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Calling all the Pregnant PS''ers

Date: 1/30/2010 6:53:41 PM
Author: gingerB
steph - evan is just adorable...and andrew is the cutest big bro around! you have a beautiful family
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mara - yay for more progress! lol on the ''discussion''. we had the same thoughts on the shower thing, thanks for bringing it up.

coming in - we were told 5 scenarios for hightailing it in:
1)water breaks
2)5/1/1
3)bleeding
4)baby not moving
5)ummm...i forgot
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al - gorgeous photos!! (also referencing the nursery pics)

rps -
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hope everything is going well right now!! can''t wait to hear from you!!!!

as for me, nada
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. looks like i''ll for sure be at the brunch!! the contractions slowly spaced out through the day and by bedtime they were happening every 20 minutes or so. i was worried i wouldn''t be able to sleep again because of the reflux.. no need cuz as soon as my head hit the pillow, i was out like a light for 10 hours, briefly opened one eye to check the time, then zonked out for another 2. i''m a good sleeper
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so today, i''m back to my usual ridiculously comfortable for someone at 38.5 week self
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not a single contraction, no pelvic pain or pressure, scooting around easy as pie. never thought that''d be something disappointing to me.
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anyway, we''re going to go out for dinner again tonight, then hubbs better have his turkey baster ready!
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Have a great dinner Ginger!!! LOL about the turkey baster!!!
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Best wishes to you!!!!
 
Steph - congrats! He''s so cute.

RPS - good luck!!!

My outer bag of water broke before I was having regular contractions, and so I talked about this quite a bit with my midwife. As long as the waters are clear and there''s nothing to indicate distress, ACOG recommends that active labor start within 24 hours and WHO recommends within 72 hours to reduce risk of infection. Some OBs interpret this as wanting the baby out within 24 hours. The risk of infection is fairly low in the first 72 hours as long as absolutely nothing - not even sterile gloves or bath water - goes up in the vagina. We chose to go past the 24 hours and didn''t do any internal checks until I was 9 cm. Baby was born 43 hours after water broke. I was GBS-, and so all of this conversation happened with that in mind.

It''s pretty rare for homebirth midwives to have two women birthing at once due to the number of clients they take on, but midwives will work with other midwives to cover if such an event should occur. My midwife would have sent her apprentice, who was at most of my prenatal visits, so that I had someone familiar, as well as a licensed + certified backup midwife. But while she has this in place, she''s only ever missed one birth, and that''s because the mom was 45 minutes away and called her something like 40 minutes before the baby was born.
 
Date: 1/30/2010 5:25:56 PM
Author: Pandora II
I was with one of the largest teaching hospitals in London and we were told to phone in if waters broke and then wander down when it was convenient unless there was meconium. Amniotic fluiod continues to be produced so it''s not like you run out.


I went in about 3 hours after mine broke to be tested to make sure it was amniotic fluid. Then I was booked for an induction if I hadn''t delivered within 36 hours. They start IV antibiotics at 36 hours as well.


No internals are done until you are in obvious established labour and you are told not to put anything inside your hoohaa to minimise infection, then they send you back home to wait.



Although I had ctx start an hour or so after the waters went, and they were full on by 24 hours in, it was a full 53 hours before I gave birth. I guess we''re less litigious over here!
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Kit - both Mela and I had subchoronic haemotomas and bleeding at around 7 weeks. They resolve on their own.
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Ditto Pandora, my hospital has the same policy here in Boston, come in pronto if meconium is present, but otherwise you have some time to chill at home till contractions are really moving into active labor. The sooner you come in, the sooner delivery is a procedure. And I''m with OBs, not MWs. My sister in NYC waited 10 hours to come in (had her doula with her at home) and delivered right after coming in without any medication. I guess it just depends on the hospital? We both used/using top top rated hospitals.

Lulu! love your belly pic! You guys are adorable.

All the belly pics are just amazing.

Steph, Evan is gorgeous and Andrew''s smile is priceless!

MP, 11 weeks! omg. That would be a challenge.

