|
n8r posted:We are currently in the middle of taking the hospital provided 'birth class', which I think is pretty much just Lamaze, with some tweaks by the instructor. Neither my wife, nor myself have done any real research on the whole medication side of things. I totally support whatever she wants to do, but a lot of what is getting talked about in the class seems like it'd be impossible to do with an epidural (they haven't gotten to the :drugs: part of the course yet). Assuming a given pain-management technique is impossible with an epidural (I didn't have one with either of my kids, so I can't say what can or can't be done), they're still useful if your wife's pain needs management before you get to the hospital, or before an epidural is allowed (there's a minimum dilation required), or before the anesthesiologist arrives, or if labor progresses so quickly that there's no time to start an epidural. Ironically, one of my complaints with the hospital-provided 'birth class' that my husband and I attended was that it assumed everyone would want an epidural upon exiting the car in the parking lot, and thus had us practicing things like "having your 'birth partner' help you roll from one side to the other while your legs are immobile" and "having your 'birth partner' hold one of your legs and say encouraging things".
|
#
?
Nov 13, 2015 12:29
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 13, 2024 23:02 |
|
|
Even if you get an epidural, all the post-birth pain is the same. Plus a sore spine from the epidural.
|
|
#
?
Nov 13, 2015 13:33
|
|
|
I'd like a low intervention birth (if possible!) and no epidural so my husband and I took a 6-week class called Hypnobabies . I'm 37 weeks along today so I guess we'll find out how well it works in few weeks. Happy to post a trip report if anyone's interested.
|
|
#
?
Nov 13, 2015 13:49
|
|
|
While I thought some of it was nonsense, the Hypnobirthing (similar to hypnobabies) book had some interesting ideas and the relaxation techniques were useful during my pregnancy (I had a lot of pain). I still don't know how(and am sceptical) anyone could have a "painless" birth, but if it does work for people more power to 'em. I will be interested to see how useful you find the course!
|
|
#
?
Nov 13, 2015 14:00
|
|
|
I had a mostly painless labor and delivery for the most part! My water broke and I was dialated but never started having contractions. I was given pitocin and boom, contractions. I was dialated enough for the epidural already and the anesthesiologist was bopping around between 3 women so it was like now or never...so I had very intense pain, but only for about an hour. I loved my epidural and would have one all the time if not for that pesky can't move your lower body thing! More power to you who didn't want one though. The 104 degree fever I ran all through labor was worse, I remember most of that day and the next two through a fever dream 
|
|
#
?
Nov 13, 2015 15:23
|
|
|
For our first kid, we put off birthing classes until very late, so the only one available in our price range was from some hippy-dippy natural birth center. My opinion of the place was immediately downgraded once I saw that they had classes called "How to determine if vaccines are right for your children." While the pain management techniques they taught may have been helpful for my wife, for the actual birth, after about 10 hours or so, she sprung for the epidural and it was definitely the right call. It let her get some sleep, and it was another 10 hours or so for the baby to come out. As I described earlier, the second birth was about 20 minutes after we got to the hospital; she asked for the epidural, but the nurse said, "honey, I think the baby will get here before the anesthesiologist". And for some reason, they wouldn't give her the epidural after the baby was born. We are gonna have a 3rd one in January, it will be interesting to see how that one goes. Hopefully between the two extremes, but closer to the second one. Just as long as I don't have to deliver on the side of the road.
|
|
#
?
Nov 13, 2015 17:00
|
|
|
I had a 6-7 hour active labor, and it was totally manageable without an epidural. We did have some pain management techniques that I learned in my birth class, like making focused noise and a sort of meditation thing. I also had a doula, which helped a ton. We actually learned a bunch of techniques, then practiced with our hands in a bucket of ice water or while doing wall squats to see what we actually found effective in the face of pain.
|
|
#
?
