wow holy cow i figured it out! The pictures actually came on my post! Im truly amazed!!! Oh and yes Im in a bathroom at work...lol

this is me at 27 weeks

You're gorgeous! And your stomach is beautiful! I really like your maternity top. It's very classy!

You must be so excited about your home birth. Were you able to find some soothing music to labor to?

thank you so much. I feel beautiful. I mean everything is bigger and rounder and stretch marks have been real mean to me, but Im at the height of my womanhood and they make such cute tops for preggos! I love it! I actually didnt wear anything like this until I got pregnant. I have always been a plane jane.

yep I have a whole selection of playlists going and im still working on them. I need to sort them by mood. I think there will be times I need extreme focus and others where I want to listen to rock and roll and others where I need something like bob marley. Oh and I found a really good singer on my search...Nora Jones. I really like her. So its still a work in progress.

I just read back through your post (your pictures distracted me!) and saw the bit about the water birth. There are some really great videos on youtube showing different water births. I watched a few the other day when I typed in "natural birth" because I'm hoping to labor pain-med free this time around. And of course there are lots of water birth/home birth episodes of A Baby Story and whatever the other 80 shows are called on Discovery Health! I think it's amazing. I wish my hospital offered a labor pool. I think I'll ask about it at tomorrow's appointment if I remember!

Yeah there are some great vids on you tube. I have searched the net for hours watching them and researching them. I have spoken with 2 doc and both stated that they do not allow you to birth in the tub but they let you labor in it all you want. Now its for no reason other than they are lazy.

It takes a long time and different treatments to clean and disenfect the tub after a birth. So administration has odered the docs and nurses to not allow women to birth in them. This is only at 2 hospitals in Phoenix Az, so Im not sure about the rest. Our only birthing center was shut down. The only one left in AZ is now in Tucson.

If you are seriously interested in a water birth I would talk it over with your doctor first and see how he/she feels. Also look into birthing centers. These arent hospitals but they have all the medical equipment a hospital does and they are usually ran by midwives. They allow you to birth in the water if thats what you want. Some hospitals even allow you to set up your own tub, but that can get pricey. Make sure you tell them soon, that way your doc can know your wishes. Even if you cant birth in the tub Im sure going through labor will help tremediously!

What city and state are you in?

Ohhh. I didn't really think about that, I guess. The whole disinfecting/sanitizing thing didn't really occur to me, although now that I think about it... yeah, that does sound like a hassle.

I definitely DO want to give birth in a hospital-type setting. It's for my own peace of mind, really... I'm a panicker by nature, and I wouldn't be able to stop myself from worrying about the "what if"'s. In fact, I'm going to ask to be induced since my due date is December 27th. I need for Victoria to be born in 2008 for tax purposes, and her due date is so close to Christmas... I'd really prefer she NOT be born on Christmas. Apart from the induction medications though, I'm hoping to labor med-free.

I live in Lake Charles, LA. I'm going to deliver at LCM Hospital for Women (also known as Gauthier Campus).

I completely understand about peace of mind. As long as everything stays healthy I will be home. If something comes up that could put my baby in danger I will go to a hospital. I would never let something bad happen. A lot of our family were conforted to know that I would transfer.

I would look at their website or take an early tour of their labor and delivery ward to see if they have a tub. Most hospitals have one or two on site. But you do run the risk of it being used. But if you are induced then maybe you can narrow it down and request the tub for that day. Make sure your doctor writes somewhere in your birth plan or chart that you wish to use the tub. That way if hes not around for some reason the other docs and nurse can follow his instructions.

I'm definitely going to ask about it tomorrow at my appointment if I remember! One thing I'm really excited about this time around is that my health care provider has a midwife on staff now! They didn't have one last time around. I have so much more faith in midwives than I do in male doctors. My doctor last time didn't do hardly anything, and I ended up tearing. He stitched me up, that's about it. I have more faith in a midwife helping me labor and deliver and actually DOING something to help my body stretch and hopefully not tear again.

I'm going to talk to the midwife about different labor options at Gauthier as well as her position on inducing. I'm hoping that since it's kind of a special circumstance with the holiday and end of the year, they'll take pity on me.

I really hope your birth goes smoothly! I wish I had the courage to birth outside of a hospital. I don't even know if they allow you to plug in a cd player in the delivery room, and I remember not wanting anything touching me when I was in hard labor, so headphones are out. So many little "policies" like that wouldn't apply at your own home! You can set your own rules and labor how you see fit. That's so nice!

You look great! I like your top too, it's very pretty.

I wish you the best of luck with your home birth.. I hope everything goes smoothly for both you & the baby. It'll be an amazing experience!

Your belly pics are lovely, goodluck to you with your home birth, and i wanted to have a water birth but i was'nt allowed

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