August due Dates!

NL wrote:
SNIP

I know that won't work, and isn't even a good idea, but
she's low and I have to pee all the time and I'm uncomfortable despite
this summer being really cold.

It was brutal here (New England, USA) this weekend, humid, hot, sticky,
just horrible. I thought my ankles were gone forever. Then a huge
thunderstorm hit on Saturday afternoon and another rain storm yesterday
and phew relief, I nearly stripped and ran (waddled) out into the garden
to praise the skies for such glorious relief - I didn't but I thought
about it!

My parents are going to be here on Friday (oh joy... I can not wait...
*sigh*) and they'll take Sam with them on the first and return him on
the 8th. So I'll have a week to just hang out in bed and sleep drink and
eat. I hope.

Lucky you!

Then there's all the moving of furniture to do, my big desk with all my
sewing stuff and lots of baby stuff will need to be moved into Samuels
room and the changing table/dresser and a bookshelf will make its way
into my room.
My best friend will probably come up from Stuttgart during the week Sam
is away and bring the crib she's giving me, so by the time Sam's back
everything should be set up for the baby to arrive, too.

So yeah, that's the plan, we'll see how it goes *lol*

Looks like a plan to me. I finish work on Friday so will also have a
week or so to chill a bit and get the house ready, there is no sign
whatsoever that there a baby about to arrive in my house, no basinett,
no crib, no nappies, nothing...I need to change that!

Am looking at a possible induction for insulin dependent diabetes, am
majorly ****ed off about that and trying my best to avoid it, I'd like
to have a VBAC this time.

I know this has probably been done to death on this group but has anyone
had any success with "natural" induction methods?

By natural I mean non chemical, no pitocin or cervadil or anything like
that. I've had reflexology and am going for acupuncture tomorrow.

There's a good list of the possible methods he
http://www.maternitycorner.com/mcmag.../preg0007.html

I'm open to try most things except castor oil or laxatives of any kind,
that does not appeal!

On Jul 30, 2:52 pm, Boliath wrote:

Am looking at a possible induction for insulin dependent diabetes, am
majorly ****ed off about that and trying my best to avoid it, I'd like
to have a VBAC this time.

I know this has probably been done to death on this group but has anyone
had any success with "natural" induction methods?


For my successful VBAC, I was 39w5d when my midwife stripped my
membranes. This started irregular contractions off and on for the next
couple of days. At 41w my midwife stripped them again (I had gone from
1 cm to 4 cm in those 2 days) and about 5 hours after stripping I was
in full blown labor. Baby was born 12 hours after that, no other
augmentation.
So I do think the stripping worked for us (we had also been having
sex, I'd been drinking RRL tea and using Evening primrose oil applied
to the cervix).

Note, I had membrane stripping with my first pregnancy (suspected
big baby) which may have led to premature rupture of my membranes
and thus a failure to progress and eventual c-section. I don't know
that
for certain, but it is what I think happened. That said, as I neared
41 weeks with DD2 I thought is was worth the risk.

Good luck!

Mary W.

Mary W. wrote:
On Jul 30, 2:52 pm, Boliath wrote:

Am looking at a possible induction for insulin dependent diabetes, am
majorly ****ed off about that and trying my best to avoid it, I'd like
to have a VBAC this time.

I know this has probably been done to death on this group but has anyone
had any success with "natural" induction methods?

For my successful VBAC, I was 39w5d when my midwife stripped my
membranes. This started irregular contractions off and on for the next
couple of days. At 41w my midwife stripped them again (I had gone from
1 cm to 4 cm in those 2 days) and about 5 hours after stripping I was
in full blown labor. Baby was born 12 hours after that, no other
augmentation.
So I do think the stripping worked for us (we had also been having
sex, I'd been drinking RRL tea and using Evening primrose oil applied
to the cervix).

Thank you Mary, I'm starting RRL tea and EPO this evening. Not so sure
about sex, seems like a huge effort, I can barely walk at the moment
with SPD.