26weeks and a few days and still no kicks, but heartbeat is good. Have put on 18lbs so am nervous about the GD test in a few days. I''m hypoglycemic and have pcos, so high risk, plus the mw indicated that 18lbs is huge weightgain, though online it looks like that can be ok? She pretty much freaked me out about weight gain just after I calmed down hearing the hb. Gah, just relaxing can be challenging.
 
lol well no one can say i haven't been productive today trying to get the kid out hehe.
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its been fun at least haha.

thanks for all the info re: the waters breaking. sounds like the hospital is really erring on the side of uber-caution, but yeah like ginger noted, they had like 2-3 things that said 'come in immediately' and they kept stressing the water breaking.

RPS...hope that your mw was able to make it over and that things are progressing smoothly for you..woo hoo!

ginger, glad that things subsided, i feel your pain re: the whole crazy night and then sleep and next day things are 'normal' again, ummm that has been my life for like a week now!! it's starting to become like routine i am used to. if things DO change i might be shocked!

so i have been having yep, more contractions and a lot more pressure and more colored mucus. and that's all. but i really feel like it will be 'soon' meaning next few days. i told greg obviously my body is SO WONDERFUL at keeping this kid ensconced happily in there. i mean i did say i had NO discharge at all the entire pregnancy right, nothing was coming out of there. my uterus is like a vault. hahaa. plus the kid is comfy, he's been slithering happily under my right rib all day long.

i am feeling good thinking that it won't happen tonite though so hopefully that means no 1/30 birthdate to haunt my poor son forever.

we went out and had a burger, fries, and shake lunch at this small cute town's little diner and the girl behind the counter was like 'when is your due date' and i said 'today' and she was like 'omg you should be at home'...i was like don't worry i won't have him on the countertop! lol.

oh and meresal, we are lucky enough to have literally one of the country's best zumba instructors here locally, so i follow her wherever she goes basically. and i am not kidding. i have taken zumba from a lot of instructors and most are mediocre at best. alj came to visit, gee i guess it was like 1.5 years ago and i took her to see this chick and then she went back to MA and tried to find something like it, no dice...she was disappointed with what they had to offer locally. this gal has a hip hop and dance background and does all her own choreography and teaches other instructors locally. we have a ton of classes in general here for zumba and i WILL go to some of the instructors who take training from susy. anyway i used to go to 2 diff places to take her 3x a week and i can't wait to return as soon as i am medically cleared. she since started up a new venture at another gym and apparently it's amazing, less zumba and more cardio hip hop which i am excited about. one class with her burns like 700 cals! most other classes are too slow for me, and they do regular zumba choreography like what is on the DVD's and if you have ever taken a real class, those DVD's and all that will never suffice. BUT if you don't have a class locally i imagine the DVD is better than nothing, it really IS a fun way to exercise in general...aka dance.

so there's way more about it than you prob ever wanted to know lol, but it is pretty fun and i would def try it locally if you can!!!

bouncing on the ball...again.
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Popping in to say

Congrats Steph!!!! Evan is so cute
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Love that little smile, and Andrew looks like a proud big brother. Can't wait to read your birth story
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Good Luck RPS!!!!

KIT - I had a subchrionic hematoma and bled, both brown and red blood for 3 weeks. It was 100% resolved by 15 weeks. I hope everything settles down for you and you enjoy a stress-free pregnancy. Let us know...and hang in there. Put your feet up and try to take it easy
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So many babies coming - I'm rootin and tootin for you all!

LOVE YOUR BELLIES!!!!! You all look amazing
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Mara,
You''ve been so great through all of this, I love your Zen attitude. You''ve done it all, baked, bounced, and the last well, will leave that to those with dirty minds, LOL!!!! If he comes tomorrow or whenever, it''s up to him I guess. He''ll have his own special birthday and we will all be thrilled for you and Greg!!!! Glad you went for a great burger.

If your water does break, no rush in getting to the hospital until the contractions are as you guys say 5/11. When my water broke, we went straight to the hospital as per my docs instructions. They gave me something to sleep. I wish I had stayed home for most of it. Nothing like the comforts of home. That and Dana my husband, is not good in hospitals...

Give Portia love and hugs. I know she''s going to be a wonderful big sis to your little man!!!

Is tha bag all packed, don''t forget the pillow... Snacks, etc...
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RPS~ Wow, I hope the MW is there by now!!! Best wishes for an easy labor and delivery and perfect LO!!


QT~ I didn''t realize you were being induced Mon. How exciting!! GOOD LUCK to you!!!
 
I''m so happy to announce the Benjamin Dennis has joined our family!

