Chat Thread ~ Feb 10th - 16th

[andrea020611]

Yikes!!! That is super scary, I can't even imagine how startled I would be if someone came into my house at 2:30am. I hope she didn't hurt anyone while she was driving around, that's so awful.

We had a birthday party for DD yesterday, she just turned 2 (where does the time go?!). We did a Mickey Mouse theme and had 5 toddlers come over to play. She had such a good time, and a bunch of helium balloons one of the guests brought was the hit of the party.

I'll hit 30 weeks on Tuesday, I feel like time is starting to move a bit faster now. I'm counting down to my last day of work (March 28) then I'll start counting down to my due date, but 10 weeks still feels REALLY far away.

[USNsis]

I'm at 30 weeks today! DH is just ready for baby already, but don't feel ready at all, in terms of what I need to accomplish at work prior to baby's arrival, as well as things/projects in my home that I'd like to get done first.

[canadianbakers]

Originally Posted by mommy2wyatt So we had the scariest night.

I sure hope the sherrif found her, took away her license, and charged her with DUI! Gosh.
That would totally freak me out. Not sure what I'd do... but I'd be completely freaked out.
We don't lock our house doors during the day, but do at night when we go to bed. We never lock our car doors at home.

Originally Posted by momneedssupport Had a lil emotional meltdown after church at my mother. She was the straw that broke the camels back. I feel better, but nothing was solved.

Originally Posted by mibarra Excited for my baby shower at work Tuesday

Can't wait to hear about it!

Originally Posted by andrea020611 We had a birthday party for DD yesterday, she just turned 2 (where does the time go?!). We did a Mickey Mouse theme and had 5 toddlers come over to play. She had such a good time, and a bunch of helium balloons one of the guests brought was the hit of the party. I'll hit 30 weeks on Tuesday, I feel like time is starting to move a bit faster now. I'm counting down to my last day of work (March 28) then I'll start counting down to my due date, but 10 weeks still feels REALLY far away.

Helium balloons are always a hit with 2 year olds

Promise you - 10 weeks feels far way, but it's really not!!

Originally Posted by USNsis I'm at 30 weeks today! DH is just ready for baby already, but don't feel ready at all, in terms of what I need to accomplish at work prior to baby's arrival, as well as things/projects in my home that I'd like to get done first.

Oy, I kwym. There's so much that needs to be done in the house (renovations and bedroom/kid shuffling) before I can even think much about getting things washed and set up for Hiccup... and 9 weeks to do it all in!!

[EmilytheStrange]

Just watched the 'vbac dilemma' portion of 'More Business of Being Born' and am a bit freaked out. DH watched with me and I don't particularly think it helped his confidence level in this decision of mine either.

Doula had us watch it. Basically it's like 'if it goes bad, it'll be catastrophic. But, if it works, you'll feel emotionally charged and healed'. 'also, we tell you all these facts so that you know that you are completely responsible for any possible catastrophies'.

I know the numbers support Vbacs, but that video just scared me more than empower me like I expected.

Baby hasn't been overly active today and I was close to getting checked out l, I was so nervous. But movement has increased a little this evening.

[mibarra]

Originally Posted by EmilytheStrange Just watched the 'vbac dilemma' portion of 'More Business of Being Born' and am a bit freaked out. DH watched with me and I don't particularly think it helped his confidence level in this decision of mine either. Doula had us watch it. Basically it's like 'if it goes bad, it'll be catastrophic. But, if it works, you'll feel emotionally charged and healed'. 'also, we tell you all these facts so that you know that you are completely responsible for any possible catastrophies'. I know the numbers support Vbacs, but that video just scared me more than empower me like I expected. Baby hasn't been overly active today and I was close to getting checked out l, I was so nervous. But movement has increased a little this evening.

Interesting. Maybe my last doc minimized the risks?? He talked about chance of uterine rupture (very small), and explained that could potentially be very bad, but also that they'd monitor me more closely. I guess what I would look at is the chance of something going catastrophicly wrong in VBAC vs. C-section if it's really bothering you. I know I second guessed myself more than once with mine, but I felt at the end like VBAC was the right choice, ya know? I guess for me I feel like there's always a small chance of something going horribly wrong, it's just life.

