Who is planning to UP/UC?

[ScarletBegonias]

We are!

this will be our 2nd up/uc. dh is so awesome! i love that we have the same beliefs about pg and birth.

there would only be a few scenarios in which i would hire a mw, for everything or just the birth:

possibly breech, idk, would depend on my intuition at the time
multiple gestation, same as breech
ptl and/or prom, same as breech

there are so many variations of the above that i couldn't say we *would* definitely hire help. we'll cross those bridges if we get to them.

looking forward to hearing your up/uc plans!

[*KaiMom*]

We are't planning and uc but I wanted to show my support to those feel lead to them. I think it is wonderful. It is just a little above my comfort level and I've needed stitches with each of my births so I would rather have a midwife who can do that right after the birth then have to go somewhere and get them later on.

[TopHat]

We're UPing/UCing too! It'll be our second as well! I'm really excited for it!

[jazzybaby9]

up/uc here too!

[ScarletBegonias]

thanks KaiMom!

so we have 3 so far? awesome!

do you mamas do prenatal appts with yourselves or do you keep super in tune with your body and feel it out as you go? or are you somewhere in the middle?

anything you want to do differently this pg/birth?

[Terrilein]

Pardon my ignorance but what's a up or uc???

[ScarletBegonias]

unassisted prenatal care/unassisted birth

here is the mdc forum for uc

www.unassistedchildbirth.com is another great site

so is www.purebirth-australia.com

[TopHat]

I'll probably listen to the heartbeat occasionally on our fetoscope when it gets to that point- mostly because it's fun. And fundal height. I don't know why, but it's fun feeling for my uterus.

I have the urine test strips for protein and glucose (&etc) from the last pregnancy. I used them only when I though something wasn't right- which was only 3 times and each time a diet change fixed the problem. I'll probably handle it that way again.

I might check my BP at the grocery store occasionally if I feel like it. I'm kind of laid back in general and I don't plan on actually writing any notes down. I don't plan on weighing myself at all either- mostly because we don't have a scale.

I've thought about paying a small fee to have a midwife on call just for stitches- no prenatal or postnatal care otherwise, but we're moving in May/June, so I don't know if I'll be able to find one. I plan on researching taking care of tears and preventing them more this time around. Last time, I just figured "Oh- Mother-led pushing doesn't tear so much" and wasn't ready for the fact that when I was finally pushing, I wanted her out so bad I pushed when I didn't have contractions! Oh well, better prepared next time.

I think I'm going to take a Birthing From Within class. We're saving so much money doing a UP/UC that it won't hurt to spend a few hundred on something fun like that.

[Surfacing]

Hey Mamas, not officially UCing here, but it's been on my mind. Dd2's labour was only 3 hrs long and 1 hour of that was spent with me trying NOT to push because we were heading to the hospital (lots of mishaps on the way, broken elevator both in our condo AND at the hospital).

The truth of the matter is, next time I just want a dang HB, none of this travelling nonsense. And if I feel the urge to push (I ROARED this baby out), I just want to go with it. If that means it's all happening before the midwives arrive, then so be it. I don't want to hold back and hold in again if I don't have to.

I have the confidence in my body to birth my baby. I just want to get some more info about what to look for if baby comes super fast and I need to do anything right when he or she is born.

Dh would soil his britches if it happened, he would probably panic or be really scared. I think I'm going to discuss this with my midwives and dh, to get him on the same page. If he doesn't want to catch, that's fine, I suppose.

Lots to learn here.

TopHat A BFW class sounds really great.

ScarletBegonias do you live in the States?

[ScarletBegonias]

Originally Posted by TopHat

I'll probably listen to the heartbeat occasionally on our fetoscope when it gets to that point- mostly because it's fun. And fundal height. I don't know why, but it's fun feeling for my uterus.

I have the urine test strips for protein and glucose (&etc) from the last pregnancy. I used them only when I though something wasn't right- which was only 3 times and each time a diet change fixed the problem. I'll probably handle it that way again.

I might check my BP at the grocery store occasionally if I feel like it. I'm kind of laid back in general and I don't plan on actually writing any notes down. I don't plan on weighing myself at all either- mostly because we don't have a scale.

I've thought about paying a small fee to have a midwife on call just for stitches- no prenatal or postnatal care otherwise, but we're moving in May/June, so I don't know if I'll be able to find one. I plan on researching taking care of tears and preventing them more this time around. Last time, I just figured "Oh- Mother-led pushing doesn't tear so much" and wasn't ready for the fact that when I was finally pushing, I wanted her out so bad I pushed when I didn't have contractions! Oh well, better prepared next time.

