will i regret any of these? i can't reach to massage my peri-wotsit, it's too late for the tens, and is it worth it for the rasp leaf tea? i'm due on sat and it's kind of just hit me that some of the things i planned to do i've totally forgotten about.

I did none of these things. I did have a tens - it is my Mum's - but it just annoyed me.

definately not to late for tea or tens..

Dh hired tens from mothercare after I had gone into labour.

Good Luck!

After exhaustive research (4 DCs) I concluded that TENs are rubbish. Agree that the tingliness is just one irritation too many. And I didn't know it was necessary to massage ones perineum .

Good luck - you'll do fine!

my gut feeling is that it won't realy matter but i didn't want to see a deluge of posts telling me that i had ruined my chances of a good delivery without perineal massage and rasp tea, so i was going to try and get a few days worth in!

I didn't do any of that stuff either.
I didn't tear with ds1 at all, had a short labour and he came early.
It is just the luck of the draw - so GOOD LUCK!!

Look, that baby's coming out regardless of what you do!

i know! lol. just wanted to a bit of reassurance...my lovely friend showed me her birth plan yesterday, from when she delivered a year ago.
mine: half a handwritten side of A4 only adressing a few wishes re pain relief, waterbirth and feeding.
hers: two printed sides of A4 detailing things i had read about in books but not given a second thought, for example type of noises to make duringlabour!!
to be fair she did say she never looked at it again once she was in hospital. i was just feeling a little under prepepared and wondering if i was in denial a bit.

One of my friends had a plan drawn up and wanted a gentle birth experience (wtf?!). She did all the right things and it was still a bloody nightmare. Me, I did sod all apart from picking up on some breathing tips and had it 'easy'. It's luck, innit?

i agree, that's why i've kind of not done much to prepeare for labour other than pack my bags becasue i just feel if i get my heart set on having a specific kind of delivery, i'll feel disappointed if it doesn't work out that way. i mean i'm all for choice etc but at the end of the day no one chooses to find pain unbearable, or tear, but it can't be helped can it? so i just think what will be will be, past a certain

point was supposed to be the last word there :-)

I managed it and I am a total wimp!
(I was begging for total sensory deprivation at one point, but it was too late and I got past it!)

I dont know how I would have coped without my TENS machine.

i'm sure you could still get a tens - i found mine great.

i reckon rest and relaxation is the thing for you to do now!

I got a TENS from a big branch of Boots the day before I was induced. Thank God I did. They don't work for everyone but for me it was a blessed relief. But if you want a waterbirth no point anyway.

Don't pay the deposit on a credit card as then your husband can't return it for you (unless he takes your card and PIN I spose).

I didn't really bother with perineal massage and mine was intact. I had some internal scrapes and grazes but that was because she had her hand up (lousy luck else I would have been fine).

I was half hearted about the RLT too and only pushed for 10 mins.

women have given birth for thousands of years (and still do all over the world) without any of that stuff.

i reckon lots of sleep, rest, and pampering are what you need right now. and a healthy dose of daytime telly!

i thought about TENS and then decided too much of a hassle. as long as you breathe (in no funny way, literally, JUST breathe) there is nothing much more that you can do. just my opininion...

I

Did not massage my perineum
Did not drink raspberry tea
Had a TENS but didn;t use it
Had no written birth plan
Took CDs, snacks and all sorts to hospital in my labour bag but never had time to get any of them out

Don;t worry!

i did none of the above and gave birth 3 times just fine

I used my TENS for about 20 minutes before throwing it across the room, v. annoying (hated gas & air too it made me feel claustrophobic, out of control & very sick).

I massaged my perineum....once. I just never got round to doing it again. I hired a tens and it just got on my nerves, bath and pool was much better. Did drink raspberry leaf tea, that must be why I was ok?!

I did not massage my perineum,
and did not use a tens machine, (contractions so bloody painful that I went straight for the epidural)

but i did use raspberry leaf tea,
took it for two days and then my waters broke - week and a half early
but have no idea if this had anything to do with the raspberry leaf,

Ok I did massage periwhatsit 1st time but it made not a jot of difference since I tore more internally. Didn't bother the 2nd time.

Ok I did take rasp tealeaf 1st time but I suspect they made my labour pains totally more intense than they should have been. A slower more gentle labour is what I needed. Didn't bother 2nd time.

Ok I did use a tens machine. It's good for pain relief as you are distracted fiddling with the damn thing. Didn't bother 2nd time.

My 2nd labour (without these 3 things) was fabulous .

God, this message just reminded me that I haven't written a birth plan... I'm 37 weeks and my brain is mush.

Tried perineal massage for about two seconds, just felt a bit uncomfortable and made me giggle. Maybe I should get DH to give it a try?