My Saga Part 2

So I decided that after having the whole dramatized experience with the docs who told me that the wouldn't perform a vbac on me, I felt that I needed to research more of my options and nor rely on the medical system to help me get what's best for me or my baby. After having spoken with the doula, I went online to lookup various websites that supported women in their desire for a vbac. I came across some incredible youtube videos that followed the personal journey of women like myself who had has two c-sections and then attempted a vbac, though mostly hbac's or home birth after c-section. They were so powerful that I really felt inspired to try and do everything in my power to see that I get that experience for myself.
So the first thing I did was call the midwife that the doula referenced me to. After I called her up, we spoke at length about all the many issues I'd been facing during my pregnancy and asked if she would be open to helping me. She was the most helpful person and invited me to call her at any point for answers to whatever questions I had. I made a point to say that I wasn't sure I wanted a home birth, but that I wasn't against the idea either. She respected that I was still on the fence and wanted me to be informed about whatever I chose for myself. It was great to hear someone so encouraging and positive about the possibility that I might actually have a natural birth and to not be afraid of it.
Anyhow, I went back and forth with this midwife and she gave me the name of a chiropractor about 45 minutes north of me who worked doing some very bizarre cranio adjustments called N.O.T. chiropractics. It is said to be effective in treating women who are infertile and also correcting dyslexia. She thought that if anyone could pinpoint why I haven't been able to labor at all, it would be him.
So I made an appointment with him just before Christmas. I called my insurance to make sure he was within network and they told me he was so long as he participated in the local PPO program. When I called and spoke with the secretary she told me they did, so I figured great, he is insured. Anyhow, I went over for my first appointment and he met with me for about 10 minutes. It was very short and sweet. He asked why I was there and I told him Ellen (midwife) referred me to help check my hormone levels, since that was what she suspected was the root of my problems. He did these strange tests on my arms and pushed down on my gall bladder, spleen, pancreas, just all over my abdominal area. He then put his hands in my mouth and started pressing hard on the roof of my mouth. It was over very quickly and afterwards he said that I had a sever hormone imbalance. Basically, he said that my sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system was very out of balance which as a result was not allowing my immune system to rest. Maybe that's why I have't had a cold in about two years, but have had a number of other odd issues? I asked him how it could be corrected and he said it would take my seeing him two times a week for 3 months for everything to go back to normal. My mouth nearly dropped as I had no idea it was that bad. He was not close at all to me and I had very little help to get baby sitters for the kids. It was not an ideal situation. I told him I would have to think about it, but did schedule another appointment for the following week.
The second visit I had to bring the kiddies. It's always annoying asking my m-i-l to come over so I just bundled them up and went. We arrived on time and went into the examination room. The kids were all over the place, but I had asked him ahead of time if it was ok to bring them and he said it was. Dominic esp liked going here since he likes to see new faces and be held by people. Anyhow, I had the kids crawling all over the place while he worked on me. It was rather funny actually. But I think the doc was not amused by their being there.He was very moody and had very little to say to me.
A couple days later I got a EOB from BCBS and it said that this chiro was not covered.and that I owed him $60. What the hell?! I thought. I was told that he was a participating PPO office. Well, I went back and forth with BC about how they told me he was in network and how now he wasn't. It was a royal pain dealing with them, because they said they had no record of them telling me that. Well, they did tell me that and I even called back to speak with a different staff member to check to see if he was, and she said YES! Two times I did this and they said yes, but whenever I called to question the amount they'd cover, they always said he was not covered. I hate insurance companies!
So after I discovered that this chiro was not going to be covered by my insurance, I realized that I couldn't go back to him. In a way I was relieved since I didn't like him as a person anyway, but felt that he was my only hope for correcting my hormones. Well, I called up Ellen and explained what was going on. She told me she had another chiro who could help me and who was actually closer to me than this last guy. That was a huge relief because I didn't know what I was going to do. She made it seem like if things weren't corrected, that my chances of vbacing were slim.
Aftet I got the name of this second chiro, I called them directly to ask about insurance coverage and they said they did accept BCBS PPO. Thank God! We then went ahead and made an appointment for later this month. In the meantime,. I had Ellen come over our house since I really needed to meet her and get to know her better. Tom and I had lot of questions we wanted answered if we were even going to consider having a homebirth. Amazingly, Tom supported the idea if it was what I wanted and if it was safe for the baby. At that point, I still wasn't sure so meeting with Ellen was really essential.
We had her over our place at about 7pm and she arrived a little after. She came in and was full of energy and life. The kids loved having her over and did what they could to get her attention. She received them very well and yet, made sure she put speaking to me first. She is older, around 55-60 and has been doing hb's for 25 years. That gave me more confidence in her for sure. We went through the litany of questions I had printed out and she answered them all well and with a lot of additional information to boot. It was great to have her there. She was so motherly and loving and yet firm which is good for people like me. I admire her love for giving women what's best for them and for believing in a woman's right to choose what she wants for her birth.
Tom and I sat with her for aver 3 hours and in the end felt very confident that she was someone we wanted to work with. For now, I have Maria here as she just came down from her nap and I need to change her stinky winky diaper. So for now, this will need to be continued...

