First Antenatal class and week 28 midwife checkup

Sent: Monday, July 09, 2007 12:21 AM

> Hi All.
>
>
>
> Firstly an apology. My intention was to write a blog post last Wednesday
> evening after the first antenatal class and then another one again after
> Fridays midwife checkup but life ran away with me and I've only just had a
> couple of seconds to sit down and write the posts that I wanted to. So
> sorry this post is going to cover both events.
>
>
>
> First antenatal class.
>
> The first antenatal class was last Wednesday, (the 4th). The Class is held
> at the birthing centre we're hoping to be using in September. As the
> lovely NHS have been trying to save money people attending the class come
> from 3 different areas, some from Cardiff, Some from our area up in
> Blackwood and some from Newport altogether there was about 25 couples
> there.
>
>
>
> In the first week we found out about the signs to look out for when going
> in to labour, when we need to phone the hospital, the types of births
> provided at that particular birthing centre. As we're under a midwife lead
> team we were also told which pain relief's they can provide and the sort
> of situations that could occur that would refer us to consultant lead
> care. 50 people in the class did seem a bit to much and I think if there
> were less people then the class would have been a bit more interactive but
> as it was we did seem to spend a lot of time listening.
>
>
>
> I'll try to summarise the information.
>
> Signs to look out for when going in to labour
>
> Waters can burst either write at the beginning of labour before
> contractions start or pretty much just as the final part of labour. They
> don't tend to go somewhere in the middle.
>
> Contractions can happen before you're in labour but you're not in proper
> labour until they are regular, normally starting about half an hour
> between contractions.
>
> It looks like these are the main signs to look out for. There was quite a
> bit of information about what's going on inside the body but I'm not a
> medical person so I'm not going to try to repeat them here.
>
>
>
> When we need to phone the hospital
>
> We need to phone the hospital once getting regular contractions however
> far apart, but the advice we're probably going to here is that until the
> contractions are 7 or 8 minutes apart we should try to stay at home moving
> around and making sure we're ready to go.
>
> Once the contractions are 5 to 7 minutes apart we should then phone again
> and head in to the birthing centre.
>
>
>
> The types of births provided at that particular birthing centre
>
> The CBC, where we're hoping to have the baby, are very flexible, They have
> got the most fantastic birthing pool which Gem liked the look of, There
> were a couple of different types of beds she could use or there were
> massive walk in showers which can also be used as water around you is a
> very good relaxed and being relaxed can reduce the amount of pain felt.
>
>
>
> The sort of pain relief's they can provide
>
> As we're under midwife lead care the types of pain relief provided is
> limited. As the midwifes are not anaesthetists they can't do spinal or
> epidural but can do pretty much everything else. There was the next step
> down using a drug called pefidin which Jan, Gems mum, said was fantastic
> but you couldn't use this and go in the birthing pool and it can have an
> effect on the baby and CBC will provide it but won't recommend it because
> of the side effects on the baby. And there is gas and air which can be
> used in the birthing pool and is what CBC recommends. I've also been told
> by Danni, our minister, that I should have a go on the gas and air as its
> great stuff. Anyone seen that Only Fools and Horses episode where Del
> keeps taking it?
>
>
>
> At the moment Gems sort of thinking towards the birthing pool and gas and
> air.
>
>
>
> The sort of situations that could occur that would refer us to consultant
> lead care.
>
> As there are know consultants at the birthing centre CBC seem to be really
> careful and made it clear during the class that you could only be under
> midwife lead care if your pregnancy was normal. If the babies breach,
> overdue and gets induced, less than 37 weeks in to the pregnancy, to big,
> to small or there looked like there were going to be complications then
> you would be referred to a consultant lead care team at one of the bigger
> hospitals.
>
>
>
> Generally the class was really good but it was just a bit hard as there
> were so many people there.
>
>
>
> This week is going to be on the birth it's self, what to expect and what
> actually happens. The week after is about baby care, feeding and that sort
> of thing. I'll try to blog Wednesday night about the class when I can
> remember more of it.
>
>
>
> Friday we went to see the midwife for the week 28 checkup. Both Baby and
> Mum had a clean bill of health and they took a load of blood samples which
> we get the results of on Tuesday. This is just routine.
>
>
>
> That's it for now.
>
> I know I've said this a couple of times but I will keep trying to keep the
> Blog up-to-date.
>
> Take care.
>
> Nick.
>
>
>