I have seen a whole slew of pumpkins having children on the social networks today. Kind of made me laugh and want to reshare. Here are a few of them:

Via Lustik

Via BlessedBirthDoulas

Via www.extremepumpkins.com

Via i am bored

Want to see more pumpkin photos? How about newborn Everly in a pumpkin? View the post here.

Note: These aren’t my photos, just resharing them since they made me smile.

Seriously, the last few weeks of pregnancy suck… Waiting sucks and when you are actually FEELING the changes leading up to labor it’s so damn annoying waiting and waiting.

What makes the waiting even more annoying is the speculating about the serious what-ifs (by ourselves and others). As I write this Baby Sister is still in not in optimal position for birth.

I am annoyed that we are checking on and worrying about the baby’s position when really it is not the end of the world to have a sunny side-up baby. Actually it seems most everything is annoying me about this stinking waiting game this time around. It is presumably because I’ve got an antsy toddler and an irritated husband out here with me just waiting and waiting too.

If I wasn’t so stinking uncomfortable with this low riding baby I wouldn’t be as bitchy I bet… but it is what it is. So we wait and I bitch.

Actually, while we are on the topic of Baby Sisters incorrect position I want to throw something out there. I am fairly certain it is due to some uterus mechanics and spacial constraints.

You see, (brace for the TMI cervix talk) my cervix is actually just off my left hip this pregnancy (rather that being the lowest point of my uterus) and the baby’s head is actually lower in the uterus than the cervix. She is actually so low her head can be felt without really reaching up in there at all. My cervix is another story… So, in having her sort of slanted down and laying with her back on my right side she is actually keeping her head (her ear or something) closest to the cervical opening where it will need to be.

As my midwife explained it, as the cervix widens and opens it will allow the baby to take a more upright position in the uterus and move up off my left pubic bone. I am betting once she’s off that pubic bone she’ll be able to rotate to a more backward facing position too, if she feels inclined. I am no expert but I am guessing pressing her head against that pubic bone and in my hip crevice makes it kind of hard to turn much.

So with that reasoning we are just sitting back and trying to trust the process of all this. Even if Baby Sister doesn’t move she’s still birth-able it could just be more work I guess. Either way I am just stoked to get this show on the road and meet my baby girl.

By the OBGYN’s ultrasound due date estimation and the date counting based upon my LMP date (that was also the day I miscarried with the last pregnancy) I am “due” August 23rd, 2011. Based on my fertility awareness charting we conceived 12/3/10 which would put Baby Sister due on August 26th, 2011. So labor watch continues…

And now for some birth affirmations and positive vibes about all this:

Exciting news: 

Peace and trust in the natural process of childbirth is (in my opinion) the difference between having a medically managed birth and allowing your body to dictate the process (whether you birth in a hospital or not). It is a scary time (being about to have a baby), our hormones are all crazy and we are super uncomfortable.

It is easy to get excited or anxious about impending labor and to confuse false labor for real labor as more body changes, aches, pains and symptoms surface. Some doctors will be okay with speeding the process along and will see your reactions to false labor symptoms as an opportunity to speed things along, others will just send you home to wait it out.

This is the time to just look within yourself and to you baby. Talk, bond, read or sing to baby and rest, rest, rest. This will be the last time you have to get some good sleep for a while.

Your body has gotten you this far and has grown a nice strong baby from just a few cells (so amazing!). When the time is right your body will birth the baby all on it’s own. Trust your body and allow your baby the time it needs to make those last minute preparations & developments. Nobody can be expected to adhere to an obscure and generalized time table. I mean are you always on schedule for everything?

Trust, trust, trust.

You have gotten this far like nature designed and you’ll get through the next part too. This post is for myself and anyone else expecting a baby right now.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (August 25, 2009)—Displaying a stunning lack of regard for patient autonomy, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) issued a statement this week declaring that the group will “allow” laboring women to drink “modest amounts” of clear fluids during labor while continuing to prohibit access to solid food.

