VBAC UC herbs for "helping things along" - Page 3

[accountclosed3]

instead of going upside down, the stretches that i gave you can hammock the baby and draw her out of the pelvis a bit to take off some pressure.

also, if you can sit on the floor, put a number of pillows down and arch over them--use sturdy sofa cushions as the base). just allowing your back to curve can help a lot too with sciatica and other pressures.

it's a funny thing, but as a spiritual person, i find that mantras dispell bordom. any long series of prayers can do. it's why i like the rosary so much, stations of the cross too (i was raised catholic), and novenas. it's just a great way to get focused in when i'm feeling bored. now, i do buddhist and hindu mantras mostly, but a friend of mine uses the psalms. she recites all of the pslams and then returns to the begining and does it again and again. jesus did it on the cross, so why not?

anyway, just an idea.

[fyrebloom]

If you got bubs out from LOT you're probably in MUCH better shape. No need to get upside down if it makes you feel crappy, just rest. Rebozo baby sifting feels really good and relaxes the muscles and gets the pressure off you, just stay on all fours and that's probably good enough. Warm baths and relaxation are best, just try to stay as comfortable as possible through all this and it will help. I kept meddling with my first and it just made me SOOO uncomfortable! I also had SPD with my son and it just felt like someone was bashing me in the pubic bone with every contraction! If you have a birth ball, that REALLY helped me with the spd. I posted on that thing for weeks .

The stress of having your parents here might be holding things back, and perhaps as soon as they leave you'll just breath a sigh of relief and relax into labor. With my twins I was probably in labor but my twin a was breech (kinda transverse) so she wasn't engaged AT ALL and even after contracting every 2 min for a min each for 8 FREAKING HOURS I never dilated or effaced. Even when I went in for my section, I was contracting every 3 min and the MW was saying "you're in labor and basically they couldn't make me contract better even with augmentation! I had about a week of labor like that, and the prodromal labor was 2 weeks before that. Pits I tell you. I'm so dreading going through that again, I really hope I don't again but i'm not holding my breath. The good news is it's not forever and it WILL end, it's just SOOO hard to go through.

[TzippityDoulah]

yes you are right that meddling too much can make you crazy! (and tired!) haha I never did that with my other pregnancies... but after the 3 week prodromal thing I started meddling! ha

Yes I did the rebozo sift thing and it actually didn't feel good to me at all b/c I always feel pukey when anything touches my stomache, but it did lift baby out and help turn a little. the baby keeps sitting slightly to the right... but it's better than before. I can't prove the head isn't asynclitic of course, but up and down wise, and occipit positioning seem good as far as I can tell. this abby so feels like it's trying to push it's way right outta my cervix lately! just pushing so hard it feels like surely it will cause me to dilate from the pushing alone, but so far I'm about the same.

my contrax taper off if I stay sitting only. as soon as i get moving I'm having them regularly again... and painfully! it's like 0-7. nothing when I'm sitting and HURTING after doing anything. I think most of it is my pelvis though. but the chiro can't seel to keep it alligned. I think the SPD is just making it hard to keep alligned for more thna couple of hours. (plus that wonderful relaxin!)

another thing I realize... even if I sit even to pee the baby puts SO much pressure on my pelvis that it feels like my but bone is breaking! both sides... shoot pain that makes me actually nauseous b/c it comes on so sudden and quick. (I promise I'm not a total baby - it actually is that painful!) it hurt so bad when I pushed my daughter out b/c I fractured my tailbone on the right side b/c of the same thing. I do NOT want to fracture agian. it hurt worse them the "ring of fire" and labour all together, by far! so I'm trying to come up with ways to be in the "pushing" stage that will put less pressure on my perinium and butt... I'm think hands and knees might work best. squatting is clearly NOT for me! OUCH! I can't even do it right now without feeling like I will pass out.

any ideas on this? has anyone else has experience with pushign with SPD/sciatica?

[TzippityDoulah]

p.s. I'm a little less irritable today (sorta). yesterday I felt liek crawling the walls!!! I'm still a little on edge... but atleast I don't feel like hiding in the closet the whole day like I did yesterday. (ok maybe a little... but I'm trying to be positive here since all I do lately is complain haha!)

[fyrebloom]

Originally Posted by HennyPenny

another thing I realize... even if I sit even to pee the baby puts SO much pressure on my pelvis that it feels like my but bone is breaking! both sides... shoot pain that makes me actually nauseous b/c it comes on so sudden and quick. (I promise I'm not a total baby - it actually is that painful!) it hurt so bad when I pushed my daughter out b/c I fractured my tailbone on the right side b/c of the same thing. I do NOT want to fracture agian. it hurt worse them the "ring of fire" and labour all together, by far! so I'm trying to come up with ways to be in the "pushing" stage that will put less pressure on my perinium and butt... I'm think hands and knees might work best. squatting is clearly NOT for me! OUCH! I can't even do it right now without feeling like I will pass out.

