Recently I saw a question on a pregnancy and parenting page asking about being induced at 37 weeks for a “Big Baby” (estimated to be around 9ish pounds/4-4.5kg by 40 weeks). This particular mum-to-be didn’t feel comfortable with being induced then, and did say that, but was seeking advice and support that it was the right thing to do.
I did what I usually do, I advised of the risks, the benefits, that the estimated weight was not “Big” at all and many women birth babies even bigger than that vaginally and after spontaneous labour with no issues at all, and reassured the mum-to-be to follow her heart – in that if it didn’t feel right then tell her doctor that she didn’t want to be induced and would wait until baby decided to arrive on his/her own.

This kind of question is becoming more and more common these days, women being told they are having “Big Babies” estimated to be between 9 and 10pd (which isn’t “big” as such, it is just another variation of normal size) and will be induced between 37 and 38 weeks gestation because of that. These women are apparently not being given any choice in the matter, they are being told it WILL happen, that they NEED to be induced as if they don’t their baby will get stuck (shoulder dystocia) and die because it is too big to be born vaginally.

For the record, this is not evidence based medical practice, this is fear mongering and scare tactics and outright lying by medical professionals in order to get an expectant mother to do what THEY want her to do. A 9-10pd baby is not big, 11+ pounds is “big”. 9-13pd babies are born all around the world all the time without any issues when the mother is able to move around in whatever way she finds comfortable and as a result assist the baby in manoeuvring through the birth canal. In these cases there is no respect for a mother’s decision making, no allowing the woman’s body to do what it was made to do, preventing the natural physiological process of birth from occurring when the time is truly right and making women around the world afraid of a natural body process. To add to this a small baby is just as likely to get stuck as a larger baby if baby’s position and mothers position while birthing are not ideal. There are ways to prevent it and to reduce the chances of it happening, and early induction is not one of them and has a higher chance of shoulder dystocia by preventing the mother from adopting natural birthing positions due to the CTG monitoring and in many cases an epidural as well when the induced contractions become too much for the mother to bare and increasing the chances of baby being malpositioned when artificial rupture of the membranes (amniotic sac) is done as part of the standard practice of induction, traumatic physical and emotional intervention with the use of ventouse (vacuum), episiotomy, forceps and physical pressure on the mothers abdomen, and fetal distress from the induction itself resulting in either the above mentioned interventions or an emergency cesarean occurring.

But what I've mentioned just above is not what prompted this blog post. What prompted this is the lack of up to date knowledge in obstetricians and other mothers who were “fans” of this particular page and answered this particular question.
These “fans” were promoting induction at 37 weeks with no major risk factors or true need, stating that it was “term” and “baby would be fine”. This information is incorrect, not only have the WHO and ACoG, within the last 12 months, updated their guidelines of when “term”, “full term” and “post dates” are, but an induction at 37 weeks for no reason other than an ultrasound weight estimate (proven to be inaccurate in the majority of cases) shows that baby is measuring larger than average. The new guidelines state that “term” is now from 39 weeks to 39+6 weeks after recent research showing that a lot of important brain development occurs in-utero between 37 and 39 weeks and babies who stay in longer have less physical issues than babies born before 39 weeks gestations (eg feeding issues, regulating of body temperature issues etc), “full term” is now from 40 weeks to 42 weeks gestation, and “post dates” is now from 42+1 weeks onwards.

What does this mean for pregnancy and birth and going past 41 weeks gestation? Well frankly it means that every woman should now have a much higher chance of being able to go into labour naturally when their baby and body are really ready without the need to be induced, whether it is at 37 weeks that their baby decides that he or she is ready, or at 43 weeks, AS LONG AS all obstetricians and doctors follow the ACoG and WHO guidelines, which unfortunately for all of us women is not the case. Sadly most obstetricians and doctors do not follow these guidelines, they follow their own guidelines and the hospitals outdated policies on “management” of pregnancy and labour. And “management” it is, they are “managing” us like animals, inducing when they want, cutting us open when they want, giving us medication when they want, telling us what we can and can’t do, scaring us and putting the fear of death into us, only telling us what they want us to know and not what we need to know, essentially taking away our basic human rights and preventing us from making our own truly informed choices and decisions by not providing all of the information and only telling us what they want us to hear.
There are of course exceptions to this, there are some wonderful and truly amazing obstetricians and doctors out there who treat women with respect and dignity that they deserve and do everything that they can to inform women of ALL of the risks and benefits, accept a woman’s choices without trying to change her mind, support her unconditionally in those choices and go out of their way to try and give the woman the birth that she desires. They are few and far between, a dozen or so in every state, a few hundred or so in every country out of a hundred thousand or more obstetricians and doctors around the world that are trained in high risk pregnancy and birth.

