did you know....

....That the presence of people who upset the laboring mother can actually stall labor?

I have been reading alot about this and it's quite amazing that the progression of labor is so suggestive that this can happen. Woman who are not surrounded by people who love them and care about them are much more likely to end up with a stalled labor. Or more to the point, women who have a person or persons in the room who are negative, mean or not supportive can end up with a stalled labor. And when that happens, out comes the vaccuum extractors... the forceps.... and ultimately maybe even a c-section. It must be hard to cope with the pain and being in such an emotionally tumultious state when you know that one or more of the people in the room don't have your best interest at heart.

I'm really happy about who will be in the room with me during my labor. Besides the midwife and a nurse it will just be me and Jason in the room. I'm glad that I had the presence of mind to make good, sound decisions about that. I wouldn't want anything or any one to take away from my birth experience. It's a special time and *only* the people that love you and support you should be included.

water births

I guess I always thought that the option of whether or not to have a water birth in a birthing center was just a forgone conclusion, like the option of whether or not to accept pain medications during labor. I thought I'd just get to say 'yes I want to do that, and so it would be done'.

Turns out I was mistaken. Water birth is not something that just any care giver or facility will allow. The midwives in the practice that I go to, do not perform water births. It is not clear to me if it is not allowed by the birthing center facility (owned by Group health) or if it is simply something that this practice does not do. Either way, it's not an option for me. I can labor in the tub in the birthing room all I want but I need to get out once that baby is really on it's way down the birth canal.

But maybe you have more options than I do. Or maybe you are not a chicken (like me) and you are having a home birth. Cue the aquadoula:


You can rent or purchase one of these to use in your own home for a water birth or even just so that you can labor in a nice spacious tub. How very cool that someone started this business.

Click here to learn more.