So, I've been reading Laurie Morgan's book, and she talked in there about needing to think about what to do if your baby dies. And this is something I've believed for a long time; that regardless of where you give birth, that you need to consider death a real possibility and prepare yourself for the possibility of it happening. I hesitate to talk about this with other pregnant mothers, because I don't want to upset anyone, but I think especially in the UC community, it needs to get discussed. My mother's first child was a stillborn, and though she gave birth in a hospital, it was unmedicated. I've read the autopsy report, and it basically says, "We have no clue what happened". They did mention nuchal cord though. *Rolleyes* But they do say that they don't believe that was the cause of death. Anyway, I always thought that if my baby died, I would want them to take it away, and I would never want to see it again. (I can never look at funerals, dead bodies squick me out.) But then I got to thinking, this baby was a part of me for so long, and to just throw it out wouldn't be right. We're a family, and we take care of our own. But... I also have not the first clue as to how to handle something like that. I mean, I suppose you could just bury the child in the backyard and tell everyone you had a stillbirth. But, I don't think that's the way things are supposed to be handled. Who do you call? Don't you have to call someone to affirm time of death or whatnot? Would you just call the funeral home? And even though I'm probably having a midwife there, who will prolly know what to do, I feel personally responsible for every second of my birth and my child, and I don't want to leave it up to the midwife. So, I figured you UCers would be thinking of this and might know what to do.
Just for the record, I don't think this is a very likely possibility at my birth, I'm in good health, and the baby is too, but I do think we all need to be prepared for something like this to occur, so we aren't blindsided if it does happen.
Just for the record, I don't think this is a very likely possibility at my birth, I'm in good health, and the baby is too, but I do think we all need to be prepared for something like this to occur, so we aren't blindsided if it does happen.