“So what?” You might say, “They are trained in pregnancy and birth, they know what they are doing.” Yes, they are trained, in “HIGH RISK” pregnancy and birth, the types of pregnancies that might be dangerous for mum and/or baby. They are NOT trained in natural physiological childbirth, they are not trained in the kind of birth that does not need drugs to make it start, that does not need intervention or constant monitoring, that does not result in a mother on her back in a bed unable or "not allowed" to get up and move around and physically help her baby to get into a better position for birth, they are not trained in allowing a woman’s body to do what it was made to do and treat every woman the same as if they have the same risks as every other woman. Every woman, every body and every baby are different with different risks and different needs, we do not all fit into same mold (eg not everyone has a 12 hour or less labour just as not every woman has a very long 55+ hour labour), but obstetricians and doctors are trained to fit everyone into the same mold with the same risks regardless our own individual risk factors, body shapes, histories, abilities and needs.

How can we change this? How can we make pregnancy and birth an individual thing again? How can we make obstetricians treat us with the respect and dignity that we deserve? How can we make them respect our decisions and choices without trying to scare us or bully us into what they want us to do? The answer is that every woman and every man must make the decision to stand up for themselves and their partner, to say NO, to make obstetricians and doctors understand that it is NOT a medical professionals or hospitals decision to make on when a baby comes into the world, to make obstetricians and doctors stop scaring women with generalised risks and outright lies, to make the maternity system in whatever country you live in stop and listen and change its policies for the benefit of ALL women, to make pregnancy and birth about the woman once again and not about the medical side of things. Women everywhere need to take their bodies back, to make sure that everyone knows that SHE makes the decisions regarding HER body and HER baby, and that hospitals, obstetricians and doctors are NOT the ones to make the decisions. Even in a life or death situation the mother has the right to decide what is to be done and should be given the chance to do so, even if there is only a minute available for her to make that decision that will affect her and her family for the rest of their lives, she should be the one to decide, not someone else who doesn’t have to live with the consequences.

So there you have it. We live in a medicalised world that is slowly trying to remove all natural bodily autonomy from women, that is trying to stop women from being able to choose if she has an induction or cesarean or waits until her baby and body decide that it is the right time, a world where women are being scared and bullied into inductions and cesareans instead of being given the right information and support to make a truly informed decision over their bodies and method of birth, a world where women are ridiculed for their decisions, denied good care, denied the right support that they need and are traumatised on a regular basis when they are in the most vulnerable state and position.

Can you imagine a world where women are supported personally in a way that fits their individual needs and wants and are empowered in the process? Can you see a world where a woman is able to choose whenever she wants if she has a home birth, an unassisted birth, a hospital birth, an induction or a cesarean without being judged, ridiculed or traumatised in the process? Where she is truly informed about the risks and benefits of every procedure instead of only informed that  the medical professional feels is all she needs to know? Where she can birth however she wants without being lied to or scared by medical professionals? Where she can trust those who are caring for her and supporting her to give her the power to make her own decisions regardless of where she lives, her body shape, her previous history, or what she looks like? I can, I can see that world, our world can become that world. If we all worked together to make changes, if we all supported one another in our individual decisions regardless of what they are, we can create that world and make it ours.

