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LuckyDaemon posted:A couple of hospitals here offer $70 childbirth classes but my CNM doesn't think they're very useful for teaching practical information about how to get through labor--just education about "This is what happens when baby comes, these are some of the tools we use". I've gotten all of that information from my own research. Bradley classes would be awesome, but we can't afford them. My husband and I took a birthing class together when I was pregnant the first time. It was kind of a drag for me since a lot of what we went over was stuff I already knew just from reading various books, but it actually was worth it just for the amount of stuff my husband picked up from the class. So if daddy isn't really a book reader, I would recommend taking a class or two, even if it feel like it wouldn't be beneficial to you. Also for what it's worth, I went in to it ignoring everything about natural childbirth since that wasn't in my "birth plan". I was one of those who had zero pain tolerance, getting blood drawn and exams caused me to cry half of the time, so I knew I was going to be one of those who needed an epidural. Things didn't work out that way, and when I was admitted I ended up being 9cm, so I never did get an epidural. The laboring pain at home was unbearable, and I was angry for most of it, but I made it through it all with out having taken any natural birthing classes. Rathina fucked around with this message at 06:38 on Feb 20, 2011 |
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Feb 20, 2011 06:26
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I requested to join too (my name is Krystal) (USER WAS PUT ON PROBATION FOR THIS POST)
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Feb 21, 2011 04:33
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Somewhere I read awhile ago about not getting your eyes checked while pregnant (something about extra fluids give off inaccurate readings??). How soon after having the baby do you need to wait to get your eyes checked so they will be accurate? Does it matter if you are nursing? The last time I had my eyes checked was in March of 2007, so I'm obviously due, but I just want to make sure I get an accurate exam since I am going to be buying glasses as mine are totally trashed, and I'd hate to buy some only to have my eyes change more.
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Mar 21, 2011 03:45
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I exclusively pumped for 6 months, and would I do it again? No. Maybe I would for the first week or two, but never again for that length of time. I am not saying it's a bad choice for everyone, but it ended up being a bad choice for me. Only I didn't realize it till way longer down the road. As others brought up, you are living your life around a pump instead of a baby (or at least I was). There were many weeks where I didn't leave the house because by the time you pumped, got your self ready, got the baby ready, it would be time to pump again. If I had to be out all day, not only was I taking my son and all his stuff, I was also taking a breastpump and a cooler too so that I could pump in the car. I felt so caught up in the guilt, of not being able to breastfeed my son, that I made it some sort of goal that I would provide to him nothing but 100% breastmilk. If you think like this, make sure you are not setting yourself up for failure. I always had supply issues, which always caused me to worry. If you need formula as a supplement, use it. Guilt/worry never helps any situation you are in. I guess what I am trying to say, is to pay very special attention to your emotional well being if you are doing something like this. Looking back, I wish I would have spent the time I spent pumping holding and spending time with my son instead, which is in my opinion just as important as breastmilk. It never occurred to me, that if it took 20 minutes to breastfeed, and 5 minutes to give a bottle, that was 15 minutes of time my son wasn't getting held like he should have been.
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Mar 31, 2011 18:29
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Fire In The Disco posted:On the flip side, I have a friend who is EPing her second child (who is a year old), after doing the same for her first (now 3). She says she actually likes it, because she's a bit neurotic and likes to see exactly how much milk her baby's drinking. I guess it's a different strokes for different folks thing, just like so many other parenting choices. That was one positive, oh how I would rather count oz's in a bottle then keep track on a little chart every time I've fed or changed her. I've been thinking about buying a baby scale for peace of mind this time around, but they are pretty expensive.
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Mar 31, 2011 19:02
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I want to thank whoever it is that suggested Bravado (I am sure it was multiple people). I got my nursing tank tops in and they are so wonderful! I didn't think I would find something so comfy and supportive. My only other experience was with the Glamourmom tank tops which are not very supportive at all, and are pretty much crap compared to the Bravado tanks. Wishing I could have afforded more than 2.
