Speaker 1: You're listening to a Muma Mia podcast.
Speaker 2: Mama Maya acknowledges the traditional owners of land and waters
Speaker 2: that this podcast is recorded on.
Speaker 1: I am pregnanty.
Speaker 3: Welcome to Hello Bump.
Speaker 2: We're making pregnancy less overwhelming and hopefully more manageable.
Speaker 3: I'm Grace Rubray.
Speaker 2: I'm pregnant for the first time and my clothes definitely
Speaker 2: don't fit me now.
Speaker 1: I'm Aana Pittman. I'm a mother of six, and I'm
Speaker 1: an obstetric and guyany a registrar, and I'm also a
Speaker 1: former Olympian for Australia.
Speaker 2: Each week, we will be holding your hand week by
Speaker 2: week through the mysterious, perplexing and sometimes well forever changing
Speaker 2: miracle that is pregnancy, all the way from a poppy seed.
Speaker 3: To a pumpkin.
Speaker 1: Week thirty two.
Speaker 3: What random objects have you got for me this week? Jana?
Speaker 1: A garden gnome. But that's a look at least it's humanoid.
Speaker 2: Yeah to a degree. Yeah, that's like you can pick
Speaker 2: that up, you could cradle that, you.
Speaker 1: Could practice yes, being mummy with that for sure.
Speaker 3: I got a little kohala joey okay, like a quality.
Speaker 1: I had a movie popcorn as well. I'm not sure
Speaker 1: who came up with that one.
Speaker 3: I'm good with that. Scientifically, what are we.
Speaker 1: Around one point seven to one point eight kilos if
Speaker 1: Bubby's doing well, which is around forty two to forty
Speaker 1: three centimeters in length. But again, huge.
Speaker 3: Variation goes and what's happening to them.
Speaker 1: So baby's weight has pretty much doubled in the last
Speaker 1: couple of weeks, so they're going to be growing faster
Speaker 1: in length and putting on more fat again a little
Speaker 1: bit late last week. They're going to feel a lot
Speaker 1: more squished inside, so you'll see a lot more folding
Speaker 1: and purposeful movements. And what we mean by purposeful movements
Speaker 1: is they're starting to direct those movements. Whereas before they
Speaker 1: were almost reflexes and reactive. Now they're actually deciding to
Speaker 1: move their arms and stretch and open their fingers and
Speaker 1: stuck their thumb and things like that on purpose.
Speaker 2: So, like, if you can feel sometimes there's like going
Speaker 2: to erratic movement, is that one that's more they probably
Speaker 2: haven't thought about that. But if it's a slow one,
Speaker 2: it's more of a decision.
Speaker 1: I don't know, but maybe that also might be what
Speaker 1: you ate. Whether they're feeling a bit of a sugar ash,
Speaker 1: but babies definitely move more when they're getting more more food.
Speaker 1: So it's really interesting if you go and have like
Speaker 1: a nice b ice cream or something you might actually
Speaker 1: find or a big drink you might actually find a
Speaker 1: little bit later, your baby's having a full party in
Speaker 1: your belly. Yeah, which I mean used to be one
Speaker 1: of the Old wives tales when you're worried about baby's
Speaker 1: movements to actually go and you know, have a diet
Speaker 1: coke or something like that. Not ideal, like we want
Speaker 1: to actually see what your baby's doing when they're at rest.
Speaker 3: What's happening, what's happening to me, and what's happening to
Speaker 3: our bodies.
Speaker 1: Well, you might notice you are starting to leak a
Speaker 1: bit more now, so from your breast that is, and
Speaker 1: the vagina, so you are definitely having an increased discharge.
Speaker 1: Some people even find they start losing their mucus plug
Speaker 1: this early. It's okay, it comes back, Okay, it doesn't.
