Tonight Dave and I toured the Labor and Delivery ward at Kaiser Sunnyside, where I'll be having the baby in two short months! I was so happy to find the facilities were quite nice. The delivery rooms were equipped with a tv, dvd, cd player, lighting control, temperature control, additional bed, and individual bathrooms with bathtubs. There are like 5 or 6 birthing balls available, birthing beams/bars, and a jacuzzi! The tour guide compared the pain relief of a jacuzzi to pumping oneself full of narcotics! As far as baby monitoring, the tour guide instructed us that they'll initially hook us up to the monitor but if everything's fine, We'd be free to roam around. If I needed to be constantly monitored, they have a portable wireless monitor to encourage mobility. How awesome is that?!! The postpartum rooms were even nicer and all had views. They were also brand new! They completed construction on them two months ago.
Most of all, I loved the tour guide! Turns out he's an OB but he claimed to have never actually "delivered" any babies - only "assisted". He is insinuating that it is the mother that "delivers" the baby. He also told us his perspective on labor was that it was natural and your body knows what to do. Each labor team includes one nurse, one midwife, and one OB. It seemed like they had a healthy balance between the "natural" birth and the hospital support available, which is basically what I'm hoping for. After the tour, I feel pretty confident that the labor/delivery teams there will be supportive and encouraging to my birth plan. I am quite relieved to know I have these choices available.
On a completely different topic, my thighs and calves are sore tonight! I did about an hour of stretching and yoga when I got home this evening, which included a lot of repetitions from a standing to squatting position plus holding in various thigh-heavy poses such as Princess pose, the Warriar poses, and a lunge. I'm trying to beef up my thighs for labor. They'll be rock hard by the time I'm ready to push this baby out! I can't say much for my upper body strength these days....try doing any upper body weight-baring exercises with an additional 25-26 pounds on one's frame! Let's just say, I could hardly do a push-up before I was pregnant, it ain't happening now!
As far as the last entry about my mom, it felt really really good for me to get that out. Writing it down, relieved a lot of pressure that I didn't realize I had. I appreciate the support.
1 comment:
The tour sounds awesome! Its really reassuring to know that you have a quiet, relaxing and supportive environment to give birth :)
I think we are lucky to have those options; unlike our mothers when we were born, who probably had to share a room after delivery with another woman on the other side of a curtain!
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