It seems like we are in the waiting game at this point... finishing up week 39 of pregnancy and moving on to week 40! When one is going to have a baby, they are faced with so many decisions! What kind of pregnancy diet will you choose? Will you find out if it's a boy or girl ahead of time? Will you go with a midwife or a doctor? Will you give birth in a hospital, birth center or at home? Will you get pain medications in labor or go completely natural? The options for how you want to bring your little life into the world are innumerable.
With Titus, my first son, I had no idea what to expect with pregnancy/labor and postpartum. The person who greatly influenced my pregnancy with him was my mother in law Margaret. She is pretty much a guru when it comes to health, organics, herbs and natural living. She, herself had a completely natural birth 3 times to 3 healthy baby boys with a midwife. On my husbands side of the family it was pretty much second nature to go along with these life processes as naturally as possible and through them my world was opened up to options that I didn't know possible in pregnancy and labor. Our insurance covered our midwife and home birth with Titus all except the supplies.
"Why? Why is there pain?" is what I thought. The shocking part wasn't even that pain came, it was that pain stayed and continually got worse until I was in agony. This hurt my heart so much as I really felt like somehow, something I did or didn't do hindered my faith for pain free child birth.
When Titus was turning about a year old, Rob and I started talking about another baby since it was one of our greatest desires to have two children close in age so that they could have each other. We prayed...and after some other things we got the positive pregnancy test!
We were so excited as we started planning. I immediately knew I wanted to have a midwife again so I called and made the appointment at the midwifery center in town.
Halfway through the pregnancy we found out that we would be moving 7 hours north of where we were currently living in Alaska. This would change the whole birth plan depending on what was offered in Fairbanks, where we were moving to. When we arrived, we made an appointment at the first midwifery center we could find. Upon meeting the midwife, we found out that there were different types of midwives that serviced the area. The one we were currently seeing was a hospital midwife. This would mean that we would be going to the hospital to birth our baby. It wasn't long before we were told that birthing in the hospital would mean not having a water birth because it is against their protocol. It would also mean there was a possible limit on who I could have in the room, etc. I was pretty desperate to receive care since we were traveling so much and had so little time to make our decisions so I decided to go with it and set up a tour at the hospital to get a mental picture of what this birth might be like.
Rob and I walked up to the hospital with baby Titus, and took the elevator to the "Labor and Delivery". When we arrived, the front desk told us that the lady we made an appointment with to have a tour of the facility was not there. Then, they told us that we missed it, got the date wrong and that our tour was supposed to be the day before. After this we were led to a waiting room until they could get someone to give us the tour.
Time ticked away for about a half hour and Titus was hungry and started getting really fidgety, so we decided we would go back to the front desk to see what was going on. When Rob approached the front desk they told us that they had forgotten, were really understaffed and couldn't help us.
Thoughts raced through my head. "What if this happens when I'm in labor? What if they are understaffed or the rooms are too full or they just forget about us?" I was very unhappy with how we were treated and started searching other options.
We remembered that there was another birth center in the area that was run by midwives and would allow me to do a birth center birth or a home birth - also if I was a low risk pregnancy, a water birth! Rob made the call and set up a tour there.
The day we showed up to the birth center, the midwives were very attentive to our arrival and gave us a tour of the beautiful little birth center. It was nice to feel cared about and get my questions answered so without a second thought we knew that we were going to opt for a birth center birth.
The pregnancy went on and it seemed like I would get some of the same pains that I would get during my pregnancy with Titus but the midwives without fail would suggest something herbal or supplemental that really worked for me!
Because of how extreme my labor was with Titus, I had decided that this time around investing into getting a doula for my labor was of highest importance. We looked into our options and interviewed a doula whose personality and faiths matched perfectly, not to mention she had extremely reasonable pricing rates! I was excited to know I'd have even more support and guidance for this labor!
Sometime last week I was working my way through my 39th week and getting many Braxton Hicks waves (or contractions as they are more commonly known as) and something clicked inside of me.
"I know my home is small, but all I feel comfortable with when thinking about labor is home. I don't want to travel a half hour away to get to the birth center. While there, it will be harder not having food, toys or any way to let Titus nap or sleep (if the labor was at night)" I thought.
No matter how many times we packed and repacked for the birth center, I couldn't get out of my mind how nice it was when I was in labor with Titus that if I wanted to wear a certain shirt, I could just go get it. If I wanted food, I could just go to my kitchen. Maybe I wouldn't have a big tub for this water birth like I had with Titus', but I have a bathtub and that would be good enough!
I contacted my doula and midwife right away and found that it was possible to change my mind even at this far along - and we pretty much set it in concrete that all going well, we would be having baby Asher at our home!
So amidst all the mind changes, I am more thrilled about my labor now then I have been about it yet and most of it is my decision to have another home/water birth! Right now, we're waiting for baby Asher, and just today finished the set up for his room! He and Titus will share a room even though they probably won't sleep in the same room for quite a while. For a sneak peak into their mini man cave, see pics below!
No one will have to be concerned about knowing when Asher will be arriving - as we are very open on our facebooks and twitters so if you have befriended, subscribed or followed us, you will be well informed digitally if you are faithful to check your updates! Until then, thank you everyone for your prayers, support and gifts to the ministry and the birth of baby Asher!
To those who have given, your "Thank you cards" will be sent soon! ;)
I haven't forgotten about you!
A special thank you to: Doula Vernita Salinas of http://mamabeardoulacare.net, and https://www.facebook.com/MamabearDoulaCare of Fairbanks, AK.
and to:
We are looking forward to this amazing experience bringing our baby boy into the world peacefully!
To see our original post of Baby Titus' birth, click here:
Sneak peak of mini-man cave:
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