I guess my body could use a healthy boost right about now. First of all - proteins! Oh I love those!
The plan is to make a healthy high-protein salad with cottage cheese, paprika, smoked salmon, onions and pickles. It's absolutely delicious! Who says that the classic cold salad has to be made with potatoes, rice or macaroni. This one is built upon cottage cheese and I would eat it more often if dicing onions and pickles wasn't so tedious. Such healthy and tasty food is good for even two meals in a row. But it has one clear flaw - it's low in fibre content. 
And as I have decided to treat today as a healthy break, I need to add some fibers to my lunch and dinner.OK, fibre sounds like some pointless health food thing, so no one really pays much attention. Usually I try to add either vegetables or some other low-processed food like brown rice or whole-wheat bread to my meal. I always assume that should be good enough effort. This time I just need to find a couple of foods that are very high in fibre content and just add a nice side-dish or a dessert. I bet a quick googling should help me on track in no time. How hard can it be, right?
My daily fibre need is around 30g. A few slices of high-fibre toast? A couple of apples? A bowl of high-fibre cereal? Perhaps a carrot or two? Yeah right! To get 30g of fibre, I would have to eat 2 entire breads of that high fibre toast. That'll give me 1800 kcal. Alternatively I could eat 17 apples. How about plums? Pregnant women are constantly told to eat plums to get more dietary fibre. That would be 2 kg of plums, adding 1100 kcal to my daily diet. WTF?!
No pregnant woman would eat that amount! Why do they recommend it?!I made an extensive Google search on the topic of fibres and simple ways of eating more fibres and the conclusion is this: NEVER BOTHER WITH FIBRES! It's a futile effort anyway! I'll eat some whole-wheat bread with my salad and that's the best I can accomplish anyway.
BTW! Nibbling on 200g of frozen raspberries gives 200 kcal and 9grams of dietary fibre! And it's so tasty!
On other topic, I've started to think about childbirth. In bath? On the bed?
I've done a lot of research on how to minimize problems and what pain relief options I have. I'm starting to get a pretty clear idea of what demands to present to the midwife. I'll do it in a polite way but I use the word "demands" because I do not want any discussion when I'm already occupied with giving birth. For example - no epidural! I don't care that it might offer some relief because it's dangerous and some women wear diapers for weeks after that. Plus their movement is restricted during the rest of the labour. Plus it increases the risk of injury to the woman. Plus sometimes it doesn't even relieve pain but still has all those risks! Another thing is deliberate cutting to reduce spontaneous cuts. Like hell I would let the midwife do that! I read the research and it will only make things worse! Another thing is strong pushing too early. I've read about midwives who want to get it over with too fast even though the mother says it's not the right time yet. I really want to go with my gut feeling and I will make it clear to the midwife! I want to have control over what happens and this is not negotiable. I will listen to her advice but in the delivery room I am the boss. 
I am not some uneducated, low-IQ, low-willpower average first-time mom. I know what I have got myself into and I will get myself out of it. The midwife can only assist a little.Well sure, I'm gonna listen to her about when to breathe and how, but I don't want her to practice any outdated theory on me. And I don't want any last minute hasty decision making with limited information. I want to be informed of all my options at all times. That means I will do whatever is necessary to keep my child safe (even epidural is sometimes needed). I would even demand a C-section if there was no other way even though that's the last thing I would ever want. I just hope I get a very good midwife who agrees with me on the big things, so that I can also trust her with the small decisions without questioning all of her opinions and knowledge.
Actually I'll probably be a model patient
- I will be attentive and informed and my husband will be intelligent and reasonable and we will have a nice brief conversation with the midwife about preferences and everything else will happen according to the midwife's suggestions. But if she barges in and treats me like just another first-timer, I will treat her like an insignificant hospital worker who better not get in the way of me giving birth! There is simply too much talk about Estonian midwives being very cold and unreasonable. I'm simply educating myself and building up the willpower to tell the midwife off in case she's anything like my driving instructor. 
Water birth still confuses me. Some data says that childbirth is faster and easier in a warm bath, but frankly - I do not like being all wet! It definitely doesn't empower me like they say in the pro-bath birth websites. Soaking in water just makes me feel naked and wet and heavy.
Every movement takes twice as much effort and I feel dizzy and tired. They say warm water brings down high blood pressure, but my blood pressure is perfectly normal at 120/65. So obviously warm water gives me low blood pressure and hence makes me dizzy. Nothing empowering about that. And does it relax me? Well, being sleepy feels kind of relaxing but also makes me feel out of control. I might as well drink a bottle of vodka before giving birth and then claim it relaxes me. Then I would also feel slightly dizzy and tired but at least I wouldn't have to be in that wet bath tub.And home birth is just ridiculous.
There is no way I would do that. It feels quite selfish to deny my child immediate medical care (if needed) just so I could relax in my own home during labour. Kid will barely notice the weighing, measuring and the stifling hospital environment but she'll certainly notice dying due to lack of medical care.THE MOST RIDICULOUS THING!!!!!!! THEY DON'T FEED PATIENTS WHO ARE GIVING BIRTH!