Nov 13, 2015 17:33
|
|
|
I never had an epidural. We were lucky enough to have a doula so that made a big difference in managing pain and expectations. We ended up having to have some pitocin so my pain situation became pretty intense. I ended up using some fentanyl for a bit of time to just get some rest. Nitrous is rarely available in the states and I really wish I had had that as an option.
|
|
#
?
Nov 13, 2015 18:21
|
|
|
I had gas. The most helpful thing about it was that I could bite the mouthpiece thing during contractions. The actual gas just made me woozy and has meant I can't remember much about my labour, which is a shame. I asked for an epidural but by the time I asked, I was transitioning and the baby came shooting out shortly after.
|
|
#
?
Nov 13, 2015 19:15
|
|
|
I used gas and air only (and had a hot water bottle on the small of my back for 6 continuous hours), it was great for me. I honestly don't know how much actual pain relief the nitrous oxide itself gave me, but just having to concentrate on breathing deeply with the mask when having a contraction, gave me something to focus on, and administering the gas myself let me feel like I took an active part in my own pain management, I think those things were what helped the most. I tried the tub, and it felt awesome, but the baby didn't like it, so I had to get out  I think it's important to not convince yourself that "I'll never make it, the pain will be horrible, I need all the drugs!!" before you even start labouring. (Though to be fair I wanted to do it without an epidural primarily because I hate needles, and the thought of one going into my spine was worse than the thought of contractions  ). But I liked knowing I had the option of an epidural if the pain became too much, because knowing that I could get relief if I wanted it, helped me tolerate the pain when it peaked. Oh, and something that came as a surprise to me, was that between the contractions there is no pain, so it's not like you're in constant agony, there are waves of it, and then you get to rest between them. Thing is, if you decide beforehand that you absolutely must go all natural, opting for an epidural can feel like you're letting yourself down, which is just silly. And if you're convinced that you'll die without an epidural, you'll be terrified if the birth progresses so quickly that you can't have one. Research your choices and think about what you want, absolutely, but be prepared for anything, because there really is no way of knowing how your particular birth is going to go. I can totally recommend giving birth without getting a giant needle stuck into your spine (  ), though!
|
|
#
?
Nov 13, 2015 21:10
|
|
|
Sockmuppet posted:Thing is, if you decide beforehand that you absolutely must go all natural, opting for an epidural can feel like you're letting yourself down, which is just silly. And if you're convinced that you'll die without an epidural, you'll be terrified if the birth progresses so quickly that you can't have one. Research your choices and think about what you want, absolutely, but be prepared for anything, because there really is no way of knowing how your particular birth is going to go. I can totally recommend giving birth without getting a giant needle stuck into your spine ( This is half of why I didn't want an epidural - the other half is that I know I do better when I can to move around when I'm in pain, and I wanted to push squatting, both of which an epidural would preclude. (So naturally with my second I was tethered to an IV and a blood pressure cuff along with the belly monitors and had to lie on my left side as much as possible or my blood pressure would start climbing like it was practicing to scale Everest. If I had had to opt for an epidural I wouldn't have felt like a failure, and I don't particularly feel like a hero for not having to; circumstances were in my favor for avoiding the spine needle, that's all.)
|
|
#
?
Nov 13, 2015 21:22
|
|
|
Born yesterday at 36 weeks, Jacob Carson and Caleb James, my first kids: Everything went and is going remarkably smooth! I'm so proud and happy!
|
|
#
?
Nov 13, 2015 23:27
|
|
|
Sockmuppet posted:
This is such good advice. I did all of the natural birth prep for my first but decided to go into it with the attitude that I would get as far as I could and then be open to an epidural. I had a great medicated birth with my first and an unmedicated one with my second and I was equally pleased with both.
|
|
#
?
