Birth ~ Faith ~ Love

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2015-07-05T09:08:00.001-04:00

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Hoping BG9 comes soon!

Progress!

2015-07-04T12:10:00.001-04:00

This morning I had an exciting discovery!

(Warning: body fluids mentioned. This is a blog about birth!)

After waking up with only 3 hours of sleep, I made myself some nightly cereal with blueberries and sat up downstairs to watch a little TV. As I do many times a day, I needed to go to the bathroom. When wiping, I saw for the first time in five term pregnancies what my mucus plug looked like.

It was clear with a jelly look but tinged with pink! I was giddy! Yes! Progress!!

Losing even a little of the mucus plug means the cervix is doing something! Effacing or dilating or both! With no exams, I don't know what my dilation or effacement is because I never found out. It's only useful information if you plan to induce. Otherwise, it serves no good purpose. It can only falsely excite a woman who finds out she's dilated leading her to believe she might go into labor very soon which doesn't always happen. And the opposite is true too. If she finds out she's not dilated, she may get discouraged and think labor is far away when in reality what causes cervical change is contractions and labor can take her from zero to ten centimeters in 24 hours time! Cervical exam results of dilation or effacement cannot predict when labor will start.

I'm excited that my on and off sometimes painful BHCs are actually already changing my cervix. That let's me have hope that if I continue to be patient and await spontaneous labor, it will come when my body and my baby are ready.

How Long?

2015-07-04T00:56:00.000-04:00

It's been an interesting few days because I never thought *I* would be here. I have always been so consistent at birthing at 39 weeks to 40 on the nose that I couldn't have contemplated going past that, but here I am. 40 weeks, 3 days.

So I revert back to my research taught for 8 years to students and clients about the true average length of pregnancy and of course the unpredictability of birth. We cannot control the timing of our baby's arrival anymore than we can predict a summer storm and whether it will develop or not or skip our town but pour rain on the one next to us complete with hail, lightning and thunder.

In the 1800s a man name Naegele actually decided the due date should be 40 weeks gestation. But in 1990, a large study showed the actual average length of pregnancy was 41 weeks, 1 day for first time mothers and 40 weeks, 3 days for mothers on the second pregnancy or more.

Some other stats of interest:

About 50% of women give birth between 39 and 41 weeks.
Only 5% of babies are born on their actual due date.
Up to 88% of women give birth between 38 and 42 weeks.
6-7% of babies are born premature (before 37 weeks).
If not induced, a small % of babies are born after 42 weeks.

Then, it made me wonder... why now? Why on term pregnancy #5 and I going this far? There is of course the apple-shaped, pendulous uterus and posterior position with lots of stretched out room allowing a flipping baby still. Sure. What else could it be? I realized a couple of things.

I'm still taking magnesium/calcium supplements that my midwife put me on to help prevent pre-eclampsia this time or getting close to it like I did with Sara Beth. Magnesium will actually relax the uterus. Funny enough, I have been taking it after breakfast in the morning and that is exactly when my contractions if I'm having any will just peter out. Additionally, many midwives believe that women going past 40 weeks should stop taking any anti-inflammatory supplements like Vitamin D and the Omega 3 I take every day. So needless to say, I'll be stopping all 4 supplements as of tomorrow to not impede the inflammatory process of cervical ripening nor the activity of the uterus.
I'm also healthier than I've ever been. My nutrition has drastically improved, I drink more water than ever before, less sugar in my diet and of course I avoid the inflammatory foods I'm allergic too - dairy/eggs. I take my multivitamin and probiotic each day. And I was diagnosed with the MTHFR gene mutation (genetic) years ago after Sara Beth was born and I take my daily Vitamin B12 supplement and Folate that is necessary to support my deficiency in both being that I'm heterozygous A1298C and C677T.

These things make me healthier and the healthier a pregnant woman is, the longer she'll be pregnant. We all know this to be true because it is only those who have a nutritional deficiency and prior health conditions that go into preterm labor or deliver earlier. Each woman has to find what her body needs to stay pregnant until term and grow a healthy baby. With our American diet that proves quite difficult but with good education on prenatal nutrition, it is certainly possible!

