The midwives just walked in the door, the doula is here, and Mama tlw and Sister tlw are driving to Jackson, MS to get on the first plane. Good thing Sister tlw works for the airline! Spunky the dog has been (happily) exiled down the hall to stay with our neighbors and their two lhasas, Spunky’s favorite mates. He thinks he’s gone for a playdate. Little does he know!
Mr. tlw has put my pre-made “Peaceful Labor” mix cds in the changer, and set up my orange blossom candles. (The scent has helped me fight nausea.) He has the hose going to fill up the birthing pool as we speak, and I’m going to get in it as soon as I finish posting this and sending e-mail to everyone who demanded to be notified when the birth was imminent. The doula is gathering various stuff that I think I might need, like my punchy clown for those “I wanna hit something” kinds of moments, and my night (dental) guard for those “bear down and grit your teeth” kinds of moments.
And me, well, I’m eating a protein bar for energy, I’m pretty sure I’ll need it, and trying to get focused.
The next time I talk to you Dopers, I’ll be a Mama! Wish me a safe and speedy delivery, won’t you?
How exciting! You’ll have to let me know if being in the water really does help- I saw a “water birth” on one of those ‘A Baby Story’ shows and it looked interesting. I’m 11 weeks pregnant right now and am pretty sure that I want drugs during my labor and delivery because I’ve turned into a big 'fraidy cat!
Good Luck, I hope all goes smoothly and quickly and as painlessly as possible! And congratulations (in advance)!
Eonwe, there’s a method of giving birth where the woman gets in a large tub of water during the contractions- being in the warm water is supposed to relax the mom and make the contractions less painful. Apparently your SO can get in there with you if you so desire. On the show that I saw with it, the woman allowed her other child, a toddler, to get in the tub with her for a while and play.
I have read that some places that use this method will let you continue all the way through to the actual birth in the water, others make you get out before the actual “crowning of the head” and all start. I think some professionals are worried about the baby drowning in the water. It certainly sounds like and interesting way to give birth!
Both bigger and softer than a catcher’s mitt, Eonwe.
Seriously though:
One opinion is that the child is less stressed coming from the internal fluid environment into an external fluid environment in the moments immediatly following birth. Then, while they are still exposed to the bright lights, they are not assaulted by the unfiltered sounds (pretty big difference from the womb into the real world) the use of a birth pool allows for a more natural push from the mother, and a more graduated exposure of the little tike to the real world environment.
And yes, I have to agree… Don’t stop breathing, it freaks out the father.
Oh, how wonderful for you. Our last child was born at home in our tub just over a month ago. It was wonderful.
Good luck, and may it be everything you want. Hope the little one gets here soon.
And don’t forget to relax. Oh yeah, and breathe.
Side note: I was told that if you push on your hands and knees, when the head crowns to look up so that the head is born slowly, if you put your head on your chest you push harder.
Of course, you probably are already in the water and won’t get this until after the little rascal is here.
Water births, and my wife and I had one just a month ago, are usually wonderfully easy on mom and kid. Mom gets bouyancy and the warmth of the water to offset the discomforts of labor and if the baby gets the benefits mentioned by Thurgin. Our midwife delivered the baby’s head and anterior shoulder and I delieverd the rest of the baby(done this for the past two children acutally). We didn’t cut the umbilical cord immediately so the baby just laid there and looked around a bit, not even bothering to breathe. She was still getting her oxygen through the uterus and umbilical cord, so there was no need. The other kids thought it was really neat to see a baby that didn’t cry or even breathe for the first few minutes.
You really want to hear about an unusual way for a baby to be born? (although I’ve heard it is amazingly comfortable for the baby) look up “born in the caul”. It’s a time when the baby is born with the Amniotic sac intact and the baby is inside the balloon of the membrane with all of the fluid still inside. We spoke to a midwife who had delivered a baby who was born in the caul and she said it was the most peaceful birth she had ever seen. The baby simply floated inside the sac and looked around at people until it was time to break the sac and for the baby to begin breathing on it’s own. The trauma of birth for the baby was almost nonexistant.
Congrats and don’t forget to breathe!(nearly came to blows with my wife over this during labor for our second child. Stubborn pigheaded pain in the…)
I’m not a mom and I have no advice for you tlw but I do wish you the best of luck. I’m very excited for you and I’m anxious to know how it all turned out.
Woo-hoo! I would have loved a birthing pool. Even the shower felt good–I thought I was going to use the hospital’s entire water supply hanging out in the shower.
Congrats, good luck, and we can’t wait for the news!
Oh and if anyone wants to see an ultra-cool birth center, check out the place where our son was born(although homebirth is still better than birth centers IMHO, not everyone is ready for that). You can even take a virtual tour. Look out the back window and see a hospital, look out the side window, see a park, look out the front window and see one of the historic districts of Dallas. http://www.birthcenter.net/default.asp