“Once again ACOG has issued a position statement with little regard for the evidence or for the ability of women to make decisions for themselves,” said Susan Jenkins, Legal Counsel for The Big Push for Midwives Campaign. “It’s insulting that ACOG actually believes that laboring women should be grateful that they will now be ‘allowed’ to have more than just ice chips, when we have long known how vital nutritional sustenance is to mothers and babies not only during pregnancy, but during labor as well.”

Hospitals routinely adopt ACOG position statements as standard policy governing the treatment of pregnant and laboring women, despite the fact that a number of the organization’s position statements do not acknowledge all of the risks and benefits associated with common procedures. “ACOG is asking laboring women to do the physical equivalent of a marathon on the power of a ‘modest’ amount of clear liquid,” said Sabrina McIntyre, mother of two. “Thanks but no thanks. I’ll stick with my midwife and her wisdom of keeping up my physical stamina for such a monumental event.”

Policies restricting food and liquid intake date from an era when laboring women were routinely given general anesthesia and risked aspirating food into the lungs. Modern anesthetic techniques have virtually eliminated this risk, which is further reduced by the fact that only a tiny minority of laboring women, even among those who deliver via cesarean section, actually receive general anesthesia.

“The women in my birth center eat when they are hungry and drink when they are thirsty, all without asking for ACOG’s permission first,” said Elizabeth Allemann, MD. “Women deserve to be fully informed about what the evidence actually shows, and it’s time that the medical profession abandoned policies based on the outdated and paternalistic idea that patients should play no role whatsoever in the decision-making process.”

The Big Push for Midwives Campaign represents thousands of grassroots advocates in the United States who support expanding access to Certified Professional Midwives and out-of-hospital maternity care. The mission of The Big Push includes educating national policymakers about the reduced costs and improved outcomes associated with out-of-hospital birth and advocating for including the services of Certified Profession al Midwives in health care reform.

Media inquiries: Katherine Prown (414) 550-8025,
katie[at]thebigpushformidwives[dot]org.

I’ve been watching the news regarding ACOG, health care reform and Midwives. I believe women (especially low risk ones!) should be allowed to eat or drink as needed during labor. Food and drink are the only way you can muster the strength and stamina to get through labor. I know from personal experience.

Personally, I had a huge pancake, bacon and hash brown breakfast and PB & J for lunch during my dilation and between contractions. I also had yogurt, mixed nuts, Powerade and water during my pushing phase of labor. It was 18 hours from the time my water broke till my baby girl was born.

There is no way in hell I would have gotten through the labor and delivery without food and drink, that is probably what ACOG wanted though. If you are too tired to push and aren’t progressing on your own (because you are starving and also running on empty) they can intervene with more costly, forceful delivery procedures…

Think about it, the more women who can’t get through labor & delivery on their own the better for their pocket books right?

Okay, I am done ranting and being opinionated. Just wanted to share the info. What are your thoughts?

Her Apgar scores were 9 at 1 min & 10 at 5 min, which is great. She was feeding like a champ right after birth too, they placed her on my chest right after she was out and she found the nipple no problem. I was even feeding her as they wheeled me through the hospital doors at 3am for my repair work. I suffered a 4th degree tear that is very unusual for Farm births and homebirths in general.

A surgeon came in and stitched me up good. I specifically asked how many stitches I was receiving, the surgeon laughed and said he’d lost count and that it’s probably better that way. Basically we got there at 3am and didn’t leave till about 6am. I got lots of stitches. N, Pamela and Everly napped while they worked on me.

We also had Everly’s cord blood tested (to get her blood type) and I received my RhoGam shot while we were there since it turns out Everly is not RH negative like me. I was also prescribed some antibiotics for the tear. Basically I tore all the way through (if you know what I mean) so they were worried about anal bacteria and vaginal bacteria combining and infecting my stitches among other things.

I was not given any pain meds though, just taking Tylenol when I am hurting. I am supposed to be staying in bed with baby for 10 days, per Pamela and the surgeons orders. I am also taking arnica 30x for muscle soreness and trauma healing. I don’t feel incapable of carrying on though so staying in bed is hard.

