After all of the fiasco of changing insurance and changing doctors at the start of the new year, I have to say that I've been really pleased and impressed with our new health plan. All of the classes that we've attended were a part of our insurance coverage and since they know exactly what our insurance plan is, the classes have been really specific to the hospital that we'll be delivering in.
I feel like I've read so many places online about women who have had hospital births and feel like they haven't had the freedom to labor like they want to or care for the baby right after delivery in the way that they would like- it seems like so many hospitals dictate these decisions for them. We never really considered anything other than a hospital birth, but at the same time we really wanted to be able to have some say in making decisions when it comes to labor, delivery, and immediate care for the baby. It seemed like going that route might set us up for needing a very outlined and detailed birth plan that we might need to fight for once the time came.
But I've been very pleasantly surprised.
In the childbirth classes we were taught different laboring positions and because the instructor, insurance plan, and hospital are all connected, the instructor was able to tell us exactly what we would be able to do and expect and let us know that yes, I would have the freedom to labor in different positions- I wouldn't just be confined to laboring on my back in bed.
At our last doctor's appointment, the OB nurse handed us an outline for a birth plan- from the hospital. I didn't expect the hospital to provide anything like that in the first place, (I thought we would need to do all the research ourselves to figure out what should be in that plan) and I definitely didn't expect the amount of detail and options it had on it. It has sections for:
- Labor
- Monitoring
- Labor Augmentation
- Pain Medication
- Second Stage (pushing)
- Episiotomy
- Delivery
- Cesarean Birth
- Immediately After Delivery
- Postpartum
- Feeding
- Circumcision
Just to give an example of one of those, here's the options (each with a check box) that the "Labor" section includes:
I would like to:
- be able to move around and change position at will throughout labor.
- have a whirlpool tub available for my labor.
- have a birthing ball available.
- be able to drink fluids during labor.
- bring my own music to play during labor.
- keep the environment as quiet as possible.
- have the lights in the room dimmed during labor.
- be informed of all procedures and be allowed time to discuss options in private when time allows.
- Other:_______________
Since I hadn't expected to be provided with any type of birth plan at all from the hospital, I was pretty impressed. Hubby G and I will fill out the birth plan together, bring it back to our doctor, and they'll get a copy over to the hospital so it's already in their hands whenever I go into labor. We'll bring our own copy as well just in case, but it's nice that they'll also have one ahead of time.
Since we've never been through any of this before, I don't really have anything to compare it to other than what I read online. I feel like our experience so far with the hospital has been quite positive, which I haven't really read about many other places- anyone who reads this little blog of mine have any insight? Good/Bad experiences with hospitals related to childbirth?
I obviously haven't had any experience yet, but have heard a lot about the hospital that we are delivering at. The consensus is to go in with an open mind, but be persistent when you feel it is necessary. You have every right to talk over or consider what they are offering or suggesting to you. Basically our labor and delivery instructor said that if they have time to ask you a question, you and your partner have time to discuss it before making a decision. ie. it's not an emergency.
ReplyDeleteAlso I was advised to labor at home as long as possible. Once you get in the hospital you won't be able to eat if you want to or be able to work through a stalled labor if you would like. Though hospitals can be supportive of natural labor or a couple's birth plan they still tend to want to push the process along faster than not.
As far as the birth plan goes that looks very familiar to the one I read on babycenter.com. It's great to bring in, but you can also shorten it by typing up the specific needs you want. I was told it's better to have a short succint birth plan/wish list than a long one. Make a few copies to have in the room as you are laboring for any new nursing staff that comes in.
I guess we'll have to see how everything actually plays out, but I actually asked our doctor about his stance on progressing labor right after we first switched our insurance at the start of the year. Since the doctor who will be delivering our baby is also a family doctor, they explained that they have a more holistic take on the childbirth process compared to doctors who work strictly in OB usually do.
ReplyDeleteFor the birth plan it actually fits all that info into just 2 pages, so packing all that into that much space is pretty good I think! It's pretty much all divided into specific check boxes in each category. Since the birth plan outline that we got is provided by the hospital themselves, I'm going to assume that it will be familiar to the nursing staff there and we'll be good to go!