Short version: After my water broke this morning at 10 a.m., Ben was born at 5:55 p.m., weighing only 6 lb. 10 oz. and 19 in. long. He looks sooo much like our 3 year old!

Longer version: My water has never broken before contractions started, so this was definitely a new (and rather gross) experience for me. I knew it was my water breaking because it was a HUGE gush and it took hours for it to slow down. The worst thing was that I had to waddle around with a bath towel between my legs because I soaked through 2 of them in just a couple of hours! Yuck.

I called my midwife soon after my water broke because this presented some interesting issues. I wasn''t tested for GBS this time; I was positive the last two times, so we decided to treat as if I were positive again. Her treatment is oral clindamycin (since I''m allergic to penicillan) and we decided at my last appointment that I would start taking it on Wednesday, 4 times a day. Unfortunately, I found out that it gives me terrible stomach aches and nausea, so I didn''t take as many doses as I planned to. I took a loading dose and then a second dose this afternoon, so we felt this was probably ok, but having my water broken for very long could have been problematic. And of course, it was snowing like mad out -- the forecast was for 6-10 inches and I bet we have 7-8 out there. The roads have been really bad, with many accidents.

Contractions finally started about 11:30, but they were very light, short and sporadic. I knew part of the problem was that Will (our 3 year old) was here and wanted to be right next to me, but he was also not listening. I talked to Nancy a couple of times about the fact that my contractions were 10 minutes apart, then spaced to 30 minutes apart.

At 2:10, when I talked to her, she brought up the idea of going to the hospital, which is about 30 minutes away in good weather. Ugh. I did NOT want to do that. I could understand her issues, though -- if she came here, she could either get stranded on the way or get stranded here. We decided to give it a little bit of time before deciding, but I knew if I was going to have a homebirth, I needed to do it NOW.

I decided to try using my pump to see if I could get the contractions closer together and stronger. It didn''t take much until the contractions jumped to 5 minutes apart and lasting about a minute, but I could still talk through them.

I called Nancy back at 4:10 to let her know that the contractions were back so she wanted me to call her at 5 to let her know how they were. At this time, I asked SO to take Will to his parents'' house after all because he was too much of a distraction and I felt he was holding me back.

At 4:30, I called Nancy back to tell her the contractions had suddenly gotten MUCH worse. I needed to call her back in 15 minutes to update her on whether they stayed the same. In 15 minutes, though, I had a contraction that was REALLY serious and made me feel like I needed to push. Luckily, Nancy called ME right after -- and she told me to get on my hands and knees on the floor. She was leaving and would be here as soon as she could.

So...there I was in the middle of the living room floor, on my hands and knees -- and I knew I was going through transition because I had the "I don''t want to do this!" and "I should have gone to the hospital!" feelings. I concentrated on just getting through each contraction, one at a time, and ignored that more would come after. I also kept telling myself that it wouldn''t be long until I met Ben.

At about 5:10, I had the urge to push -- seriously push, too. I tried panting and blowing through it, but there was no denying it. To make matters worse, my one foot had fallen asleep, so I couldn''t move, my mouth was completely dry and there was no way for me to get up and get anything, and -- here''s where you all cringe, but this is pretty funny -- because I was pushing so hard, I was pooping. And I had a long skirt on, which I couldn''t move to take off and clean up. I was grossed out and frustrated.

At 5:20, SO got back so I started barking orders at him, LOL. I really needed him to help me clean up, but I still had that asleep foot and was in so much pain from pushing contractions right on top of each other that I simply could not move. I told him just to get the scissors and cut my skirt off, but he refused! I had him running around, getting towels and the chux pads, plus ice for me and a wet washcloth -- that he mistakenly brought warm and I needed it to be cold. All the while, he was trying to hold my hand through these contractions.

Nancy arrived at 5:40 and her take charge attitude really helped. She is a teeny lady, but can be really bossy when she wants to be, which was what I needed. Right as she came in, I felt to see if I could feel Ben''s head because I thought that surely all of that pushing was doing something. I didn''t feel his head at all and came unglued. I was actually *crying* with my face in my hands on the floor because I felt like I still had HOURS to go.

Nancy got me lying sideways and helped me take off my skirt, then cleaned up the poop. Yay! I had another crying fit about not being able to use the water tub like I had wanted. It''s hilarious now and we were laughing earlier about how I sounded like a little kid that didn''t get what she wanted for Christmas. Seriously, I was falling apart over this.

