Baby Corner

[gabby4ever 1]

Girls, what do you think about inducing the labor aprox. two weeks before the due date? Any pros? Cons? I dont really know how all this works ( inducing, problems, c-section etc)thats why Im asking you...

My boy is due Dec. 15 and starting next week Im fixing to be All alone until Dec. 15th with a 4 year old and without a DL . My husband has to go to training before deploying and the military couldnt have picked a better date!! He might get 4 days off with the Thanksgiving weekend and i was thinking, if everything is good with my pregnancy, to ask the doc to induce me then so my husband can come here for 4 days and be present for the delivery/ watch my other son....

[chnst 6]

Girls, what do you think about inducing the labor aprox. two weeks before the due date? Any pros? Cons? I dont really know how all this works ( inducing, problems, c-section etc)thats why Im asking you...

My boy is due Dec. 15 and starting next week Im fixing to be All alone until Dec. 15th with a 4 year old and without a DL . My husband has to go to training before deploying and the military couldnt have picked a better date!! He might get 4 days off with the Thanksgiving weekend and i was thinking, if everything is good with my pregnancy, to ask the doc to induce me then so my husband can come here for 4 days and be present for the delivery/ watch my other son....

I understand your situation that really sucks, but I don't think it's a good idea to induce early if there is no medical indication. Even if they give you pitocin, a lot of times if the cervix isn't ready then it wouldn't go anywhere. Just a lot of stress on baby and mommy. Do you have family or friends who can help you with the 4 year old? It's sad that your husband may not be there. Is there any way he could take a day or 2 when he is doing the training? I don't know much about the military.. sorry. Talk to your doctor, they may check your cervix and see if there is any progress around 38 weeks but I doubt that they will induce labor if there is no medical reason.

[gabby4ever 1]

We dont have anyone here...friends, family, nobody...thats why i asked the question.....Im already a nervous wreck about the moving/ travel in january with a newborn and the cat and the 4 year old now this....I guess my biggest fear was that

Do you know if i have to wait to get a birth certificate for the baby first, or can i get the hospital paper and send it for a passport right away? If the baby is born Dec. 15th, the latest i have to leave the USA is Jan. 30th and i dont know if thats gonna be enought time to get a birth certificate and a passport afterwards...

[chnst 6]

We dont have anyone here...friends, family, nobody...thats why i asked the question.....Im already a nervous wreck about the moving/ travel in january with a newborn and the cat and the 4 year old now this....I guess my biggest fear was that

Do you know if i have to wait to get a birth certificate for the baby first, or can i get the hospital paper and send it for a passport right away? If the baby is born Dec. 15th, the latest i have to leave the USA is Jan. 30th and i dont know if thats gonna be enought time to get a birth certificate and a passport afterwards...

not sure which state you live in, but that is very very little time to get all the documents. It took a while to get the birth certificate for us, you will have to expedite the passport stuff but I'm still not sure if you will have everything in time. As far as I know you will need a birth certificate before you can apply for a passport, and both you and your husband will have to be at the post office when you apply for the passport.

[Anna C. 4]

@ Gabby: you can expedite the birth certificate, but we got it within a week and the passport is super quick. Call the hospital or the local registrar to learn about expediting the birth certificate. E.g. my birthing center already gave me the worksheet for the CO birth certificate, it's all filled out and in my file at the center. You can prepare it ahead of time and ask the responsible person how to get it quicker.

I'm so sorry for your situation, it really stinks. However, I wouldn't induce early without medical indication. Your risk of interventions, a NICU stay and all those things increase dramatically. I'm military too and at our base we have a spouse group that helps out in such situations - contact yours! Even asking your husband's squadron commander's spouse, who usually is responsible for some degree of spousal support can help. In CA they organized food for us when Jona was born and offered all sorts of help (jona was born in August and we arrived in July, so we didn't really know them, but they just wanted to help badly!). As for the birth, no matter what kind you are planning, I would hire a doula as I wouldn't want to be alone. She will provide wonderful support for you. Many give military discounts.

You can also go to the office of family support on base or call military one source, they all provide help in such situations, especially at units that deploy.

[Eveline 9]

don't they usually get at least 2 weeks of paternal leave? I have heard of husbands coming home from overseas once a child was born or even before. I also know one case where labor was induced and the husband sent home on R+R before that.

[MARM 7]

Hello mommies:

I know I shouldn't have but I carried a basket of laundry up from the basement and then when I laid down afterwards, I felt my uterus twitch very strongly.

And although there wasn't any discharge persay, I did see some slight mucous less than a teasponfull when I went to the bathroom afterwards

. Should I be worried? I did call my OB and he said to come in for an U/S on monday even though he said he is sure everything is fine, but I wanted to know if any of you ever experienced something similar?

