It’s been a little mortifying to find out that I’ve been pregnant all these last three months. How could that have happened? I’ve tumbled down a notch on the mom expert tree – which is fine, I suppose, and should help me be less judgmental towards other “non-aware” moms-to-be (you know, the ones who go to the doctor with a stomach ache and end up being in labor…)
We haven’t made any decisions about the birth yet, but I know that with having my blood drawn twice and one ultrasound, I’ve already had more medical interventions with this pregnancy than I did with Bella. Honestly, I can’t remember a single medical intervention during the entire pregnancy, labor, and birth, unless you count the homeopathic pills I took during labor.
Chad was born at home too, so I know that we’re on the same page with home birth, but I just don’t feel like this house is where I would want to have a baby. For one, there’s just no privacy; the neighbors would hear everything. So, we’re considering a birthing center, but that has its downside as well; the one I’m looking at is on the second floor of a shopping strip – above a Barnes and Noble – and also feels less than ideally private. The other midwives I am considering actually deliver in the birthing rooms at a hospital. However, that is even less appealing to me; I was in labor for so long with Bella that I think that if I had a similar labor, it would be hard to avoid pitocin and an avalanche of medical interventions. Do I sound grumbly and picky? I’m feeling the same way about food and people these days too.
I am enjoying the two pregnancy books I picked up at the library:
1. The Pregnancy Book by William and Martha Sears (my favorite attachment parent advisors)
2. and Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth by Ina May Gaskin. You may know her from her first book back in the 70’s, Spiritual Midwifery.