Note, I had membrane stripping with my first pregnancy (suspected
big baby) which may have led to premature rupture of my membranes
and thus a failure to progress and eventual c-section. I don't know
that
for certain, but it is what I think happened.

I also think that premature rupture of my membranes caused my c-section,
the intervention train pulled in to the station at that point and all
was lost :c)

That said, as I neared
41 weeks with DD2 I thought is was worth the risk.

Good luck!

Thank you!

Just found this after readign the thread change.

Per my LMD EDD, I'm almost 39 weeks, but think 38 may be more accurate
due to when I think the deed as done. In keeping with my easy
pregnancy, I feel like this lil' guy likes his current home just fine,
thankyouverymuch. And I'm cool with that, as is DH. I do think I've
been able to identify some BH contrax, although may times I think it's
just the baby pressing the front of my uterus. He is starting to
occassionally stretch out and in so doing, press on my bladder or
cervix; whichever one, it is not comfortable at all! But that is
pretty infrequently. It's been mentioned several times that I'm not
that huge, which I'm fine with, too. Fundal height was 38 cm Thursday,
so I'm not worried. So no waddle yet (I don't think), I just get a bit
achey at night sometims if I don't put my top leg over on a pillow.

I fininsh work tomorrow, which will give me much need time to do
stuff. My shower was yesterday, and my crib came in today. My step-mom
and -aunt are staying a couple of extra days to help clean this house
(which my DH and I didn't pick up enough, but oh well). We
switched/are switching our home office/computer room with umpteen
computers/parts with our former guest room/future baby room. ILs
arrive in a week for perhaps a month-long stay (not all with us, thank
goodness!).

My mom I think is a bit impatient with us for not having a name
chosedn (and even if we did, we don't really want to tell). DH joked
about telling his mother (in England) that we would name the baby
Jacob Branston due to our love of cheese and crackers (Jacob's Cream
Crackers and Branston Pickle), so that is how the grandparents have
taken to referring to him. DH is dragging his heels on helping me
choose a name. :/

Overall, I'm great physically, just lethargic and waiting for that
burst of nesting energy!

Betsey

On Tue, 24 Jul 2007 10:36:51 -0400, Boliath
wrote:

NL wrote:
Boliath schrieb:

This has certainly put a fire under me, I have NOTHING ready for this
babe, no clothes nothing, but all he needs is a boob and a clean nappy
and he'll be fine!

Well, we haven't heard from you in 10 days, what's going on?

Oh sorry.

FWIW: I've had some contractions that definitely felt like labor,
panicked every time, drank water and juice like crazy and crawled into
bed and sometimes made my birthing partner panic by calling him *g* I
don't think I'll make it another month...

I'm fine still hanging in there, feeling gargantuan, baby is low and
feels like the head is engaged. The midwife checked me 2 weeks ago and
said nope nothing happening, I'm hoping that has changed by now, it
certaily feels like it. I'm having contractions, like you, strong and a
little like the real thing but with no regularity and no pattern. I wish
I could crawl into bed when they happen but I'm still working and have a
2 1/2 yr old at home so there's no rest for me. I finish work on the 3rd
so plan to put my feet up for the duration after that.

I'm bigger than I was with my son, I have stretch marks which I didn't
have last time and it looks like my belly button might pop this time
too. I'm going for acupuncture and reflexology next week to see if I can
give theis babe a litle nudge. I know s/he won't come until s/he is
ready but a little nudge can't hurt - can it?

How are you? And the other August women?

