15 weeks (or holy cow, I only have 25 weeks to go and feeling behind already!)

So, I turn 15 weeks today. My oh my how time flies! I remember that first month of being pregnant and it just felt like every day was an eternity. Somewhere along the line, the fast forward button seems to have been pushed and I have quickly gotten wrapped up in the day to day insanity of life. I worry about that because I realize that in this very long life I hope to lead, only a precious few weeks and months will be spent in this precious role of "human incubator." And, as much as I have hated it at times (the constant nausea and migraines for example) I really do think it is quite a blessing and I want to be able to savor it because so much more of your life is spent being NOT pregnant rather than pregnant (unless your are mormon or that crazy woman on TLC who has almost 20 kids... she has probably been pregnant more of her life than not... and THAT is insane!!)

In any event, I will try to catch you up on the last few (very eventful) weeks... if not in THIS post, in the next couple of posts (which I hope to have up in the next couple of days). Before I get any more confusing... I will move on...

So, a few big things in the past couple of weeks... first, Emily's arrival...

As I mentioned before, my friend Suzanne was due at the end of March with her first baby. She goes to my midwife as well and I was acting as her birth coach since her hubby, David, (a police officer) works on Saturdays and was unable to go to lamaze with her. So, after WEEKS of anticipating the big day (she had a couple of false alarms and was 100% effaced and anywhere from 1-3 cm dilated for nearly a month) she was FINALLY induced a week after her due date. On April 3rd at about 3:30PM, her water was broken and they started her on pitocin to get contractions going. Get them going, they did! She went from relative ease to extreme pain in a matter of minutes and it wasn't long before the epidural was requested. She got that at about 5PM and tried to sleep throughout most of her labor. At about 4AM on the 4th, she was complete and ready to push. Only problem was that she had had TOO MUCH medication and was unable to feel in order to push correctly. They decided to let her "labor down" for a little while longer. At about 9AM, we were ready to try again. After nearly two hours of labor, Emily Grace had arrived. She was a BIG baby- 8lbs, 14oz. She is incredibly cute!
All in all, I really enjoyed my job as birth coach. I have to say it was probably one of the most amazing things I have ever been a part of. I really feel priviledged to have been there with them throughout the whole ordeal. I think I will have a special bond now with baby Emily and the rest of her family for years to come. It was emotional, tiring and wonderful.

Of cours. it was also an opportunity to see how my own birth experience might play out since we have the same midwife and deliver in the same hospital. I think it was good for me to be there because it gives me some realistic expectations as to what will be happening when Pip comes and gave me a lot to think about in terms of my own process. Not to take ANYTHING away from Suzanne's experience, but I also realized there are some things that I want to do differently and need to talk to Lynn about before the big day arrives. But, I guess that is why I have 25 weeks to figure this all out. So, here is my synopsis of what I learned (or what I would change) from this experience...

1.) I learned that having a midwife doesn't always make the process less "medical." Suzanne was hooked up to so many monitors and it still felt very... "hospital-like" the whole time. Not my ideal situation but maybe when Pip gets a sibling, we can look into a birthing center option. Who knows. And I really don't like the fetal monitoring that they do these days... why do you have to stick something in my baby's head to get their heartrate when I KNOW you can use something that straps to my belly to get the same data? I hope I can get some answers on that.
2.) I learned that just because I have a midwife, I am still going to be spending a LOT of time with the nurses (more than with my midwife) So, I had better plan on being nice to them (I am thinking of trying to bake some cookies to pass the time before I get to the hospital) AND I hope that I get some of the same nurses Suzanne had... they were really great!
3.) I learned that I get to have three people in the room with me when I deliver. Of course, one of those people will be Will. Part of me wants a doula (a paid and trained birthing coach) and part of me really wants my mom to be there with me. I just know what an emotional experience it was for the three of us that day and I think I would want my mom to be there since she was the one to be there with me when I came into the world. I also wouldn't mind having friends there too... very Red Tent of me, but I guess I see it all as part of this journey into womanhood... joining a very selective and special sorority. In any event, whoever is in that room needs to know in advance that they will see sides of me that may scar you for life and there will never again be any secrets between us :)
4.) I learned a lot about the epidural... It definitely has its pros and cons. First of all, I will NEVER do pitocin without an epidural. It was also really interesting to see how relaxed Suzanne was after getting hers. She was able to sleep and rest. It was pretty great. However, crazy as I am, I still think I want to try to do natural childbirth. If I find myself needing the epidural at some point, I won't think myself a failure for asking for it. But I want to prepare myself as much as possible to try and do it without drugs. I just feel more than ever that it lengthens your labor. So, I guess the trade off comes down to a LONG pain-free labor or a shorter, painFUL labor... we shall see.
5.) I learned that there are things I want to happen differently. Some of it is not up to me at all... like HOW I go into labor or whether or not I need a c-section. But, after Emily was born, they took her immediately to the incubator thing (which was in the room) to warm her up and clean her. I want that baby on my chest right after he or she is born... not in the hands of the nurses! Even if it is just a minute or so, I want to hold her right away. Suzanne didn't get to hold Emily until she had eaten and been fixed up... then they let her breastfeed. Not my order of preference.
6.) I learned that this is defnitely going to be one of the most difficult and amazing experiences of my life. I don't fear it at all. I am actually quite looking forward to it... all of it!

So, there you have it! Big event number one... I will be back with more soon... for now (as always) I need to eat!!