I met up with my friend today. She's expecting her second child in a few months. All we spoke about today was baby stuff and I left feeling useless. The amount of things she said that I hadn't even thought about, most of them were just silly but some of them were about the actual labour. She was surprised that I haven't got a TENS machine for during the labour, honestly I hadn't even thought about it. I've been reading up on breathing techniques. I missed the antenatal classes because they clashed with my appointments, and I got a few of the days mixed up, but I have been reading up online. I was supposed to be relaxed after meeting up with her but now I'm worried (and exhausted from spending hours walking about the shopping centre)
To top it all off, I spent more than I'd planned to on lunch. My £3 subway turned into £10 at pizza hut!
Worrying now...
March 7th, 2012 at 07:48 pm
March 7th, 2012 at 07:59 pm 1331150358
Practice the breathing ahead of time with your spouce. That is your best bet in my opinion.
March 7th, 2012 at 08:13 pm 1331151233
I've spoke to hubby and we're going to start practice breathing techniques. At least I'll feel better knowing I've practiced.
March 7th, 2012 at 08:22 pm 1331151773
Even if you don't have time for a tour, maybe you could call and ask if you could at least speak with someone from the birth center, to go through their basic procedures and get a better sense of what to expect.
I was terrible at breathing. They kept telling me to breath deep through the contraction, but every time one hit, I would start breathing really shallow gasps. The only thing that worked for my pain was the epidural shot.
March 7th, 2012 at 08:27 pm 1331152030
March 7th, 2012 at 08:29 pm 1331152168
March 7th, 2012 at 08:56 pm 1331153774
I think knowledge/preparedness is good, for sure, but balance that with the knowledge that the Doctors/nurses see it every day and will be able to help you. & I things rarely go "by the book" - you just have to be as relaxed and "open for any scenario" as possible.
March 7th, 2012 at 09:54 pm 1331157259
March 8th, 2012 at 02:05 am 1331172353
I've never heard of them for labor, but it makes sense. With "back labor" the muscles of your lower back may tense up and ache to high heaven. That is one of the things a TENS device is supposed to be for: breaking the spiral of muscle tensing leading to more muscle tensing.
I don't think everyone necessarily gets that kind of pain anyway.
Maybe your friend would loan your hers.
CB, it is no more a scary machine to use while in labor than a CD player or radio might be. It's a compact little thing and the user is totally in control of it, unlike, say, a fetal monitor or even an automated blood pressure cuff.
March 8th, 2012 at 03:00 pm 1331218810
March 8th, 2012 at 06:43 pm 1331232212
March 10th, 2012 at 12:21 am 1331338908
March 11th, 2012 at 10:09 pm 1331503743
Jerry