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Apr 3, 2011 03:36
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Make sure to find a lactation consultant, or 2...I think I saw 4 different ones in the hospital and they all have different methods and things to say/try/do, and I found that to be really helpful. I still have a weekly appointment I go to for lactation help. Just make sure you keep trying, it can take awhile for some babies to learn to latch. Jill didn't latch for almost a whole week. I did have one lactation consultant tell me if she wasn't going to latch after a week, she never would...this got me down, till a friend of mine was like "There are NICU babies who don't breastfeed for weeks/months and eventually get it", and that pretty much made me feel confident in still trying to get her to latch. She took finger feeds/bottles no problem, but I just kept trying, and eventually got her to latch with a nipple shield, and a week later we were able to get off the nipple shield. Now at 3 weeks, I'm just finally getting used to the nursing. It's painful sometimes, and other times I want to give up completely. It's a skill that both mom, and baby have to learn together...I would almost say like 2 virgins having sex...no one knows what they are really doing, and it takes lots and lots and lots of practice.
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Apr 4, 2011 07:15
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AlistairCookie posted:For me to keep nursing, the most important thing was that break; and having the mental out that if it got bad again, I could take another break. Just knowing that kept me going more than the irrational desperation of "I can only nurse, NO bottles, oh God!" and made me keep at nursing. This also helped me greatly. It seemed to take less stress off nursing knowing that giving a bottle was an option, and it was ok if I was having a difficult time, and really once I became ok with bottles, it seems like we haven't had to use them since. We are a little over 3 weeks into nursing, and it seems like every day is getting better. Today I finally felt like I could explore other nursing positions (previously, it was kind of a "well it's working the way it is, so I don't want to screw anything up). Hoping once I start getting real comfortable, I could start trying it public. Now, with the whole idea of "nipple confusion" I see lots bottles advertised as better for breastfeeding (we use the Breastflow, I like it a lot), but what about pacifiers, are there specific ones that are good for breastfeeding, or does it not really matter? I don't think we are ready for a pacifier yet, but I want to make sure I have the right ones on hand if I need to.
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Apr 6, 2011 08:30
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MarshallX posted:How long did the people that had issues nursing try until they gave up and pumped? How did you deliver the pumped milk to baby? It took 1 week for Jill to finally latch, prior to that the first 3-4 days were finger feeds with an sns, and then later I went with a bottle because fingerfeeding with an sns was a pain in the rear end, and I figured she was just as likely to get nipple confusion. Even when she did finally latch that next week was still a mixture of bottles and latching till she got the hang of it. It really takes a lot of practice, and it is VERY VERY VERY frustrating. There are days were I "gave up" and pumped and used a bottle, and then there were days were she would latch perfect the whole day. Even now at 3 weeks, we still have trouble occasionally, right now she doesn't like my right boob. SNS: http://www.medelabreastfeedingus.com/products/breastfeeding-devices/51/supplemental-nursing-system-sns I'm not sure if you can order or buy them anywhere local...my hospital was one of the "pro breastfeeding hospitals" so they try that type of stuff before they try bottles.
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Apr 6, 2011 18:51
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Hillridge posted:My apologies if this was posted in the thread already. Do you know of any impartial articles, or solid facts on home birth vs. hospital birth? I understand there are pros and cons of each, but most of the home birth stuff I have seen I feel like I can't trust because it is highly opinionated. I'm looking for statistics that compare rates of things like complications, infant mortality, mother mortality, recovery time, etc. between the two. Thanks. I don't really have any links or facts, but by law (may very from state to state) I believe most midwifes have to turn away people from home births if they are at high risk for any sort of complication. When you are looking at home birth's they tend to be more positive results, because the high risk pregnancies have essentially been "weeded out", does that make sense? I know most home birth websites will say things like how many successful deliveries, or transfers during labor they have, but I never seem to find any numbers about how many people end up being refereed for a hospital birth for risks discovered prior to going into labor.
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Apr 6, 2011 19:35
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Staying home once you have 2 kids seems to be another common thing in the US. Pricing out full time childcare in our area runs about $1200 a month ($700 for infant, $500 for 2 year old). A minimum wage job, which is pretty much all I am qualified for, will get me about $1500 a month. $300 doesn't go very far at all, especially once you factor in the cost of transportation, food, etc. I love staying home, just sometimes I wish we had a little extra spending money, afford some things that would make staying home a little more enjoyable.
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Apr 9, 2011 01:58
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I liked the Mayo Clinic guide to pregnancy. If you plan on breastfeeding, I suggest picking up a copy of the Womanly Art of Breastfeeding. I am currently reading it, wish I would have read it when I was pregnant, instead of when I was trying to learn to breastfeeding.
