MSE Pregnancy Club 23

Crabapple

Oops, missed the boat and it was Kira who said about the cds! I think they were on amazon when I found them but only marketplace and one of the suggested vendors was nct. Were about £40 though.

basscadette

Hi everyone,

Due date for me today and had 40wk MW appointment. Bubs is 4/5 engaged and sounded happy in there. Will be offered a sweep next week but hoping things move before then. I have had loads of pain-free contractions and period pains etc - lots of signs but erratic and on and off so nothing definite happening yet. Hopefully things will happen naturally over the next week and whilst I'm eager to get it over with, at the same time I have lots to do so am not heartbroken he hasn't come on due date lol.

Missymoo - I wish I didn't ask you about one born every minute at this stage - I've petrified myself over the past couple of days after watching series one. I saw series two on TV this year and it didn't affect me as much as watching it so close to due date.

On the topic of ladygardens - well I'm a nair devotee. I would never shave down there in this state and even when not pregnant it causes me to itch like b*tch with all the ingrown hairs. I basically stand a mirror on the sink ledge and nair using the reflection. Now that bump has dropped there is an issue with it smearing the bottom of my bump lol. IMHO this is the fastest, easiest and most painless way to at least keep it at bay round the sides. How any of you can go 'down there' with a razor I do not know.

I havn't heard anything about writing a birth plan but then I probably wouldn't do one anyway - I want an epidural and five pushes then home (after the biscuits). I can't bear tea made by anyone but me so will have a nice coffee afterwards I think. The come home and ifnish the renovations lol.

My husband has now put his foot down on me buying christmas and easter chocolate presents earlier. I complained that we ended up paying full whack at the last minute because we miss all the offers earlier on. He said - we might pay full price but it's cheaper than getting them on offer, eating them all, getting them on offer again, eating them all then ending up paying full whack at the last minute on top of all the offers. I must admit - he has a point. Last year Tesco's had a great offer on Thornton's chocolates and I ate multiple boxes that I had bought for Chritmas lol. I do the same with easter eggs for nieces and nephews.

Kira000

Well, just reading some blurb from the CD boxes. interesting factoids on results of clinical studies on effects of hypnotherapy on labour outcomes coming ladies!!
1) First time mothers- studies showed reduction in labour from 9.3 hours to 6.4 hours, and for second time+ mothers from 6.2 to 5.3 hours.
Also reported were:
a reduction in medical interventions inc ventouse and forceps- 84-99% reported spontaneous non surgical deliveries
a reduced C-section rate with reported rate being 5-8 % (for reference, i think my (good) hospital is running at about 20%)
reduced requirement for anaethesia-55-79% births reported as non medicated births.

Now.. i know all about lies, damn lies and statistics, but even so, i'm certainly thinking that its worth a shot to get a teensy bit of that!

missymoo81

basscadette wrote: »

Missymoo - I wish I didn't ask you about one born every minute at this stage - I've petrified myself over the past couple of days after watching series one. I saw series two on TV this year and it didn't affect me as much as watching it so close to due date.

On the topic of ladygardens - well I'm a nair devotee. I would never shave down there in this state and even when not pregnant it causes me to itch like b*tch with all the ingrown hairs. I basically stand a mirror on the sink ledge and nair using the reflection. Now that bump has dropped there is an issue with it smearing the bottom of my bump lol. IMHO this is the fastest, easiest and most painless way to at least keep it at bay round the sides. How any of you can go 'down there' with a razor I do not know.

I havn't heard anything about writing a birth plan but then I probably wouldn't do one anyway - I want an epidural and five pushes then home (after the biscuits). I can't bear tea made by anyone but me so will have a nice coffee afterwards I think. The come home and ifnish the renovations lol.

ooooh hun im sorry!!!!! didn't mean to scare you with OBEM!!!!

Nair isn't strong enough for me, I have very dark coarse curly head hair, which grows rather fast, so you can imagine (not that you'd want to ) what the rest of my hair is like, so only a razor will do!!!! Might use your mirror idea though......

missymoo81

oooh question, I remember someone (pigpen I think) saying that they dont bath the baby at the hospital anymore, is this still true if you are in for a couple of days? Its just my case is a bit on the heavy side and I'm trying to thin it down a bit, so not taking a baby towel would help, and do you think I need 2 blankets, what about bibs if I'm breast feeding or burping clothes?

lovecrafting

you wont need blankets apart from one for the carseat. baby towel i never took in because i always used theres. bibs i did use, dont take baby toiletries because they all come in your bounty pack, its really hot on the ward so you only really need one cardigan for bringing baby home. i think (its been 4.5 yrs tho) that you get wipes in the bounty pack. what else do you have in there?

