I have had 4 homebirths. I found that being fairly active during pregnancy, but less active in the last month kept me fairly fit. I am not and never have been skinny so I had lots of energy reserves to come and go on! I did yoga type stretching exercises to keep me flexiable. I read every book that I could, my fav being "Spiritual Midwifery" - it has lots of positive stories. I kept in mind that my ancestors had all done this before, therefore so could I. For my first baby I leant over a stool for most of the labour, my husband pressing on my lower back. My midwife suggested that I squat for the final stage of labor, so my husband supported me. (Baby weighed 9lb 14oz.) I did tear badly, but was lucky that a obstatrician was driving past on her way back to the city and she was able to stitch me up without me needing to go to hospital. Second baby (1 year later),I ate lots of carbs the day before labor. During contractions I found standing up and hugging my support people - mostly my husband and mother-in-law. (baby 9lb 12oz). I don't remember much of third labor. baby was born quite quickly, but I did get very sick after and had to go to hospital. I do remember that I did too much for everyone else during the end of that pregnancy. I surprised the doctors by first refusing to die, and second insisting on breastfeeding so they had to find antibiotics that would not hurt my son. My daughter taught my midwife not to rely on the bloodtests to prove pregnancy. Apparantly your hormone levels rise daily, so at 11/12 weeks the levels should be in the thousands - not 3.5 - 4 (less than 5 and you are not pregnant!) My labor with her was lovely, my sisters and a friend were there. I hugged my youngest sister during contractions and during the delivery the midwife used hot water for my perinium. My sister was the one who caught my daughter. She found it a lovely labor and feels very let down because her labor last year was not at all like mine - she had a ceserean. She is tiny and her mother-in-law paid for an obstatrician and gave the expectation that there would be problems. I think maybe I am just pigheaded enough that things were only given one option and that was what I wanted.
By kathryn b.c. (not verified) at Wed, 10/24/2007 - 2:40am |
I have had 4 homebirths. I
I have had 4 homebirths. I found that being fairly active during pregnancy, but less active in the last month kept me fairly fit. I am not and never have been skinny so I had lots of energy reserves to come and go on! I did yoga type stretching exercises to keep me flexiable. I read every book that I could, my fav being "Spiritual Midwifery" - it has lots of positive stories. I kept in mind that my ancestors had all done this before, therefore so could I. For my first baby I leant over a stool for most of the labour, my husband pressing on my lower back. My midwife suggested that I squat for the final stage of labor, so my husband supported me. (Baby weighed 9lb 14oz.) I did tear badly, but was lucky that a obstatrician was driving past on her way back to the city and she was able to stitch me up without me needing to go to hospital. Second baby (1 year later),I ate lots of carbs the day before labor. During contractions I found standing up and hugging my support people - mostly my husband and mother-in-law. (baby 9lb 12oz). I don't remember much of third labor. baby was born quite quickly, but I did get very sick after and had to go to hospital. I do remember that I did too much for everyone else during the end of that pregnancy. I surprised the doctors by first refusing to die, and second insisting on breastfeeding so they had to find antibiotics that would not hurt my son. My daughter taught my midwife not to rely on the bloodtests to prove pregnancy. Apparantly your hormone levels rise daily, so at 11/12 weeks the levels should be in the thousands - not 3.5 - 4 (less than 5 and you are not pregnant!) My labor with her was lovely, my sisters and a friend were there. I hugged my youngest sister during contractions and during the delivery the midwife used hot water for my perinium. My sister was the one who caught my daughter. She found it a lovely labor and feels very let down because her labor last year was not at all like mine - she had a ceserean. She is tiny and her mother-in-law paid for an obstatrician and gave the expectation that there would be problems. I think maybe I am just pigheaded enough that things were only given one option and that was what I wanted.