All about a Natural Birth

I think I have found the time to write my post on natural birth......Bear with me and I hope it is not disorganized as honestly, I could gooo on for hours.

When we think of birth in this country we think of the lady screaming in pain as somebody is racing to the hospital. They rush her in give her an epi, pull her legs back to her head, tell her to push while counting to ten. Finally the baby is born placed on mom for a few seconds if they are lucky and then rushed over to a table to be cleaned or whatever they deem as "medically" necessary. All the while mom is anxiously awaiting to see her baby. Yes, I know there are exceptions and this is not how it always goes but the majority of the time it is. Let me preface this entire post by saying there is a need for hospitals at times and some people love having the security of a hospital and I am not getting down on anybody for what they choose! This is what we choose and is for our family.

When I got pregnant with Eli I thought I would have him at the hospital and see an OB etc. After going to the Ob a total of 2 times I was not convinced. I had a run in at one point with them and basically the OB told me I was stupid for asking questions and questioning him about him wanting me to get a Hepatitis B vaccine while pregnant. That is when I began to do some research.  I am so lucky in that I live in a area where there is an independant birthing center with 3 practicing midwives. It is not affiliated with any hospital or anything. I orginally looked at going there but decided it was a no go as they do not offer epidurals and I thought there is no way I could ever give birth without it. It is a mind set we have been taught from little girls by TV I think. After talking to my grandma I decided maybe I would try it.

Every Thursday night the birth center offered a informational meeting. Anthony did not like my idea of having an out of hospital birth and I think was secretly hoping I would lose interest. He forgets who he married. I went and was convinced this is what I want. I don't remember a lot but I do remember I needed Anthony to attend one and that this is where I wanted to be. It was like a home. Some of my aunt's have given birth at home. My mom wanted to do a homebirth too but from preeclampsia was not able to so this was normal to me after I really thought about it. It was not normal to Anthony. Anthony finally went. We also interviewed a midwife for a home birth but decided after careful consideration because of the time of year and how far we were from a hospital it was not what we were ready for. The birth center is 5 minutes by ambulance away from the hospital.

After our first appointment I was excited but also thought oh great....these people are the green hippies!! LOL Little did I know I would soon become like them and now I don't look at it that way. I still was excited about it. Going to a hospital can cost anywhere from $10,000 to $20,000. That to me is crazy!!! Having a baby should not be this expensive but it is a HUGE business!! Our total for the birth center which let me remind you includes all prenatal visits, childbirth classes, 2 massages, the birth, and 6 weeks postpartum care with some home visitis included is only $3800. A stark contrast to the hospital. The other thing is they take time with you!!! It is not five minutes in and out. We have hour appointments. We also can call anytime and know a midwife will call us back not just a nurse or receptionist. We are educated in birth and can make decisions as to what we want tested for not just here lets take your blood. To me this is huge!!

I watched the Business of Being Born shortly after we made our decision. It really helped solidify my thoughts on this.  Here is a trailor for the movie if anyone is interested in watching.

As I soon learned from my midwives there are some things that would not be done and I had to just rethink my thoughts regarding these. The first thing is they do not induce. This is a foreign concept to a lot of woman because they just get induced when they are 37-40 weeks. It was foreign to me. My thought was I just have to wait until this baby arrives.

Here is the thought behind this. Usually pitocin is given for induction. Pit is EVIL!! It actually gives you the kind of contractions you need for the end of labor to push. So you want an epidural because hours of that is just excurtiationg and honestly that is just too much. An epi can then slow labor down so pit is upped. This just starts a vicious cycle. By this point a lot of time the baby is having too hard of contractions and is sent into distress so what do you know its time for a C Section. Yep an unnecessary surgery that if you probably would have just let baby come it would have!

Here is my other thought on Epidurals.....no matter what anybody says I do believe they have an affect on baby!!! I have seen a video on my birth classes to prove this. I wish I had the video to show. The moms that had the epi and were allowed to keep their babies did not climb up their mom to nurse whereas those that went natural did. Sooo say what you want but I have seen an epi does confuse baby. I had one with Eli I am not going to lie. I hated it and to this day still maintain when I was laboring without I felt less pain.

Another common reason for C Sections is failure to progress or baby got stuck. Well yep that is bound to happen when you are stuck on your back is probably the absolute worse position for this. the problem is you have an epidural and are numb so there is no other place. When in all reality you could be out of bed squatting or just walking and letting gravity work. Yes you might feel some pain but I promise you just let your body do what it was meant to do and stay relaxed your natural endorphines would kick in and its amazing. They feel great! I remember less of that part of my labor with Eli then when I had the epidural.

Cervical checks are a big thing done too in the U.S. before you go into labor. They are not done in most European countries until labor. It can introduce bacteria and cause early labor so it is not routinely done there. Here in the U.S. they start checking around 36 weeks and any time you go to L&D for any emergency. Thankfully our midwives do not do them and not even in labor unless they need some more information or you ask. I won't be asking as they HURT!!!

