I am definitely homebirthing!!!!!!!!!!

[Jude Rose]

Yesterday we went to interview/converse with our midwife. What an amazing lady!
She's been helping women deliver babies in their own home for 33 years! That's 1700 births. : One of my questions was how many deaths she's had and the answer was zero.
She had so many great answers and we just synced on so many issues, like Vitamin K shots and eye ointment and herbs, etc.

She really helped me understand what power a mom has over the size of her baby. I honestly didn't know my food choices made such a difference-I kinda thought whatever size it wanted to be it would be. Well, she explained that a high glucose diet, not properly balanced with fiber and protein will simply make bigger babies. Since she knows all her clients want to not only start the labor at home, but finish it there, she suggests moms become very aware of their food choices and use exercise to keep glucose processed. I'm not preaching here, but to be helpful, I'll give an example in case this is new to somebody reading.

For example, choose a piece of fruit over a glass of juice. If you have pasta, even if it's a whole wheat pasta, be aware of the sugar it will break down into and include a good protein source. She warns against too much emphasis on dairy and loves eggs. (I'm so lucky an organic egg farm is just down the road). She described it all as a non-militant diabetic diet.

Anyway, I guess I'm gushing, but DH was so impressed and reassured and she suggested we have DH's mom over for a visit to her since, as a retired RN, she's a biggest barrier to family acceptance for a homebirth.

Anyway, I'm just glowing and had to share!!! Woo-hoo!

Jude

[mamabear&babybear]

It's really nice to click with your mw. I've thought about a homebirth but I don't think our insurance will cover it. Sounds like you are excited, annd I'm excited for you!!

[poep]

The glucose point is really interesting. Please share any other tips over what could be good choices -- I always associate pasta with bulking up, but I never thought it was due to sugar! I'm going to be careful, because I often feel like pasta is the only thing I can get down for dinner and I rarely ate pasta before.
UGH!! I can't wait to get back to exercising!! I think I told you that my OB said lay off until the next visit (August 8!!!) because of the brown spotting But, now I haven't spotted in over a week and I think I'm going to call on Monday and ask if I can resume moderate exercise. For now, I'll have to walk through the kickbox and spin classes I'm teaching tomorrow --- I'm sure that the members are super suspicious already.

[heabrook]

Congrats on finding a good midwife!

We find one too just recently. Our first appointment is August 5th -- I'll be 12 weeks then. We are going to have a homebirth too. This is our first pregnancy.

Some of our family members don't really approve (like my MIL) but it doesn't really matter because it is not their choice. So, don't let your MIL influence your choices either.. you have to do what is right for you.

[anabellee]

that's wonderful!

[Jude Rose]

Thanks Amy.

Poep, maybe this link to a pretty good glycemic index will help you guage your food more easily. glycemic index
I want to emphasis that in no way did my m/w or I say to actually diet. What she explained was that the higher quality food choices will help the baby stay normal and healthy. Getting to know what foods are low glycemic foods is a helpful tool.
As for pasta, well 1st of all, if your body is craving pasta, then you ought to eat it. But is it whole wheat? Whole pasta has fiber and protein already in it and can be very balanced.

I hope your doctor loosens up about the exercise. I think he's just being really cautious; it reminds me of when women weren't supposed to exercise during their periods and it was finally discovered that it actually helps. I had brown spotting too and I believe it happens because hormonally that would have been around the time I would have normally had my period.

[Mooney]

I recently hired a midwife for a homebirth too, and she's of the same opinion as Jude Rose's mw far as recommending that "her ladies" choose low glycemic index foods when possible. She didn't specifically say it was to prevent large babies, but that it would prevent gestational diabetes...basically she has everyone eat as if they have GD! Her quick list of daily recommendations sounded like a vegetarian-focused version of the brewer diet:

3-4 quarts of water per day (or herbal tea)
5 servings of vegetables, one must be a dark leafy green
2 fruits (whole, and one must be a citrus fruit or a tomato)
no more than 3 glasses of milk
at least 5 servings of beans per week, focus on vegetarian sources of protein
Low GI whole grains (oatmeal, quinoa, etc) and Ezekial bread (you can buy it frozen-- it's made with sprouted grains and lentils, with a GI of 48)

and...walk 2 miles daily.

