Sick and...Elated

Today, I'm sick. Not morning sickness sick, but really sick. I have nasty post-nasal drip and my head feels stuffed with cotton. My eyes hurt and burn and every part of me aches. It's horrible. The worst of it all is that I can't go home and I can't take tomorrow off. There is just too much going on here at work. If I were to miss a day, I'd be buried for weeks and it's just not worth it.

On a much, much happier note, though, Kelly and I found our hospital and our doctor. Those of you who talk to us regularly know that we were struggling to find a place to give birth. We have two incredibly different needs in a place of birth. I am (surprise, surprise) much more natural and holistic than Kelly in this arena. I don't want to be hooked up to medical equipment and given drugs and forced to stay in one position. If I want to jump up and down and scream to relieve the pain, that's what I want to be able to do. I'm not going to have an epidural and I'm not one bit interested in scheduling my labor. In short, birth does not feel like a medical situation to me. It feels like the most natural thing in the world - something that my body was born to do. I don't need a bunch of doctors and nurses telling me how to sucessfully complete what is ingrained in every cell of my body.

Kelly, on the other hand, is much more cautious. She almost always lives her life by the "what-ifs." I pass no judgement on this. Advanced planning has saved our asses more times than I would like to admit. The thought for her of my giving birth in a cruncy birthing center was not a good one. There are no monitors, no medications and most importantly, no life-saving steps can be taken if the worst possible thing were to occur for me or the baby.

Well, being the loving partners that we are, we agreed to look at all of our options before we made a decision. We visited one birthing center (I loved it, Kelly was wary), one hospital in DC (we both hated it and vetoed it immediately) and one hospital near where we live in Southern Maryland. This one blew our mind.

It has it all. And it's where we are going to give birth. We see no need to continue our search (which takes the precious few hours at night that we get). Civista (the hospital) has it all. First, it's a hospital. Should anything happen, there are all the right people and units to make sure that we are as medically taken care of as we can be. Second, while they are not exactly encouraging about not using the monitors, they won't force you to use them. We've agreed that I will wear the monitors the minimum amount of time to ensure that both me and the baby are okay (like 10 minutes an hour). Third, they never take our baby unless there is a medical emergency and they have to. This is extremely important to both of us, and was a deal breaker at the first hospital we looked at.

The only concession that I'm making is that I will have to give birth on my back with my legs in stirrups (medically, the absolute WORST position to give birth), and I'll be monitored the entire time I'm pushing. But so what. Everything else is perfect, and isn't that what compromise is all about?

The most important thing of all is that we both felt comfortable there. Kelly said it reminded her of Mon General (for all you WV folks who understand the reference) and it reminds me of Mid-Maine Medical Center (there you go, Maine peeps). Basically, it's casual and comfortable. They ALWAYS used the words "significant other" and we felt perfectly comfortable acting like the couple that we are. We realized that we really do highly value the "home-town" feel of the hospital. The nurses were joking, laughing and enjoying each other and the patients. We don't want to feel like a number. We hate stuffy.

AND finally - all the post partum rooms are private and include a bed for Kelly (no chair sleeping for her...)!