Tonight was a short night, we got out really early, which was lovely. I'm able to do my blogging now, get my dishes done, do my devotions and go to bed! Woot Woot!
We learned tonight about when to go to the hospital, or in my case, when to call the midwife. Debbra was saying that we want to labor at home for as long as possible, because once you go to the hospital, that's when the hospital staff steps in and starts messing around with you to "help you." The problem with many women though, is though they want to stay home for as long as possible...they don't know when to go in, so they usually end up going in too early. She taught us tonight what to look for.
She calls it the 311.
It breaks down to this:
Contractions need to be...
3 minutes apart...
1 minute long...
for a total of
1 hour...
before going in.
She said using this theory, most women would arrive to the hospital in late first stage of labor. Which is what we want. For me, of course, at 311, that would be our cue to call Dawn. (Did I ever mention that she said she would take us? Praise the Lord, right?!)
She also taught us how to decide whether we were in labor or dealing with braxton hicks. She calls it the: WEDSN.
When any of us start feeling contractions, that we wonder "is this it??" We are supposed to...
W-walk
E-eat
D-drink
S-shower
N-nap
If it's true labor, none of these above will stop it. In fact, it'll just better prepare us for intense labor. But if it is braxton hicks, any of the above will stop it. I found that really interesting, because I've been wondering myself "How will I know?" I don't want to be that silly first time mom who feels a contraction and immediately starts running the bath water to have a baby in.
In our Bradley book this week, is a picture of a dilation chart.
Oh me. oh my. oh nooo.
(Keep in mind...this picture is shrunk to properly fit on this computer screen. Yikes, right?)
Something else she taught us, which confuses me, (I need to look this theory up online for myself) is it's okay to hold your breath during a contraction. I've always heard that holding your breath depletes oxygen or something and causes your brain to stop sending pain killer hormones... so the holding of the breath makes no sense to me. Yet. I will research it myself and decide.
But on the subject of breathing, she stressed that we be sure NOT to chest breathe, but to stomach breath. The difference is: when someone scares you, you gasp and draw a short sharp breath from your chest. It's breathing out of fear...which causes tension, which causes pain. Versus breathing from your stomach, which is relaxing, natural, uses less energy and lowers blood pressure.
I liked one point she made: associate the pain with what is going on. For instance: every contraction I will have, instead of just thinking "pain pain pain," I need to think, "This is moving the baby down and out. I will never have to deal with this contraction again." Usually, in many cases, associating the pain with the job it is doing actually can help relieve pain. As pain is often just in our heads. Knowing that pain is producing something good, can help relieve it.
Another point she made that I liked (and hope to remember for during labor) is: The harder the contraction is, the closer I am to holding my baby. I don't want any of those cheesy contractions, I want the hard ones that are productive.
Oh, and I also learned that contractions last about 60 seconds each. (Give or take, depending on the woman. 60 is average) I hope to remember during labor, to count with each contraction. It gives me something to focus on, as well as knowing "15 seconds to go...I can do this." When you don't count, it feels like eternity, but counting, you know exactly how long it has been and you know it's almost over.
Oh! And the best part about tonight...?? She forgot to give us a new nutrition sheet! YAAAY!!!! :-D I wonder...how should I celebrate this exciting situation? ;-)
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