The Birthing Center

18 weeks tomorrow and I cannot believe it is July 22! Where is summer going? My pregnancy is flying by and I am almost at the halfway point. My next, and likely last, OB appointment is Monday morning.

Sean and I have made the decision to switch to a midwifery group in our area. We came to this conclusion after examining several factors. First, my OB is 45 min away and delivers at a hospital 1 hr away. The midwives are 10min away and give you the option to deliver at their birthing center or at a hospital which is 15min away from our home. Second, I get the vibe from my OB practice that they would not 100% respect my plan for a natural birth. At our very first appt, I asked about their views and the doc told me, "It's your choice, but just know that epidurals were invented by women for women. If you want to be in pain, I don't really care." Not exactly the level of support I was hoping for. They also deliver at a hospital that has one of the highest C-section rates in our area and has the reputation of being the place to go if you are "too posh to push." Finally, while most of our appts have been ok, I just don't feel a level of personal care from the group. At the midwifery group, I feel like you become part of a family, which is what I loved so much about my RE's practice.

At this point, I feel like it is time for a disclaimer. Birthing a child is a very personal decision and people have very strong feelings regarding the process. I am simply sharing my experiences and impressions. I am by no means trying to preach to anyone or convince anyone that my choice is the better one or pass judgement on one birth choice over another. I respect your childbirth choices and hope that you will respect mine.

Ever since I was a young woman, I have always desired a natural birth experience. Going through invasive fertility treatments only strengthened my desire to do so. My mom had me naturally, I have a sister in law who had an amazing home birth, and I feel like I have been exposed to many positive birth stories that have further convinced me that this is what I want. Since starting my 2nd trimester I have begun to read and research my options regarding natural childbirth. I read Ina May Gaskin's Guide to Childbirth and although I found it a little difficult to relate to some of the birth stories in the beginning, the book really spoke to me and I learned a lot. In case you are wondering, my issue with some of the birth stories in the beginning is that I do not live on a commune and I didn't feel it was an accurate representation of how the modern woman in 2009 has a natural childbirth. Inspiring? Absolutely. In addition to the book, I joined a natural birth group online and began reading natural birth stories. All of this convinced me that I needed to explore options other than my OB's office, which led me to discover the midwives and their birthing center.

Sean & I toured the birthing center on Monday night and loved it. I wasn't sure how Sean felt going into it; I kinda thought he might just be humoring me, but in the end, he was 100% on board. There were 12 couples touring and that was exciting to me. One of the midwives spoke to us for over and hour and then opened the floor to questions before we toured the center. There are 3 midwives and an OB on staff and they are affiliated with our local hospital. Patients have a few options when they choose to become a patient of the practice. As long as you have a routine pregnancy, you can choose to deliver at the birthing center with the midwives. If it is more within your comfort level, you can deliver at the local hospital with the midwives. If you choose a hospital delivery, your midwife will stay by your side the entire time and work within hospital policies to accommodate your birth plan. The final possibility is if you are high risk in any way, you must deliver at the hospital. Again, your midwife will be at your side and help you achieve your goals and still have your high risk condition monitored in a hospital environment.

Ideally, as long as I continue to have a healthy, low risk pregnancy we would like to deliver at the birthing center, but I still have to sit down one on one with the midwives and make sure this is our best option.

Here are some highlights from our tour:

• There are 3 birthing suites that look just like a master bedroom.
• Each suite has a water birthing jacuzzi tub. YAY!
• There is a full kitchen and there are no restrictions on mom being able to eat or drink during labor.
• Mom is not required to have an IV during labor, but they are available in the event of dehydration.
  
• No artificial means of induction (no pitocin, cytotec, cervadil etc...)
• They will not rupture membranes.
• Fetal monitoring only done with a doppler so Mom has full range of motion.
• No time limit on labor.
• Birthing chair, stool and ball available in each suite.
• Fully equipped for emergencies (resuscitation equipment, oxygen, anti-hemorrhage meds etc...)
• Right next to a fire station and an 8 min. ambulance ride to the hospital in the event of an emergency.
• C-section rate of 8%, compared to 49% in the local hospital.
• Episiotomies performed rarely - once or twice per year or less - compared to 79% of all vaginal deliveries at the local hospital.
• Cord is allowed to pulsate for 5 min. before cutting.
• Baby is not removed from Mom until Mom is ready - most babies bond with mom and dad for about 2 hours before they are removed in anyway.
• You can go home within 4hrs of delivery if you have showered, peed and eaten.
  
