A very sad but wonderful story…

A pregnant woman who was declared dead after suffering a brain aneurysm has given birth to twins after her body was kept alive for a month on a respirator. Read the story here..

A Houston woman has given birth to sextuplets.

Lauren and David Perkins announced on their website that doctors at Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston delivered three boys and three girls Monday.

The children were born prematurely, at just over 30 weeks, and the heaviest of them weighed 2 pounds, 15 ounces. But the couple says the mother and babies are in stable condition. They did not release the children’s names.

Congratulations and Good Luck!

One mom didn’t quite make it to a hospital for the birth of her third child. But, she was very close.

She and her husband knew the birth of their baby was imminent as they walked up the sidewalk to the hospital. But as they neared the entrance, Elissa realized she couldn’t make it inside. Josh says his wife got down on her knees next to a bench as he bolted into the hospital to find help.

By the time her husband ran back outside with medical personnel, Elissa had given birth, behind the bench. Mother and baby were rushed inside.

She lies writhing on the bed, under the scutiny of apathetic doctors. The seemingly dispassionate nurses finish the preparations. Bright lights, a hard bed, the many eyes watching are nothing but background noise for the oblivious woman crying in pain.

Everyone turns their focus to this woman. The nurses grab her legs and push them to her shoulders. The doctors gather around, pulling lights close to shine brightly on her opening yOni. The nurses give orders to “hold your breath and 1-2-3 push. Push, PUSH…Deep breath, quick, 1-2-3, PUSH-PUSHPUSH”. The father stands next to her, mimicking the nurses commands. Minutes of this continue, yet it seems like hours. She cries as if the center of her being is actually being sucked out of her. Little does she realize, it is. The doctor has cut her and attached a vacuum to her baby’s head and is actually suctioning her baby from her womb.

The baby cries. The nurses wrap the baby, give mom a quick look and rush the baby off to the nursery for the required 4 hour observation stay.

The mother, bare, exhausted and empty wimpers a cry for her baby, “I want my baby.”

No one listens.
Baby Cassandra was not so gently brought into this world. October 4th, 1990.

Regardless of the brutal birth, it was a happy time. Not to mention I was happy to have that birth experience behind me. Never have I experienced physical pain, even 4 births later, as I did my first labor and birth. I’d like to say it was unimaginable. However, I am certain there are moms who do know that feeling.

The pregnancy was easy, uneventful. The doctors and nurses I encountered during my prenatal exams were not the nicest. But we flew through easily enough. By 40 weeks of pregnancy, I was ready for birth. Being my first baby, I was beyond excited. How many more times could I wash the baby clothes, unfold and refold, hold them and imagine a tiny creation, my creation, fitting into these so small items? I walked, I whined. And I jumped the gun on October 3rd. I was not in labor, but allowed a friend to tell me the Braxton Hicks contractions I was having were the real thing and to hurry to the hospital. Who was I to argue? I was ready.

The nightmarish 32 hours began.

I should step back here and mention a few things. First, we were not married, we were young and we were on state insurance. We’d taken childbirth classes at the hospital that had the new womens center and birthing suites. We were excited. Only to find out that as of October 1st, my insurance switched and didn’t allow for me to have our baby at this new and wonderful place. Instead, I was to labor and birth at a hospital that later had it’s whole maternity floor shut down.

I did tour this hospital and asked the nurse, “Will I be able to use different birthing positions?” This had been strongly encouraged in our childbirth classes. We were told there their nurses would encourage and help.

The nurse at the hospital we’d be birthing at asked me to explain myself… I elaborated that I’d like to labor in a squat position, or on my hands and knees.

She replies with a smirk, “Oh, ask Nurse So-and-So this one.” While she opens a door to what I will assume was a break room for the nurses, as several nurses were sitting around. I repeat my question to the specific nurse. I don’t remember the answer, only the laughs that were generated throughout the room.

Embarrassed, discouraged I wanted to crawl into a hole. I already knew I was in for trouble.

Back to labor. We headed to the hospital where they put us in a little room with a little bed, a table and a chair. A cold room. They hooked me up to monitors, told me not to move and started an IV of pitocin. While I’m sure pitocin has it’s place, pitocin on a non-laboring woman, who is only 1 cm dilated is a bad idea.

I labored all day long, with wave after wave of excruciating contractions. I was out of my head. I only remember bits and pieces of the day.

I remember one doctor in particular coming to check my progress repeatedly. I called him “big hands”. I’d cry, “please, no”… his hands were so big. It was so painful.

