UC thread #9...Sept. '04

[Chandar]

Thought I would start the new thread.

: : Oshun!

ETA: Can someone post the links to the other threads? I don't know how. Thanks!

[cottonwood]

uc thread #1
uc thread #2
uc thread #3
uc thread #4
uc thread #5
uc thread #6
uc thread #7
uc thread #8

roll call

andrea88 -- UC 8/03 story
Aurora -- UC 10/03 story
Whit -- UC 11/03 story
2much2luv -- UC 1/04
thechrysalis -- UC 1/04 story
Mothernature -- UC 1/04 story
indigolilybear -- UC 3/04 pics (first UC 5/01 story)
citizenfong -- UC 3/04 pics
Carrieanders -- UC 4/10/04 story
Chaka Falls -- UC 4/04
amyamanda -- UC 5/04 story
Karenpl -- UC 6/04 story
bookwormmama -- UC 6/04
wildthing -- midwife-attended 6/04 story
grnbn76 -- emergency cesarean, 7/04 story
Hathor -- UC 7/04 story
Mamajaza -- UC 7/04 pics
ChildoftheMoon -- born still 7/19/04 peacefully at home story
gr8fulmom -- UC 7/04 story
luna13mama -- UC 7/04
Chandar -- UC 7/04 story
Klothos -- UC 7/04
madrone -- UC 8/04
TinyBabyBean -- midwife-attended 8/04
violet -- UC 8/04
Oshunmama -- midwife-attended 8/04
lovemygirl -- UC 9/04
mellie-bellie -- UC 9/04
blueviolet -- UC 9/04 (first UC 7/01, story)
JesseMomme -- September (first UC 11/02, story)
StacyL -- mid September
4xmamamia -- September
amyjeans -- EDD October 2
rachel -- EDD late October
DancerMom -- late November
Ame -- first half of December
laurata -- December (first UC 3/02, story )
Lula's Mom -- December
AmyD -- EDD December 7th
nikirj -- EDD December 30
mamamaya -- mid January 2005
zonapellucida -- late January 2005
Chiromom -- Jan/Feb 2005 (first UC 2/03 story)
Dandylion -- Jan/Feb 2005
mehndi mama -- late February 2005
rainbowmoon -- April 2005
FreeRangeMama -- April 2005 (first UC 9/03)
sprinkle pocket -- late spring/early summer 2005


Please PM me to make changes.

[rainbowmoon]

did you listen to FHT's during labor?

I have been wondering about this for awhile..do you mamas think it's necessary to listen to fetal heart tones during a UC labor/birth? I feel like the nurse doing this at the birth center for my last birth every 15 min inhibited me greatly so want to avoid it I think. but then i also think I would like to also know how baby is doing maybe? I am torn I guess, and would like to hear about other's experiences with this.

[Lula's Mom]

I know you asked for past experience, but I'll tell you what I plan to do anyway... We listen to the baby with the fetoscope a lot already. A LOT. Usually every night. We like to because it makes us feel close to the baby, but in the back of my mind I also do it so I will be very familiar with this baby's rhythm. I know I'll want to hear it during labor. I know some don't feel it's necessary or desirable but I want to.

[DancerMom]

When I had a midwife assisted homebirth, she only checked the baby's heartrate once I'd started pushing, between contractions. I only pushed about 4 or 5 times, so it wasn't very much...she checked, maybe 3 times? (It's hard to remember now!)

This time, we will not be listening to the heartbeat during labor at all. I trust my body and I trust my baby.

(Disclaimer: Not saying that people who choose to listen are not trusting, but that's my reason for not bothering)

[cottonwood]

During labor itself, I can't imagine any reason why the baby would go into distress as I'm not going to be stressed out, taking any drugs, or inducing/augmenting labor. So I probably won't check unless I intuitively feel something isn't right. I know intuition isn't fail-proof, but frankly I trust it more than I would an EFM.

