Just a lil update...

[altarflame]

Had my prenatal today, at the center. I'm 1 cm dilated and 25% effaced - which was just a smug confirmation for me as I had already established that myself ;) You were right Babs, I was reaching right past it, and Sara, yeah, that foot on the sink thing made it happen.

Anyhow, he is also head down like I thought again, and they want me to do deep squats to bring him lower, and think that him being up so high is why my labor isn't really doing much yet. But it's not like any kind of pressured situation at all. They were very "See you next week, unless we see you before then." Even though I'm MEASURING 42" fundal height now!

My platelets rose slightly from 103,000 to 109,000 with my first week on the yellow dock, and are probably even higher now that it's been another week. I was kind of surprised that it even stopped them from continuing to decline - the increase is a bonus :) I'm also no longer borderline anemic, as it raises hemoglobin, too.

We're currently grappling with the issue of Group B Strep. I tested positive for it, which really makes me wish I had just not taken the test. For anyone who knows, we all have GBS bacteria in us, but it can get out of control - just like yeast or cancer cells or whatever else. It's harmless to you. Women can sometimes test positive for GBS on Monday, negative on Wednesday and positive again on Friday. Anyway, in women who are positive when they give birth, about 1 in 10,000 of their babies will contract it coming through the birth canal. If the mother receives antibiotics during labor, that baby will spend some time in the NICU. If they don't, the baby dies.

Antibiotics in utero right before birth undermine a newborn's whole baseline immune system, and they greatly increase the chances of a mother and child developing thrush while breastfeeding.

So do you get them anyway, even though the risk is so miniscule? Really, my midwife has delivered over 11,000 babies and has seen one case of a newborn with GBS in all that time. At least my center is pretty cool about it, if you get the antibiotics they just do it in like 2 10-15 minute butterfly clip drips, you don't have to be like hooked to an IV pole for your whole labor or something. Grant really thinks it's something to just leave in God's hands, with tiny odds like that, especially since it's so random and naturally occuring and antibiotics have SURE bad side effects and are an intervention...But the miniscule risk is CERTAIN DEATH o_O Further complicating the matter is that if you do test positive and by some freak occurance your baby is the one that dies, you can be held accountable for endangering the baby, legally, by social services! I wish I had just refused the test. They're willing to retest me next time I come in to see if I get negative, but I'm liable to have the baby before then.



AAAaaaaanyway. I had the most major, breathe through it contraction so far this morning, and a burst of 4 more this afternoon. That's it so far today, though, aside from BH. :::shrug::: I think this full moon is going to have an effect.

Comments

[babyslime.livejournal.com]

My midwife had this policy: *IF* my water breaks before the baby crowns, and stays broken for over 12 hours, she'll do a swab right then and send it off to lab. It can come back in less than 24 hours whether or not I'm currently positive and then I can decide from there.
We also agreed to do by symptom. If I develop I fever that won't come down, I would be willing to get a shot or a heplock, then return home to continue labour.

Try to keep your bag of waters intact, and don't let anyone break it. Plus, refuse vaginal exams if it DOES break, and try for a waterbirth. :)

[altarflame.livejournal.com]

I SO don't want my water to break.

-Increased chance of infection
-Being put on some kind of clock for progress (even though it wouldn't be as bad as if I was at the hospital or whatever)
-I read about how the bag of waters really protects a baby in the rare event of true rupture, and buys them lots of extra time.
-More incidences of fetal distress from the pounding of head against cervix with no cushion.

It boggles my mind, at this point, that hospitals break your water the second you walk in the door.

[babyslime.livejournal.com]

There are apparently some herbs you can take to help strengthen your bag. Someone I know is extremely paranoid about GBS and is convinced her baby will die of it since she was GBS+ last pregnancy at 34 weeks and had to have A/B's. So now she's taking all these herbs to prevent her water from breaking. It's actually pretty uncommon for it to break prior to being fully dilated. Mine didn't break until Tempest came out. I distinctly remember the feeling of relief after Tempest came out, and then hearing Maggie yell out, "There's the water!" as a HUGE gush flooded out with her.

