Calling all Mums - first timer with LOADS of questions.

[LuckySalem]

Hi all,

I'm now 33 weeks pregnant (well tomorrow I am) and I have loads of questions that I know I should ask my MW but I'm so nervous that I just can't I have questions that need the anonomous touch (IFKWIM)

Ok easy ones first

Vitimin K - Has anyone had it? Anyone had bad experiences, what exactly is it for?

Umbilical Cord - DP doesn't want to cut it (it's gross apparently) Can I do it? Also was reading on storing cord blood, does anyone have any experiences of this. Was thinking about letting the cord stop pulsing before cutting it, any ideas there?

Labour - Is it true you can get caught short when pushing? I've read stories but wondered just how regular this was.

I bet I'll think of some more soon OR IF ANYONE ELSE WANTS TO POST SOME FEEL FREE TO USE THE THREAD.

Thanks ahead guys.

vit k - can't remember (thought is was given to the baby)

cord - your DH may change his mind! My DH was not keen until he was in the labour room and then did it. Don't know if you can/would be physically able

labour - lots of women poo during labour - totally normal and MW will whip it away if you do without you noticing (you won't care anyway)

good luck with your PG!

Cheers Ruby - I assumed Vit K was for baby but wasn't sure if there were any side effects.

they have a dose at delivery and then after 7 days
no ideas of side effects - thought it was used to help prevent bleeding disorders
sure someone more knowledgable will be along soon

No vit K side effects. one twin had it and the other didn't. I can't remember the reasons for the difference.

Chord - I think you're usually not in a fit state to cut it. Althouh you may want to leave it pulsating for a while - no huge rush to cut it.
Storing the blood - good plan. I think Branson has a company that's specialising in that - great business idea but controversial in the NHS particualrly amongst left wing midwives.

Labour - yes but that's the least of your problems. In the 1960s they'd shave most women in labour against their will almost and force them to have an enema. Not nice practices but the latter I suppose removed the risk of an accident. I wouldn't worry about it.

Ahh is that what its for. I always wondered.

Got another one as well - How early should I be preparing for broken waters? What can I use to protect the bed.

vit k - is to do with blood clotting, given to baby via needle or can be done orally... shortly after birth

cord - yes, you can cut it yourself , or MW can do it, as long as all is straightforward, you can wait until it stops pulsating so baby gets all the nutrient rich blood from teh placenta. also provides oxygen if baby takes a moment to breathe. blood storing i think has to be done privately, it is not routine. ask your MW

labour - yes, often you can poo a bit as baby;s head comes down and as you start to push.. MW will take any poo as a good sign, that baby is imminent. don;t worry about it, virtually all women will poo a bit during birth, you won;t be told by MW you have doen so.

hope that helps !

I don't think I ever protected against it but our bed does have a plastic cover against the mattress anyway - vital once you have a baby around with sick and leaks. I would get one as soon as you can.

My Aunty cut her own babies cords - I guess it depends on how long the cord is iykwim!

If you want to wait for the cord to stop pulsing make sure you make it very clear to your midwife during labour early on before you get too focussed on the main event to communicate properly!

Do not be affraid to ask the midwife ANYTHING. It is what they are there for, to help and support pregnant women. I have had some v poor experiences with midwives in my area and only got the answers and care I needed when I insisted. I'm naturally quite shy, don't like to ask questions etc, but this is important, no time to be shy. You're a Mum now!

Good luck!

Xenia - thanks for that and well done for now making me panic about whether I should perhaps still be shaving even if I can't see it!!! lol

Seriously though, thanks. I'll have to talk to MW about storing the blood I spose. Don't really fancy that conversation as she seems to be against anything not of the norm. I mentioned home birth and she seemed to almost pass out. lol

Hi Lucky

Write it all down in a birth preference list as the m/w you see at clinic will not be with you in labour and so has no say in what you have or dont have during labour, short of quoting hospital policies.

Vit k given by injection at birth or orally at birth, 7 days and 1 month (timing dependant on your hospital), and is to protect against (very rare) bleeding disorders in baby - more important if you have instrumental or traumatic delivery.

Cord - yes you can cut it! And not too gross! If you are going to store stem cells, cord must be clamped straight away (or there is no blood left to store!) Both stem cell collection and leaving cord to stop pulsing are controversial, but its your choice - read up on both and decide. Most hospitals wont help you with the collection, so unless you have a friendly m/w in delivery with you , your DP will have to do it, or you can hire a phlebotomy company to collect it for you (about £300).

Poo - dont think about it, sometimes happens, sometimes doesnt, either way its not a big deal and believe me, at the time you really wont care!

Shaving - again makes no reall difference, but probably more hygenic to at least be a bit tidied up down there, certainly easier to stitch (if you need them) if you have 'neatened up' a bit!

Hope this helps...

Ok thanks,

I definatly need to stop worrying about pooing then!! haha.
Will read up on the cord collection or pulsing aspect as I have no idea how to broach that so will need some info on it. Like where does it get stored, how much does it cost etc.

my mum has a blood disorder so probably better to get the Vit K done.

Have just had a look and the only website that makes sense will charge £670 for the kit and storage for a year!! Can't afford that so looks like I'll have to check up on the pulsing thing and then maybe have to just be normal.

Yes, it's expensive. Middle class gift of choice or something although around when I had babies. I would imagine storage charges once it was stored are cheaper. The chances are your child won't need its stem cells anyway. But I do think if someone is choosing between a very expensive showing off pram and redecorated nursery which is really just there to please the parents and show off to friends and storage of stem cells it should be no contest on the side of the storage.

Vit K helps with the baby's blood clotting (they do blood tests later at about a week to check for disorders)

Poo - I did but only realised later and compared to the amniotic fluid explosion, it was very discreet (hint - pushing means telling the muscles they are having to do a massive poo so in fact it helps to 'go', as it means you're using exactly the right reflexes).

