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!

Update: Squiggle is here!

hi guys.

My little geek arrived last weekend, on Saturday the 6th August.

He was 2 weeks late and weighed 8lbs 9oz, he's 8 days old today :-) and we're both doing well. My labour only lasted about 4 1/2 hours and I managed on gas and air. I've got a lot to be grateful for... he's very healthy and sleeping well (when he's full!)

I won't be using his name on the blog, just because, you now, the internet lasts forever. I'll still be calling him Squiggle :-)

Normal programming will resume shortly, I haven't hung up my crafting hat yet :-) I've got at least 3 projects in the pipeline which I'll get to as soon as I can get this sleepy baby off my tummy.


love to you all!!