Question Thread

katy0990

It has been awhile since we have had one of these, so ask away! There is no such thing as a stupid question

katy0990

For the record, I created this thread to ask something, but now I cannot for the life of me remember what question I had....

ab_canada

How essential ARE glider chairs?

katy0990

@ab_canada You will want a comfortable chair to sit in and rock/feed the baby. We got a large cushion rocker to put in the nursery, which I loved at night.  I used the recliner in our living room more during the day.  Personally, I like to rock and both chairs give me the ability to do that. 

katy0990

Oh I remember my question! 
 Has anyone on here had a gentle C-section? I am just curious, did you have to be strapped down? Also, were you able to do skin to skin immediately after delivery, while they sewed you up? 

ab_canada

@katy0990 As in "we will cut you up nice and gently, not like these other suckers that we cut up violently?" 

Jens_Hoes

@ab_canada
I still use ours every night.  It is in DD's bedroom and we have her bedtime bottle, and read her books while I sit in it. I used it for every middle of the night feed and sometimes when she wouldn't sleep.

I wish we had something that rocked downstairs because that was the place I was the majority of the time during the day and where the tv was lol There is also a king size bed in her bedroom, and that would have not made the cut AT ALL for feedings or when she was being batshit crazy.
I bought a used one off of the facebook marketplace for $60 for this second baby's room because I need something!

kristah2

@katy0990 I did! It was planned so it was more relaxed. I walked myself in to get my spinal. Once it was in H could come in and sit by me. My OB played music the whole time. I had a medical sheet up so I couldn’t see what was happening. 
I did have my arms out but they weren’t really strapped. One was hard to move because of all the cords with the ivs and such. 
As soon as he was out they showed us baby, wiped him with a cloth / wrapped him in a blanket and he was on my chest. 
He stayed there until it was time to close me up. H and baby left then to have baby weighed and I was wheeled into recovery where baby was on my chest for skin on skin the second he was done being weighed. 

I really don’t feel like it interfered with my bonding at all. It was just perfect. 

runrinserepeat

@ab_canada If I could go back, I'd skip the rocking chair. It took up space and we barely used it. When I was up with the kids in the MOTN, I would sit in bed to BF them, and when I'd BF them any other time, the couch worked fine for me. 

ab_canada

@katy0990 @Jens_Hoes @runrinserepeat If I don't get a glider to assist in the rocking, would my arms just get really tired? Is that why people get them? I do have a comfy recliner that I can use for feeding but it doesn't rock..

Jens_Hoes

@ab_canada
some babies like movement, some don't.  When I fed DD I wouldn't rock her.  It was when she was trying to nap that I was rocking, bouncing, swaying, shushing, etc. She wouldn't let me sit and rock her, I had to do laps around the house, and even then, she sucked. But other people I know would rock their babies to sleep in a glider. 
I think its just individualized for household and baby. If you have a recliner, I'd try to see if that works and if not maybe buy a used one on the marketplace.

katy0990

@ab_canada Haha your description made me laugh. A gentle c-section Allows for the experience to be more relaxed, than an emergency section. You can have a clear drain, so you can see what’s going on and the baby is pulled out more slowly. If I end up with another C-section, I am hoping to go this route, because my emergency section last time was so different from the birth I had hoped for.
My glider in spoiler:

 One of the reasons we chose this one is that it can be used in other rooms once we are out of the baby stage.
@kristah2  thanks! Last time, I was strapped down and was shaking so badly, that I was unable to hold DS until he was almost an hour old. It sounds dumb, but it really bothered me. I’m hoping this time will be different.

rosebud332

@ab_canada For what it’s worth I didn’t get a glider because we didn’t have room for it and there have been many nights when I wished I had. More when she was a little older and I had to rock her to sleep instead of feed her it really would have come in handy. We survived but I think they can be nice to have.

texas_t

@ab_canada I like our glider because it gives me somewhere to sit. DS didn't need to be rocked, so I never really rocked it. 

temmetime

@katy0990 that doesn't sound dumb at all BTW!

@ab_canada we bought a rocker/recliner before DS was born with the thought that it'll be part of our living room furniture when it's not in use in the nursery. It helped us justify the cost ($400ish) and it has been amazing to have! I don't love just a glider because I want to be able to put my feet up as well. I did have nights that DS wouldn't let me put him down so I slept with him in my arms in the recliner. It seemed like a win-win to get both rocker & recliner.

katy0990

@temmetime Thank you! I am just praying for a better experience this time, although all I truly care about is a happy healthy baby.

mcgeeva

Never heard if gentle csection but I don’t think I got strapped down but I could of been. Shocking I don’t remember. Never got skin to skin until 45 mins after being closed up and wheeled to recovery. WHich first time I couldn’t because of the pre-e and drugs I was on. Second csection I was too puke to hold ds for a bit. 

katy0990

@mcgeeva Was one emergent vs nonemergent? I would be really interested in any differences you noticed, if you wouldn’t mind sharing.

mcgeeva

Both but one was due to pre-e and second my water broke and contractions were kicking in so they took me right away. But never made t to a csection date with a doctor I planned to have my csection with. 

