Pregnancy is a time to make changes in one's life that need to be changed. Many women often begin to eat cleaner, use healthy products, and lessening the body's burden overall. When I realized there wasn't much I needed to change aside from taking a prenatal vitamin I was delighted.
I spent my weeks looking after myself and maintaining my energy reserves. Working even more than I was before I was pregnant, this was challenging. Additionally the added stress from my job to maintain progress as I had been attaining previously, I was feeling it from ALL angles. I eventually was relieved from my responsibilities at work when the stress became pathological.
Luckily I had a birth team that met most of my needs and was assembled rather quickly. I voiced my concerns with my midwife, and when necessary, my doula. We often met in the comfort of my own home, and sometimes at the birth center nearby.
We took a great birthing class that allowed us to explore various positions and gave us the rundown of the different stages. I read Ina Mae religiously and felt pretty confident about my body's ability to complete the process of labor.
Week 40 arrived with no signs of baby other than the enormous belly. All the midwives that touched my belly couldn't determine if Brian was in the right position. Kick counts minimized, and though I was worried, I knew not to be. We did an ultrasound and yes, his head was down, and he was in fact NOT breech.
What I learned was that pregnancy was a series of freak out sessions, paused by brief interludes of knowing that everything was going to be okay. I feel much better about riding the waves of life, after experiencing this, even in a somewhat alternative environment.
Week 41 arrived, and because we all knew my baby wasn't "small" we decided we better get moving towards getting him out. One of my biggest fears was a separated pubic symphysis, in addition to a forced hospital delivery. I picked a day to drink castor oil, and when that didn't work, we tried the blessed cohosh family. I would have been happy to do this on my own, but my midwife really convinced me NOT to do anything without her approval/supervision.
My doula massaged my back and hips as my surges came and went, and stayed with me when I couldn't sleep, meanwhile, my partner laid by my side snoring. I didn't realize that the birth center was essentially in the same place as the hospital, only accepting women if they were in active labor. After another night of not sleeping we got the go ahead to come in and labor. I was given a tincture that messaged me in my not so cognizant state that I was in transition.
If I had changed anything, it would have been to get chiropractic care throughout my pregnancy, exercise more, stress less, and most importantly establish a better postpartum care team and plan. AND to maybe let Brian arrive without any herbal interventions and or labor induction tips.
