March Monkeys 2016: 21 boys and 15 girls born

[KalonKiki]

Youngmamttc I'm sorry again for your loss. Your angel girl is beautiful and you picked a very pretty name for her.

Left wonderin congrats and welcome to team !
If you want to add the team banner to your signature the link is in a post I made on page 258.

 

[Left wonderin]

Thanks

 

[NDH]

Congrats on team pink Left

 

[littlelily]

Congratulations left

Glad baby is ok Buttercup. Cramps don't sound good.

I'm ok, been having some horrible heartburn so a bit yucky but otherwise good. Had my lovely sister visit this wknd and went to cinema to see Spectre and for Thai food ( my favourite) as its my birthday tmrw.

 

[allforthegirl]

Happy birthday momma fox

 

[clapper]

Hi ladies! Sorry I have not been on much lately, but I have read through a bunch of posts to try and catch up. So sorry to all the ladies who have suffered from loss. I have found out that I am team blue!

 

[allforthegirl]

Congrats clapper.

Anyone having swelling in their ankles yet. I unfortunately am and it's bad but just on one foot and leg.

 

[BellaRosa8302]

Oh no, Allforthegirl!!! Have you spoken to your midwife/doctor? I've never heard of just ONE foot/leg! Is that something to be concerned about??

I don't have any yet... but both my ankles were pretty bad at the end of my last pregnancy.

 

[AMP1117]

So having some terrible upper abdominal cramping today that came out of nowhere. Praying its just gas but gas x isnt helping and neither is drinking water. Midwife said where I am describing pain my uterus wouldnt be up that high but I dont know. They said they can see me at 2:45 which is in 2 hours. Still feel baby boy moving but still scary.

 

[DaisyDreamer]

Congrats on Team Pink Left Wonderin! And congrats on team blue Clapper! I'm so jealous of everyone getting their scans, haha

All for the girl, uh oh, I don't think that can be a good sign to have swelling in one leg? For some reason that triggers a red flag in my brain. Have you had a chance to talk to MW yet?

Mama Fox, happy belated! Was it everything you hoped for and more?

AMP maybe a walk or some downward facing dog if you can stand it will help get things moving along if its gas. I've had some on and off cramping too but I think its just RL pain.

Today I woke up feeling like I got hit by a bus of exhaustion. So tired!

 

[Left wonderin]

Amp maybe its normal and just everything stretching . I've had awful pain like someone punched my belly the last two days . Thankfully its gone today . Not quite sure what it was . Could have been consitpation ? But not sure . Hope all is well xx

 

[BellaRosa8302]

Ladies, my sister in law just gave birth to her baby boy on Saturday! We met him for the first time yesterday - oh my goodness, just makes me so excited to meet my own little boy in 4 short months! I can't stand the cuteness!!!! And my DD was just SO excited - she was crushed that she couldn't hold him!

My sis in law had a really rough delivery - (made me SO upset for her - broke down into tears a few times just hearing about it, and again a few times after seeing her and the baby). Anyway, it also reminded me of my own rough delivery with my DD.... and makes me really feel like I need to get a move on with reading material &/or research.

I'm set on having a natural, unmedicated birth (which I also had with DD) but I'll admit I was MISERABLE during contractions & just wanted an epidural (which I couldn't get because I labored too quickly - but that's not what was rough - afterward was the rough part). Anyway, I really want to go natural again - I know I can do it, since I've done it once before, but I'm hoping to learn some techniques on coping with my contractions, so I'm a little less miserable this time around... as well as anything to keep me from tearing this time around (which is what caused the rough part for me last time around - long story short, I required vaginal surgery, was put out & lost A LOT of blood, requiring 2 blood transfusions...)

Totally open to suggestions if any of you have experienced or read anything you think would be helpful!!!

Hope everyone else is well

 

[DaisyDreamer]

BellaRosa do they have a birthing center at the hospital you're going to? I've heard that particular environment is much less stressful than a standard hospital delivery. Also many of them have tubs so you can relax in warm water to help soothe the contractions and even birth in there!

I want to look into renting a TENS (transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation) machine to hook up to my belly and back. It's supposed to send electric impulses to the nerves through the skin and supposedly block pain. Many physical therapists use it to treat musculoskeletal pain for their clients. Or I have also considered hiring a reflexologist to massage the pressure points in my feet and hips that stimulate uterine contractions and assist with labor. Maybe not pain relief but shorter labor is good.


If all else fails I will sit in the warm tub and try to harmonize my voice with my contractions and meditate on an image. Best of luck finding your suit!

 

[BellaRosa8302]

Thanks Daisy, but after my traumatic birth with a midwife I'm adamant that I will be having a doctor stitch me up this time! She just did everything wrong from telling me to stay home too long (I showed up 9 cm dilated) to taking 45 minutes to stitch me up WRONG, causing a hematoma under the stitches, so I missed out on so much with my DD. I barely recall anything that happened with her after they put her on my chest. Before I knew it I was being put out for surgery.

I don't think we have a birthing center near me anyway...

There is one room at the hospital with a tub - the rest have showers. I will request that room. But as much as I'd love to try & labor in the tub (and I really will give it a try!), I also recall feeling squirrelly last time - I couldn't sit still or stop pacing - it was agony just to get in the car & drive to the hospital because I didn't want to sit still.

Not sure Ive ever heard of TENS machines, but I guess I can look into that...