Speaker 1: It can mean a sign that labor is approaching, but
Speaker 1: it definitely doesn't mean that. So increase vaginal discharge is common,
Speaker 1: it's not always abnormal. It's always worth getting checked if
Speaker 1: it's odorous if you have a history of an STI
Speaker 1: in the past, because we again don't want your birth
Speaker 1: in with an STI which is klymodia or gonorrhea or
Speaker 1: something like that if it can affect baby and babies
Speaker 1: our growth. Example, we don't want baby getting climodia in
Speaker 1: their eyes and things like that, which can have some
Speaker 1: pretty serious effects for a baby. So if you have
Speaker 1: some abnormal discharge itching things like that, it's definitely time
Speaker 1: to come and have a swab and check what it is.
Speaker 3: If you lose your mucus plug, does that mean your
Speaker 3: cervix is open?
Speaker 1: No, No, definitely not. Well, I mean, look, it sits
Speaker 1: inside the cervix where that mucus is, and it's ultimately
Speaker 1: it's just it's basically mucus material. There's creating a little
Speaker 1: plug to stop bacteria going inside. So it's a protective
Speaker 1: component of your cervix. But now I've seen lots of
Speaker 1: mucus plugs come out and the cervix remains closed. But
Speaker 1: it is an indication. So you know, I certainly know
Speaker 1: with all of my babies that once my mucus plug
Speaker 1: came out, it was within a week or so that
Speaker 1: I had my baby.
Speaker 3: What's different to the mucus plug, to the amniotic fluid
Speaker 3: coming out.
Speaker 1: A creamy brown, sometimes a little bit bloods tinged. That's
Speaker 1: normally your mucus plug. Your waters now again will have
Speaker 1: a little caveat on that at the end. But your
Speaker 1: waters tend to be clear and they have a very
Speaker 1: distinct smell. Obviously I'm quite useful because I see smell
Speaker 1: it every day. But it's very different from urine. It's
Speaker 1: very different from discharge, and it's just like, oh, that's interesting.
Speaker 1: It's quite pregnant. Caveat as I said before, is that
Speaker 1: as not yet, guys, because babies don't very very rarely
Speaker 1: make maconium, which is baby poo at this point. But
Speaker 1: as you're getting closer to two, if your waters break
Speaker 1: and they are heavily bloodstained or they have maconium which
Speaker 1: is baby poo, that can be a different way that
Speaker 1: the amniotic fluid can look and if you have blood now,
Speaker 1: and I think it's probably a good point to actually
Speaker 1: for us to quickly touch on it. Women will bleed
Speaker 1: in pregnancy. We know that not all women hopefully you don't,
Speaker 1: but there is definitely women who will experience in aph
Speaker 1: it can often be things like, you know you have
Speaker 1: a low lying percent, you're at higher risk of bleeding.
Speaker 1: You might have problems with your cervix, a higher risk
Speaker 1: of bleeding, dry vagina, higher risk of bleeding. But it's
Speaker 1: definitely not something we want you to sit at home
Speaker 1: with even a small amount of bleeding. You need to
Speaker 1: give the birth team a call and just say, hey,
Speaker 1: this has happened. If it is a very small volume,
Speaker 1: they may be comfortable with you sitting at home. That's
Speaker 1: also going to depend where you live, if you live
Speaker 1: somewhere a long way from a major hospital. Ironically, they're
Speaker 1: the ones we do want to see because it takes
Speaker 1: time for us to escalate if there's a problem. But
Speaker 1: any bleeding more than more than some spotting still is
Speaker 1: to be seen, and most likely in person.
Speaker 2: Is this normal?
Speaker 1: Normal?
Speaker 3: Is this normal? Is a very dumb question.
Speaker 2: Okay, clothes are getting tight if you wear type clothing,
Speaker 2: for example, tights, and they're high waisted tights, but they're
Speaker 2: just going to be tighter on your belly.
Speaker 3: Now, can you cut off the blood?
