Thinking about UCing

[AutumnW]

I had my first son at home with a cpm who I had apprenticed with for a year before my pregnancy. Everything went fine except that her new apprentice drove me crazy because she had left her son at a sitters and I kept hearing her complain about how long she had been there. The only other problem was that I bled heavily after the birth and my midwife gave me medication to stop the bleeding.

Now I'm pregnant with number 2 and due in June. We cannot afford to pay a cpm and my other choices are a insurance covered hospital birth or a UC. I've been seeing an ob up until this point because there are no cnms that catch at the hospital closest to my house and if I'm going to the hospital it will be at the last minute. The closer time gets the more I dread the post partum period in the hospital. I don't want to be kept there against my will until the pediatrician on call (our ped doesn't go to this hospital) says we can go. I don't want my son to have to sleep without me even one night. I just want another peaceful homebirth where I can snuggle up with my new baby, my son and my dh right after birth.

I have no fears surrounding birthing at home only that I may bleed heavily and not be able to stop it. I guess I need to look more into herbal remedies for this as during my apprenticeship we usually just gave a shot of pitocin into the thigh when needed. I'm also unsure of how things will go in regards to the heel stick screening that is mandatory in our state and what I will do if I need anything done for me after the birth like stitches or even a postpartum check since my family doc doesn't do any kind of maternity care.

I guess I'm just getting my thoughts out there to other women who will understand. Any insights or thoughts are appreciated

[zoebird]

your ped should be able to do the heel stick, but it may not really be mandatory.

also eating a bit of the placenta helps stop bleeding too.

good luck with it all!

[Mother Cake]

If your comfortable trusting your body, you may not even need stitches. A lot of times tears will heal by themselves as long as you keep your legs together during the healing process.

I've also heard about women/midwives using seaweed or egg membranes to stick tears together instead of stitching. Don't know if you could do that for yourself or not, though.

Can't help you on where/how to get things checked out if you want a professional opinion, but I'd be interested in what other people have done.

[AutumnW]

I had a small tear with ds that we did not stitch so that's not a big deal to me if it's small and I don't really anticipate a larger tear this time but I guess I'm just worried that noone will want to help me after if I have noone there during.

I need to look more into other resources, like maybe ob clinics for uninsured people who will help anyone.

Sadly the pku is mandatory in our state unless I file a religious exemption. I need to talk to the ped about that I suppose.

I guess I'm just in a different situation than most who are considering uc in that I have no doubts about labor or my body just the logistics of the things that will need to be done afterward.

[Astraia]

If you do have a serious tear, it needs to be stitched within 6 hours otherwise dr's will worry about stitching in bacteria, possibly causing a nasty infection (if I'm remembering this correctly). If you have your baby during office hours then no problem; otherwise you'll want someone who can come to the house (midwife) or just go to the hospital and say the baby came too fast. You can do some research on the degrees of tears and what to look for, and just have a mirror handy and check yourself out after.

PKU is best done after your milk comes in. I think somewhere between 4-11 days is best? You CAN do it sooner, it's just more accurate if you wait a bit. So in this case, there's no problem saying "baby came to fast" and just take your baby to your ped a few days after he's born and get the test done then. This is what I plan to do- the PKU screens for so many things here (39) that I think it's totally worth it.

Definitely do some research on what to have on hand in case of bleeding- shepherd's purse seems to be the big one, cayenne can help (but be careful with that one), as well as eating some placenta (just holding it in your cheek is actually better than swallowing it).

Thought processing and deciding are the hardest parts, sometimes, but it sounds like you're well on the way Welcome!

[tessie]

Originally Posted by Astraia

If you do have a serious tear, it needs to be stitched within 6 hours otherwise dr's will worry about stitching in bacteria, possibly causing a nasty infection (if I'm remembering this correctly). If you have your baby during office hours then no problem; otherwise you'll want someone who can come to the house (midwife) or just go to the hospital and say the baby came too fast. You can do some research on the degrees of tears and what to look for, and just have a mirror handy and check yourself out after.

I thought it was because after a couple of hours the tissue swells too much for an accurate repair to be done? There was a long thread recently about a woman who left it too late for a severe tear to be repaired and was having to wait months for surgery. Not suggesting this will happen but that tearing is best dealt with promptly.

I also don't believe egg or seaweed will be particularly hygienic.

I also don't see any benefit in refusing the PKU. If my child had one of the conditions I'd want to know so the appropriate treatment could be started immediately.