Birth | Pregnancy | Blog

Yesterday was my birthday. We had a busy day, but not because of that, it was other stuff. However, when evening time came, we had a nice dinner with family and I guess you could say that was my birthday celebration. Isn’t that what birth is partly about anyway? Becoming a family.

I don’t really know a lot about my birth day. I’m not sure my mom remembers a whole lot more about it. It goes something like this I believe:

It was about chore time. (Really, the only time on a dairy farm that isn’t chore time is when the cows are sleeping). My mom had gone into labor, my dad took her to the hospital and my oldest sister who was almost 14 at the time finished up the milking. All my siblings knew what they had to do. That’s the way a farm family it. Everyone has a job to do, and they do it, like clock work.

I supposed they all headed off to school when their chores were done. Maybe Grandma came over (my grandparents lived next door) and helped with breakfast and saw everyone off, or maybe Dad was back home by then.

I was born at about 4:35 am, that much I know for sure, and being the practical farm family, I’m sure business as usual resumed, except that Mom and me had to stay in the hospital for a couple or few days. Mom was just as involved in the farm as everyone else, and hearty to boot because of it.

When we finally went home, all was well and happy, until about a month later.

Back to more recent times, I found out when I decided to have my first homebirth that my mom was considering have me at home. I’m not sure what made her (or both my folks) decide to go to the hospital. Perhaps if they read this post, I’ll find out.

My first Emergency Childbirth manual was actually given to her shortly before I was born, and she and my dad gave it to me before my first homebirth. I consider it my “lucky” one. It’s special to me, so when I lend one out, it’s my newer copy instead. (the link provided doesn’t have an image, perhaps because the cover colors vary and they may not all be from the same printing so they may be different)

I know that they both have had their worries about my laboring at home (because we live out in the middle of nowhere for one reason, the other being that there is nobody in this area licensed to attend childbirth at home) but the fact that they respect and support my wishes anyway means a lot to me. Of course, I do have my “back-up plan” which I’ve briefly discussed in a previous post. Don’t worry Mom and Dad, if I have to, I’ll go to the hospital, but remember my choices are limited (and unfortunately for women in our area who opt for hospital births, they are getting increasingly limited). I wish the birth options were growing, not decreasing. It seems all backwards to me. But, I guess that is for another post…

Sheilah

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I’ve kind of been in research mode, between everything else I do already. You know what, who am I kidding, I’m always in research mode, but anyway…

If you desire to educate yourself about childbirth or pregnancy and you can get online, there is no reason you can’t do so. Lots of perspectives are available to you with the click of a button and the stroke of some keys.

There are so many medical journals if you want to take the more “academic” approach and there are tons of books to be found which you could take out from your local library (a different “scholastic” approach). There are also thousands of websites, blogs and forums, the trick is to weed out the ones that really have helpful information. Just because it’s a big name and has been around for years doesn’t necessarily make it better. In fact, I’ve been finding the smaller, less known, lower ranked, and more privately run websites more valuable. Having a baby isn’t about commercialism. It’s about love and family, and that is reflected in the way people present themselves on their websites.

Medical Journals

Today, my main focus will be here. This is where you can find “scientific” studies (if you are a scientist at all, you will find that some aren’t really very scientific, but there are a few really good ones too that make it worth while to check them out). There are also reviews, editorials, papers, articles, etc, alrelated to childbirth (or whatever other medical topic you’d like to search out and learn about).

Some medical journals you need to subscribe to or register for. The more you go through studies and/or abstracts, the more familiar you’ll become with them.

Some of my favorites include:
• British Medical Journal (BMJ) - all you need to do is type keyword/s in the search box in the upper left corner and you can access lots of free information regarding your topic of choice. Sometimes you may have to tweak your keyword to get the results you are looking for, but there are lots of studies, articles, and reviews about childbirth, labor, pregnancy, home birth, water birth, natural birth and so on. From around the world too, to give you a different and broader perspective. Unfortunately there are some articles, studies, reviews, etc that require membership.
• Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ) - another one with the search box in the upper right corner. This provides free web access and requires no registration.
• Obstetrics & Gynecology - aka The Green Journal. Will let you see the abstracts for free and some of the articles, studies, reviews, etc, but not all. Requires a membership to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists for total access, prices vary. It’s search box is sort of in the center and appropriately has green fields to type in.