I remember begging for an epidural. The pain radiated around my abdomen, into my thighs. The pain was horrible. My soon-to-be husband sat there. There was nothing he could do for this pain. There were no words of encouragement to offer. His mother came and took him to lunch. I labored alone. But even with him there, I was alone. There was no one for me.

Eventually, they decided that the pitocin drip needed to be stopped. They turned it off around 8 pm.. Twelve hours of non-progressing contractions. My contractions stopped. They assured me they’d start back up on their own in the night. At 10, the end of “visiting hours”, they sent my partner home. I was again alone. Just me and my baby belly.

I slept until around 2 that morning, when I was awoke with a contraction. Oh, it hurt.

I called the nurse. “Please, I want an epidural.”

Nurse tells me she’ll give me a shot.

A bit later, I plead, “please, I want an epidural.”

“Here,” the nurse tells me, “Have another shot of demoral. It will take the edge off.”

I didn’t need the edge off. I need the pain off. No pain. I was so tired. I hurt so bad. I clung to the bed rail, and begged, “please, oh please, make it stop hurting…” I cried. Only the poor new mother in the bed next to me heard my cries.

At 5 a.m., the nurse tells me I can call my husband-to-be back (note: how lovely, *I* got to call him, in all my pain). She also tells me that the anesthesiologist will be back in around 6. I wasn’t given an epidural because they didn’t want to call anyone in during the night. I lay in agonizing pain so someone could get all their sleep.

I get my epidural only to have it work only on one side. Unfair, just so unfair. They gave me more, and more.. and finally had someone check my reflexes. As if I were lying about the pain. Eventually, they gave up. It was time to birth.

They moved me from my little cold “Labor Room” to a gurney they wheeled across the hall into the “Birthing Room”. This is the surgical room. It’s cold, it’s unfriendly. From the gurney onto the surgery bed. Lights, people – everywhere. It no longer mattered. I just wanted, needed to have this baby.

The nurses told me to hold my breath, I held my breath. They chanted to push in their rushed, loud voices. I pushed. It felt good. I pushed and pushed. It was relief to the pain I’d felt for hours upon hours. The doctor cut, attached the vacuum and pulled my little baby straight from my womb, I ripped more. Nothing gentle and beautiful. Ahhh… but it was done. The pain was gone.

They took Cassie away. Stitched me up with several stitches. Wheeled me to a room, where I layed flat on my back to “recover” in what was no longer referred to as my “Labor Room” but instead the “Recovery Room”.

After some time, a nurse comes in and aggressively pushes on my uterus. She says it’s to make it contract. I feel a huge rush of blood as she pushes on me. It soaked the bed under me. I cried again…”I want my baby.”. Again, it fell on deaf ears.

Four hours, I’m reunited with my first baby. It was worth every second of pain. I’d do it all again. I do not, however, feel that what I went through was necessary and I do feel it could have been much different. But, it was my experience and I won’t wish it away.

The rest of my hospital stay was no better than my laboring and birth experience. But I had babe in arms and I was happy.

Today, at the time of this writing. My little baby turned 15 just a few short hours ago. Amazing how time flies. I don’t remember all that happened during this labor and birth (probably a good thing) and time has surely distorted some of my memories.

by Judi

1.  You look like you’re about to PoP!

2. Are you having Twins?

3.  When are you due, last week?

4.  How much weight have you gained?

5.  Enjoy ____ while you still can!

6.  You are eating for two!

7.  What are you having?  or Do you know what it is? (a dog. I’m having a dog.)

8.  Are you going to have a natural birth?  (no, i will have this baby via teleportation)

9.  He/She is going to be a soccer player!

10.  Your vagina will never be the same.

Most twins share a uterus before birth. That wasn’t the case for a set of fraternal twins born recently in Florida – because their mother has two uteruses, an exceptionally rare condition known as uterus didelphys.

Doctors put the odds of such a pregnancy at one in five million, according to a written statement released by Morton Plant Hospital in Clearwater, Fla., where the twins were delivered via C-section on Sept. 15. It happened only because two eggs were released and fertilized at the same time.

Nathan and Natalie Barbosa are home now and doing well, the St. Petersburg Times reported. Their 24-year-old mother, Andreea Barbosa, learned of her unusual anatomy four years ago, after a routine exam.

A double uterus can render women infertile, according to the website of the Mayo Clinic. But the babies were conceived without assisted reproduction, according to the paper.

Andreea developed a common pregnancy complication known as placenta previa and got ultrasound monitoring, but otherwise the pregnancy progressed uneventfully. Her obstetrician, Dr. Patricia St. John, said, “She had a perfect pregnancy.”

