Michael, have you done this before
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Michael, have you done this before
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Just a few times, yes...Maybe I should do the Doula course, although I don't know if the sight of a big hairy man as a doula might scare a few poor pregnant women...LOL
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Oh Michael, after reading all of your wonderful posts I think you'd make a fantastic doula!!! (although isn't a male doula a contradication in terms?) ;-)
Sorry if this is a little off topic - but I couldn't find a waterbirth general discussion thread. I'm v. v. excited after having my appointment at the hospital to prepare for a waterbirth!! The public hospital I am attending supports and encourages both active and water birth - isn't that a bit of an anomaly within the public system? In any case I am cautiously optimistic about my chances of having the type of birth that I would like!
I would have loved to have a home birth but we just moved to an area with limited home birth resources, and not much time to seek them out. But I have been very happy with the hospital support I've received so far, and if not for the strong BHs I've been getting would have literally skipped out of the hospital after meeting with the waterbirth consultant midwife! The little guy is still determinedly posterior so it's been great reading other BB members' positive experiences with posterior home and waterbirths.
I don't think that I would be going into this experience in such a confident state of mind without all of the wonderful support from BB! Thank you to everyone!
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Good god, what hospital is that? It sounds marvellously enlightened...
Cairns Base hospital in my opinion, does not practice what they preach. They are supposedly a Baby Friendly certified hospital, yet the women that I know who have gone there ( some were my clients ) ended up being separated from their babies for a period after birth for unjustifiable reasons.
Like most other hospitals, the experience a woman will have at CBH is dependent on who is rostered on at the time you go into labour. They do have birth pools, but women are only allowed to birth in them if the waterbirth 'specialist' is there at the time to my knowledge. If someone else is using the pools you aren't allowed to bring your own. I don't like how often some midwives will ask if women want pain relief constantly despite the women clearly stating they did not want to be offered and that they were aware of the option.
As for encouraging natural active birth, there are certain routine policies that CBH has that do not work in favour of active birth - like the 20 mins monitoring that they often insist women get on the bed for upon being admission. Again its really dependent on who is on staff at the time. I know some who swear they've had great middies and great births there (but none were first timers which is interesting).
If the woman is a VBAC, CBH is really crap about encouraging natural active birth because their routine protocols for managing VBAC women do nothing to improve or help their chances at VBAC. VBAC protocol doesn't support free active labour. It is pretty restricted and the women I know who have attempted it there have ended up with repeat C/s.
Personally I think the perinatal and maternal data for the hospital says it all, and that blaming it on the amount of "high risk" women who end up there is a cop out. The recommended rates of intervention by the World Health Organisation is based on high risk clientele as well and CBH is well over that margin.
It is a shame that there are no practising homebirth midwives servicing the Cairns area at the moment. The closest is in Mareeba and last I heard, they have stopped attending women in Cairns because of the distance. So basically birth choice is limited to the public or the private (and I'd rather the public), or the highway as one Cairns Post paper put it in Jan 2005 where a woman said she was going to have a home birth without a midwife anyway because the hospital was not an option for her.
Trish! you make me laugh! Good on your mum for looking after you so well!
Giving birth at mums house would be really comfortable, she has a big indoor bathtub / jacuzi thingy for the water part and lots of sheets...but since her house is also a B&B, the other guests might not like me hogging the bathroom and squealing in the next room!
The other lady from WA, sorry, I've forgotten who you are...How did you go checking out the HB scheme in WA? I'd be really keen to hear what you found out. Would you mind posting a bit of an update here? Thanks - Think of it as the 'push' you needed to look into it!
Smickers...maybe a male version of a 'doula' is a 'doulo' ??And you've raised an interesting point about having a big hairy man as a birth attendant..I'm not sure which way I'd go- it would really depend on if we clicked or not rather than your gender for me, but it does seem a bit odd to begin with...Is it something you would like to get into?
Last edited by Chalalan; November 10th, 2007 at 06:58 AM. : add a bit
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Well, I kind of practice midwifery vicariously through my wife, who is a midwife who does some independent midwifery and childbirth education. Hence I'm fairly clued up on the subject area, as I assist with a lot of the research and documentation for her independent practice. I'm a children's nurse currently. But yes, I have frequently considered studying to get my midwifery qualifications, and as times wears on, my reservations about doing so steadily recede. My only real objections now are financial (I'd probably have to drop back to part time, and take a significant drop in pay, to start again as a student midwife) and my location (I'd have to do my practical work at our local hospital, and it and my wife have had certain...disagreements...in the past. And additionally, it would probably necessitate her ceasing work, as they would not be able to roster us on at the same time).
And I like doulo...I may add it to my sig...
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I guess the idea of having a male doula is pretty much the same as having a male midwife now isn't it. And although there aren't alot out there I'm sure of the few that are they would be great.
Micheal, I can see a side job for you with Victoria happening hun
Jen, OH your mum's house sounds perfect for birthing. Umm, charge the other guests a viewing fee and you might be onto something there
Eeeow to your sicko neighbours Trish! I hope you shut the curtains tightly and looked the front door!
but then on the other hand.....there are people out there that would be willing to pay to watch a birth...maybe I could auction it off on EBay as an accomodation and 'entertainment' package!
Sorry, off topic and very silly!!bad Trish & BL!!
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"Good god, what hospital is that? It sounds marvellously enlightened..." Cairns Base Hospital Michael.
I know, it does sound too good to be true! I'm waiting for the bubble to burst and to end up with my feet in stirrups, an enema jammed up my bum and some smarmy ob to peer over his glasses at me and say, now come along dear, we must get you moving along, you don't want me to miss my golf game at 5:00 now, do you... I was a bit worried when we first moved up here as they actually have a higher than average c/s rate - but they are an area base hossy and get all of the regional emergencies which tends to skew the stats a bit.
