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'm firmly in the epi-yes please camp! But good luck with all the epi-noing.

JENAT - the only way I remembered to dress DS1 in red today was to stick a huge post-it on the door.

I'm still not feeling too bad, although constantly have a foot in my ribs. Had a wander round Westfield this morning and bought a couple of pink things. DH away this weekend with DS2, so had a bbit of time to myself.

I think it's an episiotomy 'no', than an epidural 'no', isn't it? The idea is to stretch the, ahem, area to avoid scissor happy medical professionals and tears.

Welcome Natzer!

For all those having a crap time, I have just spent the morning with a gorgeous baby born in November. Her mum is super lovely and we've been playing with her all day.

I was miserable this morning but it will so be worth it when baby arrives. I can't wait to cuddle him!

Hello Natzer, congratulations on your imminent arrival. Pull up a chair and come and get stuck in

I'd never even heard of a an epi-no until I saw it mentioned on this thread.

NANN - I know exactly how you feel about being a crap mum at the moment. My patience is often on a knife edge (partly my fault for stupidly trying to potty train I think), and I look forward to the mornings he is at pre school. I feel awful for feeling like this because our one on one days are numbered and I should be enjoying them rather than wishing him to pre-school or for a nap.

No sign of spots on ds, maybe it is just a cold??? I have no idea. There are still a few days of incubation left, so we will see.

Oh, and I have a bone to pick with you lot. Why aren't you still shagging?! Enjoy it while you can and while you don't have to worry about getting pregnant!

After I had ds I found adjusting to becoming a mum a bit difficult (the responsibility, the relentlessness etc etc) and the thought of getting pregnant again totally bloody terrified me. If I had my way I would have got dh to double bag with condoms

Saying that, when I'm feeling shit and tired my current line of moaning usually consists of telling dh he needs to start thinking about going for the snip. He hasn't said no - I take that as a good sign!

Bums - I didn't dress DD in red, was I meant to? She's in pink, will that do?

I found the newborn clothes, they were in the DDs wardrobe. Where else?

I had hardly any BH with DD1, second/third timers seem to get them much worse.

I am in the epi-eugw! camp. Although this is mainly jealousy as I haven't a hope of reaching my fanjo. On tearing, I think it's really important to listen to your MW and push slowly to get the head out (rather than think - F this, she's coming out now! As I did with DD1). My SIL likened it to listening to your driving instructor when learning how to reverse park

Hello April ladies! I have been lurking as I do like to see how you all are but now I'm not up the duff I'm not quite in the same 'zone' as you all, so am waiting for you all to get on with it and have the damned babies so that I can join in again.

I am sorry you are all having such gripes with the last few weeks. While I would never have wished for a 32 week delivery I do not miss being pregnant one teeny bit and have to admit I'm rather grateful to have missed out on the last few weeks or being huge and uncomfortable. Hope you all make it smoothly to the next level.

Eeek at epi-no, it's made me cross my legs at the idea!

Have to concur with Cycle, having a baby is just lovely and even though my little one is still hanging around in Neonatal I adore him and have such a fantastic time when I am with him. We're learing how to bottle feed at the moment, which is new to us both and creates quite a lot of mess. If the idea is to pour milk down his face and on to his clothes then it's going brilliantly. He's doing great and I can't wait to get him home. Still not sure when that will be but he would be 35+4 now so we must be getting closer. Gave him his first bath, which was just the sweetest thing. He didn't cry but just looked bewildered. I can't stop sniffing his head, he smells so nice and baby-ish!

Ecuse, really hope you're ok and don't Google pre-elcampsia as pretty much all the symptoms are also common pregnancy symptoms. But be assured, if you did happen to get it now you are far enough along for the baby to be very safe and it really isn't that awful, even the emergency c-section isn't that dreadful. If it helps, my blood pressure went up to 218/100+ before they decided the baby was coming out. Try not to worry too much, which is very difficult I know, remember that the worst case scenario is still absolutely managable and you and your baby will be just fine. If you are getting bloating you might find that's making you look as though you have put on more weight too. I lost loads after having Conor. Mind you two weeks of hospital food does that too!

Loads of luck to you all and catch up soon.

Awh JO great to hear from you and have an update. Good to hear he's doing so well :)

Welcome Natzer

JoEW thank you, that's really reassuring! So glad to hear that your little boy is doing well and well done for tipping so much milk down his front. Excuse for lots more lovely baths? The doctor still hasn't phoned me so I conclude it can't be that pressing and am chilling out a little bit.

