April 2011 - nearly there, all set for dropping Mofo C bombs in the delivery room

[SnapFrakkleAndPop]

Executive decision that at 987 posts we're moving over!

New challenge - can we fill up 1000 posts before the first babies arrive, given that we managed to keep our legs crossed all through the last one?!

First babies are due, officially, next month but are there any in such a hurry to see the world that they can beat our chatting?

I don't really do perineal massage. I probably really should. Also considered getting an epino and decided against it as it probably wouldn't arrive in time to do any good anyway (foolishly optimistic? should I get one on express delivery?).

You're allowed to forget things JenAT and I'm sure the nursery will have some red stuff in the dressing up box she can borrow.

I'm now on the home straight workwise (I hope!) as only 1 week left. Still struggling with students who don't seem to have woken up to reality that I'm leaving means I won't be there means if they've not done their presentation, and I've been telling them this since week 1, it will not get counted towards their end of year mark.

Morning,

Glad everything's ok Lis.

I'm 39wks today. Proper grumpy tho, i'd expected to have had it by now. But no. So, looks like another 3 weeks of feeling like a beached whale!

Even the BH's have given up, except when I try to move!

Grump grump whinge moan!

Sorry!

Awww Lis glad everything turned out ok, although boo to sudden incontinence!! Not looking forward to that!

What is this epi-no you speak of kits i've heard a few of you mention it and think i have the jst of what it's all about but should we all be using one or is it down to personal preference?? Thinking i might just like to remain naive about the whole thing!

After lots of humming and heying about it i think DP is going to be going away for work the week after next after all :( We live near Aberdeen and he is going to work in oban which is on the opposite coast of Scotland to us (and roughly about 3-4 hours away i think) not totally happy about the situation as i'll be 36 weeks gone by then but it's really good money and we'd be silly to turn it down, just don't like the prospect of being on my own all week. Think i'll probably move back to my mums Mon-Fri while he's away just incase!

Morning all - drama! Was frantically scrolling down to see if we were going to have any new babies this morning, but no!

Went to see my doctor this morning for my "36-week check" (at 35+3 since she's on holiday next week). Got off to a bad start when she looked at me (haven't seen her since 16 weeks) and said "oh I see you didn't take my advice about not putting too much weight on then"

Anyway, turns out my blood pressure is raised again, having been slightly raised at 34 weeks, so she made me sit in the waiting room for half an hour and then it was still raised. Although why she imagines me sitting around worrying about pre-eclampsia and wondering if they're going to whisk me off and give me an EMCS RIGHT NOW is going to make it come down, I don't know. So they took some bloods and she's going to look at them after the end of morning surgery and give me a call apparently.

Now trying to work from home ( Mumsnet) and avoid googling pre-eclampsia.

I do have really swollen feet and fingers, but they have been like this for weeks it's not "sudden" like they say is a warning sign. Also no protein in my urine. But BP was around 140/100 which is both above the threshold and higher than it has been at previous appointments. I don't really know what happens if you have PE - I have visions of her ringing me at lunchtime telling me to go to hospital immediately and prepare to be sectioned, but it's probably far less dramatic than that.

Actually the thing that's stressing me out most is that I was supposed to have finished a client report this week, which I have done hardly any of, and was planning to secretly sort out over the weekend. If I'm suddenly whisked off to hospital today I will be discovered as a lazy arse who leaves her projects in a total mess, nobody else will have a clue where I was up to or how to finish the work and it will all be a nightmare. So I'd better get on and finish it :)

Blimey, I've just got in the office and have had to swerve all conversation/workload/attempts to get me away from my desk in order to catch up witht he goings on from last night!

Lis glad it's all ok but crikey, waht a night for you. We were watching the darts too!

You're all having these BH's and I haven't had one. Is it as normal to not have any at all?!

Yay for Friday, we've got cakes and bake sales and all sorts here today on account of Comic Relief, I intend to eat a lot and not do much work.

Bf workshop tomorrow....what to expect?

You may not have PE ecuse but pregnancy induced hypertension, which isn't great but isn't exactly EMCS!

Something else to google madly, then, frak

ecuse what a bitch. And as you say hardly condusive (sp?) to bringing your BP down. Fingers crossed.

MrsW deffo stay with your parents.

