Dilemma at 37 weeks

Hi All... I am preg. with twin boys at 37.3 weeks. My dilemma is this: My DH and I have decided to do a homebirth with a welltrained midwife. A week and a half ago I started getting PUPPS. The rash is terrible. It is EVERYWHERE. And I mean, no place left behind. I am miserable and haven't slept much...maybe 3 hours a night due to the itching. We have tried everything...oatmeal baths, Granpa's Pine Tar Soap, Hydrocortizone, homeopathic stuff, dandelion root, milk thistle, benedryl, acupuncture!

Last week I thought for sure (and so did my midwife) I would be going into labor. I was almost 4 cm dilated, 50% effaced. She stripped my membranes to help hurry things along. But now, it has been 5 days and no real labor. I have had lots of mucus stuff and even a bloody show on Sunday night. Anyway, I am miserable and trying to stay positive. But now, I am wishing we went with a doctor so that he could induce me. I should add too at my last appt on Friday, my weight was down 4 lbs. and their was moderate amt of white blood cells in my urine. Any advice, encouragement, distraction would help. Thanks so much.

 

I am so sorry you are so uncomfortable!! Sounds like you wont be for too much longer.
What would happen if you just went in to L&D at your hospital? Would you be seen by the OB on call?
Good luck to you, keep us posted!!! :youcandoit:

 

I am not sure what would happen if we checked into L & D at the hospital. It is all very awkward...my midwife is absolutely fabulous but she would get in trouble for the whole "twin" thing so she would have to rewrite my chart. It is such a pickle. On the one hand, we feel so strongly about a homebirth and the other (selfishly and miserably) I just want it over with. I want to hold my sweet boys. But with a midwife who is all about the natural and a husband who is as well...it is not really an option.

 

Has your midwife delivered twins before?
Are both babies transverse? I understand the home birth and being natural and comfortable...I just know that since I was delivering twins I had to do it in an Operating Room setting 'just in case'.
I am sure you have throughly gone over all this, I just dont know much about it!!
I do feel terrible that you are in so much discomfort, oh boy!!
Cant wait to hear your birth story, soon!! :babyflips: :babyflips:

 

:hug: you're almost there! bloody show is a really good sign that things will likely be under way soon. have you asked if your midwife would be willing to strip your membranes again? stripping membranes is one of those things that i'm pretty sure you can try again if it doesn't work the first time (usually when it doesn't work it's because you weren't close enough to going into labor on your own). i would also ask your midwife about castor oil, blue and/or black cohosh, nipple stimulation & sex to get labor underway. if nothing else, all of those things might help take your mind off of waiting. :hug:

 

Oh good idea's Rachel!!

 

Oh my dear.

I would not wish PUPPPS on my worst enemy. :hug: :hug: :hug: Have you tried Naomi's PUPPPS page? What I found to be most manageable was a little bit of the oral steroids to calm things down, + Pine Tar Soap baths 4xs a day + Vicks Vapo Rub + being cold. All of these measures plus a few other assorted things like aloe at least kept me busy. If I was slathering I wasn't scratching. :laughing:

As to distraction, do you have Netflix? Have you seen The Business Of Being Born? If you haven't, I think you'd really like it. I watched it and went to go take my 3rd bath of the day and my water broke. Also, watch The Happiest Baby on the Block. The video is pretty easy, not too long and will be very handy when you have 2 babies who cry and you can't remember up from down.

My final suggestion is that you get yourself a haircut and do any other grooming you like. You will not have time for a while so it's a good idea to get all that out of the way. It also helps you to feel more feminine for Rachel's advice. :spiteful:

Take PUPPPS one hour at a time. You can do this! Please PM me if you need more support. :hug:

 

I've never had PUPPS but a freinds of mine did. She was miserable! Personally if it was me you couldn't stop me form going to L&D and demanding an induction at the point you are at. Good luck and I hope it doesn't last too much longer.

 

+1

I realize your midwife would be in a pickle but if you are THAT uncomfortable and in pain/exhausted... you probably could use some help with an induction and delivering those babies soon! GL !

 

PUPPPS is helped with soaking in ice cold water. I had it for 5 weeks! I was so miserable. The only things that got relief were my hands and feet as I could soak them in ice cold water. I didn't have access to a pool or anything. If you can find someway to get in a pool or tub (a cold one) that will help. I couldn't go on steroids because of severe edema, but I hear those help, too.

 

We have pools at our apt complex and I was in ours A LOT. It did feel great.

 

No advice on PUPPS, but oh please let it ease up for you!!! No idea if this helps, but you might look into some time in a swimming pool. So nice for those last weeks that drag on.

But just wanted to share that I had my twins at home and it was a fantastic experience. Especially if you have a great midwife. Mine was amazing too. Still, my pregnancy dragged on and on. I kick started things with castor oil. Nothing else I tried worked: nipple stim, walking, B&B cochash. But they are things to keep you mind off the time. If you are as close as you sound, anything might help you too!

I second the grooming and netflix ideas also. Distract, distract, distract! Your boys will be here so soon.

Best wishes! Please keep us posted when you can.

