Today my friend had her second baby, a baby girl. She.is.adorable. In light of this new little addition to the world I was taken back to my own birth experiences. All three of my labors and deliveries were without incident and downright boring (ask my husband!). And I realized why it was that they were lacking in the "excitement area." I was all DOPED UP!
**Please don't think that I am refering the birth of my children boring, just the labor part was, I slept the whole time. The actual birth of my three little ones were and always will be the best moments of my life**
With all of my children, from the second I walked into the hospital they had me hooked up to all sorts of IV's pumping Nubain, some sort of saline solution, and whatever else they could get me to consent to into my body. I would progress fine during that point and was feeling not too shabby. I mean, who wouldn't when you felt like your head was a cloud? And then I would get to around 4-5cm and they would say, "Ok, you can get the epidural now." Well, whoopdy-fricken-doo! Sign me up! I dont know what would happen after that point but all 3 times I would just STOP progressing. I would get to 6cm and just stop. Then, I would have to be given Pitocin (an artificial oxytocin to cause you to contract). And then I would be on my way. Mind you, all this time I was pretty much in and out of conciousness because of all the medication I was on.
Now some people would consider this experience great! No pain, sleeping for 16+ hrs, ect. But I have to be completely honest. I have been in labor for a total of 46 hrs, and I can hardly remember any of it! Like I said before, I, ofcourse, remember and cherish when they were actually born, but the entire time working up to that is a blurr. And that makes me very sad!
Well, I have made a decision. IF/when I have another child, I will be doing it naturally. I want to remember every second and work for the baby I will give birth to. I am not going to go into the various health benefits of natural child birth, if you are interested I would be more than happy to entertian a conversation with any of you via email about it. I just know that this decision is the right decision for us.
Now for my crunchy item of the week:
One important way to get "crunchy" is with your laundry. Ofcourse the most "eco-friendly" way is to do it by hand and line dry, but very few of us actually of time for that. So I would recommend an HE (high efficiency) washer and dryer. They optimize minimal electric and water usage and work (in my opinion) better than the original washer and dryers. So along with an HE washer you need to have HE laundry detergent. So my recommendation is for Ecos Laundry detergent. Ecos uses 100% natural coconut oil, purified water and the essential oils of whatever scent you choose. It is 100% biodegradable, and non-toxic. And it is plant based and made of replenishable and sustainable ingredients. Plus you can get it at bulk stores for a great value and because its concentrated it lasts you twice as long! http://www.ecos.com/ecosliquid.html
Ok... so thats my written word vomit for the week. Please share with me your experiences with natural or medicated child birth and let me know if you try Ecos Laundry detergent or if you have a different all natural detergent that you prefer!
I think you wanting to try natural is great!
ReplyDeleteI had a natural labor with "A" but ended up with a csection in the end because I legit needed one because of a cervical defect I didnt even know I had. I think it would have been more rewarding if I had actually given birth naturaly also because it was 36 hours in before I was finally wheeled back for a csection. I had very little pain meds in me for the actual surgery (the epidural started working AFTER they already started!) because I refused to let them put me under so they gave me something in my IV that helped the pain just as well as the epi would have. so because the epi worked late, she was born and all I wanted to do was sleep so i got little awake bonding time till the next day because at this point it was 11pm. i also vomited uncontrolably on the operating table and it was overall not a good experience.
Fast forward 2 years later and Im walking into the hospital to have my second. This time, Ive scheduled the csection and nit picked every aspect of it. I opt for a walking epidural, and some basic pain killers pumped through my IV... i sign waiver after waiver to cover their butts if it hurts, but im darned determined not to be a zombie this time. sure enough im joking around with the surgeons this time and am 100% alert and pain free. i had planned ahead and requested the iv stomach meds during the surgery on top of the purple junk you have to drink so no getting sick either. i spent all of 15 minutes in recovery and was up walking around and going to the bathroom by myself 2 hours later. THIS time, I couldnt have asked for a better experience, aside from the fact my youngest was very ill from my pre eclampsia but thats another story!