Right now my normal computer is being repaired, and all of my bookmarks are on there. Here is a summary of what I found, though:
1. High carb diet in 1st trimester is associated with low birth weight infant, multiple studies. If you're already high on the bell curve in terms of high infant weight, it does make sense to do things that have been documented to show "low birthweight infants." Obviously I wouldn't start smoking or anything, but a "low birthweight" infant for you is unlikely to be a low birthweight infant in an objective sense. I am not a medical professional and am not offering this as medical advice obviously, but what I am doing in all future pregnancies is to go for good carbs (whole wheat bread, fruits, etc) over protein for the first 12 weeks in particular and moving to normal diet after that.
I'm kind of obsessed with shoulder dystocia after my experiences with it, and completely understand why you are so worried. Part of what I'd do is to figure out if you have "typical" dystocia or "atypical" dystocia. My dystocias are weird, because I have normal labors, an easy time pushing and then out of the blue my babies have gotten very very caught. For me, I have had pelvic stability issues since I fell while pregnant with my son and have had sacroiliac joint problems ever since. We think that the pressure of a descending baby knocked the weakened joint out of alignment, and a rotated joint can't swing back the way it's supposed to. So, I spent a couple of months in physical therapy to address the strength issues I had. I'm 34 weeks pregnant now, and my pelvis is *extremely* stable. So, if your lower back goes out of alignment, I'd definitely recommend working with a physical therapist.
Above and beyond that, I'd encourage you to set parameters for what you feel is safe and make choices based on what you find in the moment. For me, this means that I'm starting an herbal supplement at 36 weeks to encourage earlier birth, and if estimated fetal weight by palpation goes over 10 lbs, I'm going for an ultrasound to compare head circumference to abdominal circumference. If there is a big enough difference with head a lot smaller than abdomen, I will go for a c-section because the risk of another dystocia is outside my comfort level. For me, being able to make that call has been tremendously empowering, because I don't feel like I'm at the mercy of my pelvis or anything like that or like my body is a dangerous place for my babies to be. It's that I am making choices where if X happens, I already know what I'm going to do and if Y happens instead, I've planned for that too. I have a wonderful midwife who is very skilled in resolving dystocias as well, and it's gone a long way towards helping me not be afraid of injury with shoulder dystocia. A highly skilled birth attendant is an absolute blessing when you've got a risk for stuff like this, and I'm very happy to have my midwife on my team.
Congratulations on your pregnancy!!! And best of luck as you plan your birth.
Well, I can give you some encouraging news! I'm 39 weeks today, and we have an estimated baby weight of 7 lbs 12 oz or so, according to palpation. My fundal height is 38cm at 39 weeks. The growth curve has been so different this time from my two giant babies! I'm obviously hoping for baby to come sooner rather than later, but a baby who is about 8 lbs or a little over at 40 weeks is a far cry from an 11 lber at 40 weeks.
I hope everything went well for you. I wanted to write again to thank you for the information you shared with me. I did what you suggested and followed a fairly low protein diet and also saw a chiropractor throughout my pregnancy. I also had sacroliac issues that I hadn't been aware of until I started going for therapy. My baby girl was born yesterday, 7 pounds 13 ounces. I had less than 2 hours of labour and she literally slipped into the world with only one second stage contraction and no pushing. We had only just paged the midwives to let them know we were thinking it might be time to transfer to hospital when I suddenly realised she was about to arrive. We called 911 and all four of the midwives from my clinic as well as the EMS arrived at our home just shortly after her birth. Everything was fine, we're all doing very well and we never did transfer to the hospital. I'm so grateful for the information you shared with me. It changed the way I treated this pregnancy and I believe it made all the difference.
Right now my normal computer is being repaired, and all of my bookmarks are on there. Here is a summary of what I found, though:
1. High carb diet in 1st trimester is associated with low birth weight infant, multiple studies. If you're already high on the bell curve in terms of high infant weight, it does make sense to do things that have been documented to show "low birthweight infants." Obviously I wouldn't start smoking or anything, but a "low birthweight" infant for you is unlikely to be a low birthweight infant in an objective sense. I am not a medical professional and am not offering this as medical advice obviously, but what I am doing in all future pregnancies is to go for good carbs (whole wheat bread, fruits, etc) over protein for the first 12 weeks in particular and moving to normal diet after that.
I'm kind of obsessed with shoulder dystocia after my experiences with it, and completely understand why you are so worried. Part of what I'd do is to figure out if you have "typical" dystocia or "atypical" dystocia. My dystocias are weird, because I have normal labors, an easy time pushing and then out of the blue my babies have gotten very very caught. For me, I have had pelvic stability issues since I fell while pregnant with my son and have had sacroiliac joint problems ever since. We think that the pressure of a descending baby knocked the weakened joint out of alignment, and a rotated joint can't swing back the way it's supposed to. So, I spent a couple of months in physical therapy to address the strength issues I had. I'm 34 weeks pregnant now, and my pelvis is *extremely* stable. So, if your lower back goes out of alignment, I'd definitely recommend working with a physical therapist.
Above and beyond that, I'd encourage you to set parameters for what you feel is safe and make choices based on what you find in the moment. For me, this means that I'm starting an herbal supplement at 36 weeks to encourage earlier birth, and if estimated fetal weight by palpation goes over 10 lbs, I'm going for an ultrasound to compare head circumference to abdominal circumference. If there is a big enough difference with head a lot smaller than abdomen, I will go for a c-section because the risk of another dystocia is outside my comfort level. For me, being able to make that call has been tremendously empowering, because I don't feel like I'm at the mercy of my pelvis or anything like that or like my body is a dangerous place for my babies to be. It's that I am making choices where if X happens, I already know what I'm going to do and if Y happens instead, I've planned for that too. I have a wonderful midwife who is very skilled in resolving dystocias as well, and it's gone a long way towards helping me not be afraid of injury with shoulder dystocia. A highly skilled birth attendant is an absolute blessing when you've got a risk for stuff like this, and I'm very happy to have my midwife on my team.
Congratulations on your pregnancy!!! And best of luck as you plan your birth.
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Best of luck to you too. I'd love to hear how it turns out for you and I'll pray for you and baby.
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I wanted to write again to thank you for the information you shared with me. I did what you suggested and followed a fairly low protein diet and also saw a chiropractor throughout my pregnancy. I also had sacroliac issues that I hadn't been aware of until I started going for therapy.
My baby girl was born yesterday, 7 pounds 13 ounces. I had less than 2 hours of labour and she literally slipped into the world with only one second stage contraction and no pushing. We had only just paged the midwives to let them know we were thinking it might be time to transfer to hospital when I suddenly realised she was about to arrive. We called 911 and all four of the midwives from my clinic as well as the EMS arrived at our home just shortly after her birth. Everything was fine, we're all doing very well and we never did transfer to the hospital.
I'm so grateful for the information you shared with me. It changed the way I treated this pregnancy and I believe it made all the difference.
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My daughter is 6 months old, and had a difficult birth but *no* SD. I'm so glad that you got a peaceful and beautiful birth!!
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