a somtime blogger hits the big time...

Well, not really, but it's big for me anyway. I'm actually writing a guest post at Mother in Israel this week. Crazy, right? The first half of the full story about David's birth is on her site, this is just the part about my c-section.

It took 2 hours to get me checked into a bed after my water had broken, and I was subsequently ignored for the next 4 hours, as I wasn't in active labor. Finally someone stopped in to check my dilation. An hour later they applied some gel to help me along and then ignored me again for 4 hours. Finally 12 hours after my water had broken, they decided to put me on pitocin. I was OK with this, having had it on both prior births. I started having gentle contractions over the next hour or so. They upped my dose to hurry things along, and the next time I was checked, the midwife got the "panic" look on her face. She felt not a head, but an elbow. not the end of the world in my mind, but she seemed to think it was VERY problematic. So, they backed off the pitocin to give the baby a chance to re-adjust. Then they (the 2 on-duty midwives) felt again and still felt what they thought was elbow, and one doctor who also said elbow but the doc they called in said it was a heel. They brought in the mobile Ultrasound (my nemesis) to look at the baby's position, and one said the baby was head down, one said he was feet down, one said she couldn't tell. They were all yelling at each other in the delivery room about what should be done and who was the most incompetent. It was a nightmare for me, having gone through so much to get to this point and being so opposed to surgery. They decided to do another ultrasound, my 3rd in less than 24 hours, and this time the one doc overrode the midwives and said I needed an emergency c-section. It was 3 AM, I'd been awake for almost 24 hours and I was worn down. So, I signed the papers and was wheeled, sobbing, into surgery. They refused to let my husband come in with me, which only made things worse. I spoke with the anesthesiologist and he told me he'd give me something to calm me down as well as for the pain. from that point on, I remember only hearing the baby cry as he was born, being told I couldn't touch him, and even if I had tried I realized my arms were strapped down to boards and spread out crucifixion-style. All I wanted to do was comfort and nurse my crying baby, who was instead being held by this stranger-doctor. I still have nightmares that the baby is crying and I can't get to him because my arms are strapped down. My only comfort at the time was that my husband would be able to hold him, which I later found out was not what happened. They let him only touch the baby for a moment before wheeling him away into the nursery and telling him he couldn't come. It would be another 14 hours until they would "let" me have the baby.
The next day I was even more upset to have one of the consulting docs tell me in a very superior way that the baby had been head down after all, so I probably could have given birth normally. The day after that, the doc who had tried to convince me to abort the baby came in while I was nursing. I didn't even want to speak to her, but I did want to show her that my boy was just fine thankyouverymuch. All she had to say to that was, "we'll see" in an ominous tone.
I am still very upset about the way things went down. I definitely want to do VBAC next time, even if I have to hire a private doctor to ensure it happens. After 3 years here and 3 births here you would think I would know how to work the system, but I still don't, and now I'm more nervous than ever about medical intervention during pregnancy and birth. My husband isn't excited about the idea of a home birth, so that's not really an option either.

Any one used to the Israeli medical system care to weigh in?

I edited this to add these links to my Husband's reactions at the time. Part one, Part two.

so, I'm having a boy...how strange.

I've been pretty quiet since Passover, the reason mainly being that I am dealing with an amazingly tiring pregnancy. It wasn't like this with my first two. I think much of the change is because I'm finally having a boy, not a girl. I knowpeople say, well, you have two kids now, so of course you're tired, etc,but seriously, the whole experience is different. I'm carrying different, craving different things, having different difficulties (low blood pressure? what??), everything seems different this time. Honestly, the whole idea of having a boy seems a little strange.
I had always planned on having ALL boys. I love the way they interact, playing boy games, everything about boys. So, I had to really change my thoughts about my girls, although I can't imagine having anything else now. Girl clothes and toys really are quite fun. So, to go from all the pink, frilly, girly-ness to now thinking about someone growing inside me that is so fundamentally different than I am, well, it's a whole paradigm shift that I'm still working on. I've got 8 weeks left to wrap my head around it, but I figure it won't all really come into focus until the moment I hold the little guy in my arms. And remember that I have to avoid getting "sprayed" while changing diapers.

The first blog...

So I've decided to enter the "real" blogosphere. I've blogged on and off on MySpace, but this is the real deal. So, if you somehow end up reading this randomly, let me introduce myself.
I am a Rabbi's Wife, living in Jerusalem, in the old city. I just gave birth to my first child three weeks ago, and she is a real dolly! Everyone comments how much hair she has, and it really does look like we put a wig on her. My Husband (The Rabbi, TR for short) is in Yeshiva (school for men) full time. He also teaches Russian Martial arts, and I am a balloon artist (you know, those balloon animals from long, skinny balloons). So we're a pretty unusual couple, especially for the Orthodox Jewish world. As I've become interested in blogging, I've noticed most of the people who say they're Orthodox are really Modern Orthodox, but we are what people call "ultra-Orthodox" or Charaedi. I'm sure you'll find out more about that as the blog goes on.
Now, my thoughts for the day: It's amazing to me how much of your life becomes about peeing when you're becoming a mom. You pee to find out if you're ovulating, if you're pregnant, etc. Then, once you're pregnant you pee all the time, both for the doctor and just because! Then, once you have the baby, it pees all the time, and you have to change it. Who knew my life could revolve so much around urination? Or that I would like it?
It's true, I do enjoy being a mom so far. I know, give it time, but I've always liked kids and wanted to have a big family, so I'm thinking it's not going to pall on me. Plus, I deal with kids professionally, so I've got a pretty good idea what to expect. But that's the journey you're about to join me on. So, let's see where it all goes.
Kol Tuv (have a good week)
TRW