It’s interesting how every year the anniversary of my Dad’s going home to heaven has a different emotional impact. This year the excitement of having a baby is shadowed by Dad not being here to share it with me. In some ways 11 years seems like a long time, in other ways it feels like yesterday we spent his last days with him in the hospital.
Usually singing hymn 399 in the CW which we sang at his funeral and which usually brings me to tears was overshadowed by the emotion singing “For all the Saints” last Sunday (we happened to sing both then). Perhaps because we’re studying Revelation in Bible Class the joy of heaven after this earthly life is in the forefront of my mind this year.
There are still things I can’t do that remind me of Dad, and some days I miss him so much I can’t stand it. But I would never wish him back to this earth when Heaven has such wonderful things in store!
Since being pregnant I’ve heard everything under the sun as pros/cons for either a natural childbirth or using an epidural block. My husband and I attended our first childbirth class this past weekend and Martha, the nurse who taught the class and has so many certifications I couldn’t keep them all straight, did an excellent job presenting everything in a non-biased way so that we as parents could make our own decisions. She’s been certified childbirth educator for the last 12 years, she’s a lactation consultant, doula, has worked as a hospital and birthing center nurse, and now heads up the maternity floor at the hospital. She medically described what goes on with an epidural and systemic drugs and really clarified my questions about that. I’ve done research on the internet, but hearing from a nurse that is up on everything current was much more informative.
First of all, she told us that anything written before 2007 is pretty much outdated. In fact, as far as labor meds and info goes, so much progress has been made that some of last year’s material was already outdated. Glad I didn’t waste the time checking out books at the library! Epidurals have improved so dramatically that very rarely do the problems occur now that occurred 5 years ago. And some things that have been attributed to epidurals aren’t a result of epidurals at all! Take for example the claim that epidurals cause long-lasting back pain. Within the last year they’ve discovered that when an epidural block is administered, nurses tend to be rougher with the moms. So when the time comes for mom to push often nurses will push the legs back so far and so fast they essentially throw out the mom’s back! So when the epidural wears off, mom is in so much pain and her back is thrown out it takes months or years to recover from that. Martha gave strict instructions to the husbands to make sure their nurses are gentle and showed them how far the legs should be pushed up and NO FURTHER! Interesting find. Another thing she told us is that a very small amount of the epidural is released first to make sure it’s going in the right place and no adverse effects occur. That’s lowered significantly the number of occasions where it goes up into the nerve center of the spine instead of where it’s supposed to go. She said that compared to 5 years ago, those instances have also been dramatically reduced. Then she showed us exactly where the epidural is placed and how it’s a block, not a pain med. That means that it does NOT enter the blood stream and does NOT get to the baby so if the baby comes out groggy it’s not because of the epidural.
Which brings me to systemic drugs which DO enter the blood stream. She said in the last couple years doctors have been less and less inclined to encourage systemic drugs because of that and because they are very short-lived. She said systemic drugs are hardly used anymore, at least at our hospital.
Now that I feel so much better informed, I’d rather do it without the epidural. Not that I’m afraid of the dangers of the epidural, but that since I spent two weeks in the hospital with my dad before he died tubes and machines freak me out. I’m not afraid of the needles, I just don’t want to be hooked up to a bunch of machines. The other big reason is I’m not a person that can stay in one position very long–I’d rather be able to move around. Those two reasons trump any labor pain for me. I realize everyone’s different and each labor is different, which really helps. I like statistics over asking individuals their experience because I’ve found everyone has a different story and opinion. I’ve only heard one really bad epidural story, and that was from a birth 30+ years ago and if so much has changed in the last year, I can’t begin to imagine how much has changed in the last 30! I want to give birth naturally, but it’s nice to know the epidural block will be there if I need it.
I also know that if the Lord blesses us again with another baby I’m taking the class again just to find out what’s changed!
We may become an Obamanation, but at least we get our governor back.