I Did It!

I did it! I got another picture taken this week :-) 

Things continue to go well for Baby Tigger. We had an appointment on Friday, where I met the next doctor in the rotation. Dr. Gee was very nice and spent a minute 'getting to know' me before the regular exam. Nothing special there. I was told to start exercising again; which I knew was coming. Oh well. Guess I'll get some use out of that gym membership before we cancel it after all... :-P Next appointment is the dreaded Glucose Tolerance Test. First thing in the morning too, I really hope I can make it back to work afterwards...

Yesterday, Trip and I attended our birth class at the hospital. That was an interesting experience to say the least. First, Trip started falling asleep almost as soon as we got there. He has a myriad of excuses, but none of them took very well. There where definitely a few times where my hand 'slipped' as we were passing things around the classroom so that he got jostled. It was quite embarrassing. The part that was most interesting for me was how they tried to present various medical interventions as totally normal. We learned that our hospital has a Cesarean rate of 30-35%. The nurse was very clear that some of this is due to doctor's trying to encourage c-sections in order to go home earlier (boo!), but a lot was also due to doctor's in general not being as comfortable with anything that's a nontraditional vaginal birth. A traditional vaginal birth being something that apparently happens quite rarely these days (they're taking large babies into account here too). After reading Ina May's Guide to Childbirth it was at the same time quite nice to see how much the hospital supports women wanting to create a comfortable environment in which to labor, including allowing women mobility during the active phases of labor. At this time, our plan is still to labor at home/outside of the hospital for as long as possible. We both want to remain comfortable for as long as possible, and we both understand the importance of being able to eat in order to retain the necessary strength. Most hospitals won't let you eat or drink once admitted to L&D in case you have an emergency cesarean requiring general anesthesia. 1) these rates are quite low and 2) with a good anesthesiologist your likelihood for pulmonary distress doesn't really change much if you have/haven't eaten - you can always throw up bile etc anyway. Of course they said that only 10% of women are able to have a non-medicated birth - or at least that is the rate at the hospital. That is another reason I would like to labor at home as long as possible. If it isn't there, I won't be tempted. And if I'm relatively far along when we get checked in, I'll hopefully be able to get myself through the rest.

Now, all of that being said, I understand 100% that my plan is flexible. I will be using the next few months to develop as many relaxation techniques and coping skills as I can. Many of the techniques touted to be helpful are the SAME relaxation techniques I teach to my clients. At times I've used them myself. My mom used similar techniques with her knee surgery last summer with great success. So I've seen it work, and the power of the mind is unbelievable! But, alas, we are not controllers of our own destiny. So, while my plan is to do my best to prepare and plan for a non-medicated birth, I will not fault myself if I opt for an analgesic intervention. And if I need a c-section, for appropriate reasons (not because the doc wants to get home early), than that is okay too. No one should be ashamed of the journey that has led them to bringing life into the world!