Birth Plan
I recently tidied up a few things in my closet. One of the things that had been sitting on the shelf was the birth plan I took to the hospital. There is so much written about how to create the perfect birth plan. There are endless templates you can use. There is also an endless amount of opinions about each choice you have during the birthing process. Get an epidural/don't get an epidural - use pitocin/don't use pitocin - stand for birth/lay down for birth - short breaths/long breaths - socks/no socks - lights on in the room/no lights on in the room - let your family be in the room/don't let your family be in the room - etc etc etc. You get the point. I remember blogging about me putting a birth plan together and some of the crazy things you could mark as being important (or not). Remember the 'saving your afterbirth' option GROSS (that is only my opinion though) :)
As I glanced back at my ever important birth plan I distinctly remember NOT having used it at ALL on the big day. Pretty much everything went out the door. What the birth plan doesn't account for is how your labor actually starts. Since my labor started with my water breaking and no contractions that really changed how some of the usual things happened chronologically. That birth plan didn't even leave my suitcase the entire time I was in the hospital. I remember thinking I needed multiple copies to hand to nurses and doctors. Nope, not even one got distributed. I know that this isn't how it happens for a lot of people, but it did happen this way for me so I cracked myself up a little as I looked back at the time I spent to put it together. I think the best thing about putting together a birth plan is that you learn about all of your options so you can speak to everything at least. That, I must say, did come in handy.
As I glanced back at my ever important birth plan I distinctly remember NOT having used it at ALL on the big day. Pretty much everything went out the door. What the birth plan doesn't account for is how your labor actually starts. Since my labor started with my water breaking and no contractions that really changed how some of the usual things happened chronologically. That birth plan didn't even leave my suitcase the entire time I was in the hospital. I remember thinking I needed multiple copies to hand to nurses and doctors. Nope, not even one got distributed. I know that this isn't how it happens for a lot of people, but it did happen this way for me so I cracked myself up a little as I looked back at the time I spent to put it together. I think the best thing about putting together a birth plan is that you learn about all of your options so you can speak to everything at least. That, I must say, did come in handy.
Dogs
That first week with the dogs and Nate seems like a distant memory now, but at the time it was STRESSFUL. When the dogs were so hyper around Nathaniel we got worried that their 'prey' drive was kicking in. We had no idea what to do if that was the case. We got immediately worried that the dogs + Nate wasn't going to work. Just typing that right now is so weird. I remember Kevin's mom telling Kevin something like 'give it time - you aren't going to get rid of the dogs'. Luckily we had a voice of reason. In the moment I didn't realize how tired, drugged and out of it I was and how sleep deprived Kevin was. We were not in the best position to be judging any situation.
Now I watch as Nate reaches out his hand to pet the dogs when they walk by or lay by him. Their ear flapping and barking don't even phase him anymore. He loves to watch them. It is funny that now Nate has way more interest in the dogs then they do him. Both Mocha and Kona do really well around him - Kona is especially careful not to get too close and is super gentle around him. On occasion, I let Kona lick his hand since Nate gets such a kick out of it. I just wash his hand afterwards. One thing I do know is that these dogs are just as spoiled as they always were :)
Hospital Bag
Much like the birth plan my overly strategized hospital bag went fairly unused. I am estimating here, but I bet of the 50 things I had in my bag I used 5. Once again it may have been because things didn't follow the path of an easy peasy birth, who knows. I know that Kevin had some of the peanut butter crackers I packed. I used my extra socks, toothbrush (not until like the 3rd day though - EWH gross I know), my shampoo and soap (again about the 3rd day when I could stand by myself) and a hair tie. I guess I wore an outfit out of the hospital too. But pretty much everything else was still perfectly packed :) I ended up wearing a hospital gown the whole time because of the c-section and hospital underwear (those were right up there with the best Victoria Secrets has to offer). I mostly just laid in bed spacing out so a lot of the rest of the items just weren't necessary. Plus, the thought of getting out of bed to get to my suitcase was WAY too much work at the time.
What made me think about my hospital bag was that I broke into the extra cherry chapsticks I had bought specifically for the big day. Yep, I had brought 3 extra cherry chapsticks. I heard that your lips get dry and if one falls it will roll somewhere that you'll never find so you need extra (Plus I'm a chapstick addict).
AAAAaahhh the memories.... crazy memories
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| Nate in his new sun hat |
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| "Hey mom, why am I wearing a lobster hat?" |
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| Spoiled Mocha chewing on a rawhide |
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| Mocha just hanging out |
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| Yep, Kona gets to sleep under the covers - told you they are spoiled |
1 comment:
I had to chuckle at your "looking back." How true that is. We were so worried/over prepared for the first one, and had a huge bag of stuff the first time around, all of which never got used. Except the granola bars! Those were gone! I had a "normal" (non-surgical) birth, and still didn't shower until probably day 2 (or 3?).
By the second time around, I had multiple trips to the ER for pre term labor, all of which I drove MYSELF to the hospital...including the first one on a business trip in Las Vegas. Middle of the night to the county hospital at 29 wks--that's a great story.
Anyway, on the day she was born, I again drove myself to the hospital. That's how it goes when you have one at home, middle of the night, and need to go quickly! Didn't seem funny at all but never would have happened the 1st time around!
Our bag the second time around was probably minimal to nothing, once I understood they would furnish me with those awesome undies :)
I figure now that time has passed I'd really be a cool and calm mom to a newborn. Those first few weeks are dizzying and a blur, years later you can take it in stride more and see how things turn out in time. That's probably why the Duggar's can have 19 (and counting)!
Hope all is well :)
Shannon
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