Today I meet again with my midwife (certified nurse midwife). It's time for “the talk”. You know....how Paul and I would like things to go during labor and delivery. I've been doing a lot of reading and talking with other mothers and have most of my ideas in place. I really don't want to come across as super aggressive but I also don't want to be run over. My tendency is to be run over so my prayer is that I don't become aggressive in order to compensate for that. I am also fully aware of how labor and delivery does not always go according to “plan”.
With Abby, Paul and I were so clueless and naïve. Sure, we took the birthing classes but other than that.....out in left field. We went to the hospital just to get checked when my water broke, thinking we could still go out on our date. We had nothing with us. We had never had “the talk” with our ob/gyn. In fact, we hadn't even seen our real ob in 4 months. The office rotates their patients so as to “get to know” all the obs. We were truly blessed even in our ignorance. I was allowed a hep-lock. I was given time to have her naturally (12 hours but God supplied). I was allowed to walk around. No one asked me if I needed pain medication. I had limited vaginal checks. When the ob arrived, I think she did a little bit of perineal massage, she didn't have time for much, Abby arrived in 3 sets of pushes. The nurses helped me remember what to do. They let me deliver the placenta naturally as well. The only part that wasn't what I would have preferred was that Abby was taken immediately by the NICU team to be assessed since she was early. But I am okay with that. She needed a little bit of help and her breathing was so labored. It hurt to watch her little chest heave with the effort to breathe. I'm thankful that I was in a hospital at that point.
So as I think about this labor and delivery it is with mixed feelings. I feel very strongly about the way I would “like” it to go but I am also very flexible in understanding that God may have other plans in how things progress. I guess I just want to be on the same page as my midwife in the ideal setting, trusting that she will not push for interventions unless absolutely necessary.
i know that God will take care of you! i always had my "plans" when it came to the boys births, and god always took care of all the details even when things were exactly according to plan. i learned to pray for kind and helpful nurses, they made all the difference.
ReplyDelete