I had my last major obstetrical appointment today. The baby is 6lbs 8oz so far... and although I will be full term as of Sunday, I still have about three weeks to go, so still on track for about an 8-9lb baby. Yikes. From here on out they plan to check my blood pressure to make sure I don't develop sudden preeclampsia, and then we "wait and see". Any day now. Ack.

But today I also met with the anaesthetist, and I'm a little nervous. I really feel like if I am not able to have a natural delivery, I'm going to be kind of screwed. This is mostly because I'm obese. Actually, I meet the clinical definition of morbidly obese but most people can't tell I had a pre-pregnancy BMI of over 40. Basically, the doctors are going in under the assumption that I will eventually have to have a C-section, something I very much don't want for a variety of reasons. They assume this because most obese women need C-sections due to a variety of health complications... complications I don't have. Actually, I'm really healthy. I have no breathing problems or deformities in the back of my throat or jaw, I have excellent muscle tone, I do not have diabetes in any of its forms, I gained a reasonable amount of weight (25lbs) and I most certainly don't have high blood pressure (and seriously, if my blood pressure spikes to 130/80 after encountering several cases of "teh dumb" on the road, it's not likely to get dangerous anytime soon). I'm surprisingly active and athletic... taking yoga classes and salsa lessons until last week, and still, I'm probably going to undergo unnecessary medical procedures because most women of my height and weight are not active people who generally eat a balanced diet.

Some things they want to do is get an epidural catheter in my back ASAP, regardless of if I want epidural anaesthesia or not.... and that alone carries some serious risks. They also want to put in an IV right away in case they screw up the catheter and need to do the C-section under a general. This too is problematic since I generally have low blood pressure and tend to collapse veins with IVs in them; average lifespan is 3 hours. This may not be so bad, but I only have 3 veins that nurses have ever been able to use for IVs. I don't like the math. And I'm allergic to the tape. Boo. And don't get me started on the anaesthetic, it just sounds like bad news to me. At least we both agreed that narcotics are an exceptionally bad idea, so I won't have someone shooting me full of them insisting that there was no way I could be still in pain. Nitrous is still a go.

I've resolved to deliver my first baby the same way my mom delivered me. Eight hours, start to finish, no complications.

Here's to hoping.

From: [identity profile] okcismelanie.livejournal.com


I think at least having an IV in during child birth is good. I had an EP at 10 hours of labor(at that point, ripping my spine out would of been less pain). It was done late so it didn't really work (after four tires). Two hours of "get the baby out now" or C section pushing and he came out. I felt like I was tackeled by two foot ball players and I couldn't walk or move from the hips down for 8 hours(EP late sucks-if you are going to get one get it done asap). I was scared after five hours that I would never feel my legs again as they did jab me in the spine four times, but it worked ok ok.

The pee tube wasn't that bad as they did it when I couldn't feel my legs and took it out when I could wiggle my toes so I never felt it. I had a bit of some humor watching it fill up :P

My advise, just think as soon as you go into to labor that the faster you can get the new person out, the easier it will be on the two of you. Be ready for the tackle and welcome to being a mom!

There are also cases of women feeling very little pain just allot of pressure in short labors.

From: [identity profile] zenten.livejournal.com


The thing is narcotics don't really work on her, so there isn't going to be an IV for pain relief in her arm.
.

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