ok so who wants to get pregnant in 2011? (closed group)

[sarahincanada]

on monday it was really hot here, so I was was glad to have a drink and it didnt taste bad. but after I felt awful. Im not looking forward to the fasting part, unless you can have some water? Ive read some places the 3 hr drink is double the amount, so we will see. im hoping they will let me go lie down in my car inbetween the 3 blood draws as I have to lie down when I feel woozy. just left a message for my MW hope she calls soon!

 

[sherylb]

I was allowed to walk around and go whereever as long as I was back for blood draws every hour.

 

[sarahincanada]

so I did fail the test and going back monday to do the fasting one.
she said low 7's is a pass and I was an 8, diabetes is a 10. so hopefully I will pass the longer one

 

[flyingduster]

Hopefully you pass the 3 hour one fine! I sat in a laz-e-boy arm chair in the waiting room for my 3 hour one I had a good book and Caleb was kicking up a storm making me grin so it wasn't too bad!

 

[sarahincanada]

nice!! this clinic has small hard uncomfortable chairs!!
just had my last hypnobirthing class, it was great but I just need to practice the techniques, never seem to have time.

 

[NDH]

You didn't fail by much, hopefully you pass the 3hr one. I didn't find the one hour one bad but I didn't have to fast for it and was given 15 mins to finish the drink so i didn't have to guzzle it.

Wow last hypno class. How do you feel about it?

 

[sarahincanada]

ndh i didnt find the 1 hr that bad either...didnt have to fast and I was thirsty so drank the drink fine. but it was after I felt all woozy, sick and lightheaded....when I feel like that I need to lie down. im doing it on monday so my hubby can come again with him.

the hypnobirthing I love that Ive learnt it and love the concept. but I keep going back and forth about believing it can work, and I need to believe. Those painful labour stories Ive heard for 40 years are really stuck in my head! I mentioned it to my MW who I thought was quite open, and she said that most people who want a natural labour end up asking for an epidural as labour does really hurt and then I read things on here like people comparing labour to being burnt alive So can hypnobirthing really work against the norm? I do really believe that relaxing rather than tensing up could be really powerful. I am going to practice and I really hope that the techniques get me into a really relaxed frame of mind so I can handle it, even if I do need medication at some point perhaps I'll need less. I told my hubby that I dont want him to be dissappointed if I do get an epidural, he really got into the course and really believes I could do a natural birth. but I went into it more to gain tools as it all kinda scares me, and Im scared of an epidural but scared of not having an epidural.

Id love all your stories on how your labours were again, those that got epidurals at what point did you get them etc.

 

[flyingduster]

Sarah, labour DID hurt and it WAS hard work! But I found it a good sorta work/pain. Sorta like if you spend ages in the garden doing some back-breaking work, or if you do a really hard workout at the gym; yes it hurts and was hard work, but it was good too...

Look up some positive birth affirmations to help you; I really liked them. I can't remember them all now, but the ones I liked best were the type that said how your body is BUILT to do this, and it CAN do it. And that the pain will NEVER be more than you can cope with because it is your own body doing it and you own body won't do more than your own body can cope with... It WILL push you to your limits though, but it can never push you beyond what you are able to cope with, no matter how much it might feel like that at the time. It DOES pass. The contractions come in waves, but they ease off between waves, so yes it hurts and gets bloody bad at some points, but it eases down again before it gets too much. The rests in between are made to be so you can rest enough to cope with the next one. It is all designed to work!!!! And while it may go for hours, it will end in your baby coming, and once Cieran is out, it all stops and the world is AMAZING.


But relaxing and allowing, TRUSTING, your body to do it's thing is a huge part of it. Even if you go in to it knowing it'll quite probably hurt and be bloody tough work, but you trust in your body to do the right thing and to follow your instincts for positioning and so forth, then you are a long way to getting through it all well.



