New to the forum + a question or two for momma's

I'm nineteen years old and seven months pregnant. I'm very excited about being a mother, and my baby's father couldn't be more supportive. I am also very nervous about motherhood (as expected), but I'm even more nervous about the delivery. I plan on being a regular on this board . To begin my forum experience, I have some questions.

1) What exactly do contractions feel like?

2) Does an epidural hurt?

I know this next one is irrelevant, but..

3) Has any one smoked marijauna during their pregnancy? Did any birth defects or anything of that sort occur? I'm asking out of curiousity, I stopped smoking when I found out I was expecting. So please, no lectures, just honest answers.

Thanks for reading. I expect good things from this board.

 

I can only give input on the last question, being as I'm pregnant with my first one too. Congratulations, by the way.


My boyfriends best friends girlfriend (Haha....) smoked all the time while she was pregnant and her baby turned out ok. She's healthy and no problems that she knows of yet.
Other girls I know that smoked while pregnant didn't have any defects with their babies....they all turned out healthy.
I don't smoke weed or cigs, so I don't really worry about those things.
I know my boyfriends mom won't let me around her or my guy when they're toking....she quit while she was pregnant....she said she heard it COULD cause lung problems and low birth weight and such....much like cigs can.

 

Contractions just feel like your whole belly tightening up. As they get stronger, they'll feel like your tummy is tightening to the point of hurting you...But everything's okay.

Epidurals should be avoided, IMO. Unless you need one for surgical purposes, the pain of childbirth could very much be less than the pain of an epidural done wrong.

And marijuana smoked during pregnancy hasn't been shown to cause any problems in the child.

You'll be okay and your baby will be fine. *hugs*

 

My contractions felt like my most painful bowel movement times by 10. I had so much pressure on my butt.

No one told me that when I had to push, I pushed like I was taking a dump. I always imagining pushing more forward.

 

Oh and epidurals do hurt. Mine felt like someone was dragging a hot poker up and down my lower spine.

And my back still feels weak. I hated it. I refused one for my second birth.

 

Hi! I can give you my opinion on all three. I have 3 little girls, and each time I weakened a bit on the pain meds. My first one, I had no pain medication, and I hated it!! I can take pain very well, but that was CRAZY!! So my second time around, I had nubain, which doesn't really help the pain, but does relax you in between contractions, which is nice because there is then more energy later for the pushing. My 3rd daughter, I decided to go for the epidural, and it didn't hurt at all, compared to all the other pain I was feeling. The doc said that I would feel the effects of the epidural in about 10 minutes, but 7 minutes later the baby was born!!! So I ended up with no pain relief for that one either, but after she was born I felt GREAT!! I am now pregnant with my 4th, (fingers crossed for a boy this time, cuz this one is my last) and plan to have an epidural.

As far as smoking marijuana while you are pregnant I personally beleive that it does not hurt the baby, as long as it is done in moderation. I used it as a pain reliever, (a couple hits to relieve back pain, a hit when i was very nausious, or a hit or two to help me sleep) with all three of my daughters, and they have all turned out great! In fact, the ob/gyn that I had with my 2nd daughter, was a marijuana advocate, and told me (off the record, of coarse) that if he could he would prescribe it for labor pains and pregnancy ailments. The appointment that I had with him was on around the 18th of April, when he said that, then on 4/20 I was at a legalization rally in the town i lived in at the time (Bloomington IN) and I look up on the stage and my doc was up there giving a speech about all of the things that he would precribe marijuana for if he could, and quite a portion of it was pregnancy related, including contractions, false labor, nausea, sleep issues, and more. My daughter was then born one week later, and when doc came in to check on us after she was born, i told him that I loved his speech, he just smiled at me. I miss him, he was great.
And for your other quesstion, about how to contractions feel. Try to relax as you feel them coming on, and they are not so bad.......however it does feel like someone is pulling from both side on your uturus, how hard they are pullling depends on how much you can relax.
Good luck to you.......

 

Ever since my epidural, I have had crazy back problems. It took the anesthesiologist (spelling waaaay off) 3 times to get the damn thing in! I was pissed and regretted it immediately. It's tough though, cause a lot of hospitals try to bully you into getting one because you are a "bother".

 

I have one suggestion to make. Read Ina May's Guide to Childbirth by Ina May Gaskin.


contractions, for me, felt sorta like gas pains and sorta like mild menstrual cramps. They were nothing as scary as most people describe. They were definitely intense, but they were not what I'd call painful. Have heard they hurt much worse after the water breaks, but my water didn't break until the very end when baby's head was coming out.

