Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Dorothy

Hi Dorothy,

Thanks for leaving a comment on my blog. I only post sporadically.

Well, your matter seems urgent (see comment left on last blog entry). Please remember that you can refuse any treatment, even induction. Just say no. The doctors around here can be bullies. Which hospital makes a big difference.

The due date is the middle of the one month 95% confidence band. This means that 2.5% should run longer than 42 weeks. 50% should run longer than 40 weeks. The meds around here seem to think 38 weeks and out.

Please consider refusing pitocin. When I was in maternity triage at Beumont it seemed like they gave it to everyone, even the ones who were progressing. Pitocin makes it hurt worse, the artificially strong contracts look good on the monitor, but aren't good for the baby.

Hmmm, Waterford, Hopefully you're going to ABC Providence.

Don't let them break your bag of waters. I was threating break your water, or go home. I fell for it the first time. The second time I went home and had a good nights rest.

Actually it turns out that is an empty threat. If you want to stay you can.

Have you considered a Doula?

I'm praying for you. This is one of the worst aeras for patient rights. Insist on informed consent. If you don't understand, make them keep explaining until you do. Ask what risks are involved with each procedure. If they say none, they are lying. Even the IV has risks. When they pump you up full of fluids, it dilutes the hormones which are causing labor. Sometimes they will allow a HEP lock instead. That way you have a good vein tapped, but nothing going into it.

Insist that they let you drink water. Eat if you're hungry.


After the baby is born, don't let it out of your sight. Go along for the hearing test. Refuse formula. (I'm assuming you will breastfeed.) Hopefully you've already made up your mind not to circ. If not go to mothering.com and there are lots of things to convince you in their forums.

stocking up 99 at y@h00 please decode, no spaces and you know that big internet ending, I'm hiding it from the bots.

Praying for a happy birth. Let that baby cook as long as you can. You may feel huge and miserable now, but a full term baby is so much easier to care for. With my first they convinced me that 37.5 weeks was enough. It was a rough start.

email me with any little issue, I'd be happy to help. I'm not a doctor, I have no medical background, but I have done six years of nursing among my kids. Rest and nurse, eat, drink and pee. If it's not on that list it can wait until hubby gets around to it. People will want to come see your newborn. They must wash their hands first, they should bring you some food with every visit. Ask them to bring food, you need to eat, and will not have time to cook.

It's your baby. You're a mom now, you make the rules.

(For anyone else - Yep over the top and opinionated, if you don't like it go read somewhere else. It's my blog.)

1 comment:

Dorothy said...

Wow, you responded alot faster than I thought you would. I thought that maybe I was talking to noone :). Anyways, I am planning on breastfeeding and I expect some pain but know that if it hurts bad enough for me to even consider quitting, the baby is not latching on correctly. As for my due date, I went to my doctors yesterday and I really do enjoy my original doctor, she is all for nothing i dont need and she actually told me the truth when it comes to the hospital...that I can refuse pretty much anything. However, she had a baby in the middle of my pregnancy so I now have 2 doctors technically and the other one is young, inexperienced and becomes panicky whenever I question anything she says like I am personally attacking her by questioning anything or anyone in the medical community. Oh Well, shes not supposed to have any clue when I am having my baby :). As for the hospital, I am going to St. Joseph and have already made my presence well known. I have informed the staff as well as my doctor well ahead of time that I am refusing the IV or Heparin lock and am against induction/breaking of the waters/pitocin to induce or strengthen contractions etc. If I had my choice I would be at a birthing center and I would be having a doula and midwife not an OB. Oh and just for reference, if any nurse EVER threatened me I would be one of the few pregnant women carried out by security. My main problem at this point is I have to go where my insurance allows it which does not include birthing centers and does not cover doula charges. I am so beyond not being able to afford anything its not even funny. Not to mention WIC is giving me problems along with medicaid but I have to deal with their bull**** because I cant afford not to. My main concern at the moment is I am so scared to leave my son with a sitter even though I wont have to for over a year from now but I have to start college eventually. Also, I already told them I will most likely be coming in when Im reading to push as I am not one for starving my body of nutrients when it needs them most. The one doctor I dont like actually admitted to me that the only reason women are not allowed to eat is that everyone is treated like a case for a c-section. I told her I dont want to be treated that way and wont allow it. I am also going with the baby for his first bath and the pediatrician is coming into the room to do his check up. Other than that I hope that blogger will help me find some new friends since I have had to remove so many people from my life because of their lifestyle choices. Sorry for writing you a book but I will be sure to email you mkay! Hope you have a good day and I will talk to you soon.