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MoCookies
Apr 22, 2005

Lullabee posted:

I am in search of a birthing class, however the ones at my hospital are $120.00 a class and even with payment plans, I don't have the amount needed, because I want to take one in December/early January, since my due date is in February. I know I totally dropped the ball and should have registered earlier, but I can't turn back time now. So, am I royally screwed or are there cheaper classes out there?

WIC seems to have tons of information on breast feeding classes, but not a lot on birthing. I'm on medical, so I highly doubt they'll cover any of the cost. Plus, I'm at a loss of what classes I should be searching for in general - I would like a natural birth, since my hospital is very pro natural, but I'm not opposed to an epidural - so what would a half epidural half natural child birthing class be called? Because I want to be educated on both topics and not just one. Any information would be awesome, thank you.

I think classes can be great, but really only if that's your learning style, and they are only as good as the person teaching them. Personally, I did a poo poo-ton of reading, as well as Hypnobabies, and then our free birth center classes on top of that. Since you're interested in a natural birth, reading anything by Ina May Gaskin is a good start, and see if you can find a Bradley Method class near you. Another good option would be finding a doula or doula-in-training (who may be less expensive or have a sliding scale) for help getting ready for the birth, and for the birth itself. My personal experience is that it can be tough to "stick to you guns" with regards to natural birth when you're in the thick of serious labor, which is where a doula would be super-helpful.

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Ben Davis
Apr 17, 2003

I'm as clumsy as I am beautiful
Lullabee, the ones at my local hospital were too expensive for us too. Books weren't cutting it for me, so I got out a dvd from the library on lamaze. It was honestly ancient, but it helped. It covered relaxation techniques, stages of childbirth, pain relief methods, and c-sections. If your library doesn't have relevant videos, even ordering a few on Amazon would be cheaper, and sometimes it's nicer than a book for more visual learners.

Hdip
Aug 21, 2002
My wife had to be out of the house for half the day yesterday. She breastfed around 10 AM. Then was gone until 4 PM and breastfed shortly after that. That evening her breast felt "rock hard" and she had chills like a fever for awhile. Today she slept most of the day. Her fever came back and it is 101.3 Her left breast is red but doesn't feel hard.

Mastitis? Anything we can do for her at home since tomorrow almost everything is closed?

ChloroformSeduction
Sep 3, 2006

THERE'S NO CURE FOR BEING A CUNT, SO PLEASE KEEP REMINDING ME TO SHUT THE FUCK UP

Goobish posted:

I am now 9 weeks pregnant and I would just like to quickly introduce myself. I am aware this isn’t a livejournal though, so this will probably be the most E/N post I make, and others will be reserved for legitimate questions. I’ve been hesitant to post because I have a mental illness.
I only just saw this, but congrats! As you probably know, one of the biggest things with mental illness is insight, so you're already in a pretty good place. I had a history of depression, and my mother suffered from rather severe mental illness, so I had myself referred into the reproductive psychiatry program while pregnant to mitigate any issues that might arise. Based on one post, you do seem to have a good idea of where you're at, so I have no doubt you'll be fine.

Lullabee posted:

I am in search of a birthing class, however the ones at my hospital are $120.00 a class and even with payment plans, I don't have the amount needed, because I want to take one in December/early January, since my due date is in February. I know I totally dropped the ball and should have registered earlier, but I can't turn back time now. So, am I royally screwed or are there cheaper classes out there?

I wouldn't worry too much if you don't get into one. Like others have said, there are resources out there that you can access. I skipped mine, and baby still got out in one piece (disclaimer: not into the natural birthing thing, and all of the ones here focussed on that.) Most people I've talked to found the best part of prenatal classes were meeting the other parents, which you can easily do through local meetup groups.

Seconding what MoCookies said about doulas in training - depending on where you are, there are often programs aimed at low-income families that involve doulas who need to satisfy practicum requirements or whatnot.

Chickalicious
Apr 13, 2005

We are the ones we've been waiting for.

Hdip posted:

My wife had to be out of the house for half the day yesterday. She breastfed around 10 AM. Then was gone until 4 PM and breastfed shortly after that. That evening her breast felt "rock hard" and she had chills like a fever for awhile. Today she slept most of the day. Her fever came back and it is 101.3 Her left breast is red but doesn't feel hard.

