Change in Plans

A few months ago I ran into a friend who just so happened to be due the same time as me.  She told me that her previous pregnancy was a home delivery by a mid-wife, and how much better of an experience it was than in the hospital.  I told her that I was somewhat considering a home birth, but that my last two pregnancies I was positive for Group B strep.  I was sure it would be the same with this one as well.  She then told me that with her last pregnancy she was postivie also, and that her mid-wife had her do a more homeopathic treatment to cure it. It worked for her, and she was able to deliver at home.  I researched it and since it was competely safe I decided it was worth a try.  I talked it over with my OB and he said whatever I did in my own home was up to me. Google "strep b and garlic" if your really curious.  Now, my whole birth plan rested on whether or not I was positive.  So, a week before I was due to have my swab, I did the treatment.  It was very interesting so say the least.

Today I got my results and unfortunately it did not work for me.  I am completely bummed.  Since I decided against the home birth anyways, you may be thinking what the big problem is.Well, when I went into labor with Sam they informed me that they would not break my water until I was on antibiotics for atleast four hours. Not a problem, except that she came earlier than that.  I was at a 10 when they were finally forced to break my water.  I really feel that if they had broken it sooner she would have been delivered a lot faster.  Still, four hours of labor is not that bad I know.  But since I didn't get the full dosage I had to stay in the hospital with her for another day, which meant the hospital bill doubled.

This time I wanted things to be different.  I didn't want to be confined to a hospital bed during contractions. I basically wanted to labor as much as I could at home, walk into the hospital and deliver her without an iv, and using a birthing bar (a much more natural way to deliver). 


Now, that all has to basically be thrown out the window.  Because I don't want to risk anything going wrong with the baby, I basically have only one option:  

Go to the hospital as soon as my contractions are 6 minutes apart.  Since my last delivery went fast, my OB thinks this one will as well.  So, chances are I wont get the full dosage again, which means two day stay again.  Since I will have to have the iv hooked up right away, that means I will more than likely just shoot for the epidural at the same time. Sure I could try to labor without it, but since I have to get there right away why should I go through all that pain?   This makes me sad, because I really wanted to try the birthing bar. That will be hard with numb legs. Maybe the fourth time will be a charm, and it will be a breeze having it.  I again will not have any other pain meds through my iv, those things suck. But, labor and delivery is never predictable so who knows what will actually happen.  At  my appointment last week,  my OB said that if I go into labor now they won't stop it.  Scary that I'm at that point.  He also said that she is going to be a small baby, which might explain why everyone has been telling me my tummy looks so small this time.  Her heartbeat is strong and she moves around constantly so there are no worries, she will just be little probably like Xavier.   

36 weeks, yikes!