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.

April - great story :)

Frak - could you use a UK tv advert off YouTube? less to transcribe for you. In my Italian classes (years ago) we watched lots of adverts to try and get a grasp of colloquial/fast-moving spoken Italian.

DH is out for the evening so I watched DIY SOS (guilty tv pleasure!) and have ended up sobbing by the end. Always do get emotional at the end reveal bit but deary me I'm a mess!

Got the urge this afternoon to shift things round in the bedroom to fit the moses basket in, which also prompted a few tears. One of those days!

April that's a lovely story! Though I can't imagine newborn passport pics are easy.

Frakk what about a quiz show? would that work? We had a great French Teaching Assistant when I was at school who would get his mum to record episodes of 'Who wants to be a millionaire' from French tv and post them over each week for us to translate/answer the questions.

Welcome to the April Family Punk waves back!

Thanks Frak, and MrsW - post-natal thread is now here.

Lovely story April!

Hi Punk!

April lovely birth story (gives me hope!) - really glad it went well.

Exciting all these new babies. I STILL don't feel it's going to happen to me. Am being blatantly stared at in the street now as the 'enormous pregnant lady'. Taxi driver offered to go slowly over the bumps today as I "looked ready to drop" but I told him to speed up and hit them head on as it might encourage things along. Of course, nothing...

Am chilled though. Plan to practise a few more 8cm inflates with my epi-no! Do I know how to enjoy myself or what?!

APRIL congrats on your new arrival! Your story is lovely! I'm 36weeks and 3days at the momenta d I've been having a lot of the same tightening pains you describe- all day. According to Wednesday's scan though, the baby weighs est 7lb already so if it's almost time at least she's a healthy weight!

I absolutely LOVE the name Finn! Glad things went so well and continue to stay wekll :)

And thanks for the welcome ladies :)

Hello ladies! Sorry not to have updated you all before, it has been a long week and we only got home this afternoon.

I'm very pleased to announce the safe arrival of Thomas (Tom) by c-section on Monday 28th March. He is beautiful, and as yet does not sleep anywhere except sprawled face-down on either me, DH or my Mum!

I went in on Monday morning, and the Dr did a VE to see whether it would be possible to break my waters, but despite all the tightenings, losing some plug etc my cervix was high, posterior and still firm so we went straight to theatre.
Section itself was fine, and DH and I had a lovely half-hour with Tom snuggled between us while they stitched me up.
We've had some problems with his blood sugar due to my GD, or rather we've been battling a bit with the HCPs over it. He has had so many heel-pricks, his poor little feet, it has been a distressing few days, but my milk came in overnight last night and he's been gulping it down ever since so we came home just after lunch.

DS1 is so lovely with his brother, it is brilliant to see, but he's definitely a bit unsettled by the alteration in the status quo!

I am ok, boobs like rocks today and still taking lots of painkillers. Very glad to have my Mum here though as well as DH, I'm managing to potter about but can't really do anything much in terms of looking after DS1 so the extra pair of hands is v.welcome!

Congratulations to Petal, chilli, and Poodle! I have had a quick look through the thread but hopefully will get a chance to catch up properly in the next few days :)

Congrats Ali fab news. Glad all is going well.

Welcome Zanny and Punk

First whole day of maternity leave today. Had to get my bloods done for my 36 wk mw appt Tuesday. Stupid thin veins. OW!

Aah, great to hear from you Ali. Congratulations on the safe arrival of baby Tom.

Well done to April and baby too! Have to admit I was at your birth story.

Sats My sis had an EMCS and found bf an absolute breeze, whereas I had a 'natural' birth and really struggled through the first few weeks. You never can tell how it will turn out, best of luck x

I had another boring day waiting for labour to start here. The highlight was when a pigeon shat on my shoulder and, for a split second, I thought 'That's meant to be good luck, maybe it's a sign I'm about to go into labour?!' Then I realised that no, all it meant was that a pigeon had shat on my shoulder Thank God I have a sweep booked for Tuesday.

OTH is anybody hoping not to go into labour tomorrow? All I really want is DD2 out and safe in my arms, but it is April fools day....

I didn't want baby to arrive on April Fools Day, or the night of the census, when the clocks changed or on Mothers Day. She avoided some of them but when it was getting close to 1am/2am Sunday I though my contractions might have really got going (they didn't). Of course she did arrive in time for the census so we spent some time trying to find out whether to include her - yes, we did - counted at only hours old :)

We've had another succesful day - I'm very glad DH is here to help out, in fact he's been doing most of the nappy changes and dressing. I'm still stiff but fine around the house as long as you don't need me to do anything quickly!

Frak haven't the British Library or National Archives got some sort of speech and accents archive?

Good luck everyone! I might move over to the Post Natal - see you all there soon.

:o

Welcome to the April 11 thread Punk

Congratulations on the safe arrival of Tom Ali, glad to hear you are home and well

You made me lol NANN - no it was just a bird shitting on my shoulder! he he

I have never heard of a cheese cake, I am intrigued. I bloody love cheese so would be nibbling it at like a starved mouse.