And her imperfect anatomy? Only one in 2,000 women worldwide have uterus didelphys, according to the statement. Doctors don’t know what causes it but say it may be associated with kidney abnormalities, according to the Mayo Clinic. That suggests it might develop before birth.

Symptoms of uterus didelphys include unusual pain or bleeding, such as blood flow despite the use of a tampon.

Most mom’s would do anything for their babies…even grandbabies… Eva Ottosson, 56, is donating her uterus to her 25-year-old daughter, Sara, who was born without reproductive organs, in hopes that she’ll be able to have a baby. (If the surgery is successful, Sara and her boyfriend will use in vitro fertilization to conceive). The groundbreaking womb transplant, set to take place in Sweden next year, has been attempted only once before, but that transplanted womb had to be removed a few months after the procedure due to complications. Maybe this mother-daughter duo will be more successful, like the 61-year-old woman who gave birth to her own grandchild in February.

Another above-and-beyond mom? Forty-year-old mom-of-two Diane Kieras-Ciolkos is serving as a surrogate for her best friend, who suffers from cystic fibrosis, a pulmonary disease which can cause pregnancy complications. The two, who have been friends for 30 years, had to endure serious psychological testing to get accepted at a fertility clinic. Stay tuned — Diane is due in July.

But one California mommy literally went through a labor of love (two days worth, to be exact) and gave birth to a 14-pound baby via C-section. Her newborn boy, Matthew, surprisingly didn’t break the Guinness World Record: A boy in Canada was born at nearly 24 pounds in 1879.

Would you serve as a surrogate for a friend who couldn’t carry her own baby?

Here is a true story about a pregnant woman accused of shoplifting a basketball!

It seemed that earlier that year an expectant mom had been accused of attempting to shoplift a basketball and had been forced by store security to prove that she hadn’t. The humiliation of the incident apparently contributed to the onset of early labor, with her son being born a scant day later, a full month before the stork had been expected to come in for a landing.

Once the incident was behind her, the woman sued the store for what she’d been put through. And it was news of this lawsuit that made it onto the newswires in June 1985.

The full story was far less titillating than one- or two-line summations of the incident made it out to be.

On 13 February 1985, a very pregnant Betsy Nelson of Arlington, Virginia, was detained on suspicion of shoplifting by Irving’s Sport Shop, a sporting goods store in Seven Corners, Virginia. She had gone there to look for a rowing machine to help her get back in shape after the upcoming birth of her child, a joyous event not expected for another full month.

She didn’t find what she wanted, so she left the store to browse in an adjacent mall. She was fetched back to Irving’s by the store’s assistant manager and a security guard. A cashier had told her supervisor that Nelson had stolen a basketball and put it under her dress.

Nelson was held at the store for about thirty minutes, where she was given the option of either opening her garments and proving she hadn’t stashed anything in them, or going to the police station. She chose to clear up the matter on the spot.

“I had to disrobe in front of six male security guards and police officers in the store,” Mrs. Nelson said. “I had to take off my jacket, sweater and lift up my blouse.”

“Disrobe” was a loaded word to have chosen, as most people equate it with the removal of all of one’s clothes. Nelson had been required to doff her jacket and sweater and shake out her maternity top, a procedure which would have dislodged any purloined merchandise. At no point in the proceedings was she in a state of undress, at least not according to the descriptions of her treatment she gave to the press.

No basketballs were shaken loose, nor anything else that wasn’t Mrs. Nelson’s by right. The incident concluded with the assistant manager’s apologizing to her.

Months later, Nelson filed suit against Irving’s. She was seeking $100,000 in compensatory damages and $500,000 in punitive damages from the store, charging false arrest and negligence on the part of store employees. No information on how this lawsuit was ultimately decided surfaced in the press, leading us to believe it was resolved out of court.

Did the case deserve the media attention it garnered? Yes and no. Yes, in that we put motherhood on a pedestal in this society, so the thought of an expectant mother-to-be’s being mistakenly treated like a common criminal is abhorrent to us, as is the mental image of someone in that condition being bullied into having to expose (parts of) herself. No, in that shoplifting is a retail reality, something that stores have to combat every day. Without the ‘expectant mom’ angle, Nelson’s experience didn’t seem to have been unduly unpleasant, and indeed it appeared to have been well handled compared to how it could have gone.

Retail shrinkage (unexplained loss of merchandise) due to shoplifting is rampant, and for women a favored method of getting anything out of a store unquestioned is to put it up under one’s dress, on the often-correct assumption no one will detain a pregnant mom or even risk suggesting she might have been helping herself to a ten-finger discount. The sanctity of impending motherhood has aided a number of professional shoplifters to live quite comfortably.

