Fab Feb 2009: the bumps are a-jumping, the mums are a-grumping - roll on the new year

[dinkystinkyclaus]

A sparkling new thread in time for christmas

Morning KT Good luck with gp today, hope it all goes well.
Re: birthplans, I didn't have one with ds, as you said I was willing to do anything to get him here safely and would do whatever they told me to and didn't have any especially strong feelings about the whole thing so wanted to just go with the flow. The thing with birthplans is I think you have to be quite flexible on them anyway as you don't know what's going to happen. You can make some notes about things you want to happen, like who is to cut the cord or if you want to pull the baby out once head is delivered, the immediate skin contact and that. This time I have stated I don't want pethidine and that we are leaving the hospital after baby has passed that first poo, and that's it.

Thanks lbb - il have a chat with the GP today. Ive read alot about pethadine - Good & Bad. Did you have a bad experience?

Right, am off to Docs & then a walk around the common & maybe a hot chocolate en route

My bad experience wasn't down to just the pethidine, but it apparently affects bf, which may have been one of the reasons I had trouble doing that at hospital. It also crsses straight over to the baby and makes them quite woozy and in some cases babies need something to counteract this after birth.
That plus I don't think it worked, and I was left trippin out! All the lights were changing colour from flouresants, blues, pinks, greens. Awful.
They gave me peth because the drugs man was in theatre when I asked for epi, but because I'd had peth, they told me I couldn't have anything else.....
I've only written in my notes that I don't want it because I feel quite strongly about it now (not for bf as don't think I'm going to do it) and have also told dp he cannot allow them to give it to me (just incase I'm out of it on G&A)

Morning all.

Wee-wee ladies: rocking on the loo is definitely the way to go. Just hope no one is in the cubicle next to you

KT - LBB is right about the side effects of pethidine in that it does pass straight through to the baby and can make them drowsy/make breastfeeding difficult for the first few days. I had a birth plan last time but it was more birth preferences - in that I said I'd keep an open mind on pain relief and ask for it as and when needed, wanted DH to cut the cord once has stopped pulsating, wanted the vit k injection for DS. This time round will also have a birth plan which will be the same as last time but also include

• no doctors rounds please (remember being in hard labour and having 3 doctors just come in for a chat with me for no reason - not what I needed at the time!)
• no continual foetal monitoring unless medically required (again, the less monitoring you have, the freer you are to move around, get comfortable and try to relax/zone out)
• let me try out different positions for birth and support me in this

Guess that's pretty much it - oh, and no inductions/use of drips unless medically necessitated by mine or baby's health.

Morning all -

I'm just doing a very brief plan, more a list (short) of definite yes' and definite no's. Main thing is I've forced John to learn it off by heart so he can act as my agent if I zone out for some reason.

Dinky - the vit k thing. It's seems a bit contentious. Were you worried about the leukemia link?

Also - people who have been there done that... did you go for a natural third stage or chose the injection?

Morning all.

Hope everyone had a nice Christmas. Happy birthday to the ladies that had birthdays and MOS safe journey to you.

Much better here. Ear still blocked and am on last day of antibiotics but they have given me raging thrush! Arrghhhh so bloody irritating literally. I bought some canesten for myself and used it but it didnt quite shift it so when i had my appt at the hospital (the DAU is open on Sundays) yesterday they gave me another one. I had some protein in my wee over Christmas and BP was up but it turns out that the extra monitoring they did wasnt really called for as was probably the thrush that gave me the protein in my wee

RE birth plans, i would have done one had i been having lo VB but dont really see the point for CS. Like LLB said earlier i suppose my contention is that as long as they get lo here safe and sound and lets face it they cant digress much from the usual routine with a CS i dont really mind iyswim.

Well its very nearly January hooray! and that means babies... cant wait to see whos going to be the first!

MrsY - did a fair bit of reading into the vit k thing and decided on balance I wasnt worried about the leukemia link. Just wanted the jab over and done with and as DS had a pretty traumatic birth and in those circumstances it was the paed's recommendation also that he had the vit k jab. Though, each to their own - know plenty of people who decided against vit k entirely or went for the drops only.

