empowered birth class, session 4

in this session we first talked about making and deciding on a birth plan. luke and i went over all our options - using an iv vs. drinking water when thirsty, epidural/narcotics vs. no pain medication, having just luke in the room vs. more friends and family, walking vs. staying in bed, breastfeeding after birth vs. bottle feeding, etc. basically all of our decisions leaned toward the no intervention/natural way. the idea is that you type this plan out for yourself, your doctor and your nurses so everyone has an idea of what you are going for. of course, if it doesn't all work out, we will be flexible. but it is good to discuss all of our options ahead of time so we know what is out there and what we want.

we also talked a little about mother and baby care after birth - i'm super excited to take care of the baby afterwards, but totally not looking forward to all the things i'll have to do for me. it's a little scary.

after the class we spoke with our teacher a little about our doctor. when i called around looking for a doctor, i had no idea what or who i wanted. i was bummed not to get into the first practices i called. then i got into one, only to have a bad feeling about it later and cancel. later i was randomly accepted at mid michigan obgyn, and when the receptionist asked me what doctor i wanted i asked her what she thought. of course she couldn't say much, so i asked her to put me with someone who was good with first time mothers. she put me with dr. herta. now, months later, we've found out that dr. herta is rarely accepting new patients and is one of the leading natural doctors in the city. she led a natural movement about a year ago to educate the hospital staff on natural birthing. we feel so blessed that we ended up with her.