summercomfort (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
summercomfort) wrote2015-10-16 04:41 pm
summercomfort) wrote2015-10-16 04:41 pm
small preggers update
I think the food front might be restabilizing a bit -- turns out no matter how many times I read the words "eat 6 small meals a day", it doesn't really hit me what that means until I mentally translated it to "eat ever 2-3 hours". Cause, you know, when you're eating 3 meals a day, you're used to looking at the clock and being like "oh, it's 4pm, only a couple hours until dinner, I should hold out until then." But in fact, it's "oh I should snack on some things now."
Also: I should make shepherd's pie. Cause that's delicious and has a nice protein-veggie blend.
The big thing, though, is this whole natural birth vs. elective c-section thing.
So I kind of want to have an elective c-section. The doctor is REALLY against that. Like, actively antagonistic about my choice. She's like "but we might accidentally nick your bladder or the baby, the baby will have extra fluid in its lungs, and you'll get a lot of complications if you ever want to have another child." And I wanted to be like "Well how about you also tell me the dangers of natural birth? Or am I just supposed to find that out on my own?" (My primary frustration with this doctor: doesn't really try to understand where I'm coming from before just talking a lot.)
But anyway, I have some emotional stuff invested in the c-section:
- My mom gave birth to both me and my brother by c-section, and we both turned out fine, so I'm naturally inclined to discount the "everything will go horrible with the surgery" talk. (Especially since the c-section for me happened in early-80s China, and my mom had my brother when she was 41... Like, these are all "high risk" type things.)
- I am much more attached to my vagina than to my uterus. My uterus has done nothing but cause me angst re:fertility and menstruation. If *one* of them has to take permanent damage, I'd rather it be the uterus.
- I am already somewhat bothered by the way pregnancy makes changes to my body for the sake of another creature, and how little say I have in the matter (aside from terminating the pregnancy). Like, it's really weird to have my boobs basically prepare to be a baby-food-machine without really consulting me. What if I just want to give the baby formula? Nope, the lactation channels are already expanding or whatever. So at least with the elective c-section thing, I have a choice, yanno?
- 4-9 hours of active labor vs. 1 hour on the operation table -- yeah, one of them sounds much scarier.
But the pregnancy book says I shouldn't just choose it out of fear of labor, so...
(1) I'm going to put aside the super-scary but also super-low-risk things on each side (accidentally knicking the bladder vs. using the vacuum, fluid in the lungs vs getting squeezed weird and umbilical cord drama, good/bad germs in the birth canal, etc)
(2) I'm going to make some basic assumptions given what I know about myself, which is that: (a) I will get an epidural either way, and (b) my perineum is going to tear.
, and the fact that I'm going to get I think it essentially boils down to:
Elective C-Section
Pros:
- scheduled, 1 hour
- I'd have to do less prep work for the labor itself (all those special exercises, running to the hospital only to be sent back, etc)
Cons:
- higher risk of infection and fever (not only wound infection, but also endometritis and urinary tract infection)
- various effects on breastmilk production (less immediate baby contact -- gotta wait at least an hour, plus affect of various painkillers on breastmilk)
- Baby will be a bit early
- Second pregnancy more prone to weird placenta problems. (Which might result in hysterectomy)
- 2-3 more days in the hospital. (I feel like the rest of the post-pregnancy recovery is very similar, though localized to different parts of the body -- basically it's a big damaging thing to your body regardless and you should give yourself 4-6 weeks of rest.)
Natural birth
Pros:
- baby ripens naturally and drops when it's ready
- the "after it drops" seems nicer -- less chances of infection, less hospital/clinical stuff. (Basically do I want to front-load the hospital stuff or back-load it)
- more immediate breastfeeding stuff
Cons:
- labor really messes with the bottom half of your body! Like, spine, butt, intestines... not to mention the "birth canal" (Why is it suddenly called birth canal? :-////)
- longer labor process = more chances of complications during labor
- I'd have to do all this stuff of meeting with midwives and making all these complicated decisions about exactly when I should hustle to the hospital and when I want the epidural and body positions and labor coaches and stuff.
Some questions I should investigate further:
- How good is this hospital at doing an elective c-section? (And should I switch hospitals?)
- I should also wait to get a better idea of placenta and baby placement, and baby size vs. pelvis size. (how late can I make the decision?)