Basically my pushing phase was super slow to start and then went super fast at the end. We tried all sorts of different positions to get her past my bones. I was laying back in bed, then went to the birthing chair, labored in the shower with N, tried squatting, pulling on a door handle, on hands and knees, kneeling face down on the bed and finally tried pushing while collapsed on my knees and elbows with my butt in the air.

Once I got in to my last position things began to go very quickly. From crowning to head out only took 3 min and she practically shot out of me. Nobody expected her to come as quickly as she did. They didn’t even have time to apply counter pressure to the perineum or to show me her head crowning. I am pretty sure I tore because she came out so fast.

Normally in a home birth situation they have you pushing as hard as you can until you begin to crown, once crowing begins they have you pant through the contractions and go real slow so you can avoid tearing. Unfortunately this didn’t happen in my case and I am certain it had to do with the fact that I made so much fast progress in the end.

Anyway I started pushing and was fully dilated at 10:44pm, she crowned at 1:12am and her head was out by 1:15am. One min later her body was out and I was holding her. It all happen super fast and the pushing part was my least favorite part because I felt like I wasn’t making good progress and that I was doing it all wrong. It turns out it was the positions that were working against me and making things seem like they weren’t progressing.

The contractions were much easier for me to deal with as I had found a way to “get in the zone” and relax through them. I listened to my tranquility music and Tibetan singing bowl music on my iPod during this phase, it lasted about 8 hours. N said everyone was amazed that I hardly made a peep until the last half hour of birth when the molding and crowning was taking place.

All in all I am very pleased with my birth experience and would totally do it the same way again. Pamela was great and N was a champ too. He never really left my side. From the moment he arrived back at The Farm until I was back home and stitched up. He even looked down there and got to see her coming out which we had previously discussed and he wasn’t sure he wanted to do.

Oh, and Pamela even wrote a song about Everly that she played for us on her guitar before we headed home. The song was beautiful and made me cry. We planted the placenta on her land under an evergreen tree, it’s the Everly Evergreen tree now. It seemed fitting since we birthed Everly in Pamela’s cabin on The Farm and it will forever be an important place for us.

Everly’s birth was an amazing experience and it truly was a right of passage for us. We are on cloud 9 now and wouldn’t have done it any other way!

Oh, if you want to read N’s version of Everly’s birth story (Pt. 1) & N’s version of Everly’s birth story (Pt. 2) are now up over at his blog! I am still working on my long version of the birth story. Posted my short summary version already, it can be read here.

Most of you already know, today is the day I leave for The Farm to have my baby with a midwife. I’ve got wonderfully peaceful accommodations right next to the home of my trusted midwife there in The Farm community. I am 38 weeks and 3 days pregnant. Tater could arrive any day now and we wanted to be sure I was there and settled just a tad early, better safe than sorry right?

That way Tater can make her entrance either before or after her “due date” and I’ll be exactly where I need to be, ready for it.

So, given I have some cell phone reception I’ll be live blogging via text message. These will be very short and sweet entries to keep everyone in the loop. I recommend you subscribe to my blog feed if you are interested in really following my progress. That way you’ll get notification of new posts as they happen.

N will be stopping in here to guest blog after he comes down to see me on the weekends for visits. Remember, he has to stay back and care for the animals while working so he’ll have more detailed posts and probably some photos to share with you. Plus I’ve got some blogger memes and other prewritten posts scheduled here to keep things fresh while I am away.

The only thing I wont be able to do is read all your posts and comment on them while I wait for Tater to come. Don’t hate me, lol. Hopefully everyone is doing well and continues to have good times while I am gone. Can’t wait to introduce Tater to you all once she arrives!

The clock is ticking, each day that passes brings N and I that much closer to parenthood. We are still working to get everything we’ll need together for Tater’s arrival. All the physical stuff is important but we’ve also started to delve in to the emotional stuff that is preparation for Tater’s arrival.

Unmedicated, natural childbirth in a homebirth setting is our ultimate goal as many of you already know. We will not be at a hospital to deliver Tater, we’ve opted to hire a trusted and very capable midwife to attend our delivery. Our midwife is knowledgeable in birth complications, remedies, norms and knows when hospital transport is necessary, that is what we hired her for.