It's really stupid but my major worry is about being admitted to hospital and having to leave colleagues/clients with a mess of unfinished stuff. This is not because I'm conscientious, but because they will discover how little progress I have made in last couple of weeks when I have been mumsnetting/researching TENS machines/buying baby stuff online instead of working! But I'm getting a fair bit done today so starting to feel like all is not lost whatever happens.

Natzer, welcome!

I was so worried about that too! I think it might have contributed to my high blood pressure climbing further. When they told me I wasn't going to be going back to work my exact words to the doctor were "holy shit". She looked quite surprised. Try not to worry too much. I decided that as I didn't save lives anything I had or hadn't done wasn't terribly important. My colleagues were very understanding too.

I meant to add that IF they were concerned about pre-eclampsia the first thing that they would try to do is get your BP under control with medication. If they can do that they will try to hold out and keep you pregnant for as long as possible. It is good that you haven't heard back. Fingers crossed for you!

JoEW feel free to pop in as often as you like, the updates will, I'm sure, serve to remind us why we are all so uncomfortable and grumpy....and I, at least, need that reminder on a regular basis at the moment

Made myself feel really sick earlier. I think a packet of crisps is the healthiest thing I've eaten today have had a mega sugar craving for days but think I have sorted that now by totally over indulging in chocolate, biscuits and cakes ate til I was literally stuffed lol then had the major come down afterwards....finally don't fancy any more sugar.........EVER!!!!!! until next time

Ladies I need your collective expertise again.

Just read my notes from last night and it says I am 4/5 palpable. Does that mean I'm 4/5 engaged?

Sorry to hear about the late pregnancy discomforts and scares some of us are experiencing... Lis I'm glad all turned out to be ok, and ecuse I hope the test results for PE come back negative! I was tested for it too a few weeks back as my blood pressure has been quite high lately but luckily all was fine.

I have been feeling ok-ish, the carpal tunnel syndrome that I've been getting in my hands is annoying tho, can't really feel my fingers most of the time! My GP has ordered some wrist splints to wear at night so am hoping they'll make a difference. Also been getting some stinging/scratchy kind of pains in my cervix for a few weeks now which at first got me worried (as a first-timer) but spoke to the midwife who thinks they're quite normal. I'm 34 + 2 today!

I had my baby shower on Sunday which was so much fun, my sister and I cooked a massive brunch with lots of cakes, croissants, fruit, etc and I had 12 of my closest friends over. It was so nice to catch up with all of them before the baby arrives!

I hope you all have a good weekend :)

Lis I think although not 100% and will probably be told I'm wrong, that 4/5 palpable refers to 4/5 still being felt above the pelvic brim so starting to head downwards but still a fair way to go.

Hello fellow April ladies,

I'm another lurker - due at Easter with my first and starting to get a bit scared! I feel like there are a million things that I should be doing but am not...eek!

A quick question that you might be able to help with though. I've got a gym/pregnancy ball thing but am not really sure what to do with it. Do you just sit on the thing (it has helped a bit when my lower back has been sore) or are there some proper exercises I should be doing? Really, I'm that clueless!

Welcome star

Repost from downthread about how to use your ball (courtesy of my lovely gym instructor)

Yoda balls:

Hip circles
Pelvic tilts both backwards/forwards and raises side to side
Kneel up sideways on to the ball and stretch out your sides by raising the arm away from the ball over your head and pushing down on the ball for extra hip mobility put your leg out to the side to form a triangle (can be adapted for a fab waist toning exercise afterwards!)
To relieve pressure on your lower spine sit on the ball then leaning back roll the ball up your spine, keeping your knees bent to redress the curve you create by sticking your bump out!
Stretch your lower back by sitting with your legs apart and leaning forwards - particularly good once baby's engaged and doing this in a standard chair might be uncomfy. Also the squish of the ball means it's comfier for bump.
To help a head down baby engage and promote hip mobility (do not do with breech, transverse or SPD) squat so your heels are flat on the floor, your knees are bent double and lean forward onto the ball from as low down your back as you can manage - almost as if you're about to do the crazy yoga crow pose. Can also be done with the ball between your back and the wall if you can't get into a full squat.

Lis I agree with stuffed 4/5 palpable means that much can still be felt above the pelvic brim IIRC.

Your baby shower sounds lovely sats. TBH I used to think they were really tacky but reading about some of the lovely ones on this thread I've completely changed my mind :)

Hello Natzer welcome to the group - nice to have a new person on board.

Jo Great to hear your update and I'm glad things are going well. Is your due date the estimated 'home' day? Am with you on the smell of a baby's head. There is nothing quite like it.

Notanother just seen you have finished your book. Epic achievement so well done. What happens next?

