Home Birthers & Hopefuls!

[Mervs Mum]

This is the problem as I understand it too cupcake. MWs aren't reluctant to deliver breeches vaginaly, they just don't get the opportunity as women opt for sections due to the skewed statistics.

 

[bubbles]

Can anyone recommend books please?

 

[Celesse]

During the short time I was a student mw I saw a breech birth. It was a tiny 25weeker. The midwife who delivered him had been qualified 5+ years and it was the first time she had delivered a breech baby.

 

[Mervs Mum]

And did they keep their hands off the breech?

 

[nikki-lou25]

I was showing this to my friend from work last night who is a retired midwife. She said there should be more vaginal breech births. She said breech babies will "come on their own" if left alone and that the main concern is a baby has the reflex to breath once the chest expands after coming out of the birth canal...however she said there are simple manouvers to deal with this. Nice to hear it from what she calls her "old fashioned" point of view. She only retired 2 years ago but she said its a long time since she did a breech birth even after being a midwife for nearly 40 years.

 

[Janidog]

I was showing this to my friend from work last night who is a retired midwife. She said there should be more vaginal breech births. She said breech babies will "come on their own" if left alone and that the main concern is a baby has the reflex to breath once the chest expands after coming out of the birth canal...however she said there are simple manouvers to deal with this. Nice to hear it from what she calls her "old fashioned" point of view. She only retired 2 years ago but she said its a long time since she did a breech birth even after being a midwife for nearly 40 years.

My NCT teacher said that we should be able to have breech babies at home as long as the midwife is happy and qualified to do it, but like you said, that the midwives are not given the opportunity to do so.

 

[Celesse]

And did they keep their hands off the breech?

She let the butt and body deliver itself, and then supported the baby and lifted him whilst the head was born. There was about 2 minutes between the butt being delivered until the head was delivered, but as he was so tiny the cervix had kinda closed a little. As he was so little if she hadn't supported him he would have been hanging by his head.

As we knew it was going to be a breech delivery there was a very senior midwife supporting her..... and me in the room and the whole paediatric team waiting to take the baby.. poor woman.

In spite of only being 25weeks he went on to do really well in SCBU and made it home!!

 

[Celesse]

So I'm stuck to my chair and have been all week as LO is having a monster of a 3mnth growth spurt and wants to do nothing but feed. And I decide to google independent midwives to see how much they cost. We are gonna TTC in August and as I'm not planning to exclude a HBAC unless faced with risk factors beyond by Abigail's section I thought I would see how much they cost and maybe avoid all the arguments, stress and disclaimer signing with the NHS. From what I can find they are way to expensive for me.

Anyhow,,,, I came across this in my googling. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/...choose-home-delivery-private-midwife-NHS.html

"Women who give birth at home aided by an independent midwife are almost three times as likely to have a stillbirth than those who deliver their child in hospital."

and then goes on to say:

"They found the risk of stillbirth or neonatal death within a month of birth was 1.7 per cent in the IMA group compared with 0.6 per cent in the NHS group.

However, independent midwives had more patients who knew there would be problematic births, and were expecting twins or had a history of complications in labour."

It made me a little annoyed, that women are having to use independent midwives to have a home birth because the provision from the NHS isn't there, or they are told no if they are anything other than low low risk. I know my risk factors for next time, I know I can "refuse" to go in. But why should it be a case of "refusing" to go in? Shouldn't it be a 2-way process between the woman and the NHS to inform her of the risks, and then support her in whatever she choose to do?

Anyway rant over....off to book Abigail into baby dance lessons!

 

[nightkd]

That sounds awful Silver Penny...I think I would literally have murdered a few people there and then!!!! I'm soooo pleased with my MW so far - she did a check of 'down there' at my appointment today as I've been very swollen and sore and she was just so respectful compared to the OBGYN I had at the beginning of my pregnancy....

She has predicted Bean's weight to be around 7lbs, which sounds good to me!

BTW, with a home/water birth (I'm sure a few people have asked this before) what did you really appreciate having there and what did you wish you'd had? And also for postpartum? I got some witch hazel today to use cooled in pads etc.....and we got a little fish net for the pool ...We have the pool itself! (Huzzah!) And a floating thermometer....Urm....so those are the basics, right? Anything I'm forgetting?

xx

Good news on the weight

I may be wrong but isn't witch hazel astringent? If so i wouldn't put it on a pad if you get a graze or tear hun.. might sting a bit x

Yup! My mum has been trying to scare me with the fact that most of the babies in our family are fairly big(ish) and there is a history of C-sections...this just makes me all the more confident I can do a natural homebirth (even if it wouldn't really have made that much of a difference, it makes me feel better in my head! )!