There are a few to get you started. I don’t want to overwhelm you, however, if you like, leave a comment and I can link you to a couple or few lists that you can peruse to find your own favorites. The lists are long (they refer to all different medical fields) but worth browsing if you want to learn about as many angles of a medically related topic as possible.

Sheilah

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I told you yesterday I’d let you know what my thoughts were after I set up my birth pool. Well, this afternoon, we set it up, and by we, I mean the whole family (the kids were just as excited about it as I was).

First off, the kids and I pulled it out of it’s case and kind of spread it out a bit. Then we tightened the inner ring on the air valve like the directions said to. Then we commenced filling it with air via our shop-vac, (which I cleaned so that it wasn’t blowing dirty air into it). The sides filled about as easily as my last birthing pool. Then we tried to fill the bottom. It didn’t work at all with the vac, so my dear husband tried to fill it with his lungs. It was working, but still difficult. I guess we’ll have to get a pump for it.

I know it’s only a couple inches taller than my last one, but those couple inches make a huge difference. I’m certain that when it is filled, it will very adequately cover my belly. It’s big enough that I sat in it with all four of our kids at the same time. (Okay, so they are still kind of small, ages 8 and under, but still…). My husband and I could comfortably sit in it together, but he’s already told me he doesn’t want to get in (seeing the vernix in the water grossed him out with my first water birth). He will if I need him to though, he’s not a chicken.

The sides appear to be nice and sturdy but we probably could have inflated it more. The handles, well, I guess I’ll know when I’m actually in labor how I like them. At this point, the idea seems neat, but I’m indifferent about them.

I can comfortably stretch the long way yet still touch both walls, and the short way is probably good for pressing up against, I’ll know more if I do that in labor too.

Take down was pretty easy too. The hardest part was getting the little bit of air in the bottom out. Then I changed the shop-vac from blow to suck and sucked the air out, trying to fold it about the same as it was when I first took it out so I could get it back in the case. I don’t know how they get it so tight in the first place. I wasn’t able to get it the same, but I did get it back in the bag. Maybe with more practice, I’ll get better at putting it away.

I’m still excited to have it. It’s a beautiful pool, I just feel like I have a couple of “bugs” to work out, like filling the bottom easier and getting it put away again. Luckily I still have time.

When it gets a little warmer, I may do like they suggest in the letter that came with it. They say to try it at least 3 weeks before your due date, for a practice run and also on the back side of the letter, they mention using it to relax before the “big day.” I think that is a great idea too! Mmmmm.

I guess I’ll have to blog yet again about this birthing pool, but that one will be a while away (I’m not due until May 15th).

Sheilah

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Whoo-hoo! I got my birthing pool (see previous post). It arrived just a little bit ago and we brought it inside. It really only took 8 days. Wow!

I have got to tell you, I felt kind of bad about not ordering from yourwaterbirth.com, but come to find out, by going through birthwithsol.com, it came from the first one anyway, so I got to show my support for two places I really like! Bonus.

And talk about your bonuses, La Bassine comes with a carrying case too. I think it may have said that when we ordered it, but I forgot all about it.

I’m going to have to tell you about it either later or tomorrow. Whenever I can get back to the blog to do so. I have so much other work I should be doing now, but I just had to tell you I got it. For now, it’s warming up to room temperature (as per their directions on the outer box). It’s still chilly here anyway, so I can totally see the sense in the warm up time. If it were below zero like it was a month or two ago, the material might be kind of brittle. I doubt it will take 6 hours like the instructions say, but I’m going to give it that just to be sure anyway. (It’s going to be hard, but I’ll refrain

I’ve been thinking with the case and all, this pool sounds so nice, I should get some liners so I can share it. I may have told you before, but incase you didn’t know, I like sharing good things!

I guess on that note, I’ll get going back to my other work. I’ll let you know how the set up goes. Either later or tomorrow.

I’m so excited that it’s here already! Thank you birthwithsol.com and Your Water Birth.

Sheilah

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It was a rough night last night, so please forgive me if I come across as, tired. Tiredness during pregnancy is fairly common. Reasons for feeling tired vary and the feeling may come and go. For me, the busier I stay, the longer I can go, and the less tired I fell, until my head hits the pillow.

