Due September thread 10 - On the downhill slope...

[Kiwifruit]

Here's the new thread ladies - may it be as chatty as the last 9!!

And KF - 120/80 sounds fine to me - especially if this is what its been throughout. Mines usually 120/70.

KF - didn't we say Marylebone had better pedicure chairs? I'm not sure I could lift my leg up onto someone's knee anymore!!

Boompi - sounds like you want to avoid the EVC - a friend of mine had one, and it didn't sound very pleasant. Have also heard that accupuncture can work quite well too, so might be worth a look?

OK, that's 3 of us for the 6th so far... My SIL is staying with us at the moment, and I got her to paint my toenails last night - she did a great job, but think they will need doing again by the 6th!

i'm 33&3. was supposed to finish next friday but am taking next week as holidays so i only have 3 days or 18 hours (he he he) to work now. my baby has got much more active over the last few days, can't believe it

What a chatty day. My birth plan tip is print it out on piece of coloured paper and put in notes so stands out and give a copy to birth partner so he/she has it when your notes are elsewhere.

Kiwifruit, holiday was great! I was amazed at just home many hours of the day I managed to sleep. Seriously feeling deprived now that I'm back to work .

No one asked for the certificate. They did ask how many weeks I was and I lied and said 26. The girl at the easyjet desk started looking up stuff in the computer and I just told her in a very authoratative manner, "Your policy is 28 weeks. I'm only 26." That seemed to satisfy her.

Katts - had same experience as LadyL had mw 4weeks ago and she suggested thinknig about it and making some rough notes, am seeing her tomorrow with that and we should be going through it in more detail. She did however say that if i dont have one it doesn't matter coz they don't stick to them half the time. Was a bit upset with that but there we go she might just not be very caring...dunno

I'm thinking of doing 2 birth plans - one for the midwife and one for my boyfriend. That way, I know for sure that he knows what's likely to piss me off.

Things like if the midwife starts rumagging through her kit saying she can't find the entonox mask to tell her to go rummage elsewhere. (This happened on Homebirth Diaries on Discovery Health.)

stm, that is so true in alot of cases, i had a birth plan with dd and never stuck to it really, and know a lot of others that had similar experiences. my only plan this time is that no one but myself and dp(his mum is also my birth partner)is to hold our baby before dd. as soon as the placenta is delivered, mil is to leave and dd to enter to bond with our new edition. even got her present ready

Wow - I leave to write one email and there's a stack more posts on here... We'll be starting another new thread before the end of the week at this rate!

Lady L - you're right, and it's my preggy brain again. I meant Marylebone - definitely the more comfortable option!

Katts - I slept a lot on holiday too. Our bed was so comfortable, every time we lay down on it we went to sleep. The first morning, we went down to breakfast, went back to our room and decided to lie down for 20 minutes to let breakfast go down before we went to the pool, and woke up 1.5 hours later !! Another day, I lay down for 5 minutes in the evening before we got ready to go out for dinner, and woke up an hour later - oops.

Kiwifruit, sounds familiar.

I also bought a snorkel so that I could float face down in the pool - which I did for what seemed like hours. Very bouyant at the moment! It was just so relaxing - took all the weight and aches and strains away.

I think there should be a "Fat Farm" for pregnant ladies where just get to rest and be pampered for the last few months of pregnancy.

HAve check-up tomorrow. Hate being weighed!! Always worry about these appointments. So relieved to get out of the hospital. Hope tomorrow will be ok. Will meet my birth supporter next week. Had her with me for dd3 - wonderful. Her help got me through it fine with no drugs. Even stayed to help me through the pph.

Use a longchamp rucksack as a changing bag - excellent as loads of room.

On the hospital cleanniness issue - after the pph I felt sorry for the cleaners - though of them as I was wheeled out of the delivery room.

Busy with school hols since kids finished in June. Wondering what it'll be like to be taking them to school when I'm 37 weeks plus!! The other mums will be surprised I'm still preg as huge before the hols!! Many thought my baby was due in a few weeks!

My dd2 was a footling breech. Had my doc try to turn here. Hated this as it was so uuncomfortable plus worried as would have to have emerg cs if anything went wrong. My bags were packed for this. Very stressful. Have read others that thought it ok. If my ds4 is a breech wont opt for turning attempt again.

Feeling super hungry alot of the time. Anyone else have this? Having bread, strawberries & sorbet.

STM - I think that what happens in a lot of cases is that no one really knows what to expect and parts of the birth plan can go out of the window. In an ideal world everything would run to plan but in reality - for example you don't know how much pain you're going to be in so don't discount pain relief; you might want a water birth but the pool may already be in use; etc... Don't forget that no one will have told baby about the birth plan either so it's all very unpredictable.

very well put jessysmummy, thats what i wanted to say but couldn't find the words to phrase it without sounding patronising

Tempted not to bother with birth plan. Before have just put as little intervention as possible, happy with Vit K injection, want to stay upright, and that's about it from memory. In practice, everything changes as you go along - I think as long as partner is briefed about definite no nos (although in practice, there aren't really any as at the end of the day as long as baby is born healthy and mother ok then that's what matters) then you just need to be flexible.

What would you need Vit K injection for?

And does anyone have any thoughts / comments on the 3rd stage of labour? what are the advantages of having the syntometrine (?sp) injection to speed it up? are there disadvantages of not having this and just having a 'natural' 3rd stage?

OK, excuse my ignorance , have just Googled about Vitamin K, something to do with clotting for the new baby...?

