News Briefs - C-sections

A couple birth-related items I spotted on BloggingBaby.com this week, regarding the increased risk of c-sections:

From HealthScout, C-Sections Linked to Higher Cavity Risk in Babies.

Li [the lead author] suspects that vaginally delivered infants, because of exposure to a greater variety and intensity of bacteria from their mothers and the surrounding environment at birth, develop more resistance to the cavity-causing germ than do C-section babies, who have less bacterial exposure at birth.

From MacLeans.ca, C-section linked with increased clot risk.

For vaginal deliveries, the odds of developing a blood clot were less than one in 30,000. But for caesarean births -- in which the baby is delivered through a surgical incision in the abdomen -- the risk increased to just under one in 1,800. Emergency C-sections came with a higher risk for blood clots than did elective C-sections.

20 Week Update

Wednesday was my appointment with the chiropractor. I had never ever seen a chiropractor before, not even with all the hip and back pain of my first two pregnancies. Let me say, it was just incredible. I felt a difference immediately. Though the doctor warned me that I might be sore for the first day, and I was, it was still in less pain than before the adjustment. The second day a little less, and today, hardly anything, though my hips do occasionally remind me that I am still pregnant. I no longer waddle when I walk - or, at least, I waddle like a 20-week pregnant woman, not a 40-week pregnant woman. I no longer feel like my hips are out of whack. It's amazing, you don't even realize that there is something wrong with the way that you walk until you can walk normally again. And bonus: our chiropractor employs massage therapists, so we can get massages for the same co-pay as an adjustment. Yipee!

The big news is... little champion has not nursed for nearly a week. So I guess we can consider him "weaned". Although he asked once or twice, he didn't seem upset when I said no or distracted him. It was all about changing his bedtime routine, since he had dropped all nursings except the before-bed and before-nap ones. He's a big boy now. I think next week I will move his toddler bed out of our room and into his brother's room. He will like that. Next on the agenda: thinking about potty training.

From BabyCenter.com (no fruit analogies this weel):

Your baby weighs about 10 1/2 ounces now. She's also around 6 1/2 inches long from head to bottom, and about 10 inches from head to heel... A greasy white substance called vernix caseosa coats her entire body to protect her skin during its long submersion in amniotic fluid... Your baby is swallowing more, which is good practice for her digestive system. She's also producing meconium, a black, sticky substance that's the result of cell loss, digestive secretion, and swallowed amniotic fluid.

That's all for now. I think I had more to say but I can't remember it (pregnant brain). May do 2 updates this week since I skipped last week.

Battle lines drawn over C-sections

From USA today's website comes this article: Battle lines drawn over C-sections

'Mothering the mother'

CNN.com has a nice article about Doulas today.

Blawg Review #20

I'm hosting Blawg Review #20 this week over at The Mommy Blawg. It's a round-up of what happened this week in the legal blogging world. Come take a look!

For information on past and future Blawg Reviews, check out Blawg Review.

If you are visiting from The Mommy Blawg via Blawg Review, welcome! This is my online pregnancy journal, which includes weekly updates as well as helpful information and links. You can read more in my introductory post.

What in heck is a "Mommy Blog" anyway?

Blogging Baby asks, "What in heck is a 'Mommy Blog' anyway?" with links to some of the best mommy and daddy blogs.

18 Week Update

"Officially", I am 19+5 weeks along, but according to my calendar, I am 18+3. So no surprise that at today's appointment with our midwife, I am measuring 18-19 cms.

Other statistics: I've gained 3 pounds. Baby's heartbeat is 144 bpm. I got to look at my lab report from the ob's office. Let's see... negative for HepB, negative for HIV (big surprise there) and I'm definitely immune to Rubella. Hemoglobin a little on the high side, and Ketones were +1 (pretty good considering that was the week I couldn't keep food down without meds).

We'll have a sonogram in the next couple weeks to confirm dates and to learn the baby's gender. Don't worry! I won't ruin the surprise. I'll post it in the comments.

Hip pain report: must.call.chiropractor.tomorrow.

Also I've been thinking about renting a tub. Anyone used one of these?

From Babycenter.com: Baby is 5 1/2 inches long, about the length of a large sweet potato (don't you just love those fruit & vegetable analogies! My favorite was the avocado) and weighs almost 7 ounces.

Mommy Blogs

I don't spend a whole lot of time reading mommy blogs, but The Leery Polyp is due to give birth any day now. I hope to be blogging up to the very end, too, so this is what I have to look forward to (er, with considerably less discussion of my sex life).