Mastitis? Anything we can do for her at home since tomorrow almost everything is closed?

She needs antibiotics. Most OB's have someone taking call 24 hours a day, so call hers up, explain the symptoms and see if they can call something in to a 24 hour pharmacy. In the meantime, she needs to nurse A LOT, apply moist heat to the painful breast and take some Advil.

Some reading for you both:

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/mastitis/DS00678/DSECTION=treatments%2Dand%2Ddrugs

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0002460/

http://kellymom.com/bf/concerns/mother/mastitis/

Twatty Seahag
Dec 30, 2007

Hdip posted:

My wife had to be out of the house for half the day yesterday. She breastfed around 10 AM. Then was gone until 4 PM and breastfed shortly after that. That evening her breast felt "rock hard" and she had chills like a fever for awhile. Today she slept most of the day. Her fever came back and it is 101.3 Her left breast is red but doesn't feel hard.

Mastitis? Anything we can do for her at home since tomorrow almost everything is closed?

Ibuprofen, warm compresses, keep the breast empty. I had mastitis and it was awful, don't gently caress around with it. I would say if it's red with fever and chills, get seen tonight. Mine got painful really fast and I had to take a very strong course of antibiotics.

Chickalicious
Apr 13, 2005

We are the ones we've been waiting for.
If she's going to be separated from the baby for longer than her normal nursing interval, she should bring a pump to prevent this from happening in the future, especially because your child is so young and breastfeeding is still being established and regulated in these early weeks. I remember she was having some trouble. Has that gotten better?

Hdip
Aug 21, 2002
Yeah everything's all good now and calling up the hospitals nurse line told us the ER was only a 20 minute wait so she just went in and got the prescription there then I ran off to the 24 hour pharmacy. The baby's been nursing since she got back so we're on the right track.

We did try her doctors answering service but it wasn't to helpful. The ER solution was much easier.

Our son is 1 month old and up to 9 pounds 10 ounces (birth weight was 8.5 then he dropped down to 7.3). So he's gaining weight like a champ and will nurse all day if it was up to him.

Since there are no baby pictures on this page yet and you all replied so quickly. Here is how he chills on rainy days in his bunny slippers.

Hdip fucked around with this message at 07:54 on Nov 22, 2012

Cathis
Sep 11, 2001

Me in a hotel with a mini-bar. How's that story end?
On November 17th, at 1 PM, after 24 hour of labor, 3 hours of pushing, the determination that her head and shoulders were transverse, Aibhilin (Evelyn) Grace was born via emergency C-section at 8 lbs, 7 oz and 20.5 inches- (named after her paternal great-grandmother and maternal great-great grandmother). I lost a lot of blood and had high BP and heartrate problems during the surgery; they rushed my husband out of the OR with the baby and he didn't know for 2+ hours if I was OK. Meanwhile, I was knocked out on Propofol the entire time so had no idea. Now, I have to take iron pills 3x a day as well as handfuls of other vitamins and supplements and stuff.

I got out of the hospital Wednesday afternoon, and have been trying to take it more-or-less easy since then. Incision is healing really well, but my insides are still trying to adjust.
Sadly, the pregnancy weight gain didn't magically vanish with the baby :) I don't quite know how to convince my body to go back to its former shape since I can't exersize in any way for 6 weeks. Can any ladies with C-section experience chime in? I'm at a loss. I am currently wearing my pregnancy belly band just to keep everything kind of... less jiggly :/

Twatty Seahag
Dec 30, 2007
I looked 6 months pregnant for a week, then 4 months pregnant for a while. Honestly you just have to kind of put it on the backburner and focus on resting and taking care of you and baby for a while. I really liked wearing nursing tanks under sweaters because it gave me some support. At the end of the day, you just made a human so go easy on yourself. :)

Cathis
Sep 11, 2001

Me in a hotel with a mini-bar. How's that story end?