Jenna Edgley
Student Birth Doula
Placenta Encapsulator
FOOTPRINTS & RAINBOWS

Image courtesy of and Copyright FOOTPRINTS & RAINBOWS 2014

It doesn’t matter if it was an emergency caesarean or an elective caesarean, it was still a caesarean and a major abdominal surgery and it is essential that you look after yourself properly in the first 6 weeks after a caesarean, and that you look after yourself in general for the first 6 months after your caesarean.

When you’ve had a caesarean it can be hard to remember to take it easy and look after yourself properly – especially if you have older children that you need to look after.

When you had your caesarean the surgeon not only cut through the skin on your lower belly/bikini line horizontally (or possibly he did a vertical incision running up/down your belly instead of horizontally), but he or she also cut through the nerves located in the skin of your belly, either divided your lower abdominal muscles or cut through them (depending on if they were able to be stretched apart enough for the uterus to be pulled through or not), cut through the outer, middle and inner layers (including the muscle layers) of your uterus, cut through numerous blood vessels and nerve pathways, may have cut through some fluid drainage systems, cut through the tissue barriers that separate the various parts of the body (the fascia, and the peritoneum which is cut through twice during the procedure) and then stitched it all back together to make you as close to whole as possible again. The surgeon may have cut your uterus horizontally (transverse incision), or he/she may have cut it vertically (classical incision) or in a “J” or “inverted T” incision if a horizontal incision wasn’t an option at the time.

Major abdominal surgery like a caesarean takes 6 months to become 100% fully healed, and although the incisions themselves will be healed by 6 weeks post partum there is a lot of microscopic repairs that need the rest of those 6 months to be completed. If you had complications with your surgery or developed an infection in the incisions or in your uterus afterwards it can take longer than 6 months – sometimes in rare cases up to 2 years – for it to be completely healed.

During those 6 months there are many ways that you can take care of yourself. Not driving for those first 6 weeks is usually one of the first things that you are told – driving uses the abdominal and core muscles and can put strain on your incisions, you are also not covered by insurance during those first 6 weeks after a caesarean, and if you have an accident while driving during that time your incisions can reopen which can cause some serious complications.

One of the other things you are first told is that you cannot lift anything heavier than your new baby. If you have older children, for example toddlers, who like to be lifted up and held this can be difficult to do, and it is essential that you don’t lift them up in those first 6 weeks as in doing so you run the risk of your incisions reopening or causing further damage.

You need to rest as much as possible and get a good amount of quality sleep. The majority of healing a repair work within the body is done while you are sleeping, and you need quality sleep with at least 2 REM cycles (around 7-8 hours of sleep) every night in order for it to work efficiently. This can be difficult with a new baby who may wake up several times a night for a nappy change and/or a feed, so sleep whenever you can, sleep when baby is sleeping, and don’t stress about the housework, right now you need to focus on you and on healing your body, the housework can wait until later on when your partner (if you have one) is home or until the weekend. If you have older children at home it can be even more difficult to get enough sleep and sleeping when your new baby is asleep can be close to impossible. If you are in that predicament then it is time to ask for help – from family and friends that you trust who can help look after your children for an hour or two each day while you take a much needed nap - or time to send the older kids to day care one or two days a week to give you a break and time to catch up on sleep (and housework if you need to catch up on it as well).

You need to eat a healthy and well balanced diet. Your body stores many of the vitamins and minerals that it needs within it until they are needed. During pregnancy your baby takes nutrients from your body, even when you haven’t had enough of them during your daily food intake (in which case the baby takes them from your internal stores), and by the time your baby has arrived you may be running low on some essential vitamins and minerals like Vitamin D and Iron. If you choose to breastfeed these vitamins and minerals will be going into your breast milk for your baby as well, so it is essential to make sure that you are getting enough from your food (and in the case of Vitamin D, from sunlight. You produce the highest amount from exposure of the areas of skin between your lower ribs and the base of your neck, so wearing a shirt in the sun all the time while it is good for helping to prevent skin cancer it can greatly reduce the amount of Vitamin D that your body produces). Eat healthy foods with lots of carbohydrates, a reasonable amount of natural fat (you need this to help with energy) and protein. During the 6 months that it takes for abdominal surgery to fully heal ensure that you eat an increased amount of protein in your diet. Your uterus is made up of 3 layers of muscles, and the incision from the surgery did cut through part of your uterus. Muscles need protein to grow and to heal, so for those first 6 months after your caesarean make sure you eat more protein than normal to help your uterus heal well and to help reduce your risk of uterine rupture and other complications in any future pregnancies (while the risk of uterine rupture during labour is actually less than 0.5% after 1 caesarean and less than 1% after 3 cesareans it doesn’t only happen during labour, it can happen during pregnancy too, so if you strengthen your uterine muscles now, and continue a high protein diet during your next pregnancy your muscles will be stronger and your risk of rupture will be reduced).