I'm so ready to have this baby! I already told her that her deadline's
the 8th of August (the day I hit 38 weeks) and if she doesn't come out
herself I'll smoke her out, or I'll just kneel down and push her out and
I won't care if my cervix is ready or not, it'll be ready when I tell it
to be *lol*. I know that won't work, and isn't even a good idea, but
she's low and I have to pee all the time and I'm uncomfortable despite
this summer being really cold.

actually, I heard one reported case of a women doing just that, I think
she was 32 weeks, definitely preterm, not her first child, she showed up
at the hospital, admitted she wasn't contracting and wasn't in labour,
but insisting on pushing and eventually the baby was born, I'm not sure
why they let her stat, I suppose they feared that she might ultimately
do some harm, and I think the placenta followed very quickly afterwards
(abnormal, possibly indicating an abruption shortly before the birth). I
think there may have been concern that the women had mental health
problems, but I don't think anyone acted to, say, have her sedated to
avoid the forced delivery, but then I don't think anyone thought she
would managed to force the delivery.
Cheers
Anne

Am looking at a possible induction for insulin dependent diabetes, am
majorly ****ed off about that and trying my best to avoid it, I'd like
to have a VBAC this time.

Be very cautious, all medical induction methods carry an increased risk
of uterine rupture, it may still be within your risk tolerance zone, but
there is a decreased chance of being sucessful in a vbac, have you
read kmom on the subject?
http://www.plus-size-pregnancy.org/gd/gd_index.html, there are
definitely times when a women with GD does need to be induced, but there
is little evidence to support it as a routine intervention.

I know this has probably been done to death on this group but has anyone
had any success with "natural" induction methods?

By natural I mean non chemical, no pitocin or cervadil or anything like
that. I've had reflexology and am going for acupuncture tomorrow.

There's a good list of the possible methods he
http://www.maternitycorner.com/mcmag.../preg0007.html

There is always going to be anecdotal tales of it working, but they are
often when the women is well past 40 weeks and would have a high chance
of going into labour anyway. Personally, I think the chances of actually
getting it to work at 38 or so weeks is pretty slim, but that should
induction really be necessary, that there are things you can do to be as
ready for it as possible, such as evening primrose oil capsules on the
cervix, which do similar things to cervadil, but at a much slower pace.

Do you know about Bishop's score? it's a measure of a number of things
such as engagement, dilation, position and texture of the cervix and the
score adds up to be a reasonable predictor of whether induction will
work or not. I've had a 37 week induction, due to IUGR and PROM, which
is notorious for being a long drawn out process, but my Bishop's score
was high and the induction was much smoother than many are well past dates.

The biggest problem that I think you'll have with an early induction is
that most need repeated applications of cervical ripening things
(cervidel and others), but that really increases the risk of uterine
rupture, I know it's not something I'd be comfortable with, but if it's
pitocin only, with a low Bishop's score, it's also not very likely to
suceed, there does, in my mind come a point where it's better to plan a
c-section than to have a moderate chance of having an emergency one, but
your thresholds may be very different to mine.

Cheers
Anne

Anne Rogers wrote:

Am looking at a possible induction for insulin dependent diabetes, am
majorly ****ed off about that and trying my best to avoid it, I'd like
to have a VBAC this time.

Be very cautious, all medical induction methods carry an increased risk
of uterine rupture, it may still be within your risk tolerance zone, but
there is a decreased chance of being sucessful in a vbac, have you read
kmom on the subject?
http://www.plus-size-pregnancy.org/gd/gd_index.html, there are
definitely times when a women with GD does need to be induced, but there
is little evidence to support it as a routine intervention.

Thanks Anne, I have read kmom, it's a priceless resource.

I just had a biophysical profile this morning, they estimate the baby to
be 9lbs at 37.5 weeks. I know there is a margin of error with this(10%?)
and the bigger the baby the bigger the margin, but it has unnerved me
somewhat and I'm thinking more about an early induction than I was.

I know this has probably been done to death on this group but has
anyone had any success with "natural" induction methods?

By natural I mean non chemical, no pitocin or cervadil or anything
like that. I've had reflexology and am going for acupuncture tomorrow.