Twatty Seahag posted:

I looked 6 months pregnant for a week, then 4 months pregnant for a while. Honestly you just have to kind of put it on the backburner and focus on resting and taking care of you and baby for a while. I really liked wearing nursing tanks under sweaters because it gave me some support. At the end of the day, you just made a human so go easy on yourself. :)

Last night for Thanksgiving we skyped with my in-laws and 8 year old niece. I walked past the camera at some point and promptly heard her exclaim,"Wait, is Aunt Cathis still pregnant?!" Out of the mouths of babes...
Mostly I am concerned about keeping gravity from a.) making me hurt more and b.) keeping my stomach from drooping to my drat knees.

Chickalicious
Apr 13, 2005

We are the ones we've been waiting for.
It took you 9 months to get that way. Expect it to take at least that long or longer to feel fully back to yourself. Some women lose lots of weight while breastfeeding, and some will hold on to weight while breastfeeding. It's the luck of the draw really.

Crazy Old Clarice
Mar 5, 2007

Lefou, I'm afraid I've been eating... you.

Cathis posted:

Mostly I am concerned about keeping gravity from a.) making me hurt more and b.) keeping my stomach from drooping to my drat knees.

Chickalicious is right, this is a lot for your body to take on, give it time.

But you should have received a binder from the hospital to help keep pressure off the incision. The pregnancy belly band will probably help a little, but the one they should have given you is super strength in comparison. It definitely helped me a lot post-C section.

Chickalicious
Apr 13, 2005

We are the ones we've been waiting for.
I didn't get one from my hospital. It took a couple weeks before I felt reasonably ok with my incision. I kept a small pillow nearby to hold if I needed to cough or sneeze or, god forbid, laugh at something. Getting out of bed was pretty hinky too. I still had to roll to my side and scoot out like I did when I was massively pregnant. I missed having the hospital bed to assist me up.

Funny story: my husband and I are not bathroom sharers. We are firmly in the camp of bathroom time being alone time, even after 10 years together, but I sat on the toilet one day shortly after my discharge and my pants fell to the floor instead of staying up at my knees before I could swap out my bloody pad. I couldn't bend over to pull them up, so I had to holler for him to come help me. He was a trooper and only made a couple faces while I laughed at him having to come face to face with a bunch of gross lochia. He's an excellent fellow.

Cathis
Sep 11, 2001

Me in a hotel with a mini-bar. How's that story end?

Chickalicious posted:

I didn't get one from my hospital. It took a couple weeks before I felt reasonably ok with my incision. I kept a small pillow nearby to hold if I needed to cough or sneeze or, god forbid, laugh at something. Getting out of bed was pretty hinky too. I still had to roll to my side and scoot out like I did when I was massively pregnant. I missed having the hospital bed to assist me up.

Funny story: my husband and I are not bathroom sharers. We are firmly in the camp of bathroom time being alone time, even after 10 years together, but I sat on the toilet one day shortly after my discharge and my pants fell to the floor instead of staying up at my knees before I could swap out my bloody pad. I couldn't bend over to pull them up, so I had to holler for him to come help me. He was a trooper and only made a couple faces while I laughed at him having to come face to face with a bunch of gross lochia. He's an excellent fellow.

Yup, got nothing from my hospital either. Laughing is kind of OK, but I fear sneezing. And yes, getting out of bed without things to help me is even more stupid than when I was pregnant. I need to install handles. I was definitely not prepared for the c-section inasmuch as I don't know anyone who has had one so I'm kind of unclear on what to expect and I REFUSE to go googling because the crazy-sane ratio is wrong. So far husband has not had to pick anything up for me but he will, I hope it's not lochia-pad!! Ew. Thanks for the words and sort-of-timeline ladies, I deeply appreciate it. Even the parts they did explain to me in the hospital, I was so doped up that they didn't really stick.

Chickalicious
Apr 13, 2005

We are the ones we've been waiting for.
Mine was not planned either, so I know that surprised/unprepared feeling. I recovered much faster than I expected after such a serious surgery. We were getting out of the house within the week and I traveled to my parents house a couple hours away within the month. My husband was home for 5 weeks and he did everything that didn't involve breasts, so I just puttered around the house and loafed in bed or on the couch with my tiny lamprey attached to me most of the day, so I'm sure that helped.

Chickalicious fucked around with this message at 04:23 on Nov 24, 2012

ChloroformSeduction
Sep 3, 2006

THERE'S NO CURE FOR BEING A CUNT, SO PLEASE KEEP REMINDING ME TO SHUT THE FUCK UP

Cathis posted:

Yup, got nothing from my hospital either. Laughing is kind of OK, but I fear sneezing.

