My Son's Birth Story - What Type of Birth do I want?

Ok, remember how I said the 2WW wasn't too bad? Well I lied I guess, because now I am miserable!! I'm 10DPO...that supposedly puts me in testing "timezone" but I am trying with all my might to save any testing till atleast Friday. That's when mother nature's gift is supposed to be delivered. As far as the chart goes, it's still up so that's good news. Now instead of being so excited to go to bed so I can wake up and take my temperatures, I'm dreading it because I do not want to see it drop!! Anyways, on to other thoughts.

I love browsing the web and reading birth stories. I know I'm a birth geek. lol. So anyways, there are a lot of birthing situations that I've seen. I have only attended 2 births, my sons, obviously, and a friends. Those two births were completely different. My sister in law had a natural birth in a birthing center. Another friend had an emergency C-section and she has been scarred by that experience ever since. I know there's no way to plan for what it going to happen, lots of things can happen, but it has made me think about what kind of birth I want. First, I'll share my experience with you.

My son was "due" according to the doctors on Jan 8th. The date rolled around and then passed me by and before I knew it 9 days had passed. The doctors were seeing me every other day to check my progress and see why labor hadn't started yet, and they also did some stress tests on the baby to make sure he was ok. And he was. One morning, I was supposed to go into the doctors at 9am, but I got a phone call from one of the doctors there and she asked me to come in. Funny thing, a coworker at the jewelry store happened to be one of her nurses too, and she talked to this doctor about my overdue-ness, and she decided to bring me in. So I show up and she said she was worried he'd passed or would soon pass a bowel movement in the amniotic fluid and she suggested they induce. She said I could wait until Monday (3 days away) because my doctor was on call starting Monday. Or, she said she could do it today, since she was on call until midnight. I asked her who was on call after midnight, and she said the name of the doctor I refuse to be seen by. So, I chose to be induced, mainly because I didn't want to risk going into labor while he was on call. So, we headed over to the hospital and I got checked in, placed into a gown, and got into the bed, it was about 10am by the time I got situated..

They wanted to put a pill called Cytotec (I believe) via vaginal suppository to get my contractions going, but once they hooked me up to the monitor I was already having significant contractions, I just couldn't feel them. So they nixed the Cytotech and started me on a low dose of pitocen. It wasn't bad at all. They would come in an up the pit every hour or so, and I could feel the pressure intensifying, but it didn't hurt. I was kinda bored, and hungry, and just hung out waiting to progress. By 5pm I was only dialated to a 1. So the doctor came in a broke my water, only to find that it was green (He did pass a bowel movement in the amniotic fluid).

So after they broke my water, the contractions started to hurt a lot more. I just curled into a ball and breathed through them as they came. I was checked again around 7 and I was barely at a 3. It was taking forever! I kept asking for an epidural, but they said they'd give it to me once I hit a solid 3. So instead they gave me some Staydol to take the edge off the contractions. It worked a little, made me mostly sleepy, and wore off quickly. After it wore off they came in to give me the epidural (around 10:15ish). I don't remember much of that process, because i was curled up over a pillow trying to get through contraction after contraction. So, I got my epidural in around 10:30pm. It was heavenly...for about 30 minutes. I kept feeling this aching, stabbing pain in my pelvis and I said that the epidural wasn't working. They gave me a little more, but the pain wasn't going away. The nurse came in and checked me, and holy cow I was at 10!

My husband had gone down to the cafeteria after the epi was in because they told him it would be a few more hours. My mother in law went running down the halls looking for him, meanwhile they are bringing in all the tools for delivery, draping the floor with those blue clothes, preparing the infant's bed, I started to cry. They said I wouldn't deliver till tomorrow morning, I wasn't ready yet!! I remember just panicking. My husband rushed into the door and was by my side and I just looked at him freaked out.

The L&D Nurse got me situated to push and said, "Let's do a few practice pushes, and we'll see where we're at." So I beared down and pushed once, and she said "Oh crap, stop stop stop! He's right there, I'm gonna go get the doctor, whatever you do, do NOT push!" (Talk about freaking me out!!) So I just laid there trying not to push even though I felt like it. That was awkward. So the doctor came in a few minutes later, and told me that as soon as the baby was out, they were gonna take him over to his little bed thing, and suction him out b/c he had the green amniotic fluid in there. I nodded, and she told me to push. 3 pushes later, my baby was out and rushed over to be suctioned. After they suctioned him, I could hear him crying very strongly, and I was so happy. My husband went over to see the baby while I prepared to deliver the placenta, and it's all kinda a blurr after that point. I only tore in 2 small places, and as they let me sit up again, I remember saying to my mom, "That's it? That wasn't so bad, I could do that again!" My little boy was 7lbs 12 oz, 21 1/2 inches long and absolutely perfect.

Now comparing my birth experience to what I witnessed from my friend's delivery, I had a walk in the park. My epidural was absolutely amazing, I didn't feel much of anything except that knocking around on my pelvis. Hers wore off and she was in tons of pain. It makes me a little nervous for the next time around, because what if mine wears off? I don't know how I would handle the pain.

