April 2011 - towards motherhood boucing on yoda balls, eating coc pops and riding frozen surfboards we are

[SnapFrakkleAndPop]

Raspberry leaf and all round.

Continuation from here. No Mofo C bombs yet been dropped in the delivery room although our first 2 babies have arrived. Congrats to gormers and Jo, we hope your little ones are still doing great.

Lis Sorry to hear your FIL is back in hospital, my dad had major heart surgery followed by severe depression when I was PG with DS1, no wonder my BP was so high. He's better now but you can't help but worry.

I hope things for your FIL improve soon.

Evening all, sorry I haven't been around to give out cookie recipes but I've had an interesting weekend away.... beginning with waters breaking at 1am Saturday which I didn't think were real until I just kept leaking, followed by contractions and calls to MLU. Went to MLU at 11.30am, contractions were on and off, bounced on yoda ball, wandered around, etc, transferred to hospital 8.30pm, hooked up to drips and fluids, kept on and off contractions. All the while not being able to wee (catheterised twice - what a relief). Finally got to 10cm, pushed for 2.5 hours with no joy then to theatre for big exam to find out what was happening. Baby Megan 7lb 1oz finally dragged out by c-section at 8.44am Sunday! Back home this afternoon, feeding going well and we have a fabulous baby, who likes to sleep (just what we ordered :) )

Yay, well done Chilli and Megan is such a lovely name. I hope you're recovering well and getting as much rest as you can, it can be very tough after a c-section.

Congratulations Chilli! Yet another baby to add to the April family Sounds like it was stressful so good to hear you and Megan are doing well x x

Congratulations Chilli sounds like an epic weekend you had but well worth it!!

Oh the babies are starting to flood in now!! :)

Congratulations chilli and well done on the baby who likes to sleep! Which form did you have to fill in to requisition one of those?!

It's another girl! They're catching up

Congrats chilli lovely name :-)

lis sorry to hear about your fil

I'm on my way to work for the last time til November :-)

Congratulations Chilli and welcome to Megan! How exciting.

Thanks for the 3/5 answers all - I'm just about working it out, just pleased that things are heading in the right direction.

Picking up my buggy & car seat today - starting to get more excited and less nervous!

Congratulations Chilli! Great to hear you're home and Megan is sleeping well.

Frakk I'm going swimming every other night with a friend of mine who is also heavily pregnant and the looks we get when we waddle poolside are hilarious. You can see people thinking we are going to get in as two pregnant women and get out with two babies under our arms!

Lis hope your fil is okay.

Still no news from Ali, hope she's in a post-baby bliss bubble by now...

Oooohhhhh, another baby , now hearing that is a good start to te day!

Congratulations Chilli, what an 'interesting' weekend you've had I won't mention that the majority of newborns are quiet and sleepy for the first few days

Sorry to hear about your fil Lis, chest infections can make you very disorientated, so hopefully some high dose anti-biots will perk him up in a few days.

Hurrah for last day of work Kitty , I bet it feels goooooood.

I'm very impressed with your DM's chicken pie which has your ds's name on Liv. I think we all want some nanny chicken pie and nanny sausages!

I haven't seen kitstwins for a few days, do you think she's up to something, like having a baby???

Morning all!
Chilli that's great news :)

Lis Just take things as they come, I'm sorry to hear that FIL is still not feeling himself.

Have a memorable (for all nice reasons) last day Kitty

First that's good news about engagement as long as your baby doesn't surprise everyone by popping back up then you've managed to avoid any chance of cord prolapse. Lucky lady!

Cycle take it easy today after yesterday. Have a relaxing day!

Frakk and Caramel given that we're getting pointed and commented on freely by strangers in the street I am really impressed that you are braving exercises establishments :) I was in the park with my son the other day and two6-7 year old boys came over to say in a very matter of fact way "You're pregnant". Er, yes, thanks lads. It reminded me of when in my last pregnancy just after moving house I went to the new GP, as mws had no space left for appointments at 7.5ish months and the most he could say was "Yes, there's definitely a baby in there".......

Well hopefully today the sonographer will say more than that. I'm rather hoping for "Ah yes Mrs A baby is head down left occulit/ or just occulit (sorry sp..) and part way engaged." Thanks for your wishing me well yesterday. I shall report back afterwards and hoping then be able to join you all on the yoda balls and other normal preps. Appointment is at 1:50.

See you all later have a good day :)

Morning all! Congratulations to Chilli, Megan is a lovely name. One of the rare girls on the April thread too. Yay, more babies. Good luck Arch.

