"C" is for Convex (cont.)

I've successfully completed eight months of incubating baby Tully in my belly, so it's time for another update.  The little Lilypie ticker on the side of my blog has vegetable-sized representations of the baby, and I think the watermelon is accurate.  Last week the ticker said Tully is doing more sleeping.  Lies.  Sleep is not on Tully's agenda: kicking, punching, rolling, and giving momma major heartburn are.  He also proved he was pretty tough when we both survived a nasty virus the week Snowpocolypse hit Oklahoma.  I was barely able to keep anything down for about seven days, but Tully still managed to pack on the pounds.  Good boy!

In other baby news, I put Tully's crib together on Superbowl Sunday.  Normally, I'd be glued to the TV, mainly for the commercials, but I wasn't interested this year.  Putting together a 200 lb iron crib sounded like a much better idea.  We're also working on some gutter bookshelves, which is an idea I got from another blog I follow.  Once the lighting and decorations are complete, I'll do a post on the nursery.  Until then, here's a sneak peek.

The biggest change this past month doesn't have much to do with my growing belly or the nursery, and it hasn't actually happened yet.  Remember when I said I was thinking about changing physicians? (See "C' is for Child, Week 11)  Well, it looks like it's going to happen.  Strike three with the current doctor's office occurred when we took the childbirth class at St. John's Hospital over the weekend.  Long story short: two qualified and well-meaning nurses led the class; there was a heavy emphasis on epidurals; they gave a great demonstration of all of the monitors that will be hooked up 24/7 during labor, even though my physician has assured me that I can have all of them unhooked or off during most of the labor process; they clearly described the snowball effect of interventions that follow a request for an epidural (additional meds for blood pressure, additional pitocin, catherization, etc.) and, most importantly, the nurses clearly stated that they may come into my room to intervene in any way they see fit and can tell me about it after the fact.  Ummm, hold up.  Run that last one by me again...where's the informed consent?  To top it all off, the video they showed at the end of the class was of a natural childbirth that didn't show any IV's, fetal monitoring, epidurals, or C-sections.  John specifically asked what the "take away" was from the video, since it didn't match what they had spent the past three hours preaching (epidurals and interventions), and they let the class know that the video was filmed in Colorado where things are more "granola" and "liberal."  I think their next statement was something along the lines of, "We don't do things that way here at state-of-the-art St. John's Medical Center..."  Then they mentioned something about the Bible Belt and being more conservative.  I don't consider myself a hippie, and I definitely don't line up on the left as far as politics go, so I don't see how choosing an unmedicated birth makes you granola or liberal.  I've said from the very beginning of the pregnancy that my goal was education.  I've read enough to know I'd really like to give natural childbirth a shot because it's best for me and my baby.  I'm also a realist and have stated to more than one of my family members that I may walk away from Tully's birth with an epidural, a C-section, and anything else they can legally give me in a hospital.  If that's the case, so be it.  But I will do so on my own volition and with consent.

I left the childbirth class Saturday in tears, mainly tears of frustration.  I felt like I only had two options: the medicated birth at St. John's or going totally natural at home with a midwife.  I didn't want either of those.  My solution?  1) Talk to John 2) Call my sister-in-law and 3) Call my Bradley (aka natural childbirth) instructor.  Thank goodness for all three of these people.  John told me simply that he supported whatever decision I made.  My sister-in-law has been a great resource during this whole process, so it was comforting to talk to her, even if I wasn't making the same decision she did to have the baby naturally at home.  The biggest relief came when my Bradley instructor told me about a certified nurse midwife who delivers babies in a hospital and has a physician backup.   YAHTZEE!!  So I called my insurance Monday to make sure there's no issue changing everything this late in the game, and they gave the green light.  My next call will be to the midwife to see if she'll take me as a patient.  If everything goes as planned, I'll deliver Tully naturally at SouthCrest hospital fully covered by insurance with a certified nurse midwife.  To make things even better, the pediatricians we are planning to use do rounds at SouthCrest (they did not go to St. John's), AND SouthCrest is less than 3 miles from my house (St. John's is about a 25-30 minute drive).  I'm hoping my anxiety over all of this will disappear in the next couple weeks and that everything will work out for the best before sweet baby Tully gets here!

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