Preggie Pals
The Hospital Delivery Room: What to Expect?

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Please be advised, this transcription was performed from a company independent of New Mommy Media, LLC. As such, translation was required which may alter the accuracy of the transcription.

[Theme Music]

STEPHANIE GLOVER: If you are a first time parent, it’s likely that you’ve never been in a delivery room. Or if you have, you may have not paid attention to the equipment or protocols because you may have been supporting or visiting a laboring mom. But now it’s your turn and you are not sure what to expect. Today we are going to discuss the ins and outs of a delivery room. This is Preggie Pals.

[Intro/Theme Music]

STEPHANIE GLOVER: Welcome to Preggie Pals! Preggie Pals is your online on to go support group for expecting parents and those hoping to become pregnant. I am your host, Stephanie Glover. Did you know that we’ve recorded over a hundred and forty episodes? We’ve covered topics for every phase of pregnancy. Visit the episode guide on our website to scroll through those topics. You can listen directly from your computer, through iTunes, or download our free app available in Android, iTunes and Windows market place. And be sure to check our new network app where you can listen to all of your favorite New Mommy Media shows on the go. Here’s Sunny with details about how you can get more involved with Preggie Pals.

SUNNY GAULT: Alright, hi everybody! So thanks for listening to Preggie Pals! We love producing this show for you guys and we really do believe that this is your show. And we want you be as involved with the show as you feel comfortable. And so there’s a couple ways you can do that. First of all you can participate in our show as a parent, come in on the show and chat about some of the topics that we talk about on the show.

There is more information on our website about that. It’s really easy to sign up and then you can get updates on when we are recording. Also we have segments that we do. We have a couple for each episode that we do. And a lot of these you can participate in. You can send us your stories. We’ve got various segments on the website. I will highlight just a couple of them right now. And these are different ways that you can be involved in our show.

So we have a segment called “Pregnancy Oops”. Ok, so these are funny pregnancy stories, we all have them, right? Funny things, you know, that happen to us or to our babies, whatever, through our pregnancy, that you kind of want to share with an audience. So that’s one segment you can submit stories for.

If you see interesting headlines, I’m always out there like looking for headlines, pregnancy headlines, like I got my like little Google alert all set up for interesting headlines. But if you see something that you would like us to chat about on the show, we talk about headlines quite a bit. So send us a link. You can post it on our Facebook page, and we can find out about it that way.

If you have questions for our experts…This could be about a particular episode we did, or just pregnancy questions in general. Of course if it’s something that's really important, consult with your medical care provider, ok? But if this is something that is more general, the way that we do this is you send us your questions and we team up with some of the experts that have been on our show in the past who are interested in answering questions from our listeners, and we read your question, they answer it, and then we put that on an episode. Because we think that if you have this question, odds are other people are going to have this question as well. And why not share that information with everyone.

So if you want to leave the question yourself, we’d love to actually hear your voice. I know, concept, right? We like send e-mails all the time and like nobody is communicating with their voice. But we would like to hear your voice! So one way that you can do that is through our website. There is a grey banner on all the pages at www.newmommymedia.com, it says “send voicemail”. So click on that banner. You can actually use the mic that’s build right into your computer and just leave us a quick voicemail. If that's not your thing, you can still send us an e-mail, or again, reach out on our Facebook page to give us those question and we’ll get them answered.

STEPHANIE GLOVER: Ok, thanks so much, Sunny! So today let’s get to know each other a little bit better and introduce ourselves. I will go around and learn more one another. I will start. My name is Stephanie Glover. I am the host of Preggie Pals. I am also a childbirth educator and mom of two. My daughter Gretchen who is four and a half was born via unplanned Caesarean. And my two and a half years old daughter Lydia was V-Back baby.

SUNNY GAULT: And I am Sunny. And I have four kiddos. Only my first though, do I have experienced with doing the whole delivery room thing. That was a vaginal birth and so I was in a delivery room for…Man, what was it? 14 hours or so after they admitted me. So I don’t know, I guess that’s pretty average. The rest of my babies were C-sections so I kind of went straight to the prep-room and then to OR. But I do have some experience with today’s topic.

NINA SPEARS: Great! And my name is Nina Spears. I am a baby planner, a birth doula, a postpartum doula, childbirth educator, massage therapist, you name it. And I am the co-founder and CEO of Baby Chick™ and founder and CEO of Bassett Baby Planning.

STEPHANIE GLOVER: Awesome! Welcome!

