 |
| Nothing more natural than a naked baby belly! 19 vs. 29 weeks |
I've always been a little bit crunchy. I've long thought that I was born in the wrong generation and would give up my left arm for the opportunity to travel back in time to Woodstock and watch Janis Joplin, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young and the great Jimi Hendrix perform live. In many ways I'm an antiquated soul. I'm often skeptical of technology and concerned about the state of our food system. GMOs, pesticides, hormones, additives in our food, a new pill for everything with only small knowledge of the long-term side effects. It's scary to me!
I like my food as I imagine God intended it. Fresh, healthy and natural!
So it stands to reason, that I feel the same way about my pregnancy.
Even before Baby Pep was conceived, I had watched The Business of Being Born and Babies. I was beginning to become fascinated with what seemed to be this renewed movement toward natural birthing and midwifery. As a proponent of all-things-natural and a skeptic of modern medicine, it seemed only logical this this would be the route I would take when it was time for me to start growing humans.
 |
| Baby Pep's first Harley apparel from his biker Grandma and Grandpa. |
Because natural birthing seems to be "coming back," I haven't been met with as much resistance and raised eyebrows as I thought I might. To be honest, I'm a huge weenie when it comes to pain, but I recognize that pain is 90% mental so I think believing in myself that I can do this as millions of women have done before is going to be half the battle. I have no false notions that this will be an easy ride, but I'm willing to give it a try.
I believe in my body. I believe in myself. And frankly, the thought of unnecessary medical interventions, potentially dangerous drugs and major surgery scares me way more than the pain of labor (says the girl who's never actually experienced labor pains). So for the last 6ish months I've been seeing a midwife and plan to deliver at the New Beginnings Birthing Center, within the Miami Valley Hospital. The thought of giving birth in a place that supports the natural childbirth process, but is also located just feet from Neonatal Intensive Care should the worst happen is a huge comfort to me.
My birth plan will not be carved into stone. I know what I want and I know the kind of birth I want to strive for, but I will not feel like any less of a woman or less of a mother if I happen to decide that I just need that epidural. At the end of the day, a healthy baby is all I ask for, and if going au naturale helps me to achieve that- well then, lucky me :)
I really love all you posts about the pregnancy and "letters" to baby Pep! I discovered your blog just a few weeks before you announced the pregnancy and kept reading it mostly because I love your view about the pregnancy and also really enjoyed reading this post and I could not agree more with your thoughts.
ReplyDeleteI am not pregnant yet and it will probably take more than two years until my husband and I will start family planning but I still really enjoy reading it and will probably re-read them when I'll be pregnant because they are a great source and so honest. :)
By the way, did you realize that there is a very famous soccer player who's name seriously is Pep? :) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pep_Guardiola) Maybe your little boy will be a soccer player once. ;)
Yay for a birth center! I love mine, and I've had all my babies there. I think there is kind of a culture of fear surrounding the pain of birth that isn't helpful...like how in almost every movie the woman is shrieking GET ME THE DRUGS!
ReplyDeleteI mean, it's not a pleasant experience and it does hurt, but I'm not at all what I would consider tough, and I've always managed the pain just fine. Our bodies were made to do this!
You can do it! My birth class instructor told me something that really resonated with me and made labor more manageable... take it one contraction at a time. Focus on just that one contraction. Don't think about how much longer it will be, or how many more contractions there will be. Just one contraction at a time. That really helped me.
ReplyDelete