Something A Little Different

On the recommendation of Amelia, I watched The Business of Being Born, a documentary on home births vs. hospital births. I have to say that I thought it was super biased and a little ridiculous in its stats and interviews, but it did get me thinking about the kind of birth I'd like to have with Little Baby...and I guess that's the point. I know I don't want a C-section. It's not something I've ever wanted. Some may say it's easier, but it's a major surgery and I really don't want to be strapped down and not even get to hold my baby. (Not that I got to hold Kaleb for the first 7 hours of his life) I mean, if there's an emergency obviously I'll have a C-section, but I'd like to avoid it if possible. So, now that I've narrowed it to actually HAVING the baby, I'd like to do some things differently than I did with Kaleb. I still want to be in a hospital and I'd still like an epidural. I don't see those two things changing. But I'd like to NOT be induced this time. It just took forever for things to get rolling with Kaleb. There were some extenuating circumstances (low fluid levels, gestational diabetes) that made inducing the best option, but I'd rather not need the pitocin if possible. Also, even though I want an epidural, I don't want to get it as soon as I did the first time. Basically the nurse broke my water and the epidural man was in there within the next 10 minutes. I didn't feel any contractions. That made pushing extremely difficult. I had no idea where I was pushing and, consequently, it took 2 1/2 hours and a vacuum assist to get Kaleb out. Not to mention the recovery was awful. I think if I could feel more I would know where and when to push and it wouldn't have taken so long. Finally, I want to be able to walk around/move around more this time. Laying in the hospital bed the whole time was pretty boring. One good point the movie made was that laying down to push is very ineffective. That position fights gravity and closes the pelvis. I don't know if they'll let me walk and move around once I do decide to get an epidural, but maybe before. Of course, all this is planning and none of it may come to fruition. I may end up getting to the hospital and progressing rapidly and not even getting the opportunity for an epidural. OR it may take forever. OR the baby may be breached. Who knows? But that's my amended baby plan for this go around.