[Theme Music]

SUNNY GAULT: Alright, so before we kick off our show today, we do have a segment where we re-read your iTunes reviews. So a lot of you guys find us on iTunes. We are on a bunch of different platforms where you can get podcast. So pretty much any platform you listen to us on has a review program. And I do try to monitor all of them.

iTunes is one where, you know, it’s a little bit easier for me to find the responses though. So if you are listening to us through iTunes, we would love for you to review our show, because this is how other people find out about other shows that are available on iTunes, right? If you like this show, you might like this show. And so this is how it turns up in search results. So I like to give props to the moms out there, and dads, who have left us some review.

So this one…I don’t know if you guys realize this. If you are new listeners to Preggie Pals, Stephanie has been hosting for a while, but I actually originally hosted this show, and so I think this comes from a listener who maybe starting at the beginning of the show, because she makes some specific references to me, but I haven’t hosted this show for a while. But here is what it says. This comes from “story night sunlight” and she gave Preggie Pals 5 stars. She said: “love it”, that’s her title. And then she says: I love this podcast. The information is useful. Sunny’s voice is so warm and friendly. Her compassion and carrying really shines through. Thank you to everyone who is involved in making this podcast possible. It seriously motivates me to go work out, so I could listen. I love that!

Obviously I appreciate the personal comments. But yeah, we as a team really try to make this show the best possibly can. And I totally get you! Because I am one of those people who listens to podcasts when I am working out. I like you know… I wake up extra-early and you know, I try to hit the elliptical on our house. We have a pretty nice one that I can hop on in the morning before my kiddos wakeup. And that’s what I do too. I’m a podcast listener on the treadmill or you know, on the elliptical or whatever.

So I totally get it! But yeah, just appreciate the love! This is really what keeps us going and producing these shows week after week. And so I am really glad that this worked for you. And so again, keep the reviews coming guys, we love it! Even if there is something you thing that we can we change and get better at. Like no one got better just from positive comments, right? So we are all about learning and growing right along with our audience. So again, thanks for the iTunes review, and hopefully we’ll get more in the future.

STEPHANIE GLOVER: And I agree. You have a great voice! Very warming!

SUNNY GAULT: Oh, you are so sweet! It kind of feels weird reading this pat on my back! But yeah, no, I do appreciate it, it’s awesome!
[Theme Music]

STEPHANIE GLOVER: Today on Preggie Pals we are chatting with Nina Spears, co-founder and CEO of Baby Chick™. Nina is a baby planner, birth doula, postpartum doula, childbirth educator, massage therapist and so much more. What a resume? She has helped over a 500 families to prepare and care for their babies. And she’s here to provide us with more information about what to expect in the delivery room. So welcome to Preggie Pals, Nina!

NINA SPEARS: Thank you so much, Stephanie! It’s a pleasure to be here!

STEPHANIE GLOVER: So each hospital may vary a little bit, right? I mean, they are all a little bit different. But can you walk us through, sort of a virtual tour of what a hospital delivery room typically looks like?

NINA SPEARS: Absolutely! So once you leave triage and are admitted to labor and delivery room, which I call L&D room. When you fist walk in, you may notice that there is a privacy screening sheet that you can move so that way you can have privacy if anyone were to walk into your room and maybe it’s the wrong room they are walking into. But the first things that you really notice are obviously the L&D bed. Then you are going to notice that there is a recliner, a rocking chair for your support person to be able to sit in, a small couch that pulls down for someone to sleep on. There is a baby warming unit, so whenever the baby is born and after doing hopefully some skin-to-skin, baby can go to the warming unit and be weighed and measured.

There is usually an IV pool, monitoring equipment and screens, a computer for your nurse, a little station that they have in there. In that room there’s a sink for you or your support people to wash their hands. A cabinet that stores extra towels, sheets, tux-pads, more. There is usually a connected room which I can tell you more about. And there’s also bright lights, a white board for nurses to right down information about you and who’s on call that night, when their shift ends maybe the next nurse that’s coming in. A clock on the wall, a couple extra chairs and maybe even a breathing ball for you to sit on and get your labor on.

STEPHANIE GLOVER: Awesome! Sounds like quite a lot! And probably when you walk into the room you are not even really recognizing what everything is for.

NINA SPEARS: Yeah, exactly! Most people are like: ok, where do I go, what would I do…

STEPHANIE GLOVER: Ok, I see the bed, I will go there!

NINA SPEARS: Exactly!

STEPHANIE GLOVER: And do they give you like a gown to put on?

