Eating During Labor

Until the 1940's, women were actually told to eat and drink as they desired during labor. All of that changed in 1949, when 1 study showed that women who ate during labor had a higher chance of aspiration (food entering the lungs during anesthesia.) Since then, women have often been told that as soon as they feel contractions or think they are in labor, they should stop eating.

There are several reasons why this study, done nearly 60 years ago, should no longer apply to women in labor today:

1. The original study was based on very high amounts of anesthesia, which are no longer used on women during cesarean births.
2. Fasting during labor does not guarantee an empty stomach.
3. The risk of aspiration only occurs with general anesthesia, which is used very rarely for cesareans.
4. Prolonged fasting increases the amount of hydrochloric acid in your stomach which can increase the complications with aspiration.
5. It is not good to base recommendations for practice on one study, especially given that this particular study is extremely outdated.

Arguments made for eating during labor include:

1. Eating small amounts of easily-digested foods during labor can give you the energy you need to keep going.
2. A 1989 National Birth Center study showed that 11,814 women who ate and drank at will during labor did not have a single case of aspiration, even among the 22% of women in the total group who required a cesarean.
3. Sometimes the knowledge that you can't eat during your labor can affect your sense of control. That alone might make you feel like giving up sooner.
4. Often midwives and doulas report that if a mother's labor is not progressing, often eating and drinking during labor helps to get things moving.

Read the rest of this article here.

Risks of Using Pitocin

I have a friend who is sitting in her labor and delivery room as I type this post. Someone just commented on her blog that "no one gets a superwoman prize for enduring more pain, we all come out with a baby." This was in an attempt to make her not feel bad for the chance that she might have to get some Pitocin because she is not contracting enough and her water has already broken.

But knowing full well, she wants to go as natural as possible it irks me that someone would make a comment like that. This woman clearly is not being stubborn and refusing things she 'needs,' she is simply trying to do what is best for her and her baby. Being medicated during labor and delivery is NOT what is best for you and your baby, bottom line! Why do women not know this?

I wish people would realize that woman who want to have a natural childbirth are not trying to gain bragging points. They simply are convicted that it's the best for both them and their baby and they are willing to endure a little more pain to achieve their goal.

Here are some facts about Pitocin.

Risks of using Pitocin

Risks for Mother

• Mothers using Pitocin frequently report increased pain with contractions. Most mother using Pitocin also use pain medication to handle the increased pain.

• Pitocin use requires continuous monitoring to detect complications and/or progress which interferes with mobility.

• Pitocin use requires an IV for administration.

• Pitocin use can cause long contractions and contractions with double peaks.

• Pitocin use slightly increases the possibility of a uterine rupture.

• Pitocin use increases the likelihood of a fetal malpresentation or malposition.

• Pitocin use is associated with an increased need for cesarean surgery for distocia and fetal distress.

Risks for Baby

• Pitocin use increases the likelihood of depressed fetal heart rate patterns.

• Pitocin use increases the chances of Fetal Distress due to decreased oxygen availability.

• There are increased risks to your baby if you have a cesarean surgery.

You can read the entire article here. I have been reading two books from the author of this article and they are incredible. I highly recommend them to any Christian mom who is interested in birthing naturally.

Party after Party

Two weekends ago we were quite busy celebrating the upcoming arrival of Joseph. My midwife, Penny, threw me a Blessingway at our home and then the next day after church our Sunday school class had a baby shower for us. We had a great time at both, but I especially loved the Blessingway.

I did not have a Blessingway with Samuel because I didn't even know about them. It was wonderful. Now that I know about them, I wish everyone new mom could have one! I had my mom and some close friends and our birth attendants over to our home and we had a time of celebration and prayer for this upcoming birth. It was not a time for them to shower me with gifts, but with love and prayer. It meant more to me than I could have ever imagined. They washed my feet and joined me in celebrating this miracle of life. They each brought verses of inspiration for me to encourage me during this waiting period and throughout the birth. They also each brought one or two plants symbolizing new life and growth of our family. I love plants, so it was quite appropriate. I feel very comforted knowing I have so many friends lifting this pregnancy and birth up to the Lord. I know they make a difference. I wrote out a list of things that I want specific prayer for and they each took a copy of them home so they can continue to be praying. It's only a matter of about 3-4 weeks and then our precious bundle will be in our arms.

More Bible / Scripture Verses for Labor and Delivery

Thanks to A Joyful Birth website, I now have found many more verses that are bringing comfort and will continue to through the delivery. The Bible is filled with all the answers to life we could possibly want, you just have to look a little deeper for some of them!