Sorry to hear about the hospital stay Sats, I had an emerg csection with ds1 and bf'ing was fine. Techinically it shouldn't make a difference (the body starts producing colustrum/milk once the placenta has detatched) but situation can make it a bit tricky ie it is difficult to get comfortable to feed and it's tricky just picking a baby up post surgery. Just make sure you have lots of helpful and supportive people around you

Lovely birth story April

I have such mixed feelings about getting this baby out:

I know that it is just not going to happen for at least 4 weeks anyway - I just know I won't be early.
I will be 37 weeks a week today, so NOTHING is allowed to happen before then because I WILL be delivering at home.
We have soooooooo much to do around the house so the later this baby comes the better.
But, gawd I have just had enough of being pg. In the past 5 and a half years I have only spent 8 months not being pg or breastfeeding - and no doubt I've got another 18 months - 2 years of bf'ing ahead of me

Right ILTMIMI, get over yourself and get on with it

Congrats Ali! Welcome to the world baby Tom.

Welcome to the April madhouse/family zanny & punk

Got to say I know what you mean (except the previous experience of pg/BFing) ILTMI as I'm starting to get fed up now but there will be no exiting in the next few days! And we do elephant length pregnancies in my family so genetics is not on my side.

Notanother let's hope that luck works for you, eh?

kitty :( on the veins - not the best way to spend the first day of ML!

There is an accent archive but I've not found anything I could conceivably get a coherent comprehension exam from. Am well and truly stuck!

It's April!! Can you believe it's actually April. Our babies are due this month... Ok so we have already started on that front... And I have a suspicion kittens going to make me wait til May...

:-)

Hey everyone,
I'm a bit of a late joiner to this thread, but due with DC2 on 20th April. Was meant to be starting maternity leave next Monday but DS1 came down with chicken pox a few days ago meaning he can't go to nursery so I'm at home a bit sooner than expected. Sounds good but believe me being stuck in the house with a grouchy spotty 2 year old is no fun! Especially when all I want to do is prepare for the new baby's arrival & nap and I can do neither!! I've been reading a few of the birth stories on this thread and huge congrats to everyone who's already popped them out and good luck to everyone who's due in the next few days, so exciting!!

April thanks for posting your birth story.

Congratulations Ali Glad you are home at last with baby Tom. You missed a very important detail though.... how much did he weigh? It's always the first thing people ask isn't it, although in the scheme of things not really that important! Take it easy and let other people look after you.

Notanother a bird shitting on you is meant to be good luck so you never know.

Welcome to zanny, punk and pixipie

I'm off to waddle aimlessly around the shops. Fed up of this waiting game now.

Welcome Punk

Pixpie Oh CP is BAD! Are you armed with piriton, calpol, calamine and bicarb? Your poor DS - but poor you too, it's exhausting looking after a sick toddler.

Frakk - Would Alan Bennett's Talking Heads do? Think the accent is slightly Yorkshire but v BBC and clear cut:

is a good length. It's got subtitles, can you cover those for the exam and use them for marking?

Slight panic here. Advice please. I bought RLT capsules in H&B yest and she also sold me fengugreek as they had the penny sale on. I just took both but have since read you shouldnt take fenugreek while pregnant as it can encourage labour. I only took one capsule....argh.

Don't worry Kitty, if it was that easy to get labour started then we'd all be popping fenugreek pills Kick back with a I know it's worrying when you ingest something and then realise you're not meant to, but one capsule of fenugreek really won't harm your baby. I think you're meant to take them afterwards to encourage breastfeeding?

Thanks NANN Having tea and biscuits. Not sure i will take them again, they have left a vile taste and are repeating on me.

Morning all,

Quick question for all the 2nd+ timers:

I know we discussed nursing bras a while back. But the 2 sleep bras and 2 other bras that I have are too small for my ridiculous knockers and they're SO PAINFUL!!

Someone please recommend where I can get something comfortable online, I don't want to have to go into town just yet.

Any other recommendations of how to manage these ginormous wabs are much appreciated. How long does this last?

Felix is doing more sleeping and less eating since the milk came in, he'll empty them both in half an hour and then sleep for 4 hours. Which means I've got 3 1/2 hours with these rocks. I've expressed a bit to ease the pressure (mainly involuntarily - they drip, I collect!).

Thanks folks!

Arch Wow eyelashes, thats so incredible !!

Zanny, Punkpixie & Pixiepie Huge welcomes to you and your bumps

SarahJ Your boss sounds lovely !! Swanky Hotel and everything !! If I didnt have just a week left at work, Id definitely find some extra appointments to go to !!

Cycle I didnt know you could get cheese cakes, ive already told DP thats what i want for after birth, a cake made of cheese, prefereably Blue cheeses decorated with crackers and some french bread and pate, oooo and some pears and apples to go with cheese, maybe some quince jelly. God i want some blue cheese !!!

Chilli Glad BF now going well, whats was your original EDD ?