NINA SPEARS: Absolutely! So if you do go into a triage, they usually give you a gown at that point for you to change into, unless you have something that you want to wear on your own, there’s plenty of other breathing gown that you can purchase yourself, but if you don’t, they will definitely give you a breathing gown to change into.

STEPHANIE GLOVER: Sunny, did you go to triage first? With your first delivery? Or did you do straight to a delivery room?

SUNNY GAULT: No, I did. I did, because they had to check me. They weren’t, you know, sure how far…They weren’t sure if they were going to admit me, you know. They had to make sure I was at least…What was it? At least 3… I can’t remember now, 3 or 4 centimeters?

NINA SPEARS: Yeah, exactly! They want to make sure that…There’s plenty of women who are like oh my water broke, but really it didn’t break. Or oh I am having intense contractions, but they are not really in active labor yet, so they don’t want to admit someone into an L&D room and then have to clean it all up again. Because you know, it needs to be sanitary and safe for the woman that’s going to be admitted. So they usually do triage first to make sure that you really in labor and then once you get that green light, they transfer you to your new room.

SUNNY GAULT: Well, when I was first brought to the room they determined that I was only 2 centimeters dilated. And so what they had me do, and I am sure a lot of woman can relate to this, they had me walk the halls for an hour. I think it was a whole hour they asked to walk for. I know that’s what it ended up being whether…They may have made me do it for an hour and then check me again, I can’t really remember.

But I remember the total was an hour. And I would literally just walk around. Because they knew that it was coming, they just, you know… I don’t know, according to their rules I had to at a certain stage before they can let me come in and actually go to the room. And so when I finally did make into the delivery room it was a welcome feeling. Because I felt like I was just like in this weird walking-around-the-hall mode and I didn’t really have a home, so I was really happy to find it.

NINA SPEARS: Yes, I made the cut!

SUNNY GAULT: I did! Because I was scared they are going to send me back home. Because I knew…At this point I was 40weeks and two days. So I knew this was go-time. And I didn’t want to do this back and forward. We were already there, so I was just praying that the walking was helping. And it did. It did. Within an hour I think I at least opened up at like another centimeter.

STEPHANIE GLOVER: Yeah, I always crack up, and I know I’m going into tantrum, but I’ve never been in a triage room, because I actually thought labor was sort of happening and my doctor’s office was close enough to the hospital that she said just come here first. She checked me and I was 4centimetres. So she just ordered a room for me.

SUNNY GAULT: Oh, that’s nice!

STEPHANIE GLOVER: So I got to the L&D floor and they had one ready, and they checked me again, I was five. So I wasn’t going anywhere. And then my second pregnancy was fast and furious! I showed up on the gurney in the ER. I did not need triage, because it was clear, because I was pushing a baby. So now I’m like I would like to know what a triage room looks like. Nina, are delivery rooms private?

NINA SPEARS: Yes! So triage rooms: sometimes they are private and sometimes they are not. But labor & delivery rooms most of the time… Every hospital that I’ve been into, and I’ve probably to 20 different hospitals, they all are private rooms. And that’s really nice because then a woman can feel safe to change, you know, being naked, and whatever she wants to do, she can feel comfortable in her own room.

STEPHANIE GLOVER: And you mentioned that sometimes there’s a room off the delivery room, or a joining room?

NINA SPEARS: Yeah, I was just saying that there’s a bathroom. Sometimes people think oh do you share a bathroom and yes, there is a bathroom. So it has a toilet, a shower, some bathrooms do not have tubs, but some do, and if you do that’s great, because some of them have jets and that’s amazing if you can use that as a form of relaxation, but yeah. So there is an off room where you can change, use the restroom. And it’s also nice to just being able to change the scenery if you don’t want to be walking the halls, you can just at least go to the restroom. And it’s usually a large restroom. You can just go in there and change the scenery a bit.

STEPHANIE GLOVER: I remember taking my hospital tour and of the nurses that were giving the tour said: you know the bathrooms, they are all really small. And I remember looking and be like: I can do cart wheels in this bathroom! Because they do think they do need to be larger enough where your support person is going in there, you know, like helping you in the shower, or whatever. So while they might seem small in certain scales, I remember thinking they were large and fabulous. And so who might be assisting the woman when she is in the delivery room? What staff can she expect to see?

NINA SPEARS: Oh, my goodness! Well, obviously the people that you come in with, so your support team. But once you get admitted into a room, you will meet your nurse that’s assigned specifically to your room. And there are shifts so it may change at that point, but you will meet your first L&D nurse. And you also meet some other nurses that need to take, you know, blood samples, they have to get you to sign paper works.
There may be a nurse, or two, or three kind of asking you questions, getting you all checked in. And there also might be a resident come in, or even your doctor just to walk in, see how you are doing at that point. But mainly it’s just you and your nurse that’s going to be in your room.