I have some questions, though, after looking at the online GI database. (I used this one: http://www.glycemicindex.com/ --it's searchable) I'm wondering how to use the glycemic index with the glycemic load to make better choices.

Pasta, in comparison with breads, doesn't seem that bad, in some cases. Am I missing something? The GL's are high, but GI's seem really variable...sometimes they're often around 40...which is good, right? And the difference in GI seems to be very slight between white and whole wheat pastas, which is confusing!

Anybody know if things like ww tortillas and pita bread would be better choices than breads because of the lower total carbs (GL), even though the function the same way (as carriers for sandwich fillings, etc).

If you eat something with a high GI, (my DH makes beautiful homemade half whole wheat pizzas...I will be very sad if I have to avoid eating it) is there any way to mitigate the insulin jolt? Like making sure to pair the "high GI" food with a high-protein food to slow down the absorption of carbs?

Maybe a site/book for diabetics trying to use the GI as a guide would help...I'll be looking.

And, Jude Rose, I have a nurse MIL too who isn't so keen on out-of-hospital birth. We're not telling her about the HB...I dread all the lies we'll have to concoct, but I think it's the better course than trying to convince her (and so does DH). She pestered me through my last pg to try to convince me not to have my son at a birth center!

[Jude Rose]

Interesting points, Mooney.
The way I read it index, a GI of 55 is low, a GL of 10 is low. So as you look at the chart, it kinda helps to have both. I was a little confused about the numbers they were saying about wheat bread vs white bread until I scrolled down and saw the numbers for WHOLEWHEAT bread. Aha! That makes a load of difference.
So that's part of your answer to the pizza and pita question. The other part is the proportion of gluten to protein and fiber. If you have 40% of your meal a healthy carb and then the rest is fiber and protein, you're balanced and the body is in sync.

It's so neat to have other homebirthers in this group. Part of me thinks it's so radical to do this, especially on the first, and what fun to share this experience with all of you. (The other part thinks it's so obvious there really was no other choice)

[DreamsInDigital]

My mom is an RN and I finally know she really supports my homebirth. We had our first homebirth, third baby, in her kitchen.
Yesterday, she asked me if I wanted to plan my birth for her kitchen again.
I totally bawled. That, to me, is just an unbelievable display of her support.

[Gray's Mommy]

Congratulations on finding a midwife & your decision. I am also homebirthing & super excited since my first experience was a hospital birth. I am also very jealous of your organic egg farm which is down the road from you

[phillychiquita]

I am also planning to homebirth and it is really helpful to get some diet insight this early in the game. GD runs in the family, so I definitely want to do what I can to avoid it if I can and thinking of it as a way of eating to help decrease the odds of GD (rather than a diet plan) is really helpful to me. I am going to see my MW on tuesday, so I plan to ask her about dietary guidelines too. I know she makes clients keep a food diary in the 2nd and 3rd trimesters -- but I'll let you know if I have anything more to add.

I too am not planning to tell MIL about my plans. DH isnt sure that is the right plan, but I am pretty certain that she will not be all that excited about the idea and it seems like it would just be a lot easier to leave her in the dark assuming we are doing it the way she would rather than have to explain it all. In fact, so far, when people are asking me where I plan to deliver, all I say right now is, I have not decided - we are researching all of our options. I figure its not a lie exactly, and it starts them thinking about how seriously we are taking this decision about where to birth. I think will be able to put them off for a long while by saying this... and will be able to move ahead with my plans without having to justify my choices, but by the time I do reveal it (if I do) to people, I also feel like they will know I was really doing my homework and this "idea" to homebirth isnt some kind of "fanciful whim" we got without careful consideration, or isnt just a way to be different/activist....its a carefully considered, well researched and thoughtful decision about what we feel will be the safest and gentlest experience for our family.

Good to know there are so many other mamas out there doing homebirth too!

[ekblad9]

Congratulations!!! How exciting and your midwife sounds awesome!