I never did the classes, but I did read the book a fair bit. I also never did the relaxation techniques as much as I probably should have!!! I was coping with the contractions at home but it wasn't until I got to the hospital and the midwife focused me on my breathing that I really started to settle. At every contraction if I was worried or thinking of anything else I immediately would pull myself back to the thought "iiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnnnnn [through the nose]..... aaaannnddddd ooooouuuuuuuuuuuuutttt [through the mouth]' and if I put all my focus on drawing my breath in long and slow and DEEP and letting it out slowly, all of a sudden the contraction was gone again! lol. The contractions only lasted one or two big long breaths, and even I can cope with pain for a breath or two!

I never had an internal examination so I was never disappointed with how fast or slow I was progressing. Once my body started pushing it started actually feeling awesome! But I know that's not always the way even with hypnobirthing.... But even before I was pushing I was 'zoned out' but at the same time I was totally with it too, so if something had gone wrong I could have coped with making a decision!


Just trust your body and that it can do it, even if you need pain relief to help then so be it!

 

[NDH]

I really hate how society has made childbirth out to be this excruciating experience. It's certainly no walk in the park, but as Amy said, it's a rewarding hurt. With the syntocinon (pitocin) I was having hard contrations every two minutes with barely 20 seconds in between, yet I was able to relax so totally between them that I kept nearly falling asleep. And that was without having done hypnobirthing even so I didn't have any coping techniques really. I did keep reminding myself that every contraction was one closer to meeting my baby. Also like Amy, I wasn't totally opposed to getting pain relief if necessary. It helped knowing that if it really did get too intense it was OK to use drugs to get through it. DH and I had established a codeword for if I really did need pain relief.

If you go in expecting it to hurt, it IS going to hurt a LOT because you'll be really tense. Relax and go with it and trust your body. I know most people say to only read positive birth experiences (which it really is amazing and inspiring to read, especially about births that happen so quickly and practically painlessly, and an article about a woman on a coma who gave birth- totally her body just doing its thing) I also balanced it by reading not so positive stories and in reading them was able to acknowledge that, had that been MY story it would have been ok. There are too many women who have huge regrets about their birth experience because it didn't happen the way they wanted it to. But I believe that EVERY birth that results in a living baby is a positive experience if you let it be one. But if you're already scared of the pain then I probably wouldn't go reading any stories that don't have "positive" in the title.

At the end of the day, you're going to be a mother to a beautiful baby boy and that's the important thing.

 

[sherylb]

I had to wait longer than I wanted for my epidural. I had to get a local first to tide me over b/c I was shaking and crying and the anesthesiologist was taking their sweet time. When I got into my room I was at 5cm. By the time I got my epidural I was already 10. Then we kind of slowly got to pushing. I pushed about every other contraction for an hour b/c Kristin was still higher up and only felt pressure.

My water broke at 11:30 pm and Kristin was born at 6:20 the next morning.

 

[Huggles]

sorry you failed the first GTT. Hopefully you'll pass the second and won't feel too awful after the drink.

You don't really need time to practice the hypnobirthing techniques. You just need to go to sleep at night. Our practitioner suggested listening to the cd whilst going to sleep at night - so every night i lay in bed with one earphone in my ear (we don't have a portable CD player so i had to use the walkman) and drifted off to sleep whilst listening to the CD. It starts with deep breaths and stuff so i'd lie there, doing the breaths and listening, and pretty much never heard the end of the cd as i fell asleep so quickly from being so relaxed.

When it came to labour i lay on the bed, on my side, just like i used to go to sleep. Popped the earphones in and switched the CD on. Almost slept through most of the labour. The worst for me was when i had to get up to go to the loo each time. The contractions came none stop, one after the other, really intensly. But as soon as i was lying on the bed again, listening to the cd, i mostly forgot about everything and went into a totally relaxed state.
Towards the end (maybe last 2 hours? i totally lost all sense of time, it only felt like 30 min at most) the contractions did get really strong, but i just focused on breathing through each one, very focused. I did think with each one maybe i should ask for some gas and air, then it would pass and I would think "but what on earth for?". Then the next would come, the thought would enter my head, and it would pass and i'd wonder what i needed it for. The focused breathing definitely helped loads as i would concentrate on the breathing and not on the pain. And it was always definitely bearable.

