[blparent] have a question

Sat Apr 3 12:39:15 UTC 2010

this isn't necessarily true.
many people, according to the midwife who delivered my daughter, do not 
experience a gush when their water breaks. she says that many people 
experience more of a slow leak. she also says that very few people actually 
experience a breaking of water at the beginning of labor. Hollywood would 
have you believe that every woman is clued in about the start of labor by a 
pronounced breaking of water, followed by a quick trip to the hospital, an 
epidural, and a few minutes of pushing (during which a conversation is 
completely possible). after having a baby of my own, I can tell you that the 
way birth is portrayed on television is about the least accurate thing I've 
ever seen.
in my case, my water did not break until somewhere in the middle of hour 40 
of a 41.5 hour labor - and that was after an hour of pushing. my 
contractions were predictable, but they stayed at 4-5 minutes apart for more 
than a day.
some signs of labor are:
- you start experiencing contractions at regular intervals.
- the contractions are not slowed or stopped by changes in position, a hot 
shower, etc.
- it becomes progressively more difficult to think clearly or hold down an 
intelligent conversation as they intensify.
contractions feel like a huge fist is slowly and persistently squeezing your 
abdomin in toward the baby.
the problem is that labor is so totally different for everyone, that it is 
very hard for one person to tell another exactly what to expect. some people 
have an extremely high pain tolerance, and don't register contractions as 
being painful right away. some people move through labor within a matter of 
hours, and others take days. some people have back labor, and some do not. 
some are only comfortable standing up, and others only want to sit down.
there are just so many misconceptions about labor. one I had was that I 
would know I was about to go into labor because I would lose my mucus plug. 
then my midwife informed me that at the end of labor, you can lose your 
mucus plug several times, and that it just continues to regrow.
some statistics of interest:
the average first pregnancy is 41 weeks, and not 40.
the average first labor is 15 hours.
if you have not read books about the phases of labor (early, active, 
transitional, pushing, etc.) I would definitely do so. also, I'm not sure if 
you've taken a birthing class, but I would also recommend that. I'm not sure 
what your circumstances are, but if you can, I would arrange to have a more 
private birthing class, as they can make it specific to your needs. e.g., we 
knew, before labor even began, that I would not be allowed to have an 
epidural. when we had our class, we were basically able to completely skip 
over that part - except that the doulah who taught us spent some time 
talking about the dangers of epidurals, how to control pain without them, 
how to get through the part of labor when you feel you most need one, etc.
you could speak to the hospital where you will be delivering to see if 
someone on staff is willing to do something more individualized with you.
Dena


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "cheryl echevarria" <cherylandmaxx at hotmail.com>
To: "NFBnet Blind Parents Mailing List" <blparent at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Saturday, April 03, 2010 6:16 AM
Subject: Re: [blparent] have a question


> well it is like a gush of water, not like peeing but a whole bunch at once 
> and can happened anywhere anytime.  sometimes women go into labor right 
> away sometime not.
>
> Cheryl Echevarria
> Independent Travel Consultant
> http://Echevarriatravel.com
> 1-866-580-5574
>
> http://blog.echevarriatravel.com
> Reservations at echevarriatravel.com
> Affiliated as an Independent Contractor with Montrose Travel 
> CST-1018299-10
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "vanessa hernandez" <violethernandez20 at gmail.com>
> To: "NFBnet Blind Parents Mailing List" <blparent at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Saturday, April 03, 2010 12:24 AM
> Subject: [blparent] have a question
>
>
>> -- 
>> vanessa Hernandez
>>
>>
>>
>> Hi this is vanessa I was wondering how did you know when your water
>> broke or when you were starting to go in to labor?
>> I would like to know.
>> I would like to have as much input st possable.
>> thanks
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> blparent mailing list
>> blparent at nfbnet.org
>> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blparent_nfbnet.org
>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for 
>> blparent:
>> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blparent_nfbnet.org/cherylandmaxx%40hotmail.com
>>
>
> _______________________________________________
> blparent mailing list
> blparent at nfbnet.org
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blparent_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for 
> blparent:
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blparent_nfbnet.org/dena%40envogueaccess.com