Post Punk Kitchen Forum

I'm so glad everybody is home now and doing okay! Malka was also born not breathing, but did not get intubated. It sounds like a really traumatic experience - thank God you got such competent and thorough care. I totally remember those first few weeks not thinking I'd ever function like a human being again. It definitely gets better, it just takes awhile and longer for some than others. Try to sleep whenever you can and do as little extraneous work as possible. If you can get outside at all, sunshine really helps

I'm still here. Things died down considerably last night. Wouldn't be surprised to find out I'm walking around pretty dilated though.

Mapmapmap, how seriously scary. I'm so glad you and your little guy are physically okay, and hope the emotional healing for you will go smoothly too.

Mapmapmap, I'm so glad to hear from you but so sorry you had such a difficult birth experience! How wonderful that the level of care there is so high. I'm hoping you have lots of support during this time, both emotional and the other kind so you can rest, recuperate and bond with littlemap. <3

Mapmapmap, I'm glad you got such great care under those trying circumstances. Hope things go smoothly for you guys from here on out!

Mapmapmap, glad to hear you and littlemap are doing ok! I hope you have some time to rest and recover.

Good to hear you're still pregnant, lb! Stay on this side for just a little longer, ok??

I am so sorry you had to go through this! But also glad you are all home safe now.

Glad you're all ok mapmapmap, and hope you start feeling better soon!

Oh my gosh, mapmapmap, I'm so sorry to hear about your traumatic start. Very scary. I'm glad littlemap is okay and that your family is having a nice time getting to know each other. Good luck in your new role as parent!

Hugs to map and littlemap. Congratulations mama!

wow, mapmap... i can't imagine. i'm so glad you're all home now and doing well. it takes a while to recover from the NICU experience in general, i think. everyone i know who's been there said they had a lot of trouble processing the events and it took them months or even longer to really get over it. our NICU experience was pretty mild compared to yours and i still had a lot of feelings i needed to work through before i really felt comfortable again.

i hope we get to see some pics soon!!

wow. that sounds insanely tramatizing. so glad everyone is home now and i hope everyone continues to heal and get stronger as the days go by.
hugs to your family!!!

Congratulations on your little one, mapmapmap! That sounds like a scary experience. Hope you keep recovering well.

http://www.scienceandsensibility.org/?p=5547

According to this new discovery, I would now be 2-3cm. I have my appt tomorrow morning so we shall see if it works. A few friends tried it, and it was spot on.

I got a call from my doctor today telling me that my AFP test came back with a high risk. She stressed that I should not panic because is was a screening test, not a diagnosis and that they will know more when I have my ultrasound next Monday. Well, naturally once I got off the phone I panicked, but only for a little while. I am now thinking positive and telling myself that a 1 in 221 chance of a neural tube defect also means there are 220 chances that there isn't one. That's like 1/2 a percent chance. She said it could mean a NTD or possible complications further on in the pregnancy like problems with my placenta or the babies growth rate. She used terms like "non stress test" and "fetal monitors" all of which I had trouble processing after I heard "neural tube defect". She reminded me that my Harmony test came back low risk for Downs, and two other trisomy disorders. So I will spend the this week thinking positively and not Googling images of neural tube defects.

Hm. I know for us, the AFP wasn't considered significant without the ultrasound. Try your best not to stress!

yikes mapmap, so scary. Glad everything is going better now.

I miss a few days on here and so many updates!

This. They wouldn't even give me the AFP numbers (and ours were not within the normal range) until they did the nuchal translucency measurements.

just got back from my midwife appointment (the practice is 3MDs, 1 DO and 3 midwives) Love her! My blood work is good, iron levels great (ironic because I was often anemic back when I ate meat), immune to fifths disease, immune to rubella (did a second MMR shot last year because apparently my first one didn't work or wore off). No ultrasound since we opted out of the screenings, but did get to hear the baby's heartbeat - love that sound. She gave me the all-clear to go back to hot yoga as long as I promised to take breaks as soon as I felt myself getting hot and to listen to my body. She also brought up that if I enjoy hot, I might be interested getting information about laboring in the tub when the time gets here. She said the practice is also developing a protocol for water births since so many patients have requested them, they don't do them currently. She also is a big proponent of hypnobirthing and Bradley, so encouraged me to sign up for one or both of those when things get closer. Just such a positive experience. She made me feel like everything I'm doing is the right decision for me and my baby. Hopefully the rest of the CNMs are just as great.

Really? REALLY? Can I just have a normal pregnancy! I just got notice that on top of having gestational diabetes, SPD pain, placenta previa up til 25wks or so, and a breech baby who only turned 2-3wks ago, I now also have been diagnosed as a carrier of Strep B (GBS+). Ugh! I've been reading up on it, and scaring myself about what can happen to bebe, but I know this is google and docs are well prepared for this kinda thing. I just hope I have enough time to get my antibiotics in before he comes.

Which oh, by the way, I've been contracting every 9mins since my 39wk appointment yesterday morning. Something's going on...

That sounds rough, stuckunderhere. It also sounds like some excitement is coming your way!

I would hope so. Today would be a very good day for baby E to show up... My mother-in-law's birthday, and his godmother's (one of my best friends) mama's 2yr death anniversary which she said would turn this into a better day from now on. Come on, Eli!

The GBS+ thing isn't a huge deal. It's just an iv bag of antibiotics at some point during labour. My midwife could have given them to me at home. I had the abx last time simply because we hadn't done the swab yet.

I left class early today because I was feeling very uncomfortable. In bed now, having some contractions. If they peter out i might be too embarrassed to go back to class because i left so abruptly. It hurts though!

How exciting! It sounds like there will be two PPK babies in Montreal soon!

Chiveggie, that's great that you liked the midwife so much. She sounds awesome!

I had an OB visit yesterday, and starting next month, I have to get monthly ultrasounds to check on the twins' growth to make sure they are growing evenly. Eep. I can't believe I'm halfway through pregnancy and we are already at that point. Also, thank you two placentas for making me still surprisingly morning sick at 19 weeks-- I'd really like to stop puking first thing in the morning....

GBS is only a big deal if your membranes are ruptured for a long time because the bacteria moves up the canal and can cause an infection that way. In the US they give you a bag of antibiotics as soon as possible after your water breaks (as soon as possible being different in different situations - I didn't start mine till 15 hours after water breaking) and then if it's penicillin, they repeat every 4 hours. If it's another drug (I had one called vanclomycin (sp?) because I have a possible penicillin allergy), they might space it out longer - mine was every 12 hours, which is really nice. I got a hep lock instead of a regular IV so I could be attached to the abx when necessary then detached, which makes mobility easier, definitely worth looking into. In the US if your water doesn't break till right before delivery or the baby is born in the sac, you don't get abx. If you get abx at all, they don't even monitor the baby for signs of GBS.

From what I read on GBS, it seems like getting prophylactic antibiotics doesn't actually reduce deaths from infection, just reduces deaths from GBS infection (and replaces them with e. coli infections, possibly caused by all the antibiotics). So it's something that some women choose to forgo. I think the late onset GBS disease is reduced, though, and even though that's treatable, I chose to try to avoid it if possible. It's definitely not the hugest deal in the world - the risk of harm from having GBS is extremely low in either case.