Jaylar Im also waiting on iron count results to confirm if i can use birthing ward, lets keep our fingers crossed for good results !

Petal My boobs havent grown yet, my DP will be very happy that they possibly still have a chance for increase, Im already a D cup but he is apparently looking forward to seeing Porno Boobs !! he he

April Loved your birth experience, it sounds like exactly the kind of birth im hoping for and that you dont get to hear about as much as the difficult ones, so good to know, how smooth it can run. I wanna hear about all the new mums birthing experinces, let us know mums !!

Ali Huge Congratulations to you and baby Tom

Well its my 2nd last Friday and I slept well last night so feeling really good today, despite work !! Thank You All for your agreements on my wicked boss, it actually made me feel so much better ! Is that evil of me ?

A bit disappointed that aparently stretch marks might still appear ! I have been feeling very smug about not getting any, and was going to write to Bio-Oil to thank them, but might hold off for a little longer, my midwife did say i have had a growth spurt over past 2weeks of 5cm !!!! so I was 37cm at 38 weeks, im hoping that doesnt mean my babys has gotton super big, i was quite happy with the idea of having a nice small baby !!

Got my 1st pressies from a colleague of cute clothes from baby Gap and her mum who comes to see her every week also bought me a present !! How nice is that, little Disney Piglet babygros, i was very touched !!

House is almost all in order, MIL came round with her DP and has put up my alcove shelves, installed a dimmer light, filled in some wall cracks, fixed my kitchen door that was loose and hard to close, changed the fan in my bathroom as stopped working, sanded down my wooden kitchen tops and re-vanished them and painted my entrance hall & hallway !!! How incredible is she and apparently is painting my bathroom today and then plans to paint my lounge room !! I love her so much !!

Well as always a mammouth post from me but they are only every couple of days so making up for the day off usually !! ha ha

Have a Great weekend all, hopefully gonna have some more baby annoucements by Monday !! Good Luck to anyone due or who goes into labour

Hiya Petal, this time i've gone for cheapo M&S nursing bras for the first few weeks. They are pretty unstructured so I found them more comfortable for the early days - although I know some people hate them and TBH I wouldn't buy a normal bra from M&S. IMHE, by 5 to 6 weeks your boobs will have settled down completely and you can get measured and treat yourself to some nicer and better supporting bras from John Lewis or Rigby and Pellar.

Felix sounds like he is doing increadibly well, textbook eating and sleeping now. I'm ! x

Just a quickie:

petalouda - I think these bra's are amazing

Engorged boobs are different for everyone. Some people get it for days, others weeks.

Try feeding Felix when he is asleep - some baby's are ace at this.

Also try feeding every two hours (in the day, don't worry about the night) if he is sleeping for four hours.

Welcome Pixipie

Also baby was going crazy alien style last night, was lying in bed and me and DP literally sat watching my tummy move in huge waves for about an hour, it was crazy, she's never moved in such big movements like that before for such a long period !! it was excellant. He tried to video it but you couldnt see it on camera, you can just hear us in the background going (woohhhh, did you see that) (wow, that was a massive one) DP announced its just like watching a horror movie in real life thats not scary !! he he

Hope we get to watch again tonight !!

Thanks so much for that NANN and ILTMI.

Although Felix is sleeping for longer, he's also a bit jaundiced, so it's a fine line as to whether this sleep is a good thing or a bad thing. As long as he's feeding well, I'm not going to worry. My mum came over this morning (as you do from 200 miles away!) and she wasn't concerned, and the MW is coming tomorrow.

(He's certainly not lethargic now - howling the house down upstairs while DH changes him!)

Plus, having read a lot of the 'what to expect in the early weeks' threads on here, we're not expecting anything to really last!

Aussie - pre-pregnancy I was a 32B, by 36 weeks I was 36DD, and as far as I can tell right now they're off the scale!

DH just went "flipping heck, those look like Lara Croft boobs!" - at least someone appreciates them!

Petal. I found Emma Jane nursing vests a godsend for the first few months. I wore them day and night. I found that the size of my boobs went up and down so much what with milk supply constantly changing to the needs of DD and also just losing pregnancy weight. I could neverget abra to fit for more than a week.
JoJoMamaBebe also do nursing vests of similar design butmore interesting colours so going to give them a go. Think there is a sale on their website until 5 April.

Anyone got advice on how to get my 3 year old daughter to accept that she doesn't have a baby in her tummy. Me and DP have just been humouring this fantasy which is quite common. But she is 100% convinced she is also having baby and even wants to buy a new swimsuit for the birthing pool. I've tried to involve her as much as possible but I'm not sure this has done any of us any favours. We're very honest about answering her questions in an age appropriate way so she's got the basics of how the baby got there. She asked her Dad in a very public place if the seed for the baby in her tummy came from Daddy's penis. He was mortified. Mostly because 2 of his work colleagues were there. I thought it was hilarious.

Gonna try ordering her a newborn doll that we can give her when baby arrives but not sure she'll fall for that. Oh well. I guess she'll get used to it.