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Apr 22, 2011 02:31
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As far as I know, Coppertone is the only one who makes a tear free baby sunscreen (It's the Pure & Simple version of the Waterbabies ones). There may be other brands, I've only looked at Target/ToysRus.
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May 9, 2011 22:23
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anythingbutbloo posted:California Baby makes one too I'm assuming they probably keep that with the rest of the California Baby brand stuff instead of with the sunscreen which explains why I have never seen it.
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May 9, 2011 22:47
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Really good for sensitive skin. (also sold at Target!)
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It's entirely possible to go through PPD and not even know you are going through it. While a major sign is wanting to hurt yourself or your kids...even if you don't have that, you can still have a lot of the minor symptoms of PPD that are not really 'red flags' unless you put them all together. It can also manifest with OCD symptoms which was what I had. It wasn't till I had my 2nd kid and realized just how different everything was from my first did I realize I really did have PPD with my first. One of the things that would freak me out is when I would drop him off, and if I picked him up and he had different clothes on because of a blowout or something...like I knew my kid was my kid because I remember what I dressed him in. Another was constantly checking to make sure he was in the car seat. I would turn around while driving at least 5 times in a mile just to make sure he was still in the car seat. Even though I never have forgotten him, there was always some fear inside of me that I needed to constantly check on him. Bottles had to be exactly x amount of ozs. Baby food jars were weighed to make sure he had exactly half jar of baby food (with lists kept to make sure I didn't repeat the same vegetable/fruit within a 24 hour period). Baby cereal had to be an exact amount with an exact amount of water, there was no pour a little of this, pour a little of that mix till it looks right. I was pretty neurotic about the weirdest poo poo. Glad I didn't go through any of that with my second. Also Dreft causes my eczema and the kids to flare up. Plus it didn't really clean as well as normal detergents. However; the Dreft stain remover spray is a miracle though. I've had it remove all sorts of stuff...love it!
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Sep 22, 2012 06:00
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If you can take whatever it is you want to give baby and mash it up in your mouth without using your teeth it's probably ok to introduce. Their gums are incredibly strong (stick your finger back there and feel how hard they bite down), so as long as it's something that will dissolved into nothingness they are probably fine, because if anything they will just hold it in the side of their cheek till it dissolves (ie cherrios). I have no idea if Amazon still does the free Amazon Prime membership for moms, but if they don't it's still a nice thing to have as a new parent. I found many times it was much easier to just order something and pay the $3.99 for next day shipping then the thought of putting a 2 year old and a new born into a car and driving all the way wherever it was I had to go just for 1 item. Also rechargeable batteries. Seriously. You might not need them now, but if you just buy a few or there by the time the kid is 2 you will have a good supply. Don't say you wont have toys that make noise. You will. Even our goon loved seahorse takes batteries (with 2 (soon to be 3) sea horses in this house, plus I always try to have 3 charged and ready to go so that's 9 batteries already).
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Jan 5, 2013 22:13
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I've had both a natural birth (wasn't by choice, for 3 days they kept sending me home, the last time I went in I was 9cm and couldn't get an epidural) and the other I was induced and took the epidural right away with the pitocin. Recovery from the natural birth was terrible, I felt like I got hit by a bus for 2 weeks, but I was also in labor for 3 days and severely dehydrated so I know that made it a whole lot rougher. As far as being induced, I had the baby I think 9 hours later and recovery was a breeze...no idea if it was because it was my 2nd, or labor was so short or the epidural..but I was taking a newborn and a 2 year old to target within a week. For the 3rd, I'm still on the fence about what I am going to do. I probably won't make up my mind till I'm walking into L&D and I see how things are progressing. Even if you have a plan, things can change at a moments notice. My only "birth plan" with my first was an epidural..didn't happen. My only "birth plan" for my 2nd was a c-section because she was breech..didn't happen. At this point I'm not even going to speculate what might happen with my 3rd lol.