Take care of your emotional health. This side of things can often be forgotten, and good emotional health is just as important as good physical health. If you aren’t emotionally healthy then that will affect the rest of your life and will also affect your baby and any other children you might have. If you experienced a traumatic delivery there are many people and groups who deal with that and can help you, for example in Victoria, Australia, there is now a Maternal Mental Health Service that has a section dealing specifically with Birth Trauma. There may be similar services in other states within Australia, and in other countries around the world.
If you are feeling down or just don’t feel right go and see your family doctor. If they brush off your concerns see someone else, because you may have a mild case of post partum depression (or something else might be going on) and you will need support. If you are having visuals of your child/ren or yourself being hurt (by you or someone else), combined with these feelings and are having dreams that are similar to the visuals as well go and seek help now.

Make time for you! I have mentioned this in several other blog posts, because it is very important and follows on from the above section on your emotional health.
You need to have something special that you do for yourself, without children, and without your partner, that makes you feel good and happy. Whether it’s going out to see a movie or meeting up with your friends, getting your hair done, taking up a hobby, going back to work (if that’s what makes you happy), whatever makes you happy go out and do it.
And don’t feel guilty about doing something for yourself, it makes for a happier mum, and by proxy it makes for happier kids and a happier home. Therefore by doing things for yourself as well you are making your home a much better place to live in.

Lastly, and most importantly, keep an eye on your physical health post caesarean, in particular the scar area for separation of the incision or signs of infection (more redness than is normal, puss, a foul odour, seepage that doesn’t look right etc) and your legs for signs of a blood clot (a bruise that cannot be explained that spreads quickly over a 12 hour period, and/or redness and/or pain and/or a localised area of swelling spreading in a meandering line across and/or up/down your leg). If you notice any of these things go and see your GP right away, if you notice all the symptoms of a blood clot go straight to your local Hospitals Emergency Department to get checked out.

Also keep an eye on your general physical health, if you develop a fever in the first 2 weeks post partum go and see your GP, especially if it is within 5 days of coming home from hospital. If your post partum bleeding suddenly increases and you are going through a maternity pad in an hour or less go straight to the emergency room to get checked out as it could be a sign of a post partum haemorrhage (contrary to most common knowledge in the mummy world haemorrhages can occur right up until your post partum bleeding ends anywhere between 2-10 weeks post partum). If you are having clots larger than the size of a 50 cent piece (or larger than the size of a golf ball) go and get checked out. If your post partum bleeding continues for longer than 10 weeks go and get checked out as well. If you are feeling run down then you may be overdoing things and it is time to slow down and take care of yourself for a while, because you are important and need to be healthy and in good health just as much as your baby is.

As always, feel free to share.

Jenna Edgley
Student Birth Doula
FOOTPRINTS & RAINBOWS

Recently I've come across quite a few articles and blog posts written by disgruntled mums blaming their Doulas for things not going right.

In some cases these mums have a right to be disgruntled - a couple of those so-called "doulas" were operating well outside of our scope of practice. Very scary for the mum who has never had the support of a good doula to read, and horrifying for the doulas who do their jobs well and stay within our scope of practice.

One of the prevalent things mentioned in these particular articles and blog posts describes doulas as "Airy Fairy Hippies who promote themselves as producers of births that are so good and wonderful that they are like rainbows and unicorns" (this is my take on the statements made in these articles and blogs and not the original wording, however the words "Airy Fairy Hippies" and "Rainbows and Unicorns" to describe Doulas all come straight from the blogs and articles themselves).