STEPHANIE GLOVER: Ok, and yeah, sometimes you may not see your doctor previous till the act of pushing, correct?

NINA SPEARS: Correct! Even at that point sometimes doctors don’t come until you are actually crowning. So the nurse will call once you are finally getting the baby low enough that ok, it’s time for you to come in and catch baby. So yeah, it could be at very end.

SUNNY GAULT: You know, I have to say, with mine, I remember the OB coming in…And this is even before I had my epidural, I’m not very big on pain by the way, and so… I was roaming the halls and stuff, I was in a lot of pain, and so by the time they got me in there I was like where is the anesthesiologist, like I need my epidural! And so the OB first came in, I remember, I was still in a lot of pain, so before the anesthesiologist came in the room, and I think she had actually seen me before in some…The medical care provider system that I am in.

You know, it wasn’t guaranteed that whoever did all your prenatal was going to deliver your baby. And so I’d actually had one appointment with her prior. So she recognized me and we did a little kind of: hi, I’m in labor, that kind of thing. And she’s like you know you want to see anesthesiologist. And I’m like: yes, please! And so I don’t think… I mean I saw her initially and then I don’t think I really saw her, unless she came in like, you know, in the middle of the night or something when I was sleeping or whatever. I really didn’t see her again until it was go time.

NINA SPEARS: Right, that’s so normal! And the better part of women are kind of surprised that oh my goodness, this person, that I build a relationship with over my pregnancy, I hardly see them on my birthing day, are you kidding?

SUNNY GAULT: Yeah, it seems strange.

STEPHANIE GLOVER: Yeah, because a lot of women put a lot of weight on you know, I want, I’m choosing this doctor cause I want this doctor there for the delivery, but really it could be that they are there for just 20minutes of maybe the 18hours you’re in labor or whatever.

SUNNY GAULT: Which this a good time to plug doulas for that very reason, right?

NINA SPEARS: Yeah, well also, I constantly tell the parents I work with as a doula, that it really comes down to if have a good nurse. Because yes, you can pick your doctors, and you know, you can meet the people that they work with, you know, who’s going to be on call if they aren’t. But you have no idea who your nurse is going to be. And so getting a good nurse could really mean, you know, change things up for you, for your birthing time.

STEPHANIE GLOVER: And now, upon arriving to the delivery room, you know, you are staying, what can mom and partner expect to do first? Like you get in there and what do you do?

NINA SPEARS: Yeah, so like I said before, when you first get in, normally your partner is kind of getting everything where it needs to be, putting all the bags away, and the mom is going to the bed. First things first: they usually get the monitors on her, just to see, you know, how her contractions are going, how the baby is doing.

They may do cervical check if they didn’t do that in triage just to see you know, what your dilation in this stations is of baby and at that point they are going to start your IV, because they need to get some fluids in you, or if you want a more natural birth they would do a hep-lox so they don’t necessarily need to have an IV started. They would have to draw blood to make sure that you know, your blood counts are good. And tons and tons of signatures signing this paperwork, answer all those questions. So these are the first things that happen and they take quite a while.

STEPHANIE GLOVER: Yeah, how often can mom expect to be assessed by the care provider while she is in the delivery room?

NINA SPEARS: Great question! It really depends on the woman. Most typical labors they like to assess every two hours, because their rule of them is that they want to make sure that you are dilating a centimeter per hour. However clients that I also worked with that wanted a more natural birth, they request: I don’t want to be checked until I ask for it or I feel the urge to push. Because the more cervical checks that you have, the more risk that you have for infection. And you want to try and reduce any type of issues that you and your baby can experience. So it really depends on what kind of birth you expect and the provider that you have.

STEPHANIE GLOVER: And you mentioned that your nurse is so important. Should you catch yourself being cared for by a nurse that maybe you are not vibing with or you have a different opinion on how you want your care to be given, what can an expecting mom or her partner do in that situation if they are unhappy with their current nurse?

NINA SPEARS: Yes, a lot of people don’t know this, but if you are just not vibing with your nurse, it is ok for your support teams your partner, your mom or friend, to go to the charge nurse, go to the nurses’ station and ask for a new nurse. You only get to have this baby one time. This is your experience. It should be everything that you want to be. And if you are not getting the support that you want, no matter how you want to birth your baby, you can definitely request a new nurse. And I highly recommend it because yeah, I mean, you only get this one time, so you can ask for a new one, if you are just not jellying together.

