Probs with hospital policies.

hi
went for a tour of the delivery suite at the hospital I have to give birth at yesterday, have to give birth there as the one I booked into won't accept vbac's.
They don't do water births which is what I wanted, but the have big spa baths in each room, midwife said that they won't let me labour in the bath though cos I've had a previous section, even though I've had 2 natural deliveries since (the last one a wonderful waterbirth), she said 'but even though you have had 2 natural deliveries that's 2 lots of strain you have put on your scar tissue', also she kept going on about continuous montioring of bubs (she knows where she can stick that idea as well) can see I am going to have a fight on my hands from the start, just what I need, I was hoping for a nice relaxing labour.
my question is has anyone else had the same issues?
Midwife also mentioned could have an ultrasound to measure scar densisty, anyone know anything about this?
Hope I don't get this midwife when I'm in labour,

can you change hospitals.

Windsor is an awsome hospital....and not that far really.

hi

windsor can't get me into the midwife programme as to far on in pregnancy, would need a private ob and can't afford it.

shame its a gr8 hospital.

it is possibly just the midwives own opionions which are causing this.
i am a registered nurse and am wanting to do my middies aswell.

i woudl ask to see the hospital policy relating to water birth post c section and if there is nothing agaisnt this in teh policy then you have every right to do as you wish.
the only time they can stop you is if there are signs of complication or you feel it is not happening the way it should

also i would be looking for research which states that there is no higher a risk of tearing 1, 2 or 3 pregnancies post c section.

also this is true about teh ultra sound they can measure the thickness and length if you want.

Hi
I don't know about the particular hospital you are going to, but I have a friend who is a midwife and she said that sometimes the midwives will tell you something is hospital policy when it isn't.
They usually do this when they are busy or don't want any hassles. Ask to see it in writing. You can also sign a waiver that releases the hospital from responsibility if anything goes wrong because of your requests.
Regards
L.B.

hi

thanks ladies the more info I am armed with the better.

Those issues are part and parcel of being at that hospital: it's a high-risk tertiary referral centre.

You've got another option though - stay home and have a home water birth with a midwife :) You'd need to book pretty soon though.

Hi

Wish I could have a homebirth, that would be my ideal, but hubby lost job and money is an issue so can't afford the cost of the midwife. Will arm myself with all the info I can get and hope I get a nice midwife, like my last birth.

Sounds like you know what you want and as you said you have had 2 wonderful births. They cannot make you have continuous monitoring or anything else for that matter. I haven't heard of a density scan for u/s either but would be sceptical seeing as you have had 2 previous pregnancies and VBAC's without a worry. Arm yourself with knowledge and stand firm for what you want - Silent Knife is a great book if you want to do some reading and it has many stats etc in it. Good luck with it.