Birth Plan

I desire a natural, drug free birth as long as I am able, with as little intervention as possible.

Please do not offer me pain medications or an epidural, I will ask for them if I need them.

Environment:

• I would like to have the following people present with me at all times during labor and delivery (and during c-section if needed): Daddy B and Doula M.
• If birthing equipment is available, I would like to be able to use:
• Birthing bed, birthing ball, birthing stool, squatting bar, and shower/tub.
• I prefer to have a heparin or saline lock.
• I would like to be able to labor in any position and in any location I feel my body needs.
• I would like for my water to break on its own unless medically necessary.
• If possible, I would like to have a nurse who has attended a natural birth and preferably a VBAC.

Pain Relief:

• I would like to be able to walk around and move as I wish while in labor.
• I would like access to a shower/tub.

Monitoring:

• I prefer external, intermittent monitoring.

Second Stage Laboring:

• As long as the baby and I are healthy, I prefer to have no limits on time or position of pushing.
• I prefer to have no episiotomy and risk tearing (unless there is a medical emergency).
• To help prevent tearing, please apply: hot compresses, oil and use perineal massage.

Delivery:

• As long as my baby is healthy, I would like my baby placed on my abdomen or given to me immediately.
• Please delay cord clamping until it stops pulsing, or for 5 minutes (whichever comes first).

Newborn Procedures:

• I would like to delay the administration of eye ointment, Vitamin K and the Hep. B Vaccine up to 1 hour after birth unless medically necessary. If we do end up in a cesarean, I want the eye ointment administered immediately.
• My baby is to be exclusively breastfed, please do not offer formula or pacifiers without my consent.

Cesarean:

• If it is medically necessary to have a cesarean, I would like to be conscious.
• As soon as baby is delivered, I want the baby to be held up so I can see them before they are taken to be cleaned and assessed.
• Unless there is a medical emergency, I want Daddy B (husband) to be able to cut the cord.
• If my baby is healthy, I would like to hold the baby and nurse as soon as possible.
• If my baby and I are both healthy, I want the baby to be in recovery with me the entire time.

The Logistics

So now we have our doctor, our doula and a pretty good plan for delivery.  The next things to think about are the details on my trip back at 38 weeks.  We only have one family car, as Daddy B has a work truck and we enjoy not having a car payment after paying off our car last year!  Daddy B's mom, (I'll just refer to her as MIL on here), has a very small, two-door mazda sports car.  I kept thinking about my sweet two year old in that and just didn't feel safe about it!  Not to mention that I have had a few break downs in the past couple of days when thinking about having to be away from Baby C for so long.  I'm hoping it's only a couple of weeks, but it could be a MONTH.  Did you read that?  A MONTH.  I don't know how my mama heart will handle it.  I know that looking back on everything, Baby C won't remember the time apart and I'll be thankful for a positive birthing experience, but you have to realize, the longest I've been away from my baby boy is like 3 days during house-hunting here in Louisiana.  So with all that in mind, I would just feel better if our family car was here and if it takes awhile for this sweet babe to make his/her appearance, Daddy B, MIL and Baby C can comfortably take a road trip in our car and come see me so I can get some much needed cuddles and kisses! :)

I called Aunt K and we brainstormed about the idea that I don't need a car while I'm in Texas.  I will probably be pretty content with watching netflix at her house with my 38 week belly and plus, my nephew (who is 5 and in kindergarten) has spring break my first full week there and he's just going to stay with me, so I'm not going to be going many places.  On the days of my appointments, Aunt K or my brother will probably want to go with me just so I don't have to drive myself.  It also helps that Aunt K works 2 miles from their home and I can always take her to work if I feel like I'm going to stir crazy and want to get out of the house for the day.  At first, Aunt K and I were like "Oh you can just fly here."  Then we realized that I can't fly at 38 weeks pregnant!  haha  Luckily, I have a very dear friend who is a chef and works a crazy schedule anyway that I called and asked if she'd be willing to make a trip from Texas to Louisiana to pick me and my very pregnant belly up after a short visit and take us back to Texas.  She said she would!  I'm pretty excited because she is the MOST fun on a road trip and we were already laughing at the mental pictures of me being verrrry pregnant and us making our hourly stops to stretch my leg.  We both hate to stop when traveling and imagine it being more like a nascar pit stop with me running a lap around her car!  haha (Don't worry, I'll do the required 10 minutes...)

The next piece of the puzzle is getting home.  A lot of that depends on how the delivery goes, but let's assume everything goes great and I have a natural VBAC and get discharged quickly and feel good.  Well Daddy B will bring our car to Texas when I call him to tell him I'm in labor and after being discharged, we will probably stay the first night at Aunt K's house and then start the journey home the next day.  Even though I'm going to miss Baby C like crazy, I know we will appreciate a few days being able to concentrate on our new little one.  I can't tell you how thankful I am to my MIL for keeping Clint during the time I'm in Texas.  It blows me away how much she must love us!

What I've worried about with Baby C is that it will be the longest we've been apart and then to top it off, I will come home with a new baby.  We've done our best so far to get the idea of a new baby in to Baby C's head, but he still thinks there is a baby in his belly too!  My plan is when we come home with the new baby, we will give Baby C his very own baby so that him and I both have one.  I hope this helps!  My parents did this with my brothers and my mom really recommended it.  I'll give it a try!

Now it's on to nesting like crazy.  We've painted the nursery and are ordering all the furniture soon.  I can't wait to see it come together and share pictures with all of you!

Okay, here's a sneak peek of the color we chose:

No, it's not blue.  It's aqua! :)