PG/TTC TF Mamas Chat - Page 6

[martaluna]

Hello all,

How is everyone doing?

Need your advice on couple of things. Are you getting the RHogam shot? I'm Rh-, DH is positive and we already have a son, who is also RH+. I'm really not sure what to do.

Also, are you going to accept any newborn procedures or alternatives: vit K, the eye ointment? I will definately decline circ and heb B. Any thoughts?

Thanks!

[1love4ever]

We had no newborn interventions done what so ever, including vit K, antibiotic eye ointments, etc and we delayed cord clamping and placenta delivery for 25 minutes. (I had no interventions either, we had a great old fashioned home birth!) I don't know much about the rhogam shot but I've heard that its unnecessary and that moms decline it all the time and it can be risky, best to talk with a midwife about it.  See page 199 thru 201 here for a little info http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0553381156/ref=sr_1_1?p=random&ie=UTF8&qid=1351491362#reader_0553381156  although Ina May is over all a little pro-vax I think so her views on vaccines and medications I don't take to heart so much.  I'm sure there are better articles than this but its a start anyway!  I recommend the rest of the book as an awesome birthing book tho!! :)

[Dove84]

Thanks for that info, 1love4ever- I did end up declining the GD testing and my MW was perfectly fine with that.  I think she is used to me declining everything  I just declined the Group B strep as well.  I like Ina's book, I just got her one 'Spiritual Midifery' from the library so I'm looking forward to reading that.

MartaLuna, I don't know anything about RH, sorry, we are both positive.  We declined everything including Vit K and Eye drops.  My MW did the PKU a couple of days later. 

[1love4ever]

That's cool Dove!  We did the PKU with my babies too but next time around I'm planning on skipping that too :)    I'm confidant in my health and bodies ability to produce a healthy baby, neither of my kids have had issues, no family history, so the pain the test puts the baby thru (I held my son as they pricked his heel and squeezed it for blood) is actually pretty extreme for a newborn, as I said, I've been there and was suprised how much it hurt him and I about left before they had all of their circles filled bc he cried so hard :(  I feel so terrible now :(  I don't believe in a baby going through anything at all, their first experiences in this world should be those of love, compassion, warmth, just being close to people who think they are the most amazing thing in the world, and anyone who does not feel that way should have nothing to do with them!!  And there should be NO pain involved, so shots, nothing.  (I know some babies are born with defects that need surgery, and I feel so sorry for those poor babies ) Just IMO :)   Sorry lol guess I'm getting off on something completely different huh!!  Anyway, that's my plan, next time I dont even want an ultrasound!  I wasnt going to have one with my last, but the Dr I was seeing for part of my prenatal care, and DH talked me in to it....  I did no dopplar last time tho!!  Lol.  Anyway, I want the least technological pregnancy and birth possible next time!!!  My son will be 1 in a few days, aaah!!!  I really think I should wait until he's 2 to TTC again, but RRGH Idk if I can wait that long!!!  Lol, it seems like forever!!  I'm getting excited already :)

[katealicia]

Originally Posted by martaluna 

Need your advice on couple of things. Are you getting the RHogam shot? I'm Rh-, DH is positive and we already have a son, who is also RH+. I'm really not sure what to do.

Also, are you going to accept any newborn procedures or alternatives: vit K, the eye ointment? I will definately decline circ and heb B. Any thoughts?

     I'm A-, Dh is A+, and I'm 36 weeks pregnant. I read about the Rhogam shot a lot when I first got pregnant, and here's what I found out: In the event that your blood somehow mixes with your baby's blood during pregnancy, your body can start to attack your baby if he is Rh+, which is very serious and dangerous for baby. This is why they usually recommend the Rhogam shot during pregnancy, because most people can't find out their baby's blood type in utero.

     BUT this kind of blood mixing doesn't just happen. You would have to get in a car crash, for example, or fall down the stairs, some kind of event that could cause abnormal bleeding inside. What I found out is that in the event you were in some kind of incident where blood exchange will likely occur, they will just give you the Rhogam shot then as a precaution, even if you've already had it. Also, the standard of care right now calls for the Rhogam shot to be administered at 28 weeks, which is totally arbitrary. There's no medical reason why you are more at risk then (other than him being bigger and less cushioned in the 3rd trimester). The shot is effective up to 72 hours after an incident, so you don't have to have it ahead of time. Most European countries don't administer the Rhogam shot routinely during pregnancy. So that's the 28 week shot.

