Wednesday, January 04, 2012

Mammy List 1: Labour


Lets be clear here, I'm a craft blogger. My blog is not concerned with politics, religion, the intricacies of my personal life, or anything deep or philosophical. It is my refuge from such things. Saying that, there are times when something that is so intertwined with my day-to-day life (blogging) and other major life events (having a baby) have to acknowledge each other's existence.
This is part of a series of blog posts I'm calling “The Mammy Lists”
It's a collection of things I've learned over the last 5 months, don't worry, I'm still a craft blog. Crafting is still happening and documentation of said crafting will resume soon!


Labour

  1. In labour, go without pain relief or other interventions as long as possible. You're stronger than you think. You'll thank yourself afterwards.
  2. The point of labour is to take home a healthy, happy baby. Remember that if things don't go to plan.
  3. Things rarely go to plan.
  4. An episciotomy is not the worst thing that can happen.
  5. Before you give birth, find out about your local La Leche League group (or other local support groups)  just in case you choose to breastfeed.
  6. Even if you don't want to breastfeed consider putting your baby to the breast after giving birth. It will help your womb to contract, speeding your recovery, as well as giving the baby your immunity to the bacteria in his/her new environment. and hey, you can still change your mind!
  7. Trust your instincts.
  8. Do some research beforehand, go to an antenatal classes and know about the different stages of labour.
  9. When you get to the pushing stage. Try to push, hold the push to rest and then push again, instead of pushing, releasing the muscles and then pushing again (you will push several times in one contraction) A baby is kinda like toothpaste (bear with me here) if you release the muscle it gets sucked back in a little, making you work a lot harder.
  10. If you've had bad period pains, that's what first stage labour feels like, yea it hurts, but you can deal with it. It's hard work They don't call it "Labour" for nothing. Its worth it.
feel free to leave your own tips in the comments!

4 comments:

  1. hear hear! i had a natural delivery, and while it was horrible and i thought i was going to die, i've never been so proud of my body. i feel like i can do anything now.

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  2. The pushing was explained to me as "push like you're going to take a poop" that definately helped me in the delivery room. I also agree with number 1, but must add "don't be a hero". I tried to fight the epidural with my second child (didn't need it for the first) but since I was induced the second time around the pitocen became unbearable and I eventually gave in. Congratulations on your baby!

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  3. Is it weird that I really enjoyed labour? It was hard work, but I can't imagine running a marathon being any worse. But yeah, after having a home birth I then had to go into hospital to get stitched up, and that I didn't enjoy. I' m a big fan of number 8 - I loved having a home birth, but it wouldn't be for everyone. The most important thing is that women are informed about labour and know what will happen- a big help to me was knowing that staying relaxed during labour makes it hurt less. I'd also add to check your genetics! My labour was exactly the same time as my mum's with me, and my grandma's with my mum (we all came in at the 6 and a half hour mark), so that worked as what to expect for me!

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  4. "Trust your instincts".

    It's the best advice you can give! All people around want to help, but they give you a lot of stress. The best choise is this "trust your instincts".

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