I think I'm going to take a Birthing From Within class. We're saving so much money doing a UP/UC that it won't hurt to spend a few hundred on something fun like that.

same here as far as up goes........fundal height every so often just for fun and fetoscope when it feels right. nothin' fancy!

did you have a lot of tearing then?

with dd, my mw's asst forced me to push in a supine psition and i tore badly - up & down - and needed stitches. dd was only 6 lbs 6 oz with a small head, i was pretty pissed at the way the whole end of the birth went.

so we decided to up/uc with ds.

he was 8 lbs 6 oz and had a large head and chest, and i birthed him on all fours with my head down, and NO TEARING!

but i wasn't in a hurry to get him out either. i mean i wanted him out, but my pushing stages only lasted for 20 minutes with both kids, so it's not like i was tired from pushing.

up until a few months ago, i never like BFW, but now, i am in love with it! i've seriously tried to read it a dozen times over the past 8 years, and never liked it. which is ironic, because i paint, sculpt and draw.

i'm getting into it lately!

Originally Posted by Surfacing

Hey Mamas, not officially UCing here, but it's been on my mind. Dd2's labour was only 3 hrs long and 1 hour of that was spent with me trying NOT to push because we were heading to the hospital (lots of mishaps on the way, broken elevator both in our condo AND at the hospital).

The truth of the matter is, next time I just want a dang HB, none of this travelling nonsense. And if I feel the urge to push (I ROARED this baby out), I just want to go with it. If that means it's all happening before the midwives arrive, then so be it. I don't want to hold back and hold in again if I don't have to.

I have the confidence in my body to birth my baby. I just want to get some more info about what to look for if baby comes super fast and I need to do anything right when he or she is born.

Dh would soil his britches if it happened, he would probably panic or be really scared. I think I'm going to discuss this with my midwives and dh, to get him on the same page. If he doesn't want to catch, that's fine, I suppose.

Lots to learn here.

TopHat A BFW class sounds really great.

ScarletBegonias do you live in the States?

it will be an interesting ride for you then!

we are in northern california, in the mountains between sacramento and tahoe. there is a cool crunchy community - nevada city/grass valley about 1/2 hour away, but auburn (the closest town) and our town is fairly natural too. there are a LOT of retired hippies who live in the area. and a lot of growing (organic farms and mj) that goes on around here.

[Surfacing]

Scarlet - how annoying, what happened with the student midwife and your tearing.

Your UC sounded wonderful.

I used to lurk in the UC forum because I liked the confidence that women had to birth their own babies and I was in awe of it.

TopHat - I thought too that pushing between ctxns (which I did with dd2's birth) was supposed to be okay. Thought I'd somewhere that a push without the force of the ctxn is gentler, and more protective of the perineum. But you tore? Interesting to know.

[ScarletBegonias]

Originally Posted by Surfacing

Scarlet - how annoying, what happened with the student midwife and your tearing.

Your UC sounded wonderful.

I used to lurk in the UC forum because I liked the confidence that women had to birth their own babies and I was in awe of it.

TopHat - I thought too that pushing between ctxns (which I did with dd2's birth) was supposed to be okay. Thought I'd somewhere that a push without the force of the ctxn is gentler, and more protective of the perineum. But you tore? Interesting to know.

actually she wasn't a student, she is a mw with a over 1,000 catches and her own practice.

my mw's actual asst. was out of town and this mw offered to be an asst.

it wasn't a good exp for my mw either.

[TopHat]

Originally Posted by ScarletBegonias

did you have a lot of tearing then?

I little. In the end, I just wanted her out (44 hour labor) so I was pushing when I didn't have contractions to "induce" contractions. So it was technically "motherled" but not gentle. Her cord wasn't pulsing, though she breathed immediately so no emergency, but I wonder if something inside me was also telling me to get her out because of the cord. I hadn't done a lot of research about dealing with tears because I falsely assumed that if I was doing motherled pushing, I wouldn't tear.
I felt the "ring of fire" towards the front, so that's where I thought I was going to tear. I've had surgery to reinsert my urethra into the muscles in the past, so a urethral tear was worrisome to me. We called around to midwives, but none wanted to enter a situation they weren't familiar with, so we transferred just for stitches. It ended up being a 2nd degree perineal tear.
Next time I'll have a pitcher of water on hand and a large mirror so I can rinse myself off and assess where a tear is myself. We're hoping that some stretching only needs to happen once.

As for our transfer, I transferred with a friend and DH brought DD to me as a visitor to nurse (and we waited over an hour to transfer to establish breastfeeding.) Because I was just there for stitches and DD wasn't admitted to the hospital, we were out of there in a few hours. Bring DD as a visitor was the best thing I did, I think. Otherwise I think we would have been there longer.

But anyway, I've thought of just having a midwife "on call" for stitches if I need them.

[ScarletBegonias]

what position were you in? do you think trying a different position would put less pressure on your perineal tissues? for some women it seems not to matter, but for me it made a difference. just curious as to your thoughts!

hopefully you are stretchier and won't experience any tearing this time around!

[TopHat]

I was going back and forth between squatting and hands and knees- mostly whatever you call the position in between the two. Forward squatting? I was in a tub.