Knowledge

• "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; a good understanding have all those who do His commandments; His praise endures forever." Ps. 111:10

• "Wise men store up knowledge" Prov. 10:14a

• "A wise man is strong, and a man of knowledge increases power." Prov. 24:5

• "But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all men generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him." James 1:5

Strength

• "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." Phil.4:13

• "Yet those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary." Is. 40:31

• "Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go." Josh. 1:9

• "But you, be strong and do not lose courage, for there is reward for your work." 2 Chron. 15:7

• "The Lord is my strength and song, and He has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise Him; my father's God, and I will exalt him." Ex. 15:2

• "The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in Him, and I am helped; therefore my heart exults, and with my song I shall thank Him." Ps. 28:7

• "He gives strength to the weary, and to him who lacks might He increases power." Is. 40:29

• "Do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength." Neh. 8:10b

• "I will lift up my eyes to the mountains; from whence shall my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth." Ps. 121:1-2

Faith

• "For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus." Phil. 1:6

• "For we walk by faith, not by sight.." 2 Cor. 5:7

• "Yet you brought me out of the womb; you made me trust in you even at my mother's breast. From birth I was cast upon you; from my mother's womb you have been my God." Ps. 22:9-10

• "'Shall I bring to the point of birth, and not give delivery?' says the Lord." Is. 66:9a

• "From birth I have relied on you; you brought me forth from my mother's womb. I will ever praise you." Ps. 71:6

• "For truly I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain, 'move from here to there', and it shall move; and nothing shall be impossible to you." Matt. 17:20b

• "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, shall guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Phil. 4:6-7

• "In God I have put my trust, I shall not be afraid." Ps. 56:11a

• "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight." Prov. 3:5-6

• "Delight yourself in the Lord; and He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He will do it." Ps. 37:4-5

• "And this is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked of Him." 1 John 5:14-15

Peace

• "Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest." Matt. 11:28

• "I sought the Lord, and He answered me, and delivered me from all my fears." Ps. 34.4

• "Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him." Ps. 37:7b

• "Let us therefore draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and may find grace to help in time of need." Heb. 4:16

• "For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and love and sound judgment." 2 Tim. 1:7

• "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in time of trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change, and though the mountains slip into the heart of the sea; though its waters roar and foam though the mountains quake at its swelling pride." Ps. 46:1-3

"Natural Cesarean"

If there was possibly something that could be called a "natural cesarean" it would be this. Check out this story. This seems like a perfect solution to those times when a cesarean is deemed necessary. I don't think I would have had any 'issues' if this is how Samuel's delivery ended up. Hopefully, one day it will be like this for all women who have cesareans.

Confessions of a CF Husband

I have been following this family for about a month now. I was told about them through our friends Patience and Jordan. I've never met this family before, but when another woman is pregnant, no matter if you know her or not, you somehow feel a bond with her immediately. God is simultaneously working a miracle in both of our bodies. That's a hard common denominator to avoid.

This family is facing many difficult situations. The wife has cystic fibrosis and they just had to have an emergency c-section of their 24 week old baby due to the overwhelming complications the pregnancy was causing. Through many many miracles, both of them are living proof of God's amazing power! I am daily reminded of how much he cherishes life when I look at a picture of this little girl. The father and husband has been blogging through this entire journey. Since the birth of their little girl they have had over 450,000 hits on their blog. Each and every one of those hits represent one way in which this family is touching a life.

Please join me in prayer for this family. They love the LORD with everything they have and are praising him through each and every moment. Their faith is so inspiring. I could only pray that I would have as much courage as they have during such a trying time.

Bible / Scripture Verses for Labor and Delivery

A few months ago I read this list of Scripture verses on a blog from a woman who had a homebirth and I just loved the idea. She wrote them on index cards and read through them during her labor. I am going to be adding to the list as I find other verses that speak to me. I thought I would share this list for those of you who would enjoy them for your birth as well.

Isaiah 40:11
He tends his flock like a shepherd:
He gathers the lambs in his arms
and carries them close to his heart;
he gently leads those that have young.

Psalm 5:3
In the morning, O LORD,
you hear my voice;
in the morning
I lay my requests before you
and wait in expectation.

Phillipians 2:13
For it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.

Proverbs 3:5&6
Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;

Hebrews 13:5b-6
God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you." So we say with confidence, "The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?"

Psalm 91:2
I will say of the LORD, "He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust."

Psalm 33:20-22
We wait in hope for the LORD;
he is our help and our shield.
In him our hearts rejoice,
for we trust in his holy name.
May your unfailing love rest upon us,
O LORD, even as we put our hope in you.

Psalm 139: 13-16
For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother's womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,
your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be.

Psalm 46:10
Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.

Philippians 4:19
And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.

Isaiah 26:3
You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you.

Philippians 4:12-13
I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry,
whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength.

Psalm 124:8
Our help is in the name of the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.

Psalm 62:1-2
My soul finds rest in God alone;
my salvation comes from him.
He alone is my rock and my salvation;
he is my fortress,
I will never be shaken.

Isaiah 40:31
But those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

Falling Into Place

We had a meeting with our midwife this past Saturday. Things are going very well. Joseph is head down and seems to already be pretty low, yay! He is facing my back, which is the most ideal position. Samuel was never anterior, so we are already ahead of that game.

Penny has been in contact with our local hospital making preparations in case we need to transfer. They have been extremely supportive, which is just incredibly rare for hospitals to support homebirths. The midwife that works with the doctor I saw, before I decided on a homebirth, actually use to have her own homebirth practice! She is super excited that there is a homebirther in the area. Then Penny also talked with the OB manager of the whole maternity ward and she was very supportive as well. She has attended many homebirths and said it was a great way to go. I was just shocked to hear this news. Just another issue taken care of before I even committed it to serious prayer.