AFM: This baby is killing me tonight. I feel like I have an "Alien"s monster trying to bust out of my belly!! Although, she's moved from my left to my right and it feels different so FX she's turned

[birdinhand]

Originally Posted by EmilytheStrange Just watched the 'vbac dilemma' portion of 'More Business of Being Born' and am a bit freaked out. DH watched with me and I don't particularly think it helped his confidence level in this decision of mine either. Doula had us watch it. Basically it's like 'if it goes bad, it'll be catastrophic. But, if it works, you'll feel emotionally charged and healed'. 'also, we tell you all these facts so that you know that you are completely responsible for any possible catastrophies'. I know the numbers support Vbacs, but that video just scared me more than empower me like I expected. Baby hasn't been overly active today and I was close to getting checked out l, I was so nervous. But movement has increased a little this evening.

Hi, I am new here . My name is Stacie and I am due with my 4th boy April 10th-ish. I have worked as a doula, childbirth educator, and breastfeeding counselor for 10 years. This will be our first birth at home, and we have found a lovely midwife to help us out. We just moved 6 hours away from "home," and I am glad I found a midwife I clicked with. This was a surprise pregnancy -- my lmp was June 10th, and we were on vacation at the beach when my period was due. Of course while I waited for it to show up, we had unprotected sex. That's whe I got pregnant. I didn't think anyone would believe me, but lo and behold, that early u/s confimed all of that, so the due date I expected and the due date the u/s showed were off by about 2 days.

I quoted the above because VBACs are more safe than not. We used to do VBACs all the time, and we didn't stop because things got catastrophic -- we stopped because liability insurance went up, and ACOG made a statement that a hospital could only offer VBAC if they had dedicated anethesia (24/7) available to their OB units. I have been to many VBACs as a doula, most at the hospital, and some at home. The biggest factor of success with a VBAC is having a practitioner who thinks you CAN VBAC -- studies have shown if a practitioner is on-board and positive and supportive, women have higher rates of VBAC success -- when a practitioner waffles or plants that seed of doubt, a woman's chance of successfully VBACing goes down. You absolutely can do this! I would encourage you to look for more positive VBAC stories and videos. I love Ricki Lake and what she has done for he birth world, but it is hard for me to wrap my mind around her very-strong homebrith agenda; in our country our homebirth rate is about 1% -- we cannot change things by teling women they need to birth at home, to the majority of us that sounds like crazy talk. We need to make hospital births safer and more like home, and start from there.

Okay, my rant is over .

There are lots of VBAC videos on youtube. Also ICAN is a great resource.

I am almost 32 weeks, and I have to say, that 8 weeks still seems like forever...!

[MrsCrafty]

Well my LO has been really active the past 24 hours my belly is all lop sided
I cannot believe only 2 months left!!! I wish I had more left to do. Last night I had DH move the living room furniture around, this week I told him we're doing our bedroom!
Yesterday my Uncle IL came with his tractor and helped us clear our driveway, he said he would be too worried about an expecting woman if he didn't know it was cleared well such a nice guy. And later DH went over everything really well with the truck plow, so hopefully I can get out ok. Me and the kids schools have a 2 hour delay today, and I'm off for the weekend after Wednesday!
Hope everyone has a great Monday!!!

[dagmomma]

Originally Posted by EmilytheStrange Just watched the 'vbac dilemma' portion of 'More Business of Being Born' and am a bit freaked out. DH watched with me and I don't particularly think it helped his confidence level in this decision of mine either. Doula had us watch it. Basically it's like 'if it goes bad, it'll be catastrophic. But, if it works, you'll feel emotionally charged and healed'. 'also, we tell you all these facts so that you know that you are completely responsible for any possible catastrophies'. I know the numbers support Vbacs, but that video just scared me more than empower me like I expected. Baby hasn't been overly active today and I was close to getting checked out l, I was so nervous. But movement has increased a little this evening.

my Dr talked to me aboutmany of those things. But he gave me both the risks of a vbac and c/s so he was very calming about it.

When I was in the hospital and a different Dr was on duty she came in right after my epi and ran through the list of problems there could be--which I knew already and when she left I turned to my nurse and said "she totally just killed my buzz!" The nurse just rubbed my back and said, "I know, you are going to be fine."

It felt good bc I was really in a place that was supposrtive. They have to run down the risks of everything but in the end I stayed open minded, calm, and positive ad I got my VBAC.