When it came time to push my body instinctively wanted to forcibly push. Same thing happened with Jarrod. I hadn't learnt the proper hypnobirth "breathing down" yet with him, so i went with what my body said and it hurt a LOT.. But with logan i started forcibly pushing like my body naturally wanted to do, it felt the same as with jarrod, but then i remember to rather breathe him down. And the second i started doing that it was totally manageable, and i felt so empowered and so in control. It was really totally amazing. I was so disappointed each time a contraction ended because i wanted to keep pushing/breathing down but couldn't as the source of energy was gone, until the next one when i could start again.

 

[babyhopes2323]

hope you pass your second GT sarah xx its a bummer. i hate the 3 hour one x

 

[sarahincanada]

hi everyone

I passed my GD test
stupid 1hr screening, next pregnancy I will go straight and do the long one. I felt absolutely terrible during and after, but they let me go lie down in my car inbetween the blood draws.

I was waiting for the results to reply to your replies!

huggles I do listen to the CD everynight and fall asleep within 5 mins. so thats good to hear that you also fell asleep but still managed to gain from it. My instructor said that it will go into your subconscious but to try and do it without falling asleep too, so I wasnt sure how much I was hearing it as I always fall asleep. Im glad to hear the labour was 'bearable'. The breathing down technique I cant seem to 'get', and she said its hard to practice it until the time. She said to practice on bowel movements but I just dont get it - it doesnt seem to breath anything down. hubby has been doing it and said it works Did you find the breathing down technique made more sense once in the moment?

reason I was thinking we werent practicing enough was because the book and course were full of all these different techniques to get into a relaxed state and we havent been practicing them apart from in class. This weekend we are going to take some time to practice. but its good to know even the cd and breathing could be enough

ndh 'rewarding hurt' does sound manageable. I love the code word idea. Hubby loved the HB course and is now convinced I can do a natural birth I dont want him to be dissappointed if I end up having pain relief so I will talk to him about a code word. My MW said that 90% of people who want a natural birth end up getting medication, so that didnt help my scepticism. But perhaps the 10% were doing hypnobirthing!! she said that when someone wanting a natrual ask for an epidural she waits and tries other things, but if they ask a 2nd time she knows they need it.

flying I liked your description of the pain too I do have some affimations I like that I will concentrate on, and they usually focus on how my body is designed to do this. I do think I will be able to relax, as her saying that labour can take much longer when you tense up is ingrained in my head. Im nervous about getting to the pushing stage and feeling like Ive had enough, but so many people say that stage is better as you have such an urge to actually do something. My MW said that if I needed it she would do everything she can to get me an epidural, even if Im almost at 10cm (she said the staff dont like it but she always gets it if thats what the patient wants).

I talked to my acupuncturist today (who is also my chiro, Ive been going weekly to avoid my sciatica pain and to keep things mobile in there which will hopefully result in bub getting into the right positions etc.) and at 40 weeks if nothing is happening Im going to do some acupuncture to get things started. I want to avoid getting pitocin as Ive read contractions are so much more intense with that.

oh sorry if TMI but I had a nasty hemorrhoid this week hubbies family came over for a bbq so I spent most of saturday and sunday on my feet getting ready and tidying the house, my feet were killing me then I got the hemorrhoid. It was large and very very sore! my chiro said its because everything is pushing on the pelvic floor and being on my feet made it worse. So Ive been sitting/lying down since then and it seems to be going back up

I cant wait till the end of next week as Im 30 weeks whoda thunk it!!!!

 

[nypage1981]

So glad you passed! I HATED the 3 hour. I was so sick almost in tears as well. I got that way jsut from drinking the stuff and could barely even make it through the whole glass. That 1 hour test is such crap. I ended up being LOW on my 3 hour. Stupid waste of time!

