Wow! It has been over a month since I have written. So much has happened. I guess I will break it down in sections....
1. YES I HAD THE BABY! He is wonderful. We named him Tytus Shae. He is beautiful and very well mannered. He sleeps well and hardly fusses, thank goodness, since we live in a camper right now! I'll share his birth story with you.
Those of you who know me know that I do not like hospitals or really care for doctor's care. Shae and I have had some very bad experiences in hospitals and just prefer not to go near them. I had my first two children in hospitals, the first at a teaching Navy hospital in San Diego, and the next child in Key West. It was in 94' and there was the Haitian Crisis and scores of boat people were landing on the beaches of Key West. They were quarantined in the local hospital. I went into labor but there was no room for me in the hospital. They put me in a back room where brooms and mops were! Hanna always said she was like Jesus, no room in the inn! Well, there are many more stories of why I do not like to go to hospitals, that I will not bore you with. I had my next three children at home with a state certified midwife. Her name is Lori Link and she works out of Mt Vernon Missouri. She is incredible. My 3rd child weighed 10 pounds and I delivered her naturally at home! Yikes! That was a tough one. I am so glad I had her at home, though. I will tell that whole story another time. My 4th child was a beautiful birth at home. My 5th child was a little tougher than the 4th, but still great at home. No hospital for me, no way! Epidurals, no way! So, when family heard I was having this baby at a hospital, they thought I had gone off the deep end! Sheri in a hospital, what has happened to her? Most family was thrilled I was not having this one at home, but thought it curious and wondered what made me change my mind on home birth. If you have read my earlier posts, you know I possibly had Pregnancy Induced Asthma. I don't know for sure that was it, but the doctor thinks that is what it probably was. I had such a hard pregnancy. It was my hardest. I had two horrible asthma/bronchitis attacks that lasted weeks. After the horrible cough went away, I still couldn't get my breath. It wasn't just the weight of the baby, it was up higher in my chest. I would get a lot of phlegm and have to clear my throat a lot. We decided to go ahead and come back to the Springfield Missouri area, where we are from, to have the baby. We are comfortable here, know the people, and had lots of paperwork and sorting to do anyways. We came back and got settled in with Dr. Brown and Cox Monett Hospital in Monett Missouri. We had to drive 1hr and 20 minutes to the hospital for every appointment. I could not have the baby at a big, unloving, cold hospital. We checked out Monett hospital. I remember walking into it the first time. I was by myself. I just kept thinking, I can't do this, I can not do this! It was so white, unwelcoming, just yuck! I made myself go to the 3rd floor to check out the OB ward. It was nice. The rooms were pretty good. There is a bathtub in each room, with jets, to labor in. You can't deliver in it, though. The equipment was hidden in big brown cabinets. There was a TV with cable. I would labor, deliver, and recover in the same room. The nurses seemed nice enough. I thought, maybe I can do it. I am going to publish this post now, and will write more in the next.....
Monday, June 29, 2009
More on Tytus' birth
I will continue from the post above.
I talked with Shae a lot, we prayed, and decided that I should have this baby in the hospital. I didn't have full breaths and new that with my hard, long labors, that I might need extra help. I kind of had a feeling I might need an epidural....oh no! I talked with my mid wife and she agreed. Dr. Brown had done a home birth with my midwife, so I thought maybe she would be different than most doctors I had been around. She was, yet wasn't. She seemed to understand more, but still was very clinical. I think it took awhile for her and I to really come to an understanding. I tried to make sure she new I respected her opinion, yet I was not one to just follow her blindly. I would do my own research and make up my mind based on her recommendation, my own feelings, research, and lots of prayer. She did lots of tests on me, checked my oxygen level in my blood, it was fine....she checked the baby with a AFI and NST. It was an ultrasound and stress test. Of course, baby was perfect. She had a chest x ray done. Everything looked great. That is when she decided it might be the pregnancy asthma thing. She had me start an inhaler as well as the other one I was using. I had to do the steroid one once a day and then later increased it to twice a day. I was told to do my ProAir inhaler first then wait ten minutes. Then, I had to do the steroid inhaler. I did it in the morning and then again in the evening. I had to do a peak flow meter. It measured how much volume I had in my lungs. It was horrible. It was when I measured that every morning and night that I realized just how bad it was. My readings were between 100 and 120. That is pretty bad. The inhalers helped, though. It still didn't ever get any higher than 120. The doctor said she wanted to give me an epidural at 4 to 5 centimeters. Then she told me she would like to induce at 38 1/2 weeks! Induce! I told her that we would really have to think about that one. Inducing is so bad for me and baby. Inducing causes contractions to be much harder. It makes it harder on the baby and tends to make their heart rate go down which then leads to a c section. That is surgery and opens you up to all sorts of infections. The birth process has a purpose, it helps prepare the baby's body for life on the outside. All of the contractions squeeze the baby to help push out the fluid in his lungs, among other things (research it, it is amazing). I will add more later. I have to get the kids to bed!
I talked with Shae a lot, we prayed, and decided that I should have this baby in the hospital. I didn't have full breaths and new that with my hard, long labors, that I might need extra help. I kind of had a feeling I might need an epidural....oh no! I talked with my mid wife and she agreed. Dr. Brown had done a home birth with my midwife, so I thought maybe she would be different than most doctors I had been around. She was, yet wasn't. She seemed to understand more, but still was very clinical. I think it took awhile for her and I to really come to an understanding. I tried to make sure she new I respected her opinion, yet I was not one to just follow her blindly. I would do my own research and make up my mind based on her recommendation, my own feelings, research, and lots of prayer. She did lots of tests on me, checked my oxygen level in my blood, it was fine....she checked the baby with a AFI and NST. It was an ultrasound and stress test. Of course, baby was perfect. She had a chest x ray done. Everything looked great. That is when she decided it might be the pregnancy asthma thing. She had me start an inhaler as well as the other one I was using. I had to do the steroid one once a day and then later increased it to twice a day. I was told to do my ProAir inhaler first then wait ten minutes. Then, I had to do the steroid inhaler. I did it in the morning and then again in the evening. I had to do a peak flow meter. It measured how much volume I had in my lungs. It was horrible. It was when I measured that every morning and night that I realized just how bad it was. My readings were between 100 and 120. That is pretty bad. The inhalers helped, though. It still didn't ever get any higher than 120. The doctor said she wanted to give me an epidural at 4 to 5 centimeters. Then she told me she would like to induce at 38 1/2 weeks! Induce! I told her that we would really have to think about that one. Inducing is so bad for me and baby. Inducing causes contractions to be much harder. It makes it harder on the baby and tends to make their heart rate go down which then leads to a c section. That is surgery and opens you up to all sorts of infections. The birth process has a purpose, it helps prepare the baby's body for life on the outside. All of the contractions squeeze the baby to help push out the fluid in his lungs, among other things (research it, it is amazing). I will add more later. I have to get the kids to bed!
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