After taking the Bradley Birthing classes we debated many of the “birthing norms” that people do and don’t think about. We weighed the benefits with the risks and decided for or against many different options.
Here are some of the things that we thought were important. I am not going to go in depth here. You will need to do your own research and I highly suggest looking into each of these things! I am not a doctor and I came to these conclusions after much research, but you should always consult with your doctor before making any decisions during pregnancy.
1. Glucose Test. We skipped the glucose test. There were many reasons why, but one was the ingredients in the drink were not something that I wanted to put in my body. The level of sugar was high and because I was not ingesting that much sugar in one sitting…ever, overloading myself and baby on processed junk was not something we wanted to do. Instead I tested my blood sugar for a month. It was simple and just needed to be done a few times during the day….when I got up in the morning (fasting blood glucose), 1 hr. after eating, 2 hrs after eating and 3 hrs after eating. Many doctors don’t see a lot of people declining the glucose test so it was somewhat challenging trying to explain it to my OB. Thankfully she was ok with it.
2. Internal Exams. Towards the end of pregnancy many OB’s offer to check to see how dilated you are. Many women like to find out, hoping it will give them an idea of when they may go into labor. I declined this as it is a chance for unwanted bacteria to be exposed to the area. In addition, dilation is not a measurement of when baby will come. Many women can be dilated for a long time, or may progress quickly. Every woman is different and the risk for baby and myself was not one I wanted to take.
3. Epidural/Pitocin. Obviously no epidural and no pitocin. I do believe that these drugs reach the baby and affect them. We watched a video of newborns doing the breastfeeding crawl. Newborns placed on a mothers chest and work their way up and latch on by themselves. There was a stark different from babies born naturally to those born with an epidural. Naturally born babies had much more energy and strength and the babies born by epidural were very lethargic and unable to find and latch on their own. I will say that after I had baby, I was hemorrhaging so they did give me a shot of pitocin. I was fine with this since baby was already out.
4. Episiotomy. I don’t believe that this is a common practice anymore, but I wanted to make sure. You want to tear, not be cut.
5. IV/Hep lock. It was important for me to stay hydrated on my own and not be pumped full of saline or sugar solution. I also hate needles so the idea of a hep lock was not something that excited me. If I could stay hydrated on my own and everything was ok, I wanted to stay away from these two things.
6. Cord Clamping. We delayed cord clamping. We believed after much research that it was very important for baby to be connected to the placenta until the cord stopped pulsing. This would give baby the full amount of blood cells, nutrients, oxygen, increased immune system and iron stores.
7. Hep. B shot. We declined the Hep. B shot at birth. It was a personal decision for us and we didn’t believe it was needed right away.
8. Vit. K shot. We did get the vitamin K shot. After researching and going back and forth about drops vs. the shot we decided to go with the shot. I believe the benefits outweighed the risks here.
19. Erythromycin Eye Ointment. We declined this as we didn’t have any concerns for risks.
10. Heel Prick Test. If I could do it again I would decline the heel prick. We had a terrible experience. Baby’s blood isn’t pumping as strong the first 24 hrs as they are beginning to build up their blood on their own, and having someone try and take a vial of blood by squeezing our screaming daughters foot was traumatic for everyone. Next time we are declining.
11. Placenta Encapulation. This is a big one! I had read about the benefits and immediately decided to do it. Placenta encapsulation has been used in many cultures for thousands of years. It is believed that the placenta contains hormones, nutrients, and proteins that may help alleviate many postpartum issues and help balance your hormones. Did you know that we are the only mammal that doesn’t consume their placenta? I found someone local and am so thankful that I did! You can check out her website here: http://holistichomebirth.com/placenta_encapsulation
You can check out my blog post on my experience for more information!
12. Vaccines. I’m not going to go in depth on this. You need to do your research and do what you feel comfortable with. We decided to follow the Dr. Sears schedule and have been decently happy with it.
13. Delay Baby’s Fist Bath. We delayed baby’s first bath for about a week. Why you may wonder? Babies are coated in vernix while in utero, which protects their skin while they are in their watery environment. Vernix is like a cream cheesy, waxy layer. It’s that white stuff that they are coated in when they are born. Research has shown that vernix has immunity boosting properties, so leaving it on baby’s skin provides an added layer of protection for them when they are first born. Vernix is also extremely moisturizing to their skin. The doctors wipe down baby once it is born, so it’s not like we were carrying around a cream cheesy baby! We just declined to do a bath. We wanted to leave some of that coating and amniotic fluid on to help protect baby and keep her skin moisturized. I know that it helped her skin. Most newborns I see have skin that is constantly peeling. She did peel a little on her toes and fingers, but that was about it. Not as bad as most. We also delayed her bath because we are very cautious about what we put on her skin and we didn’t want to use anything right away. The first few baths we gave her we didn’t use soap. Just water. Baby skin has oils on it and soap will strip it of oils and dry out the skin. It isn’t needed right away in my opinion!
Confessions of A Natural mama 