LilSugar

Lil Community: Who Watches the Kids During a Late Night Labor?

Lil Community — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 06:00:44 PST

Motherhood can be a mind-boggler! Go2Girl submitted this question in our The Mommy Club group.

I am trying to help my sister with some options for late night coverage for her 4-year-old twins. She is due in March, and already stressing about the possibility of going into labor late at night and not having adequate coverage for her children. Unfortunately, her immediate family does not live close by, and would have to take a flight to be there. Her due date is somewhat up in the air, so it's hard to pin down when it could happen.

I suggested having a familiar face whether that be someone at the children's preschool or a friend of my sister's be somewhat "on call" during that time frame. Ideally, she wants her kids to be with someone who they know, so that she does not need to worry about them if she is at the hospital.

Would love to hear any suggestions that have worked for other mom's out there that have encountered a late night labor with kids sleeping.

Do you have a treasure trove of sweet baby suggestions? Start sharing your advice and tips in our The Mommy Club! Here's a detailed guide to posting questions or posts to groups if you are new to the PopSugar Community.

Where Did Your Water Break . . . Chime In!

Rebecca M Gruber — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 10:00:00 PST

Having had two c-sections, with nary a contraction to be felt, I always envied women who experienced movie-like water-breaking scenes, where out of the blue, their water breaks and it is a mad dash to the hospital. Over the weekend, a friend had just that.

One month away from her due date with her third child (the first two were both over a week late), my friend thought she was safe to head to the 'burbs for dinner and shopping. With her older tots safely snuggled under the covers at grandma's, she and her husband began their date night at Toys R Us to play Santa. Standing in the middle of the Bakugan aisle, dressed in her new hot over-the-knee boots, her water broke, leaving a huge puddle on the floor. Some quick-thinking saleswomen helped her to the door while her husband ran to get the car, and two hours later their son arrived.

Did you have a dramatic water-breaking situation? Share it with us below, or get the conversation started in the Pregnancy Posse group!

Upside Down Pregnancy: Was Your Baby Breech?

LilSugar — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 07:00:00 PDT

Humans live right side up, but most babies are born upside down. Once a woman is late into her pregnancy, a doctor or midwife usually monitors the baby's position. Some medical professionals encourage the expectant mom to schedule a c-section if the tot doesn't turn, but one in 25 babies is born in a breech position There are three types of breech babies:

Frank breech: The fetus' buttocks are aimed toward the birth canal and the legs stick straight up in front of the body. The feet are near the head.
Complete breech: The buttocks are down, with the legs folded at the knees and the feet near the buttocks.
Footling breech: One or both of the fetus' feet are pointing down and will come out first.

Was your baby born breech?

How Long Were You Dilated Before You Delivered?

LilSugar — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 14:45:26 PDT

Pack the bag - it's time to have baby . . . or not. When a first-time mom-to-be hears she's dilated, she may want to head straight to the hospital, but it can be days or even weeks before the cervix is ready for a wee one to pass through. An expectant mother has to be 100 percent effaced and dilated 10 centimeters for baby to debut (via vaginal delivery). Were you dilated for a while?

Baby It's Time! How Did You Try to Bring on Labor?

LilSugar — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 15:30:16 PDT

At a certain point in pregnancy, a mom-to-be is more than ready to meet her little one. Some women walk until their legs tire hoping to stir up their babe, and others take a Castor oil concoction to get things moving. Whether it's eating prego pizza or having sex, many ladies take a chance on these methods to try to induce labor. Which did you do?

Lil Community: Epidural or Natural?

Lil Community — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 04:00:30 PDT

Pregnancy is a journey filled with growth and learning. LilSugar reader Beaner has been bringing our readers along on her journey and is asking the Community for their thoughts on delivery in The Pregnancy Posse group.

In my Prenatal Yoga class last week, one woman said that she's camping out a week before her due date so she can get the epidural as soon as she has her first contraction. I know that giving birth will involve pain, but after reading a lot about natural childbirth, and seeing the documentary The Business of Being Born, I have a whole new perspective on how going drug-free will benefit both me and my baby. I was curious though to see what you other moms-to-be are planning on doing for your births.

Want to talk pregnancy with other expectant mamas? Get the conversation started in The Pregnancy Posse group!

Source

Bringing Out Baby: Test Your Induction Knowledge

babysugar — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 07:00:00 PDT

Many mamas-to-be aren't playing the waiting game as they anticipate the arrival of their lil ones. According to new research, labor inductions nearly doubled between 1992 and 2003, bringing more babies into the world before a pregnancy reaches 40 weeks. Labor induction isn't always on an expectant mama's birth plan, so take this quiz to see just how much you know about the process.

