Justin and I had a great time visiting my family in Homer for a few days. We got our necessary Chick-fil-a buzz, spicy chicken sandwich and a delicious peppermint chocolate chip milkshake. Yum. No Black Friday deals for us, as I do our Christmas shopping pretty much all year round and had presents wrapped and under the tree before Thanksgiving. : ) Came back to Lincoln to celebrate with Justin's family - I will never complain of getting to have two Thanksgivings a year!
I really can't believe it is December already. Can you? I mean, this cold Nebraska winter wind is way too familiar it seems this year. There are only a few things I really like about winter 1) Christmas, 2) flannel sheets and 3) warm beverages (non-alcoholic this year of course ; ) But what can you do? Make sure to start your car at least 10 minutes before needing to leave the house and keep your fuzzy slippers close by.
Things have been busy on the preparing-for-baby front. Justin and I got trained in infant, child and adult CPR and started our "birth expectations" classes. We have learned (and witnessed) A LOT in the past couple weeks. I've been reading up and trying to get as educated and prepared as I can for D-day. That being said, the thing at the top of my list is to go with the flow and as prepared as I can try to make myself, I'm most importantly prepared for my "plans" to go out the window. As much as I'd love to have a natural, drug-free birth, I had the blessing of witnessing my sister go through labor and deliver my nephew, London. As much of a blessing as that was, I remember shortly after realizing to myself "yep, drugs are the way to go". Now, being in my own situation, I've decided to prepare myself as best I could, learning and practicing my breathing patterns and having Justin practice giving me massages. ; ) We've been to three of these classes so far and I must say, each one has left me more and more confident in wanting a natural birth. That being said, remember what was at the top of my list? Yeah, allowing my plan to go out the window if I needed it to.
So you moms out there, I don't ask for you to convince me one way or another (please), but I'd love to hear your comments on what you chose or maybe were forced to do when you had your babies. Are you glad you went one way or the other? What do you remember most? What was hard and what was easy? No gory details please, just an experience that you wouldn't mind sharing.
Hope this post finds you all in a happy, healthy spirit for the season. Blessings to you all!
Oh Erica..you are such a wonderful blogger!! I always love to read what you write!!! I totally agree with "no" gory details about birth as each is different and unique just like us! That being said...when I was to have my first child the Dr. choose to induce my labor (as he thought if I continued to carry the baby to full term I would just get bigger..[can't imagine as I was already huge..lol]) But I wish I had waited--even though I would have been huge'er ~smile~! Now I was huge'er with my second child and I did carry her full term and had her in a matter of minutes..~smile~ Oh yes, I did use drugs for both..what can I say I was a whimp...ha
ReplyDeleteI know you will do what you are comfortable with and you continue to be in my prayers for a healthy...happy birth!!
Blessings...
xoxo Gert (& Tom)
Erica, you are in for such a beautiful adventure... Having recently gone through this, I remember most of it.
ReplyDeleteBeing prepared: We had everything we needed, but not the bags packed. I'd say we were overprepared in some cases (the nursery, baby gear, parenting books, etc), and underprepared in others. I'm glad to hear that Justin is all in and practicing things with you. I had tried for a natural labor, but we were too busy to practice together, so when it came to the hard core labor, we were unprepared (plus, we thought we'd have at least 2 more weeks...) and Kyle didn't know how to help me through it. I made the decision to get an epidural after ~16 hours of labor. We tried all sorts of things, and ultimately I lost my focus and "flow" after we moved to the tub. Sam was face up, with a hand next to his head (that we didn't know about), so he got stuck and the labor was super intense. I hadn't progressed and could not relax or really speak, and I knew that with my PROM they would want the baby out in 24 hours, so I got the epidural. After that, he progressed quite well and within a few hours was ready to come out. I was able to get some rest so that I could get through the pushing (which is more intense than you'd think, even with an epidural). A few days afterwards, I couldn't remember the pain, just the memory of how I knew the pain was so intense. I'm glad we tried for a natural labor, and I'd try again. Part of me wishes that I would have tried harder. But, I was primarily concerned about not ending up with a c-section, and I felt that at the rate I was going, I wouldn't have had the strength to finish. I wish we were more prepared for the post-delivery recovery in the mommy baby ward. Breastfeeding is a lot harder than you think, and EVERYONE has something to say about it. The BF class we took offered a breastfeeding plan, similar to a birth plan, to indicate what you intend to do, but we forgot this at home, not thinking we'd need it anyway. Well, Sam was offered formula (which made me cringe), and people kept coming in to "help" but not really helping. Be prepared to not really get good recovery until you get home - there are too many hospital visitors (nurses, food service, housekeeping, finance, birth certificate lady, lactation consultant, photographer) to give you any privacy or solid resting time. I'd say more than anything else, have a plan for when/if you'd want pain meds and let Justin and your OB know. I didn't want to be offered them, but to have my wishes honored if/when I requested them. It might have helped me more if I didn't know how far he had/had not progressed. And, if I didn't have to keep telling them on a scale 1-10 how the pain was, that might also have helped (not focus on the pain). If there is anyway they can monitor the baby without you having to lay in the bed every hour for 20 minutes, that would be good. It was really hard to lay there while they monitored me when I was in full blown crazy labor. Oh, and you might seriously want to consider a doula if you want a natural labor. Our midwife was awesome, but I think next time around I'd want one, just to be another constant presence with training. I'm sure I have so much more to say on this topic, but I'll stop here.
Amelia