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.

Ages and ages ago, I remember some of you recommending a special swaddling thingy on here. Can anyone remember what I'm on about and point me in the right direction? Rosie loves a swaddle but it's too hot for blankets.

Kits DD1 was born within 24hrs of my show.

Ages and ages ago, I remember some of you recommending a special swaddling thingy on here. Can anyone remember what I'm on about and point me in the right direction? Rosie loves a swaddle but it's too hot for blankets.

Kits DD1 was born within 24hrs of my show.

Congratulations Beetle ! i'm losing track of who has given birth now.

Exciting news kits a show is definitely a positive sign that something could be happening.

Aussie yey for your last day at work, sounds like you had alovely one too.

Ecuse you have made me chuckle. I attempted to trim my heavily forested area down below a few days ago, but its very difficult when you cannot actually see it. resorted to trying to trim with nail scissors using a mirror but pretty much impossible. By the time this baby arrives I will probably have pubes to my knees.

I think I may have to try and persuade DH that a shag is on the cards tomorrow night but i honestly couldn't feel less like it. My back and side pain has finally settled down and I have visions of it going again in some comedy sex position. However I feel like I would pretty much resort to anything to get this baby out. Will i win a prize if i have the most overdue baby on the thread?

NANN there are a couple of thin special swaddling blankets - Swaddle Me and Miracle Blanket are ones I've heard of. But I think you can also use a muslin for a light covering

Petal never tried it on breast milk, but a few drops of Stain Devil grease and fat version has been sufficient for most grease stains I've encountered. I feel like a Stepford Wife now, dispensing laundry advice!

Notanother I swear by these for swaddling, shading the pram, lying in the floor....

I also have some hideously expensive very thin lawn cotton swaddling sheets which I will be monogramming next week from Babylist. PFB or what?

I've got these huge muslins Nann, cheaper than the Aiden & Anais ones that Frakk linked too, but nowhere near as pretty - I spent ages tossing a coin over which ones to buy!!

I've also got one of these, It was unused and £4 at a NCT sale so I thought it would be rude not to buy it

Loved your use of the word muff ecuse, it really made me laugh. I haven't heard that or minge for ages

Petal - I don't know if it will work (but it works on grease spots), but dab and rub in talc on the fat stain before you put it in the washing machine - it absorbs and soaks up the fat.

Wonder if Kits show has started things off?

Nothing moving here - have handyman here today & PIL coming for the afternoon later so no labour vibes wanted here today

I was going to suggest talc for grease spots Petal. I used it on a silk dress that dry cleaning couldn't get it out. I layered kitchen roll, talc, dress, talc, kitchen roll. Leave for a few hours and the talc should absorb the grease.

I too feel like a stepford wife! I seriously am the most unhousewifely of all my friends and family, I don't know where I get all my knowledge of cleaners and laundry tips from! Probably from telling advising DH how to do it properly!!

Morning Sickness has made a reappearance in the last week! Yuk! It's really shitty! I'd forgotten about that bit already!

My BF is on her way down from Aberdeen for a visit today. She pencilled me in weeks ago and I've tried to put her off gently saying that I'm crappy company just now or I don't want to be going out anywhere (she initially thought we could have a girly day in Edinburgh !) Anyway, she hasn't picked up on my reluctance to play hostess so I'll plaster on my best :o and try to not go into labour today!

Morning all. Nothing new to report, suprise surprise.

NANN I have a cotton swaddling blanket I used for dd but no idea where I got it from, so no help at all. I found swaddling worked well for the first few weeks, especially to settle her after a feed.

I wonder if things have been happening for kits?

Petal I am no good at stain removal tips other than I get out the spray on stuff that is meant to remove stains, then stick in the wash!

JKS sending No labour vibes your way, but only if you send me some yes labour vibes!

LisMcA how horrible to have morning sickness again. I have thrown up a few times too over the past week, but nothing like in the early stages of pregnancy. Enjoy your day with your BF, perhaps you could just go out for a nice lunch somewhere in the sunshine?

DH has taken dd out to the playcentre on the pretence of giving me some peace and quiet. Basically he meets up with his friends who have kids, and the dads sit around drinking coffee whilst the kids run riot. I have to do the washing and the food shopping, so don't really know how that amounts to peace and quiet for me!
Been invited to my parents for tea tonight. My Dad is a keen fisherman and caught some trout yesterday that he wants to BBQ. I am not overly keen on trout to be honest, It seems to always tastes slightly of pond water. I am hoping that there will at least be some hot dogs too and I can politely nibble on a small bit of fish just to humour him. Mum told me she isn't sleeping v well at the moment as she keeps waiting for the phone to ring in the night to announce I have gone into labour. She has also complained that she can't plan anything as she doesn't know when this baby will arrive. How inconvenient for her!! Grrrr

Well.......nothing! Show has continued (big brown gloops of snot-like stuff dropping out yesterday morning and throughout today) and my question is how much of the damn stuff IS there? Presumably it runs out at some point? This just keeps on coming. Other than the gloop, nothing. No contractions or anything other than the usual mild braxton hicks. I guess the show is a good sign.

Couldn't face a shag last night as I felt too 'out of my skin' (does that make sense?) but threw myself on my husband this morning. He seemed pretty happy about it all considering I'm not looking at my best but it may have been because I was upfront and explained that it was purely for the purposes of induction and not because I was feeling red hot. I like to think he appreciated my candour!

