Thursday, February 25, 2010

Maternity Care and Delivery Decision

We have a secret in our culture, and it's not that birth is painful. It's that women are strong.
-Laura Stavoe Harm


If you've been following my blog for a while you know what a wretched experience I had at the hospital last time. You also know I have done some serious research on the benefits of natural birth and the problems associated with epidurals and c-sections.

I mentioned before that I was planning to give birth in a birthing center this time with a midwife. Some of you may have used a midwife before and many of you probably can't imagine birth without a hospital or an OB. Before you start trying to create an image in your head of what this might look like, I will just paint one for you.

I haven't yet decided which midwife I want but I will be using one of the ladies at Better Birth (click) They are trained and experienced in assisting in labor. They do all the same tests at each check up but meetings have a more personal touch. You don't have to sit and wait forever in a doctors office at every appointment because they actually meet with you at the time you decided on!

When I go into labor I will go to Bella Natal Birthing Suites (click). There will be a real queen size bed (no stirrups) and a large birthing tub to help ease the labor.
I will be aloud to eat the whole time from their stocked kitchen because labor will not be seen as an emergency waiting to happen.

Most importantly I will have the same person taking care of me the whole time who is not counting the minutes till her shift ends so she can abandon me! She will be supportive of my choice to birth naturally and will even encourage me in it. I will not have some dumb on call doctor show up 30 seconds before the baby comes out only to start stitching without anesthetics. In fact with any luck no stitching will be required because they work hard to prevent it!

My baby will be given to me to take care of! My baby and entire family will not be forced to leave me behind so that I can be dumped and abandoned (somewhat in shock from delivery I might add) in a foreign room alone for 45 minutes with no call button, no family, and NO BABY!

Most insurance companies will cover little to none of this but the price is somewhat comparable to just my co pays alone in a hospital. If I do the apprentice program I will pay close to the same amount of money as I did with Kaylee for everything from beginning to end. If I use a private midwife the price will be a little more but it's worth it to me.

I know this way isn't for everyone but I hope everyone now has a better understanding of where I'm coming from in this choice and can support me as I attempt to give birth without even using local anesthetics.

8 comments:

Jewelyn said...

Hmmm you actually make that all sound really nice. Interesting. I'll keep that in mind.

Blythe said...

That sounds wonderful Stacey! I hope your second experience is everything you hope it will be.I think it's so rude when people try to tell you the best way for YOU to bring a child into this world (or nourish said child, although I loved breastfeeding personally.)It should be about the mom's comfort and family togetherness, if anyone gives you a hard time, send them my way and I will set them straight for you!

Julie Ann said...

You are so wonderful!I am pround of the research that you have done, I wish more women would. I fully support you in ANY birth decision you make, and I am so excited for you.

Judy Huntzinger said...

congratulations to all of you! hope this is a wonderful birth as they all should be.

Hightower said...

Like I said before, it was really interesting reading up on this! I'm glad you have found the way you'd like to do it and that you feel confident in it ; ) I can't wait to hear how it turns out! Only like, 7 1/2 more months. Not to bad right? haha. Miss you!

The Russell 4 said...

Sure hope you have a better experience. Sounds like you are taking control. Good for you! You are amazing and I love reading your posts and learning more about the Beautiful dynamic woman you have become.

Charlotte said...

Have you heard of hypnobirthing? I had an amazing experience with that with Oliver. NO PAIN! And it would have worked for Tucker had they not told me I had to wait 4 hours to have him and I was ready to push. I went into full panic mode.I had a beta-strep infection they wanted to treat. Horrible. I tried to hold him in and they gave me an epidural, only to find his head already popped out. Anyway- you should seriously look into it. I have all the materials if you are interested.

Alyssa said...

Congrats on your new addition and your decision. It sounds like a great perspective! I especially like that quote at the beginning. Labor is hard work but, when you realize it is the body working and not just senseless pain it becomes so much more managable. Good for you and happy infanticipating!