Chapter Eight – ‘Preparing for your big day’ and shopping for baby
You’re nearly there now, around 6-8 weeks to go, so I am sure your thoughts have turned to LABOUR!... this may be more on your mind now after attending antenatal classes, where it all gets a little bit closer and a little bit more real!
Remember though that labour is a tiny part of the journey you will have with your baby. When you are pregnant, not many Mums-to-be can look beyond this day, which is very natural. So this chapter will talk you through how you make preparations for a more straightforward labour, which is a question often asked …………….
Don’t forget we are dealing with nature here. An unpredictable force. However one simple solution could be as easy as encouraging your baby to get into a good position for birth. This is often referred to as ‘Optimal Fetal Positioning’.
If your baby is head down then from 34 weeks onwards the advice is to get your baby to lie with its back on your left side facing the front of you. This will help your baby engage (drop down into your pelvis) and make birth hopefully easier. …show more content…
If you are sitting on soft sofas, and bucket shaped seats, your back will be curving in a ‘C’ shape…. Look at the letter ‘C’ and imagine that the letter is your spine. Your baby will want to lie nestled where it’s comfy, and that will be following the shape of the curve of your spine with its spine. Therefore your baby’s back will be lying against your spine and have its feet at the front of your tummy. This is called a ‘Back to back position’ written as ‘OP’ by health professionals, relating to the occiput (the back of the baby’s skull) being posterior…..so your baby’s face is looking at your tummy, not your
You’re nearly there now, around 6-8 weeks to go, so I am sure your thoughts have turned to LABOUR!... this may be more on your mind now after attending antenatal classes, where it all gets a little bit closer and a little bit more real!
Remember though that labour is a tiny part of the journey you will have with your baby. When you are pregnant, not many Mums-to-be can look beyond this day, which is very natural. So this chapter will talk you through how you make preparations for a more straightforward labour, which is a question often asked …………….
Don’t forget we are dealing with nature here. An unpredictable force. However one simple solution could be as easy as encouraging your baby to get into a good position for birth. This is often referred to as ‘Optimal Fetal Positioning’.
If your baby is head down then from 34 weeks onwards the advice is to get your baby to lie with its back on your left side facing the front of you. This will help your baby engage (drop down into your pelvis) and make birth hopefully easier. …show more content…
If you are sitting on soft sofas, and bucket shaped seats, your back will be curving in a ‘C’ shape…. Look at the letter ‘C’ and imagine that the letter is your spine. Your baby will want to lie nestled where it’s comfy, and that will be following the shape of the curve of your spine with its spine. Therefore your baby’s back will be lying against your spine and have its feet at the front of your tummy. This is called a ‘Back to back position’ written as ‘OP’ by health professionals, relating to the occiput (the back of the baby’s skull) being posterior…..so your baby’s face is looking at your tummy, not your