10 Unconventional Things about My Pregnancy and Birth Experience

1. Since we practice NFP, we were able to plan for our baby to come in January. I know it doesn't always work out this way, but with the knowledge gained from charting, we could truly plan our baby's birth.

2. Furthermore, since I was taking my temperature for the use of NFP, I never took a pregnancy test. 18-20 post-peak high temperatures is a 99% accurate indicator of pregnancy. I never used a home pregnancy test, and since I did not go to a traditional doctor, there was no lab test either. My very Catholic, NFP-teaching midwife simply looked at my chart and confirmed the due date I set myself.

3. I never had an ultrasound. Having an ultrasound seems to be the norm in pregnancy these days. However, even ACOG - with much of their backwards-thinking - says that ultrasounds are only to be used in medically-indicated situations and should not be used only to determine the sex of the baby. Moreover, there have been few studies on the effects of ultrasound on a baby, which uses high-frequency sound waves to create a picture on the screen. To me, if a procedure is unnecessary and may or may not lead to complications (like miscarriage), why take the risk? I had no indication that anything was wrong, so an ultrasound was unnecessary.

4. My appointments with my midwife often lasted upward of an hour, during which time she would take my blood pressure, weigh me, feel the position of the baby, listen to his heartbeat, and ask me how I was feeling. We spent a good amount of time discussing birth, discussing any questions Josh or I had, and just chatting. It was enjoyable and never rushed.

5. We planned and prepared for a completely natural birth, especially by taking the Bradley Natural Childbirth classes. I highly recommend this. We learned so much about nutrition, exercises, relaxation as a way to reduce pain, and birth itself. Thus, I aimed to eat 80-100 grams of protein per day, recording this information, along with a balanced diet. I did certain simple exercises every day which not only prepared my body for birth but made pregnancy more comfortable. (For instance, I remember going shopping toward the end of pregnancy and seeing another pregnant woman waddling by; I realized then that I almost never waddled, even at my largest point, due to a very simple exercise I did several times a day.) I couldn't have made it through labor without having practiced relaxation; in fact, I think if I had practiced more, as was recommended, labor would have been easier. Finally, knowing the stages of labor and how things naturally progress was very educative. We even had our student workbook with us to reference during labor; Josh could tell by my emotional signposts and contractions where I was in labor and encourage me to keep going forward.

6. I never experienced an invasive procedure - including a pelvic exam or check for dilation - during the entire course of pregnancy and birth. The purpose of a pelvic exam is to determine whether a baby really could come out the natural way; we instead started with the assumption that I could give birth naturally. (No woman should be made to feel that she cannot do this. It is an extremely rare case that a woman cannot fit a baby through her pelvis, for instance.) Checking for dilation may or may not give an accurate picture of where a woman is in labor. And from what I remember from labor, having to lie on my back while someone was trying to do anything at all in my lower region would have been really uncomfortable. Someone who really understands birth should be able to tell by other means where a woman is in labor - her emotional signposts, contractions, level of modesty she exhibits, etc.

7. I gave birth in a bathtub. Water offers both buoyancy and lubrication during birth. I was mostly sitting, with Josh supporting me from behind. I did move to a squatting position at one point - which was how I imagined giving birth since it's the most conducive position - but I was tired and I found it harder to stay in that position. I honestly don't know how women give birth on their backs, but that's your only choice if the lower half of your body has been anesthetized. In fact the lithotomy (on the back) position is the second worst position there is for giving birth since you basically have to work against gravity; being hung from your feet would be the first.

8. Just my husband and midwife were with me during the birth. No one interrupted labor to bother me with questions. No one offered to intervene (drugs? epidural? episiotomy?) when I was most vulnerable to suggestion. No one yelled at me to push.

9. I was never separated from the baby after he was born. My midwife quickly measured his length and weighed him at the foot of the bed where I was lying a couple hours after he was born and handed him right back to me. The baby wasn't taken off somewhere else where he would get drops in his eyes, distorting his sight in his first hours in the world, be pricked in the foot, vaccinated with at least three shots, and circumcised. Such an assault of bodily pain can be a traumatic experience for a baby newly-emerged from the comforts of the womb.

