That is so great that your doctor loved your birth plan!! Yay! Good job, Dee!! That makes me especially happy because it sounds like he really respects your choices and will honor them in the delivery room... what a blessing!!
I think if it were me, I'd rather wait until my body decided it was time, but I'm sure these experienced mamas will know more about that than me. I'm pretty wary of inducements after watching them lead to c-section.
sadie
I won't tell you what YOU should do, but for me, I'm all about waiting for baby to come on his own. And I was more than happy to let that happen with Levi, but I think we accidentally induced with him, and I wonder if that's what made the labor so stinking long. who knows!
Missy
Lola is def. right on the pitocin, We were so distracted by Aneliese at that point that neither of us realized they were giving me the shot until it was too late...turned out fine but I really didn't want it.
Kit
I noticed Jamie mentioned about the vitamin K shot as well. I'll just let you know something I learned in my birthing class about it. Maybe it will help you decide if you want it or not. Vitamin K is something that babies receive through breastmilk. In fact, they receive enough vitamin K through breastfeeding by their 8th day of life to get circumcised! How interesting! But babies who get circumcised earlier than that get it injected so they can handle the operation.
What a great and thorough birht plan! Definately let Jeremy be your voice since it will be very difficult jto talk or make decisions in the heat of it all. Maybe ask him to remind you that you don't want drugs when it's starting to get hard. All a woman needs is someone to believe she can do it without drugs for her to be able to do it. It's a lot harder to resist when you have people around you asking "Are you sure you don't want any drugs?"
Coping with contractions: Don't brace yourself or your belly. Breathe through the pain, and let the sensations do their thing--even take over in a sense. Don't resist it. Relax your abdominal muscles during contractions, and even try to relax all facial muscles during them. It will help conserve energy and not make the pain more intense than it has to be!
Eye ointment: If I recall right, isn't that just for women who have gonorhia (sp?) or chlamedia(sp?). I thought it was to prevent blindness in babies whose mothers have one of those std's...?
Have you decided if you are going to give your boy the vitamin K shot or PKU? If you do, definately nurse him while they prick him. It will help him be distracted and help your heart not to break when he starts to cry!
Dee
Wow ladies, thank you SO much!!! Your comments and suggestions were all really really helpful and I've clarified and revised some stuff in my plan. Thanks so much for taking the time to read and comment and help me out with this. I'm so blessed to have experienced, thoughtful, and insightful friends to help me out with this, especially since I really have no clue at all what's coming :)
Lola
Good one Missy, I forgot about pitocin. I didn't have it with either of mine and they just made sure my placenta came out with no problems. If you don't want it, you';; need to tell Jeremy to remind them. If you do have it, they will give it to you in your leg right as you're delivering the baby. I'm sure you won't feel it or notice it because you are usually preoccupied. In Three Hills you automatically room in and I think the cot is included already but let me tell you, it's really uncomfortable. Oh ya, and one thing I didn't think of before. With Anna Kate, they took her to do her heel poke and held her while they did it. She screamed so hard I thought she would pass out. My midwife let me breastfeed Alberta while she did it and she didn't even flinch. She said as long as babies are nursing, she's never had one cry.