My first birth was very very very painful. I can't even describe it but very painful. It was long too. And I was on pitocin so intense. I asked for an epidural around 4cm but it didn't take for longer than an hour. I have extreme scoliosis in the lower back so not sure if that was a reason for it, I had always read that it wouldn't really affect it, but I didn't ever have them redo it I just pretty much went to another place. People would come visit and even on the off moments in between contractions, I was not "there" with them, I was in my own place. Kind of shut down really. Pitocin is something I hope you don't need to mess with. I would almost refuse it if I were you. I am pretty sure it was all 50% worse because of pitocin. It was really a shame that I needed a c section i off the epidural completely (they "turned it off" or whatever they do) during pushing time. Ah well. I've been there done that and glad my kids are here no matter how they got here!

Good idea to prep with some hypnobirthing though. Nothing you learn or practice will hurt you in any ways. You will probably not use much though except for natural instinct and your body will take over! Although there really are some tips that are worth remembering.

 

[flyingduster]

woohoo!!!! You passed!!!!! And nearly at 30 weeks! YYYYYYEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!

 

[sarahincanada]

also forgot to mention this year I survived a chopped off fingertip, and managed with just extra strength tylenol, so hopefully I can cope with labour! im just not good with medical things in general and feel faint very easy. im scared to get an epidural and scared not to get one. but I am feeling more calmer after the course!

 

[NDH]

Yay glad you passed the GTT!

And though i haven't experienced the loss of a finger I'm sure its away worse than labour. Labour hurts during contractions with rest in between plus you're filled with hormones that already help you forget the pain even as you're experiencing it. If you can get by on just tylenol i'm sure you'll be a rock star at childbirth and if it is too much to cope with at any time there's always an epidural

 

[sarahincanada]

thanks ndh. It didnt help that I read somewhere on here mentioning labour pain was like being 'burned alive' my finger was bad, fingertips have a lot of nerve endings there, but it was localized pain so not sure if its any worse than labour!

if any of you want to see photos of the finger right after the accident and now I can put in a spoiler!

my lil nail is growing, its very thick and raised though and right now would catch on things if I didnt wear a bandaid. Im just waiting to see how it grows out. Im hoping one of the girls at the spa can improve the look with a little gel, but I want to wait and see what it does on its own first. it definitely looks odd and derformed but having a lil nail is much better than having a stump, so in many ways Im very lucky its healed this way. My dogs back is healed but she has a patch that hair wont grow back, so its a constant reminder. I do have flashbacks so my favourite thing is to just lie on the bed cuddling her. I love her so much and hate that shes getting old but we dont know how old heres a pic from my last bump photoshoot

 

[Huggles]

Yay, glad you passed the test!

re the breathing down - i never practiced it because i was scared it would cause things to happen given that i was already being held together with a stitch. But my practitioner also recommended practicing on the loo during a bowel movement.
You can kind of think of it like tensing you diaphragm and breathing out, whilst thinking about moving all the muscles downwards. Not sure if that makes any sense.
I think the main difference is that with forced pushing you more or less hold your breath and push. With breathing down you take in a big breath and breath it out through your diaphragm (not literally through your diaphragm, but i think of pushing down from your diaphragm).
It really is a lot easier in the actual moment though. I have tried using the technique during a bowel movement now that i'm not pg and i can't get it right. Yet when there was actually a baby to breathe down it made total sense. But think of breathing out using your stomach muscles, whilst thinking downward thoughts. The important thing is to actually breathe out and not hold your breathe - that's what makes the difference i think.

Have you ever done any singing? Like where you're taught to use your diaphragm for breathe control etc? Think of it like singing a really loud, strong note, starting high and sliding down to a low note.

 

[flyingduster]

yeah I think huggles hit the nail on the head there; the key is to keep the breath flowing rather than tensing up and holding your breath to push. As long as you just focus on keeping the long deep breaths flowing then that will go a long way to doing it all.

And try to avoid horrible birth stories! My labour wasn't at all like being burned alive. It was crampy and uncomfortable, hard work and yes it was bloody sore if I tried to lay down on the bed, but it wasn't ever unbearable. I know it can be worse for others and yours may well be horrible, but it's just as likely (MORE likely in fact) to be a great labour & birth because of all the techniques you have up your sleeve!


And I am a bit morbid and would love to see the photos if you are happy to share them...!

And we need an updated bump photo!