*Baby Corner*

[Revenesque 2]

@ Marina: Good advice in there. C-section for no good reason was my nightmare so I read a lot about it. Having a doula and midwife helps greatly! Just yesterday I was at the doc's office and had to wait forever so I read magazines. Fit Pregnancy had a good article about the tremendously high section rate in the US... One obgyn actually mentioned how today's obgyn attend very little vaginal births and just don't know how to deliver a baby normally, but know how to perform a csection. They said the knowledge is lost... That made me shiver, yikes! Friends of mine in Montana travel to nearby states for VBACS cause Montana outlaws it! Crazy! A woman should be able to get the birth she wants, whether it's natural, an epidural, with a midwife, at home, at the hospital, an elective csection - there should be no laws prohibiting one or the other!!! Ohh my pet peeve.

re: state outlawing VBACs, that's crazy! Why is there such a push to get the C-section?...expediency?

[JVKn'CVO 11]

I'm the article girl I guess. Found another article I thought you guys might be interested in!!!

CNN article about getting the birth you want

Great article This is also known under the Bradley Method as "Bring your B.R.A.I.N."

What are the Benefits?

What are the Risks?

What are the Alternatives?

What If we waited?

What If we did Nothing?

(I know, the I is kind of patched on, but hey, I can still remember the acronym )

However, for us it went something like this

Caro - Doctor, are there any alternatives?

Doctor (gives me a "geez, here we go" look): what Alternatives? a baby is either born vaginally or by csection, and your baby is obviously not coming out vaginally

Saludos,

Caro

[Anna C. 4]

@ chnst: Well my oldest sister was like Ben, and my other sister (they have 2 year age gap) was the easiest baby ever. She was just like feed me and lemme sleep... Maybe Ben's sibling will be like that??? I mean you never know, but that story was supposed to get your hopes up!

@ Evi: Yeah for Adam's German. Jona doesn't talk really, but he understands a lot, and slightly more German than English cause he's mostly with me. Poor friend of yours - I bet she had no or only little support! Low birthweight though for a 41 weeker!

@ Raven: From what I have read, it all started cause of lawsuits. But now they are down, and sort of the knowledge is lost, docs are still scared like crazy of lawsuits, malpractice insurance is super high and some of them say they won't cover professionals who do VBACS... It's quite a cycle and really sad! A section is so much more expensive than a regular birth, you might think insurance companies would want to lower rates - but the fear of lawsuits is tremendously high. And there are really those cliche docs who want to be back at the gold course - it's not the majority, but they are there... You should rent the business of being born. Best thing you can do is to find out what you want and find a provider who goes along and be adamant about your wishes. Of course there always can be circumstances that make your ideal birth impossible - I'm talking though about the best case scenario For me it mostly worked out the way I wanted, I would hire a doula though next time, cause my hubbie most certainly was too out of it to advocate properly for me.

[Revenesque 2]

@ Raven: From what I have read, it all started cause of lawsuits. But now they are down, and sort of the knowledge is lost, docs are still scared like crazy of lawsuits, malpractice insurance is super high and some of them say they won't cover professionals who do VBACS... It's quite a cycle and really sad! A section is so much more expensive than a regular birth, you might think insurance companies would want to lower rates - but the fear of lawsuits is tremendously high. And there are really those cliche docs who want to be back at the gold course - it's not the majority, but they are there... You should rent the business of being born. Best thing you can do is to find out what you want and find a provider who goes along and be adamant about your wishes. Of course there always can be circumstances that make your ideal birth impossible - I'm talking though about the best case scenario For me it mostly worked out the way I wanted, I would hire a doula though next time, cause my hubbie most certainly was too out of it to advocate properly for me.

That's just sad the reason is due to litiguous concerns, although understandable. I'm planning to birth in Canada, under the universal health care. However, doulas are not covered under it so they charge $500-600 to attend a birth. I'm undecided yet whether they are worth it.

[Anna C. 4]

Wow... I know doulas starting at $300, but I think they are worth it... It's just my experience - if I had had someone next to me saying: hey they want to give you pit for stronger contractions to push baby out, I would have been like NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. Hubbie just nodded and was fine with it, even though he knew I didn't want it. It's like he is that little sheeple when a doctor says something... Once I saw pit up my IV, I pushed like nobody's business to get him out ASAP whcih worked in under 5 minutes (I had pushed for 150 minutes already)... Point is, a doula is not emotionally affected and can in that way support you better.

[Eveline 9]

My OB told me flat out that he will let me VBAC IF there are signs or oncoming labor like dilation and effacement or even contractions but he won't let me go any longer than 40 weeks since he's scared of being sued in case I should have a uterine rupture.

@Anna: That little baby girl wasn't very big and my friend was supposed to be induced the Monday after the little girl was born because US showed that she was very little. She went into labor the day before induction. Mom isn't big and neither is dad. I was only 2900gr myself and I was born on my edd.

@Chnst: I hope for you that you will have a laid back baby that just sits there and wants to be fed and put to bed. Mine both were like that as babies. I consider myself very lucky, I can't imagine how it would be dealing with a child that won't sleep. I admire you for being able to pull through with school, being a wife, mom etc...that's hard work.

