When last we left our heroine... Oh nevermind!
After all the drama and difficulty we had getting pregnant, and after my newly [re]discovered love of learning, it was only natural that I would be doing a metric ton of research (is a metric ton heavier?). I read several books, including Henci Goer's A Thinking Woman's Guide to a Better Birth. It was totally a game-changer for me. I knew that I was considering a non-medicated, intervention-free birth, but this book helped to cement my frame of thinking in this direction. Goer presented logical arguments for and against every common medical intervention during labor and delivery: from routine episiotomy to induction and epidurals. After reading her arguments, I formed my list of Do Not Want for our baby's birth.
As I formed my birth plan in my head, I decided that we'd need a doula to help make all that happen. A quick internet search yielded Dalia Abrams... and we moved quickly to enroll in her childbirth education class. We had a small group, only two other couples, and it was very helpful and amazing. Not only did we get good, practical advice, but we have new friends out of the whole deal... and friends who think like we do when it comes to raising our children!
I was the furthest one away from delivery in our group- but it turns out not by too much. One couple had their baby right before (or was it just after?) Christmas and the other couple had theirs the week before we had Hayden. We had all chosen to have a non-medicated birth for various reasons, and everyone laughed at me for my reason: to prove to all my friends and family that I could do it. When I told anyone that I was going intervention- and medication-free, they all called me crazy or stupid and said that I'd never be able to do it. It made me more determined to do it, though, and I got my chance on February 15, 2011.
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