Petal Have a hug and (or pack of!)

sorry x posts with Ecuse - hope all works out, bitchqueen midwife with the weight comment too, cheeky bitch.

arch, JKS, kitty and ecuse - Thanks for the congrats on finishing the book It has felt like a long hard slog over the last few weeks. I?m now heartily sick of the story, and terrified about what the agent will have to say about it, but at least I?ll know I gave it my best shot.

Lis So glad everything turned out to be okay. When I had my wobble and went up to labour ward at 31 weeks, I kept thinking I hope they do find something because I don?t want to be wasting the Dr?s time ? then I realised that actually I did want to be wasting their time because that would mean my baby was fine!

Not sure who asked but my bump dropped this weekend when I was 36+4 and shortly afterwards the MW confirmed baby was 3/5 engaged (Yay!). Unfortunately this caused a whole new batch of stretch marks to appear at the top of my tummy

[Warning: Self pitying rant continues from here?]

This has just added to a general feeling of crapness at the moment. I have absolutely no energy and feel like the worst mummy in the world for always wanting to usher DD1 out the door to nursery or into bed. My brain is like treacle, I can?t concentrate on anything and am seriously forgetful. I bought some lovely newborn clothes for DD1 to give DD2 as a present but now I can?t find them

I had my haircut last weekend and it looks awful. The hairdresser messed up my fringe so it?s too short and sticks out like a helmet and the bitch persuaded me to cut it just to my jaw so that it shows off my pg double chin Then I did my roots but didn?t leave the dye on for long enough so it?s gone ginger rather than ash blonde. I wouldn?t mind so much if I didn?t know this awful barnet is going to be preserved for ever in all DD2?s baby photos.

My bump seems to be growing by the minute, even the massive maternity hand me downs my friend gave me won?t cover it. I swear I must be 43/44cm by now and I just feel like such a freak every time someone asks me my due date (8 April).

I know it?s such a privilege to be able to carry a baby but now I just want to be normal again!!!

Fancy term for saying that you have high blood pressure because you're pregnant. Relatively common, but as elevated blood pressure is also a sign of PE it needs monitoring.

notanother get back to the hairdressers and have them put the colour right, i had that in the past and they sorted it free of charge. And it was me re bump drop. Mine definately has at 34wks, does this mean kitten will likely be early?

I think it must be a week for the stress to hit!

So far FIL on deathbed..husband rushing up and down back and forth on 4 hour round trip everyday, very upset that he probably almost defintley won't get to see the new baby and we wish now we could tell him if it will be a boy or a girl. DD aged 2 hates nursery, DS teenager hates me, I hate work, need new car, need new clothes, need to clean house, midwife just told me she has holiday planned that clashes with EDD home birth....only way she can be here is if i can hang on til Sunday (37 weeks) and have it PDQ! And I have a trapped nerve in my bum that is shooting down to my toes!

I'm on a roller coaster! Tears galore.

But really, I do have it all in perspective, just thought it would be good to write it down somewhere, actually does not look so bad, I even smiled.

Blimey, I think it worked. I actually do feel better!

LJB Well that certainly puts my shite hair into perspective! Sorry you're having such a touch time, all I can do is send you a virtual hug and a !

Kitty Kitten is your first, right? First babies often engage weeks before birth, so it doesn't necessarily mean you'll be early but it's a good sign that she's getting herself nice and ready to be born

LJB - that all sounds horrendous, you poor thing!

NotAnother - I had totally missed that you'd finished your book - congratulations! Now try and forget about it

kitty - I've been 4/5 - 5/5 engaged for some weeks now and I'm only a week away from due date now so I'm not sure it means a great deal really!

ecuse - I cannot believe those comments about your weight!!

Petal - I am right there with you, grumpy as hell and just want it over. What I actually want, is a section this coming Monday instead of a week Monday

NotAnother Well done on the book, makes me moaning away about a little essay ...which I finally finished by the way YEY!!!!

SJ I didn't feel any BH's with DS so don't worry, believe me I'd rather not have them if given the choice.

Had to take DS for an eye test yesterday and I was really struggling with the 20 minute (normally) walk to get there, everything was aching, BH's going mad, it took me about double the time....lucky I left myself long enough just in case lol. That is about it at the moment....Back is achy, hips are achy, bump is achy and bits are achy Just want baby to make an appearance now!!

