VBAC Video: This Woman's Work

"... a three year journey that took this couple from their unexpected hospital cesarean birth to birthing their second baby at home in water - condensed into a mere 6-minute video. You, the viewer, become a witness to their very heartfelt, personal sacrifice and transformation."

I first saw this on The Beginning of Motherhood

Ectopic Pregnancy, Epidural Childbirth, and Doulas

I'd like to share three of my recent articles published on the Pampers website:


Ectopic Pregnancy Signs and Symptoms - My experience with an ectopic pregnancy scare.


Considering Natural and Epidural Childbirth - Personal observations and suggestions for when considering pain relief options for childbirth.


What are Doulas and What Do They Do? - How my doula transformed my birth experiences.


Please read and pass these articles on to those whom you feel might benefit from them. It's about empowering women to make informed choice in pregnancy and birth.

The Roller Coaster: Malaise

This is the third post in a special bi-weekly series.  It's a sequel to The Longest Weekend of My Life series.  Please check back next Wednesday for Part 4.

Part 3: Malaise

My husband and I had errands to run, but I thought we'd be back within an hour so I could be home when the midwife called back. However, when we got back home there was no sign of her call. I felt alright for the most part. I wasn't having any serious cramping, just some aching in my lower back. That was normal for me during menstruation, so I decided to stay calm and wait things out.

Then I got tired, and grumpy, and headachy, and things started to go downhill. I should probably explain that for me, getting tired usually leads to grumpiness, and sometimes also leads to a migraine. During pregnancy, especially in the first trimester, I feel tired a LOT, which means I have a tendency to get very grumpy, and the migraines come more frequently. Add onto that the fact that my back was aching more, and I was feeling ever so slightly crampy in front, and I was starting to feel nauseated.

I wanted to lie down, curl up in a ball, and sleep. But, my kids wanted my attention and I didn't think they would be calm enough for me to lie down for a while. I decided to take the two youngest outside and sit in the grass. I often find this soothing and relaxing, and it can help me calm down within a matter of minutes. My kids, on the other hand, had other things in mind. They wanted to run from the grass into the gravel driveway and get dangerously close to the road. It didn't matter how many times I sweetly asked them to “come back to mama”, or simply yelled at them to “get back here right now”, they wanted to be anywhere but in the grass with me.

I brought the kids inside and left them to their own devices while I curled up on my bed and tried to get some rest. It was interrupted often by voices from the other room, but I did my best to ignore it all. I heard my husband gripe more than once about having to wrangle the little ones while he and the older kids were trying to play games, but I knew they were fine even if they themselves were a bit grumpy.

The nausea passed, and even the slight cramping and aching eased a bit. I was a little less grumpy when I got up, and I was able to deal with my family the rest of the evening, in a mostly pleasant manner. I was really glad I'd put dinner in the slow cooker in the morning. It had been cooking all day and I didn't have to make dinner.

Part 1: Looking Up

Part 2: Seeing Red

Part 3: Malaise

Part 4: Possibilities

Part 5: Break Down

Part 6: Support

Part 7: Perspective

Part 8: Normal?

Part 9: Hindsight

Part 10: Shift

Part 11: Empty

Nitrous Oxide for Labor Relief?

Why haven't I heard of this before?

Consider the Source: An Interview about Nitrous Oxide with Judith Rooks

European countries use nitrous oxide regularly and safely as a form of labor relief, but it's a practically unknown as a labor option in the US. This is possibly because only two hospitals in the United States currently offer nitrous oxide to laboring women. There is a shortage of equipment as more hospitals are trying to acquire them and be able to offer it.

When you read the article you may be as stunned as I was to find:

• Nitrous oxide is safe to both mother and baby with none of the ill side effects associated with other forms of pain relief.
• It can be self-administered by the laboring woman, which allows her to use it as-needed and also avoids over exposure.
• The gas is expelled quickly from the mother's and the baby's bodies. A newborn infant expels the gas from its body with its first few breaths and is completely free of it within 5 minutes. This means no NICU admissions from adverse reactions to medication.
• For women who want to avoid an epidural, the use of nitrous oxide can take the edge off in the moment she feels she needs it. Because it's self-administered, she can start it or discontinue it at any time.
• Women wanting an epidural can use nitrous oxide in the early stages of labor and while waiting for the epidural, and avoid the use of opoids (which carry a risk to the baby).

For much more in-depth information, along with scientific evidence, please read the full article linked to above.

For demonstration purposes, please check this video of a woman using nitrous oxide while pushing her baby out. Please ignore the cheesy commentary from the producer.

What do you think?