Pregnancy with other children around is not always a picnic either. Of course, it’s not generally a picnic anyway, but I think you know what I mean.

Now keep in mind, post partum means “following parturition,” which is essentially the time after childbirth. Once you become a responsible-for-somebody-else parent, things change, regardless if it’s right after labor, or down the road a couple of years. So maybe I’m going out on a limb here, but I think that includes the trials and tribulations of you baby’s growth and childhood. And if you happen to become pregnant again, you go through it all again, from start to finish, only still having another person to consider in your life. So, here’s my little story about my sleepless night.

Our toddler, Anna, decided she wanted to have another late night last night. And today is a big day for William, too. The poor kid had a tooth pulled, so he was up kind of late too, worrying I guess. Needless to say, this pregnant Mommy didn’t get much sleep. Sometimes that happens I guess. It’s all part of the gig. It doesn’t always matter if you are pregnant or not, you need sleep, or you need to eat, or whatever. In this house, we put our kids first (okay within reason, they aren’t spoiled anyway, at least, I don’t think they are…).

Juggling pregnancy and other children can be tricky, perhaps even more so when you are working full time on top of that, and here’s my main secret: I rely heavily on my husband. Russell is so great about just taking over when I just HAVE to take a nap, a break, a snack, or whatever. If you have people around you that you can trust, you should let them help out sometimes too. Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t mean take advantage to the point of not lifting a finger, but rather than stress out about stuff (I do this too…) let them help. Ask them to help, get them to help, some how. Even if it’s just to take the trash out or get a power nap. Every little bit counts.

Hey, if you want some funny accounts of other stuff you have to look forward to after the birth of your child, check out this blog: theblogfathers.com He puts an amusing spin on parenthood, things that with your first pregnancy, you only joke about, but after you’ve been through it, you laugh in a different way. A way of understanding but realizing it’s still funny.

That along with a cat nap or two should help stave of that pregnancy tiredness for a little bit longer.

Sheilah

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It’s been a week (tonight) and I still have no birth pool, however, it did ship. We didn’t expect it yet anyway, so it’s okay that it’s not here yet. I still have time, I’m just excited. Incase you missed what I’m talking about, here is a link to the previous post regarding my new birthing pool.

My new pool is deeper and bigger than the last pool I used which back then I got from Amazon.com. It’s also oval shaped, which will actually allow for more position possibilities for me to labor in. Yea! I look forward to getting it and setting it up to take a good look at it. I’ll have to promptly put it away though too, because I have 4 kids that are going to want to check it out as much as I do.

Just yesterday, our second son, William, was telling me he thinks he’s ready to get in a bigger pool. I told him that maybe we could get him into some swimming lessons this summer and I explained that the pool was even a lot bigger than “Aunt Joan’s.” To which he said something like, “But we can’t get a pool that big in here!”

Then it dawned on me, he must have heard me and Russell talking about my new birthing pool, and he is ready to get in it too (my last one was theirs to use inbetween my births). Another benefit for the kids, they’ll likely be getting a new ball too. I get one of those inexpensive kids balls from Wal-Mart, the really big ones, to use as a birth ball, and when I’m done with it, it’s theirs. If I got a regular birth ball, they wouldn’t be allowed to play with it. The trick for me is selecting the most inflated one I can get so it’s big enough for me to sit on comfortably, otherwise, a regular birth ball, exercise ball, or yoga ball is what I would go with (and I may still anyway, they really are nicer, tougher, etc, plus they come in different measured sizes).

I’m really glad my boys get excited about my birth supplies also. When they grow up and are more interested in girls (our oldest, Johnathan, already dresses to impress) and eventually get married and start their own families (our youngest son, Bo, has said MANY times he wants to be a Daddy), they won’t get freaked out like some poor husbands do when they find out their wives are pregnant. And they’ll know how to be helpful and supportive to her because they have been helpful and supportive to me (yes, they have been helpful, even in their youthful years, I’ll tell you about it in another post). They enjoy being involved and I know this because for the last two births, we gave them the choice of going to visit with friends and/or relatives, (and have fun playing) or to stick around to see what happened. They wanted to see what happened, speciffically to see their baby brother or sister be born.

Anyway, this is just to let you know, don’t worry, I’ll keep you updated about the birthing pool. I’m excited about it and so are my kids. They won’t let me forget to tell you.

Sheilah

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