Lamaze Revisted
by Nola
Well, CS and I completed our second 3-hour Lamaze class last night. During this past week, I have given the birthing process a lot of thought. In addition, I have started to read Ina May Gaskin’s Guide to Childbirth as recommended to me by Tammie over at Soul Gardening (thanks, Tammie!).
Last night’s topic was “intervention”–the use of medications during labor. If you would have asked me anytime up to about three days ago, I would have said, “Give me the epidural in the eighth month.” My position on meds was clear: give ‘em to me–give ‘em to me early and give ‘em to me often. But now I have completely swung in the other direction. I am all “I want to go natural!”
There are a lot of reasons I feel this way now–partially my negative experience with anesthesia in the past, partially because I don’t want a needle anywhere near my spine, partially because I don’t want it to effect the baby or my ability to nurse, partially because it seems pain is inevitable in delivery and so why not do what I can to stave it off with other measures. There are other reasons, these are just the top that pop in my mind.
So here’s where I really am now: I am going to do all I can to avoid an epidural or a “spinal.” Or at least all I can do to bear the pain as long as possible so as not to prolong the delivery process. I am not ready to deliver Sun in the bathtub of my own home yet, but I have certainly moved from my feeling that I will need as much drugs as I can worm out my doctor to get through the “ordeal.”
I am going to try to think positive about Sun’s delivery. A lot of what is said in Lamaze is that if you think the delivery is going to be really bad, it probably will be. And I do know for me that my mind has a lot of power over this type of fear. The I-don’t-know-what-to-expect -so-I’ll-expect-the-worst type of fear. I talk myself into thinking that if I plan for worst case scenario, I’ll be pleasantly surprised when things go better than I planned. But I think for this big of a thing, I need to instead try to plan for what is MOST LIKELY to be my experience and be prepared for the options that will present themselves to me at the time. And since labor and delivery will be a stressful time, I need to do the best I can to be prepared. But that doesn’t mean I need to assume I can’t handle the pain. And if I can’t, I can live with myself knowing I went in thinking I could and would.
Okay, now that you have said all this, do you understand why you need a birth plan? You need to head over to Babycenter.com and look at their birth plan. I am sure they bring up questions that you might not have thought about.
A birth plan makes your wishes clear when you and your partner maybe a little too busy to do so. It gives the hospital staff a written guide to what you want. Although, they may not be able to follow it to a T at least they know where you stand and can give you options accordingly.
Really the epidural wasnt that bad, even the first prick. I was definitely afraid of having something in my spine, but had no choice. It didnt affect my nursing at all or my babies. Sam was a little sleepier than Amber was but both got the hang of it. I think it depends on baby and mom. There are so many factors and variables that it is hard to say how your experience will go. I totally forgot how to position a baby to get them to nurse when I had Sam. I mean, MY GOD, I nursed Amber 8 months and I FORGOT.
Another reason to give the staff a guide on how you would LIKE things to go. You really need to make your thoughts know and not just to your doctor, because he may not be there when you give birth. Mine wasnt. Besides, the nurses are who you have the most contact with and they will help you in your wishes. Give a copy to CS and put one in your bag. Then he wont have to take time away from you to tell the staff what you want.