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Jan 12, 2013 00:36
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So I'm 8w6d, went in for an ultrasound (I had both the vag one, and the other one done) today and it looked empty. It was a nurse practitioner who was doing it, and so obviously she isn't allowed to comment on the findings and said the Dr. would look at the pictures and call me for a followup. She pretty much just kept saying that if I was in there too early nothing would show up yet....but I'm pretty sure that's not the case, all my dates are accurate. I've had 2 kids already so I've been through ultrasounds before...so I'm pretty much just assuming there is no baby in there because it can't really be that hard to gently caress up an ultrasound right? =/
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Jan 18, 2013 06:01
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Bravado Designs is where I got my nursing tank tops. I had actually bought 2 bras, but returned them since none of my shirts fit me I had no use for the bras. I had gone from a 34D to a 40G haha. I bought 4 nursing tank tops in March of 2011 when I had my baby, and I actually quit nursing over 9 months ago, and I still wear them daily because they are so comfortable to sleep in, very supportive and I've even worn them in public. The are like $50, but they've held up extremely well, because I would estimate now that they've been washed over 100 times each. http://www.bravadodesigns.com/shop/the-essential-nursing-tank http://www.bravadodesigns.com/shop/the-essential-nursing-tank-curvalicious-sizing
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Jan 25, 2013 23:50
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While it's pretty slim to get an infection from an internal exam, I'm pretty sure that's what happened to me. I had gone to the ER on a Friday night when I had started bleeding at 11 weeks, had a trans vag exam done to confirm miscarriage...Sunday morning I ended up back in the ER hemorrhaging with a fever. I thought it was odd that I would get a fever so quickly, but I realized later if I was dilated during that first exam, I could have picked up something then. I actually didn't check to see if I had a fever till after I started hemorrhaging, because it was one of those things on the "come back right away" checklist they gave me, so I could have had the fever longer. The fact that I had cups of blood pouring out of me should have been the first clue I needed to go back in, but at that point of blood loss I guess your brain just stops working, so even though I had every thing on the checklist checked off I still didn't think I needed to go back in till I passed out on the bathroom floor. I ended having to be admitted for 2 days to the hospital. $6000 and I didn't even get a baby out of it 
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Feb 19, 2013 08:28
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Breastfeeding is the hardest most emotionally draining thing I ever had to do. I had seen 3 different LC's in the hospital, and another a few days after leaving the hospital but it wasn't till I saw the 5th one out of the hospital twice a week for a few weeks that I really think helped a lot. That was over 2 years ago, and I can't really remember what she did differently than the others did...maybe it was just not being in a hospital that helped, but I know I was still going to her till about 8-10 weeks out. At the week old checkup, the 4th LC I saw told me if she wasn't latching right and since I was giving formula at night, I should just give up. I was very sad and disheartened but later I talked to a friend a few hours after that who was like "WTF why would she say that there are NICU babies that start nursing at like 6-8 weeks old, if they can learn so can yours", and that made me make another appointment with the 5th LC. Do what makes you happy, rules don't have to be set in stone when it comes to nursing. Do what makes you feel comfortable, stop what makes you don't. We had tons of latching issues, and the nipple shield was so drat frustrating that I just didn't want to gently caress with it at 2 am with a screaming baby so I just gave bottles of formula in the middle of the night. Obviously those are both considered big no-no's...but it worked for me. During the day I was patient and could deal with the nursing issues. Eventually it does just click, and by 12 weeks I finally felt comfortable not hauling around formula with me just incase there were problems with nursing in public. I nursed till she was about 12 months old.
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Jul 1, 2013 06:15
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I wish I had some advice for you, but I don't. I'm 14 weeks now, after 2 miscarriages (one at 7 weeks, one at 11 weeks), I thought I would 'feel' better by 12 weeks just passing that 'magic hurdle'...but I still don't feel excited like I was with my first 2 kids...like at any moment another miscarriage could happen. I do get some mild relief when I go in and see the baby moving around on the ultrasound, but that quickly wears off after awhile. I am hoping by maybe 18-20 weeks when I actually start feeling the baby move I'll be more "Yeah I am having a baby YIPPEE" excitement. I've brought up my concerns with my doctor and she says it's all normal which is good, because I feel like feeling like this would be fasttraking it to PPD or something.
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Aug 12, 2014 17:29
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I've had both a drug free birth (3 days of hell), and a Pitocin/Epidural birth (12 hours of wonderful bliss, 30 minutes of Super Hell when I dislodged the Epidural by projectile vomiting, but baby was ready to come anyway). I'm pretty much open to anything this time around, just depends on how things progress. I do know I can do it all on my own, but just depends on if I have to be induced or not. If you have to be induced, get the epidural. For me it seemed like the Pitocin contractions started before they stopped, I felt like I was on a rollercoaster I couldn't get off on, whereas with natural contractions, I feel like I had time to rest and breath in between even if they were only a minute apart.