Symphysis Pubis Dysfunction

Many women have pain in their hips while pregnant, and are told there is nothing that can be done about it. This is not true.

We're talking more than a simple backache. This is a deep hip pain. Other symptoms include: pain when standing on one leg; difficulty walking after sitting or lying down; pain when rolling over in bed; tenderness in the pubic area; sciatica.

Here are some links to articles about pubic symphysis pain:
Plus-size-pregnancy.org (a great resource on lots of pregnancy-related topics)
The International Chiropractic Pediatric Assocation
Gentle Birth archives

If Only for Seeds of Barley

Dr. Charles writes about the interesting case of a patient who came in to Labor and Delivery - and turned out not even to be pregnant. He then goes on to discuss the history of pregnancy testing.

Queasy does it

Blogging Baby points to a SanDiego Union-Tribune article on "morning sickness" and hyperemesis gravidarum. The article mentions that author Charlotte Bronte is believed to have died from HG. Didn't know that.

As for me, I still feel a little nauseated in the evenings and occasionally in the mornings. It is a little anoying, as I remember it being all gone by this point in my previous pregnancies. However, it is nothing like the debilitating nausea of the last 3 months, so I'm not complaining. I am actually enjoying food now, even craving foods sometimes.

So the Fish Said

What a great baby photo! Will have to remember to take one like this.

4 women arrested in breast-feeding protest

This is rich: "Four women were arrested while protesting a hospital's policies on breast-feeding, which the demonstrators said undermines efforts of mothers who want to nurse their babies." They were charged with trespassing. The hosptial has a policy of removing newborns to the hospital nursery for 4 hours soon after birth. And also giving new moms sample packs of formula, but almost all hospitals do that.

Just Let Your Monkey Do It

Great, great article from The Missoula Independent about homebirth and natural childbirth and midwifery.

17 Week Update

I may be a little off on my weeks. I'll get my calendar straightened out soon.

Last week I realized, with a bit of panic, that in 4 more weeks I will be at the half-way point in my pregnancy. Yikes!

It is almost impossible to find normal maternity t-shirts in basic colors like navy and olive. Right now all the colors are watermelon and aqua and a strange shade of pink. Very summery, but I stick to the basics.

Appoitment with the Midwife is next week, so I'll have stats then.

Birth Briefs

In California, Woman Delivers Baby Boy in Toilet less than an hour after returning home from the hospital, where she was told she was not ready to deliver. "The couple said they are slightly irked at hospital staff, but grateful to have a healthy baby."

In Nebraska, Cow Gives Birth to Four Calves. "Sherrill Echternkamp, a physiologist at the Roman L. Hruska U.S. Meat Animal Research Center near Clay Center, said quadruplet calf live births are extremely rare. 'It's so rare that I'm not sure you could even calculate a probability,' "

A giant panda at the San Diego zoo has given birth. This is the second panda birth in the US in less than a month.

C-sections are the most common US hospital procedure, costing $14.6 billion annually.

Answering your questions from a Male perspective

FlyLady has launched a new website, Hey Tom, especially for FlyGuys and the women who love them. Some of us have been waiting for this for...years.

Oops

The most difficult thing, so far, about having two blogs is accidently posting to the wrong blog.

Strange signals from breastfeeding

Ok, this is really strange.

Stonyfield Farm

Stonyfield Farm, the makers of organic milk and yoghurt products such as YoBaby, has blogs. Four, in fact, including one called Baby Babble.

Brain-dead Woman Gives Birth

Susan Torres, the brain-dead pregnant woman I wrote about here has given birth to a baby girl.

Links:
AP via Yahoo! News
ProLifeBlogs
The Susan M. Torres Fund

Birth Story

I just finished reading Twice Adopted by Michael Reagan. In it, the author is discussing how his life changed when his dad became President; and one of the biggest changes was "the constant presence of the Secret Service.":

In 1983, Colleen was about to give birth to our second child, Ashley. Cameron was by natural childbirth; Ashley was by appointment. They gave Colleen an epidural anesthetic, so she was awake for the birth. After Ashley was born, the first thing Colleen heard was the crisp, professional voice of a Secret Service agent speaking into his walkie-talking, "We have an arrival. Raindrop has arrived. Repeat - Raindrop has arrived."

Before she even heard our daughter cry or heard her name spoken, Colleen heard Ashley's Secret Service code name. Colleen couldn't see anything but the ceiling, so she looked at me and said, "Who's in the room?"

I looked around the crowded birthing room and said, "A better question would be, 'Who's not in the room?'"

Colleen groaned. "The Secret Service! Isn't anything private anymore?"

Cute story. Good book.