Thanks for thinking of me LadyL et al ... I'm afraid no news is - well, still no news from me - at least not the announcement we're waiting for. Last night was a complete headf**k. Had increasing contractions all day, becoming mildly painful towards midnight when I started timing them - they were coming regularly at 8 min intervals. DH rang midwives who said they were coming straight over, which made me take the whole thing much more seriously so we started filling the pool and called my parents to collect DD. Midwives arrived and were lovely - there were an exciting couple of hours where they did some checks then disappeared off to the sitting room to give DH and me a chance to rest. I was so so happy, I could feel my body doing what it was supposed to do without any intervention and to feel that this could happen spontaneously and naturally was just wonderful. The contractions became pretty intense, taking over my whole body, and as they were only just painful I was really able to enjoy this feeling. Then as we rested and dozed I realised that the feeling was fading and I hadn't had any contractions for a while. At about 3.30 the midwife came in and offered to do an internal examination to see what (if anything) was happening - DH and I had a chat and decided because my leaking amniotic fluid (which has been going on since Sat night) means anything like that poses a high infection risk and could catapult me into the need for induction. (The advantage of it, of course, would have been that it could've stimulated the cervix - like a sweep - but I didn't dare take the risk.) So they did some more checks and left. Since then - nothing but the mildest BH-style contractions. The pool is filled (and still hot, amazingly, although it's not the self-heating type), the mws' paraphernalia is still here, DD's still at my parents' (and I miss her), and here I am feeling like a complete fool whose body is an utter failure at the whole childbirth thing.
Sorry about the lengthy moan.
Pooka: I really hope things are happening for you.
KF: I'd be interested to know of any breastfeeding-friendly tops too. Last time I found the special breastfeeding tops invaluable for my early fumbling attempts at feeding in public (I fed everywhere) - people always thought DD was just asleep in my lap. Depends how adept and how selfconscious you are - I carried on wearing the special tops on occasions when I knew I'd feel a bit 'exposed', although tbh it was my stomach that I had a horror of people glimpsing, not my boobs!
mummyhill - hugs to you for your 'bad' mummy moment. It is so hard being heavily pregnant and looking after a toddler, I know. I feel awful just not being with DD today, knowing her days as an only child are numbered. Don't be too hard on yourself, I really do sympathise.