The biggest issue that I've found with these articles and posts is that these mums never "shopped around" for the right doula for them. They heard from a friend that there was a "great doula" in the area and upon meeting said doula they hired her on the spot. No questions asked, no mention of "meshing" between them and the doula and then lots of complaints in the blog/article about everything that the doula "did wrong" during mums pregnancy and labour.

Now I am not everyone, but I personally shop around for things that are important to ensure that I get "the best deal" or "the best fit". This applies to a service on my husband's car, and electrician to check the wiring in our house and a plumber to check the pipes. Most recently (and currently at this point in time) we are shopping around the various real estate agents in a bid to get the best price possible for our old house back in Morwell, Victoria.
You have to do the same with Doulas as well. Not every doula will be a match for every mum who contacts her and vice versa. You need to do your research and, unless there is only 1 doula in your area or none at all, you are guaranteed to have a variety of doulas in your area who would love to have the chance to meet you and see if you are a "good fit" together.

All doulas are different, some are the equivalent of the "Airy Fairy Hippies" described in the above mentioned blog posts and articles, others are serious and studious and stick to a strict schedule in their business practices. Some are male, many are female, some are bisexual, gay, lesbian or transsexual. Some have lots of kids, some only have 1 or 2, some adopt or foster, some don't have any kids at all for various reasons that are their own.
Some are "crunchy" parents who use gentle parenting techniques, others are strict parents. Some promote and only attend drug and intervention free births, others only support women who are having an elective cesarean,  while others support families who have lost their baby in utero or who will lose their baby soon after birth. Some doulas also support people who are dying from a terminal illness (these are called Full Spectrum Doulas). Doulas are all of these and more.

I myself never had a Doula for my own births, although now I wish I had, it would have made my births be much better experiences.
The picture at the top of this post is of me and my youngest child just minutes after she was born - my 2nd VBAC delivery after 55 hours of labour that could have been much shorter and far less traumatic if I'd had a Doula there to bolster my confidence and help me to find my voice. I look at this picture and I am filled with a mixture of happiness that my baby girl arrived safely, and sadness at how I was treated in the process of bringing her into the world and that I didn't have the extra support that I needed. Don't get me wrong, my husband was a fantastic support to me during labour, but there was only so much that he could do and he would have benefited from extra support as well.
As you can see I am a normal mum. I don't see myself as a "crunchy" mum or a strict mum. I am somewhere in the middle, I have to be with a child who has extra needs. I live my life day to day and plan ahead when needed. While I love the idea of natural drug and intervention free birth I know that that is not for everyone - I have not experienced it for myself either - and what worked for me won't necessarily work for everyone else. I devote my entire being to my clients, if they need me I am there ASAP to the point where I can leave my whole family in the lurch (lucky they support me wholeheartedly in my chosen profession and my kids are always excited to hear a new baby has been born). What I want out of your birth doesn't matter, all that matters is that you have the best birthing experience possible and I will support you and your decisions with my whole being. I cannot speak for you, but I can reassure you and tell you that you are doing an amazing job, whatever the outcome may be.

So as you can see we (including myself) are many and varied, but the one thing that brings us all together is the desire to provide extra emotional, physical and mental support to people going through the most important stages of our lives, whether it be bringing new life into the world or helping others on their journey out of this world. It is a very demanding job - we don't do this just for the money, we don't make millions of dollar's and many of us barely manage to put food on the table from what we earn once all of our expenses have been paid for - and not just anyone can do it. Quite often we burn out from everything that we put into our work and need to take reasonably regular breaks to rest and recharge before getting back into it again. We regularly attend marathon labours that last for over 24 hours (and in the case of the last birth I attended it was 53 hours lol and I only managed 3 hours of broken sleep somewhere in the middle because the adrenalin was still pumping). We are passionate, we love birth, we love being able to support people and feel blessed and honoured to be able to do this as a job. We are drawn to it like moths are drawn to a flame. Many of us (myself included) feel that we were born to do this and only this and anything that we did beforehand was only a stopgap measure until we found our true calling. Sometimes we end up with 2 or more clients going into labour at the same time. We cannot predict or control this, and on the rare occasions that it does happen we do everything that we can to either be at all births for as long as possible (sometimes we end up having to drive from one birth on the east side of the city/town to another birth on the west side, or north and south sides of the city/town, it is not ideal but we try to make it work) and if all else fails we try to arrange a back up doula to attend in our stead. This isn't ideal, but sometimes it has to happen.

