Benefits for Mother:

• Water is soothing, comforting, relaxing. Water birth is a form of hydrotherapy which, in studies, has been shown to be an effective form of pain management for a variety of conditions especially lower back pain (a common complaint of women in labor).
• In the later stages of labor, the water seems to increase the woman’s energy.
• The buoyancy lessens her body weight, allows free movement and new positioning.
• Buoyancy promotes more efficient uterine contractions and better blood circulation, resulting in better oxygenation of the uterine muscles, less pain for the mother, and more oxygen for the baby.
• Immersion in water often helps lower high blood pressure caused by anxiety.
• Water seems to alleviate stress-related hormones, allowing the mother’s body to produce endorphins, which are pain-inhibitors.
• Water causes the perineum to become more elastic and relaxed, which reduces the incidence and severity of tearing and the need for an episiotomy and stitches.
• As the laboring women relaxes physically she is able to relax mentally, concentrating her efforts inward on the birth process.
• The water provides a sense of privacy, which releases inhibitions, anxiety, and fears.

Benefits for Baby:

• Provides a similar (warm, watery) environment as the amniotic sac.
• Eases the stress of the birth, providing reassurance and security.

Risks involved in Water Births:

Although there are no proven disadvantages to birthing in water, it is still a controversial means of delivery.  Critics cite possible risks, including:

• Water aspiration. If the baby is experiencing stress in the birth canal or the umbilical cord becomes kinked or twisted, the baby may gasp for air, possibly inhaling water into the lungs. This would be rare because babies do not inhale air until they are exposed to air. They receive oxygen through the umbilical cord until they start to breathe on their own or until the cord is cut.
• The umbilical cord could snap as the baby is brought to the surface of the water. This is preventable by using caution when lifting the baby up to the mother’s chest.
• Another concern is that the water could increase the risk of infection. However, studies to date do not show increased risk of transferring bacteria from infant to mother or mother to infant.
• Slowed labor, due to the documented relaxing effects of water, may be seen as a benefit rather than a rsik.  Laboring in water is sometimes associated with a decrease in the intensity of contractions, and is thus thought to slow labor.
• Maternal blood loss. For care providers who are inexperienced in delivery in water, it may be difficult to assess the amount of maternal blood loss. Although there are well-developed methods of determining maternal blood loss in water, many providers prefer to deliver the placenta out of water for this reason.

Water births may be discouraged in the following situations, and should be discussed with your health care provider:

• If you have Herpes: Herpes transfers easily in water, so you will want to discuss this thoroughly with your health care provider.
• If your baby is breech: Though water birth has been done with bottom or feet first presentations you will want to discuss this thoroughly with your health care provider.
• If you have been diagnosed with excessive bleeding or maternal infection.
• If you are having multiples: Though water births have been successful with twins around the world, you will want to discuss this thoroughly with your health care provider.
• If preterm labor is expected: If a baby is two weeks or more prior to due date, water birth is not recommended.
• If there is severe meconium: Mild to moderate meconium is fairly normal. Since meconium floats to the surface in a tub, your health care provider will watch for it and remove it immediately, or help you out of the tub.
• If you have toxemia or preeclampsia: You will want to thoroughly discuss this with your health care provider.

For more information, check out:

Wikipedia (includes history and studies associated with water births)

Waterbirth.org

WaterBirthInfo.com

AmericanPregnancy.org,

YourWaterBirth.com (Offers supplies for an at-home water birth, such as pools, hoses, thermometers, protective floor covers, birth kits, and more)

The program has been running at Swansea University since 2004, and has won a top award. Presenteres of the award say they’d like to see the program used at other universities as well.

Creators of the program wanted students to become familiar with a normal pregnancy and normal birth… with minimum intervention. So Jessica’s experience is pretty “normal”, with small problems cropping up to “challenge” the students.

Susanne Darra, one of the program’s authors, says, “There is a big issue in the western world with ‘problem’ births and it doesn’t have to be like this. We have a strong trend to alert people to problems, but most of the time things turn out fine.”