I'm no help, I got an epidual last time that happened to me. But yeah you are no baby, that is NOT normal labor pain, that is the most horrible pain imaginable!

This page might be more useful
http://www.plus-size-pregnancy.org/pubicpain.htm
http://www.plus-size-pregnancy.org/malpositions.htm

It's written for plus sized moms but the date holds true for smaller moms with the same issues.

[TzippityDoulah]

thanks, I will look into those links

They don't have epidurals for delivery so I don't think I have that option here hehe

[TzippityDoulah]

Originally Posted by fyrebloom

I'm no help, I got an epidual last time that happened to me. But yeah you are no baby, that is NOT normal labor pain, that is the most horrible pain imaginable!

This page might be more useful
http://www.plus-size-pregnancy.org/pubicpain.htm
http://www.plus-size-pregnancy.org/malpositions.htm

It's written for plus sized moms but the date holds true for smaller moms with the same issues.

oh my goodness! that is EXACTLY what I was looking for!! thank you for the links.

Last night I was telling my husband how badly it even hurt to sit and pee and that I was becoming very aware I needed to be very careful how I birthed this baby. I was saying I suspecting hands and knees will likely be my best position (it seems the most comfortable as of now - pubic wise). I told him today I was going to look up to see if this made sense. looks like my my intuition was right!

seriously so many things make sense now. I knew i had SPD (even though nobody diagnosed me with it officially). With my 2nd birth (first vaginal) I had this same terrible pubic pain (though for a lesser amount of time) and I ended up fracturing my tailbone during the birth. it was EXCRUCIATING. so much worse than the crowning or labour. I kpet trying to say it hurt and they were like "duh, you're having a baby". I tried explaining it was my butt bone and butt cheek that hurt, not the baby. but I couldn't hardly get the words out b/c it hurt so badly. it felt like I was being torn in half. (that pain where you can hardly speak!) anyhow for weeks and weeks I was in pain and my tailbone area has never been the same since. I haven't been able to stand or walk right sense. and ride a bike? I gave up on that long ago!

I'm reading all this info you sent me and it occurs to me - I bet I didn't fracture the tailbone ) I bet I tore the ligaments in my pelvis above my butt. I have such fear of that pain again - it was just terrible. nothing like giving birth. no magical endorphins - just pain. I wanted to sit up but they made me lie on my back and it was agony.

NEVER AGAIN! this was a big part of why I looked into natural birth nearly 4 yrs ago for the first time.

anyhow somehow this makes me feel so much better. I was starting to feel crazy for being in such pain all of the time. like all I do is complain. all my friends are tired of being pregnant by 39 weeks - maybe feeling fat and swollen or whatever. but I fel like my whole body is just falling apart and i can hardly walk to the bathroom with out wincing. grocery shopping? it's a joke! I have to struggle not to cry. I was starting to feel ashamed at my lack of ability to do anything. that maybe I was being a big baby and needed to get over it. but, this article made me feel so much better and gave me some good ideas.

thanks, again!

[fyrebloom]

What can happen with birth is the sacrum and coccyx are usually fused, but if you have a baby with a poor presentation they can "break" the connections between the bones there. VERY VERY painful, but not a true break. Have your Chiro look at that, they can usually help that alot! My DS had an acynclic decent and was ROT. It was painful when I was getting pumped full of pitocin, but once my water broke it was unbearable... and I was only 2cm. The pain was so severe that I couldn't relax enough to dilate and I ended up needing an epidural. Once I stopped fighting the pain, I went from 2-10 in about an hour or two. It was the worse pain ever, so you are totally not being a baby! I think if you can resolve the SPD you may very well be able to release the baby. I'm sorry you are having this. It's MISEREABLE!

[TzippityDoulah]

I've been goign to the chiro for it... but I think maybe it's progressed do far that it isn't helping as much as if I had treatment pre-pregnancy. It helps for a day... but it's back to the same pain after that.

So I'm trying to just ease the pain and do what I can to get baby into position and stay into position.

[TzippityDoulah]

p.s. I totally understand the epidural! I had one with my last kid and it didn't cover the pain of the "break" whatsoever! it was unreal pain. I have a hard time even remembering the labouring/birthing pains!

[Talula Fairie]

Originally Posted by HennyPenny

p.s. I totally understand the epidural! I had one with my last kid and it didn't cover the pain of the "break" whatsoever! it was unreal pain. I have a hard time even remembering the labouring/birthing pains!

