pregnant with twins

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I have just found out I am pregnant with twins. After the initial shock/euphoria/relief at having a reason for being soooooo sick, I am now feeling quite scared about what is in store. I have a 2 year old and am worried about the implications for me throughout pregnancy/health of the babies and the effect on my toddler. Any advice/comments/shared experiences would be very welcome.

Yes But Bundle! You want women to make up there own minds based on you totally off the wall research, wich it seems you ammasssed by talking to a few friends.
I find it offensive that you think the women here are not capable of doing there own research.
And I also find it v offensive that you are trying to put woman off natrual childbirth because "you feel" it is bad for the baby.

I don't think I'm a midwife, just a person interested in the whole process of pregnancy/labour. I've researched the topic for my job as a medical journalist, as well as my own personal interest, so just maybe I have read through a lot of medical papers on this subject and talked to a number of NCT advisers /anaesthetists/consultants/midwives/mothers about it too. I don't claim to be an authority, just very interested in the whole subject. I'm glad your babies are fine.That's what everyone wants.

Callie, I was not disappointed with having an emergency c-section, I was glad to have a healthy baby by whatever means. stop your psychobabble, the only person who finds it interesting is you. I have not damned natural childbirth, nor ruled it out for myself in the future if I was lucky enough to have another baby.

Iam not going to get into an argument with you, BundleI just thought you were out of order implying that natrual child bith is bad for baby.
You can deny saying this until the cows come home . But it's there in black and white.

Why wait till now to announce you are a medical journalist.
If you think Iam going to believe that???

Do you expect us to bow down to your greater wknowledge or something?

You obviously know v little of childbirth with the rubbish you have been coming out with.

Callie, I didn't want to say what I did for a living, because my experiences as a mum are far more important to me. If you really believe I'd lie about what my job is then you really need to get a grip. I am interested in this subject because I'm a mum and not just because of my job, but I'm very lucky to be able to learn more about it at work. Things can go wrong in all kinds of childbirth, "natural" or otherwise, babies can get into distress because of obstructed labour (with or without pain relief) and we're very lucky to live in a country where prompt medical help is available so infant mortality is very low.

Iam sorry Bundle but I DO think you telling porky pies about your occupation.
We are still waiting for your facts and figures that prove that having no pain relief is detrimental to babys health.

I have no reason to lie about anything. And you'll have to wait for the figures, as I said I will have to go back to the original research papers and i've plenty of other things which need doing today. But I expect you won't believe that either, will you? And I suspect, once I've found them, you won't believe what's what's in them either...

Good, luck! Finding the evidence that proves your theory of natrual chidbirth being bad for baby!
I think you will need it!
Your arrogance astounds me!

I'm all for making an informed choice, so as and when you come up with this research, bundle, I'd be interested to see it.

Callie, I guess any research bundle intends to quote here can be checked, as long as we're told the source of her findings, so you won't have to rely on bundle for your final opinion.

Thank goodness for that, Tigermoth!
Its a pet hate of mine when someone thinks there choice of childbirth is the best way!
Its annoyed me because Bundle is saying that a managed birth like her own with an epidural is best for baby.
Even though she now denies this it is clear that is what she was implying. She is even hunting for the socalled "research" to back this up as we speak.

IMO it is so wrong to slam anyone for what kind of birth they had. Sometimes it doesnt come down to choice anyway.

I would have chosen an epidural second time round but got there too late inthe end.

I coped anyway and all was fine, But how dare Bundle insinuate that my babe was at risk because I was in pain.

That is so ridiculous!!!

Still waiting!! Bundle.
Perhaps you have mislaid it??

I at first wondered if this exchange was a wind up .
Callie, I don't think Bundle is saying that a managed birth like hers, with an epidural is better than a so called "natural" birth.I cannot see where you have inferred this. She is making a good case for a reasoned choice which INCLUDES a so called medically managed birth which is often thought of as in some way inferior.
The impression I get is she is trying to redress the balance in the great debate about how births should go. You very rarely hear someone stick up for the choice of a woman who goes for an epidural. There is a lot of smugness ( I do NOT detect this from you at all incidentally) surrounding the idea of childbirth without drugs, as if in some way this is more noble than taking whatever pain relief is on offer.
I had not heard anything about high levels of pain and stress in the mother causing distress in the baby, but it does make logical sense.
Personally I dislike the terms "natural childbirth" and worse still "active " childbirth! ( and don't get me started on "attachment parenting" )
I think to suggest Bundle needs therapy is misplaced and to further accuse her of lying about her profession is absurd.
I usually lurk here and have gone out of my way NOT to ever mention what I do for a living and can completely sympathise with why someone would choose not to because it would get just the reaction you gave, ie disbelief.( What I do for a living would add weight to my comments , and if you did not like my comments, would serve to annoy)
Furthermore Bundle has consistently addressed you courteously but seems to have riled you nonetheless. I feel like I have missed something!
Peace and goodwill to all mothers!!

Hi Marula,
I don't really want to get dragged into this argument but seeing as you asked...!