The average first labour takes over 15 hours! They actually expect me to go there and NOT EAT for about 15 hours straight of being awake! I get bitchy after 6 hours and then I lose all energy after 7-8 hours... And that's how they expect me to give birth? No wonder people get tired and angry during childbirth and they start screaming things like "BAD husband, look what you did?!" And honestly no wonder some of them decide to eat placenta! 
(google "eating placenta" if you don't believe me). As for me - when my contractions start I will start cooking my last decent meal before I go to the hospital. And I will take some sandwiches to go just in case I'm in labour for more than the average person.That's just some of the thoughts I've had about labour. It would be wise not to think about such things when I still have weeks until I give birth, but maybe it's good to have it out of my system long before I actually step into the delivery room. Or maybe - to get the topic out of my head I would have to get the baby out of my body first.
I sure hope that's not the case.
heh .. I suppose you'll have more important (and sometimes more frustrating) things to think about at childbirth than the fact that you're hungry :P In normal conditions you do get cranky when you don't eat, but you might not even notice it in that situation.
ReplyDelete...that's what they assume. But sometimes it takes 30+ hours of labour if it's the first baby. Could you really imagine me not noticing 30 hours of starvation? :)
ReplyDeleteI don't even think I can live on raisins and nuts for 30 hours straight - I ain't a squirrel. I know heavy meals aren't recommended then, but I have to have energy to keep going, so I'm planning on a light meal every 6-8 hours of labour. It might even be half a hamburger and a glass of juice and it might even make me more tired for half an hour or more, but it will give me energy to keep going. Without it, the chances of needing an epidural "for a little break" will be too high.
Also, in the educational movie the woman slowly sips on a small half a liter bottle of water. I drink 1.5 liters per day regularly. Add a little physical exhaustion and the half liters will be mocking. I know it's not good to run to bathroom too often during labour, but they can't expect my physiology to take a break for a day. And I certainly need food and water. :)
Well, you never know if it is gonna be 3 hours or 30. But yes, take some yoghurt, for example. Or anything that doesn't require too much attention and concentration while eating.
ReplyDelete(the phrase "a light meal" made me chuckle, picturing you walking around during the contractions and then sitting down, grabbing a fork and a knife and start eating in an orderly manner - some bites of meat, then a forkful of salad... I know you didn't mean it that way but the image just sprang into my mind.
After reading this post of yours, I went and read the long-untouched birth story of my younger son. Actually, this is really important that you know what you want and also have the strength to tell it to the midwife as well. Are you planning on taking a midwife of your own? Because, you know, the ones in the hospital change every, what, 8 hours? or 12? Anyway, you'll never know if the one on your shift is old-fashioned ("Would you please lie down on your back so we can take the KTG-readings?" -- "No, I prefer to stand, I know I shall have hard time getting up again." -- "Well, I would very much like you to get on your back anyway, so would you?" -- "No!" -- "Hmm, How come? That is not an option!" etc etc; from first-hand experience) or has already heard that giving birth lying on your back is quite an unnatural thing to do.
So - if you are really stubborn about some things, I suggest you get a paid doula to walk you through all this and, above all, to fight with the personnel thinking they know better than you. :)
Mhhh, I've heard the question, "are you going to hire a personal midwife". I thought that I can't be sure she would be any better than the regular midwives, so I thought I wouldn't. But maybe it's worth spending money so I don't have to argue during labour. Because I would argue. And if I don't get what I want, I would raise my voice. And if this doesn't work, I would start to threaten. For this purpose I was planning on having some other hospital on speed dial - if the midwife is really pissing me off, I would just go to the other place.
ReplyDeleteMhhh... Knowing myself, I would get some really assertive moments there. Like the example you mentioned, I would say, "I will come closer to the machine but I WILL NOT lie down. If you can't do the KTG like this, then find someone who can or don't do it at all!". And if I feel myself getting angry and she's not listening to me (assumes I'm just being silly), I would say, "Erkki, I can not lie down. Tell her." And then I would witness a conversation about the reasoning behind the need to lie down... and then possible alternative positions that are just as good. And eventually there would be a compromise. Erkki would ask me, "can you lie on your side?" and I'd say, "hardly, but I'd try." And Erkki would ask the midwife if the analysis can be done like this. And then the midwife would find it easier to take the compromise because it's too much trouble to convince me and Erkki both.
I am actually quite likely to say very clear things. Especially, "DO NOT CUT ME!", which is probably my worst fear. I might threaten to sue them or to write a complaint or anything like this. I would even say, "treat it like my theological belief, if you must, just NO CUTTING!". There are some patient's wishes that they have to follow. I wouldn't be unreasonable if it was for my own good, but I've read scientific data about it and it's not beneficial. And I would start quoting the scientific data if the midwife argues...
Mhhh... Maybe I should take paper and a pen with me. If it seems like the midwife might nod and then do the opposite anyway, then I should let her sign a sheet saying that she will not use some specific procedures unless the baby's or my life is in danger. It won't make much difference in the eyes of law in Estonia, but at least she will see how serious I am about this.