STEPHANIE GLOVER: Yeah, I think it’s important. Yeah, because you are creating your own birthing space, you want to be able to have some say and not feel stressed out.

NINA SPEARS: Exactly! You already are going through so much stress in labor, you don’t want to add an extra component. That really just isn’t helping the situation. And actually the more stress that you are under, the slower your labor goes. Because your mind is telling your body: we are not in a safe place to give birth. So the more that you feel relaxed and comfortable and safe, the faster the labor can go. So it’s a huge component that’s in your room and how comfortable you feel.

STEPHANIE GLOVER: And a great role goes over to what we were talking about the atmosphere of a low stress environment. What can parents do in the delivery room to sort of make it their own? Do they have any options with lightening, with temperature, other ways to sort of create a more calming space?

NINA SPEARS: Absolutely! They do have full access to lightening so they can turn down the lights if they really want a more peaceful, tranquiller space. They can bring music. Lot of L&D rooms now have iPod stations where you can plug in your iPod or your mp3 player and play music to really kind of set the tone. You have full control of your thermostat in your room, so it’s very common for women to get extremely cold and ten minutes later have hot flashes, so for you to be able to have that access to the thermostat and make it comfortable to you absolutely.

You know, you can bring your own sense, so aromatherapy is really big, so sometimes labor doesn’t smell the best, so having things that can brighten up the room a little bit also help you, give you energy or help you relax more, that’s really great. And I’ve even had some clients of mine bring their own like pictures. Maybe a picture of their sonogram, or a picture of their children, just to remember what it is they are doing in that space and make it feel a little bit more like home.

STEPHANIE GLOVER: I’ve heard of people like putting something over the clock too?

NINA SPEARS: Yes, absolutely! Because people look at the clock way too much and it can seem like: oh my gosh, it is only been 30minutes and I thought it was three hours. So putting something over the clock can be helpful.

STEPHANIE GLOVER: Sunny, did you do anything in your delivery room to change the atmosphere?

SUNNY GAULT: I don’t really think so. I mean, but I really did appreciate being able to have control like of the lightening and stuff. I think this is really important when you have a little bit longer labor. And you know, I went in at about 7 o’clock or something like that, and so it got dark pretty quick, and then the majority… You know, even though I had my epidural, I was still laboring throughout the night, you know. And so it was nice to be able to control that. And I know we actually did a whole episode on Preggie Pals about how to create a calm birth environment.

So if you guys are interested in taking some ideas on how to do that… I wasn’t as creative; I was actually one of those people that…I even forgot my birth plan at home. I was winging the whole thing with that first baby. I was just…

STEPHANIE GLOVER: There is something exciting about it too, you know. It’s all new, but it is kind of… It’s exciting, it’s the end of the road, and… Yeah, I think it’s really important for women…The temperature stands out for me because I remember temperature was a gage in my mind particularly comparing my second delivery to my first. And then when I got really, really, really hot I knew something was majorly happening in term of progress.

And so that was like a great indication and it was encouraging, although being uncomfortable. And then I remember like once I got my epidural I got really cold, and we were like cranking the heat and covered in blankets. But loving that we had the option to make sure that I was comfortable, so…I think that women going in understanding that you get to play around with that, you don’t have to settle for being uncomfortable in your room.

NINA SPEARS: Absolutely!

STEPHANIE GLOVER: When we come back we will continue our discussion with Nina about what to expect in the delivery room during childbirth and just after. We’ll be right back.

[Theme Music]

STEPHANIE GLOVER: Welcome back! Today we are talking to our expert Nina Spears of Baby Chick about what to expect in the delivery room. So we’ve talked about features of the room and what to expect while laboring. But let’s move on to what to expect in the delivery room during delivery. So once delivery begins, are there changes: the staff and the room? We touched that a little bit, but equipment that’s brought in, or are any of the existing room surroundings changing for that moment?

NINA SPEARS: Yes, definitely! So like I was saying before normally it’s just you and your nurse, and the support people. But once it is go time and it is ready for, you know, your baby’s delivery, a lot more people start coming in. Normally they bring in a cart that has all of the medical equipment and materials that they’ll need for the delivery. And like I said, more people will start coming in and so there will be a scrub tag, there will be a baby nurse; there might be a couple other nurses to help with mom. Then if maybe the baby is not doing so well, maybe baby is having some [inaudible24:45] a whole neonatal team will come in, so there will be a doctor and two nurses specifically for the baby. There maybe one or two residents in the room if you did aloud for residents to be in there. And there’s so many more. So it could be four new people walking into your room to nine different people walking into your room from the moment you are ready to start pushing.