Nov 13, 2015 23:37
|
|
|
Regarding pain management other than the epidural--I had systemic pain meds once through IV before I was allowed the epidural. It did nothing as far as I could tell and I stopped it pretty quickly. I opted for an epidural and it was awesome. The anesthesiologist did a lighter block with an infusion pump. I was able to get the sleep I hadn't gotten the night before until it was time to push. I was able to move my legs and feel my contractions coming so I knew when to push without the monitor. After 25 minutes of pushing my daughter was out; we did 90 minutes of kangaroo care and I was able to get up on my own and stand after that. I had no spinal pain.
|
|
#
?
Nov 14, 2015 03:46
|
|
|
pwnyXpress posted:Born yesterday at 36 weeks, Jacob Carson and Caleb James, my first kids: Thats so adorable! But the one on the left looks like a trouble maker 
|
|
#
?
Nov 14, 2015 04:44
|
|
|
For pain, my wife said the #1/#2 things were: 1: holding her hands through contractions 2: pressure on her hips downward (her back was up) during contractions This required a doula's assistance and my wife's guidance so I could get to the exact spot to push on the hips while the doula held her hands/switch off with me. My wife said labor wasn't that bad at all, but the stitching afterwards was a million times worse.
|
|
#
?
Nov 14, 2015 05:03
|
|
|
Big Bug Hug posted:Thats so adorable! But the one on the left looks like a trouble maker He is! Spent 3 hours in the NCU scaring dad right after being born. Doing great now, though!
|
|
#
?
Nov 15, 2015 01:18
|
|
|
Well, we're a week overdue with our first babby. Membrane is swept and now on to acupuncture.
|
|
#
?
Nov 16, 2015 21:31
|
|
precious
|
notwithoutmyanus posted:My wife said labor wasn't that bad at all, but the stitching afterwards was a million times worse. Yowch! Did she tear badly? They should have given her some lidocaine to numb things a bit, but if she tore badly I guess I could see it not being as effective. I wouldn't say getting my vag stitches was a million times worse than labor, but there was an area the midwife must not have numbed as thoroughly, because there were moments of a much -sharper- pain when compared to labor. Obviously labor pain is different for everyone, but I would compare mine to really bad lower back pain combined with about the most intense menstrual cramping you can imagine multiplied by 10 or so. I labored at home for 24 hours, give or take. My midwife recommended laboring at home for as long as possible (which I would TOTALLY recommend assuming you're low-risk and it's appropriate for your situation), assuring me "you will know when it's time to go to the hospital." When I got to the hospital after a restless night of contractions every 10 minutes, I was already dialated 5.5 cm. My water hadn't broken, and I labored in the hospital another 12 hours or so, only to find I was stalled at about 7.5 cm. They broke my waters for me, which gave labor a jumpstart, and my baby was born 2 hours later.
|
|
#
?
Nov 17, 2015 01:25
|
|
|
eselbaum posted:Yowch! Did she tear badly? I tore very little, and only needed a couple of what the doctor called "decorative stiches", but it was worse than the labour in the sense that the labour felt like a natural process, it was an active, working pain that resulted in a baby, and also no needles were involved. The local anaestetic and the stitches just felt like someone jabbing needles into a very VERY tender area that had already worked hard, and deserved to be left alone, thank you very much
|
|
#
?
Nov 17, 2015 10:25
|
|
|
I tore a bit, nothing too serious but in several places so the stitching took a little more than an hour. I wouldn't say it was bad at all - I was busy feeling high on the baby (and also on not having contractions anymore) so I hardly even paid attention to it. In addition to the lidocaine spray they also did a pudendal block so I didn't feel anything for the duration of the stitching and for quite a while afterwards. My only complaints were a) after 45 minutes or so in the stirrups you get pretty stiff and b) there was a shift change somewhere in the middle and it felt like there were a zillion midwives in the room getting debriefed about my crotch.
|
|
#
?
Nov 17, 2015 10:48
|
|
|
The doctor had trouble stitching me for some reason, and while she was nice I could tell she was frustrated trying to get it done. As she left I remember tiredly saying "Sorry about my tricky vagina". Which at least got a laugh. Super awkward having someone peering closely at your bits for that long.
|
|
#
?
