said, "you are 10 cm, sorry, no epidural" I began pushing and after my daughter's head was out, the dr told me to stop pushing ( i could see the whole thing in a mirror) and told me she needed to give me an episiotomy. I told her that it was in my birth plan not to have one and her words were "well, you can't argue with me now.." after that, the rest of my daughter came out, with me passing out between contractions. I had severe post-partum depression that lasted about 6-12 months and I had an episiotomy that was tender until my daughter was 3.5 years old. My medical records said that my daughter was macrosomic. Oh, and she wasn't 9lb 1 oz. she was 8lb 2oz. So, here 5 years later, i find myself pregnant again and I had been going to a dr from the local hospital who seemed very nice, but too busy to remember my name after 22 weeks of seeing me, so at 26 weeks, i switched drs. I am now delivering in a very small hosptial 25 miles away with one OBGYN, but she is great. She doesn't mention induction until 42 weeks, doesn't want to examine me unless she has to, and doesn't do episiotomies. She is fine with my ways of doing things and prefers to deliver women without epidurals. I keep telling myself that if i can go through induction and a 5 hour labor with my daughter without pain meds, i can do a natural birth without them. It will be trying, but i needed to take back my birth too.