ummzarinah

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Latest post on 07 October 2013 - 11:30

Hello all, My daughter, Ms. Aya Patrick was born September 14th at 4:31pm at Al Zahra Private Hospital. Alhamdulillah she was born healthy and is doing fine (besides the nightly crying/gas). The good news is that I walked an hour everyday and began doing the moves on the spinningbabies.com website and went into labor naturally (high five) on the morning of September 14th. The night before I had eaten some pizza and gotten extreeeeeme nausea which I read was a great sign and knew that meant that I would be going into labor soon. So at 5am my contractions started, they just felt like Braxton hicks at first but they weren't going away. As they got stronger I felt the urge/need to help them along and my friend suggested I have ***...which I really really really didn't want to do lol and neither did my husband. But I told him the baby was coming and that I'd be out of order for 6 weeks lol. So my plan was to have *** and then go walk for an hour as I'd been doing everyday since Dr. Elsa tried to schedule my csection. Literally 10 minutes after *** my contractions started getting worse and my mom wanted to take me in. I really wanted to wait as long as I could but my husband was getting on my nerves lol so we went in at around 10:30. When I got there I was 4 cm (super high five) and labored for 4 more hours and was at 8cm (and I let them break my water, which they tried to do at 4cm but I said heck no). An hour later I was at 9cm but the babies heart rate was going down with every contraction (it got as low as 50 :-o). So the doctor said that this was too dangerously low and that I needed to have an emergency c section as we could not wait another hour for me to get to 10. She tried to move my cervix during a contraction which she said would make the baby come right out or something but she could not and said that I had to do the section. I was heartbroken as I'd labored for 10 hours 100% naturally just to have another doctor tell me that I had to have a csection...but Alhamdulillah. I feel ALOT better about this csection than with my first and I actually do believe it was necessary given the circumstances. I DO think that doctors should have to learn about optimal fetal positioning and how to help mothers in labor get their babies into the right position. My baby wasn't coming down because her head was....deflexed I believe, I have the medical term written down but I KNOW that if I had a doctor/midwife who had the knowledge of optimal fetal positioning that she would have suggested different positions for me to get the baby in the position she needed to be in to come down. I've even revisited the spinningbabies website and read about the positions to use during labor to help the baby come down and out but unfortunately I wasn't well versed enough in any of them during my labor :-( It took over an hour for them to book the OR and get it ready and administer the spinal and finally be ready to cut....I just think if I had all that extra time with a specialist who was truly "pro natural" then my baby and I wouldn't have had to go through that. I think because I've had to go through 2 csections that my brain is now obsessed with natural birth since now that I know my body WILL go into labor naturally (something I should never have doubted in the first place). Our plan was always to have another one about a year later but now my brain is on overdrive thinking about trying in a year. I did not know that natural birth was a possibility after 2 csections and have read a TON of woman who've successfully had them. I do know that finding a doctor here in Dubai who is willing will be virtually impossible, though I read on a forum written about 2 years ago that Dr. Raj at American was willing with a former patient, assuming she went into labor naturally and there were no complications of course. So she's my starting point. I feel the need to secure a doctor NOW who knows what I want and who is willing to help get me there, even though we of course wont start trying until this time next year lol. I definitely do not plan on putting all my trust into the hands of any doctor and will do ALOT more to make sure my body is ready and that I'm doing everything for optimal fetal positioning (which is key to an easy labor)

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ummzarinah

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Latest post on 12 September 2013 - 05:43