We aren’t delusional and we aren’t swearing off modern medicine, we just want a chance to labor and birth the way nature intended. This is why we are having a birth professional at the delivery (some opt to birth unassisted), if hospital transport is necessary we’ll do it in a heartbeat via the recommendation of our midwife.

I am a firm believer in a woman’s innate ability to procreate and deliver her child naturally as this is what her body was designed to do. When a low risk woman is able to trust her body, tap in to her instincts, eliminate her fears and allow the natural birth process to unfold with confidence she can have her natural childbirth.

This is where the emotional and mental preparation comes in to play for us. Now is our time to work through any birth fears or concerns we may have and to ensure we are 100% at peace with the natural birth process. I am focusing on the powers of positive energy and am feeling great about my body’s capabilities.

Last night I even got a little homebirth suggestion via a dream… Either my subconscious is helping me brainstorm and prepare or Tater is helping me via my dreams but I awoke with such a sense of peace and even a touch of anticipation for labor to begin.

My dreams have always been my source of enlightenment. I’ve developed dance combinations in dreams, awoke with solutions to problems and now am being prepared for my birth via them.

The revelation was Tibetan singing bowls. Tibetan singing bowls are music to my ears. They make me super relaxed, we learned this one night by mistake when a John Tesh radio broadcast was on and a singing bowls album was featured. It was the most relaxing and centering music I have ever heard. You can listen to samples here…

Last night in my dream I was reminded of the impact this music has on me and I was urged to obtain this music to play during the birth. I also own my own mini Tibetan singing bowl (thanks to N’s mom) so I plan to bring it along for playing during labor.

I also was particularly interested in trying the guided Hypnobirthing meditation CDs during labor (and have registered for it via amazon) but since they are so expensive I am thinking they might not happen. Anyway, the singing bowl music is another great idea and I am looking for some tracks I like and can download to my iPod right now.

I am thinking singing bowl music, low lights and N will get me through labor just fine. I am not scared at all. I know it’s not going to be all roses and sunshine, labor is hard work but it’s nothing I can’t handle with the help of my support system.

Now I want to know: What did you use to relax or focus you during your labor? I know some women bring a picture or statue to focus on. Others pick an animal to intimidate, some like upbeat music, dancing, others like candle light, etc. So what floats your boat?

Today the Indiana Midwifery Licensure Bill is being heard and there is so much dirty politics surrounding it right now. Big medicine doesn’t want to bill to pass and now The Indiana State Medical Association is playing the abortion card to get the bill killed in the house.

The bottom line is we all deserve a right to make our own choices. If I want to see a chiropractor for back pain as opposed to having back surgery that is my right! If I choose to see a nutritionist about diabetes that is my choice. If I choose to decline the RhoGam shot during pregnancy it is my choice!

The insurance companies and the law makers are getting way too involved in these choices and today they are fighting to make sure women CANNOT choose a certified professional midwife as her care provider when she delivers. It is outraging and I am just furious!

The House is in session today and they are hearing a whole slew of bills including HB86 (the one I am ranting about). They are now going in reverse order so the bill will be heard last which means you still have time (until 5pm) to call (317) 232-9600 or
(800) 382-9842 to voice your support for the bill and your outrage about them using abortion language to get the bill killed.

You can also see the Live Stream at http://www.in. gov/legislative/session/video.html just click on “Watch Video from The House” and it will open up in windows media player I believe.

All this just makes me so mad! Allowing midwives to be licensed and legal in this state only protects women and their babies, sure it may infringe on the doctor’s monopoly but isn’t the most important thing the patient? Why can’t they be free to choose the best option for themselves?

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Update: 7pm, 4/14/2009

The bill is dead, certified professional midwives are still illegal and women are still limited in their childbirth options. The bill was scheduled to be heard first this morning at the start of the hearing (10am). We watched the live stream of the session online. During roll call the Republicans were absent so things were recessed until 11:30 am since the Republicans were in a meeting.

When things resumed the order for business was reversed which meant that our bill, that was to be first would now would be heard last. Additionally Rep. Wolarksi  (317-232-9648) felt the need to add some “abortion language” that “concerned the ability of the fetus to feel pain in utero”.

