My Birth Plan (so far...) UPDATED

I will most likely be updating this post as the next three months [tick or fly] by.

Someone asked me about my birth plan a couple of months ago and I said, "huh?"  Honestly, I had never given much thought to such a thing.  My guess was that labor will go something like this:

1.  Water breaks in the middle of the night and I yell, "Honey!  It's time!"

2.  Hubs jumps out of bed, helps me down the stairs and grabs my bags as we make our way to the car. Luckily it's the middle of the night so there's no traffic and we get to the hospital in under ten minutes.

3.  I end up in the delivery room, push for a few minutes and poof!  Brand new, beautiful baby girl is in my arms by sunrise.

Yeah........silly, naive me.  I know.

I started looking up birth plans and WOW!  Some people are just nuts.  I did come across this satirical birth plan which pretty much sums up a lot of what I found.

I decided to ask my doctor about this at my next appointment.  Her response was an eye roll, an irritated grunt, and a snide remark letting me know that the idea of a birth plan is utterly ridiculous as far as she's concerned.  All right then (see my post about finding a new OB).  I have a call into a new practice and hopefully they will go over my "plan".

It doesn't include much at this point but here's what I have so far:

1) I want drugs...and I don't feel the slightest bit of guilt about that. I've met people who have this overwhelming desire to "feel childbirth". I think some women worry about the baby and some want to feel empowered. Me? I want this baby out in one piece and I have zero desire to feel that happening.

2) No Pitocin or any other type of induction. Not only are they linking Pitocin to Autism (along with just about everything else), but everyone I've spoken with who has had Pitocin said it's the worst thing ever.

From what I understand, Pitocin contractions are the worst. And everyone I know who has been induced with Pitocin ended up with a c-section anyway. So, as far as I'm concerned, just pencil me in for a cesarean.

3) I do not want any residents or students (medical, nursing or otherwise) involved in my birth. I get that they're there to learn, but learn on someone else.

4) This may make me sound like a horrible mother, but I'd like them to clean the baby before putting her on me. I just think it's kind of gross to hold and kiss a baby covered in birth stuff. I've waited this long to meet her, I can wait another few minutes while they clean her up before I hold her.

And that's the extent of my plan for now. It's a pretty simple, no frills birth plan. No hypnosis, dim lighting, soft music, or any other kooky requirements or prohibitions. Like I said earlier, I'm sure this can and will change a bit over the next couple of months.

UPDATED

My how things have changed.

For starters, I switched OBs and I am so glad that I did. In switching OBs, however, I also switched hospitals and again, I'm so glad that I did. I have an earlier post about why I needed to leave the old practice, so I won't get into that again here. I am currently in a practice that has one doctor, one nurse practitioner, and one physician's assistant. I have met with all three of them and have zero complaints. I don't feel stupid for asking questions, and I never feel rushed.

The hospital where I will deliver is also much smaller and more personal. The only down side is that you are not guaranteed your own room. This is a huge problem for someone who is allergic to everything and who has a bad case of misophonia. I will be informing the delivery nurses of my allergies as well as my allergy induced asthma and the fact that breathing has been incredibly difficult throughout much of this pregnancy. I was told to do this while on our hospital tour by one of the nurses after I spoke to her about my concerns. Hopefully they keep me by myself.

Another great perk about the new hospital is that there are no residents, medical or nursing students to worry about.

I also have Gestational Diabetes and am on insulin, which means that if I go into labor naturally I can deliver naturally. However, if this doesn't happen before April 30, then I will be having a c-section. I had an exam earlier this week and she doesn't appear to be in any hurry to vacate the premises so I am banking on the c-section.

So I guess that all solves a lot of my birth plan issues. There will be no students and no induction. Drugs will be given and I won't be able to hold the baby right away anyway. She will be bathed first. Sounds good so far!

All things pink

Preparing for a little girl is just crazy.  In an earlier post I think I mentioned how I had always dreamed of having a girl, but now that I am, it's just still so amazing.  

After finding out that our little girl is growing as she should be and feeling her really dance in there over the past week, it's becoming more and more real.  And, being blessed enough to know that I am carrying a healthy baby and having had no complications (praying it stays that way), I think it's safe to start thinking about all of the fun stuff that goes along with having a girl: coming home outfit, clothes, piano lessons, ponies, mani-pedis, and all of the other girly-girl things.

Now I know there are people out there who would "flame" me for this kind of thing.  I've come across enough people who think it's wrong to refer to "gender" because that's something for a child to decide, but I just can't get on board with that mentality.  So for now, I am having a girl, and I will buy her a pony before I buy her a tool kit.    

Kate Middleton

For starters, I love Kate.  I am still throwing Catherine out there as a possible name for our daughter (although hubs shoots it down every time).  She is beautiful, elegant, and really seems to be as down to earth as a member of the royal family can be.  Not to mention that I love all things British.  Hey - some people (especially where I live) are all about their Italian heritage.  Me?  I'm all about my British heritage.  I love them.  About three years ago I became obsessed with learning everything I could about England's notorious Tudor Family and ever since then, I have really embraced by British roots - even going so far as to make the trip to Ellis Island where I found my great-grandmother's name in the book as having come over from Liverpool.  I'm especially proud of the royal family for embracing a commoner who is as flawless and fabulous as the Duchess of Cambridge.  

When Will and Kate introduced Prince George, of course everyone wanted to know everything.  Luckily for me, enough was found out and made public within hours of their first public appearance outside of the hospital.  What I was really interested in, however, was to see what the little prince was wearing.  That was mildly disappointing since he was swaddled in a white blanket.  The blanket, however, was identified as the "Super-fine Merino Wool Christening Shawl" by a British company called G.H. Hurt and Son.  The link is here.  