STEPHANIE GLOVER: So a couple of things…You mentioned a cart with equipment for the delivery. What types of equipment tools would be on that cart?

NINA SPEARS: Yeah, absolutely! So they have anything just in case they may need it. So it would have a vacuum or forceps, or a scalpel, a stitching equipment, gauze to help with, you know, helping any lacerations. Things like that that they need to quickly help baby get out or repair anything after birth.

STEPHANIE GLOVER: Ok! And then you also mentioned you know residents maybe in the room "should you allow it”, so I’m assuming that would be at a teaching hospital?

NINA SPEARS: Yes, it would be at a teaching hospital, but I feel like a lot more hospitals are now allowing residents or new doctors to come in and watch. So that is something I would have on your birth plan if that is something that you don’t feel comfortable with. If you don't want someone to watch, you know your birth… I mean the birth that I was at last night, since she was doing it all natural, there was several people coming in because they hadn’t had a natural birth in a long time. So they just wanted to watch. So I mean, if you don’t comfortable with that, you definitely need to speak up.

STEPHANIE GLOVER: That’s interesting! I had my v-back at a teaching hospital and I actually did specify I did not want residents just because I didn’t want any additional strangers in the room, I didn’t want to be observed. But at the same time I knew that if I was going to roll over into a [inaudible26:30] they can have a party, you know, like learn all you can, because at that point I am just laying there.

NINA SPEARS: Exactly! But it is so true! I feel like a lot of women when they are in labor, they feel like they are this gold fish in a ball and everyone is watching them and they almost have to like perform. And the more eyes on you, it could be really daunting and again, kind of stole out the whole process, because that’s a lot of pressure.

SUNNY GAULT: One thing I was going to add: this can also happen if you are having a Caesarean. Because I, with my twins, we knew it was going to be a Caesarean and they ended up coming a little bit early, but still we ended up having a Caesarean and I remember when I was being prepped for the OR and stuff the doctor coming in and saying: hey, do you mind so and so, you know, is it ok, do we have your permission? And I am not sure if they were actually there cause it was a twin birth, or if they were just trying to learn you know just about the process of Caesareans. But yeah, it goes up both ways. So if you end up going for a vaginal birth and then you need a Caesarean, just keep in mind they could still have people in there for a Caesarean birth as well.

STEPHANIE GLOVER: And then could you tell us more about what to expect with the lightening? Because I think that sometimes can be a shocker.

NINA SPEARS: Yes, so when you first walk into the room they may have all the lights on, and as we were saying before, you can have control over those lights. So if you do have them dimmer, and all of the sudden it is ready to go for pushing, they do usually have a drop down light, or a spotlight directed right to the main area. So women are kind of like: wow, there is literally a broadway light shining my vagina and we are ready to go, aren’t we?

STEPHANIE GLOVER: I remember thinking that really is a bright light and I am particularly vulnerable right now!

SUNNY GAULT: Yeah, well, and you can see a lot too, cause, maybe you are going to ask this Stephanie in just a second, but you can have that mirror brought to you if you really want to watch yourself give birth and for me that was actually really, really helpful. I wanted to see the progress I was making and after a while, after a while it almost became an out of body experience because it didn’t really seem like it was happening to me. It was such a strange concept to see this being coming out of me that I almost went into a different place. But it was having this mirror and this spotlight being along with that. Yeah, it’s a little bit [inaudible28:54] at first, bit after a while if you are trying to see what’s happening, it’s really helpful.

NINA SPEARS: Absolutely! I feel like so many of my clients, they are like: no, no, no, I do not need to see, I don’t need a front of what’s going down there and seeing my parts kind of open in ways I didn’t know they could. But then I swear, as soon as some women see it, and they realize where they should push, and the progress that they are making, you are right, it kind switches another gear and they do so much better. And so I definitely encourage women: hey if you are open to it, try it, I mean, but if not, that’s ok too.

STEPHANIE GLOVER: Yeah, I had a mirror as well with my v-back and it helped me feel very in tune with everything. Because I had an epidural that was quite mild because I got it at 10+2. So I thought everything just slightly took the edge off. So I liked being able to see what I was feeling and make adjustments that way. So I thought that it was a really option. So what can parent expect after the delivery? What happens in the room once baby’s out?

