Birthing questions - Page 2

[2+twins]

I agree that homebirth is your best bet. A lot of first time moms who knew about homebirth as an option have opted for the hospital for the first time, "just in case". In a lot of scenarios that leads to a high intervention birth or c-section (this is what happened to a friend of mine). So just be careful and be extremely selective of your provider AND place of birth. If they're not jiving with you, don't think they'll change. You change - providers!

Book recs (aside from what others have said):

Baby Catcher (not a manual but a wonderful read)
The Birth Book (Sears)

I'm a Bradley Instructor & I think Bradley is great, particularly for first-timers. LOTS of information there so that can really help put your mind at ease (at least that was my experience). However, the key to the Bradley Method is relaxation and with my next pregnancy I plan to try a hypno program to aide in that. So I think a combo approach might be a good idea.

And not to cause too much controversy or anything and I'll preface this by saying that I have absolutely no document to point to to support this, but I've been warned AGAINST taking folic acid during pregnancy by my first dd's neurologist. She has a bunch of developmental delays (which I personally feel are at least primarily caused by her exposure to ultrasound - visual scans, doppler - PM me if you want more info on that). Anyway, he was seeing her to try to determine a cause of the problems and did an MRI, etc. When he found out I was pg again he personally called me to tell me that he's been doing a lot of research in the field of folic acid and has found that too much of it can cause problems like we've seen in my daughter. I'm like, "what about the benefit of it protecting against spina bifidia?" He said that the neural tube is as closed as it's going to get by 5 weeks of pregnancy (so only like a week after most of us even find out we're pregnant at the earliest) so continuing with folic acid supplements after this point in time no longer helps in that arena and pretty much everyone's diet these days is packed with more than 100% the daily requirement for folic acid as it is since everything under the sun has been fortified with it (just check the label on your cereal, etc.). He also said that you can get enough folic acid (I think he said for the week but maybe for the day) from eating a leafy green salad. So why add on top of it? Too much of anything can be bad and folic acid isn't the only thing to be concerned with - other vitamins as well could be a concern but his study focused on folic acid. Basically he said what I had already heard - you should get your vitamins & minerals through your diet - not a pill. He said that if you know you're deficient in a particular vitamin or mineral then go ahead & supplement, but don't take any of the multi/mega vitamins as they're ALL packed with folic acid. So my approach now is to take the prenatal vitamin until I miss my period/get a positive pg test (about 4 weeks preg - 2 weeks post-conception). Just to be cautious.

Anyway, I just wanted to share that tidbit of info. Take it for what it's worth.

Oh, and I started this post last night and I'm finishing this morning so sorry if I'm repeating anything that was posted in the meantime.

And good for you for doing your research now! You're awesome!

[BumbleBena]

Thanks so much, everyone!

Ok, I have to share now. I went with DP and MIL to the Harry Potter Release Party on Friday, and DP and I were looking through childbirth books. Not much luck, unfortunately. : Anyway, DP wandered off to find a book for himself, and I was chatting with MIL. She mentioned having to have bloodwork done at some point, and the bruising it had caused, and I shuddered and said, "Ugh, I have never, EVER in my life had bloodwork done, and I never plan to, it's so unnatural!" She replied, "That's going to change. The first thing the OB's going to do is make you have it done." DP had returned, and said, "She will NEVER see an OB. We're seeing midwives!" MIL was taken aback, and was snippy with me for a bit (she does that when I've done something she doesn't approve of :LOL ) but DP is my hero for saying that.

I started the Blue Ribbon Baby diet on Friday, and we bought the Rainbow Light vitamins. Oh, I also bought a used copy of LLL's breastfeeding guide (my SIL, who is pregnant, is now reading it!). I feel great, and hopefully DP will want to go to another bookstore later. I guess I can always order any book they don't have on the shelf.

Thanks again, mamas! Y'all are wonderful!

[WinterBaby]

I wanted to add.. if you're in the position where you need to have bloodwork and IV crap done - FIRST make sure you are well hydrated if you can - drink a LOT the day of bloodraw. Then, TELL them you have tiny, hard to stick veins and specifically request the child sized butterflies for it (21 gauge needles I believe they are.) If you're in the hospital and ARE hard to stick in an emergency, having a heplock already put in is not the most ridiculous idea, although I wouldn't call it necessary. In that realm, really push for the heplock rather than an IV if you feel a need to go that direction, since tiny veins I've seen seem to give out easily with an IV running, and a new one hard to find. Bloodwork doesn't usually cause bruising (remember to keep the pressure on the site for enough time to stop bleeding,) and with some luck and an IV not turned up too high, you might not have much tenderness to show for that either. (Should you ever need either, while crossing my fingers otherwise )

[BumbleBena]

Wow, thanks! I had surgery as a teenager, and was so terrified of bloodwork they skipped it. The surgeon who took care of me actually took pity on my tiny veins, and decided on his own to use the child-sized needles on me. I remember being thankful to the man. He was super nice.

I'm curious... what's a heplock?