Blue_Monkey

Kira000 wrote: »

Well, just reading some blurb from the CD boxes. interesting factoids on results of clinical studies on effects of hypnotherapy on labour outcomes coming ladies!!
1) First time mothers- studies showed reduction in labour from 9.3 hours to 6.4 hours, and for second time+ mothers from 6.2 to 5.3 hours.
Also reported were:
a reduction in medical interventions inc ventouse and forceps- 84-99% reported spontaneous non surgical deliveries
a reduced C-section rate with reported rate being 5-8 % (for reference, i think my (good) hospital is running at about 20%)
reduced requirement for anaethesia-55-79% births reported as non medicated births.

Now.. i know all about lies, damn lies and statistics, but even so, i'm certainly thinking that its worth a shot to get a teensy bit of that!

Kira - I recently finished a hypnobirthing course (Marie Mongan method) and found it really interesting and am looking forward to giving it a go. It basically consists of relaxing so that endorphins, which are natural painkillers, are released and pumped around your body. As soon as you get scared or tense, your body goes into fight mode which encourages adrenaline instead - which takes blood and oxygen away from the parts that use them. And it's apparently impossible to have endorphins and adrenaline pumping at the same time... My book mentioned that sometimes, women rushed in for emergency c-sections are seen to have uteruses which are practically all white - which means the blood has drained away, whereas what is actually needed is more blood in the uterus to let its do its job properly. A healthy uterus should be pink and juicy, apparently.

What with the house move, I've not been great with practising, but plan to get right into it from this coming weekend. I can see how it would work, but I think it will take a lot of practice and hard work to really reap the benefits....

Good luck with it all!

Kira000

Blue_Monkey wrote: »

Kira - I recently finished a hypnobirthing course (Marie Mongan method) and found it really interesting and am looking forward to giving it a go. It basically consists of relaxing so that endorphins, which are natural painkillers, are released and pumped around your body. As soon as you get scared or tense, your body goes into fight mode which encourages adrenaline instead - which takes blood and oxygen away from the parts that use them. And it's apparently impossible to have endorphins and adrenaline pumping at the same time... My book mentioned that sometimes, women rushed in for emergency c-sections are seen to have uteruses which are practically all white - which means the blood has drained away, whereas what is actually needed is more blood in the uterus to let its do its job properly. A healthy uterus should be pink and juicy, apparently.

Good luck with it all!

Just reading the main booklet that came with the set, and it talks about much the same thing- flight or flight, and that by being scared, your muscles tense which means the labour hormones have a harder job to do to dilate the cervix, which makes it longer and more painful, even that our western fear of labour and the pain/tearing, could be linked to the increased rates of inductions due to "going over". Basically that the "fight or flight" inhibits labour as we are giving ourselves the signal that it is not safe to give birth- other mammals have been proven to be able to start labour to give birth when they feel safe, and stop again if threatened, and that we are doing the same unconciously. May sound daft, but i can see the logic!
Good luck with your practicing too!

Blue_Monkey

Kira000 wrote: »

Just reading the main booklet that came with the set, and it talks about much the same thing- flight or flight, and that by being scared, your muscles tense which means the labour hormones have a harder job to do to dilate the cervix, which makes it longer and more painful, even that our western fear of labour and the pain/tearing, could be linked to the increased rates of inductions due to "going over". Basically that the "fight or flight" inhibits labour as we are giving ourselves the signal that it is not safe to give birth- other mammals have been proven to be able to start labour to give birth when they feel safe, and stop again if threatened, and that we are doing the same unconciously. May sound daft, but i can see the logic!
Good luck with your practicing too!

So that's why, for me, being at home in a cosy room in a warm pool is the way forward - rather than strapped to a bed with blaring white lights, medical equipment and being on someone else's timescales. I just hope I can have the home/water birth I want, but the course also teaches you to go with the flow if you can't get what you want.

I think I'll refuse internals during labour too... The only point to them, from what I can see, is that they put you on the midwife's standard timing of dilating at 1cm per hour... If there is no medical implication I don't care how long it takes - my body hasn't read those guidelines about 1cm per hour, and surely everyone is different!!

I don't always talk about hypnobirthing as I feel it has the potential to be quite controversial, but I deffo feel empowered by it. But we do live in an over-medicalised world at the mo, particularly where birth and labour are concerned. From a very early age we're taught that it's painful and scary and hard and horrid... and hypnobirthing looks to contradict some of those myths....

The proof will definitely be in the pudding I guess!

Blue_Monkey

Oh and apparently, even midwives are now trained not to tell people to push using the old style "purple pushing" method... To see what I mean, try not pushing when going for a number 2 next... Just let it happen, no straining. In fact smiling relaxes the jaw which is directly linked to that area, so smiling can apparently help that natural expulsion reflex