Birthing center tour
Last night Kurt and I went through a tour of the birthing center at the hospital and I was happy to find out that many of my birth plan requests are standard procedure there. Unless I require a cesarean section I will be in the same room from labor through delivery and postpartum. All care for the baby will also take place in my room. Kurt will be able to be with me through the entire process unless an emergency cesarean is necessary where they knock me out completely. If for some reason a planned cesarean becomes necessary for me, Kurt will still be able to be there. Cesarean would be the only reason why I wouldn’t be able to stay in one room for the whole process, but baby still stays with me the whole time. There is still a nursery that is usually only available at night, so that I can sleep, but I’m thinking I would rather just keep her with me.
They have a very cool baby security system too. There is a monitor that they attach to the baby’s leg – if it’s removed an alarm goes off at the nurse’s station. If someone tries to walk away with a baby that has the security tag still on – once the person gets within three feet of an exit all doors of the hospital doors will lock.
Someone at the tour brought up video cameras – blah! That’s really the last thing I want to see blown up on my TV screen. My cousin said that for her deliveries they brought in a mirror so she could see the baby come out. It’s great that they do these things for the people that want that, but my thought is nothing beautiful has ever come out of my body before. I have never once wanted to put a mirror by my crotch so that I could watch myself poop. Nor have I ever wanted to reach down and touch it as it comes out. The evidence in the toilet is really good enough for me. From what I understand babies aren’t very cute in the first few hours of life and according to Kurt, “don’t look human until they pink up”. Therefore, I will be fine waiting to hold her until after she’s been cleaned up and the first pictures can wait until after that point as well – thank you very much.
August 2nd, 2007 at 5:00pm
I did not watch any of my babies being born. Video cams were expensive back in 1988 and I was damn busy. They had a mirror there when BBB was born but I’m blind w/o my glasses and I gave birth lying on my left side. The memories were enough for me.
Since I saw the your baby’s name I’ve noticed it is quite popular lately. Interesting because until I knew that was your baby’s name I didn’t notice. It’s a very nice name.
Tell her to keep on kicking. BPB kicked through labor~little sucker. I hope you’re doing ok in this heat.
August 3rd, 2007 at 11:48am
Yeah I figure I’ll write about it and really that should be enough. I truly don’t need to see it all, and in ‘88 geeze cameras were the size of a desktop computer!
Yeah I saw somewhere that Sophia is pretty high on the list, but I’ve had this name in mind since 2001. The other name that was under consideration was Anastasia - that’s what would go on the birth certificate, but I would probably use the name Anna in that case. It’s a lot easier to yell.
Kicking through labor? As in kicked his way out? That would be odd! Although I still think having someone kick from the inside is odd period.
August 7th, 2007 at 7:35pm
Isn’t it fun to finally see where you will be when the baby arrives!?! That’s great that they don’t move you after you deliver. I was moved after my daughter was born which wouldn’t have been that bad if i hadn’t gotten too much epidural juice! I was completely immobile, it was 3 in the morning, and I had a tiny, old nurse trying to move my limp body around! Best wishes for a wonderful and unforgetable labor and delivery!