Take the Quiz

May Day! What Do You Know About Ladies of Labor?

TresSugar — Sat, 01 May 2010 04:00:52 PDT

Though May Day doesn't mean much in the United States, across most of the world, it's a labor-centric holiday with demonstrations by unions and other workers' groups. In honor of this first day of May, I decided to do a little research about some of history's great ladies of the labor movement. Test your muscle by taking my quiz.

Source: Flickr User Mariana Mansur

Take the Quiz

Do You Really Feel For Your Friends While They Are in Labor?

LilSugar — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 07:00:02 PDT

Thanks to modern technology, most moms have a support group once they head to the hospital to labor and deliver. Whether it's via text message, instant messenger, email, a phone tree, or social networking updates - friends and family are kept up to date on all the details from the water breaking and the epidural being administered to the announcement of the actual birth.

Once a woman has been through the process herself, it's hard not to feel sympathetic (and slightly nauseous) when you hear the needle is going into the spine or empathetic (and exhausted) when you realize the mama-to-be has been pushing for three hours. Or get teary eyed when you see the first stunning photo of your friend holding the bundle of joy? Do you truly feel the experience of fellow women?

Birth Stories: Long Labor, Short Delivery

Lil Community — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 13:00:45 PST

This post was submitted by princessya in the Birth Stories group.

I had gone into pre-term contractions at 33 weeks, but was able to stop the progression of the pre-term labor for 6 weeks. Suffering, the mild contractions every couple minutes to half hour, I had a pre-natal checkup on June 9 (week 39) at around 1:30 p.m. and was then scheduled to return two days later for a Non-Stress Test to ensure that the contractions that I had been feeling were not causing my baby any harm. On the same day, I went into active labor @ 5:00 p.m. Was admitted to the Kaiser Redwood City @ 7:00 p.m., and due to insufficient progress, I requested to be sent home to continue laboring, as oppose to choose some sort of medical procedure to induce labor.

I was laboring, but not efficiently up until June 11 @ 2:45 p.m. when I arrived for my follow-up Non-Stress Test. My water then broke on the examination table where they were going to check my water levels. Of course, the doctors wanted to still do the stress test, and so the doctor didn't see me until about 3:45 p.m. after the nurses had completed their exam and tests. The doctor came in and then said, as he was stepping into a puddle of amnio, "I think it's safe to say that your water broke." Of course, he's saying this with my back on the examination table, my legs in the air, and a metal dealie and a light shining into my vagina! I was like, "Uh... I know." They called the ambulance and I was wheeled to Kaiser San Francisco, at which I arrived there at almost 5:00 p.m. and placed into triage. Com'on! I'm OBVIOUSLY laboring here. To see what happened,

read more. As soon as I got there, the contractions started to get more annoying/intense as I labored mostly on the toilet until the doctors checked me to confirm I was still 4 cm dilated from two days before. I begged to go into a tub to labor, at which point I still had to wait almost 2 hours before I could do so. It's about 7:30 when I was moved into a labor and delivery room and at this point I had progressed (quite rapidly) to 7 cm. I nearly ran into the tub once I was given the go ahead and labored in there for awhile. At one point, I felt that it was almost time, so I mustered up the strength to run back to my room, naked through the corridors (haha!) with wires and tubes dangling from me and three people in tow (husband and doula/aunt telling me to slow down and a nurse grabbing and wheeling all of the equipment. Back at my bed, it's about 8:30 they checked to see that I've now dilated to 9 cm and oooh boy is the pain getting pretty intense. At this point, I'm really ready for her to come out, and at times have to verbally tell myself not to push. I'm here, on my side, naked and saying to myself, aloud so everyone can hear, "I don't want to push," or "She's not ready to come down yet." I know, I'm weird. And then something takes over and I'm like, "I NEED to PUUUSH!!!" but of course I'm holding off until the nurse comes to check me again, "Okay! I'm going to call the doctor to come," and of course no one is moving fast enough. I'm sure though that the doctor came barreling in, as it seemed like every available doctor and nurse came into my room to set up the baby heater, change my bed for delivery, and set up the room lights for the right mood (dimming and one spot light onto the 'main stage').

I start pushing at 8:40 p.m. and at 8:45 p.m. out pops my BIG beautiful baby girl. I DID tear, though only a first degree tear, and had to receive three stitches. And within the first 30 minutes, I was breastfeeding my baby and she was eating like a champ.

A person's story starts before he or she is born. There's an amazing tale to be told of how each baby enters the world. Share your child's story in our Birth Stories group over in the LilSugar Community.