A physio (or maybe OT?) came to me in the hospital and went over c-section stuff. All I really remember that would be helpful here is to "hug" a pillow into your abdomen when you sneeze or laugh. Aside from that, basically whatever feels comfortable for you.

Chicken McNobody
Aug 7, 2009
Do you have staples/skin clips? Life sucked hardcore for me until those got removed...once they were out I felt amazing. I could stand up straight for the first time in months! Echoing the "don't worry about the belly" calls...remember, your innards are all shifted around and it all takes a while to correct. Even then you may not get your exact figure back, and that's okay. Give yourself a few weeks of rest, and the most you should be doing is a little light walking for a while thereafter (if your doc approves...mine was in the "get out of bed immediately and start walking laps" camp). I remember seeing a photo project that showed all types of female bodies pre- and post-pregnancy; can't remember the url, but it helped me come to terms a little with my new (hopefully temporary) saggy belly and boobs.

Chickalicious
Apr 13, 2005

We are the ones we've been waiting for.

Chicken McNobody posted:

Do you have staples/skin clips? Life sucked hardcore for me until those got removed...once they were out I felt amazing. I could stand up straight for the first time in months! Echoing the "don't worry about the belly" calls...remember, your innards are all shifted around and it all takes a while to correct. Even then you may not get your exact figure back, and that's okay. Give yourself a few weeks of rest, and the most you should be doing is a little light walking for a while thereafter (if your doc approves...mine was in the "get out of bed immediately and start walking laps" camp). I remember seeing a photo project that showed all types of female bodies pre- and post-pregnancy; can't remember the url, but it helped me come to terms a little with my new (hopefully temporary) saggy belly and boobs.

http://theshapeofamother.com/ Possibly some NWS stuff in there.

sheri
Dec 30, 2002

So, I'm between 10 and 11 weeks. I haven't really had any pregnancy symptoms aside from my nipples being a little more sore than normal. I have heard that the soreness does get better in the late first trimester and/or early second trimester. When did you ladies notice an improvement? Mine haven't been as sore today as they have been in the past and I'm wondering if it is something I should be concerned with or something that is to be expected as I get further along.

tse1618
May 27, 2008

Cuddle time!
I think my nipples/breasts stopped being sore pretty early in the second trimester, I'm 33 weeks now and sometimes they get real itchy but I haven't had soreness in months. Nothing to be concerned about!

Ceridwen
Dec 11, 2004
Of course... If the Jell-O gets moldy, the whole thing should be set aflame.

My nipples didn't get sore until ~12 weeks or so and are still sore now at 17 1/2. My boobs were sore all through the first trimester and have calmed down since 10-11 weeks. Still growing but somehow managing to do it without much pain. Symptoms can be really variable but I wouldn't worry about first trimester symptoms starting to fade at 10 weeks. My biggest symptom was morning sickness and by 8 1/2 weeks it was already dramatically better than it had been at 5-8 weeks (still not gone even now though...ugh).

right to bear karma
Feb 20, 2001

There's a Dr. Fist here to see you.
Mine stopped being so sore pretty abruptly at around 10 weeks or so, for the most part. There was some occasional soreness and, as tse1618 mentioned, itchiness that popped up here and there through the rest of my pregnancy but it never again reached the same level of discomfort that made clothes and sleeping on my stomach difficult. I wouldn't be too concerned at experiencing less of a symptom unless there's something else going on at the same time that is alarming. Pregnancy symptoms can be really inconsistent, as irritating as that is for one's peace of mind.

sudont
May 10, 2011
this program is useful for when you don't want to do something.

Fun Shoe
Sheri, I'm just a week or two ahead of you (I'll be 12 weeks this Wednesday) and have had the same experience more or less. Mine were sore, like PMS sore, for weeks 4-8 or so, then it went away. I haven't had any other symptoms other than being really tired/having to pee a lot so it made me nervous too but everything is going fine here thus far.

Alterian
Jan 28, 2003

I had my baby on the 23rd! I'll post a pic sometime soon. I've had quite an ordeal these past few days.
Jasper Lief Johnson was born on the 23rd at 1:50am just missing Thanksgiving by less than 2 hours after laboring for 22 hours total. Now his birthday is exactly 9 months after his fathers. I wonder if he'll ever figure that one out.

