Homebirth General Discussion #15

List of risk factors from the Mayo Clinic.

Age greater than 25. Women older than age 25 are more likely to develop gestational diabetes.
Family or personal health history. Your risk of developing gestational diabetes increases if you have prediabetes — slightly elevated blood sugar that may be a precursor to type 2 diabetes — or if a close family member, such as a parent or sibling, has type 2 diabetes. You're also more likely to develop gestational diabetes if you had it during a previous pregnancy, if you delivered a baby who weighed more than 9 pounds (4.1 kilograms), or if you had an unexplained stillbirth.
Excess weight. You're more likely to develop gestational diabetes if you're significantly overweight with a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or higher.
Nonwhite race. For reasons that aren't clear, women who are black, Hispanic, American Indian or Asian are more likely to develop gestational diabetes.


What I'd like to know though, is how much each factor increases your risk, and what your overall risk would be with none of the factors.

thanks Cricket

I had a big baby first time around, tested positive for first test then negative the second. But I reckon I'm just going to have big babies due to genetics. DH family apparently have babies 9lb+, so in retrospect 9lb6oz fits the bill.

No family history whatsoever and I fit in the healthy BMI range. And I drank a lot if sweet drinks (think fizzy drinks and flavoured milk) with ds as I had such bad reflux I couldn't eat much. But totally different story this time around, so can eat things that aren't packed with sugar (as I'm not a big sweet tooth anyway).

If men were able to have babies I would get dh to take the test - he has higher bgl than I do (usually in the 5's for fasting) and his mum has type 2 diabetes. His dad also has pre diabetes.

So I would class my dh as higher risk than I am. If men could get pregnant that is LOL

Has anyone had an issue getting a script for the anti-d injection? Went to get it today from my dr and they reckon only the hospy can do it. MW said I just need a script and she will collect it from the blood bank if necessary, but if I can't get a script then she can't collect it...

Dot- I used a hospital home birth program and declined the GDT. No issues still having the home birth. I didn't have any risk factors either, normal BMI, previous small babies etc

4 Pgs and never had the test once.

sepata, i would try another dr. maybe ask your midwife if she can recommend one.

In a recent thread there was discussion on how you can totally have a 'natural empowered birth' in the hospital setting. I am interested in exploring this issue more, but wasn't sure where to do it so thought i would start here.

I have been to 3 hospital births and one home birth. At each of the hospital births, the human rights of the woman were violated, to different degrees. In general discussion, i have also chatted to friends about their births. Some of them were unhappy with their births, others were quite happy with what happened but in almost every case things were done to their bodies without their consent, or without being informed of the risks. If someone managed to get through their pregnancy, labour and birth without being dismissed, bullied or assaulted it seems like they have won the lottery.

There are things that happened in my hospital birth, that i was ok with at the time and didn't even realise were unnecessary and potential damaging to the mother-baby dyad until i birthed my baby at home. So it it that you can have a really good hospital birth, but it doesn't compare to a homebirth OR am i just completely jaded by my experiences, and my friends' experiences and expect too much?

I'm not having GTT either, didn't with DD2. I am happy to have the GBS test, but only for the sake of info. My m/ws would only keep an eye on bub if I was positive and my m/w said that anyone can be positive at time of birth, regardless of the test (unless you did it the same day!). And only if I happen to be seeing my GP when it's closer. I probably will for scripts. But not sure about hospital programs. You can always decline the ABs if you are positive.

Spoke to my mw, she's going to write a letter to the doctor telling them what to do. It wasn't my regular doctor who I saw on Sunday, so hopefully my GP has more of a clue when i go back.

In other news baby was breech today so it's onto spinning babies for me. Mw also recommended acupuncture and/or osteo who can do something called the websters technique. Need to get this baby turned in the next 2-3 weeks or else we need to start talking breech birth plans. She's happy to talk about hb options if baby is bum first, and she said she knows an ob she's worked with a few times who is supportive of vaginal breech but I'd just prefer this to be straightforward!

