Doula Meeting

We had our second and final pre-birth meeting with the doula this morning. She came to our house (an hour early, oops! She had written down the wrong time) and talked to us about how we're feeling, what the plan is for birthing day, etc.

We don't have a written birth plan because I feel that our hospital is already so natural-friendly that it really isn't necessary to dictate how I want my natural birth to go. It's already standard for them to do a hep lock, let me walk and move around, do intermittent fetal monitoring, push in any position, tear rather than cut, and try to breastfeed right away. Beyond those things I really am not hung up on particulars. I told the doula that I'm not interested in narcotics, and of course my goal is no pain meds, but other than I plan to go with the flow somewhat. The only part of the hospital policy I'm not happy with is the no eating & drinking... she confirmed that that is the case. But we're going to work around that by staying home as long as possible, and sneaking in some snacks. She recommended the protein chunks from Whole Foods that I already love, and honey sticks - she said the honey sticks are great right before it's time to push, for a little energy boost.

So our plan is to labor at home for a while, and then probably go with the "511" rule to get to the hospital (contractions 5 minutes apart, 1 minute long, for 1 hour). We'll probably have the doula come to our house first. She's bringing her bag of goodies like rice socks, back massagers, etc., as well as her expertise. She said she noticed during my massage that I had tension in my arms and hands and wasn't sure if I wanted them worked on or if it they were too tender - I said by all means, I love the hand massage. We definitely plan to use the jacuzzi at the hospital, and I remember from one of our childbirth classes that I really liked the hip press, which during labor will be good for helping open the pelvis.

I told her about my loss for the first time, which I felt awkward doing (it's been a long time since I talked about that with anyone in person), but I felt it was something she should know about. I told her about how it progressed like a miniature labor, with contractions that came closer and closer together... and how I felt that the emotional pain really amped up the physical pain. So I feel that in childbirth if I can keep a positive attitude that will probably help decrease the physical pain... and of course the outcome will be totally different. She seemed to understand what I was trying to say, and later in an email she thanked me for sharing that with her.

And that was pretty much that... she thinks we're ready and she said she knows we can do it, we have good attitudes and she is honored to be attending our son's birth. I can't wait until that moment comes when we have to call her and let her know the time is near!