BYOB (bring your own birthing ball)

We had our hospital tour last night. Can I just say that I used to think I had a baby bump until last night? The four other couples were ready to pop, and I felt like the young kid at the adult table just swinging my feet.

It was very surreal. As we drove to the hospital I pretended I was having contractions. Josh noted that I would not be driving in that scenario. I said I might if he was feeling faint! It is about 15 minutes to St Ann’s Hospital. I made some faux puffing breaths, and we discussed how to get a police escort.

The tour started out with some information given by a nurse in a classroom, and then we looked at the rooms on the labor and delivery floor, the post partum floor and finally the nursery.

I came prepared with over 20 questions, and my paper and pen. I noticed the other couples hands were empty. The only questions they had were about H1N1. I was like, seriously?? 15 minutes of our one hour tour talking about the flu? Oh I forgot, there was one other question a couple had about how big the sleeping couch was for Dads. I was really confused. Didn’t they want to know if continuous monitoring was standard? Or the patient to staff ratio? Or the hospital’s c-section rate? I guess they really just wanted to see the accommodations and that was it.

I asked five of my 20 questions before realizing I was the only one in the room who cared. So, I asked the nurse giving the tour if I could come up after the tour to ask the rest. Apparently she has gone rogue on her hospital, because after everyone left she pulled up a chair and gave us the dirty details. She was really excited to talk to us because she is a huge advocate of natural/unmediated birth and immediate bonding with the baby. But, honestly I felt that if her boss was listening she would be reprimanded at best.

She said that the rate of augmentation of labor has gotten out of control. Everyone is being induced or given pitocin. She said that unless I have a written note from my midwife, I will automatically be hooked up to an IV in triage (upon arrival). She emphasized that when I come in to let them know I want a nurse who is willing to work with my birth plan because a lot of nurses on staff don’t want to work with a woman without an epidural. She told josh he would be my advocate in changing nurses if it came to this.

She said if I wanted a completely intervention free birth in this hospital and was going with an OB, it would be difficult. She was really excited that we had a midwife because nearly every doctor just defaults to the hospital’s standard procedures. She’s worked with my midwife and knows that she can (and will) overrule standard hospital practices such as continuous monitoring, having an IV, labor augmentation, eating and drinking in labor, letting the umbilical cord finish pulsing before it is cut, and even giving birth in the labor tub. That set my mind at ease, otherwise, I’d be pushing that baby out in my living room.

We talked for an hour and she gave me her home number if I had any other questions. We will probably do the tour again in our third trimester. We will probably have other questions and it was exciting activity for us!

Doula Meeting Tomorrow!

Since my Mom won't be able to be present for the labor, and since Josh makes these weird quick sucking in air sounds just watching someone give birth on tv... we've decided to hire a doula! But all kidding aside, we have some great reasons to go this route.

Some of you might be all, what’s a doula? Why are Josh and Stef such hippies with this whole birth thing? Well....what if I told you that there was a pill you could take during labor that would make you:

26% less likely to give birth by cesarean section
28% less likely to use any analgesia or anesthesia (including epidural)
41% less likely to give birth with forceps or vacuum extractor
33% less likely to be dissatisfied or negatively rate their birth experience

Well that can’t be found in a bottle, friends. Those are the results of studies showing what happens when a woman is supported by a doula in labor. (Findings of Hodnett's et al meta-analysis of 15 trials of continuous labor support from N. America, Europe, and Africa)

We are interviewing a doula tomorrow at panera bread! She was so very sweet on the phone. And she's worked with our midwife too. I feel like between her and josh and Becky (midwife), I will have a whole team of people rooting on baby bot’s entry to the world. Now I will just see tomorrow if I feel comfortable having her be privy to my lady bits and seeing me, you know…labor possibly like a mad woman (it is possible that I might bite). Bonus Points: She’s a Licensed Massage Therapist.

Here is website of MY potential Doula, Jenn: Check it out. http://jennelfnerdoula.homestead.com/

And don’t forget to VOTE on the sex of baby bot. Poll is to your right.

Aiming High

This is Josh: I’m happy that we’re going with a midwife. We’ve been watching baby pregnancy shows on Discovery Health over the past few months, and so many of them go the same way. It’s a slippery slope of one seemingly small intervention after another, until you’re dug in too deep and the only way out is a C-section.

Everyone agrees doctors are great for when there’s complications or a high risk birth. Those C-sections and other interventions save lives. But it seems like doctors delivering most babies aim too low. The one and only goal is a safe birth for mom and baby. But for a large amount of women, they can aim higher than that. The doctor’s toolkit is heavily focused on drugs, surgery, and fixing problems. But this presumes that a pregnant woman is sick, which is often not the case.

Women have successfully given birth naturally throughout history. It seems like it can be an empowering and momentous event.

You can say, well, in the Middle Ages women had kids, but like all things, times are better now. Women live longer now than back then, we’re not using leaches to suck demons out of our blood, and overall medicine has gotten so much better.

But data shows that other countries, such as the Netherlands, still use midwives extensively and have very successful outcomes for birth. The data shows that American doctors’ interventions can create new hazards and in many cases, the interventions are unnecessary.

Given the different incentives that exist for doctors today, it’s not surprising that the rate of C-sections is increasing. With a C-section, doctors know that they can have that baby out in a half hour. The high cost of major surgery is not taken into consideration over the low cost of a natural birth, because of our health care system.

If all signs point to a healthy pregnancy, it seems like a natural birth can be a powerful experience. The more we’ve read, watched, and talked about it, it seems like the best way to go down this route is to have a midwife. It seems like the care we get is based more on the philosophy and perspective of the caregiver than anything else, and a midwife puts the odds in our favor that we won’t have unnecessary intervention in our birth. – Josh

Firing my ob, hiring a midwife.

So we went to see and interview a midwife today. I want a natural birth experiences with as little interventions as possible. I don’t want IV’s or to be strapped to a bed with monitors and an epidural. I don’t want pitocin to override the natural oxytocin (love hormone!) I can naturally provide. I don’t want to start on a cascade of interventions which increase the chance of a cesarean section. I have total faith in my body and in the history of women who have trusted their bodies to do what comes naturally. I don’t need anyone to deliver my baby, I just need a person to attend the birth.

If you know me, I am not natural in any other way. I love drugs. LOVE them. I miss them. I have chronic back spasms that I have muscle relaxers and the occasional script for vicodin. And if you ask josh, I’m sorta into mother nature, but I won’t go out of my way to recycle. I eat organic when possible, but I have no problem driving thru a McDonalds for a tasty McGriddle. And why walk when you can drive!

But if you think about it, and read the research, you put yourself and your baby at less risk going the route I’m going. Of course the most important thing is a healthy baby at the end, but that is obvious. I would love to have a birth process that is powerful, healthy and spiritual for me, josh and the baby. I have a plan. And all plans can be derailed. But I want to put my best foot forward. It’s the least I can do.