Thank you Kenza and Slurp for your positive encouragement, it makes me feel so much better :-) After reading a couple of people's recent experiences at City Hospital and having the experience I did with their emergency care earlier in my pregnancy and now with Dr.Elsa I began searching for another hospital. Honestly I'm over the whole you have to find a really good doctor phase. I'm 40W+2 and the doctors aren't there while you're laboring, they're getting their little updates and coming in when its "necessary" to deliver the baby. I would have liked to have had a doctor who was encouraging me and informing me of things I could do and implement to help my baby engage and apparently help my posterior cervix to come forward but thanks to spinningbabies.com and reading ALOT of other posts about women in the same position as I am I believe I'm on the right track to maximizing my chances of a natural birth. So through this forum it seems that Al Zahra private hospital (which is waaaaay closer to my house than healthcare city) has some pretty good reviews. Yesterday I scheduled an appointment with Dr. Yamini and was able to get an appointment for today. As the hospital is new they still have that "the patient comes first" attitude and hopefully that will remain even as the hospital becomes more popular. I tried, to judge as harshly as I could and honestly I only found positive. As I said the hospital is new, so its quiet, and quite empty. Dr. Yamini (who was previously at Welcare) is also quiet but she has personality. I told her of my concerns and she listened, did a full ultrasound confirming my baby is doing excellently at this point and also suggested doing a sweep. I had no clue what a sweep was and was a bit scared of agreeing to something I hadn't read about but when she checked me she informed me that my cervix is posterior and that she could not even reach it to do a sweep if she wanted to. She recommended I walk at least an hour everyday and come back to her on Sunday to see if I'd progressed. She did recommend that I have a c-section after 10 days if I didn't begin to progress and I've NEVER been against that. I just need to know and feel that I've done everything in my power to have this baby naturally. Not to have some doctor compare my babies head and my cervix to two mis matching shapes (YES, Dr. Elsa did!) So after I saw Dr. Yamini, who was great with me and with my six year old daughter I had to take with me, they sent me to the labor and delivery ward to speak to Ms. Emma, who I assume to be the head mid-wife. She's an African lady from Zimbabwe who was soooo warm and kind, you can tell she is VERY experienced in childbirth (she previously was at American Hospital). I sat and talked with her for an hour and she went through the entire process with me, she explained to me how pro natural and hands off they prefer to be...they even have a labor and delivery room that they are prepping to be a birthing room, with a birthing tub and birthing balls and a birthing stool. Though the room is not yet finished she said that if I wanted to they would set the pool up in my room and allow me to labor in the pool (babies cant be born in the pool though) which I found to be EXTREMELY great of them as I believe the only other hospital that allows laboring in water is in Al Ain (I could be wrong). She also showed me how to use the birthing stool...which I found to be quite low and awkward but its nice to know that they are so encouraging of natural options. Overall I feel pretty great about my experience there. Now that Kenza has given me this extra information I feel compelled to try out Dr. George as well....though at this point I'm pretty sure I do not want to deliver at City. Al Zahra was so quiet and welcoming....not that they aren't at City...its just different though...more warm.

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ummzarinah

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Latest post on 10 September 2013 - 16:07

Reading all of these positive reviews about Al Zahra is seriously making me re-consider City Hospital. I am not happy with the care I've been receiving and I really do not want to set myself up for further disappointment. After my appointment today with Dr. Elsa I'd decided to have my baby at Latifah but I did not know that they do not take patients past 20 weeks. Honestly I've stayed at City to this point because I paid for their antenatal package. I'm currently 40 weeks and I just want to have a positive birthing experience (whether its natural or a c-section). I'm no longer hung up on who the doctor is as they spend the least amount of time with you during your labor anyway. I'm more concerned about having positive reassurance and being surrounded by staff who truly have what's best for me and my baby as their priority.

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Latest post on 10 September 2013 - 15:43

Hello All, Had my 40 week checkup today and I must report that I am extremely disappointed. Baby is still high and not engaged (-3) and Dr. Elsa wants me to schedule a C-Section. I must say that I have not been impressed by her at all. For all the positive reviews on how pro natural she supposedly is, I've not seen much of any pro natrual(ness) about her. She says that I am 'prolonging the inevitable, there's no need to be a hero' and 'why put yourself through the discomfort' The only discomfort I've complained about is the swelling in my feet and honestly I feel that she should be encouraging me positively and assuring me that the baby will come when she's ready. My eyes aren't closed to a c-section I just really feel she's being premature. Everything is based solely on the fact that the baby is not yet engaged but I've read tons and tons and tons online about how many babies do not engage until labor has begun and how thats not an indication of needing a c-section or needing to be induced. Dr. Elsa originally said that we would probably be looking at csection number two 10-14 days after my due date, but now for some reason all of that has changed. The baby is not showing any signs of distress, she's still moving around and active with a strong heartbeat and good fluid so why the big rush to push me towards a c-section????

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ummzarinah

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Latest post on 06 September 2013 - 03:10

Hi all, Due sept 8th and no baby yet. Doing exercises to help open my pelvis. A cousin just recommended today that I take castor oil to bring on labor and I was all ready to do it until I read this horror story online about an emergency csection being done because the woman's cervix wasn't ready to have a baby. While I'm not sure if that was actually the case or not I've had a csection and I just really don't want to have another. Dr Elsa says I can go 10 days over so I'm just trying to remain positive :-) Thanks Kenza for the note at the end about the delivery costs....I can't stand when a budget is wrong, I'm really quite **** about it lol. Congrats on the baby as well, what did you name her??

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