[anxious 0]

To all;

My Son is in the competition for the Gerber Babies Generation Photo contest. There is a scholarship for the winner, which will probably only pay for a semester of college when he is old enough, although it is 25K.

Please vote for him if you have the time, There can only be one entry per IP, so if you would be so kind, forward it to your external mail address if you are using a corporate IP address or it won’t count. You can vote once per day for the next month. The link is found below.

Also, please forward it to everyone you know who would like to help us out. Thanks in advance, and thanks for your support. I will owe you all a big favor and thank you for the help.

Sincerely yours,

Todd and Shiela

here's the link

http://www.gerber.com/photo/?entryid=123214&%2F#/detail/

MY SON is James Martin Lowman, ID for GERBER #123214

Contest starts on OCTOBER 3, 2010 and continues until OCTOBER 31, 2010

1 vote per day, you can vote everyday :-) please vote for him.

Ohhh he is sooo cute! I voted for baby James. It would be nice to

have a vj baby multicultural baby hold the gerber crown!

Im surprised no one else commented. he looks TOO cute. I wish I had

taken the time to enter my lil man in some contests... he sure had his

share of oohs and ahhhs.

good luck!

[chnst 6]

Hello mommies:

I know I shouldn't have but I carried a basket of laundry up from the basement and then when I laid down afterwards, I felt my uterus twitch very strongly.

And although there wasn't any discharge persay, I did see some slight mucous less than a teasponfull when I went to the bathroom afterwards

. Should I be worried? I did call my OB and he said to come in for an U/S on monday even though he said he is sure everything is fine, but I wanted to know if any of you ever experienced something similar?

It should be fine. I carry a 35lbs toddler around all the time and laundry baskets up and down the stairs. If you feel that heavy lifting causes discomfort then try to avoid it, but usually pregnancy doesn't mean you can't carry a laundry basket. I would go to see the doc just to be on the safe side but I'm sure its fine. I had some cramping and bleeding in the first trimester and it scared the hell out of me but it turned out fine. so take a deep breath and don't stress it too much.

@anxious: Shiela's baby is very cute but I'm really not into the baby contest stuff, so I wish her all the best. I don't know if I would go out of my way to sign up with my email address to vote for someone I don't even know and who doesn't ever post here.

[Fandango 1,439]

Girls, what do you think about inducing the labor aprox. two weeks before the due date? Any pros? Cons? I dont really know how all this works ( inducing, problems, c-section etc)thats why Im asking you...

My boy is due Dec. 15 and starting next week Im fixing to be All alone until Dec. 15th with a 4 year old and without a DL . My husband has to go to training before deploying and the military couldnt have picked a better date!! He might get 4 days off with the Thanksgiving weekend and i was thinking, if everything is good with my pregnancy, to ask the doc to induce me then so my husband can come here for 4 days and be present for the delivery/ watch my other son....

I just had my baby, and was induced 10 days beforehand due to medical reasons, and I can tell you from my experience: DON'T DO IT! Truthfully, I don't think the doc will comply if there's no medical reason for it anyways. All I can say is that I wound up in labor for over 30 hours with contractions a minute apart the whole time...at the end it got very dicey, and the baby was under stress. I was on oxygen because his heart rate dropped, and had to get a C section.

Oh, and after all that labor, I wasn't even dilated. I got to 65% effaced, that's it.

eta: You want your baby to get as close to full term as possible...as I said, I had medical reasons for being induced, but we pushed it off as long as we could to ensure the baby got as much time in utero as possible....every day is vital. Good luck though!

and as to the contest: I registered and voted. And I also entered Nicholas into the contest for next month...so I'll be a pita here to all my mommy crew next month for votes, lol.

And one more thing: I settled on the Dr Sears sling...it's already been shipped, so I will give everyone a full report on it after it comes.

Edited October 10, 2010 by Happy Bunny

[Fandango 1,439]

Oh, and Gabby...I'm in FL too, and after the birth, you can actually physically go into a Dept of Vital Statistics office and walk out with a copy of your baby's BC. I'm not sure what the turnaround time is, but we went 2 weeks later (just out of sheer lack of time), and there was no problem.

[tnh9479 1]

Gabby, I doubt any doctor will induce you earlier than 39 weeks, unless it is for medical reasons. I was pregnant with twins, on hospital bedrest, and couldn't even get clearance for a c-section due to mild pre-eclampsia until 37 weeks. The peri was telling me the new thinking is to at least 39 weeks with singletons and 37 weeks with twins.

We took the twins to the pumpkin patch Friday night. We had lots of fun! Zak thinks the pumpkins are orange balls!

[MARM 7]

@chnst: Thanks for the reassurance , I was driving myself mad thinking awful thoughts...it takes quite a lot for me to remain calm during these days, I hope the second trimester will fly by faster than the first...