As was induced, didnt get a choice on the jab or not for the placenta as the drip had done the job - it did come out really quickly after having DS from memory (was amazed at how big it was!). This time round will try for natural third stage (breastfeeding and skin to skin meant to help with this) as trying to keep medicalised interventions to a minimum if possible.

Rosie - on the elective c-sec front, I think there are a few things you can specify - like if you want baby to have skin to skin with you or your partner while they're closing the csec up, if you want to see baby as soon as he comes out and vit k injection - have a word with your midwife/doctor about it.

Birth Plan

Anything I've missed?

Blleeeuuuurrrggghh yak yak is all I have to say about the days since Xmas lost 5lbs in one night but think that must have been fluid loss! Anyhoo, back on the mend and have decided to go into work to clear my desk now as I should have done 2 weeks ago! I really dont feel up to it but equally dont want to go into work in 2009!!

I wrote a very detailed and extensive birthplan early on only for it to go out the window nearer the time due to the ELCS. Like Dinky says you could specify the skin to skin/vit k etc but I found they asked me everything before they did anything. The only thing they didn't was to offer DH to cut the cord but we had mentioned before hand that he didn't want to so maybe they just remembered that bit. Am going to wait and see what position baby is in before I write on this time and if I have him/her before that then will just have to go with the flow

Right - better get this desk clearing out the way.....

Looks good MrsY. Keeping it short is a good idea. You should say on there re the vit K (otherwise they'll be bothering you with questions) and immediate skin to skin if that's what you want.

Also - what is the plan if you do have to transfer to hospital (as think you're going for a home birth)? Do you want John with you at all times? Skin to skin for baby with John if cant be with you? Maybe worth putting a line or two in there on that also (just so John isnt lost if it does happen - which it most probably wont).

Also make it clear that you'd like to be able to eat/drink fluids during the birthing process (as some old school midwives forbid it - crazy women).

Ooh, Spotty poor you hon. Glad you're on the mend - take it easy and enjoy clearing that desk (very cathartic!).

Just got back from the docs - Im now measuring 31cm at 34wks. So im happy that im still growing - Little Ladies heartbeat was nice & strong & she is head down

Im getting sooooo excited now, I just CANT wait to meet her! And name is officially chosen. Just need to move & were on the final countdown.

Dinky - What is the Vit K injection all about?

What about the vitamin k Dinky? Do I need to say why I have made the decision to go for the drops over the injection? Or the skin-to-skin?

Oh, spotty - that sounds awful...

That's good news, KT, do we get to know the name?

Hello ladies....quickie from me as expecting friends for the day.

I didn't do a birth plan.....just went with the flow.....I had vit K injection and will do so again. No need to explain why MrsY as long as they know.

I've been to hospital this morning for 34 week check and all is ok here as well, and been given a section date for 2nd Feb ...got to be there by 7.30am

Hi MrsY. Had a natural 3rd stage with all 3 of mine , placenta delivered about half an hour after the baby with not too much pushing/faffing about. WRT the vit K, DS1 had it as injection, DS2 had drops (which incidentally couldn't be administered/ prescribed by the midwife, had to be ordered and prescribed by the GP - so might want to give them the heads up about that one) and DS3 didn't have either. Probably wont bother for this one either.

The other thing that I would put on there or at least to think about is ...what if you are slow to proceed with labour and they wbat you to have ARM to get things going ?. This happened with DS2 and it was a case of either we break your waters and see if things get going or we strongly recommend you going in. Good to cover all bases.... i.e. I don't want my waters to be broken, but in the event that my labour is slow to proceed I will consider it if it means not transferring to hospital. Mind you, you can't plan for every eventuality !!

Yeah, She is going to be Poppy Louise I love it!!

o shit... birth plan!

i had totally forgotton to write one til now and from previous experiance i'm not great at speakimng up when in the throes so i need there to be a written version to hand to the mw. feck, and our printer is broken so will have to hand write it too.... arse!

the main things you'll need to have down on it are vit k options and 3rd stage options... every thing else can very much depend on the situation, you may find something you loved the sound of, ie; music and birthing balls, is the mst horrendous thing you ever experianced when you're actually labouring. but medical issues like not wanting a manged third stage need to be discussed. with dd they had jabbed me with the synotocin before i even realised and i never got the chance to say no.... with ds i discussed it when i went in and they were happy to let me have a physiological 3rd stage but it was something the mw had rarely done and it was the student mws first experiance of so definitely not the norm.