I don't remember what these herbs are, but I bet a bit of searching would turn up some answers.

karma?

[norwegian-wood.livejournal.com]

hmmm. part of me thinks you should get tested again, in case it's reassuring, instead of just going to antibiotics, if that's what you decide to do. can't you take the antibiotics orally instead? that's what someone told me their homebirth midwife did for them. re: thrush, since i've had antibiotics after c-sections, i know all about how shitty thrush can be after birth! last time i took oral diflucan to combat it, but there's nothing you can do to prevent it in the baby. i agree with grant. if it was me, i'd trust that the baby will not get anything from you, except your hair.

[norwegian-wood.livejournal.com]

pls ignore the subject heading. my browser retains subject headings from one comment to the next. annoying!!

Re: karma?

[theneolistickid.livejournal.com]

Yeah right...have you seen pictures of Isaac's hair?

Re: karma?

[norwegian-wood.livejournal.com]

yes! but she didn't boink the milkman this time!

Re: karma?

[altarflame.livejournal.com]

Haha.

If Isaac didn't blend into Grant's family reuinion as if he were a clone, and resemble Grant to the point that I think my own dna didn't fuse, you might be on to something ;)

I like your icon.

Re: karma?

[altarflame.livejournal.com]

I feel very, very lucky to have a guy who's got that kind of trust.

The thrush doesn't bother me as much as the long term negative impact antibiotics have. Probably because out of 3 nurslings and all c/s, having been on them many times, I've never had any experiences with thrush. I don't get vaginal yeast infections, either. BUT I was on "the pink stuff" anytime I sniffled, all through childhood. At this point, I have any kind of illness for MONTHS, if I get it at all. I'm still coughing constantly from a cold I got over like 3 weeks ago. Grant always got better on his own, growing up, and he kicks things in a day or two. Likewise, Isaac was on very strong antibiotics for the first 10 days of his life, and he is the only baby I've ever had that actually catches things that we're passing around while still nursing. He kicks them quickly, but still, the other two didn't contract things to begin with until they were like 2. When Annie gets an ear infection at this point I squirt bm in her ear and plug it up with garlic. Blah.

I'm leaning towards diluted bleach labial rinse and birthing in the bleach treated jacuzzi, to lower my already infitesimal (sp) risk.

Re: karma?

[norwegian-wood.livejournal.com]

that sounds like a very good option :)

[the-leh.livejournal.com]

So close! I was just thinking about you and the babe. I hope your labor goes wonderfully and that you find a sutible solution for the group b strep issue.

[altarflame.livejournal.com]

I'm thinking of using this very diluted labia bleach rinse deal, in early labor, and birthing in their jacuzzis, which also have bleach added. All of which kill everything. So that I can make my 1 in 10,000 risk even more unlikely.

And I've been reading your lj, too...I hope things get easier for you :/ Hopefully once you're out of the first trimester AND Jane is getting progressively older, things will seem easier..

[altarflame.livejournal.com]

I don't begin to know how to go about "subtracting the belly". Really, I don't. To the point that everytime I think about it, I just end up shrugging in frustration and putting it off again. I mean my waist is wider than normal right now, too, and the belly is everything and it just doesn't make sense. I know I have a 37 inch chest and a D-DD cup size depending on milk supply, and that my shoulders are narrow for my frame. I'm only planning to use it as a cradle carry, laying down thing for a newborn. It would be nice if Grant could use it, too? :::sigh::: I've kinda just made the choice not to pester you since I don't feel like I can give you any real information. You need one of those charts like the hotslings woman has, where you just check off on a grid for where your height, weight, bust, etc are and get to select "medium".