I expect to push the baby out in a few pushes, as happened the last two times when I let my *body* decide when to push. That's quick enough that it's pointless to check FHTs at that time. If my body is straining to get the baby out for much longer than that, I'll suspect something out-of-the-ordinary is up, and probably check FHTs and call a midwife friend to get her input.

[FreeRangeMama]

Just joining in!! My name is Laurie. I had a UC in Sept/03 and am planning another in April/05.

I never listened to FHT at all last time around and can't imagine why I would bother this time either. It just doesn't seem necessary to me during the pregnancy and I certainly wouldn't want to distract myself with it during labour either I really enjoy the idea of having no external monitoring at all. I really just love listening to myself. I tend to be the kind of person to get caught up in the details, so I think it is better for me to not have the opportunity. The less "noise" the better!

During my last (UC) labour I was in transition for 7 hours. It was crazy, intense, painful, and kind of scary, but I think having nothing but myself to rely on really allowed me to pay attention to that little voice that let me know that everything would be okay

[Evergreen]

Hi, I am Emily, UC supporter and resident lurker on this thread!

[Chiromom]

Oh no... I got lost from the list! No big deal.

I just attended my sister's birth this weekend. She had a home birth attended by a CNMW. The FHT thing really got to me. First of all, the midwife was monitoring with a doppler rather than a fetoscope. Once my sister began pushing she was monitoring the baby almost constantly. The MW quickly became alarmed by some decels during the height of the contraction and bearing down which would immeadiately return to normal as the contraction released. She was saying... "I am concerned about these decels. They could just be part of a normal labor or they could mean the baby is in trouble". She concluded that the labor was going "too fast" for the baby (8 hours so far) and instructed my sister to not push every other contraction so the baby could "get a break".

This made me so crazy I practically had to leave the room! I mean, first of all to tell the mom she was going too fast and the baby might be in trouble! Uuggh! Plus, the doppler could be contributing to the decels! Luckily, my sister was totally in the birth zone and kinda didn't even pay attention to the alarmist stuff she was saying. I was very concerned that she would slow down or even stall out temporarily, but she just did her best to comply but couldn't help pushing a bit anyway. Finally the midwife gave up and said why don't you just get the baby out (DUH!) and let her push as she felt like it! I mean, what were they gonna do...tell her to transport? It was so wierd.

To me, this is just more reinforcement of how well intentioned interference can screw the process up.

BTW, the baby was in great shape at birth even tho they were all freaked out with the O2 canister looming.

I am SO not letting any "health care provider" attend my births. Even tho well-intentioned, their education and caution really got in the way. Sorry, I just needed to rant a bit. Be glad I didn't tell the whole story about how they pulled on her placenta and injected her with pitocin without permission. Oh well, all's well now.

[cottonwood]

Gee whiz, where did this midwife get her training? Sounds like the FHTs were completely normal for a pushing stage.

Chiromom, let me know where you should be on the list!

[Chiromom]

Oh, My Stats:

Lay midwife assisted homebirth with DS (child #1): 8/00

Previous UC (with DD, child #2): 2/03 (birth story on board somewhere, but I am link impaired)

Due with planned UC: Jan/Feb 2005

Crazy/Rebel lady of long standing (kinda)

I'm goofy today; blame the hormones.

Mar

[indigolilybear]

We don't listen to FHT either. COuldn't find them w/the fetascope I bought our first UP and it felt good to give up that last "apollonic" tool as JPB would say. this last preg. I didn't even try.

oh and if we are correcting/ammeding the list, I have a UC that is missing too....our first one, second HB, second child.
It's up here:
http://www.compleatmother.com/homebirth/elaine.htm if you want to post links. Thanks BV.

BTW< where is the MANA conference you are speaking at? I wish I could hear it!!

[rainbowmoon]

so if you were to listen to FHT's would you use a doppler or fetascope?

how hard is it to learn about listening to FHT's? would it be easy to make a mistake and think something was wrong?

is wanting to listen to FHT a sign that I am not fully trusting birth?

