UC Thread #10 - October 2004!

[nikirj]

Alright - the new thread for October!

Please PM if you have valid links - I got a PM with new links for UC Threads 1 and 2, but am still missing links for a few stories. If anyone has a story online but it isn't linked here (and you want it linked) please let me know and I'll put it in.

uc thread #1
uc thread #2
uc thread #3
uc thread #4
uc thread #5
uc thread #6
uc thread #7
uc thread #8
uc thread #9

roll call

andrea -- UC 8/03 story
Aurora -- UC 10/03 story
Whit -- UC 11/03
2much2luv -- UC 1/04
thechrysalis -- UC 1/04
Mothernature -- UC 1/04
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 7/23/04 story
madrone -- UC 8/19/04
TinyBabyBean -- midwife-attended 8/04 story (if you're still reading - you may want to relocate your birth story, as that forum is closing...)
violet -- UC 8/19/04
Oshunmama -- midwife-attended 8/04 story
lovemygirl -- UC 9/9/04 story
mellie-bellie -- UC 9/27/04
blueviolet -- UC 9/04 story (first UC 7/01, story)
JesseMomme -- UC 9/21/04 (first UC 11/02, story)
StacyL -- Hospital transport 9/19/04 story
4xmamamia -- UC 9/30/04
amyjeans -- UC 10/9/04

rachel -- EDD late October
lafemmedesfemmes -- mid November
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
KateSt. -- February/March 2005
rainbowmoon -- April 2005
FreeRangeMama -- April 2005 (first UC 9/03)
carlasher -- mid March 2005
sprinkle pocket -- late March 2005


Please PM me to make changes.

[cottonwood]

Thanks for removing the dead links, Niki. I wonder what happened to them?

Well, I just watched the most amazing birth video. A planned unassisted homebirth of twins. I was just in tears watching it. Really, I think this is the most inspiring birth video I've ever seen, and no I don't think it's because I'm still totally hormonal. Here's the website where you can buy it: http://www.earthbirthproductions.com/

[Kiki Runs]

Hello all....

I just finished reading the UC thread #9 and wanted to come here to let you know I'll be lurking around, maybe asking some questions.

I am wanting to have a freebirth with this babe, but don't want to get my hopes up about it too much, as I'm still "discussing" it with DH. The more I learn and read about UC, the more "right" it feels to me - but I know that I will need DH to be supportive of it, so I'm working on him.

Anyway, just wanted to pop in and say hello and let you know I appreciate having this group here for encouragement!

Kinsey

[Chandar]

:

[gr8fulmom]

me too :LOL

:

[ChildoftheMoon]

Hello dear friends

First off I wanted to say before it escapes me as this is to be a long post,
Thank you gr8tfulmom for your signature. It caught my eye right after Galadriel was born and I have copied it and it hangs above my head at my desk. It has helped me through the last two and a half months. I cannot believe it has only been that long. It feels like a lifetime.

Hello to all the wonderful mamas who were on this thread in July. I thank you for your support and loving words. Hello to all the new mamas-I was a part of these wonderful uc threads during my last pregnancy. My beautiful daughter was stillborn. We found out she had passed away before labor began. I gave birth to her at home. She is our gift.

Congratulations to all the new babies that are now earthside! I have continued to keep up with the thread, though it was difficult reading it in the first few weeks, it has been a source of comfort. My family and I have come such a long way and are continueing to heal.

I have wanted to post and say hello for quite a while now but have held back. I feel compelled this morning that it is now time. Dh and I plan to welcome another spirit to our family. Not sure when, but we are open to the possibility if it were to happen soon. We have been feeling the call through dreams. I had an amazing dream not long ago with Galadriel watching over two babies growing in my belly, a boy and a girl. She has been visiting both dh and I in dreams and this has been very healing for us. I truly have a spirit babe! We plan to have an unassisted birth if we are so blessed again.

The loss of my daughter has been difficult, I wish that no woman should ever feel that pain. But through the pain and the loss there is healing and enlightenment. A pheonix rises from its own ashes. I am a changed person. My daughter left behind many gifts, and I will always carry them with me. I feel so much more aware, she gave me the insight to being a true mother, unconditionally. Through her life and death my dh and I have also been able to discover and heal ourselves from losing his mother one year ago. I have days that I cannot believe I am able to stand, the sadness is so heavy and other days I feel like I am bursting with life so bright. But during those times and the calms in between I feel a comfort in knowing my daughter is close to me though not in my arms. I feel her...........and this gives me hope! Birth is amazing, and death is not the end. I am looking forward to another birth journey, another adventure. I am currently reading Conscious Conception by Jeannine Parvati Baker. Such an amazing book. It has been spiritually healing to read.

I have so missed this thread and all of you in uc land!
The road goes ever on..........
Love, Brandi

[Chandar]

Brandi your strength is amazing. I have thought of you and your family often in the past few months. I wish you all peace, and joy in your journey.

[Lula's Mom]

Brandi I'm so glad you posted. I was just thinking of you and your family last night and wondering how you were. You're an incredible woman.

eta: And thank you, Niki, for the new thread.

[rainbowmoon]

Brandi, I'm sorry about your daughter. what a gift that you could birth her at home. I hope you find peace and healing in your birth journey and sending you love & baby dust.

[Aurora]

Brandi

I think of you and your sweet Galadriel often.....................

[cottonwood]

Brandi, thank you so much for coming back and continuing to share your beautiful spirit with us. I feel blessed and uplifted just to read your words. Much love and healing to you and your family!

