due oct 2006 part 2

[totallyfloaty35]

Well lets fill this one up too

gemmity, kind of know how you feel there. ive got an overactive imagination as far as the birth is concerned too. but i have promised myself that im not going to listen to anyones horror stories about how much pain they were in and just take it as and when it comes. generally just trying to relax myself which is working at the mo, so its what im gonna keep doing too lol

You're right wuzzle: lots of being calm is good, it's just elusive sometimes. Ordered preg pilates dvd so will try that, and try to be all healthy and holistic, so at least body is in the best shape it can be. Sometimes I think we have too much information; internet etc. and you read so much you get more stressed!

Oh well ,it's nearly home time here.. weekend just around the corner!

yeah, i know what you mean about the too much info thing...in a way it just gives us all more to panic about doesnt it.

i hope that you have a nice weekend :) shopping later for me i think (borning food shopping, but never-the-less lol)

yes: have a good weekend! Planning to slob out tonight and then go for a hike tomorrow in the mountains, (DH makes me wear his heart rate monitor so it beeps if I go over 140 bpm)

I'm planning on a relatively active birth in hospital - not really practical at home. Plus it's my first, so would like to have all my options available! Why do they ask you to make a detailed birth plan if you have NO idea what to expect? I'm hoping to have it in the mw-led unit, though, so no epidurals for me...

I'm pretty scared as well, but s'pose that worrying won't help (prob the opposite in fact). Can't back out now!

Hope everyone's having a great Friday and then a great weekend!

PS: Starting to feel v. stretched already - what will happen when I get really large (only 18w)?

Well ladies what can I say!. Yes the best thing to do is relax. The more you relax the easier it is. I have found upright or on your knees is a pretty good way to deliver. Best thing about the water birth was you didnt feel the tear when the head was born plus you dont feel the waters break which if your like me I hated with ds number one. Who I had standing up and it all gushed down my legs and slplashed just about everything in the room he he. The best bit of all is when you look down and see a little angel staring back at you and you think to your self'I did that'. Wow what a rush Not sure how you ladies feel about skin to skin straight after birth. I had ds no 1 and 3 straight on me after birth but the mw wrapped up dsno 2 and I felt a bit cheated so as soon as I got home I layed in the bath with him on my chest which was wonderful. He even breast fed while on me.

Ginge, didn't tear at all (never!), but if he pushing is better in the water...though with no 2 and 3 two pushes were sufficient! but most hospitals won't let you give birth in the pool. the hospital were i will be going has got a big pool...still too lazy to order a pool for here. i live in a detached house, don't worry about neighbours but my own children. i feel like screaming i want to scream !
midwife thought children should be present...no thank you ( and they don't want to).
anyway, to prevent tearing I did special excercises and massages, and might have helped.
I wasn't scared of the pain of childbrith, but stitches, blood taken and the idea of an epidural made me feel faint ( and the hospital itself).
But in the end it wasn't all that bad, it was a great experience and better then migraine...

really if you are scared do relaxation exercises!

Ginge, didn't tear at all (never!), but if he pushing is better in the water...though with no 2 and 3 two pushes were sufficient! but most hospitals won't let you give birth in the pool. the hospital were i will be going has got a big pool...still too lazy to order a pool for here. i live in a detached house, don't worry about neighbours but my own children. i feel like screaming i want to scream !
midwife thought children should be present...no thank you ( and they don't want to).
anyway, to prevent tearing I did special excercises and massages, and might have helped.
I wasn't scared of the pain of childbrith, but stitches, blood taken and the idea of an epidural made me feel faint ( and the hospital itself).
But in the end it wasn't all that bad, it was a great experience and better then migraine...

really if you are scared do relaxation exercises!

Ginge, didn't tear at all (never!), but if he pushing is better in the water...though with no 2 and 3 two pushes were sufficient! but most hospitals won't let you give birth in the pool. the hospital were i will be going has got a big pool...still too lazy to order a pool for here. i live in a detached house, don't worry about neighbours but my own children. i feel like screaming i want to scream !
midwife thought children should be present...no thank you ( and they don't want to).
anyway, to prevent tearing I did special excercises and massages, and might have helped.
I wasn't scared of the pain of childbrith, but stitches, blood taken and the idea of an epidural made me feel faint ( and the hospital itself).
But in the end it wasn't all that bad, it was a great experience and better then migraine...

really if you are scared do relaxation exercises!

about the position: eveyrtime i did something to relieve teh pain., teh midwife would say ' that's perfect for turning the baby' etc. so your body will tell you what the best position is, and an experienced midwife will do the rest.
Really, it isn't bad at all, am looking forward too it!

but the thought of today is ...maybe i don't want to know baby's sex!

