What will you do differently?

[Cujobunny]

If this is not your first baby, what did you learn with your previous pregnancies, births and children?

I will labour at home as long as possible before going to the birthing centre.
I'm using a midwife instead of an OB.
I hope for a natural birth (no meds)
I will cosleep right away (I was too nervous and kept hearing that it wasn't OK but I gradually started bringing him into bed anyway)
I will wear this baby more (I used a Bjorn with ds but now I have a sling and a Mei Tai - this will keep my hands free to play with ds)


I think I'll generally just be a more relaxed parent!

[mommysusie]

Well, I will still have a csection again because I feel it is the safest option for me and the baby.
But, I will be a more patient mommy than I was before. My other children are older now, so it won't be as hectic.
This was the first time that I actually planned this pregnancy, I had a loss of a surprise baby back in Aug at 19 weeks and after that it really made me realize that I wanted another baby. I think because this baby was so wanted that I will be a better mom and not take him or her for granted.
I will try to breastfeed exclusively, which was something I didn't do with the last three. With them, I breastfed when I was at home, and then they got formula when I was at work. This time I will up my milk production and pump more.
I will not let anyone else in our family influence my names that I choose for our baby, I will choose what I like and noone else.

[mkoontz]

I'll gather more support for the birth process, maybe employ a doula, but I'll be sure if I don't like my midwife to change (I didn't last time and it made the birth very difficult).
Otherwise I think I'll do pretty much the same. I'll maybe be aware of how fast it goes, but maybe not. When you're in those first threee months it feels like forever.:lol

[dantesmama]

*I'm having this babe at home, just us.
*I'm not doing prenatals every month.
*Family can wait to see the baby until we feel ready to have visitors.
*I won't be so obsessive about recording feedings and diapers! (I seriously kept a log of all this until DS was almost 4 months old. Don't ask me why.)
*CDing from the beginning.
*With this pregnancy I'm so much less stressed and more confident than I was the first time around.

[Emma's_Mommy]

i will not eat everything is site when i am pregnant....

i will not stay in the hospital as long.....

i will not let the nurses bully me around b/c i look young...

i will sleep whenever possible and nor care what the house looks like....

[alegna]

Mostly we had a great experience last time and are planning a lot of the same:

same midwife
homebirth
option of water
etc etc

I think I'm going to have onlookers hang out at my parent's house for most of labor though- they've moved close to us so they can stay there and be here in under 10 minutes.

-Angela

[suprgrl]

Good question!

I will have a homebirth with a midwife this time. (Hospital with ob last time, and although the labor and delivery part went well, ds spent 5 unnecessary hours in the NICU before I could see him or nurse him)

I will not be bullied into the vitamin k or eye goop.

I will be less worried about how often the baby nurses.

We still plan to cosleep, no vax, no circ, ec, babywear... all that.

eta I will not obsess about my due date (haha, yeah right, but I will try...)

Ronna

[jandj+1]

I will:

*use a midwife instead of an OB
*not be surprised if the baby decides to come early
*not sell a house, buy a house, and move in my last month of pregnancy
*if I end up with a NICU stay again, insist that the baby get no formula, ever. In fact, I may start building up a freezer stash now while i still have milk. Just in case
*take a childbirth class that teaches pain management rather than just pushing epidurals
*not let them take the baby away immediately unless s/he is really, really sick
*bring cloth diapers and mama cloth to the hospital

[ThreeBeans]

i WILL NOT GIVE BIRTH IN A HOSPITAL!:lol

[NightRose]

i WILL NOT GIVE BIRTH IN A HOSPITAL!:lol

:yeah: exactly what I would have said! :lol

[shell024]

Like Angela, we will be doing a lot of the same and are planning another freebirth. There are a lot things I will do differently though:

