so here it is, a new home for us newly updiffed ladies or still seeking that golden egg after a mc part 3

Well done wellie - enjoy your wine and swi (they make a good combination too sometimes!)

You always make me chuckle sparkly! Interesting about the food - my bro and sil have said to make sure you get enough energy as they'd been told that giving birth is the physical/energy equivalent of running a marathon - gulp! DO they say why you shouldn't and if it's in first and second stage of labour?

oooh - am of your waterbirth and mlu - would love to have a chance at a homebirth, but they are illegal here....

Well I had my first NHS antenatal class yesterday afternoon. Hard to tell if it was worth going or not.

About 20 of us shuffled into a room, about three DH's in tow (mine could not attend, exams), and sat around warily. An elderly woman with whiskers plonked herself down, and when the midwife asked gently if she meant to be here, she shouted indignantly "I've got an appointment!" She finally twigged why we were there and trotted off muttering "Oooh, I'm too old for that!" Broke the ice anyway (as did a poster I was giggling at, which stated "This is a WELL baby clinic. If your baby is not well, please leave the clinic!")
Got a bit of info about pain relief, tearing and stitching, and the fact that they will not let me eat anything once in labour - this seems to be the main fact I have managed to retain, as I had pictured myself munching on restorative toblerone or something throughout the process, and this is now to be thwarted.
Going to opt for a water birth as this way it is in the midwife-led unit and they encourage you to go home after three hours if all is well, ideal for me as I love my home and am not a fan of hospitals. Plus it will be warm and tranquil, and I am looking forward to seeing dh scoop up poo with a little net

Woohoo for lots of happy news on here! Sorry can't namecheck on phone but so pleased for everyone...

Well I handed in my assessment for this module yesterday, now on a break til end Jan, plenty of time for wine weekends away and swi!!

Oh and sparkly's comment on "cop a feel of my cervix while you're about it" reminded me of this thread that I saw on the Childbirth forum - had me in stitches!

Well they say good things come in thress and that's def the case here - sparkly so pleased to hear that all is well with Monts, the little blighter! I too was given that info about abnormally active can be a cause for concern - I wish they'd make up their minds. Some great friends of mine adopted 2 brothers aged 6 and 4 a couple of years ago and they found that Raising Boys book invaluable. They are getting on extremely well and I still salute them for what they've done.

And kool - fantastic news re: the massively improved stats - you must feel like doing a jig (provided it doesn't make you sick of course )!

And worm - woohoo for a pain-free day !. Like yellow I am curious to know what you had done differently

All is well here - my last day at work is a week tomorrow which is all at the same time. Leaving bash is next Tuesday night which I'm not sure I'm looking forward to all that much - I think I will end up having the same conversations with increasingly drunk people!

Waves to all and leaves White Twixes - they are definitely the real McCoy - sorry is it worm or harassed who works for Mars - had to buy a 5 pack just to be sure

Ah good stuff sparkles you must be brewing up an olympian swimmer in there!

Oh, I had my first decent, dream-free night's sleep last night and it coincided with the one night I forgot to take my sanatogen pregnancy multi-vitamin.
Coincidence? I think not!

All went well, we went to the hospital in the end and they hooked me up to a monitor to listen to Monts for 40 minutes or so, his heartbeat was nice and steady, peaking slightly whenever he kicked - which was frequently! Lost count of the number of professionals telling me 'an active baby is a healthy baby!', so was worrying unecessarily as it turns out - plus ca change! Lovely to hear him for longer than the usual 20 seconds though, felt like he was in the room with us. DH was sharing titbits from a book I've purchased, 'Raising Boys', bless him.
At work so got to go and drink tea, great news Kool, a relief.
Yellow, people either say to me 'Ooh, what a neat little bump!' or look aghast and exclaim 'Where the hell did that come from!' like I'm carrying a baby elephant, so you can't win, and it is quite rude (though not as rude as people reaching out and actually rubbing you! Why not cop a feel of the old cervix whilst you're at it!?)
No mouth ulcers here but have never had one, probably one of those things one is prone to or not. I have my own afflictions!

kool great news, glad you feel better

worm do you know if you did anything different to not have pain today. Blooming sounds excellent. People keep telling me I am big too, someone said I am the same size they were at 8 months and I am only 23 weeks. I find it a bit rude tbh, but not really sure how to respond.