10. I was back at home later the same day. We chose to stay to take a nap and eat breakfast, so we got home about 7.5 hours after he was born, although we could have chosen to leave earlier. No paperwork - just a hug goodbye from my midwife and a promise to come see me at home a couple of days later.

"Due Date"

That would be today. I think the baby will be here soon, although maybe not today. The normal range for birth is +/- 3 weeks. In fact, studies have shown that normal gestation is more like 41-42 weeks, although I think that may be for people who set the due date based on the last menstrual period. Mine is based on my NFP chart: when ovulation occurred minus 2 weeks plus nine months.

I hope it won't be another 3 weeks. I'm trying to be patient, to surrender and give it over to Christ as my midwife says. Now we just wait...

Less than 3 months to go...

It's hard to believe it's mid-late October already. We've been staying pretty busy lately, as always. Last week and this week, I'm teaching classes (Faith and Science, Ecclesiology) for my professor while he's out of town, in addition to working on my online Natural Family Planning classes and working at the church.

We've been going to our Bradley natural childbirth classes for three weeks now. We've learned mostly about exercises and nutrition so far. Josh and I work together everyday to do exercises that strengthen the muscles needed to give birth and to build stamina for such an athletic event. This also includes some relaxation techniques, which is necessary to practice since we tend to tense up our muscles when we feel pain. By practicing these techniques, I can learn to relax in spite of pain, which will prevent further unnecessary pain and allow my body to work as it should during birth. Regarding nutrition, I've been counting my protein intake since pregnant women really need 80-100 grams of protein a day. This is sometimes a daunting task, but I've been able to get to 80g (or close) most days. Having a well-balanced diet and getting enough protein can nearly eliminate problems such as toxemia (pre-eclampsia), premature rupture of membranes (PROM), and hypovolema during pregnancy. It also leads to easier labor and less complications at birth, not to mention a healthier baby with better brain development and fewer infections.

My 28 week appointment with our midwife is tomorrow, so if there's anything to update after that, I'll try to do it this week.

Giving Birth Naturally

I found this great website called Giving Birth Naturally. I thought that the articles listed under "Birth" on the left sidebar were really informative. I encourage anyone who is unsure about natural childbirth to take a look. It clears up some myths about birth - even about pain necessarily being part of the process.

The Bradley Method

For the last three months or so of this pregnancy, Josh and I will attend classes once a week on the Bradley method of natural childbirth. When I mention this to people, many have not heard of it before or say that they took Lamaze classes or some kind of prenatal classes at the hospital. What I like about Bradley is how comprehensive it is. From their website, they put it this way:

Bradley® classes cover it all: nutrition, exercise, being more comfortable during pregnancy, the coach's role, introductory information about labor and birth, advanced techniques for labor and birth, complications, cesarean sections, postpartum care, breastfeeding (we do recommend La Leche League meetings) and caring for your new baby. Our classes cover a few topics that are rarely discussed in other classes like: how to reduce the need for an episiotomy and the likelihood of a tear, how to avoid needing a cesarean, how to make the best of it if a cesarean is necessary, and what the coach should do if the baby is accidentally born in the car.

Sounds great to me! And the coach = Josh, if you were wondering. I told him I could call him "coach" if he wants.

Something else I've read about the Bradley method that makes a lot of sense to me: no one would ever enter a marathon without training for at least three months; why would any woman who really wants to have a natural birth - a labor-intensive activity - not train for just as long? Of course!

Since we're at 19 weeks, we won't be starting the classes right away, so I don't have any personal experience to add right now - except to say that I'm excited to get started. If you'd like more info, please refer to their website. I recommend reading the sections called "Why take Bradley classes?" and "Why 12 classes?"

What Women Aren't Told about Childbirth

I just read this article online, and I hope you will read it, too. Many of you may find the information shocking; I've heard it all before and I'm still shocked when I hear about the things that go on in hospitals surrounding childbirth. Anyway, I recommend that all women - even if you won't be bearing any more children and especially if you will - become more informed about childbirth in this country. The more we know, the better choices we can make (and the more informed we can help others to be). [Everything in italics is my emphasis.]