Babylove - a doulo - now that's brilliant!! And if you do convince your mum to turn her house into a Birth and Breakfast, sign me up please. It sounds wonderful!
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That's really interesting to hear Morgaine - and quite disturbing as well. Are you either a doula or midwife yourself (you mentioned clients so I am assuming that you are a birth professional of some description?). It sounds like you have quite a bit of experience with it so thank you for such detailed information! Although I will admit that you have me a bit worried now...!
I've heard that in any public hospital you are at the mercy of whoever happens to be rostered on at the time. I've noticed a difference between some of the midwives that I've seen for appointments, although the majority seem to be really supportive, there have been one or two that I fervently hope are not rostered on when I go into labour! It's a big argument for having a doula or private midwife to attend, but unfortunately it's not an option for me! After reading your post though I am wondering whether to try to scrape together the money for a doula - although at 39 weeks it might be a little late, even if there are any in the area! I am a pretty strong advocate for myself (and my partner knows exactly what I want), but probably won't be in any position to argue on the day if I need to.
In your opinion, do you think that there is any way that I can give myself a better chance for a natural birth (apart from having my fingers crossed that I have a good midwife on the day?).
Hi Julie Doula - quick question for you...
What is 'pelvic mapping' ?
I am 5' nothing and hubby is 6'3"...I wouldn't consider myself petite but am a bit worried about having a big baby and not being able to birth vaginally (and I really, really, really dont want a CS unless its absolutely necessary!) Is pelvic mapping something I should know about / look into?
Smickers, I wish finances didn't rule the bloody world! The midwifery community is missing out on a leader and advocate for women birthing how they want to birth. Heres to winning Lotto!
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Jakana - can't answer your questions about the legalities of home-birth attendants by you, but as far as registering at the hospital goes - it's just in case you run into trouble in labour, so that no one has to go and fill out forms, etc, right before or after the birth. (and, as my midwife pointed out - if people ask where you are having this baby, and you don't want to tell them you are birthing at home, or think they will freak out, you can tell them the name of that hospital!
Baby-love - I've heard that babies are more likely to follow their own mother's size at birth. Don't know if that's true for everyone, but it has been for us. My DH is 6'4", 280lb, (all muscleI was pretty worried about a c-section, too, with my first, since my mother had to have them, but all was well. No tearing, even! Don't stress about that right now. I'm sure you'll be fine.
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Awwww ... you, know, that is probably the nicest thing anyone has said to me today...
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Hi Babylove sorry it took me so long to reply.
I should be a sales rep for The Pink Kit, seriously. They should pay me!!! I would recommend The Pink Kit, it really goes into the pelvic mapping so well, and helps you understand & really 'get' the bony structure of your pelvis and the soft tissue as well.
Pelvic mapping - they talk you through it. You feel the pubic bone at the front, and the tailbone at the back. You notice how that diameter actually changes as you move into different positions, like kneeling, one knee up, semi squatting etc. Then you feel for your sit-bones, see how far apart they are, see how they also MOVE when you assume different positions, and which ones make you feel more open and spacious. You feel your birth outlet and you get a really good feel for how much room you have, and the shape of your unique pelvic. It builds your confidence in your own equipment.
Don't worry too much about tiny wee you and big tall dh. After doing the mapping and reassuring yourself of your womanly capacities, and learning techniques for making space in your pelvic, you'll feel like you can birth a bus (OK then, a 10 pounder at least!) You might be little, but through the mapping you may actually find that your actual pelvic dimensions are the same or even larger than other women. And if a woman finds out through the pelvic mapping that a particular dimension of her pelvis is on the smaller side, she can then learn specific positions and techniques that will help make room in that area.
There are workshops around that go into pelvic mapping etc, but The Pink Kit you do in the privacy of your own home. It includes a DVD, audio CD, book, and two PDF files you read on the computer. It cost about $100 but it is well worth it and you'll be mobbed by takers if you wanted to re-sell it.
They also teach techniques for making space such as the sit-bone spread (I used that with spectacular success at one first time mama birth), the hip lift and the sacral hinge.
There's also what they call 'Internal Work" - they talk you through it on the CD. It is gently exploring the tissues of your vagina and perineum. You realise just how stretchy and tensile these tissues are, and how through breathing and relaxation, you can significantly release tension that might block the baby's progress or cause you to tear.
The overall benefit is growing confidence in your birthing body, and from having specific skills up your sleeve for labour should you need them.
All the best Babylove!
It is NOT illegal to birth alone in the UK. In fact a woman is legally protected in the UK to be able to birth wherever she wants. In the oath our midwives take on graduation they accept that if they are called to a birth they must go and in fact a few years back there was a ruckus over that because a woman who'd arranged a homebirth went into labour. She had been told at the 11th hour (38+5wks) there "might not" be staff to have her homebirth, but called the hospital in labour and asked for someone to attend. The midwife she spoke to had done much of her antenatal care, and was about to finish for the night. The hospital said "tell her no, she has to come in", the woman refused to go in, the midwife finished work and went straight to the woman and delivered her baby. The midwife was then fired for delivering the baby without "permission" from the hospital, though she would have been breaking her oath had she not attended. It was all a big mess, i think she left the NHS and works privately now.
In some states in america is illegal to HAVE a midwife, you must have an Ob and be in hospital. Madness!
Bx
I said that Smickers, then I went to check your gallery to see exactly how hairy a bloke-as-midwife we'd be dealing with and guess what??.....no photo!! If it turns out you're Yeti like, I might have to take it back!!
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Babylove, if you go and check out the birth and labour montages you will some pics of Schmickers. He's really not that hairy. Or he keeps well covered up
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