[canadianbakers]

Originally Posted by EmilytheStrange Just watched the 'vbac dilemma' portion of 'More Business of Being Born' and am a bit freaked out. DH watched with me and I don't particularly think it helped his confidence level in this decision of mine either. Doula had us watch it. Basically it's like 'if it goes bad, it'll be catastrophic. But, if it works, you'll feel emotionally charged and healed'. 'also, we tell you all these facts so that you know that you are completely responsible for any possible catastrophies'. I know the numbers support Vbacs, but that video just scared me more than empower me like I expected. Baby hasn't been overly active today and I was close to getting checked out l, I was so nervous. But movement has increased a little this evening.

VBAC is not as dangerous and catastrophic as many (most, in the US) Drs make it out to be - and that sounds like how that video leans.
If you like, this is the SOGC (canadian OBs etc.) standards/protocol for VBAC. It's much less scary than that video sounds, lol!

Uterine rupture can be catastrophic, yes. But it truly is not common. And it isn't always catastrophic, either. Just because a VBAC isn't successful does not mean that mom had a rupture - it just means that, for many possible reasons, a c-sec was decided on as needed. Whether that was for failure to progress, fetal distress, etc.

I know how disconcerting baby's quieter days can be - if you look back, you've mentioned them every few days for a few weeks now, so likely it's just baby's normal pattern. Some active days, then a quiet day - possibly it's connected to growth spurts? Like with babies outside the womb, they get a little sleepier when they have a spurt?

Originally Posted by mibarra Maybe my last doc minimized the risks?? He talked about chance of uterine rupture (very small), and explained that could potentially be very bad, but also that they'd monitor me more closely. I guess what I would look at is the chance of something going catastrophicly wrong in VBAC vs. C-section AFM: This baby is killing me tonight. I feel like I have an "Alien"s monster trying to bust out of my belly!! Although, she's moved from my left to my right and it feels different so FX she's turned

That's what a good, VBAC-friendly Dr should discuss, and VBAC's should be recommended to all moms (excluding those with conditions necessitating a c-sec, I mean). A VBAC is safer than a RCS.

I'm still pretty sure that Hiccup is head-down, based on where I feel kicks and hiccups. But I could always be totally wrong, too, lol! He does roll over from side to side, so at times I feel his back on one side and his kicks on the other, then suddenly it's just a bum straight down my belly, then everything turned right over

Originally Posted by birdinhand Hi, I am new here . My name is Stacie and I am due with my 4th boy April 10th-ish. We used to do VBACs all the time, and we didn't stop because things got catastrophic -- we stopped because liability insurance went up, and ACOG made a statement that a hospital could only offer VBAC if they had dedicated anethesia (24/7) available to their OB units. The biggest factor of success with a VBAC is having a practitioner who thinks you CAN VBAC -- studies have shown if a practitioner is on-board and positive and supportive, women have higher rates of VBAC success -- when a practitioner waffles or plants that seed of doubt, a woman's chance of successfully VBACing goes down.

Congrats and welcome!

Totally agree with what you've said about VBACs. I canNOT understand, for the life of me, why the US views/recommendations for VBACs are so different than ours up here. Here, there is no fight to find a Dr that "allows" (OMGoodness, I hate hearing that) VBACs, or to find a hospital that will allow them. If you want one, they are recommended and it is the mom's choice. As it should be.
Some OBs are not as VBAC'friendly as others - I found this out with DS3, having to see a couple different OBs in my final weeks of pregnancy, while waiting for labor to begin on its own. My own OB, however, never questioned my desire for VBAC, never made me feel like he thought it wouldn't happen (whether he did or not, I seriously don't know to this day - and that's how it should be!).

Emily - the bolded is what really bothers me, to be honest. Why in the world would your doula, someone who you are trusting in for complete support of your decisions, recommend watching something that would cast a negative light on your wants and cause you to have doubts? That doesn't make sense to me. I would bring it up and ask her about it, see what her response is. If she's not comfortable herself with VBACs, I would find another doula.

Originally Posted by mommy2wyatt Yesterday my Uncle IL came with his tractor and helped us clear our driveway, he said he would be too worried about an expecting woman if he didn't know it was cleared well

Maybe he's just worried about any more drunk ladies getting "Stuck" in the drive?!!

AFM: SO late, gotta get the kids off to school then get myself and Levi ready for town - OB appt, then I need to find sleds for the kids!

[momneedssupport]

I have no advice on vbacs.....except, i hope everything goes the way you want *hugs*

I dont plan on doing anything, but a load of laundry.

I'll be 33 weeks on wednesday and am feeling the crunch of preparing myself mentally for my first homebirth.