The Natural Side of Birth.

DH and I met with our doula a week and a half ago to ask questions, get to know each other, etc. We decided to hire and work with her, so I will meet with her again this Friday to sign contracts, hand over the first part of the payment, etc. I don't know why insurance wouldn't cover such things. She will massage my back to help ease my pain. Help me in warm bathes/showers for the same reasons. Keep me calm and breathing. She will tell people to stay out of my room, remind my doctors of my birth plan and tell anyone off that I ask her too. She is my advocate. She will tell DH to leave and get food, make sure I am eating and drinking fluids regardless of what the hospital wants. Having a doula, more than doubles my chances that I make it through birth naturally. It will be unlikely I will need intervention and that saves the insurance a lot of money. Because pitocin leads to too many contractions too close together - meaning you'll need an epidural. It also leads to problems in both the baby and mother. The epidural means you won't feel much and labor slows down, which can lead to more pitocin. In most cases you end up with a C-Section. So a few hundred dollars for the doula, saves my health and the insurance company's pocketbook. Needless to say, I think this is a really good choice for me. My doula also is a therapist who specializes in anxiety and depression, which will be extra handy in my case.

Yesterday, I hired my placenta encapsulationist (PE). Yes, Dad, get ready for some placenta baking in the house :). Ideally, my parents will be here when I give birth. This way, my placenta can go from my uterus into a clean bag into a cooler and my parents can bring it to the house. PE would then meet them there and get the placenta ready to be dehydrated and she will be there for a few hours prepping. The placenta stays that way overnight and PE returns in the morning to finish the process. Then I have pills to help prevent PPD/PPA, prevent anemia, process more milk and more energy among other things. She will also do placenta prints and make a tincture that will last for years. If I do end up needing surgery, she will make a salve to help the incision heal faster. This is again another expensive process, but again benefits outweigh the cost. If taking these pills keeps me from having PPD/PPA, then I save a lot of harmful, not fun emotion. I bond better with my child. I won't need therapy. I won't need months of pills prescribed by doctors that come with side effects and withdraw symptoms. If my parents are not here when labor starts, then I will probably need to bring the placenta home with me along with Magoo and PE will start the process at that point. While not a big deal, that means I will have a few days without the benefits instead of being able to start them right away. I suppose that is the problem with not being able to have someone housesit for a few hours for you. Though if DH's friend doesn't have to work those couple of days, I bet he would dig watching the process and talking to PE about it. So who knows.

Either way, I have my birth plan and people lined up. Luckily, DH fully supports that these are two things that are important to me to do, no matter how weird and creepy it is (let's not overthink the details here). So we are saving money and I already feel calmer having my people picked out. Now to find out if my pelvis wants to cooperate with me.