Hospital Prep for the Type-A Lady: Part 1 (Templates Included)

Baby is almost to 24 weeks gestation!! Yay! With viability just around the corner, it is time for this mum to get started prepping. 

As I've said before, I'm pretty "Type-A". I am a person who feels more calm when I am in more control. The unknown makes me nervous (so, you can imagine this whole pregnancy thing has me going a little crazy!). I also know that some people are less inclined to be organized, or don't know where to start when it comes to prepping for a hospital visit. As both a single lady who has done hours of research on hospital prep, as well as a medical provider myself, I'm going to attempt to make this hospital prep something everyone can do:

I'm going to make this a 3-part series:

Prepping Papers (how to make sure your hospital check-in and home care are both well covered)

Prepping Bags (what to take TO the hospital)

Prepping Plan (how to make a birth plan that works for both you and your healthcare providers)

Today we are going to talk about prepping papers: AKA: What you can do in advance to make sure that both your hospital check in and your home care (if people are staying at your house/caring for your things) run smoothly. 

First of: Your medical information

This is one of the easiest things you can do that can make the biggest difference in your check-in at the hospital/birthing center. Provide your medical information. By having this all typed up, it allows you to focus on your labor, and not answering questions about your history. It also reduces the chance of you forgetting something important (aka: medication allergy) due to pain/distraction. 

As a former ER nurse who has checked in hundreds of patients, here is the info I find most helpful on a medical information sheet: 

• Your name
• Your date of birth
• Your primary care provider
• Your Obstetrician 
• Your Perinatologist (if applicable)
• Your insurance provider (don't worry, as a laboring woman if you forget your insurance card hospitals in the US with Emergency Room services are still required to care for you). 
• Your emergency contact 
• Your medical history (Hypertension, High Cholesterol, Asthma, Gestational Diabetes, Preeclampsia, and bleeding disorders are all appropriate things to list).  
• Your surgical history (joint surgeries, abdominal surgeries, anything beyond basic stitches goes here)
• Your current medications (include name, dose, and frequency)
• Medication Allergies: (include name and reaction) NOTE: nausea/vomiting is not technically an allergy, however it can still be listed as an intolerance-just be sure to list the reaction. Listing something as an allergy when it is really an intolerance can have terrible, terrible consequences. It takes a tool from the medical professionals trying to help you. Yes, nausea and vomiting are ZERO fun, but medication can be given to counteract that. Sometimes the drugs that work the best are the meanest. *I now step down from my nurse soapbox*
• Your last menstrual period
• Your estimated due date

If you'd like, I've also made a template for a basic medical information sheet here. Italics or asterisks should be replaced with appropriate names and numbers. 

Next up: Your Home Plan

My family all lives out of town, and will be staying at my house while I am in the hospital. They will also be in charge of taking care of my fur baby, Brody:

Brody is an 8-year-old Border Collie/Boxer mix. He is the most stable man in my life ;-)

Needless to say, taking care of him is very important to me, so I like to leave detailed instructions. I have sent this out to all of "my people": Immediate family and best friend.  

So...I also think a short document of house and childcare do's and don'ts is within reason. On my home plan, (template here) I have included: 

• Important phone numbers (hospital, OB, perinatologist, doula, emergency contacts, work, daycare)
• Alarm code 
• Hospital bag info
• Spare key info
• WiFi Password 
• Food and other random info (aka: where to find linens)
• Honey-do list (take advantage of this time to have other people tidy the house before you return home. This will also allow my siblings/dad to do something useful without being in the delivery suite.)

Whew-you've done a couple of things that will make your life easier! Great job!

Now...where to put these lovely new documents, you ask? 

I have a pretty sweet folder I have been keeping all of my info in, and I highly recommend you spend the $5 to purchase one for yourself. As I will be travelling several hours to attend one of my baby showers, and earlier in my pregnancy was out of state twice, I wanted a place to keep all of my papers (especially since medical documents are notoriously slow to get). In this folder, I have several sections, including: 

• Check-In Info (this is where your Medical Information Sheet should go, as long as a copy of your birth plan. 
• Doula Info
• Medical Records (sono reports, perinatologist consultations)
• Hospital Bills

Now you can just toss your folder in with your hospital bags, and you will be good to go!

