Preparing for the Big Day!

At 34 weeks, I am finally getting to the end of what has been, so far, a fantastic first pregnancy! It’s been a long, but easy road and I know the real “hard part” is coming up quickly. 

A very pregnant Kristin standing in front of our Le Top spring and fall 2011 collections

At my doctor’s suggestion, I signed my husband and me up for a four week long Childbirth Preparation class. With my first pregnancy comes a lot of apprehension about the whole birthing process. It doesn’t matter how many people I have talked to about this subject, I know that I can’t go into this based on other people’s experiences and advice alone. After all, I am one of those “prepared” people who has to know what is going on…or at least what is supposed to happen.

I walked in to our first class on Tuesday night, slightly dragging my husband along since he was somewhat reluctant to attend because he said we could learn everything on YouTube! Can you believe that!? Let’s just say that by the time our class was over, my husband had realized that YouTube, may not be the best teacher of childbirth. The benefits, even from the first class, have helped ease my mind a bit. Some of the key things I took away were:

• Stages of labor – understanding what my body would be going through and the duration of each stage in the big picture.
• Defining the terms I had heard so much about, and had not much of a clue as to what they actually meant. Things like “effacing” and “dilating”.
• Pregnancy discomforts – we all share the most common ones (Yay! I am not the only one who has started snoring at night!)
• Pain Management – how to relax

I am really looking forward to the upcoming classes, as I know that my anxiety about this part of the pregnancy should continue to decrease as my knowledge increases.

…Now where did I put that pint of ice cream?

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Hypnotherapy for a painless delivery? I investigated “Hypnobirthing”

I recently read that women who are terrified of labor and its pains can conquer those fears using self-hypnosis to achieve maximum relations, comfort and above all, relief during child birth!

Super mum: Model Gisele claimed giving birth in her bathtub at home in Boston with no pain relief didn't hurt after having prepared with yoga and meditation.

There was a recent 18-month NHS trial study with over 800 “first-time” mommies who learned the technique of “hypnobirthing” which is being led by Professor Soo Downe, a specialist in midwifery at Central Lancashire University, at hospitals in Blackburn and Burnley. Women will be taught deep relaxation techniques which are said to induce an almost trance-like state, making women calmer and more able to block out pain. Hypnobirthing is based on the work of Dr Grantly Dick-Read, an English physician whose principles provided the foundations of the National Childbirth Trust (NCT).

What is “hypnobirthing”? I asked the same thing! It is a new method of natural childbirth that teaches women to use their ‘natural instincts’ to control pain and bring an easier birthing period. I am semi-unsold on this technique because it sounds to me like natural labor where you just try to convince yourself it doesn’t hurt as much! Ha!

The more I read I found that nearly 60% of women in labor are injected with epidurals into their spine or had administered shots of diamorphine or even  laughing gas to control contraction pains. Drugs can be very expensive and hazardous to your baby. What would you choose and would you try to learn this new “hypnobirthing” techqnue? It is believed that epidurals tend to increase the duration of childbirth, triggering the need for a woman to undergo a caesarean.

How is Hypnobirthing Effective?
According to experts, at the onset of contractions, fear kicks in as a reflex, causing the uterus to cramp, resulting in pain. If women could only relax, they would have less pain, more effective contractions and shorter labor. The hypnobirthing course which costs around £800 (over $1,200) on a one-to-one basis trains women to find complete relaxation using the power of the mind, but still be in control. Words such as ‘pain’ and ‘contraction’ which evoke fear are replicated with terms such as ‘pressure’ and ‘tightening’ in the training manuals.

According to the Daily Mail in the UK, ‘A lot of women afterwards say that “pain” is not the word to describe their sensations during labour, calling it “pressure” and “a force of nature”. And yes, there are women who do end up with a Caesarean, but they in turn say hypnobirthing techniques kept them calm throughout, making the experience positive and enjoyable.’

Overall, I guess this is about the “power of the mind” or perhaps it goes back to the age old saying of “Mind Over Matter.”

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Yummy Mummy

Should I go straight or curly?

Usually, when I get up in the morning, I pull my hair back and wrap a rubber band around it and start the day. I have so much hair (thick and lots of it!) that styling my hair is a time-consuming affair. With a hectic morning routine of getting my daughter out of bed, dressing her, feeding her breakfast, then driving her to preschool, I rarely have time to get myself dolled up. So it boils down to, if I’m going somewhere special, have a client meeting, or getting together with some friends, I would make the effort to fix my hair so I look “decent.”

Every morning last week I woke up extra early and styled my hair, which prompted this conversation:

Husband: “Where are you going today?”

Me: “Nowhere. I just want to look good in case we have to go to the hospital and give birth today.”

Husband (rolling his eyes): “Oh, brother!”

Me: “Hey, the first time one goes through labor and delivery it’s excusable to be unprepared. The new mom can look like a train wreck. The next time, she needs to know better. I need to look fabulous!”

So on top of the hair stylin’, I’ve had a pedicure so that I have cute piggies while my legs are in the stirrups (I’m gonna be looking at them a long time!), and I’ve had my wax appointment so that I have soft, smooth legs. I’ve got to be a “Yummy Mummy” this time around – and taking nesting to completely new heights! 🙂

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Acupuncture: Labor Induction

As I approach my due date, I have become more and more anxious to start labor and meet my new baby (and, get my old body back – oh, how I miss laying on my stomach!) I have heard lots of ways to start labor, such as:

• eating spicy foods
• getting a foot massage
• getting a pedicure
• taking long walks
• having sex

But one I haven’t heard much about is acupuncture to induce labor.

A friend of mine (from Santa Cruz, CA) swears by it! Her labor with her first child was so painful and long: four hours of hard labor with back-to-back contractions, and two hours of pushing! When she became pregnant with her second child, she had to find a way to make her labor easier. Alas… she discovered acupuncture. She scheduled an appointment with a local acupuncturist a couple of days before her induction date. (She needed to be induced because of preeclampsia.) The first needle that was inserted into her body instantly started her labor! Her labor was shorter, her contractions were more manageable, and she only pushed for 23 minutes!

With a story like that, how can I not consider acupuncture! I wish I could see her acupuncturist in Santa Cruz, but it’s just too far from my hospital. I’d probably end up having my baby on the freeway! So now I start my search for an acupuncturist. Wish me luck!

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