My heart aches for this couple, Rachel and Andrew Canter, but I wonder if things would have turned out differently if they’d had monitering and medical care from the time labor began.

According to this article, “the Canters were assured that should anything go wrong, they were only seven minutes’ drive from Barnet hospital in an ambulance.” But it turned out that the maternity unit was  closed to new admissions, and they had to be transferred to an alternate unit 25 minutes away. This might have been a rare case of unforseen delay, but it seems to me that any delay, or possiblity of delay, can affect the outcome of the birth, the health (and even life) of mother and baby. I still don’t understand why anyone would want to risk it. I want to take every precaution to ensure that my baby is born safe and healthy.

I dunno, Esther seems pretty thrilled with her new baby brother these days.  I was told to beware of the jealousy, but my 2-year old was SO excited to have a new baby in the house. When we first brought him home, she could barely contain herself and kept pointing at him and shrieking in delight, “Baby! Baby! Baby!” She didn’t even take notice that I had returned after a 3-day absence!

But we still have to keep an eye on her around the baby. “Gentle” is the new byword in the house, but either she’s still figuring out what that means, or she’s choosing to ignore us. “I love baby so much!” she’ll declare. She love to hug him (seem more like a choke hold to me), hold his hand (is it supposed to be twisting that way?), give him toys (ouch! Not in his eye!), and give love pats (smacks?).

Bringing home a new baby can be traumatic for an older child. Dr. Spock uses the following analogy to explain the jealousy:

Imagine that your husband comes home one day with another woman. He announces: “Dear, I love you as much as I always have, but now this person is going to live with us, too. By the way, she is also going to take up a lot of my time and attention because I’m crazy about her. She is more helpless and needy than you are anyway. Isn’t that wonderful? Aren’t you delighted?”

I’d be less than delighted too! So what can you do to prevent or overcome these feelings?

The first thing is to actually identify when your older child is jealous. It might not always manifest itself as verbal or physical abuse of the new baby. Often a child knows that hitting the new baby is not tolerated, so he may take out his anger in a variety of other ways.

Parenthood.com identifies 13 Signs a Sibling is Jealous of the new baby including clinging, thumb-sucking, regression in toilet training, resisting bedtime, abuse of pets, and avoiding contact with the baby. 

iVillage gives some helpful advice on how to deal with a child who acts out and is rough with the baby. BabyWorld also has a good list of tools, including preparing your toddler before the baby arrives, how to manage the “first meeting,” and acknowlaging his feelings.

Elizabeth  Pantley (author of The No-Cry Sleep Solution) offers some practical suggestions for keeping jealousy at bay. In “How do I deal with Jealous Sibling,” she lists 12 ways to relate to your toddler and make them feel loved, needed, and included. She points out the importace of “hovering” when your toddler and baby interact to make sure the baby is safe, while at the same time demonstrating the proper way to treat a little baby. Children tend to treat babies like dolls, and have a hard time understanding how to be “careful” unless we show them (without yelling “No, no! Be more careful!” every five seconds). Praise when your toddler does something right will get you farther than admonishing him every time he does it wrong. She also explains how to give your toddler extra love, be supportive, get him involved, and make him feel special.

 So I started feeling contractions on Friday morning, but I didn’t even mention them to my husband, David, or sister who’s staying with us, because I wasn’t even sure I was having them. But by around 2:00 I was like, “Oh, by the way, I think I’m having contractions” and then began the super-annoying process of trying to count them and time them and all that.  I didnt have much chance to focus because darn it, there was a lot to take care of before I could get around to having a baby!  Finally around 3:15 we went to the hospital, becuase although the contractions were not very strong, they were getting more frequent.