-Ensure more privacy for myself (aka, being ALONE) during much of the labor
-Actually be prepared for the BABY (duh!! Yes I was a dumbass, and didn't have anything set up, together...like a place to sleep on the floor that was comfortable, no cloth diapers, and having certain parts of the house cleaner...)
-Eat and drink more during labor (I only had a couple sips of tea, that was IT for 9.5 hours...no good)
-Don't try and stand up right after giving birth!
-Assign friends/family to bring over meals or help with laundry/dishes, but not to hang around too long
-Freeze enough meals for the first week so we don't need any visitors for a week or two. If they want to visit, they can take ds somewhere so I can sleep :lol
-Have comfy mama pads ready
-Take care of myself more during postpartum
-Have a lotus birth
-dry the placenta to grind and encapsulate

[alegna]

-Assign friends/family to bring over meals or help with laundry/dishes, but not to hang around too long
-Freeze enough meals for the first week so we don't need any visitors for a week or two. If they want to visit, they can take ds somewhere so I can sleep :lol


:yeah: to both of those. I'm already starting a list of food suggestions for people to make/bring. I could NOT get enough to eat the two weeks after dd was born.

-Angela

[Lukas's Mama]

I will not obsess about my due date.

I will not let my house become a madhouse during or immediately following the birth. The doors will be locked, do not come over.

I will have better video this time.

I will CD from the beginning.

I will probably get less rest with this pregnancy due to chasing a toddler.

[minkl]

i will stress less during the pregnancy (worrying if the baby is okay)

i will have a homebirth with a midwife

i will be more cautious about organic eating, using natural care products and cleaning products, avoiding fish, and other ways to limit toxins

i will wear my baby more in the early months

i will gain more weight during pregnancy, because it came off too soon and I didn't enjoy eating all day long to try and keep up

i wil night wean sooner for my own sanity

start the baby on probiotics from birth (ds didn't get them until 4 months and mucousy poops...which cleared up right after he got them)

[flapjack]

I will accept that continual, regular BH contractions during our last months of pregnancy are how I do pregnancy. They move my babies into good positions and are normal for me. Even if the midwife does think I'm a freak when I tell her they're regular.
I will accept that my due date is a work of fiction. I will not even look at a bottle of castor oil, regardless of how fed up I am. See point 1.
I will stay far away from hospitals and anyone with a white coat, and will not be allowing anyone to weigh me and categorise me as high risk based solely on my BMI. Given that there's no sensible intervention for fat mamas, I might as well just keep myself away from the shroudwavers.

Since my last birth, we moved to an area with a 0.6% homebirth rate (which is crap, even by the UK's standards) and I have yet to meet anyone who had a natural hospital birth. I'm concerned that I may, possibly, have a battle on my hands.

[CrunchyClark]

I don't have any regrets from any of my other births, so I don't know what I'll do differently this time! I have had hospital births with an OB, but he's low intervention and they've been med-free how I wanted them and very easy. So, I'll keep that up thank you! LOL

I think I'll try to practice my yoga more this pregnancy as I wasn't as religious with it last time as I should have been!!

[familyof4ks]

:wink
Things that will be different.....

-This will be the 3rd vbac!
-This will be our first home birth (last 2 were in a free standing birth center- LOVED it)
-I will begin pumping early on so when my big baby (I have large ones) doesn't gain weight due to them becoming small (They end up tiny and petite) I won't get hounded with suplimental feedings- they will get only mama's milk!
-I will eat more organic and natural
-I will work out through out my pregnancy and be prepared more for another great natural birth
-I will not get so irritated about little things like how other people choose to do things!! :o

~Wendee~

[jrojala]

I won't be dealing with an ob, I won't set foot in a hospital unless I actually have to, I am thinking of uc but I am not fully decided, I will not worry as much about how I'll be a mom, and more about how I am eating, No one will check my cervix unless totally needed, and last but not least, I will let other people help me after, and not feel bad asking them to leave right away.

[care_a_boo]

I didn't discover my crunchy side until I became a mom, so for me it will be pretty different.

