This week marks the beginning of the end. I am now 36 weeks- aka I can see the light at the end of the tunnel! While I'm slightly sad this will be the last 4 weeks of my pregnancy status, I'm honestly very thrilled to that in 4 short weeks (or hopefully less), I will not only be meeting my little man but also NOT BE PREGNANT!
Oh the joys of pregnancy. I won't bore you all by having an all out bitch session about what it's like to be 36 weeks pregnant, working 10-12 hour days, with two other kids at home who want and need my attention. I will say that it has not been easy and because this is the case, I'm ready to get this baby out of me!! So at my most recent midwife appointment, we had "the talk" about when and how I wanted to deliver.
Let me start by saying that for this delivery, I have opted to go more natural then my other two in various ways. During my first delivery, I felt the same as many women do about pain control during labor and decided to "see how long I could hold-out" before getting an epidural. After 6 hours, I opted for the good stuff. Although the pain relief was fantastic, I did have a pretty severe drop in my blood pressure that had to be corrected by medication at the time. My attitude for my second delivery changed slightly three years later. I wanted nothing more to get to the hospital and get my happy meds as soon as I could. After my epidural, I had an even more severe drop in my blood pressure that caused me to not only loose consciousness, but be given epinephrine to stimulate my heart. Because of these two reactions, I've decided that epidurals may not be such a good idea for me, so I will not be getting one for this delivery.
It seems when I tell people I'm opting for a "natural" delivery, their reactions are the same in that they look at me with both a sense of horror and shock. Natural?? Is she crazy?? I can imagine them thinking. Working in the medical profession has also led to a lot of negative feedback about my decision. I've had doctors and nurses a like to tell me how crazy I truly am. Why would anyone want to deliver naturally?? They ask me. Even after I tell them my story about the previous epidurals, they still seem to disagree that this is the best course of action.
It's not like I'm the first woman to ever deliver naturally. After all, didn't women used to do this all the time? My mother certainly was not privy to an epidural with either me or my sister. So why have epidurals become the norm when it comes to modern day deliveries? Why am I being seen as "crazy" for choosing to labor in a way that women have been doing for thousands of years??
In any case, I have no false expectations about how "easy" or "painless" my labor will be this time around. I know it will probably be the most painful thing I will ever go through. I'm OK with that, though. There is something very liberating about being able to say I had a natural delivery that cuts down to my feminine soul. Or I could just be crazy. I'll let you all know.
I talked about all of this with my midwife, and I'm so glad to have someone that understands and will be there for me in the laboring process. As for other medical interventions, I do not, by any means, want a pitocin drip for induction purposes. My reasoning is simple for this one- OUCH! I choose not to put myself through any additional pain if possible, and pitocin will not only make my contractions come closer together but will also increase their intensity. I may be crazy but I'm not a sadomasochist.
I am not, however, opposed to other natural induction techniques. I will be trying them all in next couple of weeks. I'm thinking March 1st would be an excellent day to go into labor. Since I have an appointment February 29th with my midwife, we're going to try to make that happen! I will let you all know if this works out!
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