Members Advice on Labour And Birth

Positive Birthing There are always stories to be had about all the things that can go wrong during the birthing process. Negative stories abound in magazines and books, in canteen conversation - it seemed to me that as soon as people found out I was pregnant, they wanted to impart their experience. I found that quite difficult, and tried to find a way to overcome it. You see, whilst I understand that the best thing you can do if you experience something ...
...it's always the best idea to talk about it to someone who is about to journey the same path of pregnancy. I wanted to hear positive stories, and so that is why I have decided to write this review - you share with all you lovely pregnant ladies, (partners and birthing partners too - don't want to miss you out!) what a wonderful birth I had, and how easy it is to prepare yourself for such. Now I know that nothing ever goes to plan when you're having ...

phoenixgreen 26.11.2007 · Read full review
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Review of Members Advice on Labour And Birth

I came across this topic when I read another member's review. I decided to write about my own experiences, as I feel it's important for expectant Mums (especially first time Mums like myself), to have as many different viewpoints as possible. When I found out I was pregnant and for the months to follow, I did not really think about the prospect of actually giving birth. This was far from my mind, with the feelings of joy and excitement taking over, ...
...friends, buying baby things, decorating the nursery, midwife appointments and watching my 'bump' grow. I was lucky as I had an easy, healthy pregnancy. I can remember only having about 5 mornings when I was actually sick, which soon passed and I only had 3 days off work through illness, which was with a heavy cold. I did feel tired, particularly during the early and later stages of pregnancy, but I think this is hard to avoid unless you are able ...

nessie3105 10.09.2007 (12.09.2007) · Read full review
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Review of Members Advice on Labour And Birth

If you are pregnant and already very nervous about giving birth, please feel free to skip over the bulk of my review and read just the last paragraph. My birth didn't go to plan, but it was still the best thing I've ever done. I said that minutes after going through it too. But I'm writing this review to show that even if it doesn't go to plan, it's not the end of the world. I really do give my birth a full five stars! All through pregnancy I was ...
...out unscathed due to my religious use of cocoa butter, raspberry leaf tea and perineal massage. Boy how wrong I was... My due date arrived and I saw the midwife. She said if nothing happened by next week she would do an internal examination which might bring on labour. I spent the week eating spicy food and fresh pineapple, in the hope that it might set things off. I was taking raspberry leaf tea four times a day which I hoped would also help things ...

CG1anon 28.03.2009 · Read full review
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Review of Members Advice on Labour And Birth

...was it took about 3 members of nursing staff about 6 attempts to get the drip into me as they couldn't find a vein. After this the contractions increased so rapidly it almost became unbearable. I was still along way off from pushing my baby out due to my tiredness that my baby suddenly became very distressed and so I had to have an assisted delivery called a ventouse where a plastic cup is attached to the baby's head and its pulled out with me still ...
...really serious from the way the nurses were talking to me. This was a very uncomfortable procedure but very quick. Within about a minute or two I had my baby in front of me on my stomach. It was so quick in fact that no one had looked to see if it was a boy or girl. But after a few seconds it became obvious there were no cries from my baby, who was quickly lifted up and we were told it was a girl and she was rushed out the room. Within seconds I ...

saraha007 16.08.2006 · Read full review
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Review of Members Advice on Labour And Birth

Throughout pregnancy everyone inundates you with stories of their labours. Some are horror stories, some say they barely felt a thing and it was over before they knew it. Horror story or not they allhave one common factor too them, the minute it is over you will forget the pain and just be so happy to see your baby. I don't know why people tell you this as it just is not true! I also met plenty of people who would just love to re-live the experience ...
...world but I hated being in labour - I don't think that makes me any less of a mum so I don't know why people insist it is a great experience! I just wish someone had warned me how it bad it would be so I could have at least prepared myself! I was due on Friday the 30th July 2004, a day before my due date on the Thursday I had a midwife appointment. People (you may notice a general theme of don't believe everything people tell you when pregnant!) ...

missixty 23.10.2004 · Read full review
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Review of Members Advice on Labour And Birth