The mistake I made was assuming I'd once again birth at 39 weeks or even earlier because #4 came days before #2 and #3 did and because of the amount of contractions I had in pregnancy leading up to term, I was convinced I'd go sooner rather than later! Now I have to roll back my expectations and once again accept my pregnancy journey as it comes not trying to make it fit a certain week and planning events or vacations around when I thought I would deliver. The summer will just need to be adjusted some and I've got to learn to be patient allowing this little stinker to come when he or she is ready!

Looking for Engagement: Baby, come on down!

2015-07-03T04:05:00.000-04:00

After a long ten lunar months of my ninth pregnancy, I've reached a place I've never been - overdue. Now, of course, as a doula and natural childbirth educator, I don't believe in the calendar deciding when baby should safely be born so long as baby is healthy and hopefully born at term or just before or just after term. (Term is 37 to 42 weeks)

With each pregnancy, I've learned something new or experienced a new discomfort or pregnancy issue that needed to be explored and treated usually just with the assistance of an alternative practitioner like chiropractors or craniosacral therapists. With this pregnancy, I've had to overcome nearly daily my fear of losing the baby because I've lost my last three after my living daughter Sara Beth was born 3.5 years ago. See losses here. On top of that, I've had an emergency appendectomy in the first trimester. Then, I had emergency dental surgery in the early third trimester. I've had some intense contractions before term that led to me limiting activity. The healing process from surgery kept me on modified bed rest too. I followed my body and rested as needed but it was hard to live months not being active.

All of that leads to a baby not in the optimal position for birth. BG9, as we call him or her, has been persistently OP when head down and since 32 weeks has even flipped breech or transverse sometimes daily. Part of having nine pregnancies over ten years is the stretching of my core abdominal muscles (rectus diastasis). The two major abdominal muscles are actually separated and have been since my first pregnancy. This causes my belly to hang out more over the pubic bone than someone with a tighter abdominal core and no significant separation.

Because my belly hangs forward more, my uterus is also leaning forward or called pendulous and the angle of my baby is not well aligned with the inlet of the pelvis. This affects the baby engaging.

So two issues:

OP positioned baby
Pendulous uterus

OP positioned baby

Pendulous Uterus

Green line is optimal angle. Red line is baby leaning too far forward.

To help with the first issue, I started utilizing Gail Tulley's www.SpinningBabies.com techniques to help rotate baby from posterior to anterior and relax the muscles and ligaments that would allow the baby to drop into the inlet. I also used the abdominal lift during BHCs (Braxton Hicks Contractions) with my hands to adjust my baby's angle to the desired 55-60 degree angle needed to engage.

Some techniques that helps that I use:

Pelvic rocks to help adjust baby's position and stretch back
30 second inversion
Psoas release
BodyFlow class (yoga/Pilates/tai chi)
Stretches (leg kicks, squats, arm/shoulders, neck, lunge)
Walking to open the inlet and move baby
Birth ball sitting knees below hips
Birth ball hoola hoop motion
Relaxation music
Imagery/visualization
Deep breathing
Abdominal lifts or belly binding with rebozo (maya slings work great)
Craniosacral Therapy
Pulsatilla 30C
Acupuncture with moxibustion
Chiropractic adjustment

Now all I can do is allow time to go by until baby decides when labor should begin knowing that I've done and will continue to do techniques that help baby move down into a good position for birth.

Birth. Faith. Love.

2015-07-02T12:13:00.000-04:00

Birth

~ We believe in the natural process of birth. Should the natural process require intervention, we will embrace today's amazing technology and medical care. If the natural process unfolds safely for mother and baby, we will embrace birth when and how it unfolds.

Faith

~ We hold dear to our hearts a strong faith in God. We believe in the Holy Trinity. We know through prayer and trusting in Him we will be blessed and taken care of even in times of hardship or grief. Our Catholic faith is strong and we are always finding new ways to improve ourselves as Christians, helping others to know Christ and spreading the Word of God.

Love

~ We are a family created from love. Our marriage is built on the decision to love one another until death do us part. Our decision to follow God's will and birth His children was conceived in love for each other and our love for God. Our love has grown as we have overcome obstacles and continued to grow our family and strengthen our marriage.