Premature Birth Plan

Let me start with the disclaimer that I am not pregnant. I am not in a place where I am desperate to be pregnant (anymore... that's an entirely different post that I should've written in December after the death of my father). We aren't planning to start actively trying to expand our family for a few months. Also, I believe that a woman's birth process is her very own choice and nothing I say here is meant to criticize what anyone and their partner has done or  will choose to do for their own body and own child.

I have been extremely interested in pregnancy and birth since I was in high school. I find pregnancy and child-bearing to be the ultimate DIY. I learned as much as I could, and veraciously, during my time working for and with my beloved Isagani Villanueva, MD, OB/GYN. That man was a WEALTH of knowledge, and while he didn't have a vagina or uterus, he sure as heck understood what they were made to do. I guess you'd learn that being in practice as long as he was - while I was working there, he was helping to deliver babies out of women he had once helped deliver. When I told him I was leaving the medical field to enter the corporate world ($$$ & paid insurance), he threw a holy fit. Ten years later, I look back at that moment where he yelled, "You have no future in answering phones! You have such a bright future ahead of you in medicine!" and think, you were absolutely right, Dr. V. I am into my practicums in my medical transcription course and know that I will be extremely happy with my career, my work, and my ability to stay home with our (future) children.

In the above-mentioned practicum, I just finished a group of transcriptions focused on OB/GYN. I have been watching some documentaries on birth in the United States (Pregnant In America & The Business of Being Born - both available on DVD and on Netflix Instant, both have things I agree with and others I am still thinking about and researching), and I have noticed that pregnant women are "following me" wherever I go (even Corey will point them out when he's with me). I have a friend who had a beautiful home birth four months ago, (her birth story is incredible) and is planning on becoming a doula when she's done having baies herself (Paula, I'm really sad you don't live closer to me!) and has a "birthy board" on Pinterest that I stalk daily.

With all of that said, it has me thinking about when we DO get pregnant. I know this is WAY more than most women in the U.S. think about even when they ARE pregnant, but it's one of my passions in life. I know I was created to be a mother and to take care of any children God blesses me with. Most people who know me know that I am a bit "crunchy" or "hippie" and me saying these things about my preferences wont really surprise them, but I need to get it out.

Epidural
Almost 29 years ago, my mother gave birth to me with no pain medication. I have long been terrified of this type of anesthesia.  My first concern is that ANY kind of pain medication makes me violently ill. Any time I've been in the Emergency Room, they give me a steady drip of anti-nausea medication simultaneously (making me groggy and sleepy), and as soon as they take that anti-nausea med away, I'm vomiting like a sorority girl at rush. I don't want my vomiting to be the first thing our baby hears, nor do I want to be passed out for the first few hours of our child's life (missing crutial bonding time and figuring out how to do the whole breastfeeding thing).

Not to mention the benefits of moving around for the best positioning of the baby in my body and the natural pain relief that provides. The lack of epidural also helps the mama's body to do what it was created to do - birth that child.

You can read about the benefits and some side effects here. For me,  my current research, and my gut feeling point to not having an epidural. The only time I will say allow one to be placed would be if there is a severe medical reason for me to have one, AFTER all other methods had failed.

Pitocin
One thing I LOVED about Dr. V was that he was "old school". He knew that babies would come when they were good and ready. He very rarely scheduled vacations, always had his pager with him on the golf course and would often come into the office in the morning directly from the hospital across the street, where he had been up all night with a laboring mother. He was the first person to tell me that if there was no major medical issue with the mama or the baby, there was no reason to administer a synthetic hormone (Pitocin) instead of letting their body produce it (oxytoicn) naturally.

I recognize that there are times when Pitocin is necessary - when labor is stalled and Mom and her uterus are tired, when there is a uterine hemmorhage and the uterus needs to contract quickly to save the mother's life and uterus, and the list goes on. Personally, I am just anti-scheduled-induction. There are several side effects of the drug, the most terrifying to me would be the fact that it intensifies the uterine contractions to a point where most women find them unbearable and therefore cave to the pressure of pain meds and epidurals. You can read more about the side effects here. There are MANY more sites with great info on "Pit", but this one was an easy read and had good citations.