There's a good list of the possible methods he
http://www.maternitycorner.com/mcmag.../preg0007.html

There is always going to be anecdotal tales of it working, but they are
often when the women is well past 40 weeks and would have a high chance
of going into labour anyway. Personally, I think the chances of actually
getting it to work at 38 or so weeks is pretty slim, but that should
induction really be necessary, that there are things you can do to be as
ready for it as possible, such as evening primrose oil capsules on the
cervix, which do similar things to cervadil, but at a much slower pace.

Thanks, I started EPO and am hoping it will help.

Do you know about Bishop's score? it's a measure of a number of things
such as engagement, dilation, position and texture of the cervix and the
score adds up to be a reasonable predictor of whether induction will
work or not. I've had a 37 week induction, due to IUGR and PROM, which
is notorious for being a long drawn out process, but my Bishop's score
was high and the induction was much smoother than many are well past dates.

I'd heard of it but didn't know much about it. I just found this
http://mother-care.ca/bishop.htm

The biggest problem that I think you'll have with an early induction is
that most need repeated applications of cervical ripening things
(cervidel and others), but that really increases the risk of uterine
rupture,

My midwives will only use pitocin with a previous section, they don't
like the gels in general it seems. They did encourage me to use EPO and
are very supportive of me trying for a VBAC, it's me that is losing
heart at this stage.

I know it's not something I'd be comfortable with, but if it's
pitocin only, with a low Bishop's score, it's also not very likely to
suceed, there does, in my mind come a point where it's better to plan a
c-section than to have a moderate chance of having an emergency one, but
your thresholds may be very different to mine.

That's kind of where my mind is going now. I feel a little defeated but
a healthy baby is my goal, how I get there is secondary.

Thank you for your thoughtful and considered response, I'm sure others
will find it as informative as I did.

Bo xx

Cheers
Anne

Boliath wrote:

I just had a biophysical profile this morning, they estimate the baby to
be 9lbs at 37.5 weeks. I know there is a margin of error with this(10%?)

The margin is actually bigger than that. Quite a few studies
considered late term u/s estimates of fetal weight *accurate* if the
result was within 10 percent either way, but they were only "accurate"
(by that definition) something on the order of 50-75 percent of the
time. So, up to half the time, they don't even hit it within 10
percent.

I know it's not something I'd be comfortable with, but if it's pitocin
only, with a low Bishop's score, it's also not very likely to suceed,
there does, in my mind come a point where it's better to plan a
c-section than to have a moderate chance of having an emergency one,
but your thresholds may be very different to mine.

That's kind of where my mind is going now. I feel a little defeated but
a healthy baby is my goal, how I get there is secondary.

Another thing to keep in mind, though, is that *YOU*
have some control over how and when you make your decisions.
For instance, it's not plan a c-section in advance or labor
until you're beyond exhausted and then finally cave in to the
c-section and try to recover from it with no reserves left.
You can decide that you want to go into labor naturally and
labor only as long as you're feeling optimistic about the
outcome, but decide to go to a c-section well before it's
an emergency or you're completely wrung out.

Best wishes,
Ericka

I just had a biophysical profile this morning, they estimate the baby to
be 9lbs at 37.5 weeks. I know there is a margin of error with this(10%?)
and the bigger the baby the bigger the margin, but it has unnerved me
somewhat and I'm thinking more about an early induction than I was.

