Pregnancy Support Group
Welcome to the waiting room for anticipating moms and dads. Whether you're expecting your first or a new little brother or sister, meet other parents in this community who are also looking forward to a new addition to the family.
My friend is an aspiring mid-wife and has just home-birtherd her THIRD daughter...at 42 weeks +1 day!
She has decided to share her birth story with the public...so here it is, for anyone interested.
It helps to realize that YES WE CAN! It is possible!
And, that it is possible to do away with many unnnecessary medical interventions..from episiotomy, epidural, or pitocin.
I have to confess, I was literally chewing my nails after her due date came...and went! I was scared something would go horribly wrong. Nope. Baby was born perfectly healthy and happy, and both mom and bub are doing great!
She has decided to share her birth story with the public...so here it is, for anyone interested.
It helps to realize that YES WE CAN! It is possible!
And, that it is possible to do away with many unnnecessary medical interventions..from episiotomy, epidural, or pitocin.
I have to confess, I was literally chewing my nails after her due date came...and went! I was scared something would go horribly wrong. Nope. Baby was born perfectly healthy and happy, and both mom and bub are doing great!
http://picasaweb.google.ca/emma.kwasnica/20091004ChloeSHomebirth#slideshow/5388801440065214642
For anyone interested, I also have additional photos of baby CHloe crowning. Crowning is when the little head starts to come out of the vagina. The new photos I ahve are really exceptional, detailed, showing bit-by-bit how baby comes out, the placenta which they had a few problems getting out, but finally did; how they prepared the placenta for human consumption (no joke! it is thought to have health and energy benefits!) (animals eat theri placentas...i guess in the "good old days", cave women did too!), and so forth.
I was really surprised to see how the placenta looks different on each side. I fyou look at the phot from the fetal side (where the umbilical cord connects) it is remarkable how it reallly looks like a picture of a tree! I guess that is why it is called the "tree of life!"
Most remarkable of all is that all of us in this group have, or will, at soempoint in the near future, go thru exactlyw hat this mom did..this is so real. You will not find any such pics in a typical pregnancy book. Makes you become in awe of what our bodies can do!
If you would like to see these extra pics, please just send me a personal message, and I will forward you the link...
(Actually, women in some parts of China still eat their placenta, and not dried and ground either. IT is supposed to be very good for you).
My own birth was pretty chaotic, I hardly knew what was happening down there... seeing those images helped me to realise just how miraculous the whole process is. I really look forward to my next birth!
Congratulations again to your friend and her beautiful family.
It is really interesting to see what happens to us during a vaginal delivery. If anyone's prepared to share pictures of a C section I'd be interested in that too. It's amazing what we go through and kind of a shame that we are often not in position to appreciate it while it's actually happening.
If I get to have another baby I'm going to ask my husband to take lots more photos during the labouring and delivery!
Almost all mammals (to my knowledge) eat the placenta after birth. We are the only ones who don't. But, if you are going to get the benefits, I'd say pill form would be far better than cooking it up on the grill!! :)
I understand that the placenta is filled with hormones and minerals, that were there with you for 9 mths.If you expell it, and do not eat it, it is only logical that you will suffer some hormone imbalances, then, right? Because suddenly, you just lost all these hormones and other things that it contains!
It is also logical to eat it, because indeed, just about every single other mammal (do you know of any exceptions?) does eat the placenta or afterbirth. It is thought to help balance out the hormones, and prevent the baby blues.
Personally, I find the thought of myself eating my placenta, barbecued or encapsulated, or in any other form, disgusting. Just thinking of it sort of gets my stomach churning! But, I can understand those who do do it, and who sear by its benefits.
Here is a link with more info:
http://placentabenefits.info/index.asp
I would be interested in hearing from anyone who has already consumed her own placenta. I even wonder what it looks like?
I saw my placenta briefly, only once, with the birth of #2, and did not even see the side attached to the baby, called the "Tree of Life." I never knew that the two sides were so damn different.
It was remarkable to see it on Emma's photos.
I even wonder what it smells like? I never got a chance to smell it either.
http://www.midwiferytoday.com/articles/normalbirth.asp
In the last year I have had 3 friends plan on a home birth with a birthing tub. After 40 hours of labor one of my friends used her "plan b" and went to the hospital. She was exhausted and her contractions had basically stopped. She had to have a c-section because there was no way her beautiful 10lb daughter was ever going to fit out of her size 0 frame.
My second friend refused to go the hospital after 50 hours of labor and more than 24 hours after her water broke. Her adorable son was born at home but she ended up admitted to the hospital with a severe infection because of the time it took to get him out after her water broke. She risked her life for her home birth and has a lot of regrets about missing the first days with her son. Both are doing fine now.
My third friend had a beautiful daughter at home as planned. No complications.
You need to be flexible and smart with any birth plan to make sure you and your baby are happy and healthy. In the end be flexible enough to throw the plan out the window to make sure that both happens.
http://www.obgmanagement.com/article_pages.asp?AID=8119&UID=