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Has anyone had an issue getting a script for the anti-d injection? Went to get it today from my dr and they reckon only the hospy can do it. MW said I just need a script and she will collect it from the blood bank if necessary, but if I can't get a script then she can't collect it...

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I just went through all of this with my homebirth. You cannot get it from the Dr/pharmacy anymore, they have clamped down on ANTI D and it's like trying to get blood out of a stone to get it. Dr's cannot give you a script to pick it up, you have to have the injection at the hospital unless your midwife has a relationship with the hospital for her to get it for you. Our hospital would not give it out as it has to be kept at the right temperature (*rolls eyes* put it in an esky people) After much debate about what to do, I decided to take the risk and have the injection about two weeks before my baby was due. The injection covers you for up to 6 weeks, so that meant I would be covered going early or late. I had to have two Dr's and a Midwife explain to me the in's and outs of the injection (it went on far too long) then I had to sign paper work and FINALLY was free to have the injection. I did not want to go to the hospital after my baby was born at home to get injected if the baby had positive blood.... after all of that she was born B- grrrrrr I didn't even need to worry... Ask away if you have more questions!!! Oh IF your midwife has a relationship with the bloodbank she *might* be able to get it from there herself, but she has to sort it with them not you.


Hi everyone else, I hope you are all traveling well.... life with four children is keeping me busy, so I read along but not much time to reply xx

Hey - has anyone heard about using a calcium and magnesium supplement to help with crampiness/prelabour? A mom on another forum was saying that she used it and it really helped reduce the amount of prelabour and cramping she was feeling. I'll ask my midwife about it at my appointment this week, but I was just curious if anyone else had experience with it. Since this is baby #7, I am anticipating a fair bit of prelabour, and keeping it to a minimum would be wonderful!

In other news, I got my newborn diapers the other day. (a little early, but hey - there was a sale!) I might have to take some out just to look at again.... :) Going to open up the box of baby boy stuff and get it washed and ready to go soon too. I'm going to try making a little baby hammock/sling thing that I've seen on Pinterest to keep beside our bed for this baby. It looks snug and cozy, and I'm hoping it will give us the benefits of co-sleeping (which I usually do for the first few weeks) while still letting me get a good sleep. (I never fully relax when the baby is beside me.)

Hope everyone else is doing well!
Sepata - I've heard good things about the Websters technique. If you can find a chiropractor who is good at it, I understand it has quite a high success rate. Or you can try Arimeh's headstand-in-the-shower technique... ;)

Cricket - muscle cramps are my only real pg complaint. I swear by calcium and magnesium tabs. They work to stop the cramps in days. Started second tri with DDs1&2, had to start first tri with this bub.

But I had lots of pre labour with DD2, so I'm not sure they made any difference at all there! I think it depends on why you're having pre labour. I'm sure in my case DD2 was getting herself into the best possible position and took a while. Once she lined up, she rocketed on out. ;)

Avoiding muscle cramps would be a bonus anyways! They haven't been too bad this time around (it's a boy/girl thing for me, I think - with my last DD they were TERRIBLE, whereas with DS I barely got any) but none is still better than a few. :) I'll see about getting a bottle.

HotI - about natural birth in the hospital - a lot will depend on who gives your care, I think. When I delivered at hospital with a midwife, not a GP or OB, things were definitely more natural. But, the hospital has more regulations in place that the midwives just have to stick with, or they'll lose their right to practice there. And getting regulations changed is a long, slow process. I think a lot of the regulations were put in place after bad outcomes, but were over reactions to something that happened. (ie - someone ruptured or had a still birth or a severely distressed baby after labouring for hours and hours, so they decided that if a mother isn't progressing x amount per hour, she needs intervention.) I guess the best thing to do is to push for alternatives, and more freedom in regulations, so that the caregiver and mother can have some options at least. And encourage women to educate themselves about normal natural birth. (ie - join BellyBelly. ;) )

