I'm having spring fever, and will be posting pictures that remind me of spring until this fever passes (or spring actually comes!). Streams of sunshine always make me happy - I love mornings that start out with them!
I've been reading a couple of books about birth and pregnancy that I found in the library. One is Birthing From Within (which is what I'm reading now), and also Guide to Childbirth. I had a pretty decent birth with E, had a great experience with the hospital we birthed in. Though my intention was go to all natural (isn't that the general desire?), about an hour before pushing, I decided to take stadol, which I would not recommend to anyone. I felt very disoriented, and never felt the desire to push, which made the process take even longer.
They gave me the option of an IV, which would have been stronger, but IVs scare me (and so do epidurals, no matter what people tell me). I do find it strange that birthing a child doesn't scare me as much as needles do. In any case, they gave me a shot in the leg, and it only took the edge off of the pain (I still felt a ton a ton). So, in my opinion, it didn't really do much other make me feel drugged.
Personally, I feel like my mind hindered me from doing the birth naturally. It's hard to explain, and everyone's birth experience is so different, but for me, that's how I've processed my delivery of E. I went into the birth, freaking myself out in a lot of ways. I'm hoping that this birth will be a little different, as I do know what to expect a bit more.
Also, my birthing class did very little in preparing me for the mental aspect of childbirth. In fact, it might have aided in scaring me just that much more... but it probably didn't take much to do that. :)
Still in the end, I had a beautiful healthy little girl, and a complication-free birth, which is more than what some others experienced. I'm very very thankful for that.
Friday, February 20, 2009
A Spring Birth
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
6 comments:
You'll have to let me know what you think of those books. We're still figuring everything out on how this birth is going to work for us but I would prefer to go natural if possible. We met with a birthing center today and we both loved it. Sadly, they are out of network on our insurance which makes the hospital birth cheaper. Ugh. No decisions made yet but I'd love to hear more about what you're reading!
I will certainly let you know what I think of the books. I just started reading Birthing From Within, but already felt a connection with some of what it says.
Sorry to hear that the birthing center isn't in your network. Isn't that how it goes it seems? I'm sure it will work out. Have you toured your hospital to know what some of their policies are? I felt like our hospital and nurses were amazing.
You should check out the book "Supernatural Childbirth" by Jackie Mize. I read it before I had J and I really thought it helped me to be less scared. It's all about how it's possible to have a (nearly) pain-free birth, since Jesus already died on the cross for our pain and suffering.
I'm praying for you and your new kiddo! One thing that's a plus--second births tend to be *much* faster than first ones. R was born in 9 hours, while J took 22 hours to come into the world. Both were born naturally, and although the experiences were intense, I feel so blessed that I could have my boys that way.
Becky - you are such an inspiration! I remember you saying that your birth with J was natural... I didn't realize it took so long! Kudos to you for lasting that long without drugs!
We actually have the Supernatural Birth, but have only skimmed it. Perhaps I should give it a proper read this time?
total side note: is that your chair in the pic? Lu-huuuuv it!!!!
P.S. I had one with full epi and one au natural -not by choice mind you. But in the end was so so SO happy to have experienced it both ways. Just knowing that the pain would end and not last forever enabled me to wrap my head around it when doing it au natural. Prob. helped that it was #2 so I already had an idea of what was happening. Super painful - I coin it 'the freak show' (ha!) but love that I was able to experience both extremes of birthing. Such a cool thing birthing is...so dynamic and unique to each child and female body. what an absolute miracle!
Kristi
Thanks for sharing... and how interesting that you were able to experience both sides of the coin. I'm just praying the end result is a healthy baby and a healthy mommy. :)
The woman's body is amazingly strong. Even with drugs, I found that to be so true.
And yes, that is our chair. We bought it as a "Congrats, we sold our house, now let's rent!" :)
Post a Comment