Hi, I'm TheRoar! Sorry I'm late! This is my first, planning a med-free birth center birth.
How many weeks are you? 25 wks 4 days
How are you feeling? I feel pretty good so far. I've been really lucky, hoping to stay that way. I have a good mix of low-risk midwifery care and some high-risk monitoring for cervical length because of a previous surgery. Loving all the kicks and punches I'm feeling. Started getting some tightness and localized abdominal stretching during and after my walks lately, which ease off as I rest afterward.
What are you currently working on for your prep towards going Med-free? I've started The Mindful Pregnancy, my spouse is hitting The Birth Partner book. We are trying to find a Bradley class to start shortly, and we are looking for doulas to start interviewing. I try to walk a couple/few miles everyday, but it only happens 3 to 5 times a week. I've been slacking on prenatal yoga DVDs that just sit in my living room...
QOTW: what is one topic you would like to see covered? I'm curious about anyone's previous experiences with cervical scarring, especially if there were differences between first post-surgery deliveries and later labors. I'm also enjoying everyone's updates and look forward to the other suggested topics.
Post by lgsdesigner on Feb 17, 2015 10:22:17 GMT -5
1) How many weeks are you? 25
2) How are you feeling? Decent minus the cramping and contractions.
3) What are you currently working on for your prep towards going Med-free? I just took my very first Hypnobirthding class and wow..blown away! I feel much more confident now, and really feel like I can do this. Just that one class made me realize things I didn’t think about before, and it was pretty damn cool. I am looking forward to the next 5 classes.
I am also trying to remember to go kegels daily.
4) QOTW: what is one topic you would like to see covered? Techniques that worked for STM’s.
26+6 Feeling: huge Mostly just tired and some swelling
I'm meeting tonight with my old midwives to see if I'm a candidate to VBAC with the (freestanding) birth center.
I swear if I'm not, I'm done jumping through hoops and I'll go back to my family dr and schedule a C and keep rescheduling till I show up in labor :/
ugh I'm sorry , are you thinking they might not say you are a candidate because of how close your girls are, or for some other reason?
will no other OB allow you a TOLAC?
The other OB would I just didn't like her contract I would have to sign... And I didn't like her enough to make that kind of effort. I know these midwives and I like them and willing to make the drives up there and if they have a contract it won't be a hospital "friendly" one... It would be more patient/baby friendly. Worried because I heard your BMI has to Be below a certain level your whole pregnancy... I started out 135 and I'm up at LEAST 20 lbs now... 5'2". :/ (though likely in part to no one giving me an rx for the Metformin this time around... My insulin is probably crazy :/ ) I just feel kinda negative about it-- like the risks aren't THAT high to warrant such hoop jumping just to attempt to push a baby out... :/
ugh I'm sorry , are you thinking they might not say you are a candidate because of how close your girls are, or for some other reason?
will no other OB allow you a TOLAC?
The other OB would I just didn't like her contract I would have to sign... And I didn't like her enough to make that kind of effort. I know these midwives and I like them and willing to make the drives up there and if they have a contract it won't be a hospital "friendly" one... It would be more patient/baby friendly. Worried because I heard your BMI has to Be below a certain level your whole pregnancy... I started out 135 and I'm up at LEAST 20 lbs now... 5'2". :/ (though likely in part to no one giving me an rx for the Metformin this time around... My insulin is probably crazy :/ ) I just feel kinda negative about it-- like the risks aren't THAT high to warrant such hoop jumping just to attempt to push a baby out... :/
I agree, they aren't that high. I haven't heard anything about BMI and I've done a fair amount of reading on it. I hope that the m/w's allow you to try, is it a free standing BC or one attached to the hospital.
The other OB would I just didn't like her contract I would have to sign... And I didn't like her enough to make that kind of effort. I know these midwives and I like them and willing to make the drives up there and if they have a contract it won't be a hospital "friendly" one... It would be more patient/baby friendly. Worried because I heard your BMI has to Be below a certain level your whole pregnancy... I started out 135 and I'm up at LEAST 20 lbs now... 5'2". :/ (though likely in part to no one giving me an rx for the Metformin this time around... My insulin is probably crazy :/ ) I just feel kinda negative about it-- like the risks aren't THAT high to warrant such hoop jumping just to attempt to push a baby out... :/
I agree, they aren't that high. I haven't heard anything about BMI and I've done a fair amount of reading on it. I hope that the m/w's allow you to try, is it a free standing BC or one attached to the hospital.
What was in the OB contract for VBAC?
Freestanding CNMW run and they have two hospitals they work with for transfers. One has an OB and MWs on staff and one has OBs. I went to the OB/MW hosp last time and the OB was on call. The contract says baby has to be a singleton in vertex presentation (so if baby not flipped by 39 weeks I'd be cut open) Have to have spontaneous labor by 41 weeks or RCS no induction or time to go over Continuous monitoring of baby internal or external. Then the rest of the pages tell you how risky TOLAC is... "RCS carries lower risk to the baby but higher maternal risks" I see: you are irresponsible if you want a VBAC because it's not safe for your baby Has a chart showing maternal and fetal deaths TOLAC vs RCS
The info comes from June, 2010... Almost 5 years ago.