Where is Emma? And sparkly how you feeling, what news?

Hi sparkly how did it go?

Great news on the better nuchal fold result kool and good luck being a shiny happy person!

No yellow mouth ulcers is one thing I havn't had yet with this PG (thankfully) I havnt taken any vitamins for a couple of months, I couldnt get them down without throwing up! I have a box of pregnacare to get through though and should probably take then now that the sickness has gone. I always used to find that if I took vitamins regulary and then stopped I would be guaranteed to get mouth ulcers! Pregnacare didnt even exist when I had the DC's.

Today is the first day I have woken up without a sore pelvis and I actually feel totally well!! positively blooming!! everyone keeps commenting on how big I am though.

Happy Tuesday ladies :)

Huge congrats nurse what happy news, wow the first thread baby! Can I order a labour like that please?!

I have happier news than the other day, I had a private scan, the nuchal fold measurement was the same but combined with the bloods which were better (?!) my combined result went from 1:250 to 1:4000!! So I'll take that! I feel much better about it all now and of course it's always a treat to see a little waving baby . Thanks again for all of your lovely encouragement, I'm gonna try my hardest to chill out now and be a shiny happy person!

Hey sparkly sorry you're feeling teary, sounds like you are doing the right thing with a reassuring midwife appt. I didn't know that increased movement meant anything. Let us know how you get on.

On a random topic, anyone else getting mouth ulcers? So annoying, I think it means an immune system problem cos I used to get loads when I had glandular fever. I'm sure some kind of supplement would help, am already taking multiple vitamin. Any ideas?

Midwife at 2.20pm. He's still flipping away in there. MN research seems to suggest that increased movement can be normal a few weeks either side of 30 weeks, as they're getting big but still have some room in there for their acrobatics. Better safe than sorry though. Feel better for being proactive, may attempt sugary tea. I think I'm just a bit sleep deprived so not thinking too rationally. Wombat, I'm due 14th December, but the 18th will do me Kool, sending hugs. This malarky isn't easy, is it!
lovelies x

Mentalling and feeling a bit teary, Monts has barely stopped kicking since yesterday afternoon,and I read that increased movements can indicate distress. Keep imagining him in there twizzling round the cord or something. Am going to try and get a midwife appointment for later today. Difficult, sorry to unburden but helps to type it and focus. Will keep you posted xxx

Congrats nurse thank you for letting us know, it all seems to have happened so fast! So glad you are enjoying being a second time mum and you have your complete family now.

wombat thanks for the b/f tips. I def want to give it a go but it makes me nervous when people mention cracked or bleeding nipples! Sounds so painful.

How you doing today kool let us know how you get on.

My hypnobirthing class was interesting. Shame it was so flippin' hot! But it basically seems all about relaxing more, listening to hypno cd, practicising breathing and visualization and not watching the news before bed! I listened to the cd last night in bed and dropped off very well. I am liking my pillow but keep getting bad upper back ache so have to move onto my back. Not sure what to do about that, maybe need to find some regular exercises or stretches to do or something. I can't believe it is Monday, feel v tired and the week has barely started.

Ahhhh congratulations and welcome to the world jessica Lily lovely name. We have all come so far in the last year, thanks for coming back on to share nurse and congratulations on a natural birth.

kool I too would have had more scans before having the invasive testing. If you decided you did need to go on for the invasive testing I believe there are private doctors in London who's MC rate for after the amnio/cvs is zero. The ladies on anti-natal choices would be able to help with finding these. Hope the mentalling is soon over for you.