don't try and plan for every situation.... just give a rough idea of your wishes in terms of medical procedures and handling the baby.

we're off to the toy shop with dd to see what size bike she'll be getting for her birthday in a few weeks.... if any are reduced drastically we may pick one up before the sales clear the shelves totally... she's very excited!

am in the deeply uncomfortable, aching, BHing, constantly needing to pee club here too there really doesn't seem to be anything between me and baby... am going to ask the gp tomorrow about amniotic fluid levals as i swear to god even when kung fu panda is resting i can feel every bit of him really clearly..... don't remember that with the others

Hooray LMN - you have a date !!

Spotty - hope you are feeling better !

KT - glad the little lady has had a grow

Swampy - MS is around, but being 30 brings a whole new level of responsibilities in life dontya know ! How are things going with you and your little man ?

KT Poppy Louise - love it!

Thanks all for the advice on the birth plan. I may include that bit about ARM, laidback...

People that went for physiological third stage - why?

mrsy;

because i did everything else naturally so it followed tht i felt more comfortable doing the last bit naturally too.

because it allows the baby to get every last bit of blood and oxygen from the cord and placenta and for the connection to you to end naturally rather than be severed abruptly.

because when they injected me after dd i heamorraged and part of the placenta was retained and i'm convinced the jab caused or at least aggravated that.

it didn't hurt or prolong the pain for me at all.... i never had the second round of contractions that some women do, it just popped out after about 20/30 mins.

it's a great way of ensuring they give you skin to skin time before snatching your baby to clean and weigh it to as the baby is still attached so they can't take it it also helps with that initial bf and conversely the bf helps expel the placenta

what seals it for me is watching animals give birth........ they never sever the cord until the placenta is delivered..... instincts are there for a reason so if a mother cat knows the kitten needs to be attached til eveything is out, then it follows that the same rules apply to us.

Congrats on getting your date LMN. Sounds like there are going to be lots of Fab Feb babies on 2nd Feb as think Swampy, Hergarden and a couple of others are on that date too!

KT - lovely names! Great that she's growing nicely. Vit K injections - basically they give vit K (orally or as injection) to newborns to reduce risk of a severe bleeding disorder. There were a couple of studies - in the early 1990s - which suggested there was a link between vit k and childhood leukemia - then, as with the MMR thing, there were lots of studies saying they didnt think that was right, better to prevent the bleeding disorder as greater established risk etc. So, ultimately comes down to do you want to give your baby vit k (there is vit k in formula feed so less of an issue for formula fed babies) or not and do you want a one off injection or 3 drops (which as Laidback says you may need to get ordered in if you're having a homebirth).

MrsY - just if you want drops or injection for vit k - or if you've decided not to have vit k for baby. Skin to skin always worth saying (as some old school midwives will bundle them away and clean them up etc before you even get a hold) - supposed to help with the bonding too. Never got it with DS as he was rushed straightout to special care - keeping my fingers crossed I get it with this one. Physiological third stage supposed to help get everything moving back to the right place again (and you get another endorphin high, which is always good).

Thought I'd included that stuff Dinky - I'll check which version I copied and pasted!

wrt to the vit k, on one of the early threads there's a huge rant from me on the subject the basic principles are;

if you're baby is full term, healthy, straightforward delivery and bf as much colostrum as possible (or ff as they add tonnes of vit k to formula) then the risk of it triggering leukemia is marginally greater than the risk of a brain bleed if they don't have vit k... they are also more likely to become jaundiced if they get the vit k

however if the baby is premmie, had a rough delivery or is unhealthy then the risk of a brain bleed if they don't get the vit k is massively increased and outweighs the slightly increased risk of leukemia.

it's a personal decision that has to be based on your own circumstances, what's right for one baby won't be right for all of them

here
here
and here are some good articles on the subject.

KT Glad all is well. Poppy Louise is lovely

Ds had injection for vit K because with the drops you have to give a second dose I think 12 hours later and if it's forgotten or is late, the first one doesn't work, and I don't need to tell you how rubbish my hospital is....
Also had injection for 3rd stage but had forcep delivery anyway so made sense while he was down there!