Due Sept 2017

[lilmisscaviar]

Makes sense, babybump. If the baby shifts position to where all of the kicks/movements are going into the placenta then you're likely to feel less movement. I had a couple days this past week where I didn't feel baby move much but today he's been moving quite a bit. I also notice that he seems to move less during a growth spurt. The only reason I think it is a growth spurt is because when he starts moving a lot again, I'll get bad SPD and my belly feels really heavy.

 

[gingmg]

Did anyone else see that the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists changed some of its recommendations this month? Basically their new position is that as long as nothing is wrong, leave the woman alone. This may sound so simple but the truth is that has not been standard hospital practice at all. There is an unnecessary amount of inductions and interventions associated with hospital births and hopefully these new guidelines will help change that and lower the cesarean section rates in the US. The new guidelines recognize that laboring on your back confined to a bed and hooked up to a monitor may not be in the laboring woman's best interest or the best way to encourage labor to progress. It recommends using a hand held Doppler intermittently so that the woman can freely move around. It also states that low risk woman should not be placed on a timeline to delivery, even if they have an epidural, that letting labor progress naturally is now recommended. The new guidelines also now let laboring women drink and recommend that doctors think twice about whether IV fluids are necessary or not, instead of it being part of the common practice that everyone gets. It doesn't go so far to say that women should be allowed to eat during labor, but it does suggest that this be reevaluated in the near future. Basically, the new guidelines recommend for OBs to be more hands off (as long as nothing is wrong) and to start to take on more of the birthing philosophy of midwives. I would imagine it will take time for OBs to change how they are accustomed to doing things but hopefully the culture slowly will start to change. I totally understand that birth is unpredictable and so many things can happen BUT, I think what many people don't realize is that sometimes interventions bring on the need for more interventions which can bring on the need for more interventions etc. I'm not saying that interventions aren't ever necessary, just that some things shouldn't be as "routine " as they are. Has anyone watched the documentary "The business of being born?" I was so happy to see these new guidelines this month, they sound so simple, but I really think it's going to bring more women closer to the experience that they hoped for and hopefully lower the Csection rate.

 

[MrsKChicago]

I think it's great to see the new recommendation, but it's crazy to me that it's necessary. You'd think leaving well enough alone would be pretty obvious...

 

[gingmg]

Right on

 

[Savasanna]

I saw "The Business of Being Born" ages ago and I still think about/reference it. It was a powerful documentary. I will say that I've grown more comfortable with the idea of interventions than I was when I first watched it (at the time I wanted a completely hands off, home birth - whereas now I'm happy with the idea of birthing in a hospital with the intent of no interventions, but am open to the idea if that's where the experience takes me) but I think it had a LOT of great points and really brought to light some inherent conflicts with a for-profit medical system.

That's really great news about the changes to ACOG!

 

[gingmg]

I'm not opposed to interventions either, when necessary. It's some of the routine practices that are beneficial for the flow of the system not the laboring woman and her baby that I am happy to see change.

 

[lilmisscaviar]

I've always wanted to attempt a home birth, but then when the time comes, I don't know if I'd chicken out. As much as I want as few interventions as possible, the baby's health, as well as my own comes before all. All of my kids were born at a birth center with a midwife rather than a OB/GYN which was perfect because I feel more comfortable knowing that those interventions are there if I need them, yet I like to deliver as natural as possible. Thankfully my first three babies were born without the need for any pain relief.

 

[Babybump2017]

I mentioned a home birth to my other half not long ago actually. He thinks being our first child it seems a bad idea and thinks a hospital birth is a more sensible choice. That way if (god forbid) there are any complications etc then we are in the right place. I have been asked by my midwife to start writing my birth notes. So far I have minimal pain relief (let's see if I can stick to that haha) and no students in the room. I've been offered to give birth in a new built suite in the hospital, they have double beds mood lighting built in birth pools etc. To be able to opt for this suite you have to have a straight forward easy pregnancy as they offer next to no pain relief. Just pethadine and gas and air. So that is definitely something to think about

 

[Tess08]

