When preparing for the birth of her third baby, Grace Greene of Jackson, Mississippi, had every reason to believe that her planned home birth would go smoothly. She had delivered her second child at home with no complications and was familiar with the process.
“I went to my 40-week appointment and everything checked out perfectly,” Greene told HuffPost. But her plans changed drastically before contractions even began.
“I woke up in the middle of the night around 2 a.m. with intense back pain,” Greene said. “It wasn’t just any back pain. It was sharp, stabbing, shooting pain. I called my husband, and he told me to call my midwife. She came and checked me, and she told me that I had a severe case of pre-term labor.”
Pre-term labor is an early form of labor, usually before 37 weeks of pregnancy. It’s often caused by stress, inflammation or infection.
Greene’s midwife told her that she was 1 centimeter dilated and 80 percent effaced. “I was shocked,” Greene said. “I had all these plans for my birth. I had even picked out my outfit.”
Greene spent the next 12 hours in the hospital, where she was hooked up to monitors. “I was hooked up to one monitor that measured my contractions,” Greene said. “When my contractions were at 5 minutes apart, they would send me for another test, and when the contractions were 3 minutes apart, they would send me for another test.”
Greene’s contractions slowed down, and by morning, she was no longer in active labor. She was discharged and sent home to rest.
“I was in so much pain, and I felt like a failure,” Greene said. “I had all these plans for my birth, and I couldn’t even make it past 12 hours.”
Greene was lucky that her labor didn’t progress any further, but many women don’t have the luxury of time.
“Active labor is an unpredictable process,” said Dr. Jennifer Ashton, a labor and delivery nurse and director of patient advocacy at the American College of Nurse-Midwives. “In some cases, women will go into labor, have a baby and then go home. In others, labor will progress, and the woman will be admitted to the hospital. In still others, labor will progress, and the woman will need a C-section.”
Ashton explained that women are often told that they are going into active labor when their contractions are 5 minutes apart. “That’s not a true indicator of when a woman is in active labor,” Ashton said. “Contractions can be 5 minutes apart, and that woman could still be in active labor.”
Ashton said that some women experience false labor, or Braxton Hicks contractions, which feel like mild menstrual cramps. “She gets sent home, and the pain continues,” Ashton said. “She’s in active labor, but the baby isn’t ready yet. She’s not ready for the baby, and the baby isn’t ready for her.”
Ashton said that women don’t have control over their labor. “When a woman goes into labor, her labor will start,” Ashton said. “She can’t go and stop it.”
“We need to educate women that labor is unpredictable,” Ashton said. “They can’t control it, and they can’t predict it. What they can do is prepare themselves for when labor starts.”
Ashton, who is a proponent of home birth, said that women need to be educated about their options. “When a woman goes into labor, she needs to be educated about her options for care,” Ashton said. “She needs to understand what her options are, so she’s empowered to make her own decisions.”
“The biggest thing we can do is educate women,” Ashton said. “We need to educate women that labor is unpredictable. They can’t control it, and they can’t predict it. What they can do is prepare themselves for when labor starts.”
Ashton, who is a proponent of home birth,
“I went to my 40-week appointment and everything checked out perfectly,” Greene told HuffPost. But her plans changed drastically before contractions even began.
“I woke up in the middle of the night around 2 a.m. with intense back pain,” Greene said. “It wasn’t just any back pain. It was sharp, stabbing, shooting pain. I called my husband, and he told me to call my midwife. She came and checked me, and she told me that I had a severe case of pre-term labor.”
Pre-term labor is an early form of labor, usually before 37 weeks of pregnancy. It’s often caused by stress, inflammation or infection.
Greene’s midwife told her that she was 1 centimeter dilated and 80 percent effaced. “I was shocked,” Greene said. “I had all these plans for my birth. I had even picked out my outfit.”
Greene spent the next 12 hours in the hospital, where she was hooked up to monitors. “I was hooked up to one monitor that measured my contractions,” Greene said. “When my contractions were at 5 minutes apart, they would send me for another test, and when the contractions were 3 minutes apart, they would send me for another test.”
Greene’s contractions slowed down, and by morning, she was no longer in active labor. She was discharged and sent home to rest.
“I was in so much pain, and I felt like a failure,” Greene said. “I had all these plans for my birth, and I couldn’t even make it past 12 hours.”
Greene was lucky that her labor didn’t progress any further, but many women don’t have the luxury of time.
“Active labor is an unpredictable process,” said Dr. Jennifer Ashton, a labor and delivery nurse and director of patient advocacy at the American College of Nurse-Midwives. “In some cases, women will go into labor, have a baby and then go home. In others, labor will progress, and the woman will be admitted to the hospital. In still others, labor will progress, and the woman will need a C-section.”
Ashton explained that women are often told that they are going into active labor when their contractions are 5 minutes apart. “That’s not a true indicator of when a woman is in active labor,” Ashton said. “Contractions can be 5 minutes apart, and that woman could still be in active labor.”
Ashton said that some women experience false labor, or Braxton Hicks contractions, which feel like mild menstrual cramps. “She gets sent home, and the pain continues,” Ashton said. “She’s in active labor, but the baby isn’t ready yet. She’s not ready for the baby, and the baby isn’t ready for her.”
Ashton said that women don’t have control over their labor. “When a woman goes into labor, her labor will start,” Ashton said. “She can’t go and stop it.”
“We need to educate women that labor is unpredictable,” Ashton said. “They can’t control it, and they can’t predict it. What they can do is prepare themselves for when labor starts.”
Ashton, who is a proponent of home birth, said that women need to be educated about their options. “When a woman goes into labor, she needs to be educated about her options for care,” Ashton said. “She needs to understand what her options are, so she’s empowered to make her own decisions.”
“The biggest thing we can do is educate women,” Ashton said. “We need to educate women that labor is unpredictable. They can’t control it, and they can’t predict it. What they can do is prepare themselves for when labor starts.”
Ashton, who is a proponent of home birth,