NINA SPEARS: Great, yes! Once baby is born and assuming that, you know, mom and baby are both doing well, baby is put right on mom’s chest. They usually, depending if you are wanting to delay court clamp or if you know, if that doesn’t matter to you, they will clamp baby’s court and they will have a scissors ready and give it wither to your support person or if your partner is just grossed out by that, they will cut your umbilical court so in that way you can have some skin-to-skin time with baby.

At that point the doctors are kind of seeing if you have any tears or anything that they need to get ready to fix as well as seeing if your placenta is detaching and the things are going well with that. So a lot of women think: oh, I had my baby, I’m done. No, you still have your afterbirth recovery afterwards. So these are the different things they can expect after the baby is born.

STEPHANIE GLOVER: I think afterbirth is kind of a blur, because you have this baby on you that you are so fascinated by. What about you, Sunny? Do you remember much about like once the baby is out, about the room or any of that after?

STEPHANIE GLOVER: Yeah, well I remember the doctor was still working down there doing her thing. I mean I was so unarmored with the fact you know that I had this baby. You are right, your attention is diverted. But then I also learned enough, you know, in doing this kind of podcasts, I know that I wasn’t quite done. What I appreciated in having the epidural was that, and I really don’t know what the experience is otherwise, so maybe Stephanie can share some light on this, but I really you know…Because I was so unarmored with my baby and because I had the epidural, even though they were working down there, I actually had a second degree tear, so they had to do some stitching and stuff like that.

But it wasn’t anything I could fell. I remember thinking: oh, my goodness, the women that have these natural births, do you feel all that down there or is your body just so numb? I don’t know. Maybe Nina has some feedback on that. I was always so concerned. I’m like: those poor women still have to feel all of that?

NINA SPEARS: Yeah! Well, they definitely don’t because they make sure that they put some lidocaine down there where you had some tears, so you will feel like a bee sting whenever they you know put some lidocaine to kind of numb that area and then they will start doing their repair. So then it should just feel like tugging, but it should not be pain.

SUNNY GAULT: Ok, good!

STEPHANIE GLOVER: Yeah, and I did have the epidural so like I said I felt my baby come out but like I never felt the ring of fire. So it was like that any burning on pinching sensations I did not feel, though I did feel like the movement of her passage if that makes sense. So it just slightly took the edge off which I think was pretty amazing. So I had a third degree tear and I never…I mean, they were down there for a while, but I was just having a party, I didn’t care, they could have been down there for a day. My doula was feeding me [inaudible32:40] and was nursing like you know a sticky baby and I just didn’t care.

SUNNY GAULT: Someone’s feeding you grapes, and there are palm leaves in there.

STEPHANIE GLOVER: Pretty much, yeah! So yeah, I mean my experience I really didn’t feel too much. But I’ve heard that. Or like you are just so doped up on a love hormone and your body just has been through so much that a few extra pinches isn’t really too much at that point.

NINA SPEARS: That’s true! I guess I feel like with subsequent babies that you know, the afterbirth and you uterus having to stop the bleeding and you know try to go back to at least a cantaloupe size, it’s a bit more painful for women to kind of go through that process with the more children that you have. So I feel like I see women are like: oh, my goodness, yes, I have this baby and oh, my goodness that’s intense right there. So with first baby's not so much, they are so unarmored with their little one, but second, third, fourth babies: it might get a little more uncomfortable.

STEPHANIE GLOVER: Yeah, once the epidural wore off and the nursing come in I was breathing through like a labor pain.

NINA SPEARS: Exactly, yes! And people are like: I thought I was done. And I’m like: I know, honey, I’m sorry!

SUNNY GAULT: And I wonder too do you know, Nina, for moms that were pregnant with multiples, is that…Because I would imagine everything would be even bigger! Do they go through a longer period of time then of the uterus contracting because they had more than one baby?

NINA SPEARS: Yeah, I mean, not necessarily a longer time. It is a little bit longer, but it’s just a lot more…

SUNNY GAULT: Do you think it’s more intense?

NINA SPEARS: I was going to say intense because when you are breastfeeding that’s you know causing to have oxytocin which is the hormone that causes you to feel love and it causes your uterus to contract and cramp to get back to its normal state. So it can be a bit more painful for moms of multiples.

STEPHANIE GLOVER: Nina, how long can a mom and babe, and partner can expect to be in the delivery room before they are moved over to like a recovery room?

