Preparing to Birth

The past few weeks have been filled with activity preparing for the kind of birth experience I am imagining.

A couple of weeks ago, we hired a doula, Kim from Labor of Love. We are very excited to work with her. We met most of the doulas from Labor of Love at a tea meant to allow prospective moms to choose the woman with whom they click the best. I had imagined at first that my doula would be a mother figure of sorts, but after meeting with them all, I realized I enjoyed and felt very comfortable with the older-sister-like qualities of the doulas closer to my age. I felt like Kim would be a comforting and motivating presence at the birth. She was also skilled at shooting comebacks at Ryan as fast as he was firing off-the-wall remarks at her. (Ryan wrote "Fang" on his name tag at this event, which I'm sure made us quite memorable to the entire group ... I remarked that our doula would have to be a "Fang Wrangler" as well as a doula ... otherwise stated: a "Fangler.")

Two weeks ago, we started a Hypnobirthing class. The class basically teaches self-hypnosis to use during childbirth. Hypnosis really just boils down to "deep relaxation." I am still skeptical at how deeply relaxed I can get - in OR out of labor - but figure anything that helps me learn to breath properly and focus on relaxing can only be good for me and for the baby. What I've learned in this class has also helped me believe that I am capable of birthing, that it doesn't have to be a horrible experience, and I'm actually starting to get EXCITED about birthing. Not just about the baby being here, but about the birthing process itself.

As of Monday, we switched medical practices to Isis OB/Gyn in Roswell, and it is worth every minute of the extra drive. We met with Kay, one of the midwives. She was warm, funny, and attentive. Nearly every midwife and doctor we met at our initial practice remained standing for the entire exam, lingering near the door, and I literally felt like I had to tug them back by their sleeves to ask one or two questions each visit. Kay sat down in a chair and chatted with us. She helped me refill a prescription I need and continued to chat with us at the front desk while we made our next appointments. I was told by a midwife during our very first visit at our old practice: "This visit is more for me than it is for you. We know you're pregnant and the baby is in your uterus. Come back in four weeks. Any questions?" Compared to this most recent visit, it was like night and day. We will also be able to birth at North Fulton hospital now, whereas before we would have been tied to Northside, which has one of the highest C-section rates in the country. To be fair, I know women who have had wonderful birthing experiences there. All the mothers I know who wanted to do natural births, though, favor North Fulton. They also offer water birth, which I'd like to keep as option, even if it just means laboring in the tub for a while.

Finally, I'm reading Ina May's Guide to Childbirth. This book is also helping me build confidence in trusting my body and my instincts about my own birth experience.

The biggest problem is trying to find time to do everything... yoga, walking, different breathing techniques, 30-minute-long relaxation CDs, reading the books, trying to figure out what baby gear we need to buy and/or register for, sleeping enough, kegels, trying to eat some food with nutrition in it... oh and that little thing called "my job." The baby isn't even here yet and time is already getting tighter!