Common Sense Pregnancy: Navigating a Healthy Pregnancy and Birth for Mother and Baby

219 Pages·2015·1.91 MB·English

by  Jeanne Faulkner

This book is dedicated to:
Phyllis, my mother and first love
Martha, Sedona, Peggy, and Kathy, my sisters
Jerome, Lauren, Camille, Lee, Olivia, and Lua, my family
And to all the parents and healthcare providers who are
willing to change the way we think about, talk about, and
experience pregnancy, birth, and parenting.
Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Foreword
Introduction
CHAPTER 1 When You First Get Pregnant
What to do when you find out you’re pregnant
How to have a well pregnancy instead of a fear-based pregnancy
Is your pregnancy no-risk, low-risk, moderate-risk, or high-risk?
How soon do you need to see a midwife or doctor?
Who should you tell that you’re pregnant, and when?
How soon will you look pregnant instead of just fluffy?
What does your due date really mean?
How much stuff do you need?
CHAPTER 2 Choosing Your Care
How to pick your health care provider
Why choosing a midwife makes sense
If you have a midwife, a nurse, a partner, and a labor support team, do you need a doula?
How to pick where you’ll have your baby
Who’s on your labor team—and how to keep your labor room drama free
CHAPTER 3 Your Pregnant Body
What should you eat?
How to deal with feeling like crap
What about sex?
Just how tough is your baby? Dealing with fears about exposure to drugs, alcohol, cigarettes,
and other toxins
Common medical bumps in the road
CHAPTER 4 Prenatal Tests
What are all those prenatal tests for, and do you really have to have them?
What about ultrasounds?
The pros and cons of genetic testing
Nonstress tests, biophysical profiles, and other late-pregnancy tests
CHAPTER 5 Prenatal Education and Birth Plans
Getting a prenatal education—before and beyond what the hospital teaches
How to determine whether you want your birth to be all natural, all medical, or something in
between
How your pregnancy determines your birth plan
Birth plans: pros, cons, reality checks
CHAPTER 6 How to Deal with Late Pregnancy Curve Balls
Your doctor says your baby is too big and wants to schedule an induction or C-section—what
now?
Your ultrasound shows you have too much/too little amniotic fluid—what now?
You’ve tested positive for group beta strep—what now?
You’re dilating early or not dilating yet—what now?
Your midwife says you need an obstetrician—a few reasons why you might “risk out” for low-
risk/low-intervention care
CHAPTER 7 When the End Is in Sight
You know the end is in sight and all of a sudden you’re freaking out—what’s going on?
You feel heavy, cranky, crampy, and yucky—should you ask for an induction?
How to get the show on the road—what works and what doesn’t for starting labor naturally
How to keep from losing your mind while you wait for labor to start
You’re overdue (or are you?)—what should you do?
CHAPTER 8 Are You in Labor?
You’re leaking fluid—did your water break or did you wet your pants?
You lost your mucous plug or see a little bleeding—are you going into labor?
How to tell when you’re really, truly, honest-to-god in labor
Water management—what to do if your water bag breaks in public and what to expect when it
breaks during labor
CHAPTER 9 At the Hospital
Who works on the maternity unit? From nurses to lab techs—all the people who might take
care of you and your baby
Hygiene and grooming for labor—what matters, what totally doesn’t?
Shaving, enemas, episiotomies, and other old-school routines
Can you eat when you’re in labor?
CHAPTER 10 Labor Pains
The biggest difference between your first and second labors (or third, or fourth…)
How bad is labor, anyway?
Pain management 101—everything from deep breaths to epidurals, and how to take it one
step at a time
Epidural 101—how it works, who puts it in, why it takes a while, and why you can’t custom-
order it
Epidural FAQs
What’s Pitocin really like?
CHAPTER 11 Other Labor and Delivery Issues
Meconium—what does it mean when sh** happens?
The big push—how to do it if you don’t have an urge, and how to avoid pushing too hard
Vacuums, forceps, and other tools of the trade
Lacerations 101 (what it means if you tear)
Body fluids, blood, and guts—all the gross stuff that happens during labor and why you
shouldn’t worry about it
CHAPTER 12 C-Sections, VBACs, and More
You’re scheduled for a C-section—what happens next?
You want a vaginal birth after cesarean (VBAC)—how can you have one, and what are the
risks?
You have twins or your baby is breech—can you still have a vaginal birth?
CHAPTER 13 Once the Baby Is Born
How to decide which tests and shots your baby will get in the delivery room and nursery
When your baby needs intensive care
CHAPTER 14 Processing and Healing Postpartum
Processing your birth experience
Healing, bleeding, leaking, and cramps—what’s normal, what’s not?
Will you ever be normal down there again?
Now that everything’s different, will life ever be normal again?
CHAPTER 15 Having a New Baby
A word about day three
What you can do the first week, second week, third week, sixth week
Sleep, sleep deprivation, and how to keep from losing your mind