I hope you guys found this helpful, and maybe for those other Type-A ladies out there, this can give you something productive to do to help you relax!

My Doula Decision

I think the first true test of being single mom for me is going to be...the actual labor!

I will be honest, it is so easy to feel jealousy toward those women who have a supportive partner throughout their pregnancy. Unfortunately, due to the circumstances of conception, I have no such partner. This certainly makes some things more difficult (as I am discovering). Some things I anticipated (aka: lifting the GIANT bag of dog food). However, I never realized what a battle lotion application could be.

Due to the new-found difficulty of some things, I've decided to spend some extra cash and contract services. I have a company scheduled to mow my lawn and remove snow throughout the winter, I pay a doggie daycare to watch the pup when I need to get certain things done, and I have paid a woman to be my go-to labor support.

Yep, I have a doula.

I am possibly the last person on earth I thought would contract with a doula service. I am a well educated medical professional, and the perception I had was that doulas are all touchy-feely, medical intervention avoiding people generally on the opposite side of my comfort spectrum. While that may be exactly what some people want and need throughout labor, I am not one of those people. However, I do need someone to take me to the hospital, hold my hand, and help me focus throughout the labor. As much as I pride myself in being a strong single woman, I do not feel I should go through the labor of my daughter alone.

So, about a month ago, I began my search for a doula. Here are some recommendations for those currently searching or considering a doula for their labor:
1)Does your insurance cover (at least partially) doula services?
2)Is the doula certified? Is this an important factor for you?
3) What is it you are wanting from your doula (for me, I wanted to know someone would be with me the whole way through. Some agencies only covered 12 hours of labor, which was not adequate for me)?
4)What is your personality/feelings toward doulas (I will admit, I was not super fond of the idea of a doula at first, largely because I am terribly blunt, and was afraid I would hurt someone's feelings, and I didn't want the stress of that on top of labor)?
5)What services do they offer? How many prenatal consultations/planning sessions are included? Do they offer postpartum services?
6)What is their back-up system? Are they part of an agency? Can they guarantee SOMEONE will be with you in labor?
7)Do they help with home-birth labor? Are they familiar with your hospital/birthing center?
8)What is their cost?
**I feel that most importantly, it is imperitave you find someone with whom your personality matches well. You need to have a connection with this person. After all, they are going to help you through one of the most important events of your life**

So, after interviewing with several doula agencies (I live in a large metropolitan area), I have selected a wonderful woman who is very naturally-inclined, but comfortable with modern medicine. In the ideal world, I will have a spontaneous labor that progresses quickly and I will require no meds (the recovery time is so fast!), but being high-risk I recognize that I may have to be induced early, and may even need a c-section. My doula (Jamie) has done a fantastic job reminding me that my birth plan is about me, and my preferences, and while my type-A self would love nothing more than to write a 14-page plan, just knowing my basic preferences on things is probably ideal for my situation.

I will have continued updates on my relationship with my doula, but for now I am just so excited to have found my "doula match"!

Mom, Mommy, Mum

**hmm...I haven't had a period in awhile...oh well, my partner has a vasectomy...it's probably just that I've gotten off birth control and my hormones are a bit confused**

two days later

**I guess I'll take the test, just to set my mind at ease**

Cue panic, excitement, crying, realizing I'm late for work (all in about two minutes)

Those who know me know that I love and want kids.

Those who truly know me know that I am something of a control freak/super planner, who wanted kids after grad school, a new job, and a house. 

I'm now over halfway on my journey to motherhood (22 weeks pregnant), and accept that I will be a single mother. Is it what I always dreamed? No. But I'm going to try my best to make it even better. 

This is my "diary", to fill with all my adventures and some inspiration. I also hope that some of the things I've learned and am still learning will help some other folks out. So, moms, mommies, and mums (and even dads), welcome to my blog. Here we will chat about single parenting finances, cloth diapering, crafts (yes, I do love crafts), support, and general single mom awesomeness and hurdles. 

Life is an adventure, so as I partake on the greatest trek of all, I invite you to join me. There will be victories, and there will be failures (though hopefully not too many). Most importantly, there will be love and laughter. Here we go...