Post by liverandonions on May 13, 2016 10:15:25 GMT -5
Also, it's good to have a "plan" but please be very prepared to abandon that plan with a quickness. Every labor is so different. With Julia my water broke at midnight and i didn't have contractions until 7am, the epi at noon and she was born at 3:10. With Robbie my water broke at 4:30am and he was born at 9:41am. The only reason he took that long is because he was sunny side up so he couldn't get past my pelvis but otherwise he was flying!
I wanted to go med free but wasn't against the epi-With julia I was able to hold off as long as possible but had back labor but with Robbie it was like ok, i'm here where's my epi. He was coming so fast i didn't have a break in between contractions and he was hitting my pelvis over and over so it hurt!
The most important thing is getting her earthside as safely as possible. I'm so happy for you!
I'm trying to lump them together as I think of them.
If you didn't feel immediately connected with baby, did you feel that throughout your pregnancy? I've felt very connected already, so I'm wondering if I will still when she's born. - With DD I felt connected as soon as I knew I was pregnant, and that never changed. With DS who was a surprise I didn't feel connected during pregnancy and it took a few months after birth (I had PPD) to really feel connected.
What did you wear during labor? Just the hospital gown? And those hospital socks? The gown doesn't seem like it would be very comfy. - During labor I wore a sports bra and tank top with no bottoms and threw the gown on if I was getting up. Once it was c section time I just wore the gown til after, then I changed back to a bra and tank top.
With the sleep gowns- do they wear a onesie underneath? Or just the gown? - we did just the gown for both bc they were pukers and it was too much of a pain to fight a onesie on
Also, it's good to have a "plan" but please be very prepared to abandon that plan with a quickness. Every labor is so different. With Julia my water broke at midnight and i didn't have contractions until 7am, the epi at noon and she was born at 3:10. With Robbie my water broke at 4:30am and he was born at 9:41am. The only reason he took that long is because he was sunny side up so he couldn't get past my pelvis but otherwise he was flying!
I wanted to go med free but wasn't against the epi-With julia I was able to hold off as long as possible but had back labor but with Robbie it was like ok, i'm here where's my epi. He was coming so fast i didn't have a break in between contractions and he was hitting my pelvis over and over so it hurt!
The most important thing is getting her earthside as safely as possible. I'm so happy for you!
I am trying to stay open. I would like to go med-free, but I promise, I'm heading into this thinking that all that matters is that she gets here safely!
Yes, definitely be open minded. My main reason for not wanting an epi the first time was that I was terrified of the needle in my back, lol. But once the pain hit hard, the fear was gone.
Then I hated having an epi. Everyone tells you they loved their epi and it was the best thing ever, but I hated mine so much. I felt completely trapped in my hospital bed, especially after birth when they took my baby away (she had some breathing issues) and H left with her and I was all alone.
Yes, definitely be open minded. My main reason for not wanting an epi the first time was that I was terrified of the needle in my back, lol. But once the pain hit hard, the fear was gone.
Then I hated having an epi. Everyone tells you they loved their epi and it was the best thing ever, but I hated mine so much. I felt completely trapped in my hospital bed, especially after birth when they took my baby away (she had some breathing issues) and H left with her and I was all alone.
Yes, definitely be open minded. My main reason for not wanting an epi the first time was that I was terrified of the needle in my back, lol. But once the pain hit hard, the fear was gone.
Then I hated having an epi. Everyone tells you they loved their epi and it was the best thing ever, but I hated mine so much. I felt completely trapped in my hospital bed, especially after birth when they took my baby away (she had some breathing issues) and H left with her and I was all alone.
It's funny because with my second I didn't even think about this because with Julia my bladder distended so they had to re-catheterize me so I couldn't move anyway. With Robbie i had to be helped to the bathroom the first time and make sure my legs were working etc.
Also, it's good to have a "plan" but please be very prepared to abandon that plan with a quickness. Every labor is so different. With Julia my water broke at midnight and i didn't have contractions until 7am, the epi at noon and she was born at 3:10. With Robbie my water broke at 4:30am and he was born at 9:41am. The only reason he took that long is because he was sunny side up so he couldn't get past my pelvis but otherwise he was flying!
I wanted to go med free but wasn't against the epi-With julia I was able to hold off as long as possible but had back labor but with Robbie it was like ok, i'm here where's my epi. He was coming so fast i didn't have a break in between contractions and he was hitting my pelvis over and over so it hurt!
The most important thing is getting her earthside as safely as possible. I'm so happy for you!
I am trying to stay open. I would like to go med-free, but I promise, I'm heading into this thinking that all that matters is that she gets here safely!
I took a natural birth class (I was terrified I'd give birth at home and not know what to do) and the thing that stuck with me is if your doctor says they want to do something - induction, c-section, whatever ask "what is the risk of we give it 10/20/30 more minutes?" And decide from there what you want to do. They might say no risk or a specific small risk. And she stressed to us, if the risk is your health or baby's - abandon your plan and go with theirs. Always.
