Parents-to-be Shawna and Ernie of Ontario, CA are planning a waterbirth at the AquaNatal Birth Center of Chino, and they are planning to webcast their birth! Pretty neat. You can register to watch the birth and be notified when her labor starts by registering at the center's site:
AquaNatal Birth Center
Shawna says this about her first in-hospital birth:
"However, while in the hospital they were EXTREMELY restrictive. They said I was progressing too quickly, and wanted me to lay down, I couldn't eat or drink anything, I wasn't even given ice-chips. I felt like a prisoner. I always expected the birth of my first child to be a calm, peaceful birth, but it was anything but. During my labor I remember feeling helpless, that no matter what I asked for I was always denied. Even after Christian was born, they placed him on my stomach for a few short moments while they wiped him down, then the nurses took him to weigh him, and so forth. My doctor had performed on me an episiotomy, without my consent. I didn't even know she had done it until she was stitching me up, and I asked her "did you give me an episiotomy?" She responded "yes" as if it were no big deal. Needless to say, I hated my entire experience with the hospital staff. I remember sitting in the hospital bed thinking "if I ever have another child, I really don't want it to be in a hospital."
When they conceived their second child, they decided to move to a birth center birth, hopefully for a waterbirth.
Sounds intriguing! My main hope for them is that they don't experience "performance anxiety" when push comes to shove. It has been postulated by some that some recorded and/or webcast natural and/or homebirths have "failed" is simply because the mother, knowing she is being viewed and recorded, is under too much pressure and stress to relax enough to birth naturally. This was mentioned with Lynsee's online birth, and also (I believe) with a homebirth that ended up transporting. Thoughts, anyone? I don't have time to research that thoroughly - it's just something that came to mind.
Best wishes to Shawna and Ernie! I hope that their upcoming birth is everything that they could wish for!
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