[Revenesque 2]

Wow... I know doulas starting at $300, but I think they are worth it... It's just my experience - if I had had someone next to me saying: hey they want to give you pit for stronger contractions to push baby out, I would have been like NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. Hubbie just nodded and was fine with it, even though he knew I didn't want it. It's like he is that little sheeple when a doctor says something... Once I saw pit up my IV, I pushed like nobody's business to get him out ASAP whcih worked in under 5 minutes (I had pushed for 150 minutes already)... Point is, a doula is not emotionally affected and can in that way support you better.

Doulas at $300 is OK, but I'm bawking at $600. I'll check if it's covered under my employer extended health benefits.

Speaking of costs, I'm also thinking about prenatal classes and whether there's value. Anyone here attended prenatal classes and recommend it? What's your experience?

[Vi Mazzella 4]

Sofia woke up last night from 2am-5am, I keep saying is the teething but to be honest she doesn't wake up in pain, to me seems that she wants to play. I'm on top of her naps during the day, so cannot be that she is sleeping to long during the day. Every day I just put her to sleep around 9.30pm praying that she will sleep during the night. I mentioned it to my doctor yesterday and he says thta I should keep her in the bedroom with us, light off 'cause if I bring her to living room and lether play I will estimulate her to stay awake. The bad thing is that if I keep her on bed she likes to climb daddy pull his hair,pinch him, use him as a drum,hit him, hahahaha it's funny but at the same time I feel bad for hm 'cause he has to go back to work the next day,sorry daddy!

[Autumnchik 6]

Congrats to the mommys-to-be!!!

Ravenesque - Our experience was that hubby and I went to prenatal classes and enjoyed them. They were free here, offered through our local hospital. I've had friends in other areas tell me that they did not enjoy their prenatal classes though ... probably depends on each person's preferences and the quality of the instructor.

[Team J and B 2]

Ravenesque - we took a prenatal class (my husband and myself) and it was three classes on three different Saturdays: Preparing for Baby, Breastfeeding, and Something Else.

Not worth it, imo. My husband said seriously, all that stuff could be found online. I didn't believe him I wanted to go to a classroom setting and have hands on learning experience. What a huge waste of $300.

I wouldn't recommend it because you get all the information from books and from the nurses at the hospital. I don't want to sound insensitive, but I think motherhood is instinctive. When you have the baby, you just know what to do. Everything else can be looked up online.

And speaking of birthing, I think it's true some doctors just don't want to spend that much time down there with a V-birth! My doctor (gay male - not that it matters) spent 3.5 hours getting me to push. I swear he walked away a few times to bang his head against the wall! No, he didn't, but by 6 PM I saw his face and he don't look happy so I said fark it, and pushed hard and Monkey came out.

I got to admit, I was too posh to push. I thought I'd be ok with pushing and would throw my modesty out the window, but I surprised myself. My husband was down there with one nurse and both of them were telling me to push and I said I'm pushing! But they both said no, you're doing little girl pushes. I felt something come out once (maybe a bit of *ahem* wet gas) and I totally freaked.

Oh yeah, the last half hour of pushing, my doctor had a bowl of olive oil. I saw him dip his hand in that bowl and in my vajayjay his hand went. I'm a small girl, what can I say.

[Nessa 23]

@ Raven: Never, lol, unless you have a condition that contraindicates it, like preterm labor.

Really? What about during the third trimester when the baby's head is in the pelvis? He and I are worried the thrusting might hurt the baby's head?

i agree with all the previous answers. You know what you can do? Avoid the question just in case a few months from now u dont wanna do it u can tell him you are not supposed to TMI

but if you're any like me you'll be wanting all the time, my hormones were crazy when i was pregnant, good crazy lol.

[Nessa 23]

I wouldn't recommend it because you get all the information from books and from the nurses at the hospital. I don't want to sound insensitive, but I think motherhood is instinctive. When you have the baby, you just know what to do. Everything else can be looked up online.

i agree. you'll be amazed how instinctive being a mom is. you'll know exactly what to do most of the time, it comes naturally. and IMO those classes are a waste of time because don't u watch tv? how many times have you seen women giving birth and how they're supposed to breathe lol in the hospital a nurse will explain to you how nursing works. do you have any books? if not, get ''what to expect when you're expecting'' for the pregnancy and Dr. Sears' ''the baby book'' for when the baby comes. the rest, internet is your friend.

[Anna C. 4]

We didn't go to classes, I got my info online and from books and passed it on to hubbie... I think some hospitals offer free classes, then there are Bradley or Hypnobirthing classes which might be worth it, but I didn't want spend money....

[Staashi 371]

You know, my doc wanted me to have a natural delivery w/ epi should I want it...which I did. E went into severe fetal distress and that was that. I will say this though, c-sections aren't bad as long as you get your butt out of bed the next day. You don't do that and start moving, you'll hate life.

[Nessa 23]

girls, diaper, he's moving a lot and sometimes the poop goes up to his back. which huggies is better, snug&dry or little movers?