The Beginning of My Birth Plan

Did I tell you about the time my doctor and I made some preliminary decisions about my labor and delivery? Well it went something like this.

Dr.: "which hospital do you plan to deliver at?"
Me: "Arcadia Methodist"

Dr.: "if it's a boy do you want him circumcised?"
Me: looked at Kevin and made him answer.

Dr.: "do you think you'll want an epidural?"
Me: "Nope." huge nervous grin.
Dr. "great!"

Yes. I have committed to an epidural free delivery. I feel like this is such a debatable topic. Let me first say that I am not against epidurals. Choosing to relieve some of the pain does not make a mom less of a woman. But I will explain my decision, and why I think it is best for me.

It really started quite a while ago. When I was in high school I was very interested in child development, and took multiple child development classes. In these classes I had the opportunity to watch babies being born in every situation one can imagine. The most impacting video shown involved two women in labor at the same time. One woman chose the epidural, while the other woman chose to be epidural free. At the end of their labors each woman birthed beautiful and healthy babies. But there was a difference. The baby whose mom had the epidural was sleepy (albeit snuggly too). He just sort of hung out, eyes closed and quiet. The baby without the epidural was looking around, and making lots of noise. They did a split screen of each baby laying on their respective moms bare chest. Epidural baby just sort of laid there. The other baby managed to move his head directly to his moms nipple, and began nursing. I was shocked. I had never considered the drug's affect on the baby. I felt pretty convinced in that moment that I did not want an epidural. I also had to watch women receiving epidurals, and I am more scared of that than I am of having the baby.

Secondly, I see the human body as being incredible. The fact that I am working on growing an entire human being never ceases to amaze me. As soon as the tiny embryo implanted itself in my uterus, my body took over the growing, and nourishing of this little person. I have not had to think about developing a heart or imagine bones forming. My body is just assisting the process. I take vitamins, but those are honestly more for me than the baby. I tend to see this as the ultimate test of my body. Keeping that in mind, our bodies have an amazing way of handling labor. We have hormones that are released periodically that accomplish different portions of the baby being born. I think my body knows what it needs to do, and I will just need to endure the very real pain that accompanies the process.

In the mean time I am trying to prepare my body for labor. I know that once that process begins that it will be similar to running a marathon. I am trying to exercise as much as possible, including exercises specifically for toning my "pelvic floor." Every time Kevin and I walk downtown, or I do cardio at the gym I know I am preparing for labor. I am also doing so by eating lots of protein every day, and drinking ridiculous amounts of water.

I also chose a hospital that is known for its low c-section rate, and for allowing women to labor on their own timetable. Our hospital even has "family" showers where I can work through contractions under the warm water. They will allow me to bounce on a ball, or take a walk in their garden as labor progresses. My doctor will allow me to go two weeks past my due date before suggesting induction, and allowed a friend of mine to labor naturally for 36 hours without pressuring her to take something to speed up labor. He also did not argue with me when I said I did not want an epidural.

I still have a lot to learn about labor, and breathing, and positions, etc. But in the mean time I take any pain I experience now as being nothing in comparison to labor.