I didn't have SPD, but I also had an epidural and once, in my first labor (after PROM and +1/2 station on my not yet open all the way cervix the entire labor), it didn't take away all the pain. I was not prepared for that! I was filled with stories of "I could barely feel anything at all" so I was pretty shocked when I realized I could still feel the cathader and pain in my cervix/vaj.

[TzippityDoulah]

Talula,

yeah sadly that's pretty common. I found that out the hard way. 4.5 yrs ago I had an epidural that gave pretty good relief. and then 1.5 hrs later it was gone. NO relief. o nothing... and just intime for pushing. took me by surprised b/c I wasn't natural minded at all at this point (a lot has changed!) It's also when I had that bad experience with my tailbone/spd that I was just tlaking about. I coulda used an epidural for THAT! nobody belived i could feel everything - so right after i delivered (and was swewn for a nasty tear) I jumped up and went ot ha bathroom by myself. and the nurses says "oh I guess you could feel!" umm.. DUH!

anyhow yeah Ia lways warned epidural wanted clients that there is NO guarantee it will totally numb your OR stay that way for any length of time.

to me I'd rather be able to move ANY day than be strapped down with an epidural

[Talula Fairie]

I was going to say, yeah, the worst thing about the epi not working is that you're then stuck on the monitor unable/not allowed to move. That's far worse than natural birth where you can move around!

[accountclosed3]

i gave birth on hands and knees. in fact, i did camel pose, hands and knees--move forward, push back.

it felt great. and i screamed a different sound for each movement.

i didn't break anything, and i didn't have prodomol labor either. but i think your body is just prepping. so's that baby.

i hope it goes fab. i'm also glad it will happen after family has left. i couldn't imagine!

[AngelBee]

Checking in on you

[Talula Fairie]

Yeah, how are you doing today, Laura? Let us know so I can stop stalking -er, checking on- you

[TzippityDoulah]

thanks for asking

well... I took a heavy dose of probiotics... and that got um things moving along in the um... bowel dept (TMI) so in that way I'm feeling a heck of a lot better! most of this week that's been a bother for me... like I needed that in addition! ugh. so I'm glad that is dealt with.

I've still had on and off strong contractions but nothing labour-like. nothing consistant in 2 days.

I had 13 hrs straight two days ago on consistant hard contractions and that was very wearing on me emotionally and physically. But I was in a better spot b/c I've kinda gotten use to this prodromal thing. I don't like it - but my body is kinda realizing "this may not end in a birth just yet... or it may!" just took a while for my old body to catch on I guess! but all the contractionsI do have now are a lot stronger, just not consistant, even since the 13 hrs really strong contraction episode. (seriously they were strong. I told husband I am glad to be home b/c if I were in a hospital I would taken the epidural! lol! I like not even thinking about that option though... so much better to be free to roam)

I'm still pretty sore in the pelvis but I have come to the conclusion nothing is going to help but deliverying this baby. so I'm just waiting very eagerly! I can't walk much... I can't stand for more than a few minutes. but I'm trying to remember as soon as baby is out I can begin mending it. I look fwd to that!

I've decided not to take any attemps at "helping things along" for atleast a week. I gave it a go, it didn't work so to me that means my body and the abby aren't ready. I ams till worried about liver problems and what not, but a forced induction on a baby that isn't ready isn't going to help with my liver... or their's! so I mixed that idea. I don't feel comfortable trying anyting else for the time being aside from that CO I used. the herbs worry me b/c of my VBAC...

thank you everyone for checking on me!! s you all are SO sweet!

How is everyone else doing?

[holyhelianthus]

I just have to thank you all for the SPD talk. I had that pain with my last birth which was just the worse expirence of my life and my MW swore I was just being a big baby about it and didn't know what "real" labor felt like (uh this was my second pain med free birth) : So thanks for that little bit of validation!

[TzippityDoulah]

Originally Posted by magstphil

I just have to thank you all for the SPD talk. I had that pain with my last birth which was just the worse expirence of my life and my MW swore I was just being a big baby about it and didn't know what "real" labor felt like (uh this was my second pain med free birth) : So thanks for that little bit of validation!

oh that's terrible! - esp from a midwife!

My last OB poo pooed everything too. they told em there ws nothing they could do - sciatica was just part of being pregnant etc... but it made me feel like the most pathetic person. and then nobody understood why I was complaining about my butt hurting so badly during and after the birth... from the torn ligaments I would guess! ugh. it really hurts! It wasn't until this birth I started realizing what it was really... and you're right - it's good to finally be validated!

[accountclosed3]

it's always frustrating to have a backseat driver.

i mean, anyone outside of your body cannot feel what is in your body to tell you whether or not it is "real."

so annoying! (i'm so guilty of doing that too. LOL i'm working on it!).