Doc approved birth plan!
Lots of goodness today. I'm measuring right on track (30cm), BP was 116/60, I obviously passed the 1 hour, no signs of swelling, gained 2 lbs in 2 weeks, Ben's HB was in the 140s this week.
I brought my birth plan to go thru. I said that I'd put a lot of stuff that I thought was unnecessary because I wasn't 100% certain on hospital policy and she said that was great - the more info the better. She read thru it and said it was all good, she didn't see a problem, not even with eating/drinking normally (unless I have an epidural).
I asked the question I'd been really wondering about - when do we need to leave for the hospital? Cause we live further away, I was worried she'd be all uptight about it. Her response, outside of it's really hard to say with any definite answer, was "Labor at home as long as you can. When your contractions are 5 minutes apart and stay that way for an hour, you can actually probably stay home for another couple hours yet and be fine." Which has me thrilled. You hear the horror stories, kwim?
Re: Doc approved birth plan!
Sounds like a great appointment!
The hospital gives everyone a "birth plan" to fill out with little check boxes next to all the options they have for labor/delivery, postpartum, newborn care, etc. And I was pleasently surprised at all the more natural focused options they have on there and that the default is to room in with the baby. They'll only take the baby out to the nursery if you request.
And my prenatal yoga instructor tells us all the same thing regarding the 5 mins apart contraction rule. She said sometimes you'll have that contraction pattern but then get to the hopsital and only be like 3cms. So labor at home as long as possible, just listen to your body and either head to the hospital if you think something is wrong or you have to crawl in because the contractions have gotten that bad ;-)