Got Baby? Avez vous un bebe?

[Rhiannercakes 14]

Haha, I love those stories, Kathryn.

Especially the last one.

[Marilyn. 340]

thought this was cute....

MsBMG-p1HDM

[Rhiannercakes 14]

That was adorable!

I giggled a bit too.

[ValerieA 350]

Great stories, Kathryn, thanks! I've decided that my childbirth is going to be that way. Yes, I DO have that power.

Marilyn - too funny! Love that video!

[Krikit 1,163]

This topic has terrified me.

I'm not pregnant, but I might be this year, and... OMG. I'm a tiny thing, and my SIL swears I won't be able to handle labour (after she gave birth to my nephew).

Oh gosh. Don't even think about it. My cousin, who is as skinny as they come, no child-bearing hips... nothing.... had the two most easiest deliveries on the planet. She had minor cramping and walked to the hospital both times (it was a few blocks from her house). The first delivery was 20 minutes later with a couple of pushes. The second delivery they barely got her to the room.... she almost had it in the wheelchair. She said there was no pain to speak of. Of course, I hated her for that. lol

Regardless of your size, I guarantee you the child will be smaller than you are!

My second child was only 5lb and he hurt far worse than the first at 7lb. I think being able to go full term has a lot to do with minimizing the pain because your body has time to prepare you to get through it.

Ok - a funny story about another friend of mine. She was due in January and had scheduled a home birth with a mid-wife. Well, the weekend she was due to give birth Ontario experienced one of those horrible blizzards where buckets of snow fall all at once and everything is closed. They lived in Belleville at the time. She prayed that she wouldn't go into delivery during the storm - but, of course, she did! She called the midwife who lived about 40 minutes away without the weather and the midwife said there was no way she would be able to make it. While they had planned on a home birth she suggested that my friend try to get to the hospital just to be on the safe side. My friend's house was completely snowbound - there was no way their car could make it out of the driveway let alone onto the street. They called the ambulance - and it was the same thing - the ambulance couldn't make it through the snow covered streets. So, they called a neighbour who had a snowmobile! Yep, she rode on the back of a snowmobile - in labour - about 20 minutes to the hospital where within 3 hours her daughter was born.

Don't you just love a heartwarming Canadian birth story?

[Gemmie 142]

Yeah, I've read a lot about how different things can affect the birth such as size of mother, size of baby, hip angle, whether you're induced, whether you're anemic... the SIL said she wanted to do it without drugs and when she was around 4cm, she was doing fine, but by 6cm she was screaming for drugs. Her baby was 7lb13 and overdue by 11 days. She also told me to hope for a girl.

Also read that if you have really bad menstrual cramps, labor might be easier. I'm hoping on that one, because I do get them really bad sometimes (dizziness, nausea, just curling up and unable to move). But as you say, it's different for everyone so I guess it's all speculation and you won't know until the moment. And even then, each birth can be different.

[trailmix 77]

It's why they have drugssss.

Epidural!!

Ok, so, when I was having my Son, I never really thought about how painful it would be. I had this (really great) book - everything from A-Z about pregnancy was covered in it - including 'painless childbirth'.

The only discussion I ever had with anyone on the subject was my ex's Mother - who had been a nurse. She said to me - it is very painful. I said, no, they have drugs now.

ffwd a few months - I neglected to discuss any of this with the Dr. who was supposed to be delivering my Son - nowhere in this book did it mention that - I also moved countries during my pregnancy and actually had 4 different doctors - including the one that did deliver him, whom I had never met - my Dr. was on holiday.

So at some point I brought up the drug thing - oops, sorry, too late for an epidural or anything.

I did get a little of some drug - completely useless, whatever it was.

So my question to anyone considering 'natural' childbirth, is why would you ever do that?

Oh and my Mother had 3 of us girls, none under 8lbs - so throw that theory out the window too

Edited January 13, 2010 by trailmix

[Malrothien 6]

A coworker at my old job had her baby last Feb. She worked until 5:30, having not felt all that great the entire day. Went home, decided they should go to the hospital "just in case". 3 hours later - BABY!

[ValerieA 350]

Let's do stories of how we found out we were pregnant.

As I have mentioned previously, I had an unplanned pregnancy this past spring. Some background: the women in my family get pregnant when a man looks in their direction. Seriously, it is unbelievable. However, I had gotten to the ripe old age of 39 without a pregnancy (granted, birth control was a factor) and figured that the fertility gene had passed me by. I had a great career, was a Director of Finance, and really had not planned on having kids - I think it should be saved for those people who REALLY want to have children.

I had visited my boyfriend (now-hubby) in March, and we had gone to New Orleans. My next trip was in April. I was 'late', which was not totally unusual for me - in times of extreme stress, I would be exactly a week late. However, this was going to interfere with my trip, so decided to go to the dr and get pills to delay things. All goes well, dr gives me prescription, I go into the pharmacy next door to fill it. Behind the counter - preg tests. Hmmm.

It occurs to me that it is technically possible that I am pregnant. Since these pills are NOT to be taken when you are pregnant, I decide to be safe rather than sorry, and buy a package of 2.

That night, I take the first one. Are you kidding me? Is that line pink? I don't know. Seems very inconclusive. So, next morning, as suggested, I take the second one. Same darned thing. Next step - go back to the dr.

Dr explains to me that I can't be pregnant. I agree, all the while b1tching about OTC preg tests. We go over all my timelines, last time I had sex, last period, etc. Yes, I agree. I can't be pregnant.

