How did you..

[harmonicker]

.....educate yourself for you first pregnancy on parenting?

[PaxMamma]

i listened to my highly intervention-minded staff of docs and took the hospital courses--blah! (barfing smiley here)

[Rebecca]

Read lots of books! Pregnancy books, Nursing books and for parenting, or at least taking care of the baby - The Baby Book. I also had found an online forum of like-minded mamas and read about their experiences a year before I got preganant. (Finding them wasn't planned, I just got lucky).

[dharmagrlpa]

To prepare for a natural childbirth, I read Ina May Gaskin's "Spirital Midwifery".

It really helped set the stage for a beautiful expirence.

[dharmagrlpa]

Opps, forgot to add that you may want to take a good childbirthing class.

I love the Bradley Method. Worked wonders for me.

[althara]

Read, read, read! I found Birthing From Within, Hypnobirthing, kellymom.com, askdrsears.com, mothering.com, and several AP forums to be the most helpful things during my pregnancy. I also found all of those websites to be helpful after birth, and even now.

[LisaS]

i listened to my highly intervention-minded staff of docs and took the hospital courses--blah! (barfing smiley here)

That was me! I'm glad I made changes after my first delivery and wish I wasn't high risk to be able to control more of my birthing experiences.

I think the best preparation is to read anything you can get your hands on so you can be well informed to make your own decisions. Forums, like these, can also provide a wealth of information.

[PaxMamma]

That was me! I'm glad I made changes after my first delivery and wish I wasn't high risk to be able to control more of my birthing experiences.

yeah, my 2nd preg. was totally different. not one med from beginning to end and postpartum, including ds2. used a midwife, planned on waterbirth, but, oops, he came too quick!

[harmonicker]

yes yes...I forgot to add how I did :)

Ditto on the books...the wrong books..lol..what to expext when you are expecting..
listening to too many people put the fear factor in me about don't do this don't do that..no good advice on what to do at all!
...my OB was as mainstream as they get.
My husband was the one who actually encouraged me to breastfeed our son. I cannot remember how that ever came about! Good thing I listened to him then!

So I did end up with an unplanned c-section becasue the doc needed my baby out by 7:30pm. 14 hours of labour with a c-section to end.

The Womanly Art was my book of revealtion with child #1 after he came..and then with DD #2 I was ready to go planned out everything to a T and had a VBAC and no meds and read Birthing from Within.

[Giselle]

i listened to my highly intervention-minded staff of docs and took the hospital courses--blah! (barfing smiley here)

me too!

I wish I knew then what I know now, but I did get to have a wonderful natural (intervention and medication-free) birth with my second.

I did read lots of breastfeeding books with my first pregnancy, but we had tons of issues (breastfed, but highly supplemented) since she was a preemie. The knowledge came handy though with my second!

[Giselle]

yeah, my 2nd preg. was totally different. not one med from beginning to end and postpartum, including ds2. used a midwife, planned on waterbirth, but, oops, he came too quick!

ok, wow! are we the same people? :D exactly same story! i wanted a waterbirth with second, but he came too quick! i was pushing on the way to the hospital.

[PaxMamma]

yes, my name's giselle. we ARE the same :D

[Giselle]

yes, my name's giselle. we ARE the same :D

LOL :D I knew it!

[pegmum]

I read "Our Bodies, Ourselves" about the time we decided to TTC and became much more aware and quite passionate about women's health. When I became pregnant, I knew I wanted to get a midwife and do things naturally. I found an online reading list (on the webpage for a local doula collective) and picked up the first 3 books on it: Birthing From Within, Sheila Kitzinger's book (forget the title) and Mothering Magazine's Having a Baby Naturally.

We found a Birthing From Within pre-natal class and that started things.

I was supposed to have 3 weeks between when I finished work and when I was due. I was hoping to pick up The Baby Book during this time (another book from the reading list ;) ) but then someone decided to arrive 3 weeks early, on my first day of mat. leave! lol so i didn't get to it.

So the first few weeks were a total blur, I knew very little (only what I'd read in handouts from my class & MW, but even then, i'd mostly just read up to and including L&D with the intention of finishing later!) So I just did what my gut told me to do and hoped for the best.

once connor was around 5 weeks I was able to read while he napped in my lap. Almost finished The Baby Book cover to cover in a few days and thought, cool, this stuff i've been doing has a name and it's AP :D

[krasota]

I read an awful lot. I also spent a lot of time thinking and "unthinking". I just thought about trusting myself and my own intuition and instincts. And I decided to simply trust my body and my mind.

So far it seems to be working.

I do need to work some more on non-violent communication. I'm not talking about the physical so much as the verbal. I tend to be sarcastic, snarky, and obnoxious. I'd like to work on some more consensual language. I do think I need to read more about this and help myself to be more mindful in the way I speak and do things.

[Asher]

These books changed my life (no kidding) while I was pregnant. Sorry I don't remember most authors.
Magical Beginnings Enchanted Lives by Deepak Chopra
The Big Book of Birth
Birthing From Within
Spiritual Midwifery by Ina May Gaskin
The Thinking Woman's Guide to a Better Birth
Birth Without Violence

[b_light]

I lucked into finding attachment parenting years before we planned on starting a family. Actually, I'm pretty sure I wasn't even married yet. I was off to save the world, and one day found myself reading parenting books, haha. I felt so weird buying them at the store, but at the same time knowing I was doing something important.

Because of where I chose to give birth, I was a few hours from home for 3 weeks before my son was born--with basically nothing to do. I reread every parenting book I owned (a couple times for some).

[cmsobleo]

i listened to my highly intervention-minded staff of docs and took the hospital courses--blah! (barfing smiley here)

Same here - except my daughter was ultimately born by emergency C-section after my water broke but I wasn't dilating fast enough, and her heart rate was dropping with every contraction. My OB's comment upon opening me up was "she's wrapped like a yo-yo in her cord!" Could very well have lost her if I hadn't gone C-section.

Came to AP mostly on instinct and a comment my mom (an educator, parent, grandparent, foster parent - though I wouldnt say an AP parent) made about "attachment parenting" philosophy. She really never gave much detail, Im not even sure she wasnt talking about psychological attachment philosophy. But anyway, it started me on an information search that led me to API- so a happy accident at least!

DH and I are actively working with fertility docs to try for our 2nd child and I would love to have a VBAC as natural as possible. But I have also made peace with the fact that I am greatful all our modern medical technology is available, because in the wake of my DD's birth I realized that I think it is just as important to plan for when/why you are willing to let go of your birth plan in the face of the unexpected. No one - not even the highly interventionist staff had discussed that with me ahead of time. The only lingering regret/anger I have is the fact that I was ultrasounded 3 days before DD's delivery and no one ever identified the abnormal position of her cord!

Carrie - mom to Anna(3/9/04) by Csection

[shermantribe]

To be honest, if I had any questions I called my husbands ex-wife. I watched too much Baby Story and shows about birth anomalies. I read parenting magazines and in the end, it was my husbands ex-wife who gave me the most info. She didn't leave anything out...had it not been for her I would not have known the placenta did not come out with the baby. I am more in tune with my body now, and my husband is more comfortable with a homebirth....this is our fifth kid together. Just trust your body.

[layla]

read everything i could find on the internet.

unfortunately i ignored anything about cesareans and was tricked into one.

second time i read all the books i could get my hands on, talked to people, people i would have thought insane the first time, read and re read and read again laura shanleys page...

and if i ever get pregnant again i still have so much to learn! :)

[jen0608]

Yeah, we need it, because we need to know the necessary precautions for a pregnant woman