The abortion language effectively killed the bill since the speaker previously said he would not hear our bill with that language attached. We didn’t have enough time to get it taken off.

Tonight the meeting was adjourned halfway though the 2nds to last bill and ours (the last one) was never heard. This means that everyone who worked so hard on this will just have to pick up, dust off and go at it again next year. Such a shame!

If you are a homebirth supporter in Indiana you should join the related yahoo group (this is the one I am on) so you stay in the loop about this legislation and are able to speak up and be heard when time comes to start taking action again.

Now is the time to talk this issue up, help more people understand the need for this licensure and make them aware of the legal situation here. The more buzz we generate the harder time big medicine will have shutting us down next year.

I am sitting on a rubbermaid bin in my basement. The pets are all corralled in the laundry room and the weather radio is playing the weather coverage. We are under another tornado warning… N is at work this time so I am sitting this one out alone.

This morning we had a “meeting” with my OBGYN about the blood glucose test, we also broke the RhoGam shot news to her and basically she argued with us and said that the RhoGam shot wasn’t optional.

She had nothing to tell us about statistics or research on the benefits of the shot, just that it was a routine preventive measure that everyone needs to get. I told her we weren’t provided with enough info about the benefits and risks so we did our own research and came to the conclusion that the risks do not out weight the benefits. She refused to accept that we’ve done our research and we don’t want it. She provided us with a very general, “for dummies” pamphlet about the RhoGam shot.

Amazingly she had the lab tech draw N’s blood right then and there, just to see what his blood type was… as a means of convincing us to get the shot. We asked about this at the beginning of my pregnancy and she said his blood type wasn’t that important and that a blood draw wasn’t necessary. I am dreading receiving the bill for that blood draw, since it is not covered by insurance till our deductible is met. At least we’ll know N’s blood type though.

We’ll know N’s blood test results on Monday but we are not going to continue prenatal care with them. We are still declining the shot and we did get out of the second blood glucose test… She fed us some bull about the Glucola test and gave vague diet modification ideas that weren’t helpful… She wouldn’t give me a prescription for blood glucose test strips like I asked. Again she gave the “well it’s not really necessary” line.

I just don’t want to deal with the added stress of seeing this OBGYN anymore. Especially since after our little discussion she took it all out on my belly! She wanted to do an external examination, measure my belly and hear Tater’s heartbeat. While she was checking Tater’s position she was quite rough and actually she really of hurt me! I was crampy and having BH contractions while she was being rough and the pain continued for a good half hour after the visit. I told her about the pain and she said, yeah that is normal…

NO! It is not normal, when Pamela examines me I don’t cramp or hurt, ever! I am just done dealing with her and her demeanor. It stresses me out, it’s a waste of my time and we don’t need her anyway. Once we get N’s blood test results back we are just going to cancel our future appointments and go our separate ways, thanks goodness!

——————————————————————————–

Oh, and for those of you in Indiana who are also interested in homebirth options I have some great news! A midwife licensure bill went to the House Health Committee (Midwifery Licensure Bill 508) and just passed through the committee! This is good progress and gets us pretty close to getting midwives legalized here! For more information on the push for Indiana midwives checkout this page.

Now we are gearing up for the third reading in the house (the full house hearing) and those people in Indiana who are in support of midwives or who want to preserve a woman’s choice of birthing options need to speak up and let your views be heard about this today. Your representatives MUST hear from you so that they know this issue matters to their constituents, so contact them today! You can find out who to contact on this page: http://www.in.gov/apps/sos/legislator/search/

Here are some things you can mention when you contact them:

• CPMs are professionals, well-trained, skilled in neonatal resuscitation and other life-saving skills.
• Homebirth in low risk pregnancies is safe, especially when a trained and skilled midwife is attending it!
• Homebirth is legal and having midwives regulated will provide a safety net for the consumers who choose homebirth.
• Women deserve the right to choose the best birthing option for them!
• Not licensing CPM’s eliminates a vital option and backs women up against a wall.