My birthing plan sounds very different to most of you ladies lol! Under 'pain relief' I have literally written 'EPIDURAL, EPIDURAL, EPIDIRAL!' I opted for only gas and air with my first and had a horrific experience. I was too far gone when I got to labour suite for an epidural anyway but I was screaming for 1 haha. My daughter was back to back and I was pushing for 2 hours but she just wasn't budging so I was then taken for an emergency section although ended up with rotational forceps to turn her. I was going to try as little pain relief again this time as I thought well last time was horrendous but I got there in the end and then a few months ago I was a birthing partner for my sister and I completely changed my mind. She opted for an epidural at 4cm, fell asleep about half an hour later for 5 hours, woke up and was told she was now 10cm and to start pushing when she was ready. Off she went and my nephew was born under what I can only describe as the calmest circumstances I've ever seen. It was so different to what I experienced as she was just sitting chatting away to us in between pushes about every day rubbish because she wasn't feeling any pain. I definitely want that this time around after my eventful experience last time lol x

 

[Savasanna]

Tess - I'm really 50/50 on whether or not to get an epidural. I really don't want a miserable birth experience, so if it gets miserable I have zero problem with requesting one. The only reason I'm not immediately going there is that I haven't experienced labor ever so I don't really know how it's going to be, you know?

Anyone else starting to get pretty uncomfortable? T-minus 10 weeks!

 

[Tess08]

Tess - I'm really 50/50 on whether or not to get an epidural. I really don't want a miserable birth experience, so if it gets miserable I have zero problem with requesting one. The only reason I'm not immediately going there is that I haven't experienced labor ever so I don't really know how it's going to be, you know?

Anyone else starting to get pretty uncomfortable? T-minus 10 weeks!

Yeh defo, just take it as it comes. No one knows how they are going to cope with it until they are in that situation. I'm going to see how I get on too and not have one if I don't feel like I absolutely need it. The reason I've written in my birthing plan I want one is because I don't want them trying to talk me out of it if I do ask for one lol.

I'm not really uncomfortable to be honest because I still don't actually have a bump!! I'm starting to get quite worried actually as I'm 28 weeks and people look at me really funny when I tell them I'm pregnant never mind when I tell them how far on I am lol... I have my midwife on fri for the first time since I was 22.5 weeks so I'm hoping she can put my mind at ease. I feel movement which is reassuring but I honestly don't even look the slightest bit pregnant. Infact I weighed myself this morning and I am 4lbs lighter than I was before I fell pregnant. Do you all have proper bumps? X

 

[gingmg]

The absolute only reason I got on the natural birth path was because my platelets dropped during my last pregnancy and the option of an epidural was taken away from me. Well, my platelets had to be over 100 to be a candidate for an epidural and every blood draw I had I was dropping lower so I knew I couldn't count on the fact that an epidural was going to be an option. I was referred to a hematologist and she said she could give me IV steroids to boost my platelets up so that I could guarantee being over 100, but that seemed crazy to me and I didn't want my son to be exposed to steroids unnecessarily. So I got the word epidural out of my vocabulary, did a shit ton of reading on natural births, ways to cope, listened to a hypnobirthing CD every day and just embraced it to try to give myself the best chance of a positive natural experience. And it worked and/or I got really lucky because I did have a positive experience. Turns out my platelets were 107 on the day my son was born so technically they would have allowed me to have an epidural, but there was no way to know ahead of time that I would have made the cut off. I just had my platelets checked this morning so I'll see if I'm looking at the same situation this time too (I think I might be because I seem to be bruising more), but if I am, I don't feel as scared about it as I did the first time.

 

[Savasanna]

I definitely have a bump, although, even though it feels huge to me, everyone around me says it looks small. But maybe they're just saying that to try to keep the pregnant person happy (haha). As of my last doctor's appointment (which was 3.5 weeks ago) I had gained 3lbs so far, although to be honest I was at a bit of a higher weight (for me) when I got pregnant so I think the healthier eating balanced out the pregnancy gain. My next appointment is Friday, though so it'll be interesting to see where I'm at now. I feel like I've gained a lot in the past month so we'll see!

 

[gingmg]

I definitely look pregnant but I think my bump is pretty little too. I've gained a bunch of weight but I feel it more in my legs, hips, and butt than anywhere else. I still feel good, thank god because I don't know how I'm going to run around after my crazy toddler in the sweltering heat when I don't!!

