Do I ever have it bad. The Babycrack. The Baby Fever. Whatever you call it.
So far this week since Sunday:
- Decided to have a baby no matter what
- Health was cleared for having babies on Monday
- Stopped the Pill
- Registered on OvaOva
- Ordered a Basal thermometer
- Dealt with the first pregnancy-related jerk
- Sourced Cloth Diaper materials
- Sourced and Contacted local Doulas
- Contacted the Birthing Center here
- Decided on Home Birth instead of Birth Center Birth... more on that below
- Selected a Birthing Pool
- Read approximately 40 Birth Stories, some good, some bad, some ugly
So about the home birth... I originally dreamed of giving birth in a birthing center, so when we finally got one in the Omaha area, I was very excited! I looked into it only to find that although it is a great facility, it's basically like being at home... but you're not. No pain medication or emergency intervention measures are offered at the center so if anything were to happen and an emergency arised I would still have to be transferred to a hospital.
Now my stance for my pregnancy is "Unmedicated or Emergency C-Section Only," given it is a healthy, no-risk pregnancy and I can find support for me and for Shawn during labor. I feel that being at home with no pain medication and a support system (that includes my cat I played doula for) is the same as going to the birthing center except that we don't have to drive 40 minutes from our home to get there, and there is a hospital just as close--maybe closer--to our house as the one near the center.
I don't feel that having a home birth is more complicated, quite the opposite: it is stripping away the illusion of control Western Medicine sometimes tries to impose on the natural, uncontrollable force of nature that is birth. No IV lines, monitors, strangers, risks of BAD infections are in my home. If something happens we can leave and drive down the street. But we will try it!
Just love, support, and my body is all I will need to have our baby.
Stumble it!