Labor didn't go as I had wanted it to. I won't go into a step by step detail but things were going along and I was handling it fine. I had been up since 4am and was a little tired so I was sort of dozing off between contractions for a little bit when I hit 7 cm. I hadn't progressed after an hour and my contractions had gotten a little farther apart so the doctor decided to break my water. After only 20 minutes or so the doctor was still upset my contractions hadn't sped up significantly and her and the nurse ganged up and started pressuring me to go on pitocin. I really didn't want to. I wanted to try as naturally as I could and I was handling it fine and the baby wasn't distressed. I asked to wait a half hour and see how things go and they got really lovely with me but relented. The nurse kept coming in during the half hour giving me the stink eye and telling me my contractions weren't speeding up. I got really discouraged and sort of defeated feeling and I think that didn't help so of course after the half hour things hadn't changed. I relented and they gave me the pictocin and things went downhill from there. Thankfully the nurse shift changed and a really great nurse came on and the bitchy one left. The new nurse really helped me out during the rest of the ordeal.

To sum up the rest of the labor: cervix didn't change, pitocin kept getting upped, contractions got unbearable, cervix still at 7cm, was too mentally and physically exhausted to deal with pain and asked for epidural, found out the bitchy doctor and nurse didn't actually put me on a full saline IV with the pictocin and was giving me just enough to put pictocin in me and would have to wait a full hour so I could get more fluids in me, good nurse gives me narcotics to help me get through the wait which last about half the time decently enough until the pain becomes crazy and I started screaming like I was dying and I started bleeding a lot (found out later my cervix dialated 2 cm in about 2 or 3 contractions) , got cleaned up just as I could get the epidural and had to hold still through contractions while they got it in. It was such a relief. I didn't get to rest too long before I had to start pushing. The baby got a little distressed when he got low in the birth canal just as I was going to start pushing, but it wasn't too dangerously low. The doctor remarked that he would need to come out soon or I'd ge a c-section because she didn't want to have to monitor his heart through 2 hours of pushing. I managed to push him out in 30 minutes. He was fine, just a little extra fluid in his lungs from being pushed out so fast, but it all got out fine.

I'm sort of upset how the doctor treated me. She was the one on call that day. I was hoping to get a different one. I wish I had gotten a doula now. I think things would have gone down better. I wouldn't have minded laboring a little longer if it meant not getting that pictocin. I had been able to manage it perfectly fine until then. I really wish they would have given me a regular saline with it at least so I could have gotten the epidural sooner and not gone through the worst of it.

I'll post a picture sometime soon. This post is long enough as it is. The hospital stay was frustrating, but I'm home now. We had a really rough night last night. I think I've only slept maybe 6 hours total since I woke up in labor at 4am Thursday. I'd be asleep right now but I have to breastfeed in a minute and I'm waiting for a home health aid to bring by a jaundice blanket. I'll post more about post delivery later. I am handling the whole thing pretty well. I broke down in tears at the pediatricians office today out of complete frustration, but I'm ok now. The past few days have been overwhelming, but things are getting better! I'm not depressed so don't worry about that.


If you've been following some of my posts about my mom issues, guess who showed up at my hospital room friday evening. :haw:

Lucha Luch
Feb 25, 2007

Mr. Squeakers coming off the top rope!
I'm 24 weeks now and I was wondering at what point I should start getting the furniture put together? We've just a rocking crib and a travel cot, and I feel like maybe it'd be a good time to get them put together even though it's early, but I also might be being ridiculous. First baby jitters, I guess.

Mnemosyne
Jun 11, 2002

There's no safe way to put a cat in a paper bag!!

Alterian posted:

If you've been following some of my posts about my mom issues, guess who showed up at my hospital room friday evening. :haw:

Geez. Did she at least put in the effort to act reasonable while you were in the hospital? :(

Lyz
May 22, 2007

I AM A GIRL ON WOW GIVE ME ITAMS

Alterian posted:

If you've been following some of my posts about my mom issues, guess who showed up at my hospital room friday evening. :haw:

You can give the hospital poo poo over that, you know. Without your permission, not even your own mother is allowed to know you're in the hospital, much less allowed to your room.

