In a flap about process of labour in hospital

[natalie_1982]

http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/Family/Pregnanc y/Question523812.html

I posted the above question a couple of days ago. I had my 34week appt this morning and my usual midwife was off so I saw another one who didn't seem that helpful. I asked her about a hospital tour and she said that they don't do them anymore, but that they hope to have a DVD done by the summer (erm... not that useful then seeing as I am due in April). My problem is the whole process of giving birth - what will happen to me? Ok, so my waters break, I grab my bags, MrNat drives me to hosp, we get to women's centre ...... hourspass and baby Nat arrives.... but what happens in the meantime? Where will I be? I have never been in hospital before and feel a bit panicky now because it is all new and I don't seem to be able to get any answers.

I have Parent Craft in two weeks - is that the same as an antenatal class? It is at the hospital so I will ask if I can have a look round then. I also have a midwife appt in 2weeks with my usual midwife (I hope) and she is lovely so I will speak to her about my concerns too. But between now and then I feel a bit lost :-(

P.S. BabyNat is doing great, s/he is average! Hurrah! Midwife very pleased with my blood pressure and bubs heartbeat so that's good news :-)

[redcrx]

deep breaths Nat! dont panic!

i shall tell you about my antenatal class. It was a one day class and there were 4 other couples there (take MrNat).

we were given the basics of childbirth, watched a video chatted about pain releif options that are available at the hospital and told what to do if labour started.

So just to cover basics:

if your waters break at home, call the maternity or labour ward, the number should be on your notes. They will advise you. if waters have broken with no sign of labour starting they will give you a period of time to go into labour. They will tell you that you cant have sex (as if) and other things which may cause risk of infection. They will then give you a time to go in and be induced.

If labour starts and your contractions are regular, call them when you find you cant cope on just paracetomol and warm baths. They will get the times and legths of contractions and if you go in they will then check your cervix. If in established labour and over 3cms then they will usually admit you to maternity ward. You cant get stronger pain relief usually unless on labour ward.

Once established in labour they will check on you when they need to, they may put you and baby on monitors to check that baby is coping ok with contractions and recovering after each ok.

Once i was in established labour (i had my waters borken to induce labour so slightly different) i was on labour ward and had a midwife with me all the time.

i was allowed a bath to help with pain, water is good, and was given gas and air although i didnt use it.

The midwife explained axactly what was happening at every stage and how i may feel as things progressed, she was really helpful. She calmed us both down immensly.

In early stages you may be allowed to walk around to help bring baby down the birth canal. You may be allowed to eat and

[redcrx]

Not really sure what info you need but i can tell you that i was terrified and had never been in hospital either but i had a very positive experience

[natalie_1982]

And another thing.... She gave me my bottle of wee back! I mean, what the hell for? My usual midwife has never done that. Does she think I wanted to keep it as some sort of memento? Yes, I am pleased that my wee is "clean" and there's no proteins or nasties in it, but why hand it back to me with a clean one for next time too? Now I have a sample of my own wee in my handbag, and how exactly do I get rid of that discreetly? LOL

[B00]

Awww Natalie- stop flapping. I remember yourpost the other day and I remember thinking to myself "hospital tour? I didn't get one of those!"

Believe me when the time comes for you to go into hospital you quite frankly won't care about the innards of the building, you'd quite hapily give birth in the middle of the high street by that stage (not that I suggest doing that!)

Now, do as your told, stop flapping and do your job woman- keeping baby Nat safe till she arrives xxxx

[redcrx]

i always get my sample bottle back to re-use. One midwife washes it out first, the other gives me my sample back. No idea why, i then flush away at work and rinse the bottle out.

[natalie_1982]

Awww, thanks for your answers both.

I guess I am a bit of a control freak, and I go into panic stations when I am not organised..... and if I don't know the feng shui of the labour then how on earth am I going to concentrate? LOL

I guess I will just have to relax and trust everyone. I think I find it hard because my hubby has more experience than me, not that he has given birth of course, but he was doing maintenence work at our hospital for a while so knows the layout, and he was around when his sister gave birth a few years ago so I just feel completely clueless.

[redcrx]

lol @ B00, youre right, you really dont care who can see or hear you when in labour lol

[daffy654]

I'll tell you the experience my daughter had at the hospital amost 3 weeks ago to see if that helps.