NINA SPEARS: Yeah, most of the time they keep you in your labor and delivery room for the first two hours. And then after two hours they would move you to a postpartum room. That can vary though because if all of their postpartum rooms are completely filled they may have you stay a bit longer. But typically they keep you there for two hours so that’s when you can do skin to skin, breastfeeding, measurements of baby, having any family come in to meet the new little one, just kind of have some alone time as well. And then once you are ready and everyone has got you in your room, they can then escort you to your postpartum room.

STEPHANIE GLOVER: Which are smaller!

SUNNY GAULT: Yeah, if you get one of those rooms…I made the mistake once you guys, of wanting…So I wanted my husband to be there for as long as possible and I got a single room, but I thought it was a little too small and I really wanted my husband to be able to have a bed. Don’t necessarily do that, because then they put me in a room with two, you know, it was a double room. And then they had this influx of moms coming and then it turned into I had a roommate, because I was being a little selfish and wanted a bigger room. So if they give you one of those single rooms, even though it’s a little tighter, stick with it! That’s my advice!

NINA SPEARS: Well, I also want people to know that some hospitals, they do have suits, so you can, I mean, it is a little expensive, but you will have like a little kitchen net, a little sitting area, a much bigger room. You will have to pay for it, but you can have a postpartum recovery suit where people really love that, so then dads can bring maybe a like brow-up mattress rather than those crummy, full down couches and the chair next to you. So there are birthing suits. It is an addition fee. The prize varies per hospital. But that might be an option at your birth location.

SUNNY GAULT:I have never heard of that before!

STEPHANIE GLOVER: That sounds cool!

SUNNY GAULT: Yeah, I know!

STEPHANIE GLOVER: Yeah, our hospital…I was in my delivery room probably for a good six hours because they were experiencing like busiest weekend they have ever had. I think they had four or five multiple deliveries like that day! It was just insanely busy! And so, I had to stay in my delivery room for quite a while. And then I had roommates. So it just was what it was.

Well, that wraps up our episode for today. Thanks so much, Nina Spears, for joining us and walking us through what a delivery room is all about and what to expect. For information about our show, as well as our expert, you can visit our episode page on our website. This conversation continues for members of Preggie Pals club. After the show we are going to talk about what to expect in a birth-centre delivery room.

[Theme Music]

SUNNY GAULT: Alright, so before we wrap up our show, we have a segment called Pregnancy Brain Blunders where you guys tell us all your crazy stuff happened to you as far as you know, you just forget something that you are supposed to do, or you do something kind of silly, because of that crazy pregnancy brain of yours. So this one I really appreciate it! This comes from Lora. And Lora posted it on our Facebook page. She said:
I searched and searched for my glasses, and I was so upset, because I just got them!
She says:
I used to wear contacts all the time.
She was upset and crying. She says she called her husband.
He comes home, he looks at me, and he says: I see you found your glasses. I burst into tears crying, because I hadn’t found them. There were on my face all day!

So it happens, right? And like you know, I’ve done that with a bunch of different things. So Lora, I get it, I get it! You are not alone! I am sure that there a lot of people out there that had something similar happened to them and you know, what are we going to do. All of our brain functionality is going towards, you know, creating a child, creating a human life, so what are you going to do, right? But Lora, thanks so much sending this.

And if you guys have a funny story and something happened to you with your pregnancy brain that you just want to share with our audience, we would love to hear it. You can go to our website at www.newmommymedia.com , click on the contact link. You can also send us a voicemail through our website where you can share your story yourself. Just click on that grey banner on the side of our page at www.newmommymedia.com that says voicemail and you can send it that way.

STEPHANIE GLOVER: That wraps up our show for today. We appreciate that you listening to Preggie Pals.

Don’t forget to check out our sister show:
• Newbies for newly postpartum moms
• Parent Savers for moms and dads with infants and toddlers and
• Twin Talks for parents with multiples.
• Boob Group for Moms who Breastfeed

This is Preggie Pals, your pregnancy your life

[Disclaimer]
This has been a New Mommy Media production. The information and material contained in this episode are presented for educational purposes only. Statements and opinions expressed in this episode are not necessarily those of New Mommy Media and should not be considered facts. While such information and materials are believed to be accurate, it is not intended to replace or substitute for professional, medical advice or care and should not be used for diagnosing or treating health care problem or disease or prescribing any medications. If you have questions or concerns regarding your physical or mental health or the health of your baby, please seek assistance from a qualified health care provider.

SUNNY GAULT: How would you like to have your own show on the New Mommy Media Network? We are expanding our line-up and looking for new content. If you’re a business, or organization interested in learning more about our co-branded podcast visit www.NewMommyMedia.com.

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