 

Thanks everyone for the encouragement! I went to the midwife today and she checked me again and she said she could feel my bag of waters so low and I was much more effaced. So progress! For now, I am just going to distract, distract, distract! Unfortunately, I have a 4 yr old and 20 month old who demand a lot of attention right now, too...so I am just exhausted. But hopefully soon- I will be back to my old normal self and get to love on all four of my kidlets without the preggo lack of energy or awkwardness. ha. You guys are so great! Oh and yes, I have seen "The Business of Being Born." It completely changed my husband and I's perspective! Wow.

 

I thought you'd like it. After we watched it (I was 37 w 5 d pregnant) DH turned to me and asked me if we should to do a home-birth :laughing:. I think my son heard him and decided it was eviction time.

Do you have a full pantry/full freezer/full fridge? A few meals that can be thrown as they are in the crockpot or defrosted are super handy.

 

So excited to see someone else on here doing a homebirth!! I am currently 39 wks 2 days and there seems to be no end in sight. I'm only dilated to 1.5. We were hoping I'd go into labor tonight but no such thing is happening. We did everything to naturally induce yesterday and today but there's just nothing going on. Few contractions here and there but that's about it. I apprenticed as a midwife for 7 years before having children and 2 of the clients we had went to 40.5 and 41 wks with twins. One set weighed 8 and 8.5 lbs and the other set were both 9 lbs! My 1st set of twins came at 39wks 4 days so I figure I have some time more left to go. I never thought I'd make it this far in a 2nd twin pregnancy but it's now looking like I may actually see my 40 wk EDD still pregnant. These guys will be our 4th homebirth.

Sounds like your cervix is more ripe than mine is right now. Of the stuff we have tried evening primrose oil has worked very well in the past with 2 of my pregnancies. You can take it orally and also insert it vaginally as close to your cervix as you can get. It works the same way semen does, as it is full of prostoglandins. It also helps finish ripening it so that once labor does kick in it goes fairly fast since your body has less work to do. If you do use it just make sure you poke a hole in the oil capsule before taking it either orally or inserting it. Sometimes the outer part is so tough your body only gets minimal benefit from it due to the length of time it takes to break it down. The cohoshes work really well together but just make sure your mw can dose you on it...as too much can lead to increased risk of hemorrhage. Nipple stimulation works pretty well but it takes some consistency until labor's really good and going. Having dh participate is much more fun and not nearly so hard on your nipples as a breast pump. Castor oil is awful stuff and can increase the risk of babies having meconium before delivery...something you definitely don't want to do. It can also lead to diarrhea during labor which is a little more than embarrasing while pushing...not fun! But, all that being said...it does work!

You can defintely ask your mw to strip your membranes again. The fact that you've already had bloody show sounds like your only a few days away...maybe only 24-48 or so hrs! Your membranes can adhere back after a few hours once they have been stripped so you can try again. I read today that failure to start labor using this method is usually due to not taking long enough to do it. Ideally it should take about 5 minutes of gentle "sweeping" motions. We were supposed to try and strip mine today but my mw preferred I be at 2-3 cm in order to do it well. At 1.5 I wasn't far enough dilated to try. So, we tried everything else except the castor oil but nothing has come of it. Looks like I've got another week or so more. (sigh) I'm very ready for babies.

I feel for you on the PUPPS. I watched a close friend deal with it in her pregnancy and it was NO fun!! I'd stay away from L&D. You're looking at almost a guaranteed c/s with the on call dr having no prenatal history with you...even if you do go in with records. We ran into this problem with our 1st set of twins when my 1st dr terminated my care at 38 wks due to the fact I would not consent to a c/s he felt I needed just due to the fact I was 38 wks. Every dr we interviewed after having my care terminated would only do a c/s due to no prenatal history with me. At 39 wks we finally found a reknowned dr that also served as a backup dr for the local midwives. He delivered them once I went into labor naturally at almost 40 wks.

You can do this!! You're almost there!!

 

medicinemansgirl-
thanks so much for this post! you sound like you are so close!!! my midwife said yesterday that i had effaced much more, still the same dilation, and that my bag of waters is pretty much bulging and waiting to come out. my kids and i have had numerous dance parties trying to pop or break my bag of waters by dancing. ha. i thought last night my water broke but i guess i just peed because nothing else happened. oh the joys of being pregnant.
my midwife also said that there was no point in stripping my membranes again because it is already separated. so? ? ? now onto the waiting game.

 

They arrived! Thanks for all the encouragement Ladies! My little guys made it safe and sound early Friday morning. 3 minutes apart and a great home birth! We did it!! Emerson was 5lbs 8oz. and Sawyer was 5lbs. 9oz.

 

Congratulations!!!!

 

Congratulations!

 

Congrats!

 

congratulations! :yahoo:

 

Woohoo!! I'm so happy that you got the birth you wanted. Congrats!

 

Great news! So happy to hear it!

 

Congrats!!

 

YAY!!! CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!! :birthday: SWEET BABIES!!!!!

 

how wonderful!! Congratulations!!

 

what beautiful names and im so glad their birth went well...two positive hb stories in a row on this forum tonight for me! ive been in the throes of deciding whether or not we would birth at home and my heart keeps telling me its the right thing to do...but not enough stories to read! i hope you two ladies write your birth stories for me to read...i need it!!