Speaker 1: So no, that's what I thought you were going to say,
Speaker 1: But I'm like, I wasn't sure whether you were go
Speaker 1: well or not. It's more about discomfort, okay around for you,
Speaker 1: how you're feeling so baby. It's the same with you know,
Speaker 1: with a seat belt, it's still very safe to wear
Speaker 1: a seat belt in the car and in fact, even
Speaker 1: if you have an accident. Now again, guys, another one,
Speaker 1: if you have a car accident, if you fall on
Speaker 1: your belly anything, again, it's always a time you have
Speaker 1: to come for us to do what we call a
Speaker 1: four hour CTG. So we just basically wanted to a
Speaker 1: baby's heart rate for four hours, do a couple of
Speaker 1: blood tests, and check you're okay and baby's okay. But
Speaker 1: most of the time babies are very robust inside your
Speaker 1: belly because you have a lot of amniotic fluid there
Speaker 1: and it's a big cushion protecting your baby. So no,
Speaker 1: you can. I don't know any woman that would want
Speaker 1: to wear tight clothes at thirty two weeks, but if
Speaker 1: you want.
Speaker 2: To go for it, but then ayeh, they're getting their
Speaker 2: blood from the placenta and everything, so just having stuff sitting.
Speaker 1: On your belly is not comfortable.
Speaker 3: It's not comfortable, but it's not hurting them, no, not
Speaker 3: hurting them at all.
Speaker 1: Now, the one caveat there is we can and I
Speaker 1: know I always got. You go the lovely things and
Speaker 1: I go, here's the scary things and make everyone afraid
Speaker 1: of having babies. But things like trauma and someone jumping
Speaker 1: on your belly can cause what's called a placential abruption,
Speaker 1: so that's where the placenta actually breaks away from the wall.
Speaker 1: The symptoms that really are evident of that is if
Speaker 1: you're you have what we call a woody tummy. So
Speaker 1: if you touch your stomach and it feels like it's
Speaker 1: a tonic contraction, so it's tight and it's hard, and
Speaker 1: it's painful one hundred percent under all circumstances, you go
Speaker 1: to the hospital. It might also present with with again
Speaker 1: with vaginal bleeding. So those kind of things are your
Speaker 1: only wrisk. But tight clothes are not going to do that.
Speaker 1: But yes, if someone jumps on you, if you bump
Speaker 1: yourself hard, that's what we're actually worrying about.
Speaker 3: Okay, what's something on the checklist.
Speaker 1: We are starting to get close to peroneal massage. Okay,
Speaker 1: Now it may or may not be what you decide
Speaker 1: to do. And you know there's going to be some
Speaker 1: single mums listening to this because, as you may or
Speaker 1: may not know, I was a single mum for two
Speaker 1: of my kids by choice, and so I had my
Speaker 1: own fingers and it's a little harder to do so ideally,
Speaker 1: if your partner is up, it's much better if you
Speaker 1: can get someone that's not you to do this, largely
Speaker 1: because it's very hard to reach around your belly. Want
Speaker 1: you to consider stretching the peroneal area. So the paranal
Speaker 1: area is the area between the lower part of your
Speaker 1: vagina and your ainus, and that's the area that's most
Speaker 1: likely going to tear a little bit, which is normal guys,
Speaker 1: but is likely to tear in labor. So there's some
Speaker 1: really good research to say that. I mean, there's epinos
Speaker 1: and all this kind of stuff out there that people buy,
Speaker 1: but honestly, the research is best for your own fingers
Speaker 1: and all your partner's fingers to gently stretch from about
Speaker 1: the thirty four week months, we're getting close, and now
Speaker 1: the time to do the research, learn how to do it,
Speaker 1: and then from about thirty four weeks on you start
Speaker 1: which is basically two fingers with some olive oil or
Speaker 1: some lubricant and you roll from nine o'clock to three o'clock.
Speaker 1: Nine o'clock to three o'clock, just gentle pressure down in
Speaker 1: that area to stretch up the parent externally, not externally, yep,
Speaker 1: just on that skin border, on the outside of just
Speaker 1: where your hymen is, and on the outside of the
Speaker 1: hymen to where the edge of the skin is.