Sorry to hear about the pictocin. It really kicked my rear end too, I dilated from 2 to 8 cm in like 45 minutes and ended up needing an epidural. But this was after two days of irregular contractions and no sleep so I was like SCREW IT LETS GET IT DONE.

LEFTENANT RIGHTIE
Dec 29, 2008
LONGWINDED MISOGYNY GIMMICK
Sorry if this is a sensitive subject, but I was wondering if any posters here have any experience with pregnancy and seizures?

My boyfriend and I are getting close to finishing school and tying the knot, and The Talk has started to come and go, plans for the future, what size house we should get, that kind of thing. I would truly love to have a baby, but I'm beginning to worry about the fact that I have to take seizure medicine. I don't have epilepsy and it doesn't run in my family, just random seizures (partial-complex, left temporal lobe if that means anything) I have to be put on medication for. When I started doing my research I saw there is a large incidence of birth defects on women who were taking seizure medicine while pregnant. But then, obviously, *not* taking seizure medicine while pregnant just puts the child at more risk.

Did any of you have to take seizure medicine while you were pregnant? What was the experience like, if any of you feel that you could share? I'm in the middle of podunk, Georgia for college and I *cannot get a hold of an OBGYN* ('there's a 6 month waiting list') because an OBGYN in this drat city is tantamount to a magic wish-fulfilling unicorn, and the nurse practitioner I asked said she didn't have any experience with situations like these.

UltraGrey
Feb 24, 2007

Eat a grass.
Have a barf.

Congrats Cathis and Alterian :3:

bamzilla
Jan 13, 2005

All butt since 2012.


Lyz posted:

You can give the hospital poo poo over that, you know. Without your permission, not even your own mother is allowed to know you're in the hospital, much less allowed to your room.


You need to let them know beforehand, though. Unless you give them specifics, they're not going to deny anyone who knows your room or what hospital you're in. At least, mine wouldn't have.

Papercut
Aug 24, 2005

The quickest substitution in the history of the NBA

Cathis posted:

On November 17th, at 1 PM, after 24 hour of labor, 3 hours of pushing, the determination that her head and shoulders were transverse, Aibhilin (Evelyn) Grace was born via emergency C-section at 8 lbs, 7 oz and 20.5 inches- (named after her paternal great-grandmother and maternal great-great grandmother).

Hey there, nearly identical birth story. Congratulations.

My wife woke me up last Monday at 3:19am and told me she had been having contractions since 1am. Knowing it would be important for her to be well-rested, I had her listen to Hypnobabies, which throughout pregnancy had had a way of knocking her out (no such luck this time, the contractions were too intense). We got up an hour later, texted our doula, and started preparing for the day ahead. At around 5 or 6 we took our dog for a little walk, and coincidentally ran into a neighbor who greeted us with "no baby yet, huh?" Little did he know.

For the next 12 hours or so my wife labored at home with the help of myself and our doula. She made it look surprisingly easy, breathing through the contractions and relying on counter-pressure on her back to ease the pain. She spent the entire time in one of 3 positions: sitting down on a chair backwards leaning against the chairback, standing up facing the wall and leaning against it, and standing up facing away from the wall and bracing herself between it and myself (with a back roller thing between her back the wall so that squatting would massage her back). Other than the counterpressure against her back muscles, the two techniques she found most useful aside from the counterpressure were to have me loudly vocalize along with her and to start her vocalizations/breathing prior to the surge starting rather than waiting for it. We also used a number of visualizations and a cry playlist to help her relieve the emotional stress.

At 7pm we went to the hospital, despite them not having any rooms ready for her. She labored in the hallway and bathroom for about an hour until they finally had a room. When we finally got a room and the nurse looked at her, she was 8cm dilated and 100% effaced, and starting to feel the urge to push! She held off on pushing for a little bit, but pretty quickly the doctors told her she could start pushing if she wanted to. For the next 3-4 hours, this champion of a woman pushed that baby like a pro, in all sorts of different positions. Near the end it became clear that things weren't progressing exactly as planned, because more and more doctors were coming in to give advice and then having quiet pow-wows off to the side. It turns out our baby was transverse OP, and after all of this pushing the baby's station hadn't changed at all. They tried manually rotating him, which caused my wife to really express actual agony for the first time all day. When that didn't work, the doctors gave us two options: go straight to a c-section, or try a vacuum-assisted vaginal birth and go to the c-sec only if that failed.

