Let's hear your birth traditions

[rgramjet]

I had a leg in one hand, video camera in the other!!  Gotta have something to hold over those little suckers heads when they refuse to take out the trash!!!

[ducatiz]

my wife's family has a weird custom of having all the womenfolk present in the delivery room.

i dated  her older sister before going out with my wife and later marrying.  long story, but she is much younger than me.. 

it was quite weird having my ex hanging over my shoulder staring at my wife's nether regions while my son was born.

[rgramjet]

my wife's family has a weird custom of having all the womenfolk present in the delivery room. i dated her older sister before going out with my wife and later marrying. long story, but she is much younger than me.. it was quite weird having my ex hanging over my shoulder staring at my wife's nether regions while my son was born.

Thats Hot!

[brix821]

good luck, and good on you for using a midwife..it is a great way to go for some people.  As far as traditions goes, take lots of photos and even a short movie.  When my son was born i did not want to see it through a camera lense so I kept the camera on and filmed his 1st seconds with his mom ( after he had come out).. I now cherish this video and every years for my sons b-day we rewatch all of his home movies to date

[capt steubing]

How quickly can they get you to a hospital?  For our first baby, my wife and I chose to have it at home with a midwife, and not through any fault of hers, we had a bad thing happen, and it happens really quickly, not trying to scare you, but just hoping that things turn out better for you, and that you are closer to the hospital than we were (we were about 15 minutes away).  You can PM me if you have any questions, I'd be happy to answer them.  And good luck!

[ducatiz]

Thats Hot!

it was a bit unnerving, me trying to coach my wife and her sister goosing me.

[mstevens]

In our family, the tradition is that I stand there and get screamed at and don't scream back.

[TiNi]

the screaming obscenities will come naturally i'm sure

im so excited for you C

& good luck with the birthing!

[cyrus buelton]

stitching for tears...........

.............sorry

all about the scheduled c-section 

[rgramjet]

The epidural is your friend....

[Dragsterhund]

Babies traditionally come out of the ladies in my family.

[Betty Rage]

The epidural is your friend....

I hear it's great for pain relief. buuuuuut I'm not really cool with the whole, inserting stuff into my SPINE and numbing me from the waist down thing. I'd like to be able to move around, not lay there like a slug wondering if my kid is coming out or not. 

[rgramjet]

lol

Oh you'll know epidural or not.

With our first child, my wifes water broke.  I drove her to the hospital which is about 10 minutes away.  By the time we got to check-in she was doubled over in pain from the contractions. 

Ten minutes later she was in a bed.  They connected a device which measures contractions to her and it was reading around 50.  At 60, she had the epidural.  The contractions were so strong, she was oblivious to the nasty epidural needle.

Epidural kicked in....

I looked down at the meter a little while later and saw the meter was at 120!!  At the same time she asked me to hand her the hairbrush so she could fix her hair...

Natural childbirth is absolutely amazing and I applaud anyone that does it sans meds.....  Its not for everyone ...

Congrats and Good Luck!!

[Sinister]

They connected a device which measures contractions to her and it was reading around 50.  At 60, she had the epidural.  The contractions were so strong, she was oblivious to the nasty epidural needle.

Epidural kicked in....

I looked down at the meter a little while later and saw the meter was at 120!!  At the same time she asked me to hand her the hairbrush so she could fix her hair...

A good L&D nurse will tailor the epidural flow based on the contractions, and their level.  My wife had a wonderful epidural experience.

I started our birth tradition, with our first back in May: hire a Doula.

[mstevens]

I hear it's great for pain relief. buuuuuut I'm not really cool with the whole, inserting stuff into my SPINE and numbing me from the waist down thing. I'd like to be able to move around, not lay there like a slug wondering if my kid is coming out or not. 

You're thinking of spinal anesthesia (which is pretty rare for childbirth these days), not epidural. Epidurals don't have much effect on motor nerves, so you can still move. They won't completely numb you, either.

However, our second child was born under hypnoanalgesia. The epidural with the first kid wore off (they wouldn't use an indwelling epidural catheter at that hospital, so it couldn't just be "topped off") and did seem to slow down labor significantly. The second time around, my wife did have a small epidural (this time with indwelling catheter so it could be titrated) but primary pain control was with hypnosis. We worked with a psychologist colleague who had done pain-control work on the burns intensive care unit, so she knew a thing or two about pain. Both of us went in for training for 4 months prior to delivery. My wife was much happier with the hypnosis than with the epidural alone, and I certainly found the training sessions very relaxing.