I feel like it's not just information but fear mongering... Am I reading it right or am I being sensitive? Like I feel like if I handed it to DH he'd freak out and schedule a C for me... :/
I'm really curious what the birth center has to say... I'm not afraid of facts but this didn't feel like facts... I read all the risks in books and online already and I didn't feel the way I felt reading their contract. :/ I'm taking this packet with me to see what they think/say
mpiemont I don't "think" there are any negatives to doing them. I also wondered if baby is already head down would inversions cause the baby to flip breech, but I haven't seen anything that has said that is true. Spinning Babies says inversions will get baby to move into or stay in the optimal position for birth.
I will jump in quickly to respond and post my update later. I've been MIA all weekend and yesterday was a holiday so I'm getting caught up on threads.
We talked about this at my prenatal yoga class on Sunday as the instructor is also a midwife/doula. She said she's only seen one specific instance where inversions and some of the Spinning Babies techniques have caused a non-breech baby to flip breech. And in that case the woman had a bicornuate uterus (shaped like a heart) which the midwives didn't know at the time and is very rare. So the baby flipped from one side to the other and could only get into the breech position because of the shape of the uterus. The only reason they figured that out was because the mom ended up having a c-section and the OB realized she had a bicornuate uterus. Except for this one case, she said to her knowledge, she's never had doing inversions/exercises cause a baby to go breech and it shouldn't be something that would cause you to not do the inversions or repositioning exercises.
Post by rocksforludo on Feb 17, 2015 11:26:13 GMT -5
How many weeks are you? 26w 6d
How are you feeling? Pretty good overall. Definitely more tired again, although not as bad as 1st trimester.
What are you currently working on for your prep towards going Med-free? Reading The Birth Partner book, doing prenatal yoga and inversions for positioning, talking to my midwife at today's appointment about water births, monitoring and positioning in general.
QOTW: what is one topic you would like to see covered? I'm all for talking about positioning more too. I'm sure I'll have more questions after I talk with my midwife about the specifics of water birthing at the hospital I'll be at.
smilz4782 Fuck that chart. Instead of using percentages they use "per 100,000" births!? So really, all it's saying is that you have a 0.778% chance of uterine rupture and 0.11% risk of neonatal death. But ya know, that's not nearly as scary
smilz4782 Fuck that chart. Instead of using percentages they use "per 100,000" births!? So really, all it's saying is that you have a 0.778% chance of uterine rupture and 0.11% risk of neonatal death. But ya know, that's not nearly as scary
yes exactly thanks for blowing it way out of proportion by using big numbers. How about you do out of 100 women or maybe 1000 but c'mon, that is a dirty way to share "risks"
3) What are you currently working on for your prep towards going Med-free? I just took my very first Hypnobirthday class and wow..blown away! I feel much more confident now, and really feel like I can do this. Just that one class made me realize things I didn’t think about before, and it was pretty damn cool. I am looking forward to the next 5 classes.
I am also trying to remember to go kegels daily.
We had our first hypnobirthing class last night, too! It was amazing, and I'm definitely feeling more confident and empowered. Interesting thing about kegels: my hypnobirthing instructor said NOT to do them until after the birth. She said it just tightens the muscles down there, and what we're really going for is to loosen the muscles for birthing. I was pretty surprised by this advice. Anyone else heard of this?
3) What are you currently working on for your prep towards going Med-free? I just took my very first Hypnobirthday class and wow..blown away! I feel much more confident now, and really feel like I can do this. Just that one class made me realize things I didn’t think about before, and it was pretty damn cool. I am looking forward to the next 5 classes.
I am also trying to remember to go kegels daily.
We had our first hypnobirthing class last night, too! It was amazing, and I'm definitely feeling more confident and empowered. Interesting thing about kegels: my hypnobirthing instructor said NOT to do them until after the birth. She said it just tightens the muscles down there, and what we're really going for is to loosen the muscles for birthing. I was pretty surprised by this advice. Anyone else heard of this?
no, and it is backwards sounding. You want those muscles to be strong, you want to learn how to fully relax them which is part of doing kegels so you know how to relax them in labor.
I would 100% ignore that advice. The fact that you'll have less snissing after the birth is reason enough to do them now.
We had our first hypnobirthing class last night, too! It was amazing, and I'm definitely feeling more confident and empowered. Interesting thing about kegels: my hypnobirthing instructor said NOT to do them until after the birth. She said it just tightens the muscles down there, and what we're really going for is to loosen the muscles for birthing. I was pretty surprised by this advice. Anyone else heard of this?
no, and it is backwards sounding. You want those muscles to be strong, you want to learn how to fully relax them which is part of doing kegels so you know how to relax them in labor.