Here are some highlights from the article:

The survey Listening to Mothers II (LM 2) was released in 2006 and reports on U.S. women's childbearing experiences.... "The predominant picture that emerges from our data," the report states, "is of large segments of this population experiencing clearly inappropriate care." The majority of women ended up attached to IVs, catheters and fetal monitors. They had their membranes artificially ruptured and were given epidurals. Most of these women had little understanding of the side effects of these interventions, including cesarean and medical inductions. The report also shows that though women understood that they had the right to refuse medical interventions, few did, and many received interventions, such as episiotomies, without their consent.

Informed consent is one of the very basic principles of health care ethics. (A side note on episiotomies: while tearing may occur during birth, natural tears are likely to be smaller and heal faster than a cut in the perineum made by a doctor/nurse. Except in rare situations, there is no evidence that having an episiotomy is helpful in any way. See here for more info.)

A large percentage of women -- 76 percent of all women in the LM 2 survey -- wind up getting an epidural for pain during labor. Many doctors consider epidurals to be the standard of care for treating the pain of labor.

Despite the fact that half of the interviewed women felt that birth should not be interfered with unless medically necessary, the vast majority received medical interventions. Many women reported experiencing pressure to have their labors induced, to accept an epidural and even to have a cesarean. A full 73 percent who had an episiotomy were not given a choice in this decision.

The World Health Organization recommends that the rate of cesarean births for any country not exceed 10 percent to 15 percent. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention puts the U.S. rate at over twice that: 30.2 percent, and the LM 2 survey suggests this number is on the rise. The United States is also one of the only wealthy countries where the maternal death rate is climbing.... Among developed countries, the World Health Organization reports, 29 have better infant mortality rates than the United States, including Slovenia and Cuba, and 41 have better maternal mortality rates.

Obstetricians are surgeons with an expertise in female reproductive pathology. They often provide routine gynecological care, but when it comes to childbirth, their training has primarily prepared them to actively manage a high-risk birth or to intervene medically and surgically when something goes wrong during a birth. Though they may have attended hundreds or even thousands of births, few obstetricians have much experience with unmedicated births.... Indeed, their professional association, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), last year went so far as to issue a wholesale condemnation of out-of-hospital birth.

(For being trained as medical doctors, it's scary what Ob/Gyns DON'T understand or know how to do, according to the reading I've done.)

Childbirth educators often talk about the "cascade" of medical interventions: the likelihood that once you receive one intervention, like Pitocin, you are more likely to receive another intervention, like an epidural. Many women never question these interventions, though they frequently are linked to babies being born by cesarean section. "In an unmedicated labor," Doyle says, "the body releases its own oxytocin, which stimulates contractions. The brain responds to the pain of these contractions by releasing endorphins. When synthesized oxytocin [aka Pitocin] is administered through an IV, contractions can come on quite suddenly, and these contractions are often longer, more intense and more consistent than the body's natural endorphins can keep up with."

And really scary:

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has never approved Pitocin for the use of augmenting labor...

For most women, the fact that hospitals have virtually cornered the market on childbirth and maternity care means that birth itself can assume the form of a medical problem rather than a normal human process. And, since most mothers are giving birth in a hospital room surrounded by highly trained doctors and sophisticated medical instruments, a low-risk, unmedicated labor can rapidly convert into a complex surgical case.

With all the pro-choice rhetoric in this country, it seems obvious to me that women should be given more information so that they are able to make the right choice, especially when it comes to giving birth!

Home Birth

If I could give birth any way I wanted, it would be at home with a midwife and my husband. I was reading a blog recently of a woman who had a very difficult birth but would never change the fact that she gave birth at home. See her summary of her experience here.

Alas, in Louisiana, the laws are very harsh toward midwives, not to mention midwives who assist home births. I'm sure I'll write more on this later, but for now I just want to point out that home birth is very safe (partially because midwives generally only work with low-risk pregnancies, so there's no reason to believe that something will go wrong) and hospital births are actually less safe when you factor in all the invasive procedures and drugs that nurses and doctors use on women trying to give birth. Also, I recently learned the sad fact that Louisiana has the worst Caesarian rate in the country - 50%!!! I will do just about anything not to be in a hospital when giving birth. I used to be afraid of childbirth; now I'm just afraid of all the things they do to you if you are in a hospital attempting to give birth.

So while we won't be having a home birth, we have found - through the grace of God - a birth center and a naturopathic doctor who is also a certified midwife to work with us throughout my pregnancy, assist us in birth, and aid us in the postpartum period. About this, I am truly happy!