Thanks for the breastfeeding advise wombat I am getting more and more keen to do it as time goes on. I didn't even attempt with DC's and it is something I do regret. We seem to be thundering towards the due dates.

I have been away for the weekend in a lovely old cottage in Teesdale with DH and our friends. We did some shopping enroute in Harrogate and I have been tempted by a Kath Kidson changing bag. It will be the first non-second hand thing I have this baby. This really is a baby on the cheap and I am beginning to feel a bit guilty to it! it's not like we are skint either I am just getting really tight in my old age!! Having said that I didn't buy the bag from the shop as hoping to find one cheaper on ebay!! I also bought all my post baby lounging around the house loungewear too.

Hope you are all well, we need to get chatting more so that wellie can start the next thread!! in fact maybe you should just make one now wellie and we can abandon this one!!!

Nurse! - what wonderful news! Many, many congrats on the safe and speedy arrival of Jessica Lily - absolutely thrilled for you, especially as I think you started this fab thread for us all way back in the day.... am I right? If so, a true graduate!

kool - good to hear that you have something booked in. I think yellow's suggestion is a good one - not sure how much they can see on the 3d at 14 weeks, but on the normal 2d, they can see if a nasal bone is present and that the heart function as much as they can see is normal which are both good indicators that all is well. (this is from memory, so please don't rely on that as gospel). Please do let us know how you get on tomorrow. SEnding hugs.

wellie and worm - great to hear from you both xx

Aw, beautiful news Nurse, congratulations on your wonderful baby girl! Your comment on your journey and family being complete is such a perfect sentiment.

also if anyone is interested in keeping in touch on facebook PM me, ill put some pics on x x x

hi ladies just wanted to let you know that baby jessica lily made an early apperance on tuesday 27th of sept born at 09:47 weighing 8lbs 10ozs!!! had a natural delievery only using gas and air, labour was short started off at 3am, went into hospital at 7:30 was 3cm! had my waters broke at 9am and baby jessica born at 9:47!!
We are all over the moon and feel my journeyand family is complete now that she is here.
Hope everyone is well not had time to read old posts as you can imagine and being a mummy second time around is amazing, im so much more laid back and so is baby!
good luck to you all and i will pop on now and again to see all these upcoming birth anouncements!
Julie, and baby Jessica lily x x x x

Thanks yellow what a great suggestion. That's why this thread is so great and IMO much better than a due date thread as we're all at different stages so there's lots of experience and wisdom going on!

I'm off to eat ice pops

Hi kool

Sorry that you are going through such anxiety. Just a thought but when I had my nuchal, before getting results, I was thinking that maybe if results were inconclusive I might try a 3D scan before amino. Not sure if it would help but I understood that some physical 'markers' might be more clearly seen. Might be worth looking into as it might help to reassure?

Let us know how you get on on Monday, will be thinking of you.

Emma how was the scan on Friday?

Thanks wombat and wellie, I'm just on my way back from a blood test at the london ultrasound centre and am going for another scan on Monday. I guess I'm hoping for a better result but there's no reason why it'll be different I suppose. I know my results weren't terrible and I hope just being paranoid but what can you do?!

kool (((hugs))) after everything you've been through to get this far I'm so that the news isn't more clear cut

I don't think you can ever say what you would do until you're in the situation, so I don't have a clue what I would do if it was me, but I just wanted to say I was thinking of you xx

Oh, forgot to put down the top tips I got from the b/feeding workshop. It's very important that the baby gets a good mouthful of boob as the milk producing ducts are quite a way back from the nipple. Pay very close attention to positioning and attachment as that is almost always the cause of any problems. Baby's stomach is only about the size of a marble when newborn and so they really don't need much, especially in the first couple of days - the colostrum they get is perfect and if you are struggling to b/f then hand express into a little medicine cup that they then lap from.

I'm sure there was other stuff too but those were the main bits I remember.