When I was expecting my child I read. I read anything I could get my hands on, subscribed to all the mother and baby magazines, bought the self-help books, I just devoured every single piece of information I could to help me understand what giving birth would be like. I would say now that I possibly knew too much, and at the same time not nearly enough! I thought by preparing myself I would enable myself to make labour as 'sweet' as possible. Hardy ...
...for a reason! And not one of the Mother and Baby magazines prepared me for a labour which wasn't text-book. I had never expected it to be easy, nor had I expected it to traumatise me the way it had so I feel now that if I were to have another child I would be prepared in a way that only a second time mother can be. There are no rose tinted glasses now. And to start my review on a positive note; I would go through it all in a flash if it meant we ...

lulu2004 14.12.2007 · Read full review
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Review of Members Advice on Labour And Birth

FINDING OUT I had a strange way of finding out I was pregnant- I had come of the pill and had no period about 6 weeks later, i also noticed my stomach was really hard so even though we had been using condoms I decided to take a test, well it turned out positive which I exclaimed out loud 'i'm pregnant, oh no, i've got to go give birth' I think this sums up how terrified from the beginning I was about giving birth. I have a low pain threshold and ...
...cut you open as opposed to pushing the baby out) but after looking into it I would have needed to be tested by psychiatrists to see if I really couldn't cope with giving birth, and i didn't want to be seen as having a mental problem so I thought i would just have to have a virginal birth. INFORMATION When I tried to get information from other people about giving birth it was really awful- both mine and my husbands mothers had had selected c-sections ...

glitter-fairy 10.06.2007 · Read full review
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Review of Members Advice on Labour And Birth

I was inspired to write this after reading a similar review by CB21, a relatively new member on the site. Reading what she had gone through, brought back so many memories that I thought were long forgotten, as it has been almost three years, since I went in to labour. I had a very hard time while I was pregnant, I lost my long term boyfriend and although I had family around me supporting me at every step, I felt alone and scared. My mind was so full ...
...I believe at the time I was close to breaking down, I always thought that expectant mothers were supposed to be glowing and happy at the prospect of what the future holds, however I was finding it hard to find a light at the end of the tunnel. I did not go to hospital appointments, avoided parenting classes and as for books on becoming a first time mother, I never even once entered a book store. I had no idea about labour or what was going to happen, ...

SexySOS 04.03.2004 · Read full review
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Review of Members Advice on Labour And Birth

My advice to any pregnant woman who is nearly at the end of term is to read and talk to as many mothers about their varied birth stories as possible. This takes the terror of the unknown out of the equation. If you have heard the worst that can happen and seen a woman stand in front of you telling the tale, you realise that as bad as it may get, you do survive. This is my birth story. #################################### As soon as you get a chance, ...
...by, you will forget the details. #################################### This review comes from a piece I wrote for my group on babycentre.co.uk a few days after I gave birth to Jack. I am glad that I did because I cannot remember most of the details now. Remember, despite pain never having killed anyone, there is no shame or weakness in having pain relief. There will be people who try to convince you that there is. Agree with everything that they ...

ElizaF 23.06.2004 (01.02.2006) · Read full review
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Review of Members Advice on Labour And Birth

Having had two completely different labours I thought I would share both experiences. Jacob was due on 14th May 2001. The pregnancy was extremely straightforward with my blood pressure rising slightly near the end. During the last two weeks of my pregnancy this was monitored closely and I was in and out of hospital. 14th May came and went and induction was discussed. I was also told that due to my blood pressure being unstable, an epidural would ...
...side effect of lowering blood pressure which would have benefited me through labour. After further monitoring on 17th May I was told there was a labour suite free and I could go down and be induced. No warning, no forward planning, no nothing. A quick phone call to Paul at work followed to let him know it was all systems go. As a first time mum I had taken my Birth Plan oh so seriously and sat Paul down one evening to “discuss our requirements”. ...

