MSE Pregnancy Club 25

Rups32

good luck snowbean. Will be thinking of you. i cant say stay calm because i was a mess, but you will be fine. I had to keep breathing in and out deeply. lol xx

toni_

good luck dizsie, a water birth is all that ive ever wanted too after hearing loads of good feedback about them ive been praying for a straight forward pregnancy and so far so good

good luck for the driving test snowbean, like rups said, lots of deep breathing i know its really hard not to get worked up about it but really try to stay calm and you'll be fine hun

Rups32

oooh yes my questions please? lol

1. i would love a water birth. how do i go about 'arranging' it?
2. how does one arrange hospital tours as want to see the birth centre/labour ward?
3. when does one start a birth plan and where do you get this 'birth plan' from?

Thanks ladies. i kept thinking about it but kept forgetting to ask. x

toni_

rups my midwife asked me at my first appointment with her at 8 weeks where and how i wanted to give birth! abit early i thought lol but just speak to your midwife about it, do you know how many birth pools your hospital has? mine has 3 so the midwife thinks i have a very good chance of being able to use one i just have to tell the hospital when im in labour i want to use a birth pool and they will get it ready for me

we never got a chance to tour round the hospital which would of been nice because everytime i go up there i get lost! some offer this service and some dont, we got to see a dvd showing what it looked like instead.

And as for your birth plan its entirely up to you if you write one or not, ive just noted down a few things that i would like about pain relief etc, if you search around the web theres sites that will tell you the sort of things you can write down

sexymouse

Rups32 wrote: »

oooh yes my questions please? lol

1. i would love a water birth. how do i go about 'arranging' it?
2. how does one arrange hospital tours as want to see the birth centre/labour ward?
3. when does one start a birth plan and where do you get this 'birth plan' from?

Thanks ladies. i kept thinking about it but kept forgetting to ask. x

Rups all of these questions are things that your midwife will be able to tell you about, as it depends on lots of things eg your risk factors, whether your hospitals have the facilities for water birth etc. The birth plan may be something in your hospital notes folder (it was in mine, but I chose to print out the birth plan from the NHS choices website - it's 10 pages long though). The birth plan then needs to be discussed with your midwife at the 34 week appointment I believe, although mine was discussed at 36 weeks as she didn't have time at the previous appointment. She signed sections of mine and put a few notes of her own on them too to show that each point had been discussed. In our area, hospital tours can be booked by going on the local area NHS trust and then going through the maternity section there.

dizsiebubba

Rups32 wrote: »

oooh yes my questions please? lol

1. i would love a water birth. how do i go about 'arranging' it?

Ok so at my hospital (East Surrey) and I believe its the same with Mayday too (so friends have told me) that when you turn up, if you are 5cm+ dilated and a pool/bath is available you can use it if you are low risk. They are not something you can pre-book because obviously you don't know when you will be due! You have to be 5cm dilated because water naturally slows labour down

2. how does one arrange hospital tours as want to see the birth centre/labour ward?

In my pink notes there is a phone number that specifically says 'book tours' and you just call them, say when you are due and go along on the date they give you.

3. when does one start a birth plan and where do you get this 'birth plan' from?

I was advised not to bother really, 1st timers never really go to plan and unless there is something you specifically do not want (which you can write in your notes) why bother? Discuss thoroughly with your OH what you would like and don't want so he can make sure that the hospital try to take this into consideration.

Thanks ladies. i kept thinking about it but kept forgetting to ask. x

Hopefully that helps! Are you going to your NHS antenatal class? Mine was really good and nobody there was 'undesirable' as I was advised they might be...

Rups32

OMG the birth plan is discussed so late? thought by the beg of the 3rd trimester at least!!! hmm ok. i see her next week for my 28 week appointment (even though i will be 27 weeks) so will ask then. i think my mum said to ring the hospital and book a tour. i know they have birth pools. how many etc i dont know. will check it out. to be able to use the birth pool, are you supposed to do any i dont know prep work? i do nothing at the mo. still havent been for a swim as am just shattered. thanks though and will ask her.:)

i have no clue about pain reliefs etc so will have to look around.

Rups32

thanks dizsiebubba!! Will not bother so much then. as long as DH knows what i want. to him already, he wants the quickest way out for me and i said sometimes that doesnt happen. i will have to tell him because i know he will deal with it there and tell them off if need be. i am just not sure what i want or dont want in terms of pain relief. its weird trying to plan it as anything other than what youhave planned may happen. will do my research and let him know lol.

can ring the labour ward and ask about tours.:) thanks so much hon

sexymouse

No prep work needed for the water birth Rups - one thing I wasn't aware of though was that if you have a temperature when you get to the hospital and are in established labour (my friend had one despite feeling perfectly ok and hadn't even realised she had one), you won't be allowed a water birth - not sure why but I guess it's to do with regulating yours and baby's temp.

Do I recall you saying you're going to go to NCT classes? You may want to wait until you've covered pain relief, induction etc at those before writing your birth plan as that way you can make more informed decisions on what you'd like. They certainly made my choices much clearer for me.

toni_

You might want to read up abit more on pain relief, my nhs antenatal class was really good for this because if you do choose a water birth the only pain relief you can have is gas and air, I think that puts a few people off using them