Going to Hospital Before Water Breaks

Both of my children were born at St. Davids NAMC and I had a fantastic experience both times! Great staff, great facility, great food. Since you already know what to expect and what you do and don't want, just tell them. They will let you walk around, if that is what you prefer. With the second child, you never know what to expect. Very often you deliver much quicker so I wouldn't spend too much time at home, just to be on the safe side. I don't think you'll be disappointed in this hospital. Just speak up. Good luck!

Your second labor and delivery will be much different than your first. Your body has been through it before and now knows what to do. No, there is no reason to go to the hospital. You don't even need to go to the hospital if your water is broken. If you go when your water has broken you are now on their time clock. If I had to deliver in a hospital I would wait until I was almost pushing to arrive. Lot less chance of the hospital screwing everything up. I am a former NICU Respiratory Therapist and now a homebirth midwife. I worked at the hospital you plan on delivering yet. I have never had a baby there but if I was planning a hospital birth I would not go there. Kind of like waitresses that won't eat at the restaurant they work at. I have seen what goes on behind the scenes. Have you considered hiring a midwife and staying at home?

Lisa

Congratulations on your new baby!
No, there is no reason unless you have a specific reason from your doctor..

Just be aware that many second babies come lots faster than the first...

I am a first time mom who delivered at North Austin and can't say enough great things about them. The labor and delivery nurses are AMAZING!! the hospital is great-food was great-nursery amazing. Having never experienced labor before I was so greatful to have experienced it there. I was in labor for 12 1/2 hrs and ended up having a c-section. I hope you have the same experience I did. I tell every expectant mom about it.

I have two totally different birth stories. The first one I was hooked up to machines, wasn't allowed to walk around, was given pitocin without consultation, etc. I felt so helpless and hated the experience. With my second one, I was more informed and knew the type of birth experience I wanted. I talked to my doctor beforehand and when I came to the hospital, I told them what I wanted such as talking to me before they give me pitocin (they never did), letting me labor and don't push an epidural on me (if I want it, I will ask for it), letting me walk around and not being constrained to the bed, etc. And they did exactly what I said. I gave birth at St. David in Round Rock and even though I blamed them for my first experience, I realized that the problem lies with me and how assertive I was. They were glad to accommodate my plans. You don't need a doula or anyone else, be your own advocate. As for going to the hospital, just make sure you make it there in time because my first one took 20 hours and the second took 6 hours. Good luck!

Your second birth will be much easier than your first. But faster too, so keep that in mind.
Are you planning on giving birth naturally?
I had two beautiful, natural births at St. David's North. My doctor knew from my birth plan that I wanted as little intervention as would be safe for me and my baby and that I wanted to be mobile and on a birthing ball for most of my laboring. I also had a copy of the birthing plan that I brought to the hospital with me. I requested nurses that were familiar with natural child birth. (If you've been through a natural child birth or a class, you probably already know to do all this.) Anyway, my point is, my experiences at St. David's were positive.
I will say this about laboring at home (which I do know was your real question <g>): In my experience with both births, I arrived at the hospital fairly early in labor. This allowed me to be in transit while the labor pain was still just discomfort. That way, I got checked into the hospital and settled in so that as the labor pains increased in intensity, I wasn't having to transition from house to car to hospital.
The natural child birth method I used was Hypnobirthing. It worked great for me. I did find that it took a lot of concentration to relax through the contractions. Having the heplock in never bothered me. Having to drive across town, definitely would have thrown me off my rhythm.
I know a lot of people are very in favor of laboring at home as long as you can, but I don't think that would have worked as well for me.
If you're feeling anxious about the hospital, it's not too late to look into getting a midwife and going to the birthing center. But there's no reason you can't have a beautiful and relaxed birth at St. David's North.

Have a home birth, it's awesome!!! My first was born in the hospital and my second was born in the luxury of my own bed at home. If you want to go natural it's the only way to really relax--because you're in your own surroundings. I felt incredibly safe because my midwife was MariMikel Penn, and she's attended well over 1500 births and has been practising for like 25 years. Highly highly recommend a home birth with her. If you want to meet her and discuss the possibility she runs New Life Birth Center. Blessings!

First, let me say don't wait for your water to break. With my first it broke at the start of labor but with my second two the water never broke and it was broken as I was pushing.

Second, I went natural with all three so other than the heplock I wasn't hooked up to anything. I had my first in a birthing center in Tennessee, second at St. David's downtown, and third where you are having yours at St. David's North Austin Regional Medical Center. I loved the North Austin hospital and the nurses were great. They were very supportive and I had a wonderful birth experience. They hooked me up to the around the tummy monitor when I first got there for a baseline reading but after that I was free to move however I wanted and they used the handheld monitor for the one other reading. It was a fast labor (only 3 1/2 hours from first contraction to birth) so we weren't at the hospital long before baby girl was born.

I really can't say enough wonderful things about the nursing staff. We had great nurses in L&D, and our room both day and night. We loved the baby's nurse too. The rooms are great and they even rolled in a rollaway bed for my hubby in our hospital room so he slept pretty well (older kids were at our house with grandma). My baby is nearly 4 months old now so our experience was fairly recent.

To compare, our second kid was born at St. David's downtown and we were not thrilled with our experience there, nothing bad - just not the great experiences we had with both the birthing center in Tennessee and North Austin here.

If you want to know more feel free to pm me.