 

[MrsKChicago]

Are you tall or do you have a long torso, Tess? Or really strong abdominal muscles? A lot of women don't show much because they have plenty of room for baby to hide.

I'm definitely showing, even though I've still only gained a pound or two. My hips are feeling better, between PT and the baby being higher, but she's starting to feel heavy, too. The insomnia has started and I'm really sensitive to heat, too. But overall it's really not bad as long as I take it easy.

Anyone else having fun shopping? My mom's favorite thrift store had their monthly half off everything sale on Saturday, so we went and I found so much cute girly stuff, mostly for 50 cents or $1. I have a lot of general neutral stuff left from my son so I didn't technically need much, but I'm having a lot of fun picking out cute girl clothes. I don't think we need too much for her now, we already have the big stuff from Teddy, so it's just replacing pacifiers and so on, and I'm only buying a few of those because I'm hoping we don't need them.

 

[Savasanna]

Yes! The sleep disturbances are creeping in! I haven't had insomnia, but I have had really intense/weird/vivid dreams that cause me to wake up wide-eyed and bushy tailed in the middle of the night. Thankfully, I've been able to fall back asleep so far, but I fear the insomnia is on the horizon.

My RLP has been more active as well. Also, these other weird cramps that I'm assuming are BH, although it's hard to tell as I thought you could time BH and this is (again) more of a dull achy cramp as opposed to something I can time. In any event, it's been happening all morning and it's making me tired. Relax, little one!

 

[Babybump2017]

Tess my friend is the exact same! She's 31 weeks in fact. And you wouldn't know she was pregnant. I think it all depends on a number of things but your overall fitness before you fell pregnant plays a huge part. She runs Zumba classes 3 times a week (and didn't stop up until about 2 months ago) so her abs would be a hell of a lot tighter than mine for example although i was only 8.5/9 stone pre pregnancy, I wasn't half as fit as she is! so whilst I have a huge bump and she doesn't, it is probably because she's generally fitter! Did you use to gym or anything?

Also i have to ask this as it's driving me up the wall! Is anyone making milk yet?! I'm literally washing our bed sheet every couple of days as I keep getting little milk circles on it! Only about the size of a £2 coin, but liquid marks never the less.. I didn't think it happened this early if I'm honest

 

[Tess08]

Tess my friend is the exact same! She's 31 weeks in fact. And you wouldn't know she was pregnant. I think it all depends on a number of things but your overall fitness before you fell pregnant plays a huge part. She runs Zumba classes 3 times a week (and didn't stop up until about 2 months ago) so her abs would be a hell of a lot tighter than mine for example although i was only 8.5/9 stone pre pregnancy, I wasn't half as fit as she is! so whilst I have a huge bump and she doesn't, it is probably because she's generally fitter! Did you use to gym or anything?

Also i have to ask this as it's driving me up the wall! Is anyone making milk yet?! I'm literally washing our bed sheet every couple of days as I keep getting little milk circles on it! Only about the size of a �2 coin, but liquid marks never the less.. I didn't think it happened this early if I'm honest

Wow your friend sounds very committed lol! I'm 5ft 1 and I'm not fat or anything but I'm definitely not super fit either. I'm just a normal size 10-12 so I don't think extra strong abdominal muscles have anything to do with it. I found a picture of me 24 weeks with my daughter and I look waaaaay more pregnant than I do now!

Nope I'm not producing milk yet. I keep giving my boobs a little squeeze in the shower to check but nothing yet lol.

And no I haven't actually bought much because we are still frantically trying to find a house before baby comes as right now we live in a small flat and I have no where to put anything! Panic is starting to set in a bit now that we won't find something before baby is born... x

 

[lilmisscaviar]

I look huge and I'm not very short either. I'm 5'7" and all baby. I'm measuring about 30/31 weeks by fundal height so I look like I'm ready to pop. Several wonderful people have even told me so. I've had fanny daggers from baby's head being on my cervix and breathlessness from his butt/feet being in my ribs. When I feel my belly, all I feel are baby parts. TBH I'm not sure how I'm going to be able to stretch 13 more weeks. I just broke out in my first stretch marks for this pregnancy last week

Anyone have any good stretch mark remedies?

 

[MrsKChicago]

My milk started coming back a couple weeks ago.