[majazama]

Well, here you all are. I've been waiting for more posts to come up on the previous thread.

Brandi, thank you for posting again on the uc thread. I think you are such a great person to have "around". I've read parts of concious conception. .. very good book. Good luck on bringing a new soul into your family.

I actually went looking for your posts one day, because I wanted to know how you were doing. I saw your posts in pregnancy loss, and I cryed while reading your beautiful words of how you are dealing with your loss. I wanted to say something, but didn't know if it would be appropriate, as I have a baby the same age as galadriel.

[StacyL]

Pamamidwife,

I don't know what I'm looking for, any insight, I guess.

Saw my midwife yesterday for my two week pp visit. She said I had one of the top five most traumatic births she's seen in 21 years of being a midwife. She said I have healed beautifully, but she got me with the scissors while trying to remove a loose suture - ow! : Gee, I WAS recovering... She said she thinks he sat on the perineum too long - there were no hearttone issues. I don't thinkth emeconium was at all an issue, because it all came out BEHIND him, and it was a very small amount. She also said she felt the "1" five minute Apgar given by the neonatologist was bogus, as she saw him and said he was better than that at five minutes, and never had to be entubated or resuscitated. She said she wished I was going to be here in Peoria for my next birth so she could take care of me again, and do it the right way. She felt badly about the OB scaring me off the way he did. She said she would have labored with me at home, and then gone to the hospital when it was time. I have a lot of regret and wish I had done things very differently. Oh well, we are leaving here in July to go to dh's next assignment...ah, Navy life..

[gr8fulmom]

Brandi...thank you for posting...I am so glad that those words in my signature helped you in anyway...thanks to Robert Hunter the poet and lyricist for the late great Grateful Dead...it is from the song Scarlet Begonia's...

many hugs

Jen

[Ame]

Brandi...I too have been thinking of you. I ask a friend of yours how you are doing often and am always comforted by her response. You are an inspiration to me (and many others). I'm glad to hear Galadriel is with you and has brought so many positive things to your life.

I am quickly approaching my time....it's scarrya nd exciting all at the same time. Until now I have had no desire to read about birth or get mentally prepared. <this is my 4th birth-2nd UC> I am now feeeling much more ready and open to mental preparation. We talked to Lucy (1st UC baby) pediatrician (she is phenominal and very open to alternative medicine) and she was supportive of our birth choice and said she looked forward to meeting the new baby...this was comforting. I'm bigger with this pregnancy than I have been with my other three ( the other three were all about the same) and am feeling alot of pressure on my diaphram. Not sure if baby is head up or down...but with 7 weeks (give or take) to go I'm not too worried about it.

[oshunmama]

brandi and blessings to you and your dh in your healing

[cottonwood]

Stacy, I can't help but wonder if the midwife's actions had to do with her feeling freaked out about how difficult the labor was for you. I mean, "WE'VE GOT MEC!" seems like a bit of an overreaction to a little bit of meconium that comes out after the baby is born. Most babies do, after all, poop at birth or shortly thereafter. (Which makes sense if you think about it, with the pressure of the vaginal walls squeezing against their bodies.)

And if the heart tones were fine, and they'd already waited three hours for him to be born, why the violent rush at the last second? I'm not saying there *was* no reason for it, but it doesn't sound like she's given you one yet. And if he was slow to start breathing, why cut the cord right away and cut off his oxygen source?

My first birth was pretty traumatic too, so I do sympathize. My midwife, who had attended some 1500 births, said that mine was one of the hardest (most painful) she'd ever witnessed. (Although -- let me take a moment to gripe -- during the labor itself she said things that implied that she felt I was making too much of it.) Anyway, I've gone on to give birth three more times, and I won't say they were less painful, but I was VERY much more able to deal with the pain, and I look back on those births as empowering and definitely *not* traumatic. I did, however, do a lot of talking and thinking and working through the trauma of my first, and I know that helped immensely in getting through my others and feeling positive about them.

[StacyL]

Originally Posted by blueviolet

And if he was slow to start breathing, why cut the cord right away and cut off his oxygen source?

My thought exactly - and of course she cut it instantaneously!

Originally Posted by blueviolet

My midwife, who had attended some 1500 births, said that mine was one of the hardest (most painful) she'd ever witnessed. (Although -- let me take a moment to gripe -- during the labor itself she said things that implied that she felt I was making too much of it.)

Thankfully, no one made that suggestion to me - I would have had them by the throat!

Originally Posted by blueviolet

Anyway, I've gone on to give birth three more times, and I won't say they were less painful, but I was VERY much more able to deal with the pain, and I look back on those births as empowering and definitely *not* traumatic. I did, however, do a lot of talking and thinking and working through the trauma of my first, and I know that helped immensely in getting through my others and feeling positive about them.

Hopefully, it will go differently next time, but if not I will definitely be better prepared.

[cottonwood]

That's exactly it, Stacy, I was just better prepared. The first time, I really was not expecting it to be so painful, so it was a shock to me mentally which of course probably made it physically worse. Vicious cycle.

[majazama]

That whole cutting the cord as soon as the baby is out thing just totally doesn't make sence to me. I saw some pictures on the net of a premature baby's birth (natural). And as soon as that *tiny* little one was out of the birth canal, the tiny little umbilicus was clamped.... that baby had no chance. I think it was about 25 weeks old.

At hospitals, they clamp the cord because there might be a second "suprise" baby, and something might happen? Can someone please enlighten me as to why they do this every time?