Vaginal Delivery Video Transcript

I’m Judy Burichin. I’m a physician at Hilltop OB/GYN. My specialty is obstetrics and gynecology.

Labor

Sometimes labor starts off very smoothly and it’s just a little bit of discomfort. The patient comes in and they are already well into labor. Other times they’ve been here several times because they’ve had various false starts in the labor process and they may be a little frustrated. I think fear is a big, huge factor because these are young women who probably for the first time are in the health care system. Having the nursing staff that we have and the physicians I work with make it a very much more reasonable and understandable experience.

Arrival at Atrium

There’s an initial evaluation that they can count on and that initial evaluation involves a physical exam and an evaluation of their baby so we’re placing them on monitor equipment so we can get a good set of vital signs. Then there’s a long questionnaire the nurses conduct that’s very helpful in terms of the consequences for the rest of the hospitalization. We need to know about their health history and review with them the course of the pregnancy and whether they’ve had any particular concerns during the pregnancy which has not shown up on their prenatal record. Once that evaluation is finished and if they are becoming increasingly uncomfortable with the labor, we get them medicated or we offer epidurals for conduct during labor as long as mom and baby are stable enough to proceed with that.

Alternative Pain Relief

As an alternative to epidural and natural child birth there is the assistance with intravenous medications which are used judiciously and very carefully so as not to depress the baby and keep the mom as comfortable as possible. That’s the primary mainstay of the pain management for someone who’s determined to go through natural childbirth but needs a little bit of help with taking the edge off. It’s impressive to see someone go through natural childbirth and the support team they have with them . . . usually a mother or the father of the baby are the ones that are there with them moment to moment to help them get through each contraction. It’s a huge amount of work for people but it’s a wonderful delivery when you get to assist with one of those.

Advantages of Vaginal Birth

We like to attempt for a vaginal birth because the recovery is so much quicker and the mom is so much more able to care for herself and the baby, so we try. There are circumstances where we have to proceed with C-section. And there are circumstances where straight from the beginning we can tell there is a requirement for C-section.

Listen to Yourself and Your Doctor

A piece of advice I give to most of my patients is “lots of people have advice, but listen to what you want to do with your baby” and listen to your physicians because they are the ones constantly monitoring. That’s a very important piece of the puzzle when we’re doing prenatal care . . . to teach people to listen to what they need and want.

A Unique Experience

Each family, each mother is slightly different than another person and has a unique set of circumstances that have brought her to this pregnancy and this delivery. Most often it’s a wonderful experience for the parents and the mom as well as the extended family.