posted
I think I could usually recognise Russian (and basically former USSR) girls. They look more Eastern than Polish, or, say Czech girls. They dress differently, too.
[ March 09, 2004, 08:37 AM: Message edited by: Kama ]
Posts: 5700 | Registered: Feb 2002
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quote: Yep... wider hips = easier childbirths, less pain, less deaths...
I submit that when you are in excruciating pain, there comes a point where more pain isn't even noticed. Like, when you're at a point when all you really want to do is DIE, that's pretty much a peaking point.
So, if smaller hipped people have more pain, I don't think it's even noticable beyond what's being experienced.
Brief pain summary of one of my actual childbirths (These were all real thoughts going through my head):
1. Do dee-do. *big grin* I'm in labor? Six centimeters, really? Wow, who'da thunk?
2. Wow, this is getting really uncomfortable. It's getting harder to keep a smile on my face. I need to tell the visitors that I don't think I'll be able to see anyone.
3. Lord, this is really painful. I don't know how I'm going to make it with no drugs but PLEASE be with me and help me through.
(It's at this point where I had basically lost my mind and became an animal.)
5. OHGODOHGODOHGOD(I can't BELIEVE I DIDN'T GET THE DRUGS HOW COULD I BE SO STUPID I WILL NEVER DO THIS WITHOUT DRUGS AGAIN)OHGODOHGODOHGOD DON'T TOUCH ME! OHGODOHGODOHGOD
Of course, I started out with somewhat small hips anyway. (Not anymore though...hehehe.)
By the way, I need to say that I like mack! She is TOTALLY on my list of human beings now.
Posts: 6367 | Registered: Aug 2003
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posted
yep, definately a pick up line. He paid for your drink, tried to start a conversation about something ambiquous (sp?) -- are you sure he didn't ask for your phone number after that?
posted
Oh, Jamie. *thwap* Yes, it was a pick-up line.
Your next action should have been to grin at him and ask him about the last time he was in Europe. Then, you talk about the trip, you get to explain the Irish thing, and then you have to go but he leaves with your phone number.
Posts: 26077 | Registered: Mar 2000
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posted
This thread is another iteration of why Mack and I need females in our family circle. How are you supposed to know stuff like that?
Posts: 26077 | Registered: Mar 2000
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posted
*thwaps Mack* (you deserve every thwap you get on this one dear... a guy paying for something is pretty blatant!)
This reminds me of a time, before Steve and I started dating when he walked up to me and said "Man your eyes are blue" and I laughed at him and told them they hadn't changed color recently and basically that he was an idiot. Three days later it sunk in...
Actually for some reason I find paying for your coffee at 7-11 much cuter and less skeezy than someone paying for your drink at a bar. Now was he the cashier or someone else who randomly happened to be there?
AJ
Incidentally the rumour mill at work had me engaged and getting married soon and I didn't even know it. I told the person that asked that I may live with him but I'm not engaged until you see a ring on my finger. And that the thought of planning a wedding gives me a fit of the vapors so it isn't happening any time in the near future!
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When I was in kindergarten, I very seriously informed the teacher that my mother hadn't been able to sign the permission slip the night before because she'd had a fit of the vapors.
Good night, do I love the vapors.
Posts: 14017 | Registered: May 2000
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posted
I believe it is a Victorian term that actually derived from ladies wearing their corsets too tight. But I'm trying to google and haven't found anything specific.
http://education.yahoo.com/reference/dictionary/entries/53/v0025300.html 5. vapors Archaic a. Exhalations within a bodily organ, especially the stomach, supposed to affect the mental or physical condition. Used with the. b. A nervous disorder such as depression or hysteria. Used with the.
Having recently gone through natural childbirth (about nine months ago) that really split my sides! Thanks for making me laugh today.
Posts: 7050 | Registered: Feb 2004
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posted
Jamie, he was trying to strike up a conversation with you, like almost everybody else has said.
