Firstly an apology. My intention was to write a blog post last Wednesday
evening after the first antenatal class and then another one again after
Fridays midwife checkup but life ran away with me and I've only just had a
couple of seconds to sit down and write the posts that I wanted to. So sorry
this post is going to cover both events.
First antenatal class.
The first antenatal class was last Wednesday, (the 4th). The Class is held
at the birthing centre we're hoping to be using in September. As the lovely
NHS have been trying to save money people attending the class come from 3
different areas, some from Cardiff, Some from our area up in Blackwood and
some from Newport altogether there was about 25 couples there.
In the first week we found out about the signs to look out for when going in
to labour, when we need to phone the hospital, the types of births provided
at that particular birthing centre. As we're under a midwife lead team we
were also told which pain relief's they can provide and the sort of
situations that could occur that would refer us to consultant lead care. 50
people in the class did seem a bit to much and I think if there were less
people then the class would have been a bit more interactive but as it was
we did seem to spend a lot of time listening.
I'll try to summarise the information.
Signs to look out for when going in to labour
Waters can burst either write at the beginning of labour before contractions
start or pretty much just as the final part of labour. They don't tend to go
somewhere in the middle.
Contractions can happen before you're in labour but you're not in proper
labour until they are regular, normally starting about half an hour between
contractions.
It looks like these are the main signs to look out for. There was quite a
bit of information about what's going on inside the body but I'm not a
medical person so I'm not going to try to repeat them here.
When we need to phone the hospital
We need to phone the hospital once getting regular contractions however far
apart, but the advice we're probably going to here is that until the
contractions are 7 or 8 minutes apart we should try to stay at home moving
around and making sure we're ready to go.
Once the contractions are 5 to 7 minutes apart we should then phone again
and head in to the birthing centre.
The types of births provided at that particular birthing centre
The CBC, where we're hoping to have the baby, are very flexible, They have
got the most fantastic birthing pool which Gem liked the look of, There were
a couple of different types of beds she could use or there were massive walk
in showers which can also be used as water around you is a very good relaxed
and being relaxed can reduce the amount of pain felt.
The sort of pain relief's they can provide
As we're under midwife lead care the types of pain relief provided is
limited. As the midwifes are not anaesthetists they can't do spinal or
epidural but can do pretty much everything else. There was the next step
down using a drug called pefidin which Jan, Gems mum, said was fantastic
but you couldn't use this and go in the birthing pool and it can have an
effect on the baby and CBC will provide it but won't recommend it because of
the side effects on the baby. And there is gas and air which can be used in
the birthing pool and is what CBC recommends. I've also been told by Danni,
our minister, that I should have a go on the gas and air as its great stuff.
Anyone seen that Only Fools and Horses episode where Del keeps taking it?
At the moment Gems sort of thinking towards the birthing pool and gas and
air.
The sort of situations that could occur that would refer us to consultant
lead care.
As there are know consultants at the birthing centre CBC seem to be really
careful and made it clear during the class that you could only be under
midwife lead care if your pregnancy was normal. If the babies breach,
overdue and gets induced, less than 37 weeks in to the pregnancy, to big, to
small or there looked like there were going to be complications then you
would be referred to a consultant lead care team at one of the bigger
hospitals.
Generally the class was really good but it was just a bit hard as there were
so many people there.
This week is going to be on the birth it's self, what to expect and what
actually happens. The week after is about baby care, feeding and that sort
of thing. I'll try to blog Wednesday night about the class when I can
remember more of it.
Friday we went to see the midwife for the week 28 checkup. Both Baby and Mum
had a clean bill of health and they took a load of blood samples which we
get the results of on Tuesday. This is just routine.
That's it for now.
I know I've said this a couple of times but I will keep trying to keep the
Blog up-to-date.
Take care.
Nick.