Kitty the snoring does go. I was dreadful when I was pregnant and when I was in hospital while still pregnant I heard one of the other girls on my ward mention to a midwife that she had been kept awake by snoring, "I've never heard anything like it, apart from my husband after a few beers". I was certain she was talking about me, I was so mortified!

ILTMIMI, you are very sweet. It's funny though, even when I am having a rubbish time there is always someone else who has it worse, so you end up thinking about how lucky you are even in the tough parts. And the support on the SCBU is amazing, I am in awe of some of the nurses, they are so dedicated and caring. I will genuinely miss them when Conor comes home. Also they have tips for EVERYTHING. I spend most of my day trying to ask them questions, they are the ultimate baby gurus and I would very much like to take one home with me. I do wonder what I am going to do when I can't simply turn round to a nurse and say, "erm he's doing x, what shall I do?". Or "is that normal?", which is probably my most overused phrase. I even flagged one of them down the first time I heard him cry. I was told that babies do that quite a lot. Ha ha.

Frakk so impressed that you are still doing fitness classes. I haven't done anything since having Conor and have realise that I am about to hit the six week mark where I could, in theory, start running again. I feel sick at the very thought of it. The first run after eight or more months. It is going to be SO hard. Maybe next week. I don't think I should rush into anything....

Look forward to more baby news soon!

Congratulations Chilli, I agree another baby announcement is a lovely way to start the day Megan is a lovely name (was on my list!).

Caramello I'm of the swimming. I'd love to go but can't face going along just in case something happens while I'm there!

Lis hope you FIL improves again quickly.

Right, best get on, need to ring the GP and get (another) appointment as my 'face lurgy', aka impetigo, still hasn't totally cleared. Though as DH pointed out sods law dictates that I'll make an appointment then go into labour and miss it!

Chilli congratulations! you had a very eventful weekend! Megan is a lovely name too. Let hope she continues to sleep well, (but agree with *ILTMIMI that newborns often are lovely and sleepy for first few days, then they want feeding constantly!!)

Lis hope your FIL is getting better.

Still waiting from some news from Ali, hope all is ok.

JoEW my best friend had a baby at 28wks in
September. I visited her quite a few times on SCBU. The nurses were amazing, so much knowledge and advice. Baby came home in December. Her baby is now doing really well, and literally piling on the pounds. (she is now heavier than my full term dd was at the same corrected gestational age!) My friend still has contact with the neonatal community nurse so when Connor comes home I'm sure you will have the same support. The first few months were so incredibly hard for them having to leave their baby at the hospital every night, but they got through it together and are now enjoying life as a family of 3.

Arch hope you appointment this afternoon for scan goes well.

Kitty enjoy your last day of work.

Frakk and Caramel impressed by your continuing to exercise, especially swimming. I would love to go as the feeling of being imersed in water is lovely but too much of a wimp to attempt facing the swimming pool on my own (visions of being unable to haul my huge belly up the steps at the end!)

Maybe we will have some more baby announcements by the end of the day.

More babies!! Yay! Congrats Chilli and big squidgy hugs to Megan! I too would like the requisition form for a sleeping baby!

Arch sending you head down vibes this afternoon!!

Kitty have a fab last day at work!

JoEW Neonatal Nurses are superstars. My mums friend is one and I have no idea how she does it. But she is full of useful tips if you ask!

Sorry for whinging on here about FIL. SIL likes to withhold info from us and only tells us when things are really bad. Maybe I should start a SIL thread? Turns out on top of everything FIL has had to put up with recently, the doctor had upped his morphine, not realising he was also on ketamine. He wasn't confused, he was halucinating! He thought the nurses at his cancer respite place had cats tails! So they have kept him in there to get a grip on all his cancer, stroke, heart, lung, anti biots and epiliepsy meds as there is obviously a conflict in there somewhere. Bless him. We have not plans to go back up the road just yet. I don't think I could do it again just now. DH is waiting to hear from SIL. He might pop up at the weekend because my mum is visiting here.

Anyway, reflexology today. I might try to persuade her to push the labour button see what happens! :o

Congratulations Chilli and welcome Megan!! Sounds like it was a bit of a tough entry into the world so hope you're both doing really well :)

Good luck today arch let us know how it goes!

Lis your poor FIL, hopefully a few days to sort out all his different meds and he'll be feeling a bit better but must be very worrying for you and DP especially as now is not a great time for you to be going off visiting anywhere.

