What a difference a day makes. Yesterday I was willing the baby to come early and today I’m begging for another week. Why? After all my worrying it’s happened – my husband has been diagnosed with swine flu.
We don’t know if he actually has the dreaded pig lurgy or regular influenza, but he has the symptoms and it was enough for the doctor to hit him up with two packs of Tamiflu, one for each of us. I called my midwife clinic to confirm that I should take it as a precaution and apparently I should. Common side effects include nausea and vomiting. Can’t wait!
So now I’m trying to be as inactive as possible to ward off labour, now that my support person is coughing up a lung and shivering on the lounge.
In other news, I’ve been revisiting my birth plan from last pregnancy and deciding whether to use it again. Here is an extract, adapted from a template on birth.com.au.
Key points for caregivers
- Please don’t offer me drugs unless I ask for them
- Please don’t break my waters unless medically indicated
- We would like the option of my partner ‘catching’ the baby
- Would rather risk a tear than an episiotomy
- If assisted birth is necessary, I would prefer a ventouse over forceps
- If I require a caesarean, I would like my partner to be there at all times, given a spinal over an epidural, and have the baby given to me or my partner ASAP
- If the umbilical cord must be clamped due to caesarean, I would like to donate the cord blood. Otherwise, I would prefer to delay cord clamping until the cord has stopped pulsating.
- I would prefer to avoid the syntocinon injection unless it is necessary due to excessive bleeding or delayed 3rd stage.
- I would like to see the placenta afterwards
- Would like to have all weighing, measuring etc done after I’ve had time for skin to skin contact with the baby
- If I can’t be with the baby, I would like my partner to stay with the baby at all times
- If I need stitching, please do it ASAP
Unfortunately, my whole plan went out the window last time as soon as I left the birth centre due to a stalled labour. It was well and truly the last thing on my mind after I’d delivered and the midwife brought me my placenta in a silver dish ‘as requested in your birth plan’. I recoiled in horror!
Experience tells me that you can’t prepare for every eventuality in labour and birth and I don’t think I’ll bother this time. However, the actual process of going through the likely options and decisions to be made is a very useful exercise for couples to go through, so you can be sure you are in agreement before the day.
As well as a plan for caregivers, some couples like to have a plan for the support person to follow in case they forget what has been taught in birth preparation classes. For example:
Key points for partner
- Offer me fluids or ice cubes to suck on to keep me hydrated.
- Suggest and physically help me into different labour positions.
- Walk with me if I need to do this.
- Breathe with me when I look lost.
- Remind me to relax between contractions (’body check’).
This time around I am reading Juju Sundin’s Birth Skills (co-written with Sarah Murdoch) and I am likely to take along a few notes on pain-management techniques for my husband to refer to if what I’m doing isn’t working.
I’d love to hear from others if you had a birth plan – and if it was an accurate template for what followed!
Just yesterday I condensed what I think are the relevant bits of Juju’s brilliant book into 2 pages and added them to my hospital bag. And that’s all I have in writing. The rest has just been spoken about between me and my partner – and I trust the hospital team to do the right thing.
Sarah, you can still give your baby some of the benefits of delayed cord clamping at C/S. Just have the doctor milk the cord 4 to 5 times before s/he cuts it. that way the baby will get some volume, red blood cells and stem cells. we just completed a study which showed less anemia at 48 hrs with the cord milked and no harm. see cordclamping.info for articles.