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[Lapinou]

my sympathies are with you Lapinou - ive never been in your boat (pregnant) but it sounds like it can be very uncomfortable!!!

 

(The more I read about pregnancy the more i get put off )

 

Oh it's so worth it, Phonix!!! The first one's tough because you can't see what you'll get at the end, but the later pregnancies are easier to accept because you just know how wonderful and incredible and fantastic the prize is at the end. And it all goes so much faster! I know I was moaning, but this pregnancy, despite having so much more work to do during it, is so much easier to accept and be mellow about than my first.

[theherd123]

This time last year I was throwing up every hour on the hour and the chronic heartburn had already started, despite the fact i was only a few weeks gone!

 

Chronic heartburn - i picked up a litre of Gaviscon from the doctors yesterday and asked for another litre - i can pick it up on Wed!!!

 

Also why is it that ice is so great??!!!

Im constantly hot i feel like a one woman heatwave and ive eaten 4 ice lollies already and its not even 9.30!!!

[MedusA]

My DD very helpfully arrived 3 weeks early to minimise the elephant-bloat of the last month.

 

Hope you have a lovely healthy baby very soon, Clare.

[superjules]

Sorry you're feeling uncomfortable. I remember it well. I really didn't enjoy being pregnant, I had a compressed nerve which affected the sensation in my left leg from about 24 weeks onwards with both of them, so I preferred the labour to the whole pregnancy thing.

 

Are you having a home birth?

[Lapinou]

Are you having a home birth?

 

Definitely - all born at home in water so far and don't intend on changing my plans (although my friends all joke that this baby is my test case and will be born by elective c-section, formula fed from day one and subjected to a strict Truby-King routine ). I have a wonderful NHS midwife who behaves like an independent midwife and I'm looking forward to doing it all again - not the pain, as such, but the power!

[theherd123]

Another person planning a home birth!

 

When i mention to folks im planning a home birth they think i've just dropped from Mars!

[superjules]

Another person planning a home birth!

 

When i mention to folks im planning a home birth they think i've just dropped from Mars!

 

I'm familiar with that response, particularly when I had DS as he was my first.

People seemed to think you had to have a "practice run" in hospital before having a home birth!

 

Don't be discouraged, it's a great experience.

[chickencam]

Having a baby at home is great. I had DS at home and was back in my own bed feeding him an hour after he was born having had a bath in my own bath, and a cuddle with ED who watched a couple of Disney videos and missed the whole thing. OH didn't like it as much, it was a bit quick and he was on tea and door opening duty for the midwives and nearly missed it.

 

Having a midwife you really feel comfortable and confident with is very important though. I went into hospital with YD because it was the middle of the night and the midwife who was looking after me then lived about 20 miles away and had warned me that if it was nightime she wouldn't come and I didn't really have any confidence in her either.

[superjules]

I went into hospital with YD because it was the middle of the night and the midwife who was looking after me then lived about 20 miles away and had warned me that if it was nightime she wouldn't come and I didn't really have any confidence in her either.

 

Surely getting up in the night is par for the course when you're a midwife?!!

[chickencam]

She told me in no uncertain terms that she had a small child herself and couldn't always do night calls inferring that she wasn't prepared to do them at all. I really didn't take to her she wasn't the usually selfless type that do a job like that. YD was born within an hour and a half and we only live 10 minutes away from the hospital so it seemed to make sense just to go in

[Yorkshire Pudding]

I would've loved a home birth but our local midwives weren't able to offer them at all at the time.

 

With my first I had a wonderful midwife who did a Domino delivery and as things turned out it was a good thing I was in hospital (I had very slow labours and very big babies, both times I stopped dilating at 4cm and needed hormone drips to get things going again).

 

Second time I had a hospital delivery as I was threatened with a Caesar, the obstetrician seemed determined to section me as DS2 was possibly up to 12lb in weight. As it turned out he came in just under 10lb, smaller than his brother had been, and shot out the normal exit like a bullet from a gun when we finally got to that part of labour.

 

My aunt is a midwife and a huge supporter of home births having attended thousands of them, but in the last few years her team has been so overstretched that they cannot offer them at all. I find chickencam's midwife's attitude appalling; inspiring confidence is a major part of the midwife's job and it doesn't sound like she did that at all. Aren't they usually part of a team so that if one person isn't on call, another is?

[Krysia]

If you can have a home birth go for it,

 

I am a worrier and planned a water birth (At hospital should anything go wrong) with 1st born but with 2 weeks to go realised he was footling breech (Basically standing up with feet down not bum)

 

I was mortified when I realised I had to have a section (I was told I could try but the problem with footling breech which is the worst of 3 breech positions is the feet start to come out before you are fully dilated and the often have to push it back in then do a section ) But it was ok. I have a beautiful son and I didn't have ay stress or pain or labour (Ok it took time to recover but was no where near as bad as I had anticipated)

 

I now have to decide if i want to try naturally this time (at a greater risk than normal) or have another section, The hospital are trying to persuade me to go natural but if there are more chances of stuff going wrong and they are busy how can they monitor me as closely as they say they will. I would rather do it calmly. I can;t have my water birth because they can;t monitor me properly!

[superjules]

Krysia, I know friends who have gone down the vbac route and would recommend it. I think you have to do what you feel most comfortable with though and don't feel pressurised into something that goes against your gut instinct.

[Lapinou]

I now have to decide if i want to try naturally this time (at a greater risk than normal) or have another section, The hospital are trying to persuade me to go natural but if there are more chances of stuff going wrong and they are busy how can they monitor me as closely as they say they will. I would rather do it calmly. I can;t have my water birth because they can;t monitor me properly!

 

Krysia, there is a yahoo group for mums who've had/are wanting/are researching a vbac: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ukvbachbac where you may find the support and information you need to help you come to the right decision for you. I've never used it so can't vouch for it personally, but I have friends who found it very helpful. Another yahoo group which you may find helpful is http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ukmidwifery - this is comprised of mothers and midwives who are very concerned about evidence based practice and question many, many guidelines using research and (in the case of the midwives) their collective and very extensive experience with natural births. I've used it lots of times for specific queries and always found the answers helpful.

 

HTH

[Looney]

I almost had a home birth, not a planned one, but no-one would believe me that I was ready to go to hospital ("oh, you'll be hours yet") and by the time the midwife decided to examine me I was nearly ready to drop!

 

Due to complications I was rushed to hospital otherwise she would have happily delivered baby at home. Most of the hospital staff suggested that I have a home birth next time as my labour was quick but it is such a long way to the hospital that I might be a bit nervous

 

But, it can't be all that bad. My son is only 4 months old and I can already talk about "next time"!! (perhaps not quite yet though )

[Krysia]

Thanks Lainou! I'll take a look