PensiveCrayon

We didn't have a glider, but did have a rocking chair from Cracker Barrel. It was okay, but not great. I'm not sure what I'll do this time around. Probably just move the rocking chair inside out of desperation, haha.

Semi-related to gentle c-sections, my doulas are having me put together a sheet for c-section procedures to have just in case. Obviously if the baby needs OUT they will get her out ASAP, but they told me last night that you don't get options (at my hospital, at least) unless you state your preferences; otherwise they're surprisingly flexible. I didn't even realize they strapped women down until they told me that last night! ETA @katy0990 I know (again, at least at my hospital) doing immediate skin-to-skin is one of the options you have if you state you want it. Also, delayed cord clamping!

I've had a couple friends that did gentle c-sections and loved the experience, particularly the see-through curtain.

katy0990

@PensiveCrayon I’m really hoping for the clear curtain this time! My hospital is big on skin to skin, but I’m not sure where the disconnect was between that and being strapped down. I’m so hoping to hold the baby in the OR this time. I’m just not sure if the shaking was due to my long labor, the spinal, or if that is just something that happens.

LLynde5

We have both a recliner and a rocker.  We all (Mom, dad and baby) prefer the recliner.  I bought it for DH for a soon-to-be-a-Dad Father’s Day present for DD’s room. It’s lazy boy brand and I only went that route because DH fits better in it.  I could never get comfortable to nurse in the rocker. 

kristah2

@katy0990 no problem! No shaking for me as it was all so controlled so our body won’t go into shock. I had an anaesthesiologist sitting by my face and just watching me. At one point I thought I was going to get sick and he saw it before I could even get the words out and he gave me something in he IV to curb the nausea. 
Now I did get sick in recovery but it was mainly because I couldn’t get the epidural and had to go right to spinal and morphine so it turned my stomach. But I passed baby to his dad so I could throw up and then took him right back. 
I don’t feel like I had less of a birth experience then anyone else. 

In in fact I know someone who laboured so fast that she ended up in shock and shook for about 2 hours after and couldn’t hold baby. So that’s not just a section thing. 

Honestly i I just went in with a set of rules. 
I said if anything happened I were to need to go under no one besides my husband was to see or hold baby until I could. 
And then when I could have visitors I only wanted 2 until I got in my maternity ward room. 
And even still I didn’t tell most people I was going in because I didn’t know how I’d feel so I limited my visitors until I got back to my house for the most part. 

It caused a bit if family drama but whatever. 

maureenmce

@ab_canada I think it depends on you and your baby in terms of liking motion, but I practically lived in my glider during maternity leave and still use it. The motion of gliding helped keep me awake in middle of the night feedings and my DD liked it better than staying still, but she was a bad sleeper and would only nap on me (in the glider) for the first 5-6 months, so we might be an extreme case! We have the white Babyletto glider and I would buy it again. Easy to wipe stains off of too!

runrinserepeat

I know birth plans are stupid, but ... is anyone writing up something like that to bring in? Like “birth preferences”? 

Jens_Hoes

@runrinserepeat I'm not, but my "birth preferences" are short. Get drugs, get baby out alive, stay alive lol
if I had more opinions maybe? I guess it all depends on how much you can rely on your DH to help out and make sure your needs are being met. How supportive is @coybig  lol

texas_t

A see through curtain????? I remember hazily asking the doctor about when they were going to put the sheet up bc I didn't want to to see anything, lol! My arms were strapped to the table, I was shaking and really really cold and super nauseated. I didn't get skin to skin immediately, but it was not more than 20 minutes before I got to have him. I don't feel like it affected anything!  I am off to Google gentle c section though!

snugglyduckling25

@ab_canada I had a glider with my first 3. I tried skipping it, but once I started trying to get a bedtime routine going I really wanted something in baby’s room to sit and read a book, nurse and lay baby down. This time I’m searching for something more plush and comfy, probably a recliner, on FB marketplace. 

