Prenatal Class Wrap Up
We finished up our prenatal classes in the middle of August. We really enjoyed our instructor Cindy who fortunately had had a midwife so she was able to insert a bit of midwifery context. We were the only midwifery couple in a group of about 10-12 couples. There was a fathering session which unfortunately wasn't as educational as we'd hoped. They brought in a dad/nurse to run this session and he clearly wasn't that well versed on the material. It was interesting that both the fathering instructor and Cindy were nurses and had both chosen midwives as care providers for their pregnancies. Mark and I both felt that a lot of couples in the class were effected by the fact that two health care providers who know a lot about birth both chose midwives.
Hospital Tour
We pre-registered at the Brampton hospital and took a tour of the facility last week. Even though we are planning a home birth we thought it would be a good idea to go through this process in case we have to change our plan to a hospital birth. The facility is beautiful as the Brampton Civic Hospital is a brand new facility. There is access to a jacuzzi pool (first come first serve) and showers in each birthing room to use for hydro therapy in labour to manage pain.
However, I asked what their epidural rate was and the nurse, without blushing, reported that probably about 97% of women get an epidural at their hospital. Canada's overall epidural rate is 45.7%, 59% in the US, and 12% in the UK (a midwife heavy maternity system). Ontario midwives have an 16.8% epidural rate.
AND it appears that they regularly hook mom up to continuous fetal monitors (strap on a monitor and leave it on). The Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists of Canada (SOGC) only recommends this type of monitoring if baby is suspected to be sick or if labour is induced or augmented. Otherwise, intermittent heart rate checks are recommended because the evidence is that unnecessary interventions are increased with the use of continuous monitoring. This in turn leads to greater risks to mum and baby. Tsk, tsk - not evidence based practice. So, hopefully all will be well and we will give birth to baby at home. Either way, being attended by a midwife in hospital certainly lowers the chances that we'll be 'persuaded' to use these types of interventions unnecessarily.
Baby Shower
Last weekend some friends and family held a lovely baby shower for Mark and me. Thanks so much to Rebecca, Laura, and Shirley for organizing this great event. A number of our friends and family attended and it was great to see everyone and share the day with them. We also received a bunch of best wishes from friends and family who were unable to attend. We are so fortunate to have so many caring, thoughtful, and generous people in our lives. This baby will be born into an eclectic and loving community of friends and family.
More pictures are on their way but here is a preview picture of me, Mark, my step-grandfather Matt, and his friend Bonnie:
Midwife Appointment
I am now seeing the midwife every two weeks. I start seeing them every week at the end of September until the baby is born. I saw one of our midwives yesterday and all is well. My weight gain is holding steady at 25 lbs, my blood pressure is great (110/70), no protein or sugar in my urine. Baby's heart rate is great, I'm feeling lots of regular movement, my uterus is finally measuring according to my dates (I was measuring a bit larger than my dates before), and baby is staying head down.
I'm feeling really good these days. I get tired more quickly but nothing unusual and I've developed quite a waddle when I walk. I'm a bit breathless which is normal - my uterus and the baby are pressing up against my diaphragm causing this breathlessness. Sleeping is a bit more of a challenge. I roll back and forth a number of times in the night because my hips get sore if I spend too much time on one side and of course there's at least one visit to the bathroom in the dark every night. I have a little bit of heart burn but the occasional Tums helps control this.
Home Birth Report
Here is a link to report published yesterday in the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ):
http://www.cmaj.ca/cgi/rapidpdf/cmaj.081869
For a synopsis here is a cbc.ca article on the report:
http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2009/08/31/midwife-home-births.html
The report states that "planned home birth attended by a registered midwife was associated with very low and comparable rates of perinatal death and reduced rates of obstetric
interventions and other adverse perinatal outcomes compared with planned hospital birth attended by a midwife or physician." Which means that home birth can be as safe as hospital birth when attended by a Registered Midwife.
Baby Belly Photoshoot
Mark and I hung out with friends Jordan and Shawn last Sunday for a photo shoot of my ever-expanding belly and our growing baby. Here is a preview of the shoot. I'll post more photos soon:
Baby's Room
I'm using up the rest of my holiday time this week and puttering around the house. I've done 7 loads of laundry (3 for us, 4 for baby) plus another 3 to do the initial wash of the reusable diapers were planning to use (this is just the initial setup washing to get rid of natural oils in the cotton used in the diapers - we wont have to wash them more than one time per 'soiling' when the baby starts using them). So, 10 loads of laundry - crazy. The baby's room is coming together and should be finished by the end of the week. I'll post some pictures when its all done.
Hey Sam and Mark and Baby
ReplyDeleteWe heard the CBC report comparing home and hospital births and thought of you, of course. We are stunned at the epidural rate which your Dad considers to be a highly invasive procedure. There was no suggestion of such a procedure when Andrew was born in France. The only rational we can think of is to make things easier for the medical staff.
So glad you put in the picture of my Dad and Bonnie. It is a gorgeous picture as is the one of you and Mark in the field.
Hmm.. 10 loads of laundry. Well, we`ll help when we get there.
So nice to hear that you are enjoying the whole experience. As you should.
Love, Dad and Wen