Position Change and Movement During Labor

It's important to be active during childbirth. Change positions every 20 minutes, even if it's a small shift from one side to the other. These movements help the baby shift and descend into and through the birth canal, and they can even help give the laboring mother comfort during labor.

I found this great blog post on At Your Cervix (written by a Labor & Delivery Nurse):

Getting in position -- making changes to shake, rattle and roll

"Up. Move. Lean forward. Lie on your far left or right side. Squat. Walk. Dance. Hands and knees. Modified lunges. Sway from side to side."

The author discusses the common issue of back labor, which most often is a result of a posterior or otherwise malpositioned baby. She explains how position changes during labor can help move the baby into a favorable position, make labor less uncomfortable for the mother, shorten the duration of labor, and even avoid a c-section.

"Why so many posterior babies? Simply put - we're a reclining society. We sit back in our recliners, couches, office chairs, dining room chairs, rocking chairs and more. Our babies get into these funky positions from us lying back...This is why it is so very important to get up and move in labor"

She also explains that even with an epidural position changes during labor are possible, and important.

Please read the post.

Here are some more resources for information about positions during labor:

One With Child: Labor Positions

Positions for Labor and Birth

Doing the Labor Dance

How to get baby in the best position for childbirth - no back labor!

Non-pharmacological methods of pain relief for childbirth

I know I can post more than this. If you're interested in more information about positions during labor, please post a comment.

Power in Birth

For me choosing unmedicated birth is partially a matter of control. When I was in labor with my first child I felt completely out of control, helpless. The hospital staff were telling me what I should do, and since I didn't know I had other options, I fearfully complied. I gave in to the epidural because I felt I had no other choice, and I couldn't handle the pain in those circumstances. I felt I had somehow failed for giving in, but I couldn't see how I could have done any differently.

The more I learned and the more support I sought, the more I was able to claim my own power and take control of my birth experiences. I feel powerful when I give birth without medication. I would rather feel everything, from the most intense pain to the unbelievable ecstasy of birth, than to be numb to the whole experience. There's nothing that compares to it, and being able to master the kind of control you have in birth is a monumental accomplishment. It's a beautiful balance of control and submission, and once you experience that you are never the same person again.

Birth has also been very faith-promoting for me, as I put my faith in God, and He is the one I trust to guide me in the process of working with my body and my baby. It's not about pain.

Skin to Skin Contact Reduces Infant Pain

A Mother's Breast Means More Than Milk

As reported on baby gooroo

A team of Brazilian researchers recently explored the use of skin-to-skin contact and/or concentrated sugar water (dextrose) for pain relief in newborns during procedures such as a heel stick or an injection.

The effects of skin-to-skin contact were previously summarized by Moore and colleagues in 2006. Previous evidence exists for Sucrose alone as an effective measure for alleviating pain, but whether a combination of the two measures is more effective than either by itself has not been investigated .

Methods

A total of 640 healthy, term babies 12-to-72-hours of age participated in the study. Babies scheduled to receive an injection of hepatitis B vaccine were randomly assigned to one of four groups:

• Group one received standard care which consisted of 1ml of water placed on the tip of the tongue 2 minutes prior to the injection.
• Group two received 1ml of 25% dextrose solution (concentrated sugar water) placed on the tip of the tongue 2 minutes prior to the injection.
• Group three received continuous skin-to-skin contact starting 2 minutes prior to the injection and continuing throughout the procedure.
• Group four received both the sugar water and continuous skin to skin contact.

Neonatal Facial Coding System and Neonatal Infant Pain Scale scores were measured in all babies prior to the procedure, during thigh cleansing, during the injection, and 2 minutes after the injection.

Results

Babies who received sugar water or continuous skin-to-skin contact experienced less pain compared to those who received plain water. However, babies who received sugar water and continuous skin-to-skin contact experienced the least amount of pain. The combination of the two methods of pain relief was more effective than either method alone.

The researchers theorized that the beneficial effect of skin-to-skin contact is likely due to multisensory stimulation in which the touch and smell of the mother and the sound of her heartbeat block nerve transmission. Another possibility is that the sensory stimulation triggers the release of endorphins or peptides, substances produced in the body that have pain-relieving properties similar to narcotics.

The Bottom Line

Mothers and fathers should be encouraged to hold their babies skin-to-skin whenever possible especially during painful procedures. In addition, parents should talk with their baby’s health care provider about giving the child a sugar solution prior to any painful procedure.

Previous research found that breastfeeding in addition to the use of sugar water did not improve pain relief. However, more research is needed to determine how the relief achieved with skin-to-skin contact and sugar water compares to that of skin-to-skin contact and breastfeeding.