Corwin - that was my landmark thread you had read (I'm surprised anyone even remembers it ) - I think a lot of the reason people thought I looked Eastern European was that my hair was very short (and I had the build of someone who walked everywhere all the time). While I was living in Bulgaria, most Bulgarians thought I was either German or Russian.
posted
*thinks the whole narrow hips vs wide hips = more vs. less pain in childbirth very discriminatory of slender hipped petite women*
I have narrow hips. To look at me (particularly before I had babies), you'd think wow, she'll have a tough time. I was a size 1 when I got pregnant with my son. *mutters a little about after-30 lbs* But having him was relatively easy. Minor pain meds, and it never really got that difficult.
By the same token, my dear friend at the time got pregnant soon after I had my son and we all thought "she'll have an easy time of it -- look at those hips", she even used to brag about them, figuring she'd squirt her kids out easy as pie. Instead, her labor and delivery was nightmarish, almost resulting in her death. Emergency surgery and the miracle of the blood bank saved her life. Her husband swore she would not have any more if he had anything to say about it.
(PSI, your description of labor is too funny. )
Posts: 5948 | Registered: Jun 2001
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posted
I don't have facts to back this up but I heard once that Ballet dancers actually have easier labors due to the flexibility of those muscles. And most ballet dancers aren't particularly wide hipped...
posted
Um, wide hips on the outer perimeter do not necessarily equal a large pelvis. I have both. (I had many x-rays done in my teens -- mild scoliosis.)
Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
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quote:When I was in kindergarten, I very seriously informed the teacher that my mother hadn't been able to sign the permission slip the night before because she'd had a fit of the vapors.
Ha! Really? That's so cool; that sounds so much like something I might have come up with! How did the teacher react?
Posts: 16059 | Registered: Aug 2000
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posted
As far as episiotomies are concerned, I figure I'm in trouble when I have kids. The only stitches I've ever had (after a mole was removed) , I reacted to. *imagines reacting to stitches after an episiotomy*
posted
What you don't want to happen is for the doc to open up a pack of stitches that were apparently defective, as in, they didn't dissolve. That was most uncomfortable.
I hope I never have any type of surgery again, after my last one my abdominal wound didn't close properly, the stitches dissolved but the wound still gaped open. I've always had trouble with stitches, my skin doesn't heal well.
Posts: 14428 | Registered: Aug 2001
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posted
There are ways to avoid having to have an episiotomy. Pregnant women who are interested in making a no-episiotomy delivery more likely might want to look into perineal massage. Additionally, many OB-GYNs do not do routine episiotomies any more -- it's a good question to ask when you're choosing one.
And even if one is necessary (or if tearing occurs), there are (I believe) alternatives to the usual stitch material -- another good thing to discuss with your doc. Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
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posted
Belle - That definately doesn't sound like fun. My mother had a similar problem after having a lumpectomy a couple years ago. Her body reacted to the stitches, and so the wound wouldn't close (it was open for almost a month ).
Posts: 5879 | Registered: Apr 2001
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posted
Great. Now I find out that anytime I picked up the tab for someone who forgot to bring (enough) cash to a convenience store / coffee shop / etc -- which I often do cuz 1) it ain't worth the wait for the manager to come over to reset the register, and 2) I'm absent minded enough to have forgotten my wallet on more than a few occasions and hated having to go back home/office only to return to the store/etc -- or commented on someone's unusual (though never displeasing) physical feature*, people assumed I was trying to pick them up.
*I have commented upon seeing eyes so blue that they were well beyond anything I'd encountered before -- as well as upon really really buff legs, style of dress, etc -- and was surprised that the receiver of my observation assumed I was being complimentary.
She gave me a very funny look, and when I got home that day, my mother was still laughing about the phone call. Posts: 14017 | Registered: May 2000
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posted
Isn't that interesting Belle? It's a speech pattern that seems to be dying out; if you read stuff from the 19th century, you'll see usages like that left and right, but the only people who currently use it (other than as an affectation) are elderly.
Posts: 16059 | Registered: Aug 2000
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posted
Rivka, from what I have seen, it is controvesial whether perenial massage actually helps or not. I was reading an online discussion between midwives and they all had some very different things to say on the matter. I just don't know.