There is no evidence to support that early induction improves outcomes
with a potentially large baby, induced labours in general just seem to
be more difficult, extended, more likely to need epidural, more likely
to need assisted delivery and so on, if you could just flick a switch
and have a normal labour, just a bit earlier in time, then likely it
would improve outcomes, but you can't, you might have a slightly smaller
baby, but to get the chance to delivery that, you have to take on a
whole host of other things, that don't improve anything and may even
hinder. Size is a factor in delivery, but not as much as many people
will have you believe, size alone doesn't tell you what shape your baby
will be and what dimensions are contributing to the weight, you could
have a long baby with a small head, or a short baby with a big head.
Position of the baby is exceedingly important, you don't want to go
inducing a baby who's not in a good position to be born, of course they
might turn in labour, but they might not and then you're in the
operating theatre having you ability to birth undermined yet again.
Estimated birth weights are almost always too big, you'd think that the
formula would get changed, but as yet, that hasn't happened, people used
to say the estimate was upto a pound out either way, but now it seems
people are saying up to 2lb too high, so the baby could be a very normal
7lb right now. What do your midwives say regarding the weight, I'm sure
I read somewhere that they are more accurate than machines, but the most
accurate is a mother who has had a baby before, so what do you think?
The other thing to note is how much babies put on in the last few weeks,
the text book answer is 1/2 pound per week, but many people have
observed that this doesn't always seem to be the case and baby might be
putting on that much from 34 to 38 weeks, but then slows down, it
probably varies from person to person.

My midwives will only use pitocin with a previous section, they don't
like the gels in general it seems. They did encourage me to use EPO and
are very supportive of me trying for a VBAC, it's me that is losing
heart at this stage.

I'd noticed that there seems to be less use of the gels in the US, I
don't understand the reasons why, it's irrelevant for you, but I know
that in the UK, they are very big on using gels and this means an early
induction for GD can be very time consuming, 3 days or so, with repeat
application of gel, but then whilst the c-section rate in the UK is not
great it's a lot lower than in the US and I think there is plenty of
evidence that supports a higher success rate with use of gels, I wonder
if it's the different health care systems that make it not favourable
for many doctors in the US.

I don't know your history and I don't have a crystal ball, so I've no
way of knowing whether or not you can birth this baby vaginally, but I
honestly think the best chance you have it to await natural labour. The
only reason I'd accept for induction in this situation is that the baby
is at a high risk of death - and then I'd be questioning if there was
time to attempt induction. Anyone suggesting that induction will improve
your chances, they are talking hogwash any intervention at all chips
away at the chance of success, including things that can be seen as
fairly benign, such as artificial rupture of membranes.

Cheers
Anne

Anne Rogers schrieb:

I'm so ready to have this baby! I already told her that her deadline's
the 8th of August (the day I hit 38 weeks) and if she doesn't come out
herself I'll smoke her out, or I'll just kneel down and push her out
and I won't care if my cervix is ready or not, it'll be ready when I
tell it to be *lol*. I know that won't work, and isn't even a good
idea, but she's low and I have to pee all the time and I'm
uncomfortable despite this summer being really cold.

actually, I heard one reported case of a women doing just that, I think
she was 32 weeks, definitely preterm, not her first child, she showed up
at the hospital, admitted she wasn't contracting and wasn't in labour,
but insisting on pushing and eventually the baby was born, I'm not sure
why they let her stat, I suppose they feared that she might ultimately
do some harm, and I think the placenta followed very quickly afterwards
(abnormal, possibly indicating an abruption shortly before the birth). I
think there may have been concern that the women had mental health
problems, but I don't think anyone acted to, say, have her sedated to
avoid the forced delivery, but then I don't think anyone thought she
would managed to force the delivery.

Oi. Well, that gives me hope ;-) Honestly, I was feeling a lot better
the past few days, even with this weird cough, but last night was "no
sleep night" I was either coughing or having to pee or both (yeah, see
the pregnant lady run...) and when I finally fell asleep again Sam woke
up an hour later, luckily he went to grandma, so I was able to go back
to sleep, for about 30 minutes before some idiot rang my doorbell but
was of course gone by the time I got there.. So now I'm semi awake and
can't go back to sleep. Love it.

Sorry, I just need to vent a little, I have heartburn and I can't bend
down because I feel like I'll throw up when I do that, my kitchen is a
huge mess, but emptying the dishwasher's no go because of the bending
over and I'm feeling pretty disgusting even though I've just had a
shower.. I just hope the next weeks go by quickly and uneventful.

cu
nicole