Thread: *~*~* Star's (Starflyr) Birth Lodge*~*~*

Welcome to your lodge!

Welcome!!!!

Congrats!!!

Oh wow!

Thanks y'all!

Im stuck at work at the moment and have an appointment with a (new) webster trained chiro at 6 pm to see if she can fix my SPD and get Cassandra to turn away from ROT AND we only have 1 working car today, so I'll be back to do an intro later.

Hard to believe it's so close, but I am SO ready for her to come out and meet us!

Nested like a crazy person yesterday, all I have left to do is pack MY hospital bag and get a tub and a swing (neither of which are emergencies)

Woohoo! It's so exciting to see so many September mamas on here! Can't wait for your intro

Yay! Welcome to your lodge!

Hope all goes well with the new chiropractor!

Welcome to your lodge! Yay for chiro appointments and productive nesting. I'm looking forward to reading your intro!

Welcome to your lodge!

Ok, here we go...intro time

Here's my lodge from Brayden: ***Starflyr's Birth Lodge*** if anybody wants to look at it, I'll TRY to keep it short this time. LOL


DH and I met in college (in chemistry...we were lab partners...DONT LAUGH ). We dated for several years, then got married. I became an instant custodial stepmom, as his daughter (now SD17) was 8 at the time and lived/lives with him 100% of the time. I was starting my 2nd year of med school, and we decided it would be prudent to wait to start a family.

Fast forward a few years to my 2nd year of residency. We decided it was time, so I tapered off my meds, got off of BC, and we started TTC in June 2007. Got a BFP at the end of September, and we were off!

The pregnancy itself was very easy. I did end up with gestational diabetes and also ended up on insulin (not much), likely due to the fact that I was trying to do high stress stuff like work NICU and PICU at 30+ weeks pregnant. I was seeing a traditional OB who was faculty at the hospital I worked at. I planned to deliver at a community hospital where she (and the NICU team) also worked. Due to the GD, she was very concerned about inducing, etc, and I talked her into 40 weeks from 38.

I had a doula, I took her class on natural childbirth, I thought I had it figured out. Until D-day came and he wasnt even CLOSE to wanting to come out. My OB convinced me that it was too dangerous to let him go past his EDD and so we planned a staged induction. Cervidil, then home, then membrane stripping, then home, then cervidil and full-blown induction.

By the time we got to the 2nd planned Cervidil, I was contracting, but had a Bishop score of 2. They couldnt do Cervidil like that, so they just stuck me straight on pit. I made it 19 hours before I caved (I was only at a 3 at that point) and got the first of 3 epidurals. They didnt work. 10 hours later, I was exhausted, felt like a failure, had the nurses emphasizing how EVERYONE ELSE had already HAD *their* babies, etc. I was only at an 8 and he still wasnt well engaged. Did I mention that he was frank OP, had been for a long time, AND his head was off at a wonky angle (asynclitic)? So...off to the OR we went for a c-section. Which I felt (which SUCKED).

Oh, and my doula's son was in the ICU (special needs 20 something) with pneumonia and she was PISSED that I'd agreed to induction, so she sat and stared at me for a couple of hours, then we sent her home b/c she wasnt helping AT. ALL.

Recovery was pretty crappy as I got a whole 24 hours of "good" medicine then got toradol for 24 hours, then Advil. We got thrush at 3 weeks post partum (the intraductal kind) which hurt like anything. BUT I was bound and determined to "make it up to him" (for failing to give him the birth he "deserved") by breastfeeding, so we stuck it out and we BF'd for 14.5 months.

He is a happy, healthy, rambunctious 3 year old now.

this time around, we werent quite as planned as with Brayden. We are at a different place n our lives - I work full time as a primary care pediatrician and DH is a SAHD. Basically, we agreed that we didnt want to raise 2 only children (14 years between SD17 and Brayden) and that we wanted another. so, I had my Mirena taken out in the summer and we just kinda went about life, not really trying but not preventing.

I got the BFP at the beginning of January.

I started out with an OB as my care provider, but a DO who was natural birth supportive and kinda "let" me boss her around (we graduated at the same time from residency). I had it all figured out, and was making arrangements with the nursing staff at the hospital I work at to have my natural birth. I hired a doula (a different one, since we've moved)

Until 24 weeks, when my OB decided to let me know she was moving to Abilene in July. Crap.

Nobody else at my hospital is VBAC supportive, and if they DO allow someone to TRY, it's with the caveat of "you must come in when you have 1 contraction, get your epidural and stay in bed on monitors!". yeah...no thanks. That's how I had my first c-section!

Not too many other choices at the time, so I ended up going with a CNM group at a nearby tertiary care hospital. They are backed up by 24 hour on call OBs but they manage their own patients and they are allowed to do VBACs. They are also ok with intermittent monitoring, heplock or no IV, they have tubs for laboring and for possible waterbirthing, and the L&D nurses are very natural birth supportive.

Im not comfortable in an HBAC or birth center situation, not because i doubt the care, but because Im a pediatrician and I will NOT put my newborn's health in the hands of ANYONE less trained in neonatology than me - and that' requires a LOT more than just NRP certification. Period. I need a NICU within 1-2 minutes and I cant have that at home or in a birth center.

I refused the GTT this time but was checking sugars to be sure, and ended up with GD again at 32 weeks. Luckily, it's been controllable by diet, the perinatologist who was monitoring it released me from his care last week, and as of this week, my numbers have started going down significantly (which sometimes happens).

I also have developed some serious SPD, and the "webster trained" chiro I have been seeing wouldnt/didnt address it, but I went to a (NEW) chiro this afternoon, and after an HOUR of adjustments (apparantly my pelvis was WAAAAAY out of whack), I feel human again! She also has worked with the midwives before and will even come to the hospital to adjust someone in labor if needed!

Im kind of hoping that I go into labor before I have to have the 39 week "come to Jesus" meeting with the supervising OB (basically an attempt to talk me into ERCS or induction).

So, Im a LOT less miserable now, which hopefully will continue, and ready to face the world again (finally!). The house is just about 100% ready - just have to clean up a few nonbabyproof things and get a couple more items like a swing and a bath. Im working up until I *have* to take off so maximize my income for the next year (6 weeks off + 6 weeks part time = 70k paycut...yikes!).

Just keeping my head in the game and planning to go all natural, but TRYING to stay open to intervention IF NEEDED, (and I trust the midwives and my doula to NOT push unneeded interventions on me). I do NOT want a repeat of the guilt and shame I felt last time about "failing" to have a "good/real/natural/etc" birth if things go sideways again. I want a healthy baby and healthy Mama.

So, that's me in a nutshell

Thanks for making it this far!