AnitaM 13.06.2004 · Read full review
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Review of Members Advice on Labour And Birth

I was 19, had just moved out of Cardiff and was living in a cramped bedsit in Swindon with my boyfriend, not the best time to be told i was 8 weeks pregnant but we were excited but still very concerned, we knew this damp bedsit was no place for a pregnant woman let alone a newborn baby! We quickly made plans to move out, i was 6 months pregnant when we moved into a more spacious, less damp studio flat where we stayed to have our baby. For the first ...
...active, walked everywhere, ate well, i didn't smoke and only on special occasions did i have a glass of wine, i did everything as the book says you should, when i was about 7 1/2 months gone i started to swell, my face fingers, toes, feet were just....well...massive, my midwife just put it down to normal oedema, i was still feeling ok, getting tired but thats normal, around 8 months i developed headaches, wow, they used to knock me for 6, and the ...

Nikova 13.10.2006 (15.10.2006) · Read full review
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Review of Members Advice on Labour And Birth

My first experience of childbirth was nearly eight years ago now. After nine months of "morning" sickness and high blood pressure I was ready have my baby. As this is a review on childbirth and not pregnancy I will only focus on the birth. My due date was 25th June 1999. As the date grew closer I was getting very nervous, but also very excited. That excitement was short lived however, when that date came and went! After a few appointments at the ...
...was finally given a date to be induced. That was a very scary prospect to me. I wanted it all to start naturally. But if the baby didn't arrive by the 10th I had to be induced. I sat and waited patiently. The carpet was wearing thin I can tell you. On the 2nd July I had my last check up before I was to be admitted. Everything was going well until my blood pressure was done and it was really high. It was decided I had to be admitted to the hospital ...

gizmoxx 02.03.2007 · Read full review
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Review of Members Advice on Labour And Birth

I decided I wanted to use the local NHS birthing centre while pregnant with my first child. The main reasons for this were that it was very close, a five min drive if that. It was relatively new, with the hospital being only a few years old. The rooms were comfortable and not clinical, more like a travelodge or something similar. Another major reason was the fact that my partner could stay with me during the labour and when our new baby was born ...
...extremely important to me. Birthing centres are managed by a staff consisting of midwives only. There are no doctors available and this can be a worry. They are a sort of halfway house between a hospital birth and a home birth. A lot of people choose birthing centres when they have an aversion to hospital environments. In my particular birthing centre they had around 13 rooms, some double, some single. A bathroom was shared between two rooms. I ...

miasmum82 11.07.2008 · Read full review
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Review of Members Advice on Labour And Birth

Having moved recently, I found myself enrolling in a new Mother and Toddler group as a way of getting to meet a few locals. As the kids were all getting to know each other, the mum’s all started chatting and it wasn’t long before we all got onto the subject of childbirth. It was quite refreshing to listen to other mother’s experiences and good to know that I wasn’t the only one who had worried about giving birth when I was pregnant. It was quite ...
...we’d never dream of telling a complete stranger. Then the same topic of conversation cropped up when a good friend of mine who is expecting, put me on the spot and asked for a full warts and all account of both my birthing experiences. Not wanting to scaremonger in any way, I told her and she was quite relieved that I had told her the truth as so many people had skated over the issue with her and she didn’t know what to believe. I would have written ...

wardenblw431 23.02.2004 · Read full review
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Review of Members Advice on Labour And Birth

Well I wrote this opinion and at long last the baby decided to make an appearance! All of you knew I was ten days overdue and I was getting ever so slighlty brassed off with waiting. I was actually due to be induced on the day I gave birth, but the little boy in me thought it would be good to start without the help of hormones. Bonfire night, the bangers were banging and sparklers were sparkling and my belly was being battered from within with ...
...could actually be the night, I was right. I toddled off to bed and slept for an hour. I woke with a start and rushed / waddled to the loo. My waters broke, with a show of blood and then the pains came at 12.30 am. Two contractions within the first ten minutes, I rang the local maternity unit. The midwife told me to go to bed and try not to time the contractions, they often slow down or stop altogether! So In bed I got and noticed that they didn't ...

Harryslarry 19.11.2003 (01.04.2004) · Read full review
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Review of Members Advice on Labour And Birth