Does that mean every pregnant woman should be eyed as a potential shoplifter? No, not even close. But on the other hand, if a store clerk sees what she thinks is a theft in process, she’s justified in having the suspect detained and checked out, impending motherhood or not.

A popular bit of lore (included here only because it too features pregnant women and stores) is the apocryphal tale of an expectant mom whose water breaks while she’s grocery shopping. She retains her presence of mind, quickly grabbing a jar of pickles off the shelf and deliberately dropping it. The pickle juice masks the amniotic fluid puddling around her feet.

Some have taken that story to heart, even suggesting expectant moms should carry jars of pickles with them once they near their due dates in case their water breaks in public.

When you’re pregnant, weird things happen to you, but one of the stranger ones is the changes to your dreams. If you can get good sleep, that is. Really vivid, really strange dreams.

I often have nightmares, but when I was pregnant my dreams weren’t scary usually — they became really weird.

In talking to friends about their dreams during pregnancy, I noticed some categories that a lot of the dreams seem to fall into. Let’s decode them.

#1. The Announcing Dream

It can take anywhere from a couple weeks to a couple months to know if you’re pregnant for sure, but a lot of women (myself included) have reported having a dream in the first few weeks about being pregnant or having a newborn baby they “know” is theirs in the dream. This has become common enough that that is the official name, and it’s been mentioned in books and even on The Ghost Whisperer. There is some suggestion that the announcing dream is the point where the baby’s spirit or energy enters the body, and that if your baby’s gender can be deciphered from the dream, it’s a pretty accurate indication.

#2. The Thin Skin

You know that Photoshopped picture where you can see the details of a baby’s foot pushing out of the mom’s belly? A lot of women have reported dreams like that, where they can literally feel their baby through a very thin layer of skin on their bellies. It seems that this is most common towards the end of the pregnancy when Mom is getting anxious to be able to really touch her baby with her bare hands.

#3. The Birth Trial Run

Women who are learning about birth and starting to form an opinion about the kind of birth they want often have a dream where they either go through the birth or see bits and pieces of it. For example, I wanted to do a birthing center birth but didn’t have it as an option, so I was stuck between a hospital birth or home birth (which I should have done), so I had a dream that I had a nice comfy bedroom in a hospital setting with a big bed and no doctors anywhere to be seen. I’d already given birth, but the meaning was obvious.

#4. Lots of Water and Water Creatures

Considering your baby spends 38 to 42 weeks in a watery environment, and your body is swelling with fluids, it’s no wonder lots of women have dreams about water balloons, oceans, chugging water until her belly swells, or even that her baby is a tadpole, especially in the first trimester. Towards the end of the pregnancy, generally dreams have more to do with big eruptions of water. Gee, what could that represent?

#5. Non-Human Babies

I already mentioned dreaming you gave birth to a tadpole, but it’s really common too for women to dream they birth something like a kitten or other animal. What this represents I have no freakin’ clue. Possibly a disassociation with the pregnancy, often in the early days where the concept of it “really being a baby” is still hard to wrap your mind around … or maybe you’re just a Furry? Don’t answer that.

#6. Scary, Baby-Stealing Dreams

Lots of women have fears about losing their baby, both before and after they’re born, and often their husband’s inability to help them. This frequently manifests in dreams; for example, my friend was pregnant with twins and dreamt that while she slept next to her husband, a scary man with red eyes, a red cape, bare chest, and black pants crept up her stairs. She beat and even bit her husband, knowing the man was coming, but her husband was useless. The man came into her room, ended her husband in a gory way, and then was coming around to her side of the bed, where she “knew” he was going for the babies in her belly. Yikes.

But things like that can often lead to:

#7. Fighting for Your Family Dreams

The creation of your family is also the first time you’ll really realize what it’s like to wear your heart on your sleeve. In dreams, when threatened, some women start playing out situations where they have to protect their families from would-be attackers of human or animal varieties. When Rowan was smaller, my dreams consisted of hiding with him, but I always knew we’d be caught and forced myself to wake up first. By the time Aurora came around, I guess I was done with being timid in my dreams, and I started fighting back. After one incredibly brutal dream that took place in my house where I fought off a bad guy to his demise, I remember my final thought before I woke up: “I wonder if the rental company will charge us for the blood stains in the carpet?”

#8. Sex Dreams

Some of the websites I looked at suggested these are often because the woman is worried about her partner finding her attractive, but you know what? I’m betting it has more to do with surging hormones and, especially at the end of the pregnancy, super-increased blood flow to the breasts and genitals, taking away supply from your noggin … much like being a man, I assume.

