The less exciting side-effects of pregnancy just keep on coming – puffy ankles, first stretch marks, leaky boobs (yes, already!), grunting whenever I get up or sit down… It’s getting classier every week!
Time is also pressing on. We’re halfway through the antenatal classes now and it’s getting more hard-hitting. Last week we talked about labour – recognising when you’re in labour, when to go into hospital, how to manage the pain, how your birth partner can support you… I was a bit gutted that the boyfriend didn’t make this one but he’s been poorly, which can’t be helped. I made sure I paid extra attention so I could fill him in when I got home. It was an intense two hours – much more effective than the first two sessions. I didn’t know that the various stages of labour don’t happen in a certain order – your waters don’t necessarily break first and you can be muddling through at home for hours during the first stage before you go into hospital. Fun! Now I’m wondering what will happen if my waters break first and I’m in bed or on the sofa (fun clean up after!) or, shock horror, walking around outside somewhere! I don’t want to feel like I’ve wet myself in public. And how would I then get on the bus or in someone’s car? Especially now that I know that they don’t just go once (it can trickle/gush for hours).
Listening to the midwife talk about the different types of pain management available made me think about what I don’t want. I don’t want an epidural because I don’t want to risk not being able to push properly on my own and I don’t want the pethidine injection because I don’t want to make the baby sluggish and struggle to make his way out. That leaves me with just gas and air and that doesn’t sound very fun! I know from past experiences that I have a very low pain threshold so I’ll probably end up going into hospital shouting and screaming for every drug that’s going! I do also like the idea of a water birth but just to help manage the pain of the contractions rather than everything come out in the water… Tomorrow we’ll be talking about what comes immediately after the birth (afterbirth, baby injections, breastfeeding, etc), so there will be more decisions to think about, such as managed/unmanaged delivered of the placenta.
Can you ever really prepare yourself for labour? You can pack your hospital bag, write your birth plan and check the available routes to the hospital but when it comes down to it we all end up winging it, right?
Oh, I almost forgot my highlight of the last week! The boyfriend felt his first kick on Thursday night, followed by lots of movements on Saturday morning. Here’s a video of the little dude wriggling around.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qzevdwrezw]