Birth Plan

I guess I should start thinking about how I want to have this baby. With J, I thought I had it all figured out. But when it came down to d-day everything went opposite. I had wanted a natural birth for Jareth, no epidural and absolutely no induction. So much for that. When I went to my last appt I was so ready for my baby to be here and I was so miserably pregnant that all my planning went out the window at the mention of the word "induce." And after my pitocin was started and my water was broken and I was very quickly at 6cm I decided I'd much rather do this without all the pain. I lasted a whole 2 1/2 hrs without an epi. Jareth was here about 3 hrs later. And all I felt was the pure joy and excitement of bringing my son into this world.
I think this time around I would like to hold off on the induction. I would like to feel what it's like to go into labor naturally. But I will most likely get the epidural. I don't want it immediately because once you get it there is no getting up and doing things like going to the bathroom on your own, but eventually I do plan to get it. It was wonderful to munch on ice chips while watching the monitor and saying "oh, I'm having another contraction!" instead of "oh my god, oh my god, I'm never doing this again!!!" And it was wonderful not to feel that episiotomy. I also think Jon was relieved when I got the epidural too. I was a little bit of a mess.
Last time Jon, my mom, and my aunt were all in the room when the baby was born. I don't really have a preference on who is there and who isn't. I know it would be nice to just share the birth with my husband but my family was super supportive. Plus, I had people there to take photos and share the excitement with. It was a really good experience.
Other things. I'm definitely breast feeding again and I want to hold the baby as soon as she/he is born assuming there are no complications. I want to spend time with just the baby, Jon, and Jareth as soon as they say it's okay to let him come in to visit. I want to see the placenta this time. And again, no pacifiers or bottles! The baby needs to get used to me before anything else. I will change one thing, the amount of people I let visit at one time. I got a little overwhelmed at being stared out for the hours leading up to and after having the baby last time. Everyone wanted to be in the room and I thought I wanted them to be in there too but it was a little bit too much at one time. I think 3 visitors at the most is good.
I'm only 15 weeks along and don't even know if we are having a boy or girl this time around so my feelings may change in the next 25 weeks. But, I'm glad I'm already thinking about this stuff. And I'm glad I don't have a big list of do's and don'ts this time around. Well.....at least not yet : )