Saw my doula today for a waffle. Talked her through my epi-no failings and she said to plug away (literally). If I stay at 5cm then that's better than nothing. We also talked through breastfeeding as obviously I feel I've forgotten everything from last time. Plus, I've only experience of feeding premmie twins any which way rather than exclusively breastfeeding, which is the aim this time. We'll see though. Whatever happens I'm going to enjoy it and not get stressed. Never had a knitted boob demonstration so perhaps this is where I have been going wrong in the past. Is it really knitted? . On a plus, I have been given a demonstration of a grubby tiny tears being rammed through a plastic pelvis ("and baby rotaaaaaaates...") which was illuminating.

Lis The palpable bit means that your uterus is still soft. Apparently it gets hard a couple of days before birth so can be a sign of impending arrival.

Finished work today. Hurray! Feels a bit weird. Am facing loads of housework that I've been too tired to get on top of. Oh well. Doubt anything will change when babe arrives.

Got given a great nappy cake by work colleagues. Nearly cried. It's all pink and white. My DS was ecstatic when he saw it (thought it was a real cake, all three tiers). Then pulled lots of "what on earth" faces when he realised it wasn't edible. - And slumped off unimpressed. I love it anyway. Seems a shame to open it all up..

We had a knitted womb and wool umbilical cord at my antenatal.

Have just woken from a loooong nap. DP pleased, he has been trying to get me to rest for ages so he left me to sleep and has been sanding and painting up a storm in the kitchen.

Welcome newbies :)

knitting pattern for the boob here

Well now I'm irritated at my GP. Having made a big song and dance about my "worryingly high" BP and made me have a blood test she was going to look at urgently and get back to me within hours, she has managed to fail to phone me back all afternoon, ignore my calls and has now apparently gone for the day and is on leave next week, without having spoken to me or left any message/instructions with the midwife. Charming!

I'm going to assume this means I shouldn't panic but, on the other hand, presumably I also shouldn't be leaving it 2.5 weeks until my next regular check up? Think I will probably call the midwife helpline which is usually v. helpful but nobody's picking up at the moment. My GP is rubbish...

I meant "message/instructions with the receptionist" (not midwife)

snap - thanks that does make more sense! I did all the perineal massage with DS1 only to have a ventouse delivery (placental abruption) so needed a episiotomy anyway.
Didn't bother with DS2 - but I think you're a bit more stretchy second time around!
ecuse - hope it is all normal and the GP is being a bit rubbish

Welcome natzer and starshaped!

JoeW great to hear your update...keep them coming, it's a great reminder of the main aim of all this pregnancy malarky.

Ok, question for you all...sharp shooting pains through bum cheek down into top back of thigh???? What's that all about? Have googled and am getting things like sciatica, PGP (SPD), trapped nerves. Any real human knowledge from the April family?

Have had an epic morning so far!!

The new curtains in the nursery/DSS's room are pitifully thin, despite apparently having blackout lining!! So DSS was wide awake at 06.20 just as DP was leaving for work, managed to persuade him it was too early to get up and he came into bed with me, managed to have another hours broken sleep, with DSS asking for the TV to be put on, to go for a wee etc etc! Eventually gave up at 07.30 and got up.

We then had breakfast, whch was frequently interuppted by DSS needng a poo, according to his mum it had been bothering him all day yesterday, eventually we had success and i'm not surprised it had been upsetting him, i would have been proud of it! Unfortunately while i was upstairs emptying the potty and getting clean pants, part deux apppeared on the living room carpet!! i don't know where he's been hiding it all! Anyway, needless to say i am knackered already and it's not even 09.30!! Going for luch with some friends today so thinking i should probably be getting on with bath and shower now judging by the way the rest of the mornings gone so far!!

Take my hat off to those of you who are doing this with other children full time!

Welcome Natzer and Star always nice to have additions to the April Family

Caramello What you describe sounds like my sciatica (Though mine would go from bum to toe!). Certain things I did really triggered it, mainly using the toes of one foot to take the shoe off the other IYGWIM - made my eyes water!

I found it had a lot to do with what position Little Insect was in and, while I now have the joys of SPD, the sciatica is less of an issue so fingers crossed that it's the same for you!

MrsWajs what a morning you've had! I hope your DSS is a little more settled now, and bath time wasn't as stressful!

ecuse at your rubbish GP, hope everything is ok.

The knitted boobies always make me the HV team my Mum works with uses them so she's had to go to pick them up from the old people home where they knit them a couple of times. I just have this image of all the old folks using up the odds and ends of wool to make knitted boobs while watching Bargin Hunt!

Right, I need to get everything food set up so that I can watch the rugby in comfort! Happy Weekend everyone