Both of these issues have been lingering in my mind as possible hindrances to a positive birth. For one, Samuel, was never in a great position for birth, and I did not have the knowledge myself or the help from doctors to help in turning him. This time, I have the knowledge, but it doesn't seem like I will have to worry about his position. What a blessing.

And, also the transfer issue. I am in no way opposed to having to transfer to the hospital if something were to come up that only could be taken care of there. It was just the idea of being treated poorly by doctors and nurses who do not agree with homebirths and having to deal with their lack of support. Knowing that I'm going into a situation where two of my biggest fears have already been eliminated makes me feel that much more comfortable attempting this homebirth.

I have no idea what the outcome of this will be, but I am continually encouraged by God that he is pleased with this decision. We will continue to seek his will the entire time and pray that we will have the clarity of thought to do what he wants of us. From the beginning, we have never been trying to prove anything to anyone, all we have wanted is to obey God and do what he wants of us. And for right now, attempting a homebirth is what we believe he wants.

Make Room For More

There are a few things that I did with Samuel as an infant, that I am certain I will change while parenting Joseph. One of those is letting him sleep with us more. Samuel slept with me often, but not all the time. Since Andy wasn't there, I felt like it was a good idea. But now that Andy is home, I didn't originally think I would let Joseph sleep with us. After talking with both the Lord and Andy about this, and doing some more research, I have decided that letting Joseph sleep with us is the best for all of us. We've heard the argument about rolling over on him, but that's pretty impossible when he's sleeping in this, which is what we use. It's called a Snuggle Nest, that can be found here. The benefits far outweigh any cons that we might face.

Here is a great article I came across:

Dr. Lamport Commons, PhD
Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical Center

“We’re very in favor of co-sleeping, because it greatly reduces the stress that infants are exposed to when they sleep along. When a parent is sleeping down the hall and responds slowly or not at all when their baby cries, the baby’s brain releases stress hormones. And, there’s increasing evidence that this changes the physiology of how the baby will handle stress for the rest of his life -- it actually damages the brain.

SIDS Safety
Yes, there’s evidence that SIDS and suffocation can happen during co-sleeping, but there’s a simple remedy -- don’t put the infant unelevated between you. Put him on a hard pillow, raise him up, and you can’t roll onto him. These problems are so, so rare anyways, and tend to happen when a parent is obese or having alcohol problems. And actually, in the case of SIDS, there is in fact research that shows sleeping next to an adult helps babies breathe better. So while the risk of getting rolled onto may be increased, risk of SIDS in fact decreases with co-sleeping.

Stress Reliever
Infants are born helpless, and they’re not able to do anything other than cry for the first three or four months. So, when you’re co-sleeping, you can respond to the crying immediately. And you don’t have to wake up – you can feed and do all sorts of things while you’re half asleep. The parents sleep better and are less stressed, and when parents are less stressed, so is their baby. In most non-modern cultures, people aren’t so stressed out about the whole thing.

Human Nature
Humans evolved like most mammals -- the infants sleep with the parents. We develop such elaborate routines to try and get babies to sleep at night in their own beds. They can go on for hours and hours, and often don’t work -- the babies don’t go to sleep easily, and are much more wakeful than if they were securely next to a parent. And, you see that around age two, when babies are more mobile, there’s something I call the migration back to the parent’s bed. They climb out of their crib by themselves and get in with their parents. And of course, that’s just what they should do!

The Sex Issue
People are worried about the kids viewing sex, but there’s really no evidence that it has any effect on children. We forget that we have a pretty long evolutionary history in which groups often slept together, and children were exposed to sex and any number of other things we now try to protect them from. Honestly, most babies will sleep through it. They’re like cats and dogs – they don’t care. There’s no evidence that if a baby wakes up he’d be disturbed, but most babies won’t even wake up in a place they feel comfortable.

Simple Solution
I don’t know what the disadvantages are! You’ll sleep better, your baby will sleep better, and if you’re less tired, you’re less cranky and are better at interacting with the baby during the day. People complain all the time about how they’re exhausted. And why are they so tired? Because they’re not sleeping with their kids!"

Dr. Michael Lamport Collins, Ph.D. is an assistant clinical professor in the Department of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Patrice Marie Miller, Ed.D. is a clinical instructor in the Department of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, and a professor in the Department of Psychology at Salem State College.

More Prepartions

Aside from the list of birthing supplies, I need to start getting a list together of all of the other things I'm going to need to have done before Joseph's arrival. Here goes:

Get carseat
Have carseat installed
Figure out where his changing table will go
Make room for his clothes somewhere, either get a new dresser or share Samuel's.
Get infant cloth diapers out and washed
Get infant clothes out and washed
Make his baby quilt

I have some high sewing aspirations as well, but I won't be upset if I don't get to them:
Sew some baby slings to carry him around in
Sew some baby wraps with velcro to keep him wrapped up in in bed.
Figure out how to make some sort of slipper for him.