I was 3 cm dialated when we got there. Accepted the enima as graciously as one can accept an enima, it’s actually kind of nice in away… You feel so cleaned out afterward! David kept saying he wished he could have one too. LOL. But they didnt offer him one…

The midwife poked me three times before getting a “good vein” for the IV, that might have been the worst part of the whole labor, the way they poke you and dig around inside your arm. Ugh! I have these huge nasty bruises where they failed to find an acceptable vein (want pictures??). So eventually the contractions got worse and I was like, OK, where’s my epidural??? For some reason it took an hour or so until the doctor was able to come and give it to me. And I was so unhappy because aside from the contractions, they made me lay there on the stupid moniter and the most uncomfortable position for me was laying on my back and I think it made me gassy, so there was extra pressure in that abdominal area and my back hurt and I was not happy about it. Even trying to turn over on my side was not helpful. And the IV was bothering me too. It was very annoying. So finally I got my epidural, but last time they gave me the type where I could administer it myself, and it was such a pleasure. This time they just gave me a little bit, and I had to ask for more becuase it wasn’t working. And once it did start working, I got the shakes and I was so cold and shaky and even though I couldnt feel the contractions I was still not a happy camper. I wanted to sleep but I couldn’t lie down becuase it was too uncomfortable, and my feet felt like ice and I was all shakey and felt wretched. *sigh* so much for my bright dreams of a peaceful, comfortable labor. But definitely better than not having the epidural at all.

Anyway at about 12:25 they checked me and there was the head! A few pushes and the head was out, and then the midwife yelled for help, and another midwife came in and together they pulled out the rest of the baby (I pushed a little to help them along, nice of me, huh?) It was kind of a funny sight with my legs every which way and the 2 midwives pulling with all their might. Funny, but probably not very pretty. Anyway, out he came, all 4 kilo of him, and as I said before I was not bowled over by the first impression. But dont worry, I am growing to love him more He is such a good, sweet little baby. And he’s a boy, so he doesn’t have to be a beauty…

Thank G-d a million time I didn’t tear, so no stitches, and it makes a world of a difference in the recovery! I feel like a normal person, and last time it was painful to go to the bathroom and even walk around! The contractions I got during nursing were pretty bad for the first few days but thankfully we are over that too. I actually feel really good (don’t tell that to my  mother who’s been scrubbing my apartment, cooking and shopping for me!).

So there you have it, labor and delivery in all their exciting, glamous detail. Just glad it’s over and glad to have the little fellow out in the wide wonderful world, instead of in me! Can’t say much for the post-partum figure but I guess now we just wait patiently in our roomiest sweaters…

Although 40 weeks is just an estimate (and often miscalculated), standard policy seems to be induction at 42 weeks (that’s what happened to me last time). Those who  follow this rule claim there are several risks to letting a baby stew for longer. AboutKidsHealth gives the following reasons:

• The placenta can get old. The placenta grows inside your uterus and keeps the baby alive inside your body. If the placenta is getting old, it can slow down or stop your baby from growing. Alternately, if it keeps functioning some say the baby can grow “too big”, making your labour harder and longer.

• There is a higher chance your baby will have some kind of problem during labour and birth if you are overdue, including insufficient oxygen.

• If the liquid from the amniotic sac leaks out, the baby could get an infection.

iVillage lists these possible complications:

• The risk of fetal death and stillbirth is considerably higher in postmature babies.
• The risk of macrosomia (very large baby) and dysfunctional labor is higher.
• There is an increased risk for operative delivery (cesarean, forceps and vacuum).
• More intervention is done for postdates pregnancies (induction, monitors, IVs and testing).
• The risk of infection and hemorrhage goes up slightly.
• Meconium, which is often present in the fluid of a postdates baby, can be aspirated into the lungs. This necessitates suctioning and careful observation to prevent pneumonia.

But I like other ways of thinking much better. How about this one, from Birthsong: “When your body is fully ready to open up and birth your baby, it will happen. Your baby will be perfectly prepared. Your body will be fully ready.”

