Natural Childbirth
Wednesday, Jan. 26, 2005
5:07 p.m.
My state of mind is changing. Well, I'm reading an Ina May Gaskin book, so I'm into this really uber-natural childbirth mood.
Here's the e-mail I sent out today to friends and family:
Here's the baby update for this week:
Since Sunday, I have been feeling really tired and I've been having contractions on and off. None of them have been very bad and I'm still able to move around and hold a conversation during them, so I know they're not serious yet!
Yesterday, I woke up and felt "not quite right", so I stayed home from work and spent most of the day relaxing. But no baby! I think my body wanted some rest, though.
Last night, I woke up around 4:30 AM with contractions and I could not stay in bed. So, I walked around the living room and read and then they went away after about 45 minutes.
This morning, I had an appointment with my midwife. This week, I saw Susan and the student, Tonya. I really like Tonya and I hope she'll be there for the birth. Anyway, both of them felt the baby "wasn't too big yet" and that I had a lot of amniotic fluid. That's exactly what Janine said last week when I saw her! I have no effacement or dilation. Or course, that means almost nothing now...I could go from nothing to fully dilated in a matter of hours. Susan wanted me to have another ultrasound to make sure Falcon is still head-down. I thought that was a little much! I feel like he's head-down and I'm comfortable with his position. But, I went to Labor & Delivery with her so she could do a quick ultrasound. Thankfully enough, another patient of the midwife practice was in labor so we didn't have time to do my ultrasound! Hooray! I like my midwives, but I think Susan is a little too interventional. She told me to come back in an hour, but I didn't...I just came in to work.
While I was standing in L&D, there was so much going on! I don't know how laboring women could concentrate while there were so many distractions and so many people around! All of the rooms were full, too, so one woman was delivering in triage. It really made me feel a lot better about my choice to have the baby in a birthing center. And it made me more committed; even if labor gets bad, I can remind myself that the birthing center has a much better atmosphere and will work better for me!
Some possibly bad news: If I get to week 41 and still have not had the baby, I will be subjected to a non-stress test (I assume that's daily, too). And if I get to 42 weeks and haven't had the baby, the midwives will want to induce me and that will force me to have a hospital birth. Ugh! I read somewhere, though, that in some states, midwives must induce labor at 42 weeks if they wish to continue to hold their licenses. I don't know if Maryland is one of those states, but if it is, I can't be angry with the midwives! So I really hope Falcon decides to be born before 42 weeks and preferrably before 41 weeks. Worst-case scenario: we have a Valentine's Day baby!
My mom so fucking rocks. Here's what she wrote back to me:
Sounds like things are going well. Your instincts are right. Susan is an interventionist and Maryland probably does have too many birthing rules since that was why the Maryland CNM turned me over to the OB after 24 hours of labor and there was never any talk of that in Indiana. At your next appointment you may want to ask the midwives if there is anything that you can do to encourage labor to happen (long walks, herbal tea, etc.)
Hang in there. You probably only have a few days to go. Trust your body and your instincts.
I really really want to go into labor!
Miss One?
Moving On - Wednesday, Sept. 05, 2007
I remembered my password - Friday, Jul. 20, 2007
I need someone - Thursday, Apr. 20, 2006
I miss him - Tuesday, Apr. 18, 2006
Possibly the worst weekend of my life? - Sunday, Apr. 16, 2006
