I was so pleased to learn that my hospital has gotten rid of some "routine" interventions and is beginning to embrace NCB. Unless there is a medical emergency, the newborn stays in the room with mom and dad for the first hour/hour and a half for skin-to-skin bonding. No radiant warmer-just a blanket and human contact with mom. Apparently, mom's circulatory system regulates baby's temperature just like the warmer does.

They also will not give sugar water or bottles or paci's to any baby who is being b/f unless the mother requests it.

The eye solution is not given until babies are more adjusted. The vitamin K injection can be given orally to reduce discomfort.

There is a 1-1 ratio of nurse to patient during active labor. That is awesome!!

The fetal monitor will only be used sporadically. They initially will hook you up for 20 m and get a baseline and watch for patterns/concerns. If they see a need, they will come in once an hour to look at vitals. Otherwise they try not to interrupt the labor with intrusions.

I am feeling so confident about the whole experience thus far. And even DH is excited about going in to L/D. Last night he said he hopes I go into labor overnight so that he can drive me to the hospital instead of me having to call him at work and have his mom take me and him meet me there. He also joked that I need to tell my doctor that our puppy, Annabelle will need to come with us b/c she is one of my coping techniques. I am very tactile and love stroking her ears and petting her.

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Jo--
Sounds like your hospital is very good about things. I was also relieved to find out that mine doesnt do some things (like shaving or enema) that used to be common practice, and you get your own nurse for her entire shift, if need be. And I was SO relieved to find out that ALL rooms are private, and have a fold out bed for DH. Our hospital has a buffet, instead of bringing you food, for you and DH to use, to help get you up and moving. It is right there in the L&D ward, and you can just push your baby along with you! I also found out that they don't take the baby to the nursery, ever, unless you want them to. (Except for a few hrs after birth to clean them up and do the hearing test). How does your hospital do the PKU testing? I still need to ask about ours, but I really would rather they not do the heel lancing. It is unnecessarily painful, and there is a belief that causing that type of pain so shortly after birth can cause problems with breastfeeding. I also need to ask about the eye treatment; I don't want him to get it at all. There is no point since I don't have any std's, but Im not sure if they require it. If so, I want them to wait to do it. I also added a few more things to the list, like not wanting residents or students in the room under any circumstances. I don't need more people, and since our hospital is a teaching hospital, I am sure that there is the possibility (even though no one ever told me that). Are you going to use a tub?

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Krissy

Krissy- our hospital will do the PKU orally, if you'd rather. Enemas and shaving are not routine, but I added that anyway. DH will also be able to stay overnight in a fold-out bed. My sister recommended to me that I take advantage of the nursery overnight except for when he needs to breastfeed. She said that I will need to recover and get in some quality sleep before we go home and it's all on me. I'll have to see how I'm feeling once nighttime gets closer. There are only 3 L/D rooms that have a tub. I may use it for relaxation, but I'm not sure. I think the water may agitate me, I'm weird that way. Under no circumstance should DH approach me with an ice pack! I HATE cold!! He's already been informed of that one. We are going to make our rice sock tonight. I want to find a cute pair of socks for that. Silly, I know.

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Krissy - the silver nitrate in the eyes should be YOUR choice. I don't think there is a written law requiring you to do it. You may want to research it and see what applies to your hospital/doctors. Also, since you're refusing Hep B, those nurses will probably hound you until the minute you're discharged (that's what happened to my sister when Samuel was born).

Stay strong and stick to your guns.

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Jo and Krissy, the silver nitrate is totally optional. I didnt do it with Mia, my doc said there was no reason for it.

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Great, girls! Thank you so much for the info! I am definitely not going to do the silver nitrate; I am so shocked by all of the extra chemicals that they are already trying to push on my baby! I am going to meet with the pediatrician that I "think" I am going with next week, and am going to ask him some questions, and also see if he acts annoyed about how granola I am being. That will be one way to see if I really like him; I want a supportive pediatrician. I see my OB Wednesday, and am going to show him my birth plan. I think he will support everything. I know he will ask AGAIN about circumcision, but we just haven't decided yet. Early on I told him no, but then decided to let DH make the final decision. With my husband, that means the baby could be five years old before he makes up his mind!

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Krissy

Krissy ~ I took a 3 day course offered by "DONA" to get my doula certification. It was moreso to show I am interested in the birthing process while I was applying to med school and was going to use it to get some L/D experience if I didn't get into medical school. Since I got in to the one I wanted, I have not been a doula for anyone as my med school courses and Ashlyn keep me plenty busy. But, it was nice to use on myself! Doula prices vary A LOT regionally. Around here most get ~$250 per client. One of the ladies that got certified though had moved here from NY, and she hired a doula when she had her daughter and it was $1200. Obviously a huge difference. Most doula's want you to contact them by at least the 6 month of the pregnancy so you can have personal at home "classes/preparations" and to make sure your personalities get along well. Birth isn't a time to have someone on your nerves in the room, haha.