The interesting thing is in most European countries a midwife is used over an Ob unless you have problems. Here in the U.S. midwives are practically thought of as unsafe and its terrifying to have a birth outside of the hospital. I hated having to have Eli in the hospital but it was very necessary and I know this.

So let me give you a picture of what my dream or ideal birth will be with this baby and how many births go at the the Birth Center......

I will labor at home until I feel like I need to be in the place I am ready to give birth. I will go to the birth center which is a lot like a home. I will labor in a big tub or where I feel most comfortable whether it be walking, squating, or laying in bed. Most likely I will not want anybody around. My midwives will listen to my breathing and how I respond and will not have me hooked to anything but periodically come in and check on vitals for me and baby but not bother me unless I need it. Its my show and I will do what I need to. Labor is a dance between mom and baby and only we know what needs to be done to get baby out. I hope to give birth in the bathtub but who knows I may be more comfortable somewhere else. When baby is born NOBODY will take it unless of course there is a huge problem. We will also not cut the cord until it is done pulsing. That blood is babies blood and will help it. I will be able to cuddle and hold the baby as long as I want before they weigh it and do all the other things. We then will crawl into bed and I will be able to co-sleep unlike at the hospital until it is time to go home. I can not wait!! I hope everything goes as planned. If for any reason I do have to be transfered it is for a reason and I trust my midwives as they are trained in birth not surgery like most OBs. I am sure I have missed some things but here is a general idea of how we want it. If anybody has any questions feel free to ask.

Here is a link to the place I will give birth. Feel free to read the birth stories. They are inspiring and who knows you might learn something new:) http://www.greenhousebirthcenter.com/

Lets talk "Going Green" or Just plain Economical Sense!

First let me say half the stuff I never invisioned myself doing. The original premise behind the "Green" movement is to save the earth. Personally I know God created the earth and realize it is just fine. I don't believe my carbon footprint is going to go ruin earth. Nor do I believe the rainforests are dying because we use cars, breath, etc. All that being said after doing lots of research and seeing things I realized there is a lot of stuff that is just not healthy for us. A lot of these things came about when we made the decision to use a midwife instead of an OB to deliver I our babies.

I have to admit my first interview at the Birth Center kinda freaked me out. They started talking about cloth diapers and I am thinking these people are NUTS!! Thankfully I continued and learned lots of great things. Then I began doing my own research. I won't say we do a ton of "Green" things but we do a few. I also have been trying to cut down on the chemicals and crap in food that we eat. In all honesty a lot of the green things we do can be chalked up to just plain old economical sense.

Our biggest thing we do is cloth diaper. Yes I fell into it and we cloth diaper. I honestly LOVE cloth diapering or as us cloth diapers call it FLUFF. CDs have changed so much. No more prefolds and pins unless you want. Here is a link to a store with modern cloth diapers. There are many patterns, colors, styles, etc. http://www.zbeardiapers.com/  They save us a ton of money in the end and they are better for baby. Disposables have a lot of chemicals in them. I just read a story where the dioxins in disposables were causing a little boy seizures. Yes that is an extreme case but really that is pretty scary.

I also have gone what is known as "Poo Free" for a while. I would have continued it but went to get my hair cut and it got washed and so it ruined it. Basically you only wash your hair with baking soda and rinse with apple cider vinegar. My hair actually was the best its ever been. Regular shampoo and conditioner makes your oil glands produce a lot of oil so you have to wash more. This way you only wash maybe once a week. There can be a detox period which mine lasted a month but after that it was great! I loved it.

I also try to use natural things and organic things when I can. Honestly it is expensive and we really can not afford it so I do not all the time. I know that organic fruit is better because it does not have all the toxins and hormones in it but the reality is we can not afford that at this point. I do make the kids baby food because I know it won't have all the crap in it. We also garden. Although last year learned the hard way that walnut trees will kill a garden if too close!

My other favorite thing is known as Diva Cup or menstrual cup. No pads or tampons and so much easier, nicer, and more comfortable. I won't go into too many details all that to say it and the cloth diapers are probably my favorite things that we do "green" but in all honesty its more about trying to be economical and not put so many chemicals in our bodies. I am not the best but I try. I don't feel better about the earth for it either. It is me feeling like I do better for my body because I need to take care of it. Hopefully this week Ill get around to do my birth blog. I keep meaning to but want to take some time and have been busy with things. That is where I tend to be the most conservative and natural.

On a lighter note I took my belly pictures yesterday and wow have I grown in two weeks. Here they are
38 weeks and 2 days!

At this point with Eli I was a week from having to have him do to my Preclampsia. My face was soo swollen looking back but here are the comparison pictures. I am bigger this pregnancy no doubt. Then again I started with more weight....my goal to lose it all this time!!! Oh well I will say I don't look so young anymore. LOL

I also forgot to mention these pictures are from our one  year anniversary. Its hard to believe that was two years ago. As impatient and ready as I was yesterday to have this baby I am feeling much better today and am ok with not having it. I realized its only a week and a half until my due date and so I can even go over and its not that long. As I have said before maybe by tomorrow our new addition will be on its way and maybe it won't. Either way it will be a blessing!