Prince George swaddled in his G.H. Hurt Super-fine Merino Christening Shawl

It is a well-known fact that anything Kate wears sells out within hours, so I have never actually tried to get anything she owns (and I probably couldn't afford half of it anyway!)  However, I figured I would try and look into this blanket.  Of course, it was on back order for a minimum of eight weeks.  But hey!  I had plenty of time to wait, so I went ahead and placed my order.  This order marked my first experience with "baby brain".  It was $45 for the blanket and $20 for shipping from the UK to the US.  I thought to myself, "another reason to love Kate - she's so reasonable!"  I happily typed in my credit card number and approved my $65 purchase before heading up to bed.  Fast forward to the next morning.

My eyes opened and the first thing that popped into my head was, "oh.my.God.  The blanket was NOT $65 USD...it was 65 GPB!"  Oops.  So long story short, this blanket cost me a grand total of $102.  But it came - my first ever "Copy Kate" purchase as seen on Prince George.  Its description really does it justice.  It is super-fine (by fine I mean super delicate) and I can't wait to swaddle our little girl in it and it is already draped over the side of her crib.  Nope...not an ounce of regret.

My first "Copy Kate" purchase

When searching for a coming home outfit, of course I would like to splurge.  I mean, this is a HUGE event and while I will most likely be wearing my trusty yoga pants and some kind of nursing top, I figure that our little girl can steal the show in a fabulous outfit.  I found this subtle little gem, but was disappointed that it doesn't have a matching hat.  For $85 it's not that bad.  But I definitely haven't gone out and ordered it just yet.

Baby Burberry

As it turns out, I'm almost glad I didn't order it.  Last weekend I went to a local children's boutique (it used to be one of my grandma's favorite stores when she was looking for a baby gift) and I found this beautiful white, 3-piece ensemble.  It has a side-snap shirt and there's something about babies dressed in all white that I love.  Not to mention those delicate little flowers - it's precious.  Of course, I had to grab this one.  At $53 it was no bargain, but I plan on building a shadow box and this will fit into it nicely.  And can we talk about how perfectly the trim on the top matches the G.H. Hurt shawl?  She will definitely be ready for her close-ups in this outfit.

Sippy's Babes Coming Home Outfit

It's by a company called Sippy's Babes.  Honestly, I've never heard of it and I'm sure the boutique marked up the price, but I really do love this outfit.  I googled them and it seems to be a company that makes baby clothing to order.  You can choose your own color and trim - the trim on this particular outfit is Venetian Daisy.  The only thing I don't love about this outfit is the fact that the pants are so plain.  I'd probably love it even more if there was some trim on the bottom to match the top and the hat.  Oh well.

To be honest, I'm sure that I'll buy at least another 3-5 coming home outfits over the next three months.  It's a good thing that she already owns my husband completely - he never complains when I buy her something nice - she's already Daddy's little princess :)     

You know it's time to find a new OB when...

The nurse practitioner makes you cry.

My old OB moved to Florida about a year before I got pregnant, so I started going to a new practice that came highly recommended from a number of people.  I was told to expect long wait times because the doctors really take their time with you, they're so caring and blah blah blah.  Well, I'm not sure who everyone has seen or where those caring doctors went, but I have yet to meet them.

At one of my earlier appointments (and I probably should have considered leaving at this point but what did I know?) I had written down a list of questions.  As soon as I took out my list, the doctor looked at me like "oh God, here we go" (I thought maybe I was being overly sensitive) but I skipped around on my list and only asked [what I thought were] the important questions: what is the C-Section rate, episiotomy rate, and a couple of others.  The doctor told me that I was way ahead of myself and she'd see me in a month.  Alright then.

Fast forward to last month's appointment.  I had started seeing a different doctor because the first one never so much as laid a hand on me (I'm honestly not sure if they're supposed to, but according to my pregnant friends they normally do feel for fundal height and swelling of the legs and feet which the new doctor did).  At this point in time, I had started reading about birth plans.  I wasn't exactly sure what they were, so I consulted with Dr. Google (I know, I know) and for the most part, their not something I'm really interested in: dimming the lights, soft music, and other hippy-dippy things to do during labor. My birth plan is as follows: say no to an induction, yes to an epidural, and do whatever the doctor/nurses tell me to do to ensure that my baby comes out in one piece.

Either way, I brought this up to my OB and her response was, "ugh ::eye roll:: do you know what 'birth plan' means to an OB?"  Um, no.  No I didn't but judging by your reaction I guess it's a stupid question.  I shouldn't feel uncomfortable talking to my doctor and the bottom line is that at this practice, I do.

So back to this gem of a NP.  I tried to explain this to her yesterday along with the fact that no doctor has ever spoken to me about pap results, anatomy scan results, or a subchorionic hemorrhage that had been detected in the very beginning of my pregnancy.  Apparently, it is my responsibility to follow up on these things.  I should be telling the doctors and sono techs what they should be looking at/for.  Seriously?  She was yet another person in this practice that made me feel like a total moron.  She called the head doctor who wants to see me today and go over my chart from top to bottom and make sure I don't have any outstanding questions.  I will be asking for a copy of my chart and making an appointment elsewhere.

I am officially in my third trimester, and I don't think that now is the time to be afraid of asking questions.  Hopefully I can hold it together and not cry in his office today.  Talk about uncomfortable but yesterday I just couldn't help it!  Stupid hormones.