Weekly Check-up and Our Birth "Plan"

Baby girl is still head down (yay!).  She has dropped a bit which is a good sign that things are progressing.  I also took in our birth "plan" and went over it with our midwife.  She signed off on every request except one, which is fine!  I also found out that I am negative for Group B Strep which means I can labor at home as long as possible and do not need antibiotics a few hours before I deliver baby girl.  Yippee!  I lost 4 pounds since last week.  I asked if that was okay - she said yep.  Apparently it's not abnormal for women to lose some weight during their last month.  I have noticed that I am not eating quite as much as I had been - either my belly is just too small to feel hungry, or baby girl is slowing down on her growth and getting ready. 

Writing a birth plan was interesting.  It made us think about so many different debatable topics.  A lot of our requests revolve around having a natural birth and our choice to use the hypnobirthing method.  I should add here for my readers that I have nothing against anyone choosing a different plan than us.  It is simply what we chose for us because it fits for my personality.  I'm not very granola - but rather I really freak out about medical procedures and rather endure some pain than deal with needles or medication (it makes me feel weird).  Do I think natural has less risks?  Yes.  But that's not my opinion, that's based on each individual situation.  My belief is that all couples should do their research, become educated, and then make a decision that fits for them!

We referred to our birth plan as our "Birth Preferences."  It sounded a little nicer than "plan", and it also reinforced the idea that as much as I have requests, truly the baby and my body are in charge of how things go. 

We began with a letter to the doctors/midwives/nurses/other staff.  We both signed the letter and included a picture of Ian and I, just to make it a little more personal. 

Then our birth preferences begin.  I included a section on requests prior to admission to the hospital, during the laboring stage, during the actual delivery stage, in case of emergency (if I end up needing an emergency c-section), and requests for baby.  I had hoped that I could avoid having a hep-lock - but unfortunately it is required for labor and delivery patients (my midwife would not have an issue with it, but the hospital will not admit me for labor and delivery without one in place).  Either way, the good news is that I will not have to be hooked up to fluids or anything so I will be free to move about as I need to. 

She was interested to hear about why we are choosing to have baby girl screened with a pulse oximeter while she's in the hospital.  I told her about Cora's Story, and our reasoning for choosing this.  She was intrigued and asked that I write a letter to the head of the hospital informing him of the trend to push for this simple test.  I think I most certainly will do so.

So we're finished with our birth preferences and now labor and delivery has it.  One by one, our to-do list is growing smaller...finally.  Someone asked me if I went into labor, would I feel ready now?  I think so!  (did you hear that little one - anytime now!).