After experiencing both doctor and midwife, I prefer midwives soooo much over doctors... but that is just my personal preference.
With this last baby, she went ahead and let me rip, which was fine with me. I had had episiotomies twice before, so I ripped right on the line, not to badly either. The worst is the "starburst" tear, eak! Never experienced that, don't want to.
Posts: 7050 | Registered: Feb 2004
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posted
*pat pat* Don't worry, kat. When, in time, you need to interview OBs, just ask to see a sample of their needlework.
Besides, compared to labor, even bad stitch discomfort is minor. And both are well worth the results. Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
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posted
Well, I only heard about perineal massage after my youngest was born -- I didn't know there were mixed views on it. That's good to know.
Two episiotomies, one tear -- episiotomy scars are easier to deal with, in my experience. And residents (my last was delivered by one, as my doc arrived too late) should be required to learn how to make LOOSE stitches! Until kid number three, I didn't know what my mother was talking about regarding stitch pain.
My preference is for a doctor, but a FEMALE one who has had at least one pregnancy. (Of course, then you have the potential complication of her being pregnant -- mine delivered my first a week before SHE had her baby.)
Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
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posted
Am I right in thinking that episiotomies can at least occasionally result in permenant incontinence? A friend of mine opted not to have one for that reason a few years back, but I'm not completely sure where she got her information.
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Boon
unregistered
posted
I'm not sure how that could happen, as episiotomies generally go in the other direction.
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"Women who had spontaneous births with episiotomy had similar outcomes compared with women without episiotomy. Performing an episiotomy did not prevent vaginal tears."
Third edit: Apparently, rectal incontinence is a possible complication.
I don't know...I've never had an episiotomy, and I had pereneal tearing with both children. I don't plan to have one with this child either, and my doctors agree. It's not that I'm opposed to them, but delivery was so rapid with the first, there wasn't time. I had VERY little discomfort from the stitches...the worst part of it was the shot to numb the area before they sew it up. After that, having to use a small bottle of warm water to clean up after using the bathroom was my only "complication".
I had episiotomies with my first child and my last child. But not the ones in between.
With my first, it was necessary because the doc needed to use forceps to deliver her FAST. It was one try with the forceps, then down the hall for a c-section because her heart rate went up alarmingly and wouldn't come back down. My doc is my hero, no c-section and he was so skilled that she didn't even have any bruises from the forceps, just a couple of red marks that were gone the next morning.
My second was born with no tearing. The first twin was born with no tearing, the 2nd twin decided to take after her big sister except her heart rate just disappeared. They did get it back again (it was a problem with the monitor) but he had to turn her in order to deliver her. That was exciting, he was doing an external version and the anesthesiologist was pumping me full of drugs preparing for a section. "Are you ready for the c-section Dr.?" "No, let me try to get her turned first..."
"Now, Dr.?" *anxiously*
"No, hang on.....okay, push real hard Adrian."
I was told later that everyone cheered and the nurses were talking about it for days. Apparently delivering twins with one breech is rare enough, most docs automatically section them. Turning a twin that had flipped during the delivery was another almost unheard of thing.
Like I said, he's my hero. He told me he didn't want to send me home to recover from a c-section with two newborns and a two-year old. Instead, the twins and I went home two days later, everyone healthy. Posts: 14428 | Registered: Aug 2001
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Anytime you get a bunch of chicks together conversation WILL eventually turn to periods or childbirth.
Posts: 6367 | Registered: Aug 2003
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I was scared out of my mind when I was pregnant with CR, because That Man I Married has an extremely large head, as does my family.
Think about it.
I was certain that The Boy would have a Charlie Brown head. Ow!
Luckily, babies' skulls are not fused, and 'squish'. CR did have a large head, but it was pointy for a little while TMI, right?
*/ends derailment*
mack-- The convenience store man was totally hitting on you. You are lithe and lovely and should accept the compliment with grace. Posts: 1545 | Registered: May 2002
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