Cytotec (misoprostol)
Where in the world do I begin? Induction is very rarely needed. When it is, Pitocin is a great drug. Cytotec, however, is NOT. It has NOT been approved by the FDA for use in pregnant women and has been linked to MANY uterine ruptures, and maternal and fetal deaths. DO NOT LET A PRACTICIONER COME NEAR YOU AND YOUR CHILD WITH THIS DRUG! If your practitioner talks to you about using a pharmaceutical  product to ripen your cervix, please make sure it is not Cytotec or the generic name, Misoprostol.

Other things I will make sure Corey and my doula or birth coach know to help me be heard about:

• Episiotomy - don't come near my perineum with that scalpel. 
• Augmentation - I want to be allowed to labor as long as by body needs with augmentation only when emergently necessary. My body is not on your hospital's schedule.
• Hold my baby immediately following the birth and breastfeed as soon as possible, postponing procedures that aren't necessary.
• Vitamin K injection for baby - DO NOT inject that into my child. 
• Eye "drops" ointment in baby's eyes - No go. My husband and I don't have the clap, neither will the baby's eyes.
• Supplemental feeding - Not going to happen. 

Frugal Christmas - Part 1

With the expenses of my father's death that we encurred in early December, our Christmas gift budget became pretty lean, especially since we had just finished paying off the bulk of our debt. I know everyone would've completely understood only getting Christmas cards from us this year, but after how amazing and generous everyone was with our wedding either in travel and time off, donations to our Honeyfund, gifts or all of the above, I couldn't do NOTHING.

Enter Pinterest. Honestly, the best newish thing on the interwebs. I blame my dear friend Molly for my addiction and time wasted as well as all of the stinkin awesome stuff I've made or been inspired to make. I saw a few homemade natural beauty and bath products and figured it was a sign from the Baby Jesus that I was to have a home-crafted Christmas. I decided I'd make some natural hand and body soap, bath salts and a sugar scrub and "wrap" them all in reusable tote bags made from pillowcases. Let me tell you, I had so much fun making all of this stuff that I just had to share it. Plus, these things are super simple to make and would be great for any occasion - in fact, with some of the extras, I gave some away as hostess gifts for the different Christmas parties we went to.

Let's start with containers and wrapping. I hit a local thrift store during a big sale weekend, armed with a 25% off coupon, a great friend and her 2-year-old daughter (who put on ALL of the necklaces hanging on the accessory wall - I may or may not have encouraged it and helped her with a few that she couldn't pull over her head). I'm all about the glass containers. They're reusable, BPA-free and they just look cool. I found a ton of jars (with lids even), lots of different sizes and shapes for $0.29 or $0.49 each. Also came home from that trip with an arm-full of gently-used pillowcases in lots of fun prints and colors. I spent less than $20 on that stuff. That great friend also hooked me up with a case of PERFECT glass bottles with tops to put the soap in. You'll see them in the part 2 and understand why I did a happy dance when she gave them to me.

A few days later, I was at my local supercenter and happened upon a whole shelf of clearance oils. It was like there was a beam of light from Heaven shining down on the four bottles of safflower oil. OK, so it was probably a strange glare from the neon lighting, but still, four bottles of cold-pressed organic safflower oil - on clearance for just a couple of dollars a bottle. I snatched that up like it was the last cupcake at a birthday party. I also picked up a couple of bags of light brown sugar, knowing I had some essential oils at home. The concoction wasn't a science by any means, just threw some brown sugar into the short, squat half-pint jars, covered it with the safflower oil and added a few drops of Lavendar, Sage and Chamomile oils. Hopped on my trusty laptop and designed sme quick labels and, Voila!

Here's a picture of the teeny jar I made for myself. I keep it by my kitchen sink and wash my hands with it after I do dishes and my hands are all dry and icky. It leaves them soft, exfoliated and smelling all pretty!