As you can probably imagine or relate to, this was an incredibly difficult moment for us after having planned a natural childbirth from the start, reading multiple natural childbirth books, taking classes, and doing tons of prenatal yoga. After hours of pushing and nearly 24 hours of labor, this was obviously especially distressful for my wife. We pretty quickly decided to at least try the vacuum, and they put me in scrubs and rushed us to the OR. This was as painful an experience as you would expect so I'll put this in spoilers for those who don't want to picture it: my wife stuck on a gurney where she couldn't effectively deal with the pain of contractions, me dressed head to toe in scrubs, bright lights, doctors rushing all over the place, the anesthesiologist peppering my wife with questions and instructions. It seemed like it took forever for the epidural to kick in, and my wife was shaking like a leaf the entire time and even afterwards. The entire time she was also doubting the decision to go with the vacuum, because she doubted she had the energy left to push. Despite all of this, when it did come time to push along with the vacuum, she did an incredible job. I will never forget that vacuum though, it looks like the doctors are playing tug-of-war with your baby's head, putting all of their weight into it, and the sound of it popping off is terrible (don't worry, it has a safety that causes it to pop off before dangerous pressure is applied). Even though they said there would only be 3 attempts with the vacuum, they had her do 4, but no luck, that baby was not making it around her pubic bone. After all of this, my wife had a c-section at 2:34am on Tuesday, Nov. 20th.

Even though the baby's heartrate had been a steady 120-130 throughout all of this, he was born with signs of distress (Apgar scores of 4, 6, 9) and had inhaled meconium in the birth canal. He had low body temperature and labored breathing. They rushed him and myself to the NICU to do blood tests and put him on an IV. They discovered he had dangerously-low levels of sodium in his blood (normal is 137, he was at 115), which prompted a blood test for my wife which yielded similar results. These were possible fatal levels for both baby and mom if not corrected quickly (but not too quickly). The doula and I spent several hours consoling my wife and reassuring her that she had done everything possible and nothing wrong, but an hour or so later the pediatrician came in and informed us that our baby had had a seizure (during which he stopped breathing). They gave added anti-seizure medication to his IV and told us they hoped this was just a side effect of the sodium levels, but as you can imagine this was just adding to a waking nightmare for us.

Luckily, this was the low-point of the night and the week. Both my wife's and baby's sodium levels slowly rose, there were no more seizures, and no signs of permanent effects for either. Over the course of the next few days, we made dozens of trips to the NICU, bringing tiny vials of colostrum to pipette-feed our baby, getting skin-to-skin time, learning to establish a latch, and basically getting all of the wonderful experiences we had pictured for those first few days (although not exactly in the setting we pictured). The nurses and doctors were indescribably fantastic. By Wednesday, baby and mom were off of IVs, and by Thursday baby was able to move into our hospital room. We were discharged Friday, when I drove us the mile or so to our house going about 1/8th of the speed limit. We brought home the hungriest baby I could imagine, whose special talent seems to be going to the bathroom within seconds of us changing his diaper. We had our first pediatrician visit today, and baby is perfectly healthy and has already eaten his way back to his birth weight.

TLDR: Introducing Logan Keane, born 11/20/2012 at 2:34am, 20 inches and 7 lbs 2 oz of pure appetite.

Logan an hour after birth:


And now:



And bonus, my dog seems to be alternating between these two states in response to this new addition to the house:

Twatty Seahag
Dec 30, 2007
Congrats new goon moms and dads! :3:

Seven for a Secret
Apr 5, 2009
To my complete shock, I got a faint second line on a pregnancy test this morning. My husband and I have been trying for a year, so this is so amazingly awesome. But I thought for sure my period was coming because I've been having crampy/gassy feelings for a few days. Is that a bad sign?

hookerbot 5000
Dec 21, 2009

Seven for a Secret posted:

To my complete shock, I got a faint second line on a pregnancy test this morning. My husband and I have been trying for a year, so this is so amazingly awesome. But I thought for sure my period was coming because I've been having crampy/gassy feelings for a few days. Is that a bad sign?