I had my OB-setup appointment yesterday and my doctor gave me a breakdown of the testing that will take place throughout the pregnancy. He wants a anatomical U/S at 16 weeks, and then one at 22 or is it 28...weeks, blood work for quad marker at around 20 wks I think, and blood work for downs syndrome, etc testing at a later week (I think this is standard procedure because the Dr. did not think necessary any genetic testing due to family history and I also opted for no genetic testing), and of course the monthly checkups, and then after week 30 he wants an U/S and a checkup twice a week until my delivery because I have a history of hypertension, although I controlled it prior to my pregnancy with diet and exercise, it seems to be creeping up again. We also discussed birthing plans, and he is willing to work with any preferences: all-natural, epidurals, etc. I am thinking epidural is probably the way to go...but I am also thinking of the side effects, I know it takes away all the delivery pain, but the thought of being totally numb and having no voluntary muscular control from the waist down scares me. And if, due to medical requirements I end up needing a C-section, the dr said they will cut from the same place where I have a scar from a laparotomy 7 years ago to remove an ovarian cyst. The scar is a result of a Pfannenstiel incision which I beleive is the same incision for C-sections. There is so much to think about...I don't even know where to start shopping, what to do about the nursery, what classes to take, when to tour the hospital, etc. I guess everything will fall in place as time goes by... It is so great to have a support system, lots of love to all of you !

[Staashi 371]

Oh, and Gabby...I'm in FL too, and after the birth, you can actually physically go into a Dept of Vital Statistics office and walk out with a copy of your baby's BC. I'm not sure what the turnaround time is, but we went 2 weeks later (just out of sheer lack of time), and there was no problem.

I'm in Florida, too, and we had Enzo's within a week and that is because we didn't go sooner.

[Staashi 371]

@chnst: Thanks for the reassurance , I was driving myself mad thinking awful thoughts...it takes quite a lot for me to remain calm during these days, I hope the second trimester will fly by faster than the first...

I had my OB-setup appointment yesterday and my doctor gave me a breakdown of the testing that will take place throughout the pregnancy. He wants a anatomical U/S at 16 weeks, and then one at 22 or is it 28...weeks, blood work for quad marker at around 20 wks I think, and blood work for downs syndrome, etc testing at a later week (I think this is standard procedure because the Dr. did not think necessary any genetic testing due to family history and I also opted for no genetic testing), and of course the monthly checkups, and then after week 30 he wants an U/S and a checkup twice a week until my delivery because I have a history of hypertension, although I controlled it prior to my pregnancy with diet and exercise, it seems to be creeping up again. We also discussed birthing plans, and he is willing to work with any preferences: all-natural, epidurals, etc. I am thinking epidural is probably the way to go...but I am also thinking of the side effects, I know it takes away all the delivery pain, but the thought of being totally numb and having no voluntary muscular control from the waist down scares me. And if, due to medical requirements I end up needing a C-section, the dr said they will cut from the same place where I have a scar from a laparotomy 7 years ago to remove an ovarian cyst. The scar is a result of a Pfannenstiel incision which I beleive is the same incision for C-sections. There is so much to think about...I don't even know where to start shopping, what to do about the nursery, what classes to take, when to tour the hospital, etc. I guess everything will fall in place as time goes by... It is so great to have a support system, lots of love to all of you !

Marm, you're 11 weeks along...breathe it out. Just at least get through your first trimester and let everything take its course. You're going to be fine. I myself did all the genetic testing, all the anatomical U/S, all the good stuff because of my age and medical conditions. I believe in all those tests because knowledge is power. And here's why:

My best friend was pregnant with her first, and initially she just wanted to do a gender U/S, but the tech noticed something wrong with the fetus. The perinatalogist came in and realized that the baby had a diaphragmatic hernia. They could see in the ultrasound that her intestines had gone through the hernia up towards her heart, while her lungs were being squished down below the hernia. Initially, the doctor wanted her to abort, but because of her faith she didn't. To save her daughter when she was born, they did surgery on her when she was 3 days old. She is now a happy, healthy four year old.

On the other hand, my cousin was pregnant with her second baby and decided to do the genetic testing - turned out that her baby had trisomy 18 and all its major organs were defective. She was five months along and decided to abort. It was a difficult decision, but she and her husband could clearly see with guidance from the perinatalogist that the baby was suffering - heart not beating correctly - blood not pumping through the heart as expected, very labored breathing like it couldn't catch its breath, whereas a baby only takes a breath every so often, and organs outside the body cavity. They made the tough decision but they knew that the baby was going to die upon birth so they decided not to let it suffer anymore.

Hard times, hard decisions but I believe in the tests.