Sunday, May 31, 2009

The Induction of Labor

I copied this from Luna Maya's blog, the birth center in Chiapas where my midwife is currently working.

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Cristina's Handy Guide To Surviving the Induction of Labor

I'm due for March 13th.... it's now March 15.... Do you think the baby is ok?... You are now 41 weeks... I will send you for a non-stress test.... Your placenta seems to be aging... your fluid levels are decreasing.... The head is still high.... Any contractions?.... You are now at 41.3 weeks.... If you pass 40 weeks we will have schedule an induction... We must induce.... We will induce... You will be induced on Friday.... We will induce on Monday.... You should have the baby within 12 hours.... Induction....

SOUND FAMILIAR???

Seems like we have gone from "pregnancy can last anywhere between 38 and 42 weeks to"... "you are an oven and if your bun is in there for more than 40 weeks it will be horribly burnt and thus useless"...

Outside of out of hospital midwifery, the induction epidemic is rampant. I will not go into the dangers of induction in this entry. You can learn all about those in books, movies and webpages and by asking midwives. Instead I have created a list of questions to ask your doctor or midwife when they schedule or suggest an induction. I'd love to hear your comments:

10 Questions to Ask your Inducing Provider:

1. How many more years might I be pregnant?

2. If I am pregnant for another year will my child learn to walk and garble in the womb?

3. If my pregnancy lasts 3 years will my child learn to identify colors in the womb?

4. After you put the artificial oxitocin in my vein how do you expect to compensate for the other hormones that won't be naturally produced by my body that are necesary for labor, such as endophines, prolactin, catacolmines, prostaglandins.... and won't be produced by my body because of the artificial oxitocin.

5. How do you feel about the fact that I will be expereincing contractions that are about 3 times stronger than natural contractions? Does that matter to you at all? Will you be there to hold my hand and help me breathe?

6. How do you feel about my chances of me ending up in an emergency cesarean? Does that make you nervous at all? Are you pretty good at doing emergency cesareans?

7. After my baby is in intensive care for meconium aspiration, will you have any trouble sleeping at all? Do you think you might have nightmares?

8. After my baby comes home from the NICU and feels like a complete stranger to me, can you recommend where I can find my "maternal instincts" and "innate ability to breastfeed"?

9. What are your thoughts on the fact that, if my baby hasn't initiated labor maybe its not ready to be born, may be too small, not ready to breathe, not ready to handle extrauterine life, and may need another week to mature?

10. So, can you, once again, really clearly explain to me why it is dangerous for my baby to stay within MY womb, where it has lived its ENTIRE life for another week?

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Priorities

My apologies for being such a slacker blogger lately. Looking back, I just realized that other than the short post this morning, I have not blogged since last Thursday. The posts since then were all written some time ago, saved as drafts, and just published this week.

I really, really want to share so much information, stories, and photos. I would also love to respond to all the unanswered emails that are stacking up daily. But...

I have a family. The kids need to eat, have clean clothes, be taught, played with, disciplined etc. There are errands to be run and phone calls to be made. The house needs to be kept reasonably clean (notice the relative term). Sometimes, I even need to sleep.

Normally, I would not be this behind on my duties at home. Last week, we had unusually cool weather, so we went on four or five different hikes and field trips throughout the week. Things started falling behind, and when there are five kids involved, getting off track even slightly means that I will be digging myself out of a pit for probably the rest of the week.

It is so tempting to just sit in front of the computer when I feel overwhelmed by my work. After all, what's the point in even tackling the mountain of work when it never ends? But I know that if I don't keep swimming, I will get swept away by the tidal wave of chores that is forever chasing me.

So off I go. But I'm really really hoping to have something more interesting to say before the week is over.

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Natural remedy for acid reflux

I learned about this "cure" years ago from my midwife during my pregnancy with Isaac. Since then, I have recommended it many times, and it always seems to get the trick done. Great alternative to "purple pills", and safe during pregnancy.

It's kind of the same principle as fighting fire with fire.

If you take an antacid to get rid of your heartburn, the antacid "soaks" up your stomach acid, and the heartburn stops. Or at least it's supposed to. But more often than not, your body decides to make even more stomach acid because now there's even less acid in the stomach. So the typical recommendation of doctors to follow a low-acid diet is pretty much exactly the opposite of what you need to do.

Instead, "turn off" the bile production by simply raising your stomach's acid content. To do so, put 1-2 Tbsp of apple cider vinegar in a tall glass of water, and drink approx. 30 minutes before your meal. Your stomach will settle, and you won't have heartburn after the meal.

How long you will have to continue this regimen is up to anyone's guess. I thought I would have to do it for the rest of my pregnancy, but after just two days, I never had heartburn again for the remainder of my pregnancy. Since then, I have only had to use it a few times with each pregnancy (whereas I used to go through bottles of Mylanta during my first pregnancy).

Please let me know if you tried this and how it worked for you.

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

What's Mom worth?

According to salary.com, I should be earning $153,012/year. That's six figures! Somebody owes me a whole lotta dough.

Click here to do your own calculation.

Friday, May 1, 2009

Naptime - my link to sanity

People often ask how I can manage taking care of five small children, the housework, various projects and activities at church etc., especially given my husband's super-busy work schedule, while still finding the time to blog or do anything else recreational.

My first answer is, I don't. My house is not always (okay, almost never)as clean as it should be, and I rarely get more than a few minutes of quiet time during the day.

My second answer is, I don't sleep. While obviously an exaggeration, staying up when the kids are down is a wonderful opportunity to get stuff done without them undoing my work on the other side of the house.

I am pretty easy-going as far as scheduling the little ones goes, but I insist that at least the youngest two (sometimes three) take a nap every day. So when the baby falls asleep around lunchtime, I quickly send Miriam to bed for her nap. Most days, I also tell John to lie down while I get some work done, and tell him that he will be allowed to get up in 15 minutes if he is still awake. That gives me enough time to get the dishwasher loaded and started, which is my favorite household appliance because it keeps the little ones asleep unlike anything else. With any luck, John will also have fallen asleep by then. If not, this is the time that I do school work with him for a half hour or so while Solomon and Isaac have "quiet time". If they are not yet done, they finish up their school work, otherwise they are only allowed to engage in silent activities such as reading or puzzles, or they have to play outside. During this time, they are not supposed to come bother me at all unless they absolutely must.

Once I get done with John, this gives me an opportunity to straighten things up around the house, do some laundry, or relax on the computer. I really need that time where I am not just constantly being bombarded by all the kids at the same time.

Same thing at night - one hour spent working after the kids are all in bed is worth more than all day long with them on my heels. I try not to stay up too late, though, because I also like to get up early. Now that the days are getting longer, I often wake up around 5 am on my own, which gives me about an hour or two before the kids start getting up. I use this time to read my Bible, work on the chapters that I have memorized and want to maintain, do some quiet housework, and yes, blog. I just love quietness. More so than sleep.

Love not sleep, lest thou come to poverty; open thine eyes, and thou shalt be satisfied with bread.

Proverbs 20:13

Slothfulness casteth into a deep sleep; and an idle soul shall suffer hunger.

Proverbs 19:15