How to do anything now that you have a newborn—including taking a shower, going to the
store, and having an adult conversation
The second baby—how to add another kid to your life
CHAPTER 16 Feeding Your Baby
Breast versus bottle—battle lines and peace treaties
How to get the help you need when breastfeeding is hard
Cracked, sore nipples? Engorgement? Tips for making your breasts feel better
Pumping, dumping, storing, and freezing your breast milk
Bottle feeding, judgment free
How long should you breastfeed?
How to work and breastfeed
Conclusion
Special Circumstances Appendix 1: Pregnancy and parenting for women with history: getting
real about custody, child welfare, drug addiction, domestic violence, homelessness
Special Circumstances Appendix 2: When a Baby Dies
Notes and Resources
About the Author
Acknowledgments
Every Mother Counts
Foreword
BY CHRISTY TURLINGTON BURNS AND ERIN THORNTON
Becoming a mother is one of the most extraordinary things that can happen to a
woman. It can and should be a beautiful, inspiring, empowering experience, but
all too often it can also be confusing, scary, and overwhelming. Too many
women experience the latter because many of them do not have access to the
basic care and health care providers who can ensure a safe and happy
experience. For some it’s a lack of money and for some it’s a matter of just
physically getting there. For others, it’s a matter of having the knowledge and
support to have the best to pregnancy and childbirth experience possible.
Just as in most areas of life, knowledge is power and being aware of your
options and having the ability to make choices is one way to ensure a healthy
and positive birth experience. Having a reliable resource to help break down
myth from fact is critical. Jeanne Faulkner has been the trusted resource behind
the Every Mother Counts blog for years, translating the critical facts around
maternal health into accessible, relatable content for mothers everywhere. When
Erin needed support after the birth of her youngest daughter, Jeanne was on
speed dial, cutting through the fluff and offering sound and steady advice when
she needed it.
Now you can have Jeanne Faulkner on your speed dial, in the form of a book.
Common Sense Pregnancy puts all of the most important information in one
place and does so in the same direct, no-nonsense way that Jeanne would if she
were on the other end of your phone. This book provides women with the
information they truly need to understand pregnancy and childbirth, to know
what to expect from their body, and to be equipped to make the right choices for
them and their baby.
Every mother deserves a safe and healthy birth. Every mother deserves the
opportunity to be in charge of her own birth experience. It may not always be
pretty or fun, but the more that she knows and the more she can prepare herself
and good make choices, the better an experience for everyone.
—Erin Thornton, executive director, and Christy Turlington Burns, founder of
Every Mother Counts
Introduction
Information is the key to everything when you’re pregnant. It’s the key to your
health, your baby’s health, your relationship, your sex life, your birth plans, your
mother-in-law, what underwear to buy, what fish you can eat—everything.
Whether it’s your first or tenth baby, you want to know all you can about this
brand-new experience. After you talk to your doctor or midwife, mother, sister,
and girlfriends, like most women you’ll turn to books, magazines, and, more
often than not, the modern mother of all resources—the Internet. That’s where
you’ll find me writing FitPregnancy.com’s Ask the Labor Nurse blog and global
maternal health content for EveryMotherCounts.org. I’m a registered nurse and
pregnancy/parenting/maternal health/advice blogger who’s been in the women’s
and maternal health business for decades. Now I’m putting all my experience in
one place: Common Sense Pregnancy: A Common Sense Guide on How to Be
Pregnant and Have a Baby.
Making plans is an important part of pregnancy, but the best-laid plans can be
conceived only with good information, lots of flexibility, and whopping doses of
common sense. Even then, your plans and decisions aren’t entirely up to you.
There’s a child involved, not to mention a partner, midwife, doctor, and family.
It’s complicated.
That’s where I come in. I’ve spent decades working as a nurse in American
hospitals, assisting with births from the most natural, low-intervention, and low-
risk to the most high-risk and medically complicated, from water births to the
ICU. I’ve been at the bedside for thousands of labors and deliveries—and I have
four kids myself. I know that every pregnancy, birth, and child is unique, but
also that there are only so many variations on what works and what doesn’t,
what’s safe and what isn’t. I’ve taken care of women of all ages, cultures, and
demographics, and while my information is medically sound, not all of it is what
you’ll hear from your doctor. Because I’ve worked so long “on the inside,” I can
tell you what to really expect during pregnancy and delivery. You may be