What I am trying to say is that, no matter how much a friend or someone you know extols the benefits of a doula that they have personally hired or if they know somene who has hired a particular doula, you should always look around and make sure you mesh well with the doula that you decide to hire. This can sometimes mean having an interview meeting with 10 or more different doulas before you find the one that suits you the best. It will be worth it in the end as with the right doula even the most traumatic of labours can become something beautiful and special and be worth all of the pain that was involved at the time.

I have been lucky, I have become good friends with all of my clients, and they all had good outcomes even with things that came up during labour/birth, and we still talk regularly and share what our children are up to. We meshed so well that we were able to take the "client-doula" relationship further and will most likely remain friends for life. The best part is that we probably would never have met if they hadn't contacted me to ask if I could be their doula, and because of that I am truly blessed.
I know that in future I will be faced with clients who I don't mesh with or who don't mesh with me even if I do mesh with them, and that is OK.  It is part of the learning process and it is why I insist on an introductory meeting first to discuss things and see how well we get along. So please, please do your research before hiring a Doula! It will be more beneficial for you if you do.

As always, feel free to share :)

Jenna Edgley
Student Doula
FOOTPRINTS & RAINBOWS

Planning on having another baby but not sure what to do to increase your chances of a happy, relaxed, and healthy pregnancy and labour? Take these 11 things into consideration.
They are also good for every day life as well :)

1) Start exercising, even if it's only for 30 minutes a day, moderate exercise not only increases blood flow but also helps you to stay fit, increases your stamina (really good for during an unexpectedly long labour and also great for those sleepless nights with a newborn), increases oxygenation of your blood and makes you feel better too (once you get past the sore and tiring stage in the beginning anyway lol).

2) Eat a healthy, varied and balanced diet, if you are eating too much reduce your portion sizes and eat more fruits, nuts, seeds and vegetables. If you are overweight this can also help you to either loose weight or be healthier in general even if you don't lose any weight.

3) Increase your protein intake. Protein is needed to keep your muscles healthy and strong and to help them to grow, the uterus is a bunch of muscles in 3 layers and it needs protein to stay strong and healthy too. This is extremely important if you have previously had surgery involving your uterus, whether it was for a uterine rupture/tear, the removal of a fibroid, a D&C, a previous cesarean section or other uterine surgery.

4) Start drinking red raspberry leaf tea for 6 months prior to trying to become pregnant, not only does it contain trace vitamins and minerals that are very good for you but it also tones the muscles of the uterus which helps the uterus to be stronger and healthier during pregnancy and helps the uterine muscles to be more effective during labour, and the tea also helps to improve digestion of food, the absorption of essential vitamins and minerals and can help reduce the severity of PMT/PMS symptoms. If you don't have any risk factors or prior history of premature labour then you can continue drinking it throughout pregnancy to keep your uterus toned and strong.

5) Do your kegels to strengthen your pelvic floor muscles. If you don't do this already then start doing it now! Your pelvic floor is needed to help your baby move through your pelvis and down the birth canal when you are pushing, and a weak pelvic floor can (not always) result in weak and ineffective pushing which can lead to interventions like forceps or ventouse/vacuum delivery and cesarean section.

6) Research your options for pregnancy and birth, from which doctor/obstetrician who will support you to achieve the birth you want to the hospital you want to deliver at (if you have more than one hospital in your area), pain relief (or lack of it if you decide to go all natural), Doula's, Independant or student Midwives and how you want to give birth eg. at home, in a birthing center, in a hospital, in a birthing pool, in the bath, standing up or sitting down, lying down etc or wherever/whatever else you can think of.