I would 100% ignore that advice. The fact that you'll have less snissing after the birth is reason enough to do them now.
This is really interesting. I just did a quick search, and it seems like there is a bit of a movement away from kegels and toward squats instead (which is what my instructor recommended):
no, and it is backwards sounding. You want those muscles to be strong, you want to learn how to fully relax them which is part of doing kegels so you know how to relax them in labor.
I would 100% ignore that advice. The fact that you'll have less snissing after the birth is reason enough to do them now.
This is really interesting. I just did a quick search, and it seems like there is a bit of a movement away from kegels and toward squats instead (which is what my instructor recommended):
This is really interesting. I just did a quick search, and it seems like there is a bit of a movement away from kegels and toward squats instead (which is what my instructor recommended):
I wasn't asked on the kegel/squat front, but my opinion formed on them was to do both since they will both help the muscles that support/affect the area. I also may have been biased by my want to use the deeper type yoga squats during the laboring process too.
I wasn't asked on the kegel/squat front, but my opinion formed on them was to do both since they will both help the muscles that support/affect the area. I also may have been biased by my want to use the deeper type yoga squats during the laboring process too.
yes, I used this squat with both of my girls, I think if you think you might want to labor or push in a squatting position then you should be practicing regular squats and deep yoga squats
I wasn't asked on the kegel/squat front, but my opinion formed on them was to do both since they will both help the muscles that support/affect the area. I also may have been biased by my want to use the deeper type yoga squats during the laboring process too.
yes, I used this squat with both of my girls, I think if you think you might want to labor or push in a squatting position then you should be practicing regular squats and deep yoga squats
I do squats all the time (part of my lifting routine), so I hope it helps!
I don't have anything concrete (still looking) but I swear I heard something in the recent past about kegels not being all they were cracked up to be. I can't remember where I saw that.
As for me, I rarely/ever do kegels. I just don't think about it. I probably should though. I do a fair amount of squats in my Zumba classes and YouTube work out videos.
Post by illogicaltuvok on Feb 17, 2015 16:22:02 GMT -5
How many weeks are you? 27 wks today How are you feeling? Awesome. What are you currently working on for your prep towards going Med-free? Nothing really. Just still looking for my yoga ball so I can have that ready. But in no rush. Also seeing if this baby turns. She head up right now. So doing "spinning baby" which is almost like doing a more inclined version of downward facing dog yoga move. QOTW: what is one topic you would like to see covered? Not sure on this, brain not working right now.
I don't have anything concrete (still looking) but I swear I heard something in the recent past about kegels not being all they were cracked up to be. I can't remember where I saw that.
As for me, I rarely/ever do kegels. I just don't think about it. I probably should though. I do a fair amount of squats in my Zumba classes and YouTube work out videos.
This is all true for me too. I know I read or heard something about squats being better than kegels but I can't remember where. And I very rarely do kegels.
I do squats in the evenings when I do my inversions and pelvic rocks.
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Post by claudizzle on Feb 17, 2015 17:44:42 GMT -5
Didn't have time to check in on this yesterday, so I'm catching up today. Great info in this thread so thanks to all you ladies for contributing - CTri17 especially! How many weeks are you? 27w3d
How are you feeling? Pretty good, although I did have my glucose test today and that was not overly enjoyable Sorry to hear about your experience @bige_LITTLEe!
What are you currently working on for your prep towards going Med-free? Just finished the Hypnobirthing book today. Hoping to pick up the Birth Partner soon... and this past week I have kind of fallen off my routine of dedicating time to relaxation and listening to the CDs that came with the Hypnobirthing book. Hoping to get back into that this week.
QOTW: what is one topic you would like to see covered? I'm curious about it all! The tea that some of you have mentioned intrigues me, though this is the first I've heard of it. CTri17 - thanks for listing the benefits of the ingredients found in it. I'm wondering if drinking something like this on top of taking pre-natal vitamins is overkill? For example, the pre-natal vitamins I'm taking have 27mg of iron in them already, plus I eat other iron-rich foods. I'll ask my m/w about this during our next visit, but in the meantime, does anyone have insight into this?
I'd also love to read more from STM(+) re: coping mechanisms or positions they found helpful when they were transitioning or hitting points when they felt like they just couldn't take it anymore.
Other curiosities: as a PP mentioned, experiences in labouring or birthing in water; effectiveness of "birth breathing" versus "pushing" when baby is making its final way out the birth canal
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Re: squats v kegels I don't have any links but what I remember from my searching with DD was that I came away with squats were a superior exercise. Not just squats but the deep yoga squat type. Im had seen an article that showed the muscles involved in the squats vs kegels and more muscles were worked and used in squats and therefore had a better strengthening effect on the pelvic floor.
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