Speaker 3: So it's like working a muscle. It's not the one
Speaker 3: of like putting it.
Speaker 1: No, No, it's definitely the outer skin that's going to
Speaker 1: stretch up. And for mums who had babies before who
Speaker 1: were listening, that's where that burning sensation comes from.
Speaker 3: So ring fire, the ring a fire and to.
Speaker 1: A burn and ring of the vire at a burn burn.
Speaker 1: So we're trying to reduce that ring of fire. And
Speaker 1: because there's weeks away, but it's the same thing in birth,
Speaker 1: we actually don't want you to push so hard that
Speaker 1: baby's head comes flying out. We want you to stretch
Speaker 1: up that perineum nice and softly. And that's the same
Speaker 1: that this paranoral message is doing, is trying to stretch
Speaker 1: up and elasticize that area.
Speaker 2: I will say from the birth course that I did,
Speaker 2: I'm not as scared of a tear or a cut
Speaker 2: anymore because I see it as a functional thing.
Speaker 3: Correct. Could you explain why they sometimes cut on a diagonal?
Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely, so there are different places like America, for example,
Speaker 1: a lot of places still cut directly down. We do
Speaker 1: what's called a right mediolateral, so basically means on the
Speaker 1: right hand side of her, we do an angled tear
Speaker 1: to divert any tearing away from the back passage. Now,
Speaker 1: there are also countries, and you might have not you know,
Speaker 1: some people listening might have had babies in other countries
Speaker 1: before coming here, where they do them routinely. I can
Speaker 1: assure you there's no hospital in Australia that does a
Speaker 1: routine episiotomies. The only reason we would do it is
Speaker 1: if we're worried about you are going to tear third
Speaker 1: or a fourth degree towards your bottom, or if baby's
Speaker 1: really distressed and we know you don't need help with
Speaker 1: a vacuum or anything else, but we're watching, and you're
Speaker 1: watching little ones heads just not quite coming and we
Speaker 1: have to basically force that area to open slightly more So,
Speaker 1: as you say, it's a functional reason. Ninety percent of
Speaker 1: the time, though, it is to protect your own bottom.
Speaker 1: Muscles because third and fourth degree tears. Don't get me wrong,
Speaker 1: there's lots of ladies that have had them, and they're
Speaker 1: repaired beautifully in theaters, and most people are okay, but
Speaker 1: they can be associated with significant concerns with urinary but
Speaker 1: also bowling continents in the future and flats in continents.
Speaker 3: Is it always consent when you're doing a one.
Speaker 1: Hundred percent okay? So I have I've actually had a
Speaker 1: woman and she and I talked about it extensively afterwards
Speaker 1: who declined an episiotomy and then did have a third
Speaker 1: degree tair. But again that was her choice. And there
Speaker 1: is never a time that someone I mean, don't get
Speaker 1: me wrong. If it does happen, it's reportable. So this
Speaker 1: is a scenario if you say one hundred percent, I
Speaker 1: do not want to do this, and I can't say that.
Speaker 1: The doctor is not going to argue back and say
Speaker 1: I strongly recommend this because I really don't want you
Speaker 1: to tear into your bottom. And it's the hardest decision
Speaker 1: you make because you're in the moment, you're literally in
Speaker 1: the burn and ring of fire because your baby's head's
Speaker 1: on view, but it's just not quite coming well. Enough.
Speaker 1: But I really want to reassure you that if we're
Speaker 1: recommending that, it's because we are hundred percent believe it's
Speaker 1: the right thing. So you know how you're going to
Speaker 1: get in birth right. And if there's midwives listening, they're
Speaker 1: going to be s again nodding here, and we tell
Speaker 1: women don't yell out, internalize that noise. We want you
Speaker 1: to push and not go ah. We want you to actually.
Speaker 3: Go like that.
