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Birth Plan?

You don’t need a birth plan. If you and your partner fill one out, it may give you information on things to expect and ask for. -If you don’t have one, we will ask what you want when the time comes and give you the same options as a birth plan. In my experience, we do almost all the normal things requested in a birth plan.

Please know that my job as a physician is to make sure you and your baby are healthy. That is my primary goal. My secondary goal is to make you and your partner have the best experiences possible.

If you have a birth plan you are welcome to give it to the nurses and I and we will do our best to follow it. If we feel your or your baby is in harms way we will let you know, a birth plan is just a plan. You get to decide when and where we deviate from that initial plan. We are long past the time when the doctors and nurses make all the decisions.

If you want pain medications we have IV medications and epidurals.

For natural labor, we have Jacuzzi tubs, TV, Music, essential oils, and birthing balls. Plus a variety of other equipment we use for helping you to get the baby in the right position. If a natural, no medication delivery is what you want make sure to take a natural birthing class online beforehand so you have as many options as possible.

If you want to walk around, eat, drink, you should.

If you want to avoid a C-section, that’s our goal too. Our C-section rate is way below the national average.

If you want a less painful delivery we will help you with that goal too. No matter please feel free to bring music, games, or movies to help pass the time. Labor can be stressful and boring at the same time.

We have a large variety of essential oils for calming and energy. The nurses will give you a menu when you arrive. Feel free to brink any other aromatherapy you find helpful.

In natural labor you can get into any position you want. If you want suggestions on how to push effectively we will give them to you, but for the most part- do what feels most comfortable.

If your baby is crying/pink when it arrives, we will pass them directly to you so you can warm your baby with skin-to-skin contact.

We don’t cut the cord until the placentas jobs is done and your labor partner will be offered the opportunity to do this.

The nurses will always ask before giving vaccinations or antibiotics to your baby. This choice is yours. The normal things we want you to consider giving your baby is.

1. Vitamin K 2. Hepatis B vaccine 3. Antibiotics We can give you specific information on all of these, I gave my kids all three and you are welcome to pick and choose. There are good reasons for all of them.

Want more birthing plans. You can check the links below. Feel free to print out and bring in whatever plan you want.

https://www.whattoexpect.com/pregnancy/labor-and-delivery/birth-plan/

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Whose going to deliver my baby?

I would love to deliver 100% of the babies delivered in Tillamook. I know many of you. But obstetrics by its very nature is unpredictable with long hours. I don’t know any obstetric physicians that deliver all their own patients. It isn’t safe.

In Tillamook, there are only two of us. Myself and Dr. Welch. Even though we take call one week on, one week off, we each take care of our own patients during the workweek meaning that both of us end up delivering ~80% of our own patients.

If you are one of my patients you may have Dr. Welch as your delivery physician, when you are close to your due date ask me about the call schedule and I will tell you who is on call and when.

I trust the whole staff here at Adventist Health Tillamook, the nurses, Dr. Welch and I all work together as a team. We will take care of you and your baby to the best of our ability. If you have special requests, every single one of us will strive to honor those requests and if we can’t, we will explain why. If you have special requests or don’t understand something, it is your responsibility to ask for clarification.

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C-Section

At Adventist Health in Tillamook, our c-section rate is lower than the national average.  If you are a first-time mom with a baby that is head down your risk of a cesarean section is ~15%, which is a lot lower than the national average of 25%

I find it interesting when people talk about cesarean sections. I hear things like “too many, correct rate, always delivered vaginally in the past”. I want to remind everyone that in 1900 1 in 200 moms died in childbirth and 1 in 10 babies died in their first year of life. In addition to high death rates, deliveries left some mothers or babies deformed for the rest of their life.

C-sections are the most wonderful thing to happen to mankind. We have come so far, it is easy to lose perspective.

I have had mothers who have had a C-section and a vaginal delivery tell me that their C-section was an easier/quicker recovery*

ADTRH8 Cesarean Delivery

Risks

  1.  Increase risk of infection
  2. Increase time to recover
  3. More discomfort as you are recovering
  4. Increase risk for serious injury to internal organs, especially if you have more than 2 cesarean sections.

Benefits

  1. Decrease risk of serious bleeding
  2. Decrease risks of urine or fecal leakage as you get older
  3. Decrease risk of prolapse of your uterus or bladder as you get older
  4. Can be safer for the baby
  5. More predictable, a cesarean section can be planned and is relatively fast. 

Recovery

No sex or tampons for the first six weeks

No lifting more than 10 lbs (your baby and a light bag) for the first week

You will be in the hospital for ~2 nights after your delivery

When you go home you will be able to move around comfortably

You will not be able to do general household chores

 You will be tired and sore

We will send you home with pain medications

*most people would say a vaginal delivery is easier to recover from, but most people that have C-sections need them and the surgery is easier on their body or their baby. There is always a reason we do C-sections.