What do you wish you would have known beforehand? - Page 5

[Wildecat]

Originally Posted by eirual

Have an Enema handy (my little piece of heaven and c-section preventer )- my midwife asked her coleague to bring one after I requested one since hers was expired.

Bowel Buddies (Bran wafers) were truly my best buddies, better than stool softeners for me

I'll definitely get a tub next time around.

Why is an enema a c-section preventer? What are the benefits of enema before labor? what kind do you use?

[alsoSarah]

:

[pigpokey]

I wish I had known that midwives are NOT always empowering or as hands off as they say they are, and to have someone there to advocate for me against the midwife, instead of telling everyone ahead of time to trust her.

[Lilike]

i second that this should be stickied! i know i'll be looking for this thread again in the future!

[mom2tillie]

This is a great thread... thank you all...

-Iris

[Mama Poot]

I wish I would have disciplined myself to drink more water and eat more. It was only an 8 hour labor and birth with 1 hour of pushing, but I was whipped and because I didn't drink enough water my blood pressure bottomed out at 60/30 and I laid on the bed for 6 hours too whacked to do anything. DH had to force me to nurse Henri. I know they say to eat and drink as you feel, but I don't think it hurts to keep hydrated even if you don't feel like drinking. Other than that, everything else was perfect. I wish someone would have told me how beautiful and EASY homebirth is when I had my FIRST kid!

[DoomaYula]

That it would still feel painful. I thought that being at home and with just my dh, my bff, and the mw, would make it peaceful and pain-free. Peaceful, yes! Pain-free, yeah right!

[zoie2013]

:

[simplelah]

OOOOH.
This thread is full of great stuff.
Subbing.

[georgia]

Bumping

[SquibsNCrackers]

This depends on your relationship with your neighbors, and how near/far they are, but I'm glad I told my closest neighbors I was planning a homebirth so they wouldn't freak out if they heard me, um, screaming, or saw cars arriving and lights on in the middle of the night. Also, if we had needed to call on them in an emergency, we wouldn't have had to explain what we were doing and why.

As it turned out, the women on my street were happy and excited for us each time they saw the lights go on and the midwives pull up.

[CrunchyDoula]

This is a wonderful thread! I agree that it should be stickied! Thanks for helping me to prepare for my future homebirth!

[Arwyn]

Stickying. (Does anyone actually read the stickies, though? )

[Renai]

Originally Posted by Arwyn

Stickying. (Does anyone actually read the stickies, though? )

Absolutely! And thoroughly enjoy them

[mommycakes]

Originally Posted by Arwyn

Stickying. (Does anyone actually read the stickies, though? )

For sure! I just read it and took notes. Thanks! What a great thread.

[pdxmomazon]

Originally Posted by Arwyn

Stickying. (Does anyone actually read the stickies, though? )

YES!

Soooo much to think about....

[pixiedust]

that I really would want that juice. Really my homebirth couldn't have gone better.. but I had bought the juice the midwife wanted me to have on hand, went overdue and we ended up drinking it before hand and I forgot to buy more that week. While in labor I REALLY wanted something to drink to help keep my energy up and we only had enough left for one glass.. it was wonderful but after that I was stuck w/ water.

[nashvillemidwife]

One thing I wish I had known before attending a recent birth... sports drink is better than water. My last client was so determined to stay hydrated that she had a seizure from electrolyte imbalance. I won't force it, but from now on I am going to strongly encourage it sports drink during a long labor.

[~ATenthMuse~]

Originally Posted by Arwyn

Stickying. (Does anyone actually read the stickies, though? )

Absolutely! Great thread, ty all!

[honeybee]

Originally Posted by Guest*

I wish I would have made it perfectly clear to my husband where the birthing supplies were and how they were to be used. Our birth ended up being unassisted, so it would have been helpful for him to know what a receiving blanket was used for and where to find it!

I was terrified about tearing again, and the baby's head was crowning FAST, and our mw was not there yet. I yelled at dh to get the olive oil for perineal support. He had absolutely NO IDEA what the olive oil was for or what he was supposed to do with it, poor man. It was a moot point anyway, because by the time he got in position, there was no time for the olive oil, and he needed to catch. I only had one small tear that didn't require stitching, though.