Dr decides to reinforce his point, and brings a calendar out. We start going over all the dates again. He says "Oh." I say "NO Oh. I don't LIKE Oh. Keep telling me what you were telling me before Oh." Dr: "Well, sperm can live for 3 days." Me: "Little BAZTARDS!" At least I made the Dr laugh. He then did the test, paused for a LONG time, before telling me that yes, I am pregnant.

The one bad thing he then did - started scheduling me for a termination. I said "Uh, no, I just found out I am pregnant, and it is a bit of a shock. I am NOT making a decision like that right now." He told me how risky it was for me to have a baby, etc. etc. but I stuck to my guns.

Although this pregnancy ended in a miscarriage, it did a couple of very important things - showed my (now) husband and I that we DID want to have a child together, and made us realize that we didn't want to be apart anymore, so we got married and started the visa process!

Wow, this was a long post. I will post the story of my second pregnancy in a separate one, although it is not as interesting. At least, this one was interesting to me!

[Sprailenes 47]

It was my full intention to have a natural childbirth and I am glad I could do it, even with the pain that I went through having when my son. I didn't like the idea of numbing my body during childbirth. It was just a personal choice for me. I wanted to feel the birth of my son. I'd do it natural again if I were ever to have another baby.

I think it's just a personal choice. I didn't take any pain meds at all during my pregnancy, even when I had headaches. I was really careful about what I put in my body and everything, so when it came to childbirth I just wanted to keep it natural also.

[Team J and B 2]

Nice stories!

Ok, I'll share my son's birth. It's kind of a nice one. No complications. Language might not be suitable for the prim and proper. I haven't shared it with others before so forgive me if it's long and unedited. Childbirth doesn't have to be a horrific experience, just be aware that things sometimes might not work out the way you had planned, so have a back up plan.

At 5.30 AM Jan. 14, 2009, I went to use the washroom. I think my water broke. I woke my husband. I called the hospital to let them know. They told me it hadn't broken after much discussion. Told me to call back in the morning.

Back to bed. Woke at 7ish. Felt ok, usual Braxton Hicks since I've had months ago, but irregular. We go for breakfast. I'm timing the contractions during breakfast, irregular. Some were 3 minutes apart, some were 10 minutes apart.

Husband drops me off at hospital whilst he parked the car at home. We live three blocks away.

I check in, the nurse tells me I'm wrong and my water did not break and was mocking me because first time mothers all think a little urine is the water. Condescending. She says she'll call my doctor just in case, since he's next door.

He comes, sticks his finger in. I'm like 4 cms. Haha!

Dum-dee-dum. Get me all set up, etc.

Husband and I are chillin in the delivery room, making jokes, taking pictures. My doc had another delivery that day, a serious one.

At 12, my husband got a call from Macy's. We had left a note on our front door for the delivery men to please call us to deliver our couch. If we had rescheduled we'd have to wait another few weeks. So my husband ran home to let them in, then ran back all in 20 minutes. During that time, I had gotten my epidural.

The only time I cried during this whole birthing thing and the most painful was getting the epidural. It's a big needle that goes in your spine and it's not just a quick jab. The worst is the epidural, imo.

After the epidural, all is fine and happy again. More pictures, more posing, more lame jokes.

From 2.30 to 6, I pushed and pushed, but I know and my husband knows and the nurse knows I didn't give it my all. Why? I was too posh to push out "other things." Though I know that's natural, I just couldn't get over it. I farted once and covered my face and asked my husband, "Oh no, did I just poop?" He said no. So I was relieved. Haha. But my advice to everyone is fark your modesty, just push. I was also afraid to push so hard my rectum would come out. Then you wouldn't have to do lame lady pushes like I did for 3.5 hours and have your husband, the nurse, the doctor all standing there looking at you like you're being a child. So for my next one, I'm pushing hard.

During the last hour, my doctor had a bowl of olive oil and he had to oil my ####### to stretch me out. You don't really feel much, just a little pressure.

He came out right at 6 PM, all blue and plastic-looking. My belly felt like mush. But that night I finished my whole dinner. Hadn't had any food since 8 AM. The acid reflux disappeared the moment the baby came out. That was the best thing about having the baby - no more acid reflux!

The first week your vulva is all puffy but you can take Ibuprofen and wear frozen maxipads and clean yourself with water to relieve the soreness. It wasn't so much painful as it was sore.

I also breastfeed, and by month two or three, my uterus shrunk, and I lost all my baby weight except the breasts. Those shrunk about six to seven months after birth.

I'm size 0P, 5'1", <100 lbs. My baby was 7 lbs 6 oz. Your body will be able to pass your child through. During your last few weeks of check ups the doctor will be able to guesstimate if your baby is too big to deliver by V, so don't worry it won't be a last minute decision.

[ValerieA 350]

See? SEE? These are the kind of birthing stories I want to hear! LOL

Awesome, J&B, thanks!

[Team J and B 2]

Oh, and how we found out we're pregnant? My husband just needs to stare me in the eye and bam, I'm sperminated.

I was trying on shoes for my wedding and modeling them for him the week before we got married. They were all red stiletto heels I ordered from Zappos.

He got hot watching me sashay down the hall. Called me from the room to help him with something, I went in, then he pinned me against the wall and had his way with me.

After a missed period, I knew. His sperms took.

[Sprailenes 47]

Errm the story how you found out you were pregnant, not how you GOT pregnant J&B

[ValerieA 350]

With stories of how we got pregnant, this thread could take a whole new direction!

I think I got pregnant the usual way. He got me drunk and took advantage of me.

Edited January 13, 2010 by ValerieA