You have a choice whether to have the vit k injection, have it given orally or not to have it at all. This is because newborns are born with low levels of vit k and there are also low levels in breast milk. But there's a VERY rare hemorraghing disorder that can occur several days after birth. They reckon the vit K might prevent this - although research isn't conclusive. And there's also some research that connects the vit K injection with childhood cancer, and problems breast feeding.

Personally, I reckon nature has a reason for making babies with low levels of vitamin K. And I don't really want one of my baby's first experiences to be an intra-muscular injection. But research either way isn't really convincing to me.

RE: the syntometrine. There was a thread about this on the homebirth user group I subscribe to. Most of them are, as you'd expect, pro-physiological third stage and say that the syntometrine increases the risk of post-partum hemorraghe.

From another perspective my doula says it's best to let the placenta turn up on it's own because you're body produces "love" hormones to encourage it leave. And these hormones also help bond with the baby. The injection is synthetic and doesn't quite have the same effect.

Anyway, sorry to sound like a know-it-all!

I haven't made up my mind about the vitamin k yet. The choice is between the oral administration or not at all - since I'm with Katts on the injection. Babies have low levels of vitamin k compared to what?? Adults?? They have small feet compared to adults too, but no one is suggesting that's a defect. I can't help thinking that breastmilk must be low in it (compared to artificial formula) too for a reason. I've read that women who have taken anticoagulants during pregnancy should definitely have it administered to their baby - but even this isn't convincing (in my opinion) because I'll stop those at week 36 and the heparin only takes 24 hours to leave your system.

Re: third stage of labour. I have read that bleeding is less intense, but continues for longer with a managed third stage. A natural third stage might result in heavier bleeding straight away, but it stops sooner. I think it's normal, though, for natural placenta delivery to take up to a couple of hours - which probably explains why hospitals are so keen to manage the third stage and move you on through.

I've got to disagree with Andif on the subject of no-nos though. Yes, everyone says that a healthy mother and baby at the end is all that matters - and yes, that is everyone's objective... but it shouldn't be at the expense of a dignified and non-traumatic birth. On another message board, I've read a midwife discussing how in training she saw women's membranes being ruptured without their informed consent, whilst doing a VE. Perhaps someone doesn't want to be VE'd every hour, everytime there's a shift change, or if the wind alters direction. Things like that - whilst not a matter of life and death - will certainly affect your experience of the birth, your initial moments with the child and perhaps the likelihood of developing post-natal depression. Obviously I appreciate that the unforeseen can occur - but I don't think that means that the abdication of your wishes and the greater good of the baby should be synonymous (or indeed that your wishes and the well-being of the baby should be mutually contradictory - if you get me).

There's a discussion on the radical midwives website about vitamin k here.

www.radmid.demon.co.uk/vitk.htm#gen

Agree with free choice. Just to add re synto for managed third stage - it decreases chance of PPH but you can make the decision not to have it and wait for placenta to be expelled naturally. However you will find staff very reluctant not to give the synto after an instrumental delivery or even an induced labour as risk of PPH increases. PPHs can sometimes be 'hidden' and not obvious - which a friend of mine had. I know I want managed third stage but agree choice is everything - just being aware of what may happen is useful though. Every hospital will have different policies so its worth speaking to your mw.
Met woman the other day who had her baby at UCH 5 weeks ago and they ran out of Gas and air That would be kind of thing that could make you change your plans too.

Hi everyone, very chatty day, just been catching up. Count me in on the sleep deprivation, last night was awful. Got to sleep about 1am, got up to the toilet about 3 times and then wide awake from 4am. Feel shattered and like a zombie now! 3 weeks and 3 days left at work, can't wait to finish. I've got a midwife check up tomorrow, last time my blood pressure was 110/70, they said it was a bit low but that was better than it being high. My midwife wants to go through birthplan tomorrow, like your all saying though, it will maybe end up going out the window. My tummy feels really tight and stetched and sometimes I'm sure the baby is going to just burst out! Getting lots of branston pickles (my name for braxton hicks!), they are starting to get a lot more uncomfortable but not painful. Going to have to look at changing bags after all your recommendations as it's one of the things I don't have yet.
Milward - I could eat all day, food is constantly on my mind!

ych - Just keep counting the days till your maternity leave kicks in!

Boompi - Should've specified the discussion was about a study that had results showing increased risk of PPH. Don't remember the details, but I guess it's like most things medical. Studies seem to come out proving and disproving the same thing on a weekly basis.

There's a good explanation about the difference between active management of the third stage and physiological 3rd stage here, which doesn't really take any particular side in the matter.

www.homebirth.org.uk/thirdstage.htm

Personally, I think I'd rather the placenta turned up on its own. But at this stage it's not something I'm overly concerned with. As long as the baby turns up healthy and happy.

ych, know what you mean about feeling that baby is trying to burst out - I've been so uncomfortable today. Meant to be out on an end of term/leaving/maternity leave for me work do tonight but afer an awful migraine this afternoon just couldn't face it. The thought of making conversation for hours and being uncomfortable and not being able to eat much just wasn't appealing so have cried off. How sad that my sofa, Harry Potter and a programme about Richard and Judy was the preferred option!!

Does anyone know what happens if you go into labour when you are out of your area? All the talk recently about early labour has got me thinking about what would happen if things happened whilst on holiday. I know we're only going to Devon and not to the other side of the world, but are hospitals bound to take you or could they send you away on the ground they are full?!! Anyone got any experience or knowledge of this?