On another note, does anyone have any experience of getting their antenatal checks done by the GP? Tried to book my 38 weeks appt which should have been today last week and told all mw appts are full, and same for next week. So the next mw appt I can book is for after my due date which I've done. Finally got hold of my mw today and she said to make a gp's appointment instead... just wondered if they would do all the same stuff? It's a bit annoying because I won't have have had an appt since 36 weeks I'm sure there must be other people in the same boat as well as there obviously aren't enough appointments! They're only available from 1.30-2.30 on a wednesday and midwife only answers her mobile on wednesdays and doesn't have voicemail.... joy!!! Sorry I know this moan is a bit selfish

How's everyone's bumps doing today? After feeling like the baby was absolutely definitely coming early at the weekend theres been not a sniff since though I have suddenly developed a load of stretch marks on the bottom of my tummy so perhaps that explains the grump!

lucie I've had alternate gp and mw appointments the whole way through. my experience has been the gp is more friendy, organised & efficient. They have done exactly the same checks as each other.

jen my swimming pool has stairs so it's a case of walk down in and walk up back out. Bliss. Am very tempted to go tomorrow...

beetle you should go - what's the worst that could happen?!

lis you're SIL sounds a nightmare and I hope your FIL gets better quickly.

Hope it went well arch and baby co-operatively head down and facing the right way.

Minirant: I hauled myself out of bed this morning to go meet a friend for coffee, except she'd forgotten (which isn't unusual for this friend....), then tried to achieve something as I'd gone into town but it was just hellish! I don't know what was wrong with people today but both the bank and post office were horrible and rude, and people seem to have forgotten how to drive! Anyway I had a nice afternoon meeting 2 new people who arrived last week so all was not lost...

Thanks Thaney that's good to hear!!

That's rubbish service from your MWs Lucie!!
At my last MW appt the receptionist was really struggling as the 'in 2 weeks time' appts were already overbooked (with MW's permission) and everyone leaving was being told, come back in 2 weeks!
Luckily for me, my MW wants to do my next one as a home visit & they happen on Fridays instead of clinic ones on a Thurs.

Sure when i had DS1 they did appts on Tues & Thurs and now it's down to just one day a week which is pretty rubbish if that's a hard day for you to get there on.

Thaney, thats pants! When I needed an out of cycle appointment becuase the hospital wanted me checked the following week my MW gave me an appointment on a different day, arranged to have a room and everything (they share the surgery room with the physio or something). So they shoudl be able to offer you an appointment. If it's not on their usual day for them then tough, they obviously don't have enough appointments for all the mums they are looking after. However, your GP will do all the same chesk the MW will. The only thing that effects for me here is the GPs dont have access to the maternity system that the MWs and Labour wards have, so my notes don't get updated if the GP gives me something.

Lucie I think it depends on your GP. Last pregnancy I had shared GP/hospital care and found it was hit and miss. Sometimes the GP I had that day had no idea what to check and it was me telling them, other times they were better than the MW.

Same as Frakk the pool closest to me has steps to walk in so I don't need to attempt the side ladders. Beetle I've decided to tempt fate and if my waters go when I'm in the pool I just won't go back for a long while , and I'll be happy that I've gone into labour early! Am sure it's no worse than all the people who wee in the pool daily. When my waters broke with DS there was an initial big gush when I stood to get out of bed then a steady trickle after that so not sure I'd even notice if I was in the pool???

Hello folks!

Just a quick one to say welcome to the other babies! And I hope everyone else doesn't have to wait longer than they want to to meet their babies.

Felix is doing really well. We finally got released last night (they were waiting for me, not him - stories for after everyone's dropped!).

I'm impressed with the epi-no action. It should stand you in good stead. However, just in case, I'll say now - weeing with stitches is really ok! Elbows on knees & head in hands and it's all good. And laxatives are a wonderful invention!

Most importantly, it's far better than being pregnant (IMO) and a snuggly little man makes it worth everything!

And I've finally got the knockers I've always wanted!

Love to everyone. x

Go start a postnatal thread pet and then only those who've dropped/are nosy need to see

Glad to hear you're all doing okay and that it was all worth it though. It's really encouraging to hear that, although I'm now having nightmares about what happened! Please just reassure me it wasn't that bad

Great to hear from you Petal and that your gorgeous boy is doing well.

Is it bad that I want to know the story....?

Congrats Chilli Megan is such pretty name.

Love to all the new babies.