     The reason for the after birth shot is that there is a chance that your blood will mix with baby's during the birth. There is no potential risk to your current baby, but it could sensitize your system to any future Rh+ baby and make it very difficult to carry any future pregnancies. After birth you can test baby's blood, so you would only get this one if baby is Rh+. Again, this is also only really a risk if there is a certain amount of trauma during the labour. A perfect labour would not put you at risk for blood exchange.

     After reading all that, we decided to decline the 28 week shot because it will be just as effective in the event that I do experience a trauma. There are some questionable ingredients and I really don't feel comfortable injecting anything into my body while I'm pregnant, because the fetus is just too vulnerable. However, if he is born Rh+ I will get the shot after birth. I hope I don't have a traumatic birth, but at that point, no longer being pregnant, I feel that the risks to me are not as bad as the potential risks to a future child if I am sensitized. 

   As for the other things, we are declining everything. Hep B because we are declining all vax's, obviously no circ, eye ointment because I am super against antibiotics, and vit K because I don't really think it's necessary. As far as everything I've read vit K is pretty benign, but I don't think he's at risk of deficiency and I'd just as soon not stick him. The only thing I did find against it (that seemed legitimate) was that it's a super dose, which can put a strain on the kidneys and actually contribute to jaundice. Anyway, I'm generally pretty anti-intervention, so I read up on these and couldn't find a compelling reason to have them done. 

     Hope this helps!

[katealicia]

Originally Posted by 1love4ever 

Hey there pregnant ladies, KateAlicia I love your photo :)  

Thanks!

[1love4ever]

Ack, when I was pregnant last time I did a lot of research on all the interventions, and had some really good article's about the ridiculousness of the vit K shot, but now I can only find 1!  http://www.proliberty.com/observer/19990710.htm  So there it is :)   Agh, me and my lack of orginization!  Anyway I also used to have this wonderful quote that went something like this: "We must assume this is as nature intended and not a mistake of evolution"  (sometimes I would say "and not that God made a mistake", depending on who I was talking to lol), but either way, you get the point.  It can be related to Vit K shot (the baby is born with low vit K in their body for a reason, not by mistake that modern medicine needs to "improve" on), it  can be applied to the circumcision issue (I doubt that infants are born with a foreskin by mistake, it must be there to serve a purpose- imagine that, a baby being born with functional body parts that he actually needs! Lol).  It can be applied to labor/birth, to gardening organically, ETC, that's why I loved it so much!

[1love4ever]

ok!  Found the articles on the K shot!!  Here is what was my favorite quote from one a year ago, although I havent reread it “...how could God (or nature) have erred so badly as to give all newborn babies only an infinitesimal fraction of their required vitamin K? Surely the human race could not have survived to this point if all newborns were born with this deficiency and none being administered at birth until very recently.”

http://www.vaclib.org/basic/vitamin-k.htm -A year ago I had said this was the best vit K article I had ever read

http://www.mothering.com/community/a/newborn-decisions

I had also read that supplementing mom with vit K such as eating lots of kale, spinach and meat is sufficient for baby.  Colostrum also is high in vit K.

HTH!

Oh and katealicia I think we would get along really well lol it is so funny reading your posts, I always think wow I would have said the exact same thing, I could have written that, I think that too, etc!!  Lol.  If your ever in MT, PM me!! :) 

[katealicia]

1love4ever, I totally agree. I have heard the same thing about iron. Babies and breast milk have low iron for a reason, but the doctors insist on freaking out about it. If this "deficiency" is common to all babies, don't you think maybe it's normal and purposeful? :) People need to trust nature a little bit more.

[1love4ever]

Absolutely.  Also if the cord clamping and cutting is delayed, the baby gets all of the clotting factors it needs from mom so the blood does clot a little better than those who are clamped immediatly.

Oh and have you seen this movie, it is free to watch til Nov 6 http://geneticroulettemovie.com/  It's really good!!

[Dove84]

1love4ever, that would be great if you can have a totally intervention free baby!  I'd love to but we get one U/S as I am worried about placenta previa as we don't want any blood transfusions.  Lol, we haven't even had #2 yet and I can't wait for #3  but hopefully more spaced out as I want to do some gut healing first... I'm planning on Tandem nursing so I HOPE that will be enough 'birth control' for a while.

thanks for the link on genetic roulette, I've been wanting to see it!  DH and I are going to watch it tonight. 

More info on Vit K

http://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/skip-that-newborn-vitamin-k-shot/

I've been adding some Nettles to my RRL tea.

