The business of being born

So you know what I'm talking about, please go here and watch this trailer first.

As I've said before, one of the ONLY reasons I would want to stay in OK a little longer is because of our OB here, Dr. Ferguson. Mark and I both have a really good relationship with him. We enjoy our visits with him, and more importantly, we trust him. The more I think about it, the more nervous I get about switching doctors that late in our pregnancy. What if I get to AZ and we don't like or mesh with our new doctor? By that time I'll be 34+ weeks along... that doesn't give us much time to find a new doctor.

Mark and I just ordered the movie, The Business of Being Born. I'd heard about it on one of my military spouse websites, and thought it sounded interesting. I would like to try to have this baby as naturally as possible. I do NOT want an epidural, at all. The thought of a needle being in my spine terrifies me. Part of me wants to experience all of it naturally, no matter how painful, but part of me isn't opposed to IV drugs either. I've just recently started considering IV drugs, so I have a BUNCH more research to do on them. My main concern about them is that most, if not all, of them are narcotic, and I don't want them going in to the baby. I have a lot of research do to. I just ordered some books, so hopefully they'll help out. Mark and I don't want to be pushed into me being induced, or even worse, having to have a c-section. I fully understand that sometimes these things are unavoidable, but how do you tell if the dr is doing it for his/her own convenience or because it truly is needed for the health/ well-being of the baby? Especially if your doctor has only been your doctor for a month or two... I'm planning on going to talk to a lady on base about our options when we get to AZ sometime this month. I don't know much about Tricare's (military insurance) coverage for midwives, but if I could have a midwife in AZ, I would probably choose that first. I would love to have a room with a hot tub in it, not to necessarily give birth in, but just to help relax if I don't have meds in me. I've heard stories of people having to share recovery rooms for a few days after they give birth, and their husbands not being allowed to stay past visiting hours and such. I can guarantee if they try to tell my husband to leave it's not going to be pretty. Hopefully I'll have my own room and I won't have to worry about it anyway. It will be nice to know where I'm delivering so I can start to research their policies and procedures when it comes to giving birth.

We have so much to look forward to, but I feel like I have a lot to do and learn in a short period of time. Luckily, Mark and I are really on the same page with all of this, and he knows that he could have to be our (us and the baby's) advocate and speak up about what we want, so he's preparing for that too. Luckily also, he's helping me out with the research too, which is really nice since we just share with each other what we learn or read about. We're so excited, but there's so much to think about! I'm also considering looking into cloth diapers more (thanks to you Liz!). Hopefully I'll have time to figure all this stuff out! If you have any suggestions, let me know!