Nancy bossed me into getting up on the birth stool and leaning back on SO, which was what I needed. Ben was born about 8 minutes later. We were all really surprised that he''s so tiny because I was huge, but it''s obvious that much of what I had in that big belly was amniotic fluid.

Ok, now it''s someone else''s turn!! =)

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Congrats on baby Benjamin! He''s a little cutie.
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Congrats RPS. Ben is so precious. Love your birth story. Your MW sounds awesome.
 
Thanks for all the well wishes Ladies!! HH you really should let Alj take some pics, it was alot of fun!

Nothing to report here, I walked all day shopping with my mom and dad but really no contractions. I have a feeling this kid never wants to come out!! Mara, you are going to go before me, no dobut!! If he doesn''t show tomorrow I hope he will wait till Friday so DH can be there as much as possible. Having him during the week is going to be so hard....but he will come on his own schedule when he is good and ready!

Congrats Steph and RPS on your handsome little men!!!
 
Steph, Evan is adorable! Your two boys are so cute together!

RPS, congrats! Ben is adoarble! Sounds like your L&D went smoothly. I can't believe you labored alone for a little while!
 
congrats RPS!!!!!! Ben is beautiful!!!! Whsat an amazing birth story!
 
WOW rps what an amazing story!! it is crazy that you labored alone.... you are a rockstar! and Ben is so cute. huge congrats to you guys!!

my latest crack up today is that when the kid bunches on the right i can press on his haunches and feel his head pushing down on my cervix. GO DOWN kiddo!!! seriously.
 
Congrats RPS
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congrats RPS!!! he is just so precious!
 
RPS-Your bebe is sooooooooooooooooooooooooooo Cute!
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I am glad that you were the next one in line! Okay, now it''s Mara''s or Qt''s turn! HEHE! Then Ginger then burk and then me!
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Hello Ladies,

I wanted to just say that I finally had a baby shower! It was awesome but so tiring! We received so many cute clothes, shoes, two bouncers, little tub, 2 diaper warmers
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and my good friend got us the Chicco Cortina stroller that comes with the car seat! I feel so blessed and grateful to have family and friends like these. I just had to get it off my chest! I am so happy & grateful!

I am ready to get into mommy-mode! I am going to do her laundry and have everything ready for Jacqueline! I can''t wait! But, I am scared of the labor! I need to stop being chicken and get with the program and BREATHE!
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Hope you ladies are doing awesome!
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Thank you all so much! =) Mr. Ben and I have been dozing on and off all night, but now he seems to want to be up and awake. I have a feeling that several naps will be in order today, which is fine since we''re almost snowed in!

Steph, it seems we''re twins on having to go buy more clothing in a smaller size! I thought we were covered because I have all of Will''s stuff and he had a LOT. Yeah -- the regular 0-3 month stuff is HUGE on Ben, so today, SO is going to have to make a trek to Target and pick some stuff up. Diapers, too, because the newborn swaddlers are way too big. It''s hilarious! I said that this was Ben''s way of making sure he''s treated like his own person.

About laboring alone: Honestly, I highly recommend it for some people! It''s obviously not for everyone, but I''m a type A personality that hates to depend on anyone else, so time alone allows me to really DO labor. If there''s no one else around, I know that I''m responsible for getting myself through it, if that makes sense. I labored with Will alone up until about 50 minutes before he was born and felt like it was such a freeing experience that I was fine with being alone again for a while. My biggest fear was that SO would have a problem on the road, which wouldn''t have been an issue at all if it weren''t for the weather.

MTJ, I don''t know anyone that''s NOT scared of labor. I had gone through this 5 times before and I was still scared and sort of dreading it, while at the same time, getting excited about it. Any time you know that you have to go through something that''s going to be some level of unpleasant, you''re going to be scared. You can do it -- just keep believing in yourself!

MP, sorry, I missed your earlier post! If I had been in active labor at the same time that my mw was with another mom, I would have had to go to the hospital. Unfortunately, this is a chance you take when you see a mw who doesn''t always work with a helper. The good news is that if I had to do that, her backup OB would have delivered Ben and I really, really like and trust him. He''s a very woman-oriented doctor and believes in low interventions, so I know I wouldn''t have been subjected to the poking and prodding that seems to come with the territory in a hospital.