So we wait. Thumb twiddling, nipple twidding, clary sage in hot baths, sex, ball bouncing. All of which does f*ck all I've realised if a baby isn't interested in coming. Ho hum. At least next Wednesday is off now so technically I can tick along happily without feeling stressed about time frames. It has really helped.

Going to post about 'show' quantities on pregnancy forum to see if anyone can enlighten further.

Good luck to the other waiting ladies. Hope someone pops soon!

At least your cervix is doing something kits

Hope you're having a good day Lis and your friend is being understanding!

I don't often do this but LOL at your mother Jen!!!

I'm bored of waiting. I have nothing - except a bizarre feeling baby will arrive on a Sunday and I dreamt it had a palindromic birthdate which would be tomorrow but that may have been wishful dreaming! Even my BHs have tailed off.

I've felt sooooo tired all day. I just want to hibernate but we have 7 people coming over in about half an hour. Silly DH.

If baby doesn't put in an appearance soon I shall be off examine my psyche for reasons why nothing's doing.

That's labour starting tomorrow for a Monday arrival according to my feelings/dreams.

Frak - happy to join you in labour starting tomorrow, evening preferably as new fridge/freezer being delivered at some point - into the kitchen where the birth pool is meant to be set up....

Kits - i'm a tad envious of show activity
me that's weird not you btw!!

Speaking of birth pools - with DS1 i used a liner to test it and then another liner for labour. Can't remember exactly with DS2.
This time i've bought a new liner for labour but when we tested it (me + 2 boys) i didn't bother with a liner. I figure it's only got to be 'sterile-ish' for when the new baby arrives, plus easier to pump out the water then maybe throw away the liner with any gunkiness still in it.
So go ahead with testing i say :)

I tested mine without the liner too just to check that it didn't leak air/water anywhere. Was lovely to sit in infront of the telly.. like having a lovely warm bath in the living room.. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Blimey I'm knackered. DH has been working on the house and plastering ds's new room so I entertained ds from 8am until about 5 minutes ago. I am on my flippin knees. Needless to say a takeaway has been ordered

The pool has been tested and I'm happy to say there hasn't been any deflating or leaks . That's a big thing off my to do list and I feel a real sense of relief knowing it has been checked.

We pick up the cotbed and new mattress tomorrow as well - again, another thing off my list.

The next few things to do is find the big bag of birthing towels and sheets we've got somewhere and give them a wash. I also need to locate the carry cot attachment for the pram and give the lining a wash.

Let's hope your predictions are right Frakk I was right about when ds1 was born, I just knew it was going to be a weekend and I predicted the right weekend too.

Congratulations to the new mummies. So nice to see the babies all starting to arrive.

I had a feeling that Finn would arrive on either a Sunday or Monday and also said that 8lbs was my limit, given that my 1st dc was 7lbs 15.5oz. Finn did infact arrive on a Sunday and was 8lbs exactly.. So i think keep wishing for a certain date/day and you never know it might just come true.

I am keeping up to date with the arrivals but dont seem to have the time to post.

Finn is doing really well and by Tuesday (day 9) was back up to his birth weight. He has taken to breastfeeding like a pro, so I am very grateful for that. We are busy bees in the house at the mo as dd1 is 4 tomorrow and has a party planned etc then I wave goodbye to my 20's on Thursday before throwing a 6th birthday party for ds1 plus a party for myself in 2wks time.. That's without trying to pack for Florida in 3wks time.

Had to get F a passport very quickly and had his picture taken when he was 3 days old. It arrived today (only took a week) and he has changed so much already!

Kitstwins, Frak and JKS I hope things get moving very soon for you all xx

Hello all,

Hope all those trying anything and everything are finding some success! (I did have to giggle at the number of shagging mentions as I skimmed down the page!).

We're starting to settle in at home but are inundated with visitors (decided to get them all over and seen quick rather than dribs and drabs) which can be a little on the stressful side for me and DH, though Sam is thankfully happy to be cuddled by anyone and the new rule in the house is that whoever is cuddling when the nappy needs changing gets the honour!

Had some trouble with breastfeeding as, despite me having plenty there it takes a long time and a lot of yelling for Sam to latch, by which point he falls asleep after a couple of minutes. Went to see the midwife today for some advice and she said to hand express a bit so that when needed we can siringe (sp?) feed to calm him down and be reassured he has some food and then attempt the boob to at least get him used to the idea of where the food actually comes from! It's made the last couple of feeds a little calmer as I was getting pretty wound up and stressed last night and this morning.

Anyway, newborn snuggles are making up for all the stress and soreness (though I am considering strapping a pillow to my backside for when I forget to be gentle when sitting down!)

Just popping in from postnatal to say congratulations to the new arrivals, I'm still reading your posts and seeing how our April babies are progressing but doing less typing as it's more difficult one-handed

Re: Swaddling,
I use a moses basket/crib size flat sheet to swaddle and then tuck her in with a cellular blanket folded in half over the top.

Morning all.
Well just had a sweep at home by midwife. Was expecting her to announce that my cervix was still unfavourable, but gave me a Bishops score of 8 which is apparently v good. Cervix already >2cm dil, soft, anterior, and she had her fingers on babies head! It was uncomfortable but not anywhere near like the sweep when I was pregnant with dd.

Now I have a dull back ache and perhaps getting some mild periody type twinges right lower down under my bump and a pressure feeling right into my bottom Maybe things are