Sunday, August 22, 2010
Geeze, the weeks are just flying by here. almost half way there. Well I owe you guys an update and i've been a super busy mamma this week so so much has happened. but first baby stuff. 

our baby girl is approximately 5 1/2 inches long (about the length of a bell pepper) and weighs almost 7 ounces. she's busy flexing his arms and legs. 

I started feeling her move on thursday! I'm so happy to be feeling her move around throughout the day. it makes me feel more connected to her. the first time i was sure it was her moving around was at the ultrasound dr's. Right before they started she gave a nice big kick!! ahh it was so cute, and there was no mistaking it for gas bubbles. poor Jesse kept trying to catch her moving around but to no avail. he started saying that jelly bean didn't like him. well finally friday night he felt a tiny kick, then last night he felt a nice big kick. I think she was telling him she loves him!!


today we met with our midwife. we've decided to deliver our baby at home. Before everyone freaks out our midwife is a DR!! she will be bringing everything that the would have at the hospital to our house and things will be very very safe, actually safer then if we were at a hospital. I will not just be sitting at house doing this unsupervised on my own. I'm just clarifying this because there is a lot of miss understanding about home births. one of my friends hear i was having the baby at home and said "what are you just gonna wait around and hope god does everything for you?" Not at all although i'm sure god could get it right. 
according to studies hospital births are not necessarily safer than home births. Healthy low risk women who wish to deliver at home have no increased risk either to themselves or to their babies. For low-risk women, home birth should remain a safe and natural option

  1. Hospital interventions such as induced labor and stimulation of labor by oxitocin have greatly increased in the last nine years. Also, "Ninety percent of American hospitals with 100 beds or more provide 24-hour obstetric anesthesiology services, and the epidural rate in some tertiary hospitals is now approaching 100%
  2.  Without the presence of specific scientific need the use of many procedures, technologies, medical tests, and multiple medications are unwarranted. Many of these interventions care risks to both mother and baby.
  3.  when giving birth in a hospital the nurses do not provide the needed comfort, attention and information. There is a need for change in the work of the perinatal nurse. The perinatal nurse should be more attentive, sensitive, understanding, supportive, and informative to the woman in labor.
  4. Other routine hospital procedures such as restricted eating, drinking, movement and the use of intravenous fluids have little if any positive effect. All in all the standard hospital procedures that have become a common way of giving birth go against nature's design.
  5. Giving birth in a familiar surroundings makes a woman more calm and relaxed.
  6. At home, the woman has the freedom to move around and to choose any position that makes her comfortable. It could be anything - sitting, squatting, standing, where as in the hospital supine position with head of bed elevated mostly used. The hospital position is really not the best option compared to the natural physiologic position. 
  7. One of the most common complications of an epidural block is labor process and fetal descent may be slowed, pushing efforts in the 2nd stage may be less effective and the use of forceps or a vacuum extractor is more common.
  8. After the birth, the baby is never taken from its mother's side. The entire family can climb into a clean bed for a much needed cuddle and nap. The emotional bonding that takes place in the moments after birth between mother and child and between the baby and the entire family promotes well being, encourages breastfeeding and speeds recovery of the mother.
  9. Each family becomes accustomed to its own household germs and develops a resistance to them. Since fewer strangers are likely to be present at a homebirth than at a hospital birth, the chances of acquiring foreign germs are less likely in a homebirth situation. 
  10. Hospital caused infections rates are climbing.  Health Care Organizations, are failing to enforce infection control standards — compromising the health of hospital patients. 
these are only a few of my reason to do a home birth. There are many many more reasons. ( as i was writing this i got a call from my aunt. she was even  worried about my decision to do a home birth) I know that in this day and age it seems very strange and uneducated even medieval to go the route of a home birth. I can promise you this isn't a uneducated choice. we have read tons of book on it. we are using the same dr/midwife that a few of my other friends have used and delivered health happy babies.  Even though I have a midwife i'm also seeing a regular professional Ob/gyn Dr. throughout my entire pregnancy for a backup. and finally I live practically across the st from the hospital. If at any point things start going towards high risk i will be having a hospital birth.  I just think that every person deserves the right to the right birth for them. For me I do not feel comfortable having my baby at a hospital. i believe there will be less risk, stress, trauma, interventions and pain at home. 


here are some interesting links to check out on the topic 


I loved this documentary the business of being born.


this book is amazing the Birth Book


 good sites http://www.americanpregnancy.org/labornbirth/midwives.html
http://www.givingbirthnaturally.com/natural-childbirth.html
http://www.choicesinchildbirth.org/


1 comments:

kelli mercado said...

hey amy i think it's so great you've decided to have a home birth! it will be so much more amazing i think, and i have some friends who are midwives and doulas and love being part of the experience. i've heard nothing but good things about it and i'm sure you guys are going to do great no matter what <3 i miss you so much.

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amy jean
hawaii
happily married, two amazing children Jovi and Nixon. living my dream life in Hawaii
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