Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Birth, Doulas and Hats




As stated in a previous post, I spend way too much time on facebook. I follow tons of pages, including birth pages. There is a certain birth page that I enjoy very much, but the discussions get heated at times. Yesterday and this morning, people have been trying to define "natural" birth. It's very difficult to do this without offending someone. It was very important to me to have a natural birth, and I did everything in my power to obtain this. Because this was my first experience with birth, and for my husband's sanity, I decided to give birth in a hospital. Now there would be some that would say that I lost my natural birth just for that. I don't. When I first got there I was taken to a triage room to have my contractions monitored. Did I lose my natural birth there? Perhaps. Once I was wheeled to my room (maybe being wheeled made me lose my natural birth) I labored in a warm tub in a dimly lit bathroom. Did I lose my natural birth there? After all there are no tubs with warm water in the middle of the woods. After a little while I was moved to the bed to push, where I was directed in how to push. Because I never felt the urge, even without an epidural, I am glad for a little help. Once I figured it out, I ignored the "counting" nurse and pushed for as long as I felt like it. I remember my midwife saying things like, "Push to here," and "Push like this." I appreciated the instructions. Was my birth unnatural because my baby didn't just fall out of me and I needed to push her out? Perhaps it was the numbing I received for the stitches or the Pitocin I received after Lily was born to help my uterus contract and to birth the placenta that made it unnatural. Maybe not, since Lily was born and nursing away at that point.

I think people like to define what is natural or not to try to minimize interventions and to help women know what exactly IS an intervention. I suppose anything that disrupts the natural progression of labor and birth is considered an intervention. Pitocin is not natural. My placenta wasn't born naturally, but who cares about the placenta? Some people might, but I didn't even want to look at it. They asked me. I said no.

An epidural is not natural. Last I checked, people aren't born with needles in their back. The body produces natural pain-killing hormones in labor, but these are disrupted when drugs are introduced. I don't condemn anyone from having an epidural. It's just not natural-it's medication. Kind of like when you take NyQuil for a cold as opposed to "natural" remedies. NyQuil/Epidural is not natural pain relief/comfort measures for a cold/birth, but Chicken Noodle Soup/Warm water or moving around are natural comfort measures.

My personal criteria for natural birth was having an unmedicated vaginal delivery. I did not want to be CUT in anyway and I did not want my baby vacuumed out of me. I never considered the location of my birth to be criteria for whether or not my birth was natural. I left my birth feeling empowered, giddy, on top of the world, energized, proud, ecstatic, in love, in awe of my body, appreciative, and I felt like I could do ANYTHING! Which leads me to my next point.

I left my birth wishing I could share this feeling with others. I wanted ALL WOMEN to feel like I did because I know they can. It made me wish I had decided to be a doula when I grew up. My husband thinks I should go for it now. By now my fiery excitement has become a warm cherished memory. Robbie accused me of being a "giver-upper" when I told him yesterday that I don't think I'm going to do it. He asked me if it was just because of a lack of confidence or because I really feel like it's not right for me. He knows me well! It's just a lack of confidence. I don't know if it's something at which I will or can succeed.

Now, what do hats have to do with anything? Nothing. I just felt like including my latest projects.

Purple hat

Pink hat

These hats have fulfilled my creativity hankerings for the past few days. I have a whole list of crochet projects started. However, the list grows faster than I can crochet! The more I do this, the more ideas I get.

Monday, October 4, 2010

Prolactin Ponderings: B( . )( . )bies!

Ode to the B( . )( . )b
by Lilian Keen

It's 5 am.
I suck on my hands.
That's the signal Mommy needs.
She comes to get me.
To take care of my needs.
We sit in the chair.
I look up at her,
And she looks down at me.

And then I start to sing
Nom nom nom
Mmm mmm mmm ahhhhhh

And then I sigh.

After awhile my belly gets full.
She looks down at me
I give a big smile
And I give a big stretch.
I give a big yawn and then a little ummmmm ummmmmm

Milk runs down my chin.
Mommy wipes it away.
She tucks me in her arms
And carries me to bed
Where I close my eyes, smile
And dream about milk.

Nom nom nom nom
Mmmmmm mmmmm mmmmm


Ahhhhhh!

:o)

Friday, October 1, 2010

Feelin' crafty

I like to crochet. A LOT. I don't get to very much anymore, which is okay. However, I get a hankerin' to do it sometimes. Below is a wrap style diaper cover that I crocheted without a pattern.

Diaper cover

Diaper cover in action

After trying it on her, I'm not quite satisfied with how useful it will be. I want to be able to come up with a design that will stay snug on her but won't be nearly impossible to put on her. I crocheted one back when I was pregnant with her that is nearly impossible to put on her though it works really well. Also, the pattern is not very cute. I suppose I should make more of the other kind for daily wear and a couple of the wrap style for "looks." We'll see how it goes. If I could ever grab some time to just sit and crochet one of these without being interrupted, it would take a few hours. However, this took several days and I even had moments where I was nursing a baby and crocheting at the same time. Now THAT is slow going! But I wouldn't trade it for the world. I'll miss this one day when my Lily Pilly is all grown up and doesn't need her mommy anymore.