The gentlebirth.org website is provided courtesy of
Ronnie Falcao, LM MS, a homebirth midwife in Mountain View, CA

General Anesthesia Horror Story

I was so happy to find a list like this and have enjoyed reading the posts for the past two days. I decided I was ready to introduce myself. I am on this list because of my HORRIBLE birth experience and my desire to be more knowledge able the next time around! When i was 6 days from my due date I was sent to the hospital because of my high blood pressure(sorry cant remember the numbers). The nightmare started the minute I arrived. A resident doctor took my blood pressure and also attached a fetal monitor to me. I forgot to add this lasted about an hour and the whole time I was laying on my back. The doctor came back and told me the baby sounded great but he wanted to try to start labor anyhow. This did not make much sense to me at the time but I had come from a very mainstream family so I just accepted it. They proceeded to apply a gel to my cervix which did absolutely nothing!

So the next morning they induced my labor. I had lain in a cold hospital bed all night wondering if my baby would be all right. They started my labor at 10;00 am and I was on my back still with a catheter and a iv and a fetal monitor. (don't forget this is my first baby) By 4:00 I still was not completely dilated and the baby still hadn't dropped yet. This is what I was told. They gave me Nubain to take the edge off but all it did was leave me confused, scared and groggy. They told me I had pre-eclampsia. The doctor decide that I needed a c/s. The drawback was that hey could not do a spinal or so they say and I had to be completely under. My husband could not even be present when my baby was being born!

After surgery i remember nothing. I remember waking up about 2 hours later and asking to see my baby. They continued to make excuses why they could not bring him to me. I explained to them that I was breastfeeding and they still did not care. They finally brought my beautiful baby to me the following morning. I was so depressed. It took my husbands shouting and screaming to get my child. I had no one to help me and i was all alone in my fight to see him it was such a relief when my husband arrived that morning. I was still in the high risk area of the hospital which was a completely different floor than the normal maternity wing. I did not make it up there until the third day. Finally they would allow me to be with my baby! Here is where the second problem started. He had nipple confusion from having so many bottles! anyhow i could go on and on but will stop at this point and let you imagine what the following 4 days in the hospital were like. So this is why I am here please educate me with all your wisdom.