{"id":177,"date":"2013-02-01T07:39:28","date_gmt":"2013-02-01T12:39:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/?p=177"},"modified":"2014-02-07T08:51:26","modified_gmt":"2014-02-07T13:51:26","slug":"the-best-laid-birth-plans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/2013\/02\/01\/the-best-laid-birth-plans\/","title":{"rendered":"The Best Laid Birth Plans"},"content":{"rendered":"

Most everyone I know has an opinion on birth, what it is, how it should go, what\u2019s best for mothers, and I am by far no exception.\u00a0 I began building my belief on birth over 5 years ago when I got pregnant with my first daughter.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t buy into the cultural stigma that birth is scary, stressful, painful and dangerous.\u00a0 It just didn\u2019t make sense to me.\u00a0 If all this was true, wouldn\u2019t people have stopped having babies long ago?\u00a0 So I started reading up on it and I came to my conclusions, the ones that I hold myself up to.\u00a0 I don\u2019t believe in pain medicine in everyday life (I survived recovery from the removal of my wisdom teeth, the repositioning of my broken nose and a broken foot all without even over-the counter pain meds) and the thought of a needle going into my spine is terrifying.\u00a0 I decided long ago that for me, natural birth is the only way to go.\u00a0 As few interventions as possible please (and thank you!).\u00a0 This doesn\u2019t mean that women who go the epidural, induction or c-section route are any less than me, I firmly stand for every woman\u2019s right to her own birth as long as women are properly educated on the options, benefits and risks of every choice they make.<\/p>\n

My first birth did not live up to my expectations but I stuck to my guns and my second did.\u00a0 My first daughter was born after a forced induction by a very rude doctor because I was a week \u201coverdue\u201d (I prefer the gentler term \u201cpostdates\u201d personally).\u00a0 The Pitocin combined with several cords attached to my body and a severe lack of support in the labor room caused an overwhelming labor experience. \u00a0I was not in pain but I was unable to get comfortable due to the fetal monitor and inexperienced nurse who kept making me lay on my back because when I sat up the stupid fetal monitor around my belly beeped and lost baby’s heartbeat. \u00a0This led me to choosing a narcotic pain reliever over an epidural (which were the only choices given).\u00a0 WORST DECISION EVER!\u00a0 Not only did it not help the discomfort, it made me delusional and my daughter was drowsy for days.<\/p>\n

When it came time for my second I decided on a water birth, much to the terror of my husband, but I knew if I was in the water I would not be allowed an IV, Pitocin, constant monitoring or the slew of other interventions.\u00a0 I was lucky that my hospital of choice offered water birth and the midwife group I\u2019d seen for years (since week 35 of my first pregnancy, actually) was very pro-water.\u00a0 3:30 in the morning my water broke and we arrived at the hospital per my midwives instructions a few hours later (my 2nd<\/sup> baby, it might go fast, haha!) to find myself at 1 cm and baby still free floating high in my abdomen.\u00a0 I was instructed to sit and rock with the fetal monitor on and report \u201cany changes or weird feelings in my vagina\u201d ASAP.\u00a0 Luckily by the time my midwife arrived for rounds a few hours later baby girl had nuzzled down nicely into my pelvis and we could walk.\u00a0 In circles.\u00a0 Not leaving that floor of the hospital.\u00a0 So we walked.\u00a0 In circles.\u00a0 Past radiology and back to maternity.\u00a0 Past radiology and back to maternity.\u00a0 Over and over again.<\/p>\n

\"c<\/p>\n

When I began thinking about the entering the tub we were surprised by the question \u201cdo you have your thermometer?\u201d\u00a0 Our WHAT?!?!\u00a0 Apparently we were responsible for bringing our own thermometer to monitor the water temperature so off sweet hubby went to find one.\u00a0 Luckily things weren\u2019t going too quickly and hubby was back in plenty of time.\u00a0 7 cm I entered the water.\u00a0 9 cm (and 20 hours after my water broke) and I was losing my mind.\u00a0 20 minutes later baby girl was in my arms.\u00a0 I had done it, I actually did it!\u00a0 We went home 19 hours later and lived happily ever after (not entirely true but that\u2019s a story for another day).<\/p>\n

So, with baby 3 I decided non-intervention was the way for me and being with my girls was of the upmost importance so I decided a home birth would be the only way for me to go this time.\u00a0 That was until 4 weeks ago when I was forced to face my truth and start considering another way.\u00a0 At our 20 week ultrasound when most parents are finding out the gender of their sweet little bundle and counting fingers and toes, we got confirmation that the tiny amount of bleeding I\u2019d had a few weeks prior was my worst nightmare: complete placenta previa.\u00a0 Every day terms?\u00a0 The organ that is supporting and growing my own sweet little bundle could ultimately prevent the same sweet little bundle from exiting my body in the normal way (ie: my placenta is completely covering my cervix).\u00a0 Ultimate implication?\u00a0 C-section.<\/p>\n

The doctor informed me that 90% of previas resolve by full term and are no longer a problem.\u00a0 Unfortunately there\u2019s a lot more to it than that reassuring statistic (such as how far over the cervix the placenta is, whether the placenta is centralized or to the front or back of the uterus, etc.).\u00a0 I was also informed I should not exercise, lift heavy things (child #1 and #2 included) and should generally take it easy.\u00a0 So I took the news (and Honeybun\u00a0to ballet class) and processed. \u00a0And read and got informed.\u00a0 And got angry.\u00a0 Did you know only \u00bd% of pregnant women have placenta previa?\u00a0 Did you know that risk factors for placenta previa include smoking, advanced maternal age, many previous pregnancies, prior uterine surgeries, short interval between pregnancies and cocaine use.\u00a0 Cocaine use?\u00a0 Seriously?\u00a0 I have ZERO of the risk factors and have worked my whole life to live a healthy life yet I ended up in the \u00bd% of pregnant women with this condition.\u00a0 Angry.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve now spent a few weeks with the reality of my situation.\u00a0 I\u2019ve continued to educate myself and the anger has settled.\u00a0 I\u2019ve run through all the possibilities and what it would mean for my family.\u00a0 And I\u2019ve cried.\u00a0 A lot.\u00a0 If I start bleeding again and have to be hospitalized, how will my hubby and girls cope?\u00a0 If my baby is not doing well and has to join our world too early, how will I cope?\u00a0 The c-section which for 5 \u00bd years has been the greatest fear of my childbearing life is now a small, almost insignificant part of what could be in my future.<\/p>\n

I have to wait a few more weeks for the next follow-up to see what my nasty little placenta has been up to. I\u2019m Hoping for the best but ready for the worst, whatever it may mean, whenever it may occur.\u00a0 Perhaps the most important thing I\u2019ve learned from being a mother is this: Be prepared for everything and be wary when making plans for anything.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Most everyone I know has an opinion on birth, what it is, how it should go, what\u2019s best for mothers, and I am by far no exception.\u00a0 I began building my belief on birth over 5 years ago when I got pregnant with my first daughter.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t buy into the cultural stigma that birth […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,9],"tags":[39,46,48,24,47],"class_list":["post-177","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-baby-business","category-family-life","tag-baby","tag-birth","tag-labor","tag-pregnancy","tag-water-birth"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=177"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3089,"href":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177\/revisions\/3089"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=177"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=177"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=177"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}