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Krissy- I declined the Silver nitrate eye drops, Heb B, & the Vit K shot at the hospital with my son. The Vit K shot is unnecessary too. Your colostrum with nursing contains more Vit K than the shot. Plus the shot has been linked to the rise in childhood cancers. I put it all on my birth plan and my choices were completely respected at the hospital. No one tried to push anything on me or even mentioned it. One nurse even commented how my sons eyes looked great and how he could focus on me immediately without that terrible greasy goop in them.

They showed me how they checked decline on all shot/ eye drop forms and I signed them and that was it. You sign either way even if you accept the shots just a different box is checked.

The only concern was could my son be circumcised if he didn't have the Vit K shot. Our pedi said the shot doesn't work anyway. He said that it takes 72 hours to work to stop bleeding and most boys are circumcised with-in 24-48 hours. He said if my son was to have that rare bleeding disorder they would know right after the heel stick test if he didn't stop bleeding. It was fine and the OB did the circ. I just made sure I ate lots of veggies full of Vit K before labor so there would be no lack of it. Unfortunately my son had a bad circumcision and had to have it re-done in surgery at 18 months later. So not so sure I would circumcise again after some horror stories the urologist told us. Makes you wonder why OB's do them since they have nothing to do with infants. Really urologists should be doing them.

Also, my son never had to leave my room. They did his first bath in our room with us & his hearing test in our room too.

I wish you luck and stick to your wishes and beliefs!!

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[quote=romasposa;177394]Krissy- our hospital will do the PKU orally, if you'd rather. QUOTE]

Jo--I think you meant the Vit. K. PKU is a blood test, and it is required in all states. They usually do a heel lancing to get the blood, which is very painful for the baby. If you request, they can do a venipuncture on the back of his hand, which is quicker, less painful, and has less chance of having to be repeated. I have no idea why most hospitals don't just do it that way?

Thanks girls for all of the support; I think that people at my job (and some of my family) think that I am nuts for some of the decisions I have made. I have very strong opinions about a lot of this stuff, and I hope the nurses and hospital staff respect my decisions. I meet with the doc today, and am going to bring my birth plan with me.

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Krissy

Krissy- oops. To be honest, the instructor was talking about the eye stuff, vit. K, and the heel lancing while we were in front of the nursery and I was wildly distracted. There was a baby being washed who weighs what the u/s showed Dominic to weigh and I was deep in thought about how this baby and my little one weigh the same. I was visualizing having him and thought to myself, "he's pretty small, it shouldn't be THAT bad." Trying to pysche myself up, you know? I wasn't really paying attention to the instructor at that point.

DH asked if I wanted to go and look at the babies again this weekend to keep us focused on our natural goal. I think he enjoyed seeing the babies and getting an idea of what we are in for.

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Jo--I hear ya! My DH loved seeing the nursery, too--I know he will want to go by there after our lamaze class tomorrow. When we were looking at the babies, I just kept thinking they looked huge! Normally I think infants look so tiny, but now that I have to get one out of me, they seem enormous! You could probably ask your doc or pediatrician about the PKU test. My sister said her little girl's heel looked like hamburger, and was obviously sore, so I want to avoid that if possible. I am also skipping the eye stuff, and I have not made up my mind about vitamin K, but if my doc says it is unnecessary, I will skip that, too. I don't want a bunch of extra chemicals or procedures forced on him right after his grand entrance!

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Krissy

Double post-sorry

I just got back from the doc. It was a wierd appt (I posted a new pregnancy thread about it), but he did approve most of my birth plan. It turns out that in Illinois you have no choice about the silver nitrate in the eyes; it is a state law. That makes me SO mad; I guess I will just put in there to delay it as long as possible. Also, he really doesnt want me to wear my contacts during delivery; just in case there were a need for an emergency c-section. I am just going to wear them and not tell him, he will never remember that I need contacts. Other than that, most of the stuff was fine, and he assured me that he is not going out of town until the end of October, so he should be there! Yay

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Krissy

Krissy, I would be very angry that a state law was making me put anything into my babies eye. There has to be some way around that. Also, the nurse that did Mia's PKU was great and had it done within a few seconds, but the one that did Morgans really took forever and she had a bruise for a long time but neither of them cried so I dont think it was to bad for them.

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Krissy - Check to see if there are any exemptions like for religion or moral purposes like there are regarding vaccines. I think it's terrible that the state/FDA/CDC are forcing people to do things that are against their own personal beliefs.

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Krissy, I would check your state laws. They can recommend it but I don't think they can enforce it if you don't want it. That is their way of trying to make you agree to what they want. You might also call the newborn nursery and see if you can refuse it. I really don't think they can make you do anything you don't want.

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Krissy - Maybe this will help.

Illinois Exemption Information

an excerpt...

Birth Exemptions:

For those who are planning a hospital birth but want to evade invasive routine post natal procedures such as a Hep B shot, vitamin K injection, newborn screening, or the application of silver nitrate in the newborn's eyes, a very specific birthing plan must be submitted to the hospital in advance of the birth. Hospital staff must be informed, in advance, of your needs, wants and desires where your baby and birthing experience are concerned. The same applies to midwives.

Religious Exemption from newborn screening allowed.
Ill. Rev. Stat. ch. 410, 240/3

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