Also, when you show up at the hospital I think they automatically will offer the epidural. And probably again because they want to help, we see someone "hurting" or uncomfortable and want to make it better. Just say you don't want anything offered, you know your options and will ask if you change your mind. And I said to DH in front of the nurse, "your job is to remind me I can do this. No matter what." So they knew he wasn't pressuring me into no meds but supporting me in what I wanted.
The other thing I took from the class was remembering our bodies are designed to do this. A lot of the pain medications mimic the hormones your body will release to help you through labour and delivery. So even when it's hard, you CAN do it. I think I repeated that a lot to myself.
He actually overheard a shift change and one nurse said "don't bother offering her anything, she won't listen". He thought she sounded annoyed but then I got awesome nurse who helped stroke my hair, reminded me to relax, that i had this, I could do it. She was awesome.
The envisioning helped too. I had forgotten until reading other posts but I just pictured with each contraction my baby moving lower until I could hold her.
If you didn't feel immediately connected with baby, did you feel that throughout your pregnancy? I felt very connected with my first during pregnancy, but didn't really connect with her until she was a bit older. I had some major post partum anxiety though. With my second I didn't feel very connected, but had the immediate connection with him when he was born. It was so different than my first experience. I didn't have anxiety the second time.
If you went med-free, what do you think helped the most? I almost went med free the second time, but didn't so I have no advice.
What did you wear during labor? Just the hospital gown? And those hospital socks? The gown doesn't seem like it would be very comfy.
I had fast labors and just wore the hospital gown, but no socks. I didn't really care what I was wearing at that point
With the sleep gowns- do they wear a onesie underneath? Or just the gown?
We didn't use the gowns, but I'd imagine there wouldn't be a onesie.
Are you giving birth at a hospital? The other thing that helped me so much was the hot bath. See if your hospital has one. The only issue is they wouldn't let me labor in it the whole time, I don't even know why, it made me so mad, lol. But if you can, try to plan to stay in the bath as much as possible.
I will be at a hospital, and they don't have tubs. I plan on trying a warm shower.
Oh, I showered both times I was in labor before I went to the hospital. It helped a little. What helped the second time (I had back labor the first time and nothing helped) was leaning over and letting my belly hang a bit while rocking my hips from side to side. I got to the hospital during transition the second time and it was the only thing that helped with the pain (until I got the epidural, but I felt I probably could have gone med free. I just didn't want to ).
I think I felt more bonded during my pregnancies with Emily and Kate than I did with James, probably from a combination of fearing another miscarriage and not knowing the sex. But I still felt an immediate bond with all of them when they were born.
I had an unplanned med-free birth with Kate, and what helped with that was (unintentionally) laboring at home as long as possible. I went through transition on the car ride to the hospital and was 8cm when I arrived and had her within 20 minutes. Whoops! But it made me want to do it again with James, and what helped the most with him was picturing each contraction as a wave, standing/walking to help him drop (and just moving around to help distract from the pain), and elevating the bed into a sitting position for the delivery. Having my mom and a really great nurse helped, too. For me the hardest part was transition; the actual delivery felt like a breeze (and such a relief!) in comparison.
I only wore the hospital gowns during labor. I thought they were plenty comfortable and didn't want to ruin anything of my own. L&D is messy!
I never used a onesie under gowns. The whole point of gowns is that you don't have to deal with snaps!
Post by onesweetworld on May 13, 2016 11:48:38 GMT -5
I didn't feel immediately connected to my baby in utero or when she was born. That feeling grew over time.
I went med free and the key for me was a fabulous doula and a sense of humour. My labour was 49 hours so not easy to maintain. However, my fear of needles is stronger than my fear of childbirth.
I can't remember what I wore! A comfortable gown or not, I have no memory and the distraction of childbirth will probably make it a non issue.
I'm trying to lump them together as I think of them.
If you didn't feel immediately connected with baby, did you feel that throughout your pregnancy? I've felt very connected already, so I'm wondering if I will still when she's born. I don't know if "connected" is the right word? I mean, I knew she was mine, and *loved* her, but we were two people who were getting to know each other.
If you went med-free, what do you think helped the most? I did not go med free. But here is what I did. When they admitted me, they asked me what my plan was far as pain. I said I'd see how I did. They said that in their experience people who get an epi get the most bang for their buck when they get it around 4-5cm. Right around that point, shit got REAL contraction wise, I got the epi, and oh it was awesome. It felt like my legs were floating in warm water. It wore off by the time it was time to push, which was their goal for me so that I could manage my pushing better.
What did you wear during labor? Just the hospital gown? And those hospital socks? The gown doesn't seem like it would be very comfy. For Labor? Their gown. Labor is grooooosssss. So much fluid. So many fluids. And they need to get to you and do stuff and and and. The socks are kind of nice because they have those traction thingies on the bottoms. After labor, I wore a loose nightgown I brought.
With the sleep gowns- do they wear a onesie underneath? Or just the gown? We did a onesie and a swaddle.
ETA- we have an older house, and it's sometimes a little musty. I'm thinking about getting an EO diffuser for the nursery, to keep it smelling fresh. This is safe, right? Which diffuser do you rec? And which scents? I don't care for lavender. Honestly, Don't sweat the nursery until you know that she's actually going to sleep in it. Sparkybaby had no use for her room until like, 3 months.