[indigolilybear]

Rainbowmoon--I think you need to answer that yourself. IMO any given thing (ie listening to heart tones) is NOT necessariloy a sign or not that you are not trusting birth. There as many ways to give birth as there are people and the thing about doing a freebirth is it is YOUR responsibility. I think you will receive information/intuitions that are totally specific to you and even your specific pregnancy.

As w/much of freebirthing, do some soul searching. Do you feel taht somehow listening to the FHT's would mean that things are under control? Do you have some ideas taht back up the idea of listening to FHT's? Do you have some prior experience that makes you concerned about the heartrate? Basically waht I am saying is find out how you believe that listening will help you. And then make a decision. There is no right answer. You need to do what makes you feel safe and okay doing what you need to do. It's all YOU baby!! :LOL anyway HTH! IMO a lot of the process is figuring out your personal philosophy and deconstructing a lot of the birth ideas handed down to us. "untraining" yourself, if you will.

[Lula's Mom]

As I said, I have a fetoscope. It's been really easy to find the heartbeat. I don't think AT ALL that the choice to listen to FHTs means you don't trust your body or the birth process. I think I'm the only one on this thread who plans to, and that's just fine with me. I have total trust in UCing. If I didn't I could never make this choice.

I just like to be...connected. When I hear the heartbeat, it feels like one of the ways the baby and I communicate while it's inside. I think I'll want to continue that communication at some point during labor too. It kind of reminds me of how DF will call me on his way home from work, and if he lets me I'll keep talking to him until he pulls in the driveway. :LOL

[rainbowmoon]

well I am really on the fence over it and have been for some time..I don't know why it's such an issue with me. oh well I have plenty of time to figure it out though as I'm not even pg yet! :LOL

[cottonwood]

ILB, the MANA conference is in Portland, Oregon in October. It'll be interesting, I'm sure -- this is such a controversial subject in midwifery right now, so this will probably be a less accepting crowd than I spoke to last time, at the midwifery college (I spoke to a class whose teacher supports UC.) I'm going to approach it from the standpoint of looking at that which promotes normal physiological birth, in the hopes that a little science will stave off any antagonism. Show some videos, tell some stories.

Rainbowmoon, I have a fetoscope that I use in pregnancy (haven't in labor yet though, and don't know if I will this next time or not, I like to decide what I need in the moment rather than guess beforehand,) it's very easy to use actually. You just have to make sure and get one with a long cord, and have it completely quiet when you listen. It also helps to be lying down on your back. It's pretty obvious which is the baby's heartbeat and which is your own; I'm always perplexed when somebody says that they know somebody (it's always a friend-of-a-friend sort of thing ) that mistook the maternal heartbeat for the baby's and transferred unnecessarily or something. The baby's is at least twice as fast, fainter, and usually in a different place than the maternal heartbeat.

[laurata]

My take on FHT in labor-

Um, don't do it. :P Seriously, I don't, and here's why: As the baby drops, it get progressively more difficult to find the heartbeat. Well, evidently my MIL and FIL didn't know or understand this, because they transported during their third birth- a planned UC- because they couldn't find heart tones. MIL, I think, was in transition, and when FIL said he couldn't find it, she freaked.

[cottonwood]

Very true! I should have thought to mention that. As with anything, it's going to be worse than useless to you if you don't know what's normal.

[rad]

Just lurking here. I'm really considering doing a UC for this next baby. DH seems supportive so far. Both babies were born at home, but our first baby was almost an unplanned UC as it was. So I guess I just want to learn more about it. So I'm hoping to find out some info from you ladies, if you don't mind.

As for listening to the FHT. With my first, my midwife never did. By the time she arrived at my house, I was ready to push and DS was too far down. With my second, I think they listened once, but I progressed quickly enough that was all they had time for. I don't think I would bother checking during labor if it was a UC.