• No limit on the number of family and friends that can be present.
  
• You can change your mind and head to the hospital at any point.

Overall, we felt their philosophy matched up well with ours. Whether we deliver in the birthing center or at the hospital, I believe we will have an experience that we will be happy with. I am not naive enough to believe that complications cannot arise, but I feel 100% comfortable and confident that we will be in good hands.

If you have had a natural birth or a birthing center delivery, I would love to hear more about your experiences!

Slacker

I have been a terrible blogger lately and I apologize to everyone. Not only have I been a slacker about posting, but I am way behind on my reading and commenting too! I blame "Ralphie" for my new found slackerdom. I wish I could say my laziness was limited to my blogging, but I have been pretty useless across the board. Thank goodness my husband rocks! He is becoming quite the house husband ;)

Last Friday morning and we had our first OB appt. I have always loved my doc, but I had no idea how different it is when you are a pregnant patient. They really rolled out the red carpet. I met a doc I had not seen before and he was great. He was thorough and patient and candid. The appt started with some basic health questions and an internal exam with pap. Then, I got dressed and we had a sit down in the office where he went through all kinds of info and answered our questions. He told me to call whenever I have a question or concern. He recognized how much we have been through and said worrying is 100% normal. He is pretty laid back about things like lunch meat and soft cheese, but he did stress that the soft cheese has to be pasturized. He also told us that the FDA recommendation for EVERYONE is to heat lunch meat before consumption and obviously not many people do that. He joked that he has never seen a patient die from a deli sandwich and moderation is the key. I have not wanted deli meat, so it has been a non-issue so far, but I did have a chicken finger sub last night smothered in blue cheese and it was sooooooooo good. Anyway, I our appt was great and we head back on June 4th. The only downside is that insurance does not cover u/s @ the office so I had to schedule one off site on Monday. See the wrap up below for details!

In spite of the fact that I am 9w2d pregnant, I am going to devote this post to the 8 week wrap up.

How am I feeling? Not so good. After a long weekend of feeling AWFUL - exhausted, queasy and YUCKY overall, on Tuesday morning @ 8w4d, I started vomiting. Luckily, it has not been too bad. It is averaging every other day and only in the morning as soon as I get out of the shower. The good news is that on the days that I get sick, I feel great the rest of the day.

Milestones of the week: There have been a few this week. My first ob appt, u/s and hearing the heartbeat. The u/s was AMAZING! Ralphie has grown so much in just 2 weeks. He was really starting to look like a baby. Sean got to see the baby move its arms and we got to hear the heartbeat for the first time. It was 171bpm and the most beautiful sound we have ever heard. The tears started running and just wouldn't stop. It was incredible. I think a doppler is in my future, because I could listen to that sound all day long.

What is Ralphie up to? He or she is the size of a kidney bean and has webbed fingers and toes and is constantly moving around.

What am I craving? Carbs, lots and lots of carbs.

Aversions: Anything can set me off to feeling awful without warning.

Weight Gain: +3 total. OB wants me to limit my weight gain to 15-20 max, so I am going to have to be careful. Right now though, if something sounds good and tastes good, I eat it.

Discovery of the week: Motherhood Maternity Secret Belly capris. Yes, I broke down and bought a pair and I looooove them. The bella band works with most of my pants and jeans, but for some reason, it did not work out with my jean capris and those are a staple of my wardrobe so I had to find a solution. I am also looking quite plump in regular shirts so I bought some cute ruched tops at Motherhood that don't look maternity at all, but don't make me look quite so fat because they don't cling to the belly in all the wrong places.

What do I miss? My sex drive :(

All in all, it was a great week! We decided to head up to Buffalo for the holiday weekend and to celebrate my 30th birthday and my Mom's birthday. The drive was good and we are enjoying ourselves. I will be sure to do my 9 week update sooner than later and try to be a better blogger! Hope everyone has a wonderful holiday weekend!

Finally, some pics from our u/s. The first one is the side view and the head is pointed down and the feet are curled up at the top. The 2nd one is the front view and you can see both arms and legs in this shot. I am so in love!!!