if you could make a birth/pregnancy list now, what's on it/ whats would you skip???

[skyewriter]

If you could advise yourself now, or put it away to read for next time, what would you do for your birth/pregnancy to be better (even better?) Anything you'd not do??

Do...

>See accupuncturist to ready body for labor starting 37 wk

>ditto homeopathics at 37wks (yep I am always late!)

>doula.

>re-read my journal so I remember Whole birth... 

....and remember its all good ..as soon as that baby comes out!

and other stuff but I can't make real lists to save my ...

[thedenverduo]

I would have prepared mentally for an induction, just in case.  When I ended up with an induction for preeclampsia I was totally blindsided and had to do a lot of last minute research and soul-searching to be at peace with it.

[jpietryka]

I had such a wonderful pregnancy I would happly do it again.  As far as my sons birth, I wish I'd been more alert afterward.  I labored so fast (under an hour) that I ended up losing blood which makes you very groggy and tired.  I tried so hard to focus and stay awake.  I feel a little sad that I missed those first hours but I know there is nothing I could have done to prevent it.  More importantly, the fast labor was best for my son since the cord was wrapped around his neck twice. I'm so happy that we went the au natural route, our midwife was amazing!

[Knitting Mama]

My pregnancy was so very easy and a joyous time for me, but labor was another story. I would tell myself to be very pragmatic about labor, and to still plan for a natural birth but prepare for interventions. My blood pressure was great throughout pregnancy, but spiked alarmingly high during labor, starting the chain of events that led to my less than stellar delivery.

I would also tell myself to not feel guilty over standing my ground in the hospital postpartum. Not having a natural birth does not mean you can't have a gentle and natural and attachment parenting friendly postpartum period.

Finally, I would reassure myself that it's okay to mourn the loss of my gentle and natural birth. Everyone will say that it's the end result that matters, and your happy and healthy baby is the greatest reward of all, and they are right. But that doesn't completely negate the impact of the loss of peaceful birthing. This blog post talks about it in better words than I can find.

http://mamabirth.blogspot.com/2011/03/what-really-matters-is-healthy-baby.html

[Terrilein]

• Invest in an air conditioner - Germans don't generally have them. I was so horribly miserable last summer and really wish we had shelled out for one earlier.
• Join the RRLT Tribe again
• Buy shares in whatever antacid I'll need to be taking
• Hire a cook and nutrionalist to keep me from gaining 30 kg again.

[Monarchgrrl]

Great idea!

- Stop working earlier than planned. I planned to work up to the end and was blindsided when I had to leave 3 weeks early due to rising BP.

- Prepare and read and ready myself for PPD. I had no history of depression and didn't educate myself at all about it. I was knocked down by it.

- Learn more newborn soothing techniques ahead of time.

- Sleep as much as possible the month before birth. Don't stay up late, relishing the last time you'll have quiet alone time. Sleep is more important.

- Join LLL while pregnant and learn more about breastfeeding issues and problems. It was complete hell the first month (despite an LC coming over twice a week) until I started EPing.

- Don't just assume breastfeeding will work out easily just because it's normal and natural. Some baby/mama's just can't very well or easily.

- Put her in cloth diapers from the beginning, no matter how much she whines about it. We weren't in cloth exclusively until she was 2 months old. My newborn stash was never used.

- If my DW was writing this she'd say, "No homebirth again. Next time there will be an Epidural". LOL! She still has some PTSD from our homebirth. She really was traumatized and not prepared for the length, sounds, and helplessness she felt as a birth partner. She couldn't take seeing me in pain. Lots and lots of pain (back labor)! It's one of the reasons we're not having another child.

[ProtoLawyer]

My pregnancy was fine. I'd advise myself not to work for a sexist UAV who fired me (with a plausible excuse) 8 months along, but that's neither here nor there.

Get the whole "it can't possibly happen to me" mentality regarding c-section and complications out of my head. Yeah, I knew intellectually that anything could happen, and I was OK with it when it did happen but it took some processing to get through it, even though everyone I've talked to (including my pro-NCB doctor and my childbirth educator/doula cousin) said my c-section was necessary. (I pushed for four hours, in many positions and with some occasional manual assistance, with no real progress, and, when my heart rate spiked into the 130s and 140s and didn't go back down, there was concern about my heart. I could have continued had we been making progress, and I could have continued had my heart not given me problems, but the combination of the two made the risk of continuing too high. And I agree, again at least intellectually.)

That said, I would go in with the same attitude: "It will hurt and then it will be over." As it was, I wasn't in a major amount of pain. (And this isn't post-partum amnesia--everyone in the room with me says I expressed similar sentiments during the event.) Contractions were manageable, pushing was manageable. He never crowned so I don't know if that would have been terrible, but anyway.

Take more iron. I passed out from post-partum anemia (I have a history of mild anemia) and needed a transfusion.

Either refuse the GBS test or find a way to cheat it--I hated that stupid heplock and IV, which I had for the sole reason of GBS antibiotics, and even now I have a visceral reaction to seeing every single picture of every mother who's had a hospital birth with that tangled web of tubes around her hand. I'd probably need a heplock at the very least, in the unlikely event I have another (not just because it would be "policy" for a VBAC, but because the anemia makes excessive blood loss a lot more likely). Maybe find out if I could have one in my arm instead of in my hand.

Tell the pushy nurse (the one bad one I had out of many good ones) what she could do with her patient-administered painkillers. They didn't seem to understand that I didn't care if I had 0-1 on a 1-10 pain scale; I'd be OK with a 4-5 if it meant I could stay lucid.

[Hannah32]

Keep weight gain to under 30 pounds. I put on 52 with my son and still am carrying around 20 of it. 

[lifeguard]

Not back off on my workouts so soon & so much.

Start with a nutritionist from the beginning.

Those are the two at the top of my list for this pregnancy.

[AFWife]

Create your natural first aid kid NOW instead of having to run for things at the last minute. Be prepared to carry it everywhere. I recently got back from a trip to another state and got thrush while on vacation....and couldn't find Gentian Violet anywhere! So always be prepared.

[newmamalizzy]

I wish I had read the baby books when I was pregnant instead of running to them as issues arose after I had the baby.  Books are valuable, but, especially if you're not feeling very confident as a new mother, can be really confusing and often lead you away from trusting your instincts.  If you read them during pregnancy, the ideas will have time to gel by the time that baby comes around. 

I would have had a far, FAR more stable living situation before that baby came.  Okay, so maybe I couldn't really help that at the time, but I swear I will not have another child until I feel like I have my life at least somewhat situated.  If you have the ability to nest - do it NOW.

And last, as some other people said, prepare to be surprised by your birth.  It may not end up being the beautiful natural birth you are currently psyching yourself up for.  You may have had an emergency C-section before you get to see the accupuncturist at 37 weeks, like I did.  I think my saving grace was that we'd just seen a video about what happens during a c-section in my childbirth class that very week.  It would have been far more scary if I didn't know what to expect. 

That said, I hope you DO have the natural birth of your dreams . Best of luck.

[skyewriter]

I think my biggest ones are to eat according to planned food choices... and to exercise through those first three months!!!  I always back off for of messing up the babe..  

then I would try and work on being relaxed for the birth!!

and I would get ready with homeopathy and the accupuncture at 37 weeks.

maid full time for first three weeks after!