For mattress protection - a shower curtain directly under your sheet, and keep bin bags at the ready the line the car seat!

Good luck!

Thanks toadstool - forgot about the car. I've got a few spare shower curtains so will do that soon.

Baby had the VitK and no side effects that we were aware of.
DH cut the cord at ours and was OK about it, even though he's not good with medical stuff - I think he was just so euphoric nothing would have bothered him. Weird though, they gave him a pair of scissors that look like those ones they give children for crafts!
I pooed for Britain in the run up to full labour and if I did a little accidental one during, I certainly didn't notice it. Definitely no wee though!
Anyway, don't worry - It wasn't anything like as bad as I expected, just very hard work!

LuckySalem -

The cord - My husband wanted to cut the cord beforehand but then changed his mind at the last moment. I asked if I could do it and they were perfectly happy to let me (although it in any case proved physically impossible as the cord was simply too short for me to reach).

Getting caught short - it is apparently common to suddenly get diahorrea (spelling?) in the early stages of labour. My midwife said it's absolutely normal and simply a way of the body creating room in the pelvis. It happened to me at home when the contractions were about five minutes apart. There was a bit more in hospital shortly before the transition phase. I felt it and told the midwife, who quickly cleaned it up. She was entirely unbothered, and took it as a sign of the labour progressing. I remember being actively encouraged to keep going to the loo to urinate, and, when I really couldn't stand anymore, having my bladder emptied using a catheter. The attitude was definitely one of "better out than in, the baby needs the room".

Don't worry about waters breaking over bed - only a tiny fraction of labours come on with waters breaking and most of them aren't a great Niagara rush anyway. Much more likely that you'll start with contractions or that you will be sitting on sofa or somewhere unprotected anyway. The fluid should be clear anyway so won't spoil anything. Shaving probably does make life a bit easier for anyone having to do stitches afterwards but bit fiddly with full bump.

Completely agree with Fluffy - there is almost this compulsion for people to build up labour into full horror story but for me and most of my friends, it was painful and undignified but basically bearable. Don't get too hung up about it, don't have really inflexible ideas about how it will be because it's about how your body and your baby will deal with it, what you want comes pretty low down the list. It really is one of those things that you won't know how you will cope with until you're doing it. I was mortified at the thought of allcomers staring up there and the possibility of pooing but, really, when you're in the middle of it, nothing much matters except getting the baby out.

Good luck

can i butt in with my own first timer question? love to get a second opinion on this.. ive been having painful twinges - crampy, stabbing pains very low in my pelvis- since late last night that have kept me awake, kind of irregular but coming between every 5 minutes for a while, then more like every 25 minutes for a while. but the thing is that the twinges only really last for about 5 seconds, so im assuming that it cant be contractions? inever had braxton hicks so i dont really know what to compare these to.. i rang the delivery ward and they said soudns like early labour but i had forgotten to explain how short each twinge was, so its probably not, right?! im exactly 40 weeks today, but no other signs- no show, no waters breaking....

Sorry Revel can't answer but didn't want to leave you alone. Good luck if it is early labour.

I didn't have regular contractions at all with either of my children - i didn't even believe I was in labour with first one because they were so irregular and waters never broke. Ended up being dragged to hospital by husband, apologising to midwife for wasting time and being told that I was 10cm dilated and could I start pushing please. Daughter was born an hour later two days early.

I'd say if they were painful enough to keep you awake, then it's probably worth having them checked out - but if they say you've got a long way to go, get home and sit in a bath. Being stuck in hospital isn't much fun.

Good luck

thanks ladies much appreciated! LOL at your first birth story lala! that sounds quite like something i would do. i hate feeling like ive made a fuss over nothing! i will see how i go over the next few hours, maybe try and sleep a bit... thanks again, feel a bit reassured..

Vit K - no side effects

Cord - I wouldn't have been in any fit state to cut it, DH wasn't up for it and I didn't mind who did it! Midwive waited for it to stop pulsing first.

Poo - I was told that if you try not to poo it will make for a longer labour, and that poo is totally normal if you're pushing 'in the right place'. At the time all I cared about was getting the baby out safely (not that it was a particularly scarey labour - I just mean that that is always going to be the only thing on your mind at the time!)

Talking to midwife - Your embarrassment threshold is about to change completely! Get some practise in for the indignity now by talking about incredibly personal stuff with a total stranger Trust me, they've seen/heard it all before!

Just adding my 2pworth.
I had a feeling there was some issue about vit k injections - think some people prefer orally (both mine had injections) - can't remember what it was/whether I made this up - but if you start a specific vit k thread someone more knowledgeable will doubtless pipe up

Cord - dh was adamant he didn't want to do it ... but on the day the whole thing was so overwhelming that he changed his mind and did cut it - so you never know! Yes, leaving the cord to pulse is meant to be a good idea - as per other posts. Dk much about storing blood, sorry

poo - do you know I think this was my biggest stupid niggle pre-childbirth (other than shaving my legs!) After the birth I proudly told dh how glad I was I hadn't pooed. He looked at me. Said nothing. I honestly hadn't even realised Its pretty common and the mw will deal with it without batting an eyelid

Revel - I had exactly what you're describing for two days on and off before going into proper labour with dd - sounds like things are moving in the right direction - good luck!!

Oh, and I'm one of the wierdos whose waters did break in bed (apaprently, bed is actually relatively common - much more common that tescos, for eg . We put a matress protector down the day before ...

GOOD LUCK!!!!

vit k for baby-no side effects.

Dp cut the cord so i dont really know. there are differing views on the whole pulsating thing.

Caught short-very common. i found not weeing when pushing v hard! i bet you dont notice and you certainly wont care!