@runrinserepeat I have actually thought about doing that. I haven’t written anything down yet, but I know in the moment I will forget things I would like and having them written down to remind myself might help. 

hkom

I don't have any sort of plan but I think that's more of a function of my situation.  I've accepted that the whole process is just going to be at least somewhat traumatic for me, so my plan is just to keep me alive and as comfortable as conditions allow and to get the baby out as safely as possible. 

texas_t

@hkom That sounds like a very sound plan!

morgantu

@runrinserepeat my hospital asked me to fill out a "birth plan" form, but it's pretty much preferences. So I'll check off things like delayed clamping and skin to skin, but I'm going to ask in my childbirth classes (at the hospital) what their standard practices are and then adjust my plan accordingly. 

PensiveCrayon

I am @runrinserepeat. Obviously things will change as needed, but I do have labor and delivery preferences I’d like to be observed if possible. (Free movement, intermittent monitoring, saline lock, etc.) There’s a really good website that will put together a visual birth plan for you. Takes 5 minutes and you just click on what you want in it.

katy0990

@runrinserepeat I am! For me it is a list of preferences for a VBAC and another for if I end up with a RCS. It is definitely not a super specific plan.

runrinserepeat

Jens_Hoes said:

@runrinserepeat I'm not, but my "birth preferences" are short. Get drugs, get baby out alive, stay alive lol
if I had more opinions maybe? I guess it all depends on how much you can rely on your DH to help out and make sure your needs are being met. How supportive is @coybig lol

stuck in box

Lol i guess he’s okay I’ve never brought in a birth plan or anything but I’m kind of wondering what sorts of things I should be thinking about. I doubt I’ll actuallu print something off to bring in but I’d like to feel prepared. 

@PensiveCrayon do you have a link for he site you mentioned?

PensiveCrayon

@runrinserepeat Here ya go: https://myvisualbirthplan.com/

hoosiermama-2

Ooohh, that's cool! I was going to dig back through my Google drive to hopefully find my 2016 plan.  


@ab_canada I'm team glider. As someone else said, we still use ours every night for bedtime cuddles & stories.
We have two of the same glider (from Amazon, I've seen the price go up and down between like $130-160), one downstairs and one upstairs. The more important & trickier thing is how particular you are about "comfort"... some people need/want to shell out more $$ because a chair is more comfortable to them. (ETA: I say this because I'm not on the picky side - a chair with some cushioning is a chair with some cushioning to me.) Ours had decent reviews and so I put it on the registry, it was fine, mom bought us another one. 

Now I'm hoping mom or MIL will get a doublewide rocker for DD's room because her being on my lap is becoming more uncomfortable and awkward every day. 

westcoastfoodie

@ab_canada I'm team glider/rocker too. At first I didn't think it was essential, but once DS got here and was suuuuuper colicky, it was nice to have. Tbh, maybe just for my sanity to have a comfortable, quiet, place to rock him for hours on end. After the colic went away we didn't use it for a while and recently he's become really snuggly and wanting to cuddle, so it's nice to have especially if he wakes up in the middle of the night from a nightmare. 

@runrinserepeat I used a visual one like the one @PensiveCrayon posted, it may have been from the same website actually, I just don't remember. Honestly, I think that it ended up being more for my piece of mind and I didn't feel I needed it for it's intended purpose. I just like having a plan, with everything in life. 

coybig

@runrinserepeat - just okay?  you were bragging last week about how I brought donuts.  Don't forget I also brought Famous Dave's with number one.  I don't HAVE to bring anything this time around...

awells189

@katy0990. I had a csection the first time and I specifically remember how upset I was that I didn’t get to hold him for a solid hour after he was born.  I was just sitting in recovery and he was in the nursery since they were busy with other babies.  Since then, my hospital is now a “baby-friendly” hospital where they only offer gentle C’s.  It’s my understanding that there’s no clear curtain, but they do get baby on you right away.  So grateful for that at least.

ab_canada

Re: gliders
Thanks, everyone, for your responses. I am not going to tag because there are a lot of responses and, well, I'm lazy..

Sounds like it's a bit of a 50/50. I guess I will just have to go around and see if I can find one that's comfy and worth the price and make a game-time decision.. So far there was *one* that I've liked, so the odds are not good 

mamajudec2018

If you went from some swelling in your feet to like the most swelling ever (can pretty much just wear flip flops and even those leave big indents and like when you walk your skin feels like is going to explode and you can feel the swelling like jiggling when you walk ... I know disgusting. I'm sorry.) The huge jump in swelling happened Saturday. Would you email your doc? The last two nights I've also had upper right abdominal pain that sometimes radiates to my back. I also am having intense what I think is carpel tunnel in my right hand. Like pretty much can't use it to write, open things, pull my sheets over me at night. My finger tips go numb and I have pain and stiffness in it pretty consistently as well.

I never know if I should contact them or just wait until my next appointment. Thoughts? I guess I'm like could those symptoms be connected or all they all just random because my body is not good at being pregnant?