Congratulations :)

A lot of early pregnancy symptoms are identical to getting your period symptoms which can be pretty worrying but normal I think. Spotting and bleeding can be signs that there's something wrong (though sometimes not) and also very sharp pains to the side.

Lucha Luch
Feb 25, 2007

Mr. Squeakers coming off the top rope!

Seven for a Secret posted:

To my complete shock, I got a faint second line on a pregnancy test this morning. My husband and I have been trying for a year, so this is so amazingly awesome. But I thought for sure my period was coming because I've been having crampy/gassy feelings for a few days. Is that a bad sign?

Not necessarily. I didn't take the test until I was a couple weeks late because it just felt like I was constantly on the verge of getting my period. Your uterus is getting ready to stretch and grow, so it's just one of them things. Make a doctor appointment to have the test confirmed, anyway, but don't worry until you absolutely have to :) Congratulations!

sudont
May 10, 2011
this program is useful for when you don't want to do something.

Fun Shoe
Yeah, early pregnancy was definitely just like "I'm getting my period any day" for me. I knew well before I tested positive this time because I was having cramping on and off (and I could smell everything within a 10 mile radius).

DrPepperholik
Jul 15, 2007

by Fistgrrl
I feel I should give a brief introduction before I go asking away with a couple of questions I have. To make a long story short the last I posted on SA about pregnancy was when we were trying. We tried for a year without success so I got put on Clomid for one treatment and 6 weeks later found out I'm pregnant. I'm now 27 weeks and having a boy! I had to do the early glucose test at 10 weeks because I'm a fatty. :( They want a certain BMI and because I'm short and fat I'm over their threshold it's not like I have a ton of chins and multiple rear ends but I digress. Onto questions, I've been having hip pain sometimes when I get up from sitting, mostly when I'm at work, which is sitting in front of a computer writing code. Sometimes getting out of my car I over stretch my left leg out and that hip hurts for a bit. Today isn't as bad as yesterday but yesterday I felt like I had the hips of an 80 year old. Is this normal? Is it perhaps part of my body preparing itself by widening my hips or something? Finally, sleep, I miss it. I have a hard time falling asleep and every time I roll from one side to the other I wake up, not just a groggy "oh, I'm slightly awake" kind of wake up but more of a "I'm fully awake, let's run a marathon" kind of wake up. What can I do aside from popping pills like Tylenol PM, which I don't want a pill induced sleep.

bilabial trill
Dec 25, 2008

not just a B
Hip and pelvis pain is very normal. I went to an exercise group for pregnant women, led by a physiotherapist, and the exercises helped a bit with the pain. Other things that helps is avoiding things that aggravates it (for me it's walking too much or carrying too much). Try not to be completely sedate if you can avoid it. I find that using an elliptical or exercise bike doesn't hurt so I do that.

As for sleeping, yeah. I have that problem too. I have some pregnancy safe allergy meds with the side effect of drowsiness, and I take one of them when the insomnia is really bad. Ask your doctor or midwife for advice!

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DrPepperholik
Jul 15, 2007

by Fistgrrl

rectal cushion posted:

Hip and pelvis pain is very normal. I went to an exercise group for pregnant women, led by a physiotherapist, and the exercises helped a bit with the pain. Other things that helps is avoiding things that aggravates it (for me it's walking too much or carrying too much). Try not to be completely sedate if you can avoid it. I find that using an elliptical or exercise bike doesn't hurt so I do that.

As for sleeping, yeah. I have that problem too. I have some pregnancy safe allergy meds with the side effect of drowsiness, and I take one of them when the insomnia is really bad. Ask your doctor or midwife for advice!

At work is the only time I really sit for a long time in a seat like a normal person, at home I curl up on the couch/love seat and frequently get up to do things. While at work I try to go to the bathroom that's the farthest away so I can get up and move a bit. Unfortunately I don't have an exercise bike or elliptical to use but I could go for walks in the building. :( Sadly I can't remember what I might have done the other day that could have contributed to the horrible feeling yesterday but like I said today isn't bad.

My allergy meds are non-drowsy which is good but not. I go back in a week so I'll ask them, I hate to bother them all the time for small questions that aren't emergencies.

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