As I stated I had never heard this concept before ( pain and distress in mother causing stress or whatever in baby) so i have absolutely no interest in arguing this case.
But Callie seemed to be ridiculing bundle's suggestion and after giving it some thought ( the first time I ever thought about this was half an hour ago!) it did not strike me as a totally ridiculous concept. While the mum and baby are attached presumeably stress hormones are being freely circulated from mum to babe. I stress , i am not puting forward the case for this being true, just saying it does have a possible logic to it.
Certainly not something you would launch a personal attack on someone over.

Interesting concept, pain and stress not necessarily being linked. I will have to think about that one. I cannot personally imagine extreme pain without a stress component too.

Come off it!! Iam not even going to respond to this!!
Bundle dissapears, I presume because she was talking a load of bogwash!! And low and behold a first time poster "annieapple" appears to fight hher corner!! Probably the only other mother in the world to share the same ludicruis view that having no pain relief causes the baby harm????

I can see Iam wasting my time trying to reason with you. Just how stupid do you think we are?

I had an epidural and have never to my knowledge been criticised for it. I haven't ever heard of pain in the mother causing problems for the baby but in any case, I would have thought that the increased risk of intervention brought about by an epidural is on balance, likely to lead to greater stress for the baby that the impact of the greater pain of natural childbirth.

Having said that, I find Callie's tone uncalled for and also not remotely conducive to a rational and informed debate.

I'm sorry if you find my tone uncalled for Croppy.
I just think,it is not even worthy of a rational disscussion, and it has riled me to a point where I have said disgustuing words..like "bogwash" Again I apoogise if I have offended you Croppy! But i think that Bundle aka annie apple is just trying to takr the p*s out of us to be honest.
I too have had an epidural and have never been critisiced for it or heard of anyone who has, but Bundle aka annieapple seems to have a huge chip on her shoulder about the whole thing.

Iam sorry if if offends anyone by saying this but I truly think she is some sort of basket case.
She has totally invented so called studies that "prove" her case. She has even invented a job for herself as a medical Journalist. LOL
And now she has invented a totally new character. annie apple. LOL, lol!!!

I'm all for a discussion but this is getting ridiculous...she has no point to make.

Ok, this has got really heated. However, Bundle, if you look back to Cfr's post, the one you criticised, you will see that she was not "damning" epidurals per se, she was simply saying that she had not wanted to have one for the birth of her twins.
Bundle, you then had a go at her saying "shame on you to damn such an effective form of pain relief" (which she hadn't done) for making her choice and suggested that there was research to prove that pain in labouring mothers was somehow detrimental to their unborn babies.
I felt that it was unfair of you to have a go at Cfr for making her choice, as this is generally something most people on Mumsnet try to avoid doing. We all have different opinions about childbirth and childrearing and this is a forum for sharing those opinions, not having a go at other people.
Bundle, if you do have some research about pain having an adverse effect on unborn babies, I would be very interested to see it. Also you may want to read some of the comments on threads about epidurals to see that they are not always a very effective form of pain relief.

While I am staying strictly neutral on this, I have a feeling there may well be some research that supports bundle's position. Not that the research proves ANYTHING of course - thinking of the MMR debate....

I have heard from some vegetarians that by eating slaughtered meat, you are letting lots of stress hormones into your body - those that were released by animals as they faced a sudden death. Is it this sort of thinking that leads to the the theory of a mother's stress/pain in birth causing problems for her baby?

Please note: not agreeing with anything here, just wondering and interested to know more.

Sometimes it is best just to stay out of no win heated debates...argh, I can't stop myself here!
Whether you think someone's comments are far fetched or ridiculous even I don't really think it is on to support your corner with personal abuse, and accuse someone of being a liar or mad.
I am sure we all read stuff here that we think is a bit off the wall but it is not nice to launch a personal attack surely?

I have not heard that stress in the labouring mum can be passed on to the baby but it does sound perfectly plausible and is an interesting idea. I am not sure how it could be studied. I am sure to believe this theory all the more if I decide I want an epidural in a couple of weeks time!
Hope I have caused no offence, me being a middle child referee/peacemaker and all that...
Am I the only one who really hates these exchanges? What I like about mumsnet is they are so few and far between compared with other sites.

I'm not bundle but of course Annieapple is an alias! It was meant to be a blatantly obvious one,in the same style as started by Wickedwaterwitch but I have obviously assumed wrong in thinking you are familiar with Letterland. Annieapple lurks here a lot ; however her alterego has plenty to say but was a little reluctant to identify herself in a thread which might create any lasting bad feeling. It did not even cross my mind you would think I was Bundle.
Callie I love your posts, they are funny and heartfelt and usually badly spelled which I take as a sign you are desperate to get the words out I am not miss word perfect myself.
But I really did think you had lost it a little in your comments to Bundle.
You can call me a coward, but not a liar or a nutter, both of which you accused Bundle of being for reasons I can't fathom. And even if you still think Bundle needs therapy, don't accuse her of making up a Letterlander alias, that was not her but me who obviously should get out more!!!!

Actually ,annieapple or whoever you are. I can spell, perfectly actually!! I just can't type , and so end up making lots of mistakes.
Never before on this message board has anyone stooped as low as to critise another spelling!!!

I think it was a bit childish to point that out!