Yeah, that's my size choice, medium :P

[the-waker.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't worry about the GBS either personally. The risk isn't CERTAIN death, right? They could get him to a NICU if need be, right? I think it's all on how you feel at the time :)

If you feel up to getting on AIM at some point I'd love to talk to you :) But you know, rest and all that too ;)

[altarflame.livejournal.com]

Well, generally speaking, babies that contract GBS after getting the antibiotics in utero do ok after a week or two in the NICU, but babies who do not die no matter what they do for them. It is pretty much certain. It's just also so completely rare and freak that it's crazy to routinely give 10,000 pregnant women antibiotics as they labor for that one baby, because the other 9,999 babies are all going to be sicker, the other 9,999 mothers will be more likely to develop thrush, it disrupts your whole labor experience, etc.

I imagine if you end up being that "one"...then it doesn't really seem like a big deal to think of a thrush risk or whatever, in hindsight, though :/ The thing is, though, EVERYTHING is like that - Grant and I were saying we probably have a 1 in 10,000 risk of dying on the highway on the way to the birth center, in a car accident! Blah.

I might get on AIM...I'm trying to get a bazillion last minute things done! And I have a feeling quite a few people would hit me up in the first few minutes, right now :p

[the-waker.livejournal.com]

Well, in reality, anything could have a risk of death!

But I'm sure if you're that one, thrush would look like paradise.

I don't know, you have a strong faith and I think you'll know if you're at risk ;) If you listen to your body it usually tells you what ya need to know.

I talked to Sara for awhile, told her to call me if she had any news on the Tina baby front, and went to bed about 15 minutes after I left this comment, so I don't know if you did get on! I know you're a wee bit busy though ;)

[altarflame.livejournal.com]

I talked to her for a little while last night. It's weird because I always see you on with an away message up, but you don't go idle like all normal people most people do, when you walk away. And it doesn't tell how long you've been away, either, when I scroll over you. So you're Mysterious Incorporated and I usually just act like you aren't around, unless there's no away message posted.

[the-waker.livejournal.com]

I'm just special ;) But that made me laugh. I think it's because of the Mac version I have? It's strange, it'll let me talk with an away message up, and it signs me off and on again if the computer idles... really weird.

Or maybe I just sit at my computer 24 hours a day, never even sleeping, that's why I never go idle ;)

Aren't you supposed to be off having a baby anyway?! :P

[altarflame.livejournal.com]

TELL ME ABOUT IT!!!

:p

[gmommy.livejournal.com]

Hi, good to see your update. Not so good about the GBS. I had GBS too and ended up with an IV drip. To be honest it really wasn't that bad. Sure, it was a pain in the ...er, hand... but it didn't interfere that much. You've got to make the decision you're willing to live with.

Take care :-)

[heavynleigh.livejournal.com]

You can insert a clove of garlic at bedtime and take it out in the morning and do that for five nights in a row and that will get rid of the bacteria temporarily (long enough to make birthing safe anyway). andshedied is going through the same thing right now. The other thing her midwife told her she could try (instead of the garlic) was a hydrogen peroxide rinse. 1 part hydrogen peroxide, 3 parts water.

Whatever you do, good luck to you! You're in my prayers! I'll light a labor candle for you when you give the go ahead that you're really for sure in labor. :-)

[altarflame.livejournal.com]

Thank you for the tip! I will definitely do that garlic thing, in addition to the rinse. The one my midwives talk about is a 24 oz sports bottle of water with 1/2 a teaspoon of bleach in it. I'm all for making things safe and preventative in non-interventive ways...

And thank you about the candle, too :)

Who ever won your recipe contest, btw?

[heavynleigh.livejournal.com]

You did, for the soup, but I keep forgetting to buy packing material to send you the candle. I suck. I've just had so much going on lately. :-/

[altarflame.livejournal.com]

Don't worry about it! I enjoy the satisfaction of knowing my recipes rock more than I need the candle :p And I know all about taking FOREVER to mail things because there's other stuff going on, believe me.