Julie asks: you mentioned birthing in the tub. are you planning on trying to have a natural childbirth? and did you have a natural childbirth with your first? also what hospital do you plan to go to?
WARNING: this is going to be long and boring to anyone not interested in labor stuff.
Answer: I will be giving birth at St. Francis. I never thought I'd give birth anyplace other than Christiana, but when I got pregnant the first time I just went with the hospital my ob/gyn was associated with - St. Francis. This time around I thought about switching doctors so that I could deliver at Christiana, but after discussing it with Kevin we decided to stick with what we know. We had a good experience at St. Francis, so as the saying goes "if it ain't broke, don't fix it".
Nothing about Trent's childbirth was natural. Ok, maybe not nothing, but: I was induced with pitocin. The doctor broke my bag of waters. I got an epidural shortly after my water was broken. I stayed in the hospital bed in one position the entire time (from 7am when they started the pitocin until 7pm when Trent was born). And they used a vacuum to get Trent out. I will tell you that my epidural started to wear off but they wouldn't "top me off" because I was 10cm and it was time to push. I pushed for 2 hours and I'm fairly certain that the epidural had worn off very early on in my pushing phase. I remember being in so much pain. I remember crying. I remember telling Kevin repeatedly that I can't do it. But of course I did do it.
Having gone through the entire process before, I now know that I would like to do a few things differently. I do not want to be induced. Ideally my water will break on it's own (though I believe the odds are against me). I would like to have the option to labor in the jacuzzi tub and shower, and I would like the option to try different techniques for dealing with the contraction pains. I am specifically drawn to the tub and shower because when I used to get menstrual cramps, the hot water felt sooo good.
I refuse to say "I'm going all natural this time" but I am reluctant to say "yes, I am definitely getting an epidural". We all know how quickly things can change once labor begins, so I'm going to take my labor as it comes and make decisions as I go.
FYI: St. Francis does not do tub births. You are only allowed to labor in the tub.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
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2 comments:
I know exactly what you mean...i really want to give myself the chance to see how far I could go without an epidural but i also dont want to count it out just yet..thats great though that st francis offers you the option to be able to labor in the tub..christiana doesnt have that..they only have a shower. I cant believe you only have a couple more weeks..my pregnancy is dragging!! but that could also be to the whole not feeling good bit thats making it seem longer than it is..
Julie, I am almost certain St. Francis only has ONE tub - so there's a good chance I won't even have the option to use it (if someone else has that room). I actually had that room the first time, but didn't take advantage of it. We'll see what happens.
We'll soon find out if what they say is true - that #2 usually comes quicker and easier than #1.
Your pregnancy is flying for me - but thats always easy for people to say about other peoples pregnancies. Less than 9 weeks to go for me!!!
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