Nov 17, 2015 13:21
|
|
|
I didn't tear at all so I didn't have to deal with getting stitched up. This is probably because I had to push forever to get him out so the slowness worked in my favor. If you consider pushing forever vs stitches favorable
|
|
#
?
Nov 17, 2015 23:58
|
|
|
sheri posted:I didn't tear at all so I didn't have to deal with getting stitched up. Haha, same. I pushed for forever too and had no tearing. (I had the epi though.) I forget what my midwife said, how she phrased it, trying to be encouraging, but it was basically, "you have a super stretchy vagina!" and I was like "ummmmm, thanks? I think?" I also told her "I shaved my legs before I came in!" and she said, "that's great, I didn't!" which I thought was hilarious, but I was pretty out of it from the fever.
|
|
#
?
Nov 18, 2015 00:20
|
|
|
Stitching sucked. I had a second degree episiotomy and I feel like the stitching part took forever. I didn't have any drugs during the delivery (or during the episiotomy!) But I had a local during the stitching and I could still feel it. I would call that the worst part of the whole labor/delivery for me.
|
|
#
?
Nov 18, 2015 03:39
|
|
|
Internet pregnancy truth: Until recently I've only ever read this SA Pregnancy thread. But as I started my first pregnancy I've ventured out to other boards at times when I've had weird symptoms or just wanted some reassurance. (I have so much hair on my stomach now I feel like I am turning into a bear). All the boards use weird abbreviations and I had no clue what they were saying. The exception was "FTM". I knew that was female to male for trans people. I was just so surprised how many trans men were having babies! It took about a month of perusing other boards to realize it meant "First Time Mom". I guess that makes more sense? I was a bit sad to lose my idea of all these trans pregnancy message boards, though.
|
|
#
?
Nov 20, 2015 03:40
|
|
|
JustAurora posted:Internet pregnancy truth: Until recently I've only ever read this SA Pregnancy thread. But as I started my first pregnancy I've ventured out to other boards at times when I've had weird symptoms or just wanted some reassurance. (I have so much hair on my stomach now I feel like I am turning into a bear). Ha! I totally did the same thing. It clicked for me pretty fast but then after that I sniggered every time I saw it. I'm glad I'm not the only one who got confused!
|
|
#
?
Nov 20, 2015 04:46
|
|
|
Haha yeah I posted about thinking FTM was female to male here too! That "light dawns on Marblehead" moment was pretty funny.
|
|
#
?
Nov 20, 2015 05:21
|
|
|
The signatures on those boards are barftastic.
|
|
#
?
Nov 20, 2015 06:00
|
|
|
It's almost as good as wedding boards, where women are always worrying about distributing their STDs (save the dates)
|
|
#
?
Nov 20, 2015 06:44
|
|
|
I was just talking with a colleague about those boards yesterday. I just found out I'm pregnant about a month ago, and I think I'm going to have to stop reading them entirely. They just make me feel lovely about myself. "YOU TOOK A TYLENOL??? YOU DEMON!" or the constant, "Only ___ more days til my miracle arrives!" Especially that last thing and language like it. I am happy to be having a baby--it was planned and we wanted it. That said, I'm not spending all my time daydreaming of baby and thinking about my "angel" and "miracle." Maybe I'm too cynical? I don't know. It just makes me feel guilty that I'm not more "mommy-ey" like most of the women are on there. I think my favorite smarmy smackdown was from one woman who responded to another woman who mentioned "babydust to you!" or something like that. She said, "We don't use that phrase here. It reminds some women of their cremated babies." 
ucmallory fucked around with this message at 15:16 on Nov 20, 2015 |
|
#
?
Nov 20, 2015 15:13
|
|
|
I hate that miracle baby poo poo unless a person has had severe fertility issues or something. It's not a miracle. Fish have babies. Your body is designed to do this.
|
|
#
?