- Can I do an elective c-section during early labor?
Basically, it's weird that all the dangers and complications of labor are kind of normalized, whereas a c-section is seen as a Really Big Deal. :/. Maybe because one involves more work by the medical personnel?
Also: I should make shepherd's pie. Cause that's delicious and has a nice protein-veggie blend.
The big thing, though, is this whole natural birth vs. elective c-section thing.
So I kind of want to have an elective c-section. The doctor is REALLY against that. Like, actively antagonistic about my choice. She's like "but we might accidentally nick your bladder or the baby, the baby will have extra fluid in its lungs, and you'll get a lot of complications if you ever want to have another child." And I wanted to be like "Well how about you also tell me the dangers of natural birth? Or am I just supposed to find that out on my own?" (My primary frustration with this doctor: doesn't really try to understand where I'm coming from before just talking a lot.)
But anyway, I have some emotional stuff invested in the c-section:
- My mom gave birth to both me and my brother by c-section, and we both turned out fine, so I'm naturally inclined to discount the "everything will go horrible with the surgery" talk. (Especially since the c-section for me happened in early-80s China, and my mom had my brother when she was 41... Like, these are all "high risk" type things.)
- I am much more attached to my vagina than to my uterus. My uterus has done nothing but cause me angst re:fertility and menstruation. If *one* of them has to take permanent damage, I'd rather it be the uterus.
- I am already somewhat bothered by the way pregnancy makes changes to my body for the sake of another creature, and how little say I have in the matter (aside from terminating the pregnancy). Like, it's really weird to have my boobs basically prepare to be a baby-food-machine without really consulting me. What if I just want to give the baby formula? Nope, the lactation channels are already expanding or whatever. So at least with the elective c-section thing, I have a choice, yanno?
- 4-9 hours of active labor vs. 1 hour on the operation table -- yeah, one of them sounds much scarier.
But the pregnancy book says I shouldn't just choose it out of fear of labor, so...
(1) I'm going to put aside the super-scary but also super-low-risk things on each side (accidentally knicking the bladder vs. using the vacuum, fluid in the lungs vs getting squeezed weird and umbilical cord drama, good/bad germs in the birth canal, etc)
(2) I'm going to make some basic assumptions given what I know about myself, which is that: (a) I will get an epidural either way, and (b) my perineum is going to tear.
, and the fact that I'm going to get I think it essentially boils down to:
Elective C-Section
Pros:
- scheduled, 1 hour
- I'd have to do less prep work for the labor itself (all those special exercises, running to the hospital only to be sent back, etc)
Cons:
- higher risk of infection and fever (not only wound infection, but also endometritis and urinary tract infection)
- various effects on breastmilk production (less immediate baby contact -- gotta wait at least an hour, plus affect of various painkillers on breastmilk)
- Baby will be a bit early
- Second pregnancy more prone to weird placenta problems. (Which might result in hysterectomy)
- 2-3 more days in the hospital. (I feel like the rest of the post-pregnancy recovery is very similar, though localized to different parts of the body -- basically it's a big damaging thing to your body regardless and you should give yourself 4-6 weeks of rest.)
Natural birth
Pros:
- baby ripens naturally and drops when it's ready
- the "after it drops" seems nicer -- less chances of infection, less hospital/clinical stuff. (Basically do I want to front-load the hospital stuff or back-load it)
- more immediate breastfeeding stuff
Cons:
- labor really messes with the bottom half of your body! Like, spine, butt, intestines... not to mention the "birth canal" (Why is it suddenly called birth canal? :-////)
- longer labor process = more chances of complications during labor
- I'd have to do all this stuff of meeting with midwives and making all these complicated decisions about exactly when I should hustle to the hospital and when I want the epidural and body positions and labor coaches and stuff.
Some questions I should investigate further:
- How good is this hospital at doing an elective c-section? (And should I switch hospitals?)
- I should also wait to get a better idea of placenta and baby placement, and baby size vs. pelvis size. (how late can I make the decision?)
- Can I do an elective c-section during early labor?
Basically, it's weird that all the dangers and complications of labor are kind of normalized, whereas a c-section is seen as a Really Big Deal. :/. Maybe because one involves more work by the medical personnel?