Speaker 1: But when we're cutting, the appears. It's the one time
Speaker 1: as partners or anyone in the room where we sell
Speaker 1: let the lady scream so you don't hear it. So
Speaker 1: you say, on the next contraction, I want you to
Speaker 1: scream your head off and we cut and so no
Speaker 1: one hears it, no one knows it's happened, and she
Speaker 1: copes with it beautifully. So it's the one time for
Speaker 1: any birth people listening Orcush's listening that I think works beautifully.
Speaker 1: And it's really funny because it's really elderly midwife told
Speaker 1: me this trick twenty, you know, not that long ago,
Speaker 1: five or six years ago, and it's worked to treat
Speaker 1: and so no one ever because if you don't you
Speaker 1: hear the dad pass out in the corner. So it's
Speaker 1: just it's such a good little trick. So if you're
Speaker 1: a birth support partner for someone and they are requiring one,
Speaker 1: get her to make noise or you make noise.
Speaker 2: My friends lying to me when they tell me that
Speaker 2: there's so much going on they didn't even feel it.
Speaker 1: Most people don't. And by the way, guys, we don't
Speaker 1: do it without anesthetic, just just putting it out there, Okay,
Speaker 1: So we actually either do a pudendal block or we
Speaker 1: do just like we put anesthesia into that paraneal tissue before,
Speaker 1: long before we do that. So you probably actually won't
Speaker 1: feel it because you shouldn't feel it because I've given
Speaker 1: you anesthetic before.
Speaker 3: Okay.
Speaker 1: And the other big thing remember is that a psiotomies
Speaker 1: are really easy to sew back together. We can get
Speaker 1: very complicated, even second degree tears, which again are very normal.
Speaker 1: Most women will have a tear in labor that are
Speaker 1: really difficult to see. The anatomy. The episiotomy is so
Speaker 1: easy and so beautiful to repair that if it was
Speaker 1: me in hindsight, I'd prefer an a pisiotomy than a
Speaker 1: an early third.
Speaker 3: My tool kit is non medical in it. In every way.
Speaker 3: It's a Facebook group. Okay, my friend recommended it to me.
Speaker 2: It's women, and you're grouped together by when your due
Speaker 2: date is per sis.
Speaker 3: It's like a grapevine or something like that.
Speaker 2: And it's just so it's a bunch of people in
Speaker 2: the same time frame.
Speaker 1: Es you're around the same time.
Speaker 2: Asking dumb questions that's great, and people being like this
Speaker 2: happened to me, This didn't happen to me. No one
Speaker 2: is giving medical advice whatsoever. It's all sharing things from
Speaker 2: when they went on maternity leave to when to apply
Speaker 2: for your parental leave great, to when should I pack
Speaker 2: my bag?
Speaker 3: What's a good thing to put in my bag? And
Speaker 3: it's actually been quite.
Speaker 1: Good, And I think that's a really good point because
Speaker 1: there are lots of different groups now there's mums of multiples,
Speaker 1: there's single mums by choice, There's lots of good support
Speaker 1: groups out there, and it's just shopping around, having a
Speaker 1: look until you find your community. Because when your baby's born,
Speaker 1: in those first four or five weeks, you are home
Speaker 1: alone a lot, and having that social media is when
Speaker 1: it can be a really positive You know a lot
Speaker 1: of people. It gets a bad rap a lot of
Speaker 1: the time, yes, but having a community around you makes
Speaker 1: a huge difference. Yeah.
Speaker 2: We hope you enjoyed this episode of Hello bum. We
Speaker 2: have so many episodes of this series filled with tips
Speaker 2: and stories from women and experts who've been through it
Speaker 2: all before.
Speaker 1: You can go back and listen to everything else Hello
Speaker 1: Bump related in this podcast fee.
Speaker 2: And while you're there, we'd love if you could give
Speaker 2: us a five star rating and maybe leave us a
Speaker 2: review or even share this episode with a friend.
Speaker 1: This episode was produced by Courtney Ammenhauser with audio production
Speaker 1: by Tom Lyon. We'll catch you next time.
Speaker 2: This episode of Hello Bump was made in partnership with Huggies.
Speaker 3: Bye Bye y