Hello Ladies,

Hugs for LBJ NANN and Ecuse (sorry if I've missed anyone else in need, here's a spare (hug))

Can I just say thank you to everyone who helped last night! I got myself into such a state not wonder my BP was high! I know feel really sheepish. And still none the wiser to how it feels when your waters break.

Ecuse at your docs insensitivity. It was PE they were test me for last night, but not once did they mention thats what they thought it might be, until they knew for sure.

Did get scary at one point when the mentioned steriods for a week then booking me in for an induction once I get to 37 weeks! Poor DH, who had had a few beers but really wasn't drunk, merry and on the way, but not drunk, just looked like a little lost boy! Oh and the doctor on last night was a bit [phwoar]. He looked like Dr Slone from Grey's Anatomy. Thankfully for me he was called away before he could do my internal so lovely MW did it instead. Fanjo still swollen from last week, but she didn't seem to bat an eyelid, probably seen it all before!

I'd completely forgot it was Comic Relief today! DH and I got together on Comic Relief day 6 years ago! Aw those were the days!! Who would have thought 6 years later we'd be here!! :o

Sorry me again Sarah BF workshop here was really good there was input from one of he local peer support ladies and we all got a feel of a lovely knitted boob!! It was mostly about not giving up if it was difficult to start with and going through all the support options available to us. There was some practical advice about latching etc, but they did stress that until you actually have a baby it was difficult for them to "instruct" us how to feed. It made me feel more confident that "I can do it"!!

Thanks Lis am so bloody green about it all, am hoping that whole attitude is the result, that'll be enough for me really. Am espesh curious to see if we get a knitted boob! Will feed back....

We got a knitted boob - absolutely pointless!!

IMO you have to be prepared to be a bit bloody minded about BFing. You might not need to be, but you need to be prepared to be if you have to - does that make sense?
The only advice I would give is to say that if you are struggling, ask for help and keep asking until you are satisfied. Don't allow anyone to fob you off.

sarahjinx I went to an "antenatal" breastfeeding workshop the other day but there was only me and one other pregnant woman, then about 8 women with tiny babies who were having trouble breastfeeding descended all on the verge of a nervous breakdown arrived and the breastfeeding specialist midwife then (understandably) spent most of the time doing one-to-one help with them whilst a maternity support worker sat with me and the other pregnant woman, gave us a couple of dolls, and showed us "how to do it" accompanied by much giggling from us.

Bit of a waste of time in terms of content but the crucial thing was the midwife said that if we were on the ward and none of the normal midwives were being much help with breastfeeding and we were struggling that the thing to do was ask them to "fetch Jocelyn" and she would be happy to come straight down and help us, or if we were at home and struggling we should just ring her and she'd arrange to help. So knowing to do that in itself is probably worth its weight in gold.

Disappointed at the lack of knitted boob, though.

Hello everyone

I have been lurking for months! reading all of your stories and I must say you have me hooked.

I would very much like to join your april thread please as I am due on 18 April. This is my fist baby and getting very nervous now as April approaches.

My Epi No was delivered earlier this week after seeing them suggested on here. I told DH that he could either do the massage or pay the £100 for the Epi No, unfortunately luckily he went for the Epi No, so lets hope for some good results.

Anyhow I look forward to reading up on all of your progress and taking part where I can

xx

Hi Natzer Welcome.

What would the knitted boobage even be for though?

re BHs - i didn't feel any with DS1 so if you're on first pg don't stress if you don't :)

re BF - we have had the knitted boob at our bf supporter classes :)
there are superior material ones but anything sometimes is better than nothing.
It's very hard to describe how to sort positioning & latch with just words, rather like trying to describe how to tie your shoelaces IYKWIM?
So a prop of some sort can help.

My main tip is find a number/person/place to go to when/if you have a problem.
If you reach a problem point, the last thing you want to be rooting around for some phone number to phone for help. Get it now & write it somewhere useful, somewhere even your DP/H could find!

If you are an information person - do some research, find some pictures/videos online to see how the nipple should be in the babies mouth. When bottles are the main way you see to feed a baby (tv, etc) it's easy to think that you just bung a nipple in the mouth as you would a teat.

I think it was a stress ball for my midwife really! But she demonstrated where to place babys mouth to acheive optimum latch! Then she threw it at us! If we caught it we had to ask a question. Needless to say she spent more time retrieving it from the floor!!

Welcome Natzer! Good luck with the epi-no! I'm not brave enough to inflate a balloon up there!!