As I inch, and I do mean inch, toward my due date, I find myself thinking more and more about labor. Specifically, the part where the baby inevitably comes out.
Oh.
I've done this before obviously, and I'm trying to decide which is worse - knowing what to expect, or not knowing? When Tanner was born I was clueless, but my labor and delivery with him was easy - relatively speaking. Thanks to modern medicine, I slept through the better part of that miraculous experience (after barfing on my labor coach), choosing to take other people at their word that it is indeed miraculous. I wasn't interested in miracles. I just wanted anesthesia.
That position hasn't changed - I am still jonesin' for those drugs. But I am thinking that this time I might try to labor a bit past the 4cm mark which is where I was with Tanner when I started demanding to be taken OUT of the equation. I'd felt more than enough labor by that point to be satisfied. I could easily make up the rest of the horror story to guilt trip my son later in life. He doesn't need to know that I slept peacefully until an hour before his grand entrance into this world.
There are a lot of decisions to make regarding labor - a Birth Plan, they call it. Which is funny to me because the word plan denotes an ability to anticipate a set of events and organize or map out yourself and others accordingly - which is so not childbirth. At least not the kind that happens naturally. You don't know when, or how, or for how long. You don't know squat, actually, other than the basic principle of childbirth which is: what goes in, must come out. Somehow.
So my Birth Plan looks like this: Have a baby. Preferably in a hospital.Take her home.
I have no idea if I'm going to want to walk around, or take a bath, or sit on a birthing ball. I don't know if I will want to listen to the awesome playlist I'm creating for my ipod, or watch Anthony Bourdain feast on things previously believed to be inedible, or make small talk with nurses about my summer vacation plans and what sports my boys play. I can't plan for this! There are just too many unknowns.
But I do know one thing. I do NOT want my birthing experience to look like this one:
Great post, Erin. I remember thinking some of those same thoughts when Matt was born. His birth was a piece of cake compared to NO drugs when Katie was born. No matter what, it will be a wonderful experience and you will have a wonderful daughter.
ReplyDeleteOh my gosh, that clip is priceless! So, I didn't deliver in the water, but I'm pretty sure my drug-free birth sounded a LOT like that one. Eek.
ReplyDeleteRoll with it, Jonesie. Not much you can plan for. Go with the flow, and see how it goes.
Erin, I love that you said "what sports my boyS play"
ReplyDelete@Angela - it makes me laugh to picture that!
I am with you on the "sleeping through the better part of labor" thing. and as well as the hind sight going "huh, i wonder if I could have lasted longer... i probably could have. maybe next time." I like your plan, I think it will work.
- Heather
They never paid a bit of attention to any birth plan I made...why bother??? If the birth plan is "drugs and plenty of 'em", then that sounds like a good birth plan to me!
ReplyDelete3 kids.... 1 birth with drugs...2 without. Verdict: GET THOSE DRUGS!!!!!!!
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