Sign up for Inmwsupporters@yahoogroups.com or join Indiana Push for Midwives for alerts and action emails.
Idaho got their bill passed this year, and the governor signed it Monday.  That makes the 26th state.  Let’s make Indiana the 27th.  It is within our reach now!

My internet friend Kari just had her baby boy at The Farm in Tennessee and the birth story is live on her blog. I am so happy for her and and loving that they have shared their story and the photos of their special day! Her midwife, Pamela, is also my midwife for our birth there this summer, what? I think it is great!

Also, another internet buddy in Australia, Veronica, just had her little one with midwives (in about 90 minutes!). If you haven’t already and are interested stop on by their blogs, read their stories and congratulate them on their great natural births!

If you have posted a home birth story I would love for you to enter the URL below and share it with us! I love reading them and know others also find them educational to read.

Well, we visited The Farm on Saturday and were super pleased with our midwife Pamela. It was pouring the whole way from Indiana to Tennessee and the drive was long but we made it safely in one piece and were super glad we decided to take the trip.

Pamela spent over 2 hours with us discussing policies and options. We talked about my health, the progress of the pregnancy, took my stats and she even did an internal examination of my pelvic structure. All went really well!

Shoot I even gained another pound and a half between Thursday and Saturday, I weighed in at almost 112! My blood pressure was normal (100/60) and she agrees that my weight gain of about 12 pounds over the course of 16 weeks of pregnancy is great for my body type and is also normal in pregnancy.

I told her about how upset my OBGYN made me about the weight thing. She said that my OBGYN was most likely just commenting on my weight without taking my body type and personal history in to account. Besides, she agreed with the info in my book that says 14 pounds weight gain is typically the average gain for the end of the 2nd trimester. She also noted that those numbers are only averages and that typically smaller women gain more.

We talked about lots of diet and nutrition stuff, got many pointers on what I need to eat and why. I even asked her about the possibility of “being too small” for a natural birth. She did an internal exam to see how wide and deep my pelvis was and confirmed that I had ample room to birth a baby naturally.

Apparently the visible size of our hips and pelvis from the outside does not indicate the size of the pelvis cavities internally. She even had a pelvis (one of those educational skeleton thingies) to show me and she went over all the measurements of mine compared to the pelvis she was showing me.

We talked about potential complications in natural birth that usually warrant a c-section, things like breach positioning, the shoulders getting stuck or multiple births. She assured me that they have delivered babies in all these situations naturally and that it is no challenge for them, since I am already in their care.

I guess they do turn people away who show up months before delivery wanting a more complicated natural birth (VBAC, breach or multiples) at The Farm who have not gone through prenatal care with them. They are very particular about prenatal care, they want you to have proper attention during pregnancy (even if it is though your local doctor) and they want to thoroughly assess all your risk factors before agreeing to do a natural birth with you. It is not all about making money for them, the want to do what is safest for you and your baby so that means turning people away sometimes.

We also learned that Pamela has EMT training and that all the midwives in the area also participate in the hospitals neonatal intensive care unit training course as a means to further their education. The Farm also has LPN’s and RN’s on staff to, that was a fun tidbit of info for us.

Also, CPM’s are legal in Tennessee and The Farm midwives have a great working relationship with staff at the regional hospital so in the case of emergency (or if the mom simply requests it) there is no hesitation in transporting to the hospital to finish the delivery.

We toured a birthing cabin despite the pouring rain and learned that each room is equip with oxygen, baby warmers and all the essentials. They’ll even analyze my child’s cord blood after delivery to determine if the RhoGam shot is even necessary (which they also have on site to administer.

Both N and I were super pleased with Pamela and are sure birthing at The Farm is right for us. We aren’t required to travel down for anymore prenatal appointments but we are welcome to if we want and are able to work it in to the schedule.

They are working with us to make things convenient with regards to how far we live from The Farm. Pamela will be chatting with us once a month by phone following each prenatal appointment with our local doctor to get updates on the progress of the pregnancy.

We are also forwarding my prenatal charts from the OBGYN to Pamela so she has all the most up to date info on my health and the pregnancy developments. It looks like birthing at The Farm is the direction we are going, for sure and we are so relieved! It really is the best of 2 worlds for us and our birthing needs!