Nov 20, 2015 15:36
|
|
|
It's ironic because while those women are soo full of love and tenderness for their unborn miracle, they can be ruthless in their judgment and condescension of people they don't even know. How dare you have a baby shower for your second child (but how dare you NOT celebrate every child)? You're the worst person in the world for saying gender reveal when you mean sex reveal, etc. Meanwhile the extent to which I am bonding with my fetus is telling him to stop kicking me when I'm trying to sleep 
|
|
#
?
Nov 20, 2015 17:00
|
|
|
Yeah, I really only go onto them for weird symptoms because you can see 9 billion people had the same thing. I wish my baby would start kicking me. I am almost 17 weeks and impatient for the first noticeable movement. Sometimes I think I might have felt something, but never anything definite yet.
|
|
#
?
Nov 20, 2015 20:22
|
|
|
JustAurora posted:Yeah, I really only go onto them for weird symptoms because you can see 9 billion people had the same thing. I wish my baby would start kicking me. I am almost 17 weeks and impatient for the first noticeable movement. Sometimes I think I might have felt something, but never anything definite yet. The trick we used was to lay very flat and still and then I put my ipad cover on my belly- anything light and flat should probably work. Then we just watched and then we got a little kick. 
|
|
#
?
Nov 20, 2015 20:28
|
|
|
I tried that but was distracted by my own heartbeat, which can be felt quite clearly through my belly. I really thought it was all in my mind until my husband got lucky and felt a kick (I think this was around 19 weeks) - in hindsight some of the gassy bubbles I felt were probably the baby!
|
|
#
?
Nov 20, 2015 21:01
|
|
|
Yeah, my first definite, noticeable kick was when I was 19 weeks along. I remember because I was in line at the post office mailing my SASS package! Don't worry, more kicks will come soon enough. Then you'll be trying to sleep or concentrate on something important and be all like, "Enough already!!"
eselbaum fucked around with this message at 23:33 on Nov 20, 2015 |
|
#
?
Nov 20, 2015 23:29
|
|
|
JustAurora posted:Internet pregnancy truth: Until recently I've only ever read this SA Pregnancy thread. But as I started my first pregnancy I've ventured out to other boards at times when I've had weird symptoms or just wanted some reassurance. (I have so much hair on my stomach now I feel like I am turning into a bear). Getting used to the babycenter boards has been a process, that's for sure. Some of the boards have pretty cool and/or funny folks but the birth-month groups can be ridiculous. I would love to see what happens with old GBS rules applied there for a week  Also my wife is now 41 weeks and 3 days pregnant. Does it ever end?
|
|
#
?
Nov 21, 2015 01:09
|
|
|
I'm 38 weeks along today and my in-laws are planning to visit after our daughter is born. Somewhat belatedly, I just told them that they'll need a flu shot and a Tdap before they arrive. My m-i-l just cavalierly informed me that she "doesn't believe in flu shots and has never had one" and that the pertussis vaccine she got when my husband was born confers lifelong immunity, so they're "good to go". I am so furious I can hardly see straight. I don't care if she believes in it or not, I'm going to prohibit her from visiting if she's going to put my weeks-old daughter at risk for the flu or pertussis. That's the correct response, right? I'm not just a raging ball of crazy right now for no good reason? The CDC webpage for pregnancy and whooping cough is slightly confusing though. It seems that only one Tdap is needed in a lifetime, but I'm thinking it's a relatively new vaccine, and a pertussis vaccine that she got in the 80's isn't going to provide much protection now. Does anyone know whether that's correct?
|
|
#
?
Nov 21, 2015 03:29
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 13, 2024 23:02 |
|
|
Lazy_Liberal posted:Getting used to the babycenter boards has been a process, that's for sure. Some of the boards have pretty cool and/or funny folks but the birth-month groups can be ridiculous. I would love to see what happens with old GBS rules applied there for a week Eventually! Ours was induced at exactly 10 days past, so yeah, about that.
|
|
#
?
Nov 21, 2015 03:46
|
|
