What hangs folks up about UC can be so funny! - Page 2

[JamieCatheryn]

You can't legally throw it in the trash without incinerating it first or something. Burial or placentophagy are your best bets.

[onyxravnos]

the cord cutting question is soooo strange... 

My favorite story from my UC though is 'how did you weigh the baby?' well actually, I didn't. The home scale was broken so he wasn't weighed until 3 days later at the ped office.  

What strange reactions I've gotten to that... does it really matter how much the baby weighed if he was otherwise healthy? 

[smeep]

Originally Posted by onyxravnos 
 does it really matter how much the baby weighed if he was otherwise healthy? 

Sometimes, yes, if there's a reason to watch baby's weight carefully (IGT or previous history of supply or growth issues, or current health issues with baby, etc.) but I actually think it would be GOOD to not weigh babies right away sometimes, re: IV fluids in labour (or prior to section) causing water weight that they pee out in the first 24 hours making it look like they lost too much weight, thus resulting in unnecessary supplementation. But the easier way to solve that would simply be to take that into account if weight becomes an issue and adjust accordingly.... not that it would ever become standard practice, though.

[RobynHeud]

I love it when people ask how we cut the cord, because then I get to tell them we used the kitchen shears

As for disposing of the placenta, how is tossing it any different from chuckling a piece of raw meat? We just wrapped ours up in a few plastic bags before putting it in the garbage.

[TimeForMaine]

We're planning our first UC this September and I could not be more excited. Our first was an unmedicated hospital birth with a CNM (yeh, that was super wonderful- sarcasm) and the second was a planned homebirth turned ER trip (turned out not to be an emergency, but when the MW said "go now," we did). I so wish I could tell everyone we are planning to birth this babe just how we want! Well, anyway, I'm excited! And we planted our second placenta today. Somehow we manage to keep them in the freezer forever, until we need room for the next one :)

[Almi]

Originally Posted by JamieCatheryn 

You can't legally throw it in the trash without incinerating it first or something. Burial or placentophagy are your best bets.

Not that anyone would really be able to prosecute you for it unless someone saw you throwing it away and called the cops (in which case they'd have to care and/or know what you were throwing away).

Anyway, we, too, just wrapped our placentas in a few plastic bags and chucked them.  I planned on encapsulating the first and making placenta essence out of the second but it was just never prioritized or needed.

And now I'm really laughing because we have a dumpster diver living in our building, and last time I saw her going at it she was saying "yuck! ew! ick!"  I wonder if she ever found my placenta. XD

[bloobug]

How exciting, I'm also due mid-October planning a UC.  And I'm going to say, YES!  you can catch your own baby!!!  And it's the greatest feeling in the world and I can't wait to hear what that guy says when you do.  Best wishes and I hope to read more of your posts throughout the months. 

Meg

[bloobug]

Almi, that is too funny about the dumpster diver!  Hahaha! 

Meg

[bloobug]

And sorry, I'm being a serial poster.  As for the placenta, I've dug a hole in the ground and planted a tree over it for every baby I've birthed.  Born in winter?  No problem, freezers work great for that, just don't let any friends or family mistake it for a thick piece of sirloin.

Meg

[coconutbroccoli]

This is such a great thread!  Loving all these questions from strangers/friends/family.  The HORROR of someone having a baby at home!  LOL  

[fayebond]

Sometimes I want to make a t-shirt that says something like, "having a baby without an epi, didn't drink the kool-aide either".  Its like you have to be way "weird" to want be the WHO definition of "normal". 

[savagefamily]

The main things I was asked, were "How did I do it without an epidural" and "who cleaned up"

I had people saying they might be able to do it without an epidural, but they could never do it, knowing they couldn't ask for one at any time. OK?!

And it's like people picture some murder scene with blood on the celings and wading knee deep in placenta juice or something. It took my husband about 2 minutes to clean up, maybe less. I was going to do it myself but he insisted I relax.

[bouyant]

2 weeks after my first up/uc, a concerned relative on the phone said that my sister said gestational diabetis runs in the family, so I should really go get checked out and make sure everything went OK. - dh and I still laugh at how she could have somehow missed the "gestation" part of gestational diabetis.

But the funniest "how" question was from the lady down the street when I was quite obviously preg. with #5, and it somehow came up that I had never taken a pregnancy test.  She was perplexed, so I told her I never had for any of my pregnancies.  She then was like, "But how...?" looking around at my other 4 kids as if they weren't real or were going to disappear because I never peed on a stick!

[fayebond]

Originally Posted by bouyant 

But the funniest "how" question was from the lady down the street when I was quite obviously preg. with #5, and it somehow came up that I had never taken a pregnancy test.  She was perplexed, so I told her I never had for any of my pregnancies.  She then was like, "But how...?" looking around at my other 4 kids as if they weren't real or were going to disappear because I never peed on a stick!

 ROTFL

that is so funny!

I did get a test but it was mostly because I wanted an excuse to see my regular CP without having to actually start prenatal care.  I mean, your period stops, your appetite goes haywire, your emotions go whoopie, and your stomach is flip flopping like Congress in an election year.  Pretty much nothing but a baby in there can explain all that.  You can go get someone to tell you baby is there, or you can wait and they will literally pop out on you.  :)  Like my belly right now...

[BlessedJess]

Originally Posted by fayebond 

 ROTFL

that is so funny!

I did get a test but it was mostly because I wanted an excuse to see my regular CP without having to actually start prenatal care.  I mean, your period stops, your appetite goes haywire, your emotions go whoopie, and your stomach is flip flopping like Congress in an election year.  Pretty much nothing but a baby in there can explain all that.  You can go get someone to tell you baby is there, or you can wait and they will literally pop out on you.  :)  Like my belly right now...

I tested the last two times, this pregnancy included. I tested the first 2 times, too. You don't need to pee on a stick to have a baby, that's for sure! LOL

But I found that the stick has it's advantages for me. And it's non-invasive. ;-)

[minimalistmomma]

My family all thought the doctor had to tie the cord a certain way to make the belly button and wondered how I knew to make the special knot.  That actually surprised me because I remember thinking that when I was a kid but figured you grew out of it, like you don't believe babies come out of the belly button or are brought by the stork anymore when you get older.

Then again none of you had a story like that so maybe it's just a family myth.
 

[JamieCatheryn]

My friends said that too in elementary school, and that different looking belly buttons were from different handling of the cord after birth. But if you've ever had a baby or changed a newborn you know they put a clip on it most of the time, so I don't know how many adults could still think anything different.

[Millie Ivy]

I am dying laughing at all of these!

[amberskyfire]

This isn't exactly a UC thing, but it did happen during my UP. It's VERY obvious to me when I'm pregnant, so I don't need to take pregnancy tests. 10 weeks into my pregnancy, I had to get on Medicaid because my husband lost his job, so I was required to show proof of pregnancy. I went to a local clinic to get a pregnancy test and when I told the nurse I was pregnant and needed a test to get my Medicaid stuff processed, she kept asking me a billion questions about how I could possibly know I was pregnant without testing first. She did the test and came back fifteen minutes later and said "wow, you ARE pregnant!" with the most surprised look on her face. I have no idea how I kept from laughing. She was just amazed - like knowing I was pregnant was magical or something.