I do know, that a hospital birth is a must for me. All my experiences in the hospital were good ones, great care was taken of me and my loved ones. I felt very safe surrounded my hundreds of medical professionals, and I felt very safe knowing there was a pediatric staff and NICU right down the hall if my baby needed it. I felt safe knowing that If I needed a c-section, It would be available to me right down the hall. Some people are against medical intervention. I am not one of them. To me, the only thing that's important is that I have a healthy baby at the end. I'm not ripping on anyone who believes different, this is my blog and my opinion. lol. When my friend was in labor, I remember talking to one of the nurses and we were talking about home births. She said, "As many babies as I've had to resuscitate in my job, I would never have a home birth." All I know, is if something happened to my baby during a homebirth, and we couldn't make it to the hospital in time to save his/her life, I would never forgive myself. And I'm not saying things never happen at a hospital, they do, but I just feel safer with professionals at my side.

I've seen videos about hospital trama to the infants, and the doctors yanking on the baby and stuff...Well I plan to discuss that with my doctor when I choose her... tell her my fears and concerns and see how she handles it. I even think I'll have a mirror to watch what she is doing down there, and I will not hesitate to have my husband or myself, put the doctor in check. I think if I have a provider I trust, then it should be smooth sailing. Just my opinion. Everyone is entitled, and this is mine.

Anyways, sorry so long. But did you know I didn't think about TTC during this whole post?!? Yay me! lol

How to tell the Daddy-To-Be ideas

Ok. 8 DPO today... nothing different as far as how I am feeling. But here's my blog idea for the day.

How to Tell the Daddy to be, that he's a Daddy to be:

This is something that requires some patience and creativity. I have absolutely none of the former. Everytime I've gotten a Positive test (note, I've had 5 of them), I've been too excited to keep it a secret from the hubby. When I found out last June I was expecting, I was taking advantage of the fact my hubby was taking the dog out, so i had about 3 minutes to pee on a stick, so I did and as soon as he came in the front door, "pregnant" popped up on the screen and I grabbed it and basically shoved it in his face with excitement. LOL. But, I am determined, when I do get a BFP, to keep it to myself for as long as it takes to get this idea done:

When I get a BFP, I am going to drive to IF when the hubby working, and fill his car with pink and blue balloons. In 1 balloon, I'll stick the PG Test inside it and write "POP ME" on it. I'll mix it in with the other balloons. Then, I'll get some of that car window paint and write on his windows telling him to pop all the balloons to find a surprise. Eventually, he'll find the test.

Isn't that a fun idea? I just hope I'll be able to contain myself long enough to accomplish it! LOL.

But, I may be getting ahead of myself... I still have no inkling of whether or not I am or not, but isn't that a fun idea?

Other ideas I've heard and considered are:

1. Writing "Hi Daddy" on your belly and finding some way to expose it to the hubby.
2. Getting Cohen a "I'm gonna be a big brother" shirt and have him wear it around Daddy.
3. Wrapping the test up and call it an early b-day, christmas, v-day present...
4. Just writing it on his car windows.

What are some other ideas?

How to get Pregant...

I have to admit, I've googled this question once or twice after a month or two of trying. You would think, that being women, we know all there is to know about getting pregnant! Once we turned 12 years old and "became women" we were able to create life. When you are 16 and dating boys and your parents tell you, if you have sex, you WILL get pregnant. At your wedding reception everyone comes up to you and asks when you will start having little ones running around... you think that it is the next logical step and that it will be a piece of cake. You heard about those few people who had some issues getting pregnant and we seeking fertilitly help, but you are convinced that it wont be you, that you can get pregnant on the first try. Little did we know!

I was talking to a friend one time and I was telling them about the long year of TTC our first child. She blatantly said to me, "I just don't see how it doesn't work. It's a natural process isn't it?" And that right there is where it hurts so many women. We feel like it should be our natural ability as women to make and have babies, but for so many people it's not the case and we feel broken. Like failures.

The concept of conception is easy as pie. Anywhere you read, the NORMAL cycle is 28 days. Day 1 being the beginning of your period (which should usually last 5-7 days). They say that MOST people ovulate on day 14, smack dab in the middle of the cycle. The best chances of getting pregnant is to have Baby danced (yes, we're keeping it family friendly here folks) 3-5 days BEFORE you ovulate that way you have enough little swimmers ready and waiting to catch the egg is released. Then boom, one little swimmer enters the egg, the egg implants and in 9 months you have a bouncing baby boy or girl. What alot of people don't realize is that MOST people don't ovulate on day 14. I have never met anyone who has been TTC who ovulated on day 14. You could ovulate on day 11, or even day 22. It varies so much. That is the key to getting pregnant I think. Find O-day. I recommend a Ovulation kit.

I will be on my way to buy one after this next cycle rolls around. I also battle ovarian cysts and my ovaries seem to ache when I ovulate, but I am going to back up that former theory with a good ol' digital clearblue. They say that once you know O-day, it's usually the same time every month. But understanding that these are probably the same people that say you should ovulate on day 14... it's good to test every month I think.

I also bought the book "Taking charge of your own fertility." I will share some cool things I hope to learn!

Happy Baby making!!!