Why do the surprise birth at home or side of the road always have no complications or C-section needs?

[Anonymous]

my first baby was OP (face up) and I was in labor for 35+ hours.

my second baby, water broke at home but I was like, ho hum, lots of time left, no rush and then he was born less than an hour later in the lobby. crazy easy labor even though he was over 10 pounds.

third baby was 8 hours from water breaking to birth but he was huge, almost 12 pounds.

also, i was chonky lazy and out of shape for all these pregnancies so....sorry, fit mom, but I don't think how much you exercised during pregnancy made one bit of difference.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Also: my third came crazy fast and was in a compound position, meaning his elbow came out first. I WAS in the hospital and they saw the elbow, said we might need c-section, everyone started frantically preparing, and then I pushed like hell and he was born. Tore the crap out of me and hurt like hell but he was ok. They said the speed of delivery was what made it safer.

Yeah, I think this is the answer. A lot of complications are, essentially, related to the fact that pelvises designed to walk upright plus giant brains for smart creatures combine to make it hard to get the baby out. That's why, absent modern medicine, cows and horses and other mammals have much lower maternal mortality than humans.

If you can get the baby out quickly, that's a huge part of the battle.

[Anonymous]

I was born in the back seat of the car in the hospital parking lot. I was number 7.

[Anonymous]

Front seat of the car, passenger side. Husband on the phone with the docs, who could hear me in the background (moaning? Screaming? I have no recollection). They told him to pull over, he came to my side of the car, my right leg went up on his left shoulder, my left leg on the dash board, baby came right out. I put the baby under my sweatshirt and we kept on going, arrive in under 5 minutes. Baby was just a little bit early, but all healthy.

Docs told me they don't worry about the quick ones, they are usually fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’ve never -that I can recall- heard of a situation where mom delivers in the car or somewhere unexpectedly needing medical care or realizing she would need a cesarean. Are you less likely to spontaneously go into labor if you would need a c-section? I’ve also never seen in these stories of the child or mother experiencing any complications. This is a wonderful thing but what are the chances?

Are these women less likely to have health issues?

Tech interventions can cause issues when mom isn’t on board with the interference.

Certain women prefer to be in control of their own birthing process. Hospitals hate that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I had a precipitous birth at home with nobody but my husband and a 911 operator for help. Speed definitely played a factor. My contractions went from 1 to 1000 in about 2 minutes. I didn’t even push - baby just came.

Baby’s size also mattered in my case. Based on my previous births, I learned that I make big babies and my body is not made to deliver them vaginally. This baby was early and therefore smaller. She shot out of me. EMTs arrived maybe 10 minutes after she did. She was not well and spent a long time in the NICU. (She’s now a thriving, healthy 8-year-old. All is well!)

For some reason I want more details about these crazy births. Like did you take your underwear off or was it such a surprise you were still dressed? Where in your house were you? How was your husband reacting?

Yes, I also want these details.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:CNM here- generally speaking fast labors are uncomplicated ones. Of course there can be exceptions but that’s generalisation that tends to bear out

Yep. Car delivery here, mid-morning. Slipped off my sweatpants and underwear, one leg on the dash board, one on my spouses shoulder outside the car door (he had pulled over), and out the baby came. Slid baby under my sweatshirt and we kept going. Baby was fine, I tore a little, and we were all home by dinner time. She's got one more year of college left

I ... ok, so was the whole thing so intense you just didn't think about the naked aspect. I think I would have been stupidly trying to cover up.