I'm having another elective CS. A good night's sleep, quick and easy delivery, up and about the same day.

Highlander,your lucky to recover so quick from your c-section,mine was horrid,i was up and about but in agony and terrified to cough in case i burst.Saying that all women are different,my mate recovered really fast from hers and my other friend is still having probs a year down the line.
All you ladies having your first,really dont panic about the birth,you may well have a lovely short labour with bearable pain,i treat alot of pg women and every birth is different,but fear makes the pain worse,and remember theres always an epidural

actually what was wordt then labour was going overdue, with my in-laws from italy over, complaining about how uselees british doctors were ( my sisters in law had selective ceasarions and of course the doctor knew in advance when...)
if i would have to choose either them again and the phone from italy ringing every two minutes ' is it there yet? do you feel something? you know we can't stay here forever! why don't you go for a walk/ run the stairs etc etc) or a day more a labouring, give me option no 2 any time.
Also, for your first baby: you tend to be worried about giving birth. but is is such a special event...what tehe biggest shock will be, is having a baby wanting you all the time, not to sleep properly for the coming 2 years....haha, it's too late know to change your mind!

I know: it feels silly to obsess about the birth when it's what follows which changes everything so much.. I think the problem for me is that I'm scared of pain in general, cos have had cosseted Western life (and we should be v grateful to be giving birth in nice safe places and not like most women in the world), and never actually been in serious pain, and think I will just panic or be psychologically scarred or whatever. However in situations where I've had to be brave (deaths, parachute jump etc) I've been extremely calm and had inner strength, so hoping for a miracle!

interested in the exercises you can do to avoid tearing. Heard of massaging perineum with oils etc, and stretching it a bit before the birth, but what exercises can you do, Rianna? Pelvic floor or other?

Gem, I believe it wa sstretching, like sitting on a very low chair , elbows on your knees, something like that. You can sit on one of these low kitchen - steps for example.First time I had a tiny tear, no need to stitch.And yes, massaging it.Forgot about my pelvic-florr exercises, better start doing them.
You can't be worse then me.I faint when I see a needle.I faint when visiting someonbe in hospital.Once fainted when the doctor looked into my ears.Once started to faint when my aunt, a doctor, expalined to me that 80% of your breasts is fat.
I close my eyes and ears when there's violence/blood on tv.
Stupid me, have read the whole torture from those poor teenage girls by gang of boys in the newspaper, coulndn't sleep for two nights.
Yet gave birth smiling and happy without any pain relief to my first child.
You see...if I can do it....
I'm not against pain releif at all, was very happy to have it at second birth, but think the best think if your body first gets the chance to produce enough endorphines (?) to cope yourself.
Reading a few inspiring books, Sheila Kitzinger, Dick Read (?) and just ordered ' Instinctive childbirth' might help as well.
As long as women don't want a natural birth at all costs and are dissapointed when intervention is needed, these books are a good inspiration.
Also, if you need pain-relief then it is great that's there, it is no competition.
not everyone understands that though, and wait until you have your baby, then it is who walks/sits/ talks first and here in Sureey the worst is to come at school :-)

I didnt think giving birth was that bad at all -tbh the annoyance of the stitches afterwards was worse than the whole birth experience (dd came out very quickly at the end and I had a 2nd degree tear that took 30 minutes to stitch - ouch)

I never fancied an epidural (didnt like the thought of fussing about with a needle so close to my spinal cord) so I had gas and air and one injection of diamorphine (same as pethidine). I was induced and had my waters broken and was on a drip to speed up contractions (at one point they had to turn it down a bit as I was over-contracting!).

DD was born within 8 hours of being induced so not too bad for a first birth. I will have a hospital birth and probably use the same pain relief options as the last time. I dont fancy a water birth.

Hi everyone. Haven't posted for a while, but have been keeping track of the thread most days!! Glas to hear everyone getting on good!!

