My Birth "plan"

Since my post about going med-free got so many responses about being open to change or things not going as planned I thought you all deserved an update.

For those of you who don't know Bradley classes are 2.5 hours long once a week for 12 weeks, yes 12 weeks. In those 12 weeks we cover everything from nutrition to stages of birth to labor techniques to info on interventions (pitocin, water bag breaking, all the way to c-section).

I have had three classes so far and already am amazed at how little I will be able to "plan" surrounding the birth of my baby. I am realizing that birth is going to a lot like parenting will be. Both of them will be like playing a hard card game: you can chose how to play the cards you are dealt, but you don't get to chose the cards, AND every 5 seconds a stretching BEEP is going to go off in your head to ruin your concentration. In the case of labor you are also going to be an emotional mess.

To be honest it doesn't sound like much fun, and a csection does sound a hell of a lot easier BUT I also know my body was meant to do this. Generations of women have done this before me and I look forward to pushing my body to the edge of it's limit and seeing what I am capable off. Of course the moment my baby is in trouble we will do what ever necessary to have a healthy baby. I always feel like that goes without saying. I would NEVER NEVER do anything harmful to this baby, but isn't that also why I don't want the interventions.

What I don't think my last post on the subject conveyed to my readers is that I am well aware of both sides of this debate over natural births. I am well aware that we have interventions to save lives of both the mother and the child, and I am also aware that those interventions are at times used for convince rather than medical necessity. This is why I think education about labor and interventions is so important. I would never expect to learn the same amount of info in 12 weeks of class than a Dr does in school, residency and possibly years on the job. But I also would never receive any treatment by a Dr without research first. In labor there will be no time for research, and so the research must begin now.

For me empowerment = education and I want to feel empowered by the birth of my child. I don't want to be scared during labor and delivery, I want to know what is going on, to know what is happening inside me and outside of me. If I am all drugged up how will I hear what my body is telling me is going on? I need to be as aware as possible during it so that I can focus on what needs to happen.

I am looking forward to preparing a birth plan that will fly out the window the moment the roller coaster takes off. I look forward to the roller coaster and that when the ride stops my life will have forever changed and I will be a mom.