She was having contractions at home for 2 hours that were 5 minutes apart and on phoning the hospital was told to go in for a check up.On arrival she was placed in a delivery room and asked to undress.She was internally examined and found to be only 2 cm dilated. All the checks were done on urine,blood pressure and baby's heartbeat. She was then given instructions on how to breathe through contractions to help ease pain and advised to walk about as much as possible. After an hour or so she was given gas and air as the pain was becoming much stronger. The original midwife then went off shift and the next one again internally examined my daughter and threatened to send her to the ward as she wasn't really making progress,we refused point blank as they have no pain relief on the ward. To cut a long story short once she got to 5cm dilated she wanted an epidural,we had to wait an hour for the anaesthetist as there was only one on the premises and he was in theatre. After the epidural she was left to progress naturally and quickly got to 7cm.I then had to leave to pick up my son from school and whilst I was away the cowbag gave birth.lol.so I missed the best bit.She was then allowed a shower and she and baby were transferred to the ward until discharge the following day.

[redcrx]

Natalie, i know they say 'forewarned is forarmed' but sometimes there is such a thing as having too much info.
Read up on every pain relief and its pros and cons and make sure you pack everything on the list given and you should be able to then go with the flow.

Dont scare yourself by worrying about every little detail hun

[mountainboo]

Hi Nat, you sounded as worried as me. Some great replies there, have helped me to. Don't worry, we'll be fine.

I had my 35 wk MW appt today and thankfully all is well. In the height of the uterus bit she has put 36, so does that mean that I'm 36 weeks? He's not engaged yet apparantly even though it feels like he is, but he is making his way down.

[natalie_1982]

Mboo, last time I went to midwife she said that head was engaged, but this time she didn't mention it so I assumed it still was. I have been wondering though as I can feel pressure under my right ribs almost constantly (a bum maybe?), yet also have lots of movement and kicks / punches coming out of my right side (the soft bit, where my waist used to be lol), and also my right and my left hip. I would love to be able to see what it is doing, maybe it is not engaged anymore (is it possible to disengage?) and has flipped around, maybe it is break dancing. I have even thought during my middle of the night wake up sessions that maybe it's arms were on backwards or it had two sets, but I figured that the sonographer would have mentioned this during my 20week scan. Well you'd hope so anyway, wouldn't you? Either way, I am glad I am not alone! XX

[Goodsoulette]

Hey natalie, with 6 weeks to go, it is possible for the babys head to engage and then disengage. I had this a lot but was only aware because my mum was checking me all the time because of preeclampsia.

My waters didn't break until the final stages with either birth. I was worried by my show in the first labour and then worried by the fact I hadn't had one with the second baby.

Unfortunately there is no set pattern to labour. I was really concerned I wouldn't know I was in labour and thanks to contractions only felt in my back, I didn't have a clue, despite the pain coming and going.

The best thing you can do is keep the maternity units phone number by the phone. When you start feeling twinges, time them, you need to know how long they are lasting and how far apart they are. Almost certainly they will tell you to stay at home and have a bath and take some paracetamol.

It's amazing what your body tells you. I was onyl comfortable on my side in my last labour and the only time the process slowed up was when my midwife told me to get on my knees to help baby down. I couldn't hack it, laid back down on my side again and delivered.

My point is, that somehow you know what to do, when it is happening.

[mountainboo]

Lol. I get the strangest movements in there. Wouldn't x-ray vision be great. I said to MrMB once, 'why don't we shine a light on my tummy to see if we can see what he is doing' and he snapped, 'don't be so stupid it would blind him' well that is probably true!!
I suppose, where they're bones are still soft they can pretty much put they're arms and legs anywhere they like. My sis in-laws baby was doing the splits from weeks 26 - 36 as she had various 4d scans done.

[natalie_1982]

MBoo - I bought a tesco value torch last week so that I could shine it in my belly! PMSL
My hubby said the very same thing - told me I was cruel and that I might hurt babe's eyes; but my pregnancy book says that you can do this to try and engage with them and get them to respond. I have tried lots of times since and it doesn't work, either I'm too fat, baby has no eyes or frankly it just doesn't want to play the stupid game with me :-P

[mountainboo]

Lol :)
This has to be the most frustrating part of pregnancy. I'm very impatient and want him to come out now but at the same time there is a bit of a fear of the unknown. I just hope he isn't late.