[1love4ever]

Cool Dove, I'll check that link out!  I think an experienced midwife can diagnose placenta previa vaginally as well just so you know.  Wow how are you getting along anyway?  I had exactly a yr between my pregnancies and that second one was tough in the end, my joints were out of place all the time, sometimes it would take me an hour of stretching and resting in the morning before I could even walk!!  Was crazy and really spoke to me about the need to have pregnancies spaced!!  I could tell my body had not recovered from the last pregnancy.  I was and am just like you though, once I was pregnant once I wanted, no, NEEDED, more pregnancies and babies!!  Haha.  My diet during my first pregnancy was pretty much SAD, I didnt know much at all!!  I started buying some organic towards the end, and thankfully always fed my baby organic once she started to eat food.  How is nursing and being pregnant?  I quit at 21wks pregnant, I couldnt gain weight.  Although my diet was pretty good it wasnt excellent and I didnt know much about TF yet so I really think that would have helped.

baby calls g2g!

[Dove84]

I didn't know that about the placenta, I will have to ask my MW about that.  I am feeling pretty good actually, thanks.  Probably better than last time, which is odd, but I do have a better diet and I've been getting acupuncture and now seeing an Osteopath and they seem to help.  At my last appointment however my MW did say my iron was a bit on the low side, which is disappointing considering that I eat meat and eggs and take a raw prenatal, so now I also have to take Floradix   I was feeling weak and tired for a while there so I do think it's helping.  I'm not techincally breast 'feeding' DD, she uses the SNS and I am producing colostrum but I don't think her suck is strong enough to get any.  She has had a growth spurt and her latch has changed again, it's soooo painful.  We are getting her tongue and lip tie released on Friday so I really hope that helps!  Can't wait for baby #2 to arrive so I can stop using the annoying SNS, lol!

[1love4ever]

Cool, what do you get accupuncture for?  I've been wanting DH to get it done for his back pain, but I dont know anything about the closest one, which is 70? miles away from us, so I am nervous about taking him to someone I know nothing about.  Do they stick in their needles in certain places for certain conditions, or does what they do just help all conditions?  Does it hurt?  LOL, sorry I'm a total wimp.  DH is always saying "You had a drug free birth, but your scared of ______ hurting??"  Lol, last time I gave blood I was pouring sweat and fidgeting and basically on the verge of freaking out  :D

Oh, Katealicia, I've begun reading The Garden of Fertility and am really liking it :)  Thanks for the book rec!

My baby just turned 1, I'm waiting to get my period so I can officially say that I will for sure have longer between my youngest 2 children than I had between these two!  LOL.

[katealicia]

I really do think it is an awesome book. I know she talks in there about how to determine if you are in a basic infertile pattern, but sometimes it does feel more certain when your cycle returns just so you know where you stand. I think it is so empowering to be able to track what our bodies are doing and get in tune with our natural rhythms. When I have daughters I will be teaching them fertility awareness as soon as they start to develop so they will have that comfort and familiarity with their bodies before sex is even in the picture. I think it's something all girls and women should have access to :)

[1love4ever]

Ah I agree completely katealicia.  Funny thing, my daughter doesnt even know what a disposable diaper is when she sees it, she hasnt a clue what a baby bottle is (but she knows all about breastfeeding and thats how babies eat, etc), she knows that you always are gentle with and take care of babies and never let them cry, etc.  A friend and I were recently talking about this exacy sort of thing- raising children for who the norm is to breastfeed, love and nurture children, natural birth, awareness of ones body, natural healing, good nutrition, Etc.  I cant wait!! :D

[Dove84]

I definintely will be teaching my daughters about FA too, I wish I had known about it long ago! 

I get acupuncture as it's good for pregnancy in general, nausea etc. and if I 'have' to induce (due to government regulations, grrr) then it's a good option.  It doesn't hurt at all, most of the needles I can't even feel, it's even a bit relaxing.    I've been seeing an osteopath as well as I had some back/hip pain and she said that my pelvis was off, so that's helped immensly.  1love4ever, your DD sounds so sweet, I hope my DD will be like that as well!  She already loves her baby dolls

[katealicia]

I just wanted to announce that DS Ambrose Gregory was born November 29th at 9:52 pm after 5 intense hours of labor. He weighed 8 lbs and was 21 in long. We couldn't be happier!

[1love4ever]

CONGRATS!!  Holy crap didnt you like just find out you were pregnant??  Lol wow time flies!!  Enjoy your babe, ask if you have questions, I had a million the first time, but have since learned to chill :)  Hope nursing and all that is working well for you, the soreness does go away I promise :)

[Dove84]

Congrats Katealicia!  Hope all is going well with you both!  My labour with DD was less than 4 hours and intense as you say!