I bought Ina May's Guide to Childbirth today, and it's SUCH a good book, I don't think it's ever going to leave my sight! I have every intention of buying Spiritual Midwifery after this. Ina May Gaskin is my HERO! :LOL

[hopefulfaith]

IV therapy question - hope this helps & isn't TMI

When we go to draw blood, particularly in the emergency dept. (where I work), if someone has small veins, I might ask them if they'd like me to simply put in a heplock or a saline lock in while I'm at it; that way, if we decide someone needs IV fluids or medications, we don't have to stick you again.

A "heplock" is an abbreviation for "heparin lock" -- heparin is a medication that they used to put into people's IVs to keep them patent when they weren't being used -- to keep blood from clotting in the little plastic catheter, etc., which would make the IV not work. We don't use heparin anymore to do that, since medical science discovered that using plain old normal saline worked nicely, if you just flush out the catheter a couple times a day. That is why we call them "saline locks" now.

The heplocks/saline locks are little pieces of plastic tubing that fit on to an IV catheter and "cap it off", so to speak. You place the IV catheter in the vein, withdraw the needle part of it, and put the little piece of plastic tubing or little plastic cap on the end of the catheter. That way, the catheter is still in the vein and you can still hook IV tubing with fluids/meds up to it with a little adapter, or can still give medications through it with a syringe.

Placing an IV catheter is different than drawing blood with a butterfly needle in that you need a better, longer, stronger vein for the most part than you do to simply pierce a vein with a small needle.

However, the size difference between a butterfly needle (~21 gauge, usually - they make them in different sizes), and an IV catheter is generally not that much (IV catheters: 24, 22, 20, 18, 16, 14...gauge -- many different sizes -- the bigger the number, the smaller the catheter). If I used a 21 gauge needle to draw your blood, I could probably place an 18-20 gauge catheter. An 18-20 is sufficient with which to give fluids in most cases, and you can administer blood through both (though an 18 is preferable).

The one caveat is that once you place an IV catheter, you should not draw blood from it again - you can draw blood from it initially when you place it, but the research over the last few years (particularly the last 5) is indicating that blood really should not be drawn from an indwelling, peripheral (small) IV catheter -- the blood cells "squeeze" too much with the pressure from the syringe/vacutainer on the catheter, and your results can be skewed/wrong because of that...and they'd just have to stick you again! Best simply to have someone butterfly you if they need more samples after you have an IV in.

Any more questions, you can post or pm me. I'm an RN; I love IV therapy.

[BumbleBena]

Definitely NOT TMI! Thank you for keeping me informed!

I think they did use a catheter on me when I was in surgery. I remember they put me on a saline drip, and then they gave me "happy drugs" because I was really freaking out at one point, and then something else to make me sleep through the surgery. The needle thing was still scary for me, though. I'm definitely a wuss-bag. :

Congratulations on your own bundle of joy! How are you enjoying pregnancy?

Thank you for your help

[WinterBaby]

I find that thinking of the IV specifically as a catheter in my arm and NOT a needle relieves *some* squeamishness... I'm less afraid to move it around. Stupid and minor, but there nonetheless, lol.

[BumbleBena]

I was kind of afraid to move when it was in, like I'd tear it out or something. I think my fear of IVs and needles comes from when I was 3. I had pneumonia and they had to cast my arm because I pulled my IV out.

Gross, right? Ah well, I was just a baby.

[Raven]

My journey of discovery began 5 yrs and nine months ago when I fell pregnant for the first time (its Amber's 5th birthday today ) and I was at the tender age of 18...

I was given the book Gentle Birth Choices by Barbara Harper (from my mil) and it totally changed everything I knew about birth! I decided to find a midwife and wanted a water birth at home. I did a lot of research online (which brought me to MDC ) and read a lot of books. I must say though that it was by reading birth stories that I was really moved and motivated to have a home birth! (You can follow the BirthBlog link in my sig to read some awesome birth stories)

I ended up having an amazing water birth at home with my husband and two midwives. It was beyond incredible! I was 18 and I strongly believe that any healthy woman can have a safe and empowering home birth if she truly believes in herself and in her innate ability to birth.

The one thing that also made me feel more at ease was when I acknowledged that my baby knew how to be born. It was very empowering indeed!

As far as viamins go - I would recommend not taking suppliments and rather make sure you get the required vitamins and nutrients through the food you eat. Vitamins are good but you can also have too many which can cause problems. If you are eating a well balanced diet there really is no need to take suppliments. I would suggest that you look for food that is naturally enriched with folic acid and all the other vitamins you require. Unless you are deficient in a particular vitamin or nutrient, I see no need for suppliments.

It is also good to know things like drinking tea or coffee prevents iron absorbtion by up to 80% and things like that. Information is power and he more informed you are the better your chances of feeling empowered and having a positive experience.

[mandalamama]

you can't have enough folic acid

you can't do enough research on birth options

you don't need a glucose tolerance test done with "glucola" you can eat 18 jellybeans and get the exact amount/action of glucose in your body

you can't read enough birth stories (read the stories here at MDC, and then search google for "birth stories" to read the more mainstream birth stories, so you can comparison-shop so to speak)

two great books that helped me tremendously:
The Thinking Woman's Guide To A Better Birth
Birthing From Within

if you get Birthing From Within, both you and your partner can do the artsy projects from it before you even get pregnant, to see how you view pregancy and birth! i loved "womb with a view" also, BFW is helpful after birth, to go back and heal from anything that didn't go as you wanted it to go.

and ... have fun!