Hello Third Trimester!
With the way that time has been quickly passing,
soon enough we’ll be at Charlottes due date, and with that comes many
“to-do’s” prior to her arrival. I feel that as this coming weekend
approaches, the third trimester will be welcomed, and the countdown
really begins. Having this be my second pregnancy, I am fully aware of
what we’re up against in terms of labour and delivery, however, this
time the “plan” is currently to have a home birth. My thoughts and
reasoning behind this decision are simply due to the experience I
encountered at my last birth… So far, these are my check marks that are
needed in order for me to feel comfortable with a home birth, and what
I’ve read so far about home birth as of yet.
Having a midwife…
Thankfully, I was lucky enough this time around
to get a midwife for this pregnancy. Hospital or Home… she will be by my
side and encourage me every step of the way. If we end up going to the
hospital, and if no complications arise, then we’ll at least be able to
go home shortly after delivery.
If there are no risks up to the due date…
Around 33 weeks I started to develop cholestasis
(in which the normal flow of bile in the gallbladder is affected by the
high amounts of pregnancy hormones) it causes very severe itching, and
if blood tests show high levels, then an emergency delivery is required
as it causes risk of poisoning to both mother and baby. If you experience this in one
pregnancy, then you’re likely to experience it in all pregnancies… with
it showing up earlier and earlier in each pregnancy. With that, this
could cause us to have a hospital birth… If no signs… then we’ll stick
to the home birth. Fingers crossed!
If labour starts naturally…
With my first pregnancy, I was attacked by wasps
four days before my due date. My body went into shock. That night at 1am
my water broke, but no labour signs came with. I was then induced 12
hours later, which was followed by an epidural, but a quick labour
nonetheless. Easy delivery and recovery… Had I not been induced, perhaps
that delivery could have been done naturally. If no induction is
required this time around, and labour begins naturally, then we will
have a home birth.
If I can withstand the pain…
I’ve been spending a lot of time reading about
experiences of natural birth. Somehow, natural births are “less
painful”, as they typically progress slower, and your body is able to
gradually transition. Whereas an induction can cause higher pain, closer
contractions, with little progress from the amount of stress that body
undergoes. Pain relief is also said to lengthen labour as well. However,
having never experienced natural labour, I have no idea what I’m up
against… So at some point I may demand going to the hospital… and
ordering that epidural over the phone on our quick drive over!
CONS of having a home birth…
Of course, when reading about home birth, I
needed to educate myself with both sides. I wanted to see what other
mom’s have experienced – the good, and the bad. There have been studies
that show humans have evolved in such a way that the female pelvis is
unable deliver babies the way it used to when we weren’t upright. These
studies have shown that because of this, women go well over their due
dates, internal damage is higher risk of delivering naturally, and the
list seemed to go on. Of course, these studies are published by doctors,
who strongly encourage that all deliveries be done in the hospital.
Something could go wrong. This is something that I have read perhaps too much about, but I felt this was necessary.
No pain relief. No sweet sweet epidural, or laughing gas.
PROS of having a home birth…
You’re home. Time is on your side. You can eat,
sleep, and be in your familiar surroundings. No beeps, no pokes, no
strangers… Nothing strapped on, no itchy gowns, no bright lights. Just
you, and everything that you know. There’s no drive to the hospital, and
certainly no stressful drive home with your precious cargo. You get to
eat your own food, and be in your own bed. For me, for someone who isn’t
a fan of hospitals… this is why I want a home birth. I’m not sick, or
injured. I am classified as a low risk pregnancy, therefore I do not see
the need to be in the hospital. Home is just so much more intimate.
My final thoughts…
All the websites encourage you to write a “birth
plan”. My doctor for my last pregnancy encouraged me to not make a plan,
as they typically never follow-through. He also encouraged me to not
take any pregnancy courses, or read on labour… He wanted me to go to the
hospital, listen to the doctors, and trust that everything that I was
told would be in my best interest. Overall, my experience was quite
vanilla. It was painless, quick, and we were able to go home a day
later. However, when I look back on my experience… that isn’t what I
wanted – at all. There was no connection, I didn’t feel like God was in
the centre of my labour, and I didn’t feel like I was in control. While in labour, I felt the need to be that "perfect patient". I didn't want to make any noise, I tried to be happy and cheerful during all my contractions, and I just wanted to make sure that my nurse was happy. I was so focused on everyone else, and not on my own baby... or my labour! Even
once in post-partum, at one point my baby was put in the nursery. After a
couple hours I went to go get her, but the nurses wouldn’t let me have
her as she had “kept up the entire nursery, and was now finally asleep”.
If you missed that… I wasn’t ALLOWED to have MY BABY when I wanted…I was so confused, but went ahead and walked back to my room... baby-less... and sat in my bed and just waited until THEY decided it was time that she should return.
It could have been a whole lot worse, and I know
that. I was still leaving the hospital with a healthy baby, and my
delivery was fine “healing wise”. There were no REAL issues, and
therefore I should consider myself lucky, as I know many mom’s aren’t.
I am this time around though… going to create a
birth plan. I want to have God in the centre, I want to be able to sing
to worship music, sway to the words as I breathe through contractions, I
want my husband to be fully engaged and have him be able to experience
the steps of labour with me. I want to listen to my body, and let my
body do what it was made to do. Creation was made by Him. He designed
the female body, and I trust that He will let me go through labour
naturally, if I allow.
Now of course, things can change. They can change
in just moments, and in that case, we will do whatever is needed in
order to make sure that baby is safe. So my birth “plan”, is more of a
birth “hope”, and therefore I hope that my desire to have a home birth
is successful, and that I’m able to fully experience labour with all
that is has to offer.
In just 12 weeks, we will arrive to this little
one’s due date, and I cannot wait to see how this will all unfold, and
to finally meet this beautiful new baby girl.
Some interesting facts…
- 90% of home births today need zero intervention of any kind, with limited recovery time as well.
- We are the only species where we “worry” about labour!
- Back in 1900, less than 5% of women delivered in hospitals
- A
few years later, doctors started becoming more educated about birth,
and found that midwives were uneducated. Around this same time, doctors
soon began receiving financial rewards.
- Breastfeeding is facilitated in natural births
- Natural births lessen the risk of PPD