I'm just back from 4 day trip to paris with DP and he proposed while we were away!! Real surprise but so so happy!!
re the birth: I am hoping to have water birth in the local mw led unit with gas/air and maybe pethidine (this is my first). MW led unit is approx 15-20 miles away from nearest hospital so no option for epidural!!
Have not felt any movement yet but hoping that will be soon.

Sassy: congratulations!

Gem: I agree, we're very lcuky to get all the antenatal and childbirth care that we do - it's so rare now to have mothers or babies die becuase of incompetence, which happened in both mine and OH's families in previous generations. But I think it's also natural to be worried about childbirth, esp if it's something you haven't experienced before. S'pose we just need to get our worries under control!

Another general q: I've found that I've expanded a lot over the past week or so (at 18w), so I assume blob is having a growth spurt? Or is is all the cake and snacks catching up on me? No stretchmarks yet, but feeling a bit stretched already!

congrats sassy. When is the wedding?

re birth will go for hospital. Post natal wards are nice in Brighton- looking out to sea-and fancy a 'rest' before I get back to normal life. Last time I was two weeks overdue and induced. Labour started v. quickly though they would not believe me on antenatal ward(ended up nearly fully dilated before they checked me and DD was born 20 mins after we got to labour ward). Spent a lot of time in the bath and found it really helped, so would be keen on water birth but as they only have 1 pool, matter of luck really whether you get to use it. As the birth was very quick (second stage 10 mins)and I think because we had no midwife anywhere near us til I was about to give birth, had really bad bruising and had to stay in for a few days. The plus side is, staying in for a few days really gave me a chance to get the hang of breast feeding.

For first timers, I really didn't think the pain was that bad either(obviously depends on baby's position, length of labour etc)and was definitely able to cope with it. I agree with Seona that the stitches were worse. That's what I used the gas and air for. It took an HOUR to stitch me up as I had a student doing it. Guess they have to learn somehow but it isn't very nice being the guinea pig!! She'd just delivered our baby (which meant she qualified actually) so somehow felt obligated to let her put me back together again!!

Congratulations Sassy. How romantic is that? Whens the wedding?
re stitches. My friend was actualy stitched up too much! She found sex realy painful after. She thought it was because of the birth at first. Tried again a month later and still realy hurt. She went to her gp and he said there were too many stitches and she had to be operated on to open her up again if you catch my drift. Poor love. Shes ok now then and went on to have 2 more babys with no probs. Swizzler babys on the grow again! Should have done all its major development by now like its organs and that and is busy getting bigger now and laying down a layer of fat. Ive just been sorting out last ds baby clothes to wash and put away. Cant believe he was that tiny once! Well catch you later ladies. Take it easy xxx

Not set date for the wedding yet but concentrating on baby for now, will wait til baby born before thinking about it!!
Is there anyone else on this thread who, like me, has an underactive thyroid? I've had to increase my medication and am worried about any effect on the baby. Have asked the doc/mw but they just said "oh, it should be fine". Hardly encouraging

Has anyone started buying baby stuff yet? I'm being v nosey about other people's prams but we don't want to buy too much before LO is born. Partly superstition and partly that we don't have any room to store stuff..

As it's our first baby and we don't have friends who can give/lend baby equipment I suppose we'llhave to buy quite a lot. Def NOT spending vast amounts on a pram, tho!

Hope you're all feeling well. LO kicking away at the moment.

Hi Swizzler. Ive only bought a little cream coat so far when I reached 12 weeks as a sort of little celebration. Got a few neutral bits from ds no2 too which I have washed and put away. Gonna buy more stuff when I have my 20 week scan cause hopefuly will know what sex were having. Though gonna still keep it quite neutral just in case!! Im feeling baby moving lots more now too. So reasuring isnt it? xx

I'm soooooooo chuffed I'm having another boy - just recycle everything from last time. Just need a baby support thing for hte bath and that's it (I think). Oh, I do find myself walking past Boots muttering, 'don't forget breast pads and big knickers'.

Joy of joys today. DH's mate said I was looking very slim At that horrible stage though where normal jeans are too tight but mat jeans keep falling down.

sassy congratulations!!!

swizzler, re what we have bought so far: i have bought 2 pairs of socks, a pair of bootie things, my next door neighbour has croched me a shawl and we have got our pram lol (well, my mum decided that she wanted to get it for us, so im bringing it home tomorrow)

awww, highlander a little boy eh? lovely :) dp wants a boy