#9. Dreams of Being Pampered

Sometimes the mom-to-be really would love to paint her toenails or shave her legs but just can’t reach. Or dreams of a massage or other beauty treatment is just barely out of reach. It’s not all that surprising that third trimester women often dream about being pampered … sometimes turning into dreams like #8.

Have you had any of these dreams yet?

By Christie Haskell

Is it safe to continue having sex during pregnancy?

The majority of couples can still have sexual intercourse during their pregnancy. Your baby is surrounded and cushioned by amniotic fluid, and protected by your uterus and a layer of muscles. And the mucus plug inside your cervix helps guard against infection. Sex during pregnancy can be more enjoyable, even if your are doing it less. There is an increase in vaginal lubrication, engorgment of the genital area helps some people become orgasmic for the first time or multi-orgasmic, the lack of birth control, or if you have been trying for awhile, a return to sex as pleasure as opposed to procreational, and other reasons. On the other hand there are reasons why sex might not be as pleasurable: fear of hurting the baby, nausea, fatigue, awkwardness, etc. While women may feel large and uncomfortable, men generally find the pregnant body very erotic and desirable. It is important that you and your partner discuss the feelings you each have abouut sex. Even if sex is not an option, there are many other way of fullfilling the intimate desieres. More cuddling, romantic dinners, kissing, mutual masturbation and other intimate likings are all possibilities.

Third Trimester Sex:
It is is generally safe to engage in sexual intercourse during the third trimester. It is not safe if you’re bleeding or have a placenta that’s in front of the baby’s head–placenta previa. With placenta previa, if the penis comes in contact with the cervix or you have contractions as a result of orgasm, it can traumatize the placenta and cause significant enough bleeding that you lose the pregnancy. Also you shouldn’t have sex if your membranes are ruptured (water breaks) because then the baby is no longer protected against any possible infection. It’s also risky to have sex if it’s early in your third trimester and you’re having premature labor or you have a short cervix, because an orgasm can stimulate contractions. But if you’re having a healthy normal pregnancy there’s no risk, though as you get larger, it may be uncomfortable, requiring you to be creative about your position.

Anal Sex:
Anal sex during pregnancy is usually safe as well. However, if you have hemorrhoids, remember that they tend to become larger during pregnancy. And if your hemorrhoids are bleeding and you have anal sex, you can lose a considerable amount of blood, which can endanger you and your baby. You should never go from anal to vaginal sex without cleaning up first and changing condoms if you’re using one — otherwise you put yourself at risk for bacterial vaginitis, and there’s some concern that this infection can cause preterm labor or make your water break early. Also, unless you’re in a monogamous relationship and know that you and your partner are HIV-negative, you should use a condom, because HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) are transmitted through broken skin.

Oral Sex:
Licking the vagina is fine, but it’s not safe to blow into the genital area. Forcing or blowing air into the vaginal and urethral areas is very dangerous. Theoretically, if your partner blew hard enough, it could cause an embolism (bubble of air) to develop in a blood vessel in that area, and that could be lethal for you or the baby. Giving oral sex is also okay as long as you are comfortable. There’s no danger to the baby from swallowing semen. As long as you’re in a monogamous relationship and know that your partner is free of STDs, there’s no risk. If your partner is HIV-positive, it’s not safe because the virus is present in semen, and you and your baby could become infected if you swallow it.

Vibrators And Dildos:
It’s generally safe to use a dildo during pregnancy. You do want to be extra careful not to penetrate too forcefully since plastic is more rigid than flesh. If you have placenta previa, using a sex toy (or, for that matter, having intercourse) could traumatize the placenta and cause heavy bleeding that could jeopardize your pregnancy. If you’re at risk for premature labor, having an orgasm could cause contractions. And if your water has broken, there’s a risk of infection to the baby. In any case, make sure the dildo is clean, and don’t share it without cleaning it. If you’re having a healthy pregnancy, it’s safe to use a vibrator. But if you’re at risk for preterm labor, it can be risky to have an orgasm since it can stimulate contractions.

Lubricants:
Although very safe, you may find that you dont need an additional lubricanat during pregnacy. Your cervix is plugged with mucus during pregnancy so there’s no danger of the lubricant getting up to the baby. Just make sure it’s water-based if you’re using condoms since petroleum-based products will put holes in them.

When Not To Have Sex:

If you are experiencing preterm labor
If you have placenta previa
When your water breaks
Unexplained vaginal bleeding
Abdominal cramping
Cervical insufficiency
A dilated cervix
Outbreak of genital herpes
STD’s

http://www.i-am-pregnant.com/encyclopedia/Pregnancy/Whats-Safe-and-Unsafe/Sex