Around the block again

I realize this phrase brings thoughts of unenlightened women being held captive to their men and all, but I am using it in a much more literal meaning.

So here is my contention. At least a women who was only barefoot and pregnant could if need be leave the house. If no store are will to carry reasonable maternity clothes I am not going to be able to leave the house because I will end up being naked and pregnant.

Explanation: I have been to numerous stores of late looking for reasonably priced, casual, attractive, and relatively durable maternity clothes. The problem is NOT my criteria. The problem is that the store where I found said clothes last time NO LONGER CARRY maternity clothes AT ALL. The choices I am left with are disposable clothes (Ala Old Navy, Target and Walmart, which fit the reasonably priced criteria, and casual criteria, but they are not attractive - in my opinion.) or specialty maternity stores (ala Motherhood, Pea in a Pod, Babystyle etc. which meet the all the criteria EXCEPT the reasonably priced one.) I hate to admit is, but most of my favorite maternity clothes came from Sears, Mervyn's and JC Penny's and now (as one clerk said) "oh we don't carry THAT anymore." When I pressed - she said well maybe the store is south SJ might, but the rest in the bay area don't. Of course the corresponding look may have been what threatened to put me over the edge (the "what a stupid question," "we haven't had that for years - duh," , "why are you asking me . . . you don't look pregnant," type looks and attitude). I guess the good news is that if I do go ballistic, at least I can blame it on the hormones =]

PS: The reason I need to shop for maternity clothes at all is because most of my current wardrobe was bought for a business causal work environment. NOT for taking a 2.5 year old to the park.

So this is not your typical I am getting nervous about birth blog entry. This is a - I was challenged a few weeks ago by some friends about my choice of birth setting entry - and after a ton of reading, long emotional talks with Scott, and even interviewing a home birth midwife we have decided we are going to plan on having a HOME BIRTH this time.

I am a little freaked out, but at the same time I am really sure this is what I want to do.

Here is an excerpt of a letter I wrote to Scott the night of the conversation with my friends - I think it explains most of why we are going with way we are

Why this is so upsetting right now is that one thing that was said tonight really struck a cord in me that I cannot ignore. It is something that I also read in a recent post (about healing from a bad birth experience) on a message board I read sometimes. It goes something like this. “Why would you go back (to birth) to a place that has (I can't think of the exact world) disappointed/let down/injured/scammed you in the past. Now I am not actually scheduled to go back to the same Kaiser where I had Chanler, nor am I with the same OB, but an HMO Kaiser Hospital has a very good chance of being very much like another HMO Kaiser Hospital. And that is the crux of my fear. Up until now I was just “not thinking” about it. I have gone to 3 appointment with Kaiser midwives (to meet as many as I can) to get a feel for this hospital. The problem is that with Chanler's birth I “THOUGHT” that it would be ok in a hospital – they had midwives in RDWC, I had met them and they were nice, my OB seemed supportive of natural birth, etc. but my experience didn't live up to what I thought I would have and I ended up with a very medical birth for questionable reasons.

I don't want to do that again. I don't want to be naive and think that just because the midwives at ST seems nice that I will now have a good hospital birth. I thought that last time and got screwed.

I also don't want to just avoid the topic/problem and HOPE that things will be better this time. That is never a good plan.

Now we just have to interview a few more midwives and find one that fits what we want.

The thinking woman's guide to a better birth by Henci Goer

Birthing from withing by Pam England and Rob Horowitz

On the List to read
Ina May's guide to childbirth by Ina May Gaskin

Spiritual Midwifery by Ina May Gaskin

The Birth Book by William and Martha Sears

Can you tell where all of this is going?????

Interesting Article, but ignore the sidebars (they are not in line with my personal thinking, but you can't help who has written a good thing)

I really wanted to highlight this paragraph from the web page of a midwife I interviewed. I feeling like you could just insert my name into the description and there is the story of Chanler's birth. I find it very interesting that it apparently happens often enough that there have been writings on it as early at 1999 . . .

To ignore the well-known relationship of gravity to spontaneous progress is to do so at the peril of mother and baby. Anti-gravitational maternal positions (with the mother lying on her back) means she must push the baby uphill around a 60 degree angle in the pelvis and through a partially closed door, as the pelvic outlet is reduced by up to 30% when the mother is weight-bearing on her sacrum. This non-physiological position also restricts blood flow to the uterus and placenta as the baby’s weight rests on the large blood vessels. This increases maternal pain and fetal distress by depriving both of necessary oxygen.

In the absence of this quality of physiological support, which is the core of the traditional midwifery model of care, the mother will frequently need narcotic medications and secondarily the use of artificial hormones to overcome the labor-retarding effects of pain meds. Pitocin-augmented labors require continuous electronic fetal monitoring, which means the mother must remain in bed except for bathroom breaks. IVs and CEFM effectively prevents the use of about 90% of the non-pharmaceutical pain relief strategies and techniques. The mother cannot move easily, walk around, get in the shower or a deep-water tub, etc. Very soon the pain of an induced or Pitocin-accelerated labor, combined with being tied to the bed by plastic tubes and electronic wires, becomes too much to tolerate. The intensified pain of an augmented labor, with its unnaturally strong, long and close together uterine contractions (every 2 ½ minutes) while unable to move freely is a set-up for epidural anesthesia. At this point a helpful doctor or nurse will ask the mother if she is ready for ‘her’ epidural yet. Under these unnatural circumstances, it is not “if” but “when” the remainder of the typical interventions will be employed - a condition described as “sensitive dependence on initial conditions”.

The painful anti-gravitational maternal position, which restricts blood flow to the uterus and placenta, in conjunction with equally deleterious effects of narcotic pain medications, anesthetic agents and unnaturally frequent and powerful uterine contraction due to the Pitocin (in part to off-set the labor slowing effect of the other drugs), frequently leads to signs of fetal distress on the EFM tracing. If giving the mother oxygen and rolling her over on her side does not help within a few minutes, it will be decided to delivery the baby quickly via the surgical interventions of episiotomy, forceps, vacuum extraction, or cesarean section. This often represents the failure of the maternity care system (or individuals within it) to account for the influence of the mother’s psyche in regard to the events of labor and birth, ultimately “curing” with otherwise unnecessary surgery what started out as normal but unmet physiological needs or problems. In regard to the physical, physiological, social or gravitational needs of childbearing women, an ounce of prevention is truly worth a pound of cure. [Safety of Alternative Approaches to Childbirth; P. Schlenzka, 1999]

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