7) Start putting together notes for your birth plan. Don't finish it now as things may change when you are pregnant but you can put together a rough draft of what you want it to be like, type it up on the computer (if you have one) so that you can edit it as things change. This will also help you to find a supportive care provider as you can use it as a guide when asking questions.

8) Start working on your household budget, do up one for your current circumstances, do one for emergency circumstances and do another one for the future taking into account another baby and the expenses involved in caring for another child. If you feel the need to save up some money just in case then implement the future budget and put what you would be spending on another child in future into a savings account (for example the ANZ bank have a Progress Saver account where for every $10+ you deposit one transaction each month without any withdrawals you get 10% interest on that deposit for that month, other banks will have something similar and possibly even better so shop around for the best deal).

9) Plan ahead. This is similar to #7 but for physical/practical things. Start implementing a weekly/fortnightly meal plan if you don't have one already. Do a weekly bulk cook up - spend one day a week cooking up 7 days worth of meals, this will save you time, especially once you are pregnant or have a newborn, and once you are pregnant you can then cook extra and freeze it for a later date (really good for when you get home from hospital and are too tired or too busy with your new baby to cook). Also start putting together lists of the things you will need for a new baby, if it has been a few years since you last had a baby or you haven't had a baby yet this can be really helpful, you can start buying a few things in the lead up to trying to get pregnant, a few packs of wipes (they are also great for wiping up spills and cleaning bench tops), some baby socks, some blankets, sheets, wraps etc, you can also start pricing car seats, prams, nursery furniture and nappies (disposable or cloth) and this will help you to find out what you really want/need and if you write it all down now you can compare prices when you are pregnant and know if you are getting real value for money.

10) Take some time out for you. Whether this is just time to read a good book, a massage, manicure/pedicure etc, it is essential that you are happy and stress free when you are trying for a baby. This extends to pregnancy and labour, and post birth as well. Oxytocin is the happy hormone, it is also the predominant thing that kick starts dilation and labour and gets contractions going, and it also starts breastmilk production (baby is the other thing, if baby isn't ready to be born and isn't releasing the birth/labour hormones then labour won't start without medical intervention). A happy mum also makes a happy baby as they pick up on our moods and react to them accordingly, so start working on things that make you happy and stress free now so that you have plenty of practice for once you are pregnant and after baby is here.

11) Research, Research, Research. I can't stress how important this is, and I have mentioned it subtly in the above points. Whether it is the prices of baby items or the method of birth you would like always do your research. If a doctor tells you something during pregnancy that concerns/worries you then research it and get 2nd/3rd/4th opinions until you are 100% satisfied that there are no other options or that you have chosen the right option. Medical professionals aren't God's, they are human and they don't know everything, and like any human they can and will use their personal opinions to influence you to do something that you wouldn't otherwise do, most notably in women who have had a previous cesarean and are thinking of having a VBAC the "dead baby" card is often brought into play to scare women into having a repeat cesarean, and in women with gestational diabetes the "big baby" card is thrown around and those mums are told that their babies will be too big for them to push out their vagina which means an early induction before baby is ready or a cesarean. Not only are these two things wrong in general but they also go against current evidence based research and ACOG and WHO guidelines. Women have birthed big babies (10 pounds +) for millennia with few or no complications, so why in this day and age is it more dangerous to deliver a larger baby than a small baby vaginally? This is why you need to research, and also why you need to research labour and birthing positions if you are given the "big baby" card.

I hope this post has been helpful. Feel free to share it.
Jenna
Student Birth Doula

I saw this in a VBAC support group recently and I think it would be good to remember this.

I have noticed that many people are all saying that the risk of uterine rupture is 1 in 200 (some even say that it is 1 in 100 or that the risk is even higher than that! which is untrue). While the 1 in 200 statistic is true, it makes it all the more scary because it is a much higher chance for things to go wrong in the grand scheme of things.

I prefer to use the 50 in 10,000 statistic, as it is a MUCH better number, and the risks look much less scary when in this form.

So I ask all of you, lets use the bigger number instead and reduce this fear of rupture!

**See the link below for the full article :)

http://midwifethinking.com/2011/02/23/vbac-making-a-mountain-out-of-a-molehill/