The Last 6 Months Saga part 1

So, it's been sometime since I've updated this blog and I regret that I haven't as so much has occurred since last I wrote. For starters, two weeks after I had surgery I got pregnant, and am now 21 weeks along. The issues that arose due to the surgery seemed to have waned, but of course those due to pregnancy came with full force to replace the others. For starters, I got a very bizarre rash all over my abdomen. I wasn't sure if it was due to my surgery as I read that sometimes the glue they use to sew the scar can cause a reaction, however this rash was really bad and didn't sound like it was from that. It went away in time thank God and didn't come back. The itchy skin I had formerly experienced from last year did come back in October and I was suspicious if I didn't have bugs in the house or some other pest because I was going nuts itchy all the time. I'm beginning to wonder if I don't have sever fall allergies to whatever pollens are in the air and as a result, cause me to get these very weird skin reactions. No one else in the house has the itchiness that I get, so I am not inclined to believe that it's bug related. But then I thought that it might be from my candida. Given that I am pregnant, I could not stay on the candida diet that Dr. Ericson had me on, and he advised I not be on it as well actually, so I ate a lot more carbs to keep me going. My energy levels fells dramatically and I was more tired than I had been since my last pregnancy. The worst symptom I experienced being pregnant though, was the nausea and vomiting. This time around, I threw up not during the morning so much as in the late evening and night. It was as though a surge of energy came flush into my face and forced me to hurl everything that was within me. I'd never felt anything like it before- it came so unexpectedly and made it harder especially when I wasn't in a good location to vomit. Most of the time I was fine since I rarely left the house, but I was also sick longer this pregnancy than with the last two which I couldn't figure out. Like I said to my friend Julia, if this baby isn't a girl, than I have no hope of having an easy pregnancy. 
My mood was not bad all in all, though like always, my husband and I had our occasional bouts. My children kept me distracted and I loved being there to play and watch them grow, but mostly I just loved holding them and rocking them while I say songs. I know these days with two are slowly coming to a close, so I've wanted to make the most of this time with Maria and Dominic. People tell me three kids is the hardest, and right now, that's not something I can even fathom so I'm taking it one day at a time.
This pregnancy I returned to my former obgyn (the one who delivered Dominic) and stayed with them for about three months. I had an ultrasound performed at about 10 weeks to check the gestational age because the docs didn't believe me when I told them how old the baby was. Apparently I looked larger than normal, however I was using my iphone's iperiod app to track all temps, period, sexual interactions, etc. So I knew the exact day that I conceived from. It was the last week of August and I remember thinking that that was a very bad time to be having relations. In fact, we were looking at a little butterfly struggling to fly on our patio when he started making advances. Apparently, I brushed my hand across his bum in such a way that he took that to me I was interested-lol. The things men think amazes me!Anyway, they did an ultrasound on me and saw that I had a sack of blood next to the baby. They weren't sure what it was so I had to go back in a few weeks to have it done again. I was on my way to Las Vegas the week after so it was crucial I check to see if it was a hemmorage or just attachment bleeding. Fortunately there was nothing there the second scan so it was fine. It was so neat seeing my little baby looking so much bigger the second time around. I was giddy looking at him/her. Tom and I decided not to find out what the sex is because we really don't need to and it's more exciting not knowing I think.
So after I got back from Vegas, I started thinking more about my options to vbac since this is crucial for me and I want it more than anything. Having asked my obgyn what they thought (not very favorable), and considering the fact that the one doc I transferred there for was going on sabbatical, I thought it might be a good time to look into transferring practices to a more favorable vbac practice.
I called around to a few places and spoke with the secretary about my desire to vbac and asked if their doctors were favorable to people like myself. There was one office very nearby who said yes and hence I called over to Gynob to have all my records transferred. However, once I went to my first appointment and spoke with the doctor, expressing my desire to go naturally, he told me that I would only be allowed to wait until 39 weeks and then they would make me schedule a routine section. The only way he would support my going naturally past that, would be to have a high risk pregnancy specialist agree to it, but that would require my sitting down and pleading my case at another office in the city and I felt this was not cool. Why should I have to defend my desires when everything I had read up to that point showed that the risk for rupturing was so low and there was little reason for me to have to undergo all of this to get a natural labor.  Plus the nurse at this practice was so pushy and challenged me on most everything I told her I wanted. She was not anyone I wanted to work with and knew it was time to get out of there.
I didn't know where to turn at this point  and prayed about what to do. It came to mind that I should try contacting the Pittsburgh doulas to see what they recommended since I trusted them to work to defend my choice for a vbac. Beth and I spoke at length and she gave me numbers of people who had tried to vbac as well as references to docs in the area. The one name she gave me was one of a lay midwife who performed home births. I didn't think I'd have much to do with her, but as you'll soon discover, she actually has been more significant to me than one would imagine.