Thursday, July 24, 2008

Birth plans Shmirth plans

Hooray! This is the first week in AmyBeth's Fetus Friday Carnival. Head over to her blog & read why we are all excited for this time in her life.

First I have to bring attention to my oldest daughter Cyra Lynn. She is 3 days old in this pic. She was born August 12, 1999 at 8:06 a.m. Weighing 6lb 7 oz & 18 3/4 in long. She had the most beautiful black hair...*sigh*
Here's my advice...First edition:

Everyone (over the last decade or so) feels like they MUST have a birth plan. That's the plan you have in place that describes in detail what you want to happen in the delivery process.

For example I have a friend who decided she MUST NOT use drugs. Another one who wanted Enya playing in the background while she was laboring. One who wanted a video camera "down there" documenting that beautiful thing they call birth.

I had my first labor planned in my head too. And then my water broke. It was "supposed" to happen while hubs was home and on a weekend so I could immediately go back to work on Monday morning. Yeah right. It happened on the toilet. Splash. Uh oh.

Then I was supposed to labor for a day while I waited for my parents to come from OR. Nope. I didn't labor at all. Not for 12 hours. Once it did start...I. HAD. 36. MINUTES. TO. PERFORM. That's right 36 minutes from first contraction to delivery.

I had planned to have an epidural, but 36 minutes isn't long enough. Dang it.

So my advice is...don't have such a rigid plan. God has one for you & for your little one. You really have no say in the matter. Roll w/ the punches.

The pain may not be so bad that you need drugs (mine wasn't). You may decide you don't want TIME magazine documenting every curse word or exorcist type outburst (oh yes, you'll have a few). And you may decide to watch Wheel of Fortune instead of listening to your mixtape of relaxing music. "Can I have a W Alex. For WHY ON EARTH DID I EVER GET MYSELF INTO THIS PREDICAMENT. FOR ALL THAT IS HOLY...MAKE IT STOP!?!"

My Mom told me..."The only thing predictable about labor & delivery...is that it's unpredictable." Amen.

No matter how your labor goes, at the end of the day (or 2, or 3, or 36 min) you still have a beautiful baby in your arms. God intended it that way...so you'll keep reproducing. And you will actually WANT to take care of that alien that somehow got your cheek bones.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey Mandy,

Thanks for stopping by and dropping a comment on my blog. Also, thanks for joining us on our Worship + Web 2.0 mogulus broadcast yesterday.

You're funny! I was totally diggin' the star wars references!!

Thanks,
Russ

Wawa said...

I've found the movement for the birth plans really funny. I think it's just to help sell more birthing products/books/seminars to hormonal pregnant ladies!

Jen (a.k.a. motor mouth) said...

very funny mandy!!!! I was always envious of your easy births! I had a birth plan with nicholas, but as we know....that went out the window. So with Samantha, I didn't bother....and we all know how that went down. I couldn't have planned for any of that (nor would want to). I laugh at birth plans now. It's all his plan!!!

Amy Beth @ Ministry So Fabulous! said...

Oh, Mandy! I laughed so hard when I read all of this! I think you're right -- we've got no birth plan for Roomie as we're just worried about GETTING TO THE HOSPITAL!

I am so glad you're doing this -- yay!

Lisa said...

Great advice for the pregnant mommies!

Gayle @ thewestiecrew said...

HA-HA!! Excellent post, girlie!

christinewith6 said...

AMEN to ALL of that!

Anonymous said...

of course i will link you! of course, of course. oh, and i love me some kristi applesauce. she was my prom date after all. lol. so happy you have found her and love her too.

Robin said...

Babies are incredible! Birth is pretty cool too because you get an amazing prize - waiting for my third treasure in December.

Anonymous said...

Holy crap you are amazing. 36 minutes...really? Wow so maybe we do want kids after all. We are still trying to decide. Wow...really? Are you sure it was under an hour? Dang.

Miss Mandy said...

Kristi - yes it was 36 min. The second was 44 and the 3rd, well, the 3rd I was having mild contractions for about an hour, but not dialating. They decided to break my water to hopefully get things moving along. They broke it at 5:35 am & Campbell was born at 5:43 am.

Though my labors are totally no the norm. First time moms can expect 12-18 hours of labor.

And...my pregnancies are really bad. Like having my own i.v. in a backpack that I wear almost the whole time..yeah, it's bad.

Anonymous said...

After reading your reply to Kristi I see that you're probably a fellow HG survivor. Gotta love continues vomiting for 9 months and getting all your nutrients from a tube! Fun!

Anyway, I had birth plan with my first...that didn't go so well. My second was born at home exactly how I planned...which was no plan at all, really. Other than that the midwife would be there and I would hopefully be in water (which I was).

Anonymous said...

Nevermind. I am never having sex again.