Birth Plan

I love a good birth story.  In fact, birth stories have become the bulk of my reading material lately.  A very sweet friend sent me an entire book of natural birth stories.  It's been one of my favorite books to read while pregnant.  Here's what we envision for our birth story...

In my dream world, I would deliver this baby in a birth center.  Unfortunately, we live in a small town and we currently do not have a birth center (although there is a strong cohort of people working hard to make this happen!), so my dream world is simply not going to be my reality.  I've considered home birth, but given that it's my first baby and our house is really, really tiny and old and not at all setup to handle a home birth, I think we'll table that for a discussion until my next pregnancy.  Could we make a home birth work?  Probably.  But let's be clear--we would definitely be making it work.  So, we will be having this baby the way most American women do--in our local hospital.

I have to give our healthcare provider some major props.  Honestly, I cannot say enough good things about my experience with the OB/GYN and Certified Nurse Midwives group at Samaritan.  I have yet to hear one negative thing about women's experiences throughout their pregnancy and giving birth.  In fact, I take prenatal yoga once a week with a whole lot of crunchy mamas led by a mom and doula who works in the area.  She tells us a birth story nearly every week, most of which occurred at Good Samaritan, and she has reiterated over and over again how wonderful they are to work with.  I've been able to consistently see 2 of the 4 midwives throughout my pregnancy, and I love  them (please, please, please one of you be at the hospital when I go into labor!).

Truth be told, our hospital is really atypical.  Most births (unless there is a complication) are midwife assisted.  Heparin locks (rather than full-on IVs) are routine practice.  Barring complications, you can give birth in whatever position you want, and you can use a birthing stool or the tub, if you'd like.  Nobody gets rushed.  Their C-section rate is far lower than the national average.  Jake and I weren't able to find a natural birthing class or Bradley method class that worked for our schedule, so we're taking the standard hospital version, except again, I think our hospital version isn't so standard.  It's taught by a Dutch woman (also a doula) who had her babies in a country where home birth was the normative routine.  She assists births all over the valley and says that Corvallis' hospital is unlike any place she's ever worked before.

We are so grateful.

One of my biggest struggles in preparing for childbirth is that there is no training plan.  In case I haven't mentioned it often enough here yet, I am a planner.  I want to feel equipped for this birth, and I want a training plan, damnit!  This is a major physical event.  Training plans exist for half-marathons... why not for childbirth, too?!  Too bad, so sad.  It's just not going to happen.  I suppose in a way, I am training.  Birthing class, prenatal yoga, and reading books is probably as much "training" as you can get.  But I'm not going to lie folks--I still feel relatively unprepared.

So, long story short, we're really hoping to have this baby the good ol' fashioned way, all natural and sans drugs.  Am I 100% opposed to an epidural?  The short answer is no.  I've never given birth before.  I have a general idea of what to expect, but every labor and delivery is different.  The long answer is this: I am going to do everything possible before we get to the epidural option--bounce on the birthing ball, walk the halls, lay in the bed, get in the shower, get in the tub, listen to music, focus on breathing, and try every position I've ever learned in yoga.  I'd like to think that I (like many, many, many women before me) can do this.  That said, I am planning to be open about the whole experience.  Perhaps my most favorite quote so far about birth plans came from a blog post I read from a designer and working mama I really admire.  Her motto heading into birth was " be yourself and do the very best you can." I like this.  This, I can wholeheartedly commit to.  When the time comes, friends and family, I will happily share our birth story with you!

Lastly, if you are the praying kind--we'd love some prayers for energy and finding spare time.  Spring is a busy time at both of our jobs and we are working our booties off.  I've been putting in some really long days and 6 day work weeks have pretty much become the norm for Jake.  We enjoy our work, so it's definitely a labor of love, but at 7 months pregnant, I am tired!  Between longer days, more frequent appointments, and birthing classes, our spare time is dwindling fast and we still have A LOT to do.  That, and I'm starting to wonder how we're going to balance all of these things once this baby girl is actually here.  I know our world is going to be rocked (in the best way!) and I just want both of us to be able to establish boundaries and, well, not be such 'yes' people all the time.  Thank you for your prayers for that!

Also, no blog post is complete without a belly pic :). Here's my latest from this past weekend @ 29 weeks:

This Saturday will mark the 30th week of this pregnancy-- I can't believe we're already 3/4 of the way there!