Vespergirl, my mw would have let me go quite a bit longer with my water broken IF we weren''t assuming I am GBS+. That was the wild card in my case because there''s a higher risk of infection to the baby the longer the water is broken and I wasn''t getting IV antibiotics. My situation is kind of weird, though, because most women don''t have their water break first and if they do, contractions often start right away. I had to do it differently this time, I guess. =) Oh, she did do one quick cervical check when she arrived, but she could tell that I was going to deliver very soon, so that decreases the risk of a check quite a bit.

Mara, you can pass on to your mom that even though your guy missed being born on the 30th, mine didn''t, so at least someone got that special birthday!! Maybe I''m going to be raising your grandfather?
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Congrats RPS!!! Ben is so precious and love his name, that was one of our top names too! Yep, we went to Target yesterday too...got the preemie swaddlers, but they didn''t have much of a selection of preemie clothes at mine. Congrats again on your bundle of joy!

Hope everyone else is doing well. Keep checking for updates on Mara, QT, and GingerB!
 
Congrats RPS, what a birth story!!! Baby Ben is adorable, and you are incredible that you labored by yourself - you are my hero! Congrats on your beautiful new baby!
 
congrats on you beautiful baby RPS! he''s adorable...and WOW...what a birth story!
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Congrats RPS and welcome baby Ben!!! Your birth story is incredible!!!
 
Oh, RPS! Ben is beautiful!
 
Welcome, Baby Ben and CONGRATS to RPS and family. THANKS for sharing your awesome birth story- I had to read it to DH.

We know that QT is up tomorrow, but I wonder if anyone will sneak in beforehand?
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MTJ- Sounds like you had an awesome baby shower. Too cool!

Quick FYI- Target''s circular has quite a number of baby items in it. Check it out: http://www.target.com/
 
hi ladies! i am still here...but things are progressing! YAY! last nite i had my first REAL strong contraction around 6pm that took my breath away. and throughout the evening i had a lot more bloody show and the blood became bright red vs dark and more like a watery period with a lot of discharge. i had contrax all through the night, making me only get about 5 hours of intermittent sleep. now they are still inconsistent, but varying between 7-10 min apart and 1-2 min long though sometimes they are shorter.

a few notes for ginger, mtj etc and those other first timers coming up in case you are curious. i wasn't really quite sure what a REAL contraction would feel like, but it's diff than i expected. it feels like your menstrual cramps on CRACK. where you just want to be in a fetal position laying as still as possible and breathing through it til it passes. and sometimes there is back pain included where it feels like someone's clamping you in a vise all around your entire lower midsection. but it's manageable so far, i did manage to lightly sleep between most of them, though i could see towards the end when there's no 'break' and they are just rolling on you, it can be tough.

and i was really surprised and this maybe is silly but seeing bright red blood for the first time in 10 months freaked me out. it wasn't a lot, but still. you go through the entire preg not wanting to see blood, then WHAT! though i feel fine now about it at the time i was a little shell shocked.

anyway, that's my update! it could be the whole rest of today into tomorrow or it could be anytime...just depends on my progression. but i feel like my body struggles to keep him in, just give up the fight body. oh and it was kind of funny but last nite between contrax i felt like he was getting po'd at the squeezing because after a contrax he'd like squirm and fight and i'd feel little hands and fingers at the bottom like WTF people. HAHA.

RPS... lol that is exactly what a friend said re: my gpa's bday... and Ben looks like a wise man so maybe lol! my grandfather was apparently an amazing, loving man and i am sad i really did not know him since he passed when i was 1. congrats again!

so we'll see if our guy decides to slide in right before QT's induction... or not! hehe.
 
oooh, what an exciting update, Mara!

Always interesting to hear descriptions of contractions. Menstrual cramps on CRACK, huh? ouch!
 
Good luck Mara.
 
Mara, how exciting!!! It sounds like your baby is coming VERY soon!
 
RPS~ Big congrats on Ben!! Amazing delivery story, too! I''m always intrigued by home births and it''s like it seems the natural way to do it, the way that women have done L&D for millenia, ya know? It''s so awesome that you get to be part of that group!!

Mara~ Hmmm...Me thinks you''ll be having a bundle by early morning! Best of luck for a smooth L&D and a healthy little guy!
 
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