Thanks for trying! Sorry if I sound pessimistic!

 

[bombshellmom]

bellarosa - A lot of other ladies suggested hypnobirthing to me, maybe that's something to look into? I'mgoing to as well

 

[allforthegirl]

It can be a huge warning sign. Had an ultrasound on my leg just waiting for the results.

I have heard of TENS. Just not sure if it is available here. I will be practicing the hypno birthing again. Maybe I will be better at this time around.

 

[Fezzle]

bellarosa- I had a friend who did hypnobirthing and said she found it really helpful. She only learned about it because it went with the only pregnancy yoga teacher convenient for her, and was skeptical about it doing anything, but then said it worked well for her.

 

[CurlyRose]

I plan to try hypnoborthing, although probably from a book rather than a class. Is anyone else really excited and impatient for the birth? Not just for meeting your baby, but the whole experience? Perhaps this is just FTM naivety, but I am so looking forward to experiencing such intensity, I can't stop thinking about it!

 

[NDH]

I plan to try hypnoborthing, although probably from a book rather than a class. Is anyone else really excited and impatient for the birth? Not just for meeting your baby, but the whole experience? Perhaps this is just FTM naivety, but I am so looking forward to experiencing such intensity, I can't stop thinking about it!

Me me me! Not in an impatient wishing-the-time-away way, but ya I loooove giving birth and I'm looking forward to doing it again, more so this time too because I'll be in my own space and I won't have to deal with any of the anxieties of wondering whefher I'll get a good midwife or a pushy one who won't "allow" me to do certain things etc.
And that "birth high" hormone rush afterward - magic!

 

[NDH]

Ladies, my sister in law just gave birth to her baby boy on Saturday! We met him for the first time yesterday - oh my goodness, just makes me so excited to meet my own little boy in 4 short months! I can't stand the cuteness!!!! And my DD was just SO excited - she was crushed that she couldn't hold him!

My sis in law had a really rough delivery - (made me SO upset for her - broke down into tears a few times just hearing about it, and again a few times after seeing her and the baby). Anyway, it also reminded me of my own rough delivery with my DD.... and makes me really feel like I need to get a move on with reading material &/or research.

I'm set on having a natural, unmedicated birth (which I also had with DD) but I'll admit I was MISERABLE during contractions & just wanted an epidural (which I couldn't get because I labored too quickly - but that's not what was rough - afterward was the rough part). Anyway, I really want to go natural again - I know I can do it, since I've done it once before, but I'm hoping to learn some techniques on coping with my contractions, so I'm a little less miserable this time around... as well as anything to keep me from tearing this time around (which is what caused the rough part for me last time around - long story short, I required vaginal surgery, was put out & lost A LOT of blood, requiring 2 blood transfusions...)

Totally open to suggestions if any of you have experienced or read anything you think would be helpful!!!

Hope everyone else is well

Have you had a debrief of your past birth with anyone at all? That might help you to be able to put the past trauma behind you.

For techniques to cope in labour itself, I've never done any courses or anything. But you can learn a lot from watching positive birth videos (searching for home birth or hypnobirth or water birth videos on YouTube will field the best results. Not that there aren't blissful hospital birth video out there but the contrast to typical hospital birth videos is very profound). Seeing how other women cope can give you some tips, as well as give you an oxytocin rush which in turn positively reinforces that birth can be an amazing, empowering experience. So when you approach birth you can focus on those images and in a way draw on their strength rather than the fear/pain based ones ingrained into our culture.

Do you have a support network around you too? Specifically anyone who will be at the birth? Ideally a doula, but a family member or close friend (ideally you want someone who has achieved a natural drug free birth - a friend who has had all medicated births or elective cesareans or never had children won't be able to support you in the same way as a trained doula or a woman who has had natural births and you may well find them becoming the opposite of support and encouraging you to get an epidural because they don't want ton see you in pain. It happens more than people realize and I know its done out of love but its not helpful)
IMO one of the biggest factors in whether a woman is able to achieve a natural birth is the support she has - or rather the lack thereof is the biggest reason women who intend to have natural births don't.
We are stronger than we know, but sometimes we just need someone to stand there and hold our hands (literally and figuratively) and remind us of that strength. And anyone planting even the smallest seed of doubt can have severely detrimental effects as it can initiate the fear-pain cycle. Techniques are great and valuable tools to have, but on their own without good support its likely not to be enough.

Also just really try to tune into your intuition. When your movement is unhindered many women find that their bodies just know what to do and how to move both to help the baby to descend but also it reduces the amount of pain felt too. Not the best example but when your foot falls asleep the longer you stay in the same spot the worse it feels. Getting up and moving hurts too but its a different kind of hurt and it goes away a lot faster when you do.

And lastly, remember that no two births are the same. Try not to dwell on past experiences (other than drawing on your knowledge that you *can* give birth without drugs because you have before) because there is non reason to believe the same things will happen again this time.
Having a plan in place for after the birth if things do go south again can help too, giving you a measure of control and knowing that you will be prepared. I love midwives, IMO they are much better experts at natural birth than Drs, but stitches is something I too prefer to leave to drs as that's their expertise. So that sounds like a sound plan. There are herbal teas and things you can be taking now to reduce the chances of hemhorraging again (nettle and alfalfa I think but don't quote me on that) and just knowing that it has been an issue before your providers can be aware and ready to take action if necessary.