The Switch

While I am sure to steer clear of any conversation regarding politics, religion, or money, lately, you'll find me dead center in the debate on childbirth.  I've never understood how people could get so passionate about politics.  Trust me, I have always found those people to be very annoying.  So I am fully aware that I'm probably annoying the hell out of you with all of my talk about natural childbirth.  I'll try to keep it to a minimum moving forward.  I did, however, post a new article on The Mode Life about natural childbirth.  You can read it by clicking the link below, or you can completely ignore my crazy, hippie-like rant and skip to the paragraph below the link.  Your choice! 

NOTE: What I failed to express in the article is that doing research and taking classes before your birth will help you to feel confident in the decisions being made, because you will be able to be a part of the decisions. At some point everyone is faced with a decision by a doctor, and it is up to you to ask the questions to learn if the procedure should be immediate, could be postponed, or is even necessary. Sometimes your baby and your body will go against your plan, like my sister-in-law whose water broke early with no other signs of labor. She can feel empowered knowing that it was safest for her and baby to be induced further. Of the five women in my Bradley class, four of us were able to follow through with our birth plans while one required an emergency c-section. The woman who had a c-section should feel empowered knowing she saved her baby's life. Either way, being knowledgeable about the process will help you to feel happy and confident about your birth, not to mention make it less scary.

For my next birth, if I need an epidural (which, believe it or not, is always an option in my mind) or Pitocin I will feel confident in my decision. My intention was not to make anyone feel like they had a lesser experience, but simply open your mind to your options. Whether you gave birth at the ER registration desk or in the ER room, you deserve to feel great about the experience because giving birth is amazing!

Take Back Your Birth!

On that topic, I have decided to switch to a midwife.  Something I never really talk about is how horrible my doctor was during Chloe's actual birth, because we ended up waking her from her peaceful, on-call slumber.  Someone dragged her down to the delivery room when it was time for me to push.  I'm not sure if it was the resident or the doctor actually doing the delivering.  I was pushing incorrectly for the first few pushes so the doctor yawned and walked out of the room.  That pissed me off so with the next contraction I pushed as if my life depended on it.  Sure enough, that was the push!  I laughed on the inside as the doctor had to rush back in to deliver the baby.  When I was being stitched up she was barking orders over the resident's shoulders. Now connect the left falangie to the starboard side, blah blah.  No, not like that, blah. Cassie, if you would relax a little this would go a lot faster, blah.  I hated her after that birth, but for some reason I went back to that office when I found out I was pregnant again.

After our ultrasound I met with another doctor there. This was the one who told me I couldn't feel the baby kicking yet, because it was too early.  Because he has a uterus.  And it has been kicked by a baby before, I'm sure.  This time I expressed my desire for a natural birth.  He made a few jokes aimed at Paul and then said to me "What birth isn't natural, really? Har har har."  I told him one where he pumps me full of Pitocin and then ends up slicing open my stomach anyway, but our definitions are obviously different.  That was enough to get me searching.  What is a crazy, hippie birth lady like me doing with an OB/GYN anyway?

So I found this amazing midwife practice that has only two midwives who do only hospital deliveries.  This is my perfect scenario.  Between them they have delivered thousands and thousands of babies and have only a 9% c-section rate compared to nearly 28% for the area.  The midwife I met with, Gail, believes that Pitocin should only be used when something is wrong and labor really isn't progressing naturally.  She is supportive of all forms of pain reduction including medical ones like epidurals and natural ones like water, birthing balls, and massage.  She will let me eat and drink while I labor.  You wouldn't think that was too much to ask, but for most doctors it is.   I get to call her by her first name!  And chances are she will know mine without looking at my chart!  She only takes a certain number of patients so that she is sure either she or Amy, the other midwife, will be available when it comes time to deliver the baby: I don't have to spin the wheel to see which of nine doctors will come to my rescue.  Also, there is always a doctor on call in case of emergency. 

I feel more confident this time about going to the hospital when I am supposed to go at 5-6 centimeters, instead of showing up at 9 centimeters due to a lack of trust on my part.  Much safer.  I pray that the rest of this pregnancy goes smoothly, and that the labor and delivery goes as seamlessly as my first.  I also secretly hope for a small baby again.  As a friend of mine brought to my attention, it would be much easier to push out a 6.5 pound baby without an epidural than a 10 pound baby!  I couldn't agree more.