Help me to not "risk out" of Alternative Birth Center

[pixiesmommy]

So we visited the birth center in the hospital on Saturday. The Alternative Birth Suites are the ones with the labor/birth tubs, which is what I'm hoping for! There are 3 of these rooms and here is what is REQUIRED before they will even let you in the room:

-You have to be monitored for 30 minutes:
blood pressure must be normal
fetal heart rate must be normal
must have NO fever

You must be at least 37 weeks (term) and require no Pitocin (well duh- I didn't want any!) and be at least 4cm dialated when admitted.


So.. here is my plan- tell me what you think!

-Eat lots of celery from here on out. Didn't someone say it helped keep blood pressure low? I've been normal to low thus far, but I don't want to risk it! Any other ideas??

-Take my temp before I leave home and see what it is. If it's anything above normal, take some Tylenol before we leave for hospital. (Hospital is at least an hour away!)

-Midwife checks me in THEIR office before I go to hospital (they are 2 blocks away) and makes sure I'm dialated enough to be admitted before I ever even go in. They told me this is routine and that I can labor in their office or out on the street- whatever- until I'm dialated enough!

-I don't know what I can do about fetal heart rate since we all know those machines are junk. I guess I just have to hope it's what they consider to be normal!!! Any ideas?

[wwisdomskr]

It sounds like you have a great plan!

Have you read Henci Goer's book "The Thinking Woman's Guide to a Better Birth"? There is a section about fetal heart rate monitoring, etc. I would just be prepared to question EVERYTHING that they could possibly say about it. Of COURSE baby's heart rate goes down during contractions! Duh! Does it rebound? That's the important one.

Staying relaxed and focused will help your blood pressure as well. Know what your baseline and your normal pattern is. If it's high, tell them that you are feeling some anxiety about whether or not you'll get into the room you want! Bring some Bach's Rescue Remedy and have your support person remind you to take it at any point that you start feeling stressed or overwhelmed.

You'll have to follow your instincts about the fever/tylenol thing. Fever is one of our body's best tools for fighting infection. During birth, it is a good indicator for many things. As a natural birthing mama, I always say don't do anything until we have some reason to do something...and sometimes a fever can be that predicating reason. However, if you feel that the treatment protocol--if you have a fever--will be more harmful to you and your baby than just letting you birth on your own and evaluating baby after birth, then treating the fever yourself may be good for you.

Personally, I would take an infection-fighting stance, rather than a symptom covering stance. I would take lots of high quality vitamin C in the last weeks of pregnancy, practice meticulous hygiene, and up the vitamin C even more as soon as I went into labor.

Good luck, Mama!

[pixiesmommy]

It was the Tylenol that I wasn't sure about... rethinking that now that I've typed it. My body temp tends to run on the low side anyway, so "normal" for me is more like 96-97* which will probably be in my favor. I was just thinking I might "heat up" from stress- emotional and physical rather than trying to COVER an infection, symptoms of something that might be more serious, etc. YK?

Never heard of Bach's Rescue Remedy- will have to try googling that!

Yes, I own "The Thinking Woman's Guide..." My wonderful DH bought it for me and I love it!! He read it too. I plan to take that one with me to the hospital for sure!

Thanks for mentioning the vitamin C. Gosh, I really need a list of what to do and take on a daily basis- all these herbs and squats, etc that I'm planning to take and do keep getting tossed to the wayside. I'm going to have to make myself a "to do" list like the ones I make and post for Pixie!

Manda

[Momma Aimee]

-You have to be monitored for 30 minutes:
blood pressure must be normal
fetal heart rate must be normal
must have NO fever

am i that innocent or is all that THAT hard to achieve .....

even with all the issues we had with theo's birth we didn't have any of thoese issues (save my BP but that was LATE into the delievery and it wsa dropping too much).....

so I guess what i am saying is -- don't freak thoese are pretty much normal things to look for and I don't see why you should NOT be able to ahcieve it... YK?

Aimee

[sorteep]

sounds like a good plan (but , personally, I would skip the Tylenol) I ma sure you will be fine, you should meet those criteria easily.. I am glad it is such a nice hospital for you!

Laura

[pixiesmommy]

No, I don't think they are hard to achieve- especially since we all know that there is a WIDE range of normal and that most births don't have complications!

Buuuuut..... I'm not so naive that I pretend to think that if I go in there with 1* of above "normal" temperature that they will overlook it either.

Honestly, it is all going to depend on what the hospital will consider "normal" and THAT is where I freak out! Obviously, when we're in pain it affects our bodies, and by the time I go the hospital, I'm pretty sure I'll be in some hella pain!

Sooo.. that said, I'm trying NOT to worry, but I want to be prepared too. If I go to the midwives' office and my BP is a little high, I want tools to lower it, YK? They are pretty great though and I'm sure they will help me in any way they can, but I like to educate myself too, so that I'm able to ask, "Hey, what if we try x, y, and z?" because you never know when someone is going to forget about x,y, or z!


Manda

[meisterfrau]

I've heard that bananas and oatmeal are also good for lowering BP. (I'd type more but my toddler is all over me.)

[Isaac'sMa]

Stay well hydrated!

[GinaRae]

Realize that if you're really freaking out right now, and don't get a handle on it, you might cause one of these things (like a high BP) because you're so scared to have it!

So do whatever you can to get to a comfort zone and get over it now. Those are pretty normal things and most women don't deal with any of them in labor so you should be fine!