I am enjoying being pregnant again. That is probably because I have not hit the morning-sickness stage yet. :) I had much more cramping during implantation than I did with Cedric. No spotting though. I will soon need to switch to maternity pants as I already need to unbutton my pants when I sit for long periods of time. I am enjoying noticing all the differences between this pregnancy and Cedric's. I just can't wait to know this little one personally. What fun it's uniqueness will be!
I am going to do what I can to have a homebirth, but that depends on insurances, Tim's comfort levels, an uncomplicated pregnancy, and if I can find a midwife I like in this sparsley-populated area.
If I must have another hospital birth, I have a list of things I would like to be different. For one, I will insist on using the commode in the delivery room when the contractions get stong rather than waddling 30 feet through the hall (hoping you won't have a knee-weakening contraction on the way) to get to a bathroom with a toilet that has rails on either side so close together that you must put your knees together to even get your bum on the toilet. Yes, sitting with your knees together is a great way to start a very painful contraction(s). 8-/ I will also refuse to go another 18 hours after delivery before taking a shower. What a lovely, quaint hospital that offers you no shower (not even a sponge bath) and expects you to sit waiting for 2 extra hours while people get off lunch to sign discharge papers. It may freak them out, but I am going to leave with or without their discharge papers when we've gotten a clean bill of health. I'll sign a waver if it'll make them feel better.
This may be TMI (too much info), but another reason that I do not trust this hospital and staff is because after Cedric was born, the doctor told me to have a nurse with me the first time I used the bathroom after giving birth, probably because I was light-headed. Well, when I called a nurse, she acted confused and not sure why she should be there. I had dripped several drops of blood on the bathroom floor and toilet seat in the process of getting on and off the toilet. The nurse saw and I assumed she would clean it up because that's her job and I was light-headed and weak. Well, the next time I went to use the bathroom, the floor and seat were still messy. What's really disgusting and scary is that we were sharing the bathroom with the lady next door! Thank goodness I don't think she had used it yet! 8-o This hospital has been known for a large share of staph infections, and I'm not surprised with those kinds of health hazards going on. I'm thinking that this hospital is not an ideal place for a newborn.
I am much more inclined to trust a licensed midwife to deal with emergencies during delivery than my doctor because my doctor is a Family Practioner (there is only 1 OB/GYN this side of Wenatchee). She deals with everything from ulcers, asthma, eczema, ear infections, arthritis, parasites, and newborns to the oldest aged. There is no way, unless perhaps she is a genious (though I didn't get that feeling about her), that she could do all that and also know all she needs to know about delivering babies. I think this is perhaps why the Okanogan County has one of the highest c-section rates in the PNW. The doctors don't know what to do with complicated deliveries so they quickly opt for c-sections. There is so much you can do to help a complicated delivery along, but these overworked doctors don't have the time or mental space to learn these techniques. Perhaps if I need to have another hospital birth, I will at least find an experienced doula. They know a lot of these techniques and could mediate between us and the nurses.
It's rather annoying also how you spend 9 months developing a relationship with your doctor but you only see her for delivery. Throughout all those other hours, you are checked up on by a strange nurse who you've never met before, who doesn't know your philosophy, doesn't know what you know, doesn't know you from the neurotic kook she had to deal with last week. Another reason why I like the midwife idea.
Oh, man, there are just so many reasons I want to be at home to give birth. Home = Comfort, intimacy, rest, trust, a beautiful beginning. Hospital = Stress, defensiveness, bright and stiff, sleeplessness, dirty, inconvenient, still a beautiful beginning but one that could be so much sweeter!
Ok, enough ranting. Thanks for listening, I feel better now. :)
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Heh, I remember that crazy 2 hour wait for them to sign a couple simple papers. I remember going out to the nurses station to figure out what the heck was taking so long and they were all just standing there chatting about completely non-medical crap. I remember getting testy with them and they all snickered at me when I told them we had been waiting 2 hours for those papers, like I was some child they just had to put up with...and then they STILL did nothing, and there is nothing that we could do to hurry them along. Power-loving jerks. lol. Ah well. I definitely think this time, if you do have the baby in a hospital, we just leave. They would be so shocked!
Ok, we'll just leave! :) They did seem power-loving didn't they... I sometimes get the feeling that I'm considered dumb and hopelessly ignorant until somehow proven otherwise. What sucks is that they run into enough dumb and willfully ignorant and irresponsible people to encourage that assumption. Blah! The kind of people this culture is producing is downright embarrassing and rather terrifying. Proud to be an American, baby! lol! :)
I hope you do have a home birth Lin... You would seem to be a perfect candidate for it! Educated, in excellent health and confident.
I went through some of that he in Spokane too. Like the toilet seat thing, and having strangers come and check on you. My doc came in twice which is more then in Moses lake but both times were in the same day. It was nice of her to stick around after wards even though she wasn't even there for the birth of Easton. :P Anyway, I think a home birth would be neat. Good luck finding a midwife.
I understand that nurses and doctors have a great amount of responsibility because you, and many others, have placed yourself in their care. Thus, the control issue.
We do not live in a Socialist society (not yet, atleast) and, in our Capitalist society, you are still a customer/consumer. If this is not the service/product you want for the next delivery, then don't purchase that product. I agree.
The difficulty is finding the service/product you want. You can ask the providers if they will offer you another product, but they don't have to, especially if it makes them uncomfortable. That, too, is free society.
I am excited for you to find what it is you want for the delivery of this child!
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