Our hospital offers monthly virtual tours of their facility to allow expectant parents to familiarize themselves with the procedures abd policies surrounding labour and delivery.
The first portion of the evening was all about anathesia, although our current birth plan includes a drug-free labour. While the information was...there and important in case of c-section, it was delivered as slowly and painfully as possible. It made me want an injection of morphine right then and there! We had to sit through the presentation, however, to get to the main reason for our attendance -the hospital tour!
The nurse presenting the tour was funny, warm and animated. And everything she said ticked the boxes on my list of labour, delivery and recovery "wants". Changing positions throughout labour? Check! Pursuing a variety of pushing positions? Check! Showers for comfort? Check! Hydrotheraphy tub? Check! Immediate skin to skin with baby? Check! Breastfeeding within moments of delivery? Check! Babydaddy allowed to overnight with baby and I? Check!
Learning all this makes me feel even more comfortable and confident about giving birth. However comfortable one can feel about pushing an object the size of a watermelon out of a 10 cm opening..
Hi Courtney,
ReplyDeleteI won't bore you or the rest of the internet world with my "labour story" but the only advice I have is this--have a plan, be solid with your plan, but know that your labour and delivery is the first encounter you'll have with little "Bunt" being an individual person, so s/he may have a very different idea of delivery from you. So roll with it, change your mind, and know that you are gonna have a gorgeous little baby at the end of it. This post makes it seem like I'm not giving details because my experience was terrible--it wasn't, I promise! You're gonna be awesome.