Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Decisions, decisions

Its always been hard for me to make decisions. It be deciding what to wear, what restaurant to go to or what kind of face wash I want, its REALLY hard for me to make decisions. Drives Rob crazy!!!

Well, I have another huge one to make in a couple of months. Epidural, or no epidural.

Rob and I went to our first of two all-day prenatal class on Saturday. It was really great. Our teacher is really good and puts everyone at ease, especially the husbands. She talked us through common pregnancy symptoms, such as Braxton-Hick contractions (which some of you know I have been having for about a week now) and bad heartburn.

She also divided the dads-to-be and the moms-to-be and asked each group to answer a series of questions such as what is the best part of the pregnancy and what is the not so best. It was quite amusing to hear what the guys had to say, they said that the best thing was the "pregnancy glow", not sure if they were just saying that to get brownie points or not, but it was pretty sweet either way. The not so best according to them, sex is - "different". Not sure what they meant by that, but the girls just laughed. I personally think we asked ourselves - Did my husband give that answer, or was it unanimous? It was kinda funny!

Then our teacher talked about labour. *Insert dramatic sound affect here*. She showed us a birth video, and to be honest, I was quite moved by it. The woman in the video delivered naturally, without any pain medication. She, with the help of her midwife, did several types of relaxing exercises (if you can call them relaxing!) to help her cope with the pain. She was a very very tough woman because she did not seem to be in too too much pain. Obviously she wasn't telling jokes or filing her nails or anything like that, but she remained calm. I was totally shocked. I mean, labour is labour, you are giving birth to a 7 pound baby, how can you keep calm??

Once the baby was born and the Dr. put the baby on the woman's chest, I lost it. I could not stop crying, it was such a beautiful thing. After the video I wiped the tears ( a little embarrassed that I cried like a baby in front of strangers) and was just speechless. I guess it made everything so real. Knowing that it will be me in a couple of months, giving birth to our daughter. Just writing this makes me a little emotional. Our instructor then proceed to talk about the different pain medications that are available to ease labour. I appreciated the fact that she was unbiased and was not trying to convince us to use one medication in particular, or even to use none at all.

She then asked us to fill out a questionnaire to help determine how we would each want to give birth. The scale varied from +10 (not willing to feel ANY pain at ANY point) to -7 ( NO drugs, even for a c-section, which I found VERY extreme!). And that is where I started rethinking about the whole epidural.

Up until that questionnaire I was all about getting the epidural ASAP, so I guess around the +10 mark. But after seeing that video and getting more information on labour and the pros/cons of pain medications including epidural, I realized that I was not really a +10, but rather a +3. Some pain medication, such as laughing gas, and as a last resort, an epidural if the pain is too much to handle. I honestly don't know what to think of this...

Am I that stupid and unrealistic by thinking that I can do this without an epidural? I know that women do it on a daily basis, and did it for centuries before we even had any pain medication. But on the other hand, why would I want to deliberately suffer? Why am I second-guessing the whole epidural NOW when I have been forever saying epidural all the way? This is really stressing me out.

Rob has mixed feeling about this I think. He will support whatever decision I make but I can tell that he wants me to take the epidural as soon as I feel pain. He is pretty worried about the whole labour thing and seeing me suffer. He was quite traumatized after seeing the birth video, in which the women was practically Super Woman, which I am definitely not!

I know I have some time to really think about it and discuss it with Rob, but as of now, I'm not quite sure I want the epidural right away, or if I even want it at all.

This is one of the biggest decisions I will have to face and it would be great to hear some labour stories or advice on labour/epidural. Please feel free to share your thoughts!

Mommy-to-be - out

3 comments:

Loukia said...

Dal - get the epidural! I did not go to a single class of any sort, just went to the hospital the day I was going to be induced. Which I loved, because I knew that day I would be having my baby and I knew I wouldn't have to leak my water somewhere embarrassing! But anyway. When I arrived, I was already 4cm dilated. I felt nothing... I lasted until about 7cm, with no epi. I thought, okay, maybe I can do this... the pain was bad, but not killer... it would come and go... but after 7cm, I couldn't take it. It was really bad. I asked for the epi, got it, and ahh... bliss... I felt nothing. But here's the thing - by the time it was time for me push baby out, I had some feeling... so I knew when to push, etc... I could feel them holding my legs, etc. It was well worth it, you really should keep it as an option. My aunt in D.C. had her baby sans epi, and all she said to me was: "I saw stars." It was that bad, at least for her. The feeling of the needle going into my spine was not a nice feeling, but it only lasted a couple of seconds. I was shaking so bad by that point, it actually took the dude a few tries, but it worked, and it was just awesome. As soon as my baby was born, and handed to me, I was in pure heaven. Best moment on earth, ever! I had no problem getting up and walking a short time later. That's my story! So my opinion is - go with the epi! There is a certain point when it will be too late for you to ask for one, so make sure when you want one, to ask right away.

Loukia said...

Just wanted to also add that I did no form of exercise during my pregnancy except walking from the couch to the bathroom and my labour went really well, and really, really fast. It was a great experience for me overall, never took a class on breathing or anything like that. It will come to you naturally, trust me. And the nurses, God bless them, are just awesome and so helpful and know everything. So trust them and trust yourself and it will be a wonderful experience.

Dal said...

Thanks so much Loukia! Your advice really helps. I think I will go sans epi for as long as I can and play it by ear. If I see that I can no longer take the pain I will ask for one! I know I have that as an option.

Some people get it at 3 cm, and others, like you, at 7cm. Just goes to show you how different it is for every woman!

Thanks again!

Dal
xox