An epidural might not hurt you, but it can possibly hurt your baby. Know the risks, all the risks, before agreeing to anything the doctor wants to do to you. I have a friend who went into cardiac arrest because of an allergic reaction to the epidural drugs, nearly had to have a heart transplant when her baby was three days old!

Marijuana has never been proven to have any negative impact on the developing fetus. I think there's a twenty pages thread in Women's Issues forum on this topic already, maybe you can search for it.

 

with my contractions, I didn't feel my uterus tightening....everyone else could, I couldn't. When I had one, the pain would start out higher in my belly and slowly work it's way down, getting more painful as it went down. Then it would work it's way to my back and then fade. I found what really helped me was putting the hospital bed into a full sitting position, sitting right up against it with my back curved and gripping onto the bars of the bed with my legs crossed that that pow wow position...then when I had a contraction, I would pull myself up with my arms and breathe through it. I went through about 6 hours of my labour like that.
as for the epidural....I had one only because they put me on an insane amount of pitocin (w/o my permission) and i went from embracing the contractions as they got harder to feeling like i wanted to just die because they just got horrible out of nowhere. Compared to the contractions, it didn't hurt. I actually was having one while they put it in, and it actually helped with the contraction, lol.
Next time, I'm definately opting for no epidural, and no hospital, at that.
I didn't use any pot during pregnancy....I don't use them when I'm not pregnant, either, though. I wouldn't take the risk either....there's no proof that it harms the baby, but I still don't want to take the chance. I abstained from almost everything that would seem even remotely harmful...no medications, certain types of foods, candy....the only thing that i did indulge in were coke slurpees...i craved them like hell, especially since heavily pregnant through summer.
but yeah, welcome to the forums. you'll find lots of useful and wonderful advice here!

 

Yes, please do! You have no idea what you can be missing unless you've read this book. It should help you ease sooooooo many (if not all) of your fears. Beautiful, as is her book "Spiritual Midwifery". I recommend Guide to Childbirth a bit more though.

I am a midwifery student, so I can recommend quite a few books, but PLEASE, by all means, read that one!

 

I work in drug rehab so I'm supposed to say that marijuana like all drugs is bad for you, bad for the baby, just plain bad. However, in my opinion, marijuana is a wonder plant. It is good for so many things. As other posters have said, pain during your pregnancy, nausea, labor, it's great for all of it. However, in most states, it is a crime to use during pregnancy, (or any other time for that matter) and can result in losing custody of your baby. I have had women in my program because the state took their baby because the baby tested positive at birth for marijuana. I advise women on here to stop smoking at least 6 weeks before your baby is due. You still take a risk that your baby will be born early and you get caught that way. In most hospitals in New Jersey where I live, if you are single, on welfare, and especially if you are black you will be drug tested at birth and so will your baby. And they will not tell you that they tested you until the social worker shows up in your hospital room.

The only real effect that marijuana will have on your baby is from the smoking itself, not from the herb. Smoke, no matter what the substance, has carbon monoxide in it and can cause low birth weight and other things. But that's any smoke. The only problem with marijuana that I've ever heard of is a possible mutation of the sperm that will make it harder to become pregnant, no problems once you are pregnant.

As far as labor, for me, it was like an intense pulling from the middle of my abdomin around toward the back. The uterus would get hard during this pulling. The intensity would get stronger and stronger as labor went on. I've had one child with gas and all kinds of drugs and four naturally. Let me tell you, if by some miracle, I were ever to get pregnant again, I would go as natural as possible. The one labor that I had drugs with was by far the worst. When my children were born an epidural was not an option. But I have had them for other surgeries. I don't consider it a painful procedure, except for the last time when the idiot could not find the right spot. I was quite badly bruised and had back pain for days after that one. The thing that bothered me about my medicated labor was that I had no control over my emotions or anything. Without the drugs I could focus on the baby and sail through the contractions.

May you have a happy pregnancy and a beautiful painfree labor and delivery. Blessings to you and your baby.

Kathi

 

I was on Medicaid and was drugged tested (and baby too) at birth. Also, doctors in my state are allowed to drug test pregnant women without consent.

 

well my baby was breech so i didnt have labour..

im pretty sure the pot keept us both alive it was the only think that took aaway the constant nausa and vomiting every 3 minutes the only time i could ever keep any thing down including water
i was in hospital a few times and they couldnt gime me any thing that worked..
she turnd out perfect