36 Weeks of...Pregnancy

The ninth month.
Only a few more weeks to go before......



...LABOR.

Don't get me wrong, I WANT to labor and I enjoy most of it...but there is that ONE HOUR that kinda makes me cringe. But hey, I can do anything for an hour!



And then, THE BABY!!!!! AAAAWWWWW....I cannot wait! It was worth it!



People tell me, "You look great! you are possitively GLOWING"! (that or, "Oh my word you are huge. Are you having twins"????)



How I really feel. (and look).



36 weeks of THIS...



...THIS....



........T-H-I-S........



Wanna come a little closer and ask me that again lady? (ever hear of pregnancy hormones?!)

Business of Being Born

I finally saw the movie for myself!
It was just as fabulous as I had anticipated. Every mom must find a showing near her and go see the movie...you can find a showing at the website (which I linked below to show the trailer to the movie).

After the show there about 7 midwives, hospital and homebirth, who came up to answer questions. It was a great time for women to find answers and to be informed about normal birth. What was interesting, and honestly quite comical, were how the answers varied between a homebirth midwife and a hospital based midwife.
Let me preface this by saying the hospital midwives were awesome...they really know about normal birth (as most "medwives" do not)...however, it became so apparent and obvious that their hands are bound by doctors, hospital politics and insurance companies (one of the points of the movie).
A hospital based midwife is not taught, trained or allowed to catch a breech baby...although they want to be able to offer this to moms.
A homebirth midwife is not allowed by the state to catch a breech baby, but she is trained and experienced to do this and has done so when needed.
A hospital midwife is not allowed to do waterbirths.
A homebirth midwife does them all the time with wonderful outcomes and great benefits for mom/baby.
There were time constraints, monitoring constraints, doctor constraints that the hospital midwives had to comply with...sadly.
None with a homebirth midwife.
Prenatal visits with a hospital based midwife...15 minutes on average (after a long wait time).
Prenatals with a homebirth midwife (many times in your own living room) average 1 hour or more.

It became apparent quite fast the vast difference that a mom gets in care between a homebirth and a hospital birth...even with a great hospital midwife.

A mom there also made a discovery. Her birth/baby was "saved" by the doctor, right? She realized that the life-threatening situation the baby was in was caused by the doctor (and his induction, drugs, etc) and so if the situation were different, that would not have happened. I bet that would be a hard thing to realize! So he caused the problem and had to "save" it with added technology. Wouldn't we prefer to avoid that whole thing and use a person trained in preventing a bad situation in the first place?

My favorite quote of the night...given by my own midwife in answer to a question:

"It is not the same birth just a different location. It is a totally and completely different birth depending on the location"

I loved it. It sums up everything. It is a different birth.





Enjoy the trailer to the movie in case you have not sen it!



http://thebusinessofbeingborn.com/trailer.htm

The Doctor

Okay...so those of you who know me KNOW how I feel about most doctors. :)

However, we had a good experience with a doctor last night that I must write about...to offset all the negative things that I tend to say.

A little history:
Tarin has had major croup issues since he was an infant. Anytime he gets a cold he gets croup and many MANY times we have ended up in the ER.
In the past year or so, Tarin has gotten croup even when not sick...no symptoms at all till he awakens in the middle of the night completely unable to breathe and freaking out. (for the record, most kids outgrow croup by 2-4 years of age. Tarin is 6)
This past April we called 911 and he was taken via ambulance to the ER for treatment.
Yeah. Not fun. Very scary. And about $4000 later he was fine. We have no medical insurance so we are still paying that bill. I have gone from doctor to doctor begging them to give me SOMETHING for him to help him breathe when this happens. They have all just blown me off and told me that I need to just take him to the ER when it happens. I did get a nebulizer with some albuteral for him even though that medication is for asthma and not croup.

2:15 a.m. I awake to Tarin going into the bathroom in my room and struggling to breathe. (he knows to go into that bathroom because we turn on hot water and let him breathe the steam). We turn on the steam and I set up the nebulizer with the albuteral...it gets going...Tarin still not breathing...it is not working...he is still struggling...it is still going....it is not working....I begin my freak out. The medicine runs out so I put water in the nebulizer and that seems to help more than the meds to open his airway. Josiah and I briefly discuss what to do...call 911...drive him to the ER...???? I then remember an add I saw months ago in a local paper about a pediatrician that does house calls after hours (for real!). I run (ha...as fast as an 8 month pregnant mom can run) downstairs and tear apart my drawer trying to find the add. I find it. I call the guy. He answers right away (!!!) and I rush through an explanation of what is going on and a tad bit of history (all this a bit incoherently, I am sure, mixed with hysteria, exhaustion and hormones) and he is calm and asks a few questions...and says he is headed right over. He wants us to take Tarin outside in the meantime...something we have never done before.
Okay. I will try anything. He is still retracting/wheezing.

15 minutes later:
We are snuggled on our couch...Tarin is breathing better from being in the cold outside air...and he is calm.
The doctor arrives.
He is like 7 feet tall, younger (mid thirties) gregarious and ready to help.
He talks like a normal person. He listens to what we say. He jokes with Tarin and calms him down. He explains what he wants to do and we agree with him.
He does the SAME THING as what we get done at the ER....a steroid pill and an epinefrin (sp?) breathing treatment. It works great, of course, and Tarin is much better. The doctor monitors his pulse-oxygen and listens to his chest every few minutes...all while talking, laughing, keeping everyone at ease. (he is a pulmonary pediatrician by day...he moved from the southeast...his wife is preg with #6...his boys are wild and crazy like ours...etc). Nice guy.

3:15 a.m.
Doc leaves the house after giving me a prescription for Tarin an inhaler to use next time with the "good" meds in it that actually work...what I have been begging docs for for years.
Tarin is great...ready for bed.
We all go to sleep peacefully...with no other issues.

The next morning (or later that morning) the doctor CALLS US to check on Tarin and ask how he is doing!!!!!!

The total cost for all this care:
$240

The total cost for the same care in the ER last April:
$3800

So I am impressed.
Look up his site to read about him and see for yourself!!! He also has a plan where you pay $1000 for a year and get UNLIMITED home visits, meds, tests, treatments, stitches...whatever your kids need. That is far cheaper than paying for insurance.
For a mom who is used to in home care with her pregnancies...and loves it...I should not be so shocked at this type of care...but I am. Happily so.

www.chickensoupdenver.com