*Instead of "trying" to go natural, I *will* have a natural birth. (I didn't suceed last time.)
*I'll give birth at home with a midwife (instead of in hosp with OB).
*Instead of "trying" to breastfeed for at least a year, I *will* breastfeed for at least 2 years. (I did suceed, and she was 3 when she weaned.)
*I will already know about slings, so maybe I won't be insane, stir-crazy, and incapacitated for the first month.
*I will EC from the beginning (instead of starting at 9 mo).
*I won't bother buying a crib, borrowing a bassinet, and lusting after a Snugglenest. I'll know I can just get in bed with my baby and relax.
*I will leave the cord uncut until it stops pulsing (instead of clamping immediately and donating cord blood).
*I'm taking folic acid, but not a full prenatal vitamin.
*I don't plan to have an u/s.
*I don't plan to find out the gender.
*I will have friends (I moved during the last pregnancy, so I knew no one) who I know I can call to cook, clean, or just be present at the birth if I want.
*DH won't have to take any classes or have any jobs beyond a) exuding love and b) doing what he's told when he's told (nothing to know or remember); and he'll have backup in case he gets tired (see "friends" above).

What I HOPE will be different:
*no PPD!
*no back labor!
*no crisis of faith where I think God must hate me and I forget that I'm even going to have a baby but think I've just come to the hospital to die of pain.

[Mindi22]

I will have a less stressful pregnancy.

I will exercise (or, at least not be a couch potato).

I will have a home birth with a Midwife (or at the very least, at water birth at a birthing center)

I know my body can do this - I know the baby can do this. I won't be so fearful of it all this time.

I will enjoy pregnancy - at least, I will try, more than I did last time.

I will eat better this time around, and not gain 75 lbs.

I will wear my baby from the start, as much as possible, and especially at work so he or she can be with me most of the time.

Geez.... I kinda feel like I'm making new years resolutions! :)

-Mindi

[Vaquitita]

some things i want to do the same
homebirth, no vax, cd, ec, ebf, co sleeping

some things i want to do different

not circ if it's another boy

eat more during labor (last time i went 36+ hours on just a chicken salad and some yogurt. i really could have used some more energy for pushing)

waterbirth

hoping my midwife will be there for the birth instead of a stranger backup miidwife

going to try drinking a strong rrl infusion at the start of labor

after the baby's born, i will EAT this time. last time for days afterwards i was not hungry and didn't eat much which let to extra tiredness, didn't help my anemia, and eventually led to the beginnings of toxemia (luckily i had read dr. brewer's work and as soon as my midwife mentioned toxemia i started scarfing protein. which immediately made me feel better and made those symptoms go away)

eat a traditional foods diet


i'm sure there are others, but thats the main things

eta: and i really need to not eat icecream everyday. which is hard when you're pregnant during the summer.

[flapjack]

Something I forgot:
I won't allow the cord to be cut until the placenta is out. Skye cried for the first time as her cord was cut, and it's such a sad memory for me.

[Cujobunny]

and i really need to not eat icecream everyday. which is hard when you're pregnant during the summer.

:lol When I was pregnant with ds, I believe I ate ice cream every day in my last couple of months, thru Jan & Feb. I expect it will be the same this time seeing it will be hot out!

[Cinder]

There really isn't anything about my second birth/hospital stay that I would change. It was perfect, I was in labour for all of 10 minutes, I pushed for less than 10 seconds, my midwife allowed his cord to pulsate, I held him for 2 hours before they took him to weigh him (right in the room), the only time he left my arms while in the hospital was if I was going to the bathroom, and then I gave him to DH. It was perfect.

But in general, my only goal is to get to a point in pregnancy where this is possible. My dd had to have her stomach pumped, had to be give diuretics, had to be taught how to swallow, so she spent some time in the NICU...I really don't want to do that again, and definitely not anything worse than that!