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Oct 24, 2014 14:23
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I know it comes up often about Bras, I remember originally reading about Bravado Bras & Nursing Tanks years ago from here. The tank tops are really good especially if you are large breasted (I wore a 40 F/G). They are a bit pricy, but right now everything is 20% off till December 30th with coupon code: BOX-370 and free shipping over $60. Last time they were 20% off I think was in September. They typically have 3-4 20% off sales a year. http://www.bravadodesigns.com/
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Dec 26, 2014 15:37
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Man oh man how my brain has become so warped over this pregnancy with food issues. Started out eating poached eggs, all sorts of healthy veggies and fruits, mostly not worried at all because of a history of miscarriages I wasn't really 'attached' to this pregnancy till probably around 18 weeks when things started moving around, then my 'mamabear' instinct kind of kicked in and was like "must stop eating things that might kill the baby, because there is a baby"......but as time goes on and you read more and more about listeria and it could just be in anything really, and then I had a couple of close calls with what may or may not have been food poisoning and now I'm pretty much eating nothing but junky frozen food Haha. 5 more weeks to go and I can go back to eating all my healthy (but omg could kill your baby) food LOL.
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Jan 6, 2015 20:31
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Coming up near the end of this pregnancy (38 weeks), baby is still doing somersaults just like my last one, breech one day, head down the next. My last baby turned head down at the last minute at 40 weeks, so hoping this one figures it out soon, but I'm not feeling as optimistic, because I've already been to L&D once last week for 10 hours with some pretty painful contractions (that ended up stopping, and since I wasn't dilated they didn't want induce or do a c section at 37 weeks, but they were pretty shocked at how much she flipped just in 10 hours with 4 ultra sounds). Just hate things being so unpredictable =(
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Jan 26, 2015 18:37
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Here is my experience with breech babies. My 2nd baby flipped all around, full on summersaults up till the last day at 40 weeks. I went in for my dr appointment, she was sideways, the next day I went into labor, and she was head down, so I was able to have her vaginally. My 3rd baby, also flipped all around. When I went into labor at 37 weeks, she was still flipping like crazy, we did do a version, but it didn't last, she moved back to sideways the next day. (They won't induce at 37 weeks, and the contractions stopped after that). At 39 weeks I was scheduled for another version, when I went in for my non stress test, I was having consistent contractions and she was head down, so NST sent me over to labor and delivery...of course by the time that happened, she flipped again and was no longer head down, but sideways again. So we opted for another version, and this time being 39 weeks they would induce me, however after after they do the version, they have to monitor the baby for an hour before they can start induction...and in that hour she flipped sideways again. At that point I was 3cm dilated and so we went with a c-section since she wouldn't stay head down. My baby flipped a lot because I had an excess amount of fluid. She was 8lbs 1oz, and it blows my mind looking at her that she was able to do somersaults daily. The versions were very painful, but only took about 5 minutes each. They do have the risk of having your water break, and if your baby is breech, there is a chance of a cord prolapse, which would mean emergency c-section if the cord was to prolapse. If your baby flips all the time, chances are they will flip back to where they are most comfortable. There was really nothing I could do to prevent her from flipping. It didn't matter if I walked more, slept more, rested, got on my hands and knees, etc. I tried a few of the spinning babies stuff. When she wanted to flip, she would flip, she had the room because I had the extra fluid, so really it was out of my control. She even tried to come out of the c-section wrong, they opened me up and she instantly stuck her hand out and they had to push her hand back in and pull her out feet first haha...crazy baby.
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Feb 19, 2015 18:23
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My son was 2 when I had my daughter, he really didn't understand the concept of it at all, he was still in his own little world. I had a few baby books I read to him, but he really wasn't interested in them at all (What Baby Needs and Baby on the Way both by Dr. Sears), however when he was 5, and my daughter was 3 and my 3rd was on the way I brought out the books again, and this time they asked me to read them all the time, and were very excited leading up to me having the baby. The books were really great at explaining things without going into too much detail.
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Mar 19, 2015 03:04
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