Yeah, it is! People recommend witch hazel (either diluted in a perineal bottle) or sprayed on a pad with aloe vera and frozen... I've already been using some for piles & swelling (started off using a personal care gel I have and it stung like HELL...but now I have some straight witch hazel, it seems to sting a lot less/not at all (think the gel probably has more alcohol/other rubbish in it) so hopefully for postpartum it won't be as agonizing as the gel seems to be and will do some good in healing... ).

NightKD - Straws for drinking in strange positions in your pool and energy drinks / food so you dont have to resort to full fat coke like I did when I got tired, then barf it all over the place

Got a couple of straws in my birth kit and MW has recommended Gatorade - not the most pleasant of drinks, but I found a couple of flavours that don't make me feel sick after half a glass

What sort of food should I get in? I was gonna have a selection of vegetables I could just nibble on (eg carrots, brocolli etc) I guess some breakfast bars or something easy like that??

nightkd- I still want to murder some of those people and its almost been a year! I get so upset thinking about it at times. Not to mention that my mw never did a 6 week check, and I was still bleeding but I don't have any documentation of it, so I can't sue those arses. Oh, and to top it all off, the doctor didn't stitch me up correctly, either.

But I still have my PMA... I will get the homebirth I want this time, even if I have to cut off some heads while I'm at it! lol

That's awful Well done for having a PMA after all that crap! It'll definitely be worth it!!!

xx

 

[silver_penny]

I used witch hazel during recovery with my first (Tucks pads) and they were an absolute godsend! especially when they were cooled, they provide great relief for swelling and pain.

 

[lozzy21]

Nightkd, your going to want things with carbs and sugar to help give you energy rather than veg that has lots of vitamins but no energy.

 

[nightkd]

We have plenty of pasta in the house...and potatoes....Mmmmm - I have a potato addiction Fruit and stuff?

Walmart is literally 5 minutes down the road, so if I need extras I can always send DH out (obviously would prefer not to...though I guess we'll see about that when I go into labour ) to get me some bits... I really need to write a shopping list because there's a handful of things we still haven't got...

ETA: We still need to get a foot pump because Alex thought he could blow the birth pool up by mouth....that was an epic fail as you can imagine!

 

[roc]

Hi ladies,
did anyone or is anyone planning to use aromatherapy or homeopathy during labour?
i have massage oil containing lavender clary sage and jasmine,are there any other things anyone can suggest to aid a natural birth?

 

[lozzy21]

Jacket potato and beans, fruit-especialy banannas, toast, cerial bars, chocolate and energy drinks for later on in labour.

 

[Celesse]

Hi ladies,
did anyone or is anyone planning to use aromatherapy or homeopathy during labour?
i have massage oil containing lavender clary sage and jasmine,are there any other things anyone can suggest to aid a natural birth?

I made my own aromatherapy blends for labour after a bit of experimenting. Neroli is a nice one to relax you.

 

[silver_penny]

I had a nice sub sandwich when I was in labor with my first. Made my DH go out and get it and it was delish. Never threw anything up, either, which was good. Couldn't imagine a sub sandwich coming up...

 

[BlackBerry25]

I like to pop in here and read about everyones home birth experiences.

Just wanted to say best of luck to all of you who will be having babies soon!

Def. something that is interesting to me, but not to my OH, so it will probably never happen, so I live through you girls

 

[trumpetbum]

Hi ladies,
did anyone or is anyone planning to use aromatherapy or homeopathy during labour?
i have massage oil containing lavender clary sage and jasmine,are there any other things anyone can suggest to aid a natural birth?

One of my midwives massaged my back with Clary sage and lavender and it was sooooo good. highly recommend it.

 

[Mervs Mum]

We lit the room the pool was in with scented candles

 

[winegums]

Hi ladies,
did anyone or is anyone planning to use aromatherapy or homeopathy during labour?
i have massage oil containing lavender clary sage and jasmine,are there any other things anyone can suggest to aid a natural birth?

hey hun when i planned my homebirth i bought a homeopaty kit called helios homeopathy for childbirth. it had all the different things you might need in there and explanations for them etc xxx