I felt extremely honored to have been so graciously received here. By design, Sparrow Hospital was the first stop on my 100 Hospital National Tour – promoting “Positive Pregnancy, Positive Birth”. The reason I am doing the tour is to bring awareness that all across the country, women are choosing to give birth “as they desire” in comfortable, supportive, and safe places. Birth centers and hospitals are indeed the safest place to give birth. There is simply no counter argument to the fact that “most of the time, things go well… but when they don’t, they don’t very quickly”.

There has been much celebrity promotion of home birth recently and as I professionally sorted out why this was, it became clear to me that the appeal of home birth, to many, is the inherent fear that a hospital birth cannot, or will not be intimate and personal.

I was received warmly at Sparrow and was hosted by John Lux, the Director of Communications. I spent the better part of an entire day with nurses, physicians, residents, and administrators, as well as meeting the CEO and President of the hospital. What I found at Sparrow was an exceptionally progressive facility with the best of the best in options for women. Options ranging from natural labor to epidurals, VBAC’s (vaginal birth after cesarean), vaginal twin delivery in the labor rooms, rooming in with the baby and exclusive breast-feeding.

Sparrow has a Level 3 Neonatal Intensive Care Nursery (NICU) and is at the forefront of the most current research-driven, evidence – based practice. It is also a Magnet hospital, which means that it has been awarded a status of excellence in nursing care, professionalism and a leadership system that promotes advance practice nursing and nursing satisfaction. This creates a high level of patient satisfaction.

I wish to openly thank all of the people I met at Sparrow for taking time out of their day to meet with me. I have heard repeatedly from those who argue that hospital birth in America today is less optimal than home birth, that because my practice is in a major urban center on the west coast, that my opinions are skewed and that “the rest of the country is not like California”.

I am certainly not naive and know (and will discuss) that not every community offers every option in birth choices. However, clearly in mid-Michigan, women can expect a wonderfully positive pregnancy and birth experience.

Spring has finally arrived here in Northern California. It feels as though it has been raining forever. All the spring flowers have me thinking about new birth. I thought this would be a good time to review some of my favorite labor coping methods. These are the the strategies I have found to be most helpful to women.

Think about the day of your labor as a working day. It’s not like a holiday celebration that has to follow a certain pattern. There is no use in worrying about how the day will go.

Don’t go to the hospital or birth center too early. Unless your practitioner gives you different instructions, use the 5-1-1 Recipe.

Do whatever will help you the most whenever it is most likely to help you. For early labor, distraction is the best coping tool.

Use relaxation, visualization, and breathing techniques. Some women use all these tools; others prefer only one or two. These techniques can help dramatically with active labor.

Know that labor takes on a life of its own. Although relaxation and breathing techniques can help you handle your contractions, you can’t control them. Let your body follow its own rhythms.

Move around so that you can find your most comfortable position. Change positions whenever you become uncomfortable.

Ask for the kind of touch or massage you want. Light touch is soothing for some women in labor but distracting for others. Firm pressure on your lower back may be very helpful.

Try laboring in water. Sitting in a warm bath or sitting or standing in a shower can often make a strong contraction feel entirely different and much more manageable. Your practitioner may ask you not to submerse yourself after your water bag has broken, but a shower is generally allowed anytime. Some birth centers and hospitals have large, inflatable pools that can be used in labor, and a portable one can sometimes be rented and brought in or used at home. (Except in home births, women generally don’t give birth in water.)

Keep hydrated and energized. Take regular sips of cool drinks, suck on juice bars or ice, and have an occasional spoonful of honey.

Trust in your practitioner and your support people. It’s really tough to have a baby all by yourself. Let others help you.

Always remember that labor lasts for a finite time. Try not to think of the hours ahead.

Take your contractions one at a time. No matter how strong they are, they will generally last only about 1 minute. You can cope that long. At the end of the minute, you will get a break.

Never lose sight of why you are laboring. Keep in your mind’s eye on the beautiful baby you will soon be holding in your arms.

He was due on Christmas Eve, and on the 19^th I was shopping for Christmas lights in our local drug store. I had, only a minute before, run into someone I hadn’t seen in a really long time. That day, I happened to be wearing a black, billowy maternity dress. A hideous dress actually. I really hated it and had never worn it before. But I felt so big and miserable that it just worked on that day.

For 15 years, I had told the women in my PillowTalk classes that the chance of their water bag breaking in public was really very small. Only about 10% of women actually even have their water bag break before labor starts.

As I was standing in the store aisle, I felt a little pinch, and suddenly, on the floor, was one of the largest puddles of amniotic fluid I had ever seen. I stood there for a second, stunned, and then literally ran out of the store, laughing hysterically and dripping all the way out the door.

I called Ray from the car thinking he would think it was as funny as I did. Being very much not the doctor who had seen hundred of births and very much the extremely nervous father, he found  little humor in it at all. It wasn’t long before I was in booming labor but that is a story for another time. Alexander and I came home from the hospital on Christmas Day.

Tonight Alexander is curled up next to me. His tummy hurts and he is very much a little boy. I don’t know how 9 years has passed. In some ways it feels like a long time ago but as I look over at my baby (who now comes up to my chin) I understand what happens to all parents. No matter how old they are, our babies are our babies. Happy Birthday Alexander.