Compleat Mother sings the same tune: “Mothers carry everything they need within them, whether it is the wisdom and power to seek out necessary help or to give birth completely alone. During pregnancy, just like during labor, mothers don’t need to be searching for problems, but instead remaining receptive to messages their bodies give them. As a general rule just take good care of yourself and your baby, be “in tune” with your inner wisdom, and don’t let arbitrary rules and measures influence you.”

I guess this reasoning appeals to me since I’ve always been a “go with the flow” type of person. Why not let nature run it’s course, as long as you are being responsible and doing all you can to ensure a healthy baby? I’m going for the post-date monitering and ultrasounds. As long as the doctors do not sense anything going wrong, I’m content to just wait it out and let this baby come when it’s ready.

Chiropractic Care and Pregnancy is a collection of links to other articles/blogs relating to this subject.

Greater Comfort and Safer Births says that not only can chiropractic adjustments help ease back pain, they can also contribute to the safe and easy delivery of your baby. If a woman’s pelvis is out of balance, it causes a condition referred to as “constraint” to the uterus. This can affect how much space the baby has to grow, and the position of the baby at time of birth. Even if the baby is head-down, the position he is in may prevent him from being in the “ideal position” and this can slow down labor and even cause need for inductions and other avoidable interventions.

This Planet Chiropractic articles states that chiropractic care can shorten labor, relieve back pain, and lessen the chances of back labor (which is very uncomfortable, at best!). Not only do chiropractors work with expecting mothers, they can also help newborn babies that suffer trauma due to in-utero constraint.

DCs in the Delivery Roomis an interesting article written by a chiropractor who actually assisted her friend in delivering her baby.  It portrays the hospital staff in a very unfavorable light. I think someone like the woman in this story, with such a personalized birth plan that includes a chiropractor, should have researched the protocols of the hospital and made sure her wishes would be respected there. But maybe she didn’t have many options. In any case, it is interesting to read how adjustments throughout labor affected her delivery.

Some things that women include in their birth plans are positions for labor and birth, environment during labor, pain relief options, fetal monitoring, breastfeeding/bottle preferences, and circumcision. However there are many other details that you might want to include. You can write down anything you feel would make enhance your birthing experience, and whatever you think is best for your well-being and the well-being of your child.

If you are interested in creating an interactive online birth plan, BabyZone has a very detailed one. BabyCentre also has some useful information and a list of things to consider when writing a birth plan.

Here is a Packing List of important items:

Medical records

Hospital Registration

Birth Plan (if you have one)

Toiletries & Cosmetics

Sanitary pads (not tampons)

Clean underwear

Dressing gown & slippers

Outfit to wear home (keep it roomy!)

Nursing bra (if you have one) and nursing pads

Magazines, books, CD’s

Camera/camcorder

Snacks

Calling card/change for pay phones

Outfit and hat for baby to wear home

Baby blanket

For an even more complete checklist, try Baby Bedding Town.

GBS is a bacteria normally found in the vagina and/or lower intestine of 15% to 40% of all healthy, adult women, and there are usually no symptoms.  Most GBS infections are acquired during childbirth when the baby comes into direct contact with the bacteria carried by the mother.  About 12,000 infants in the United States will be infected with GBS each year, and will kill about 2,000 infants yearly, while leaving many others mentally and/or physically handicapped.

A routine screening for vaginal strep B is recomended for all pregnant women. This test is performed between the 35th and 37th week of pregnancy and involves a swab of both the vagina and the rectum.

If you test positive for GBS, you may be given antibiotics through IV during your delivery to prevent your baby from becoming ill. Taking antibiotics greatly decreases the chances of your baby becoming ill.  There is a 1 in 200 chance of your baby getting GBS if antibiotics are not given, and 1 in 4000 if antibiotics are given.

Taking oral antibiotics before delivery has not shown to be effective. There are also herbal methods that you can take 2-3 weeks before delivery that a midwife or homeopathic doctor can provide for you.

For more information: Center for Disease Control, American Pregnancy.org and ChildBirth.org