The other part of the problem is that there is a HUGE range in what mothers want. There are women who go in scared of any labour pain and hoping for a c-section. They think that will be better. There are some who think that they more they have "done to them", the better care they have received. There are others who think that they should not have to feel any discomfort during labour, and want to be medicated in whatever way possible. There are others who are totally overwhelmed in the medical setting and want to be told what to do and what will happen, without being offered options which they find confusing. There are some who are totally ignorant about what labour and birth will entail, and the staff won't have time to tell them everything that they need to know. (A teacher once told me about someone who came in totally sure that the baby was coming out of her belly button. This was a full-grown adult woman! The staff thought she was joking at first.) And, many hospitals are under-staffed, or the staff is under-trained. And it's much easier for the staff to deal with a woman who has had an epidural and is resting quietly on her bed as opposed to one who is delivering naturally, and screaming and requiring 1 on 1 attention (or more) along with her nervous DH who is demanding that somebody DO SOMETHING FOR HER!
So coming up with policies that work for everyone can be very difficult. Not trying to say that we shouldn't try - of course we should try! - but there are a lot of factors to consider. There is a general fear and ignorance of birth. Most women have never seen normal birth. It's portrayed in the media and society in general as a scary, life-threatening event, not a normal part of life.

double post.

I guess that was my comment about Kate arriving at the hospital in early labour?

I think a natural birth is totally possible though less likely than at home due to the pressures of the hospital time lines for labour. I arrived at the hospital in very established labour so I didn't have as many time pressures and had a natural birth... until the 3rd stage where the MWs wanted to give me syntocinon due to large blood loss. Maybe it was necessary but I personally think I would have been fine without it as the blood loss was actually not that large. I think there are a bunch of little ways that hospital 'anxiousness' about erring on the side of caution can make you less likely to have a natural birth.

As for an empowered birth in hospital I think they're pretty much non-existent. You are not the true decision maker in hospital. You might make choices but only within their guidelines. My own birth seemed amazing to me at first but then I realised about those little times the power was clearly not placed in my hands. My lovely MW still said things about being able to "let me" or her "having to" etc. Again, I think going into hospital in established labour can help avoid this as the body can take over and make the birth progress in a way that no policy or timelines have to be dealt with. But the fact that they are there as the final decision makers means the mother is already the dis-empowered party.

Also, following from Meow's points, I think that whenever you have to birth in hospital you *need* to be aware of the staff around you trying to intervene (whether that be to have CTG, BP, catheter, internals and so on), you cannot just let go. I am not sure that i would even be able to just 'let go' even with my IM at my side. I would still feel that i would need to protect myself and the baby and our birth while in there...even if there is a 'hands off' approach. because I am not in my space, i am in theirs. The thing with having a baby at home, and i do feel that this is hard for those that do not have or have never had a planned birth at home is that when you do finally go into labour, you completely surrender: and that is the greatest, most empowered feeling i have ever personally experienced. People mention that they dont need to go to hospital, they dont need to disrupt the birth to move to the hospital but that really, is not what it is about, it is much much deeper. with a homebirth you create your birth space, you prepare for it. you dont just turn up to it and make do with what is on offer. every living animal works towards creating a safe birth space and we should be no different and since having had 2 HBs i now realise just how important that is to birth process as well.

Thank you all for addressing my ponderings. With this pregnancy, and getting closer to 12 weeks (where it seems real), my mind is starting to do its thing again.

I was thinking this morning, the thought to go to hospital never entered my mind during my labour and birth. I know that in the BOBB, one or two of them mentioned that they got to a point where they wanted to transfer, but it just wasn't there at all for me. Maybe because i was so sure that i was doing the right thing, and i had the right people with me??

Did heading in to hospital for any reason come in to your consciousness?

At a recent hospital birth, almost everytime someone came in the room they would put their hands on the woman's tummy, usually during a contraction. There was no asking if this was ok, or even what they were looking for. It was overkill, and didn't seem to have a beneficial purpose. When my DD was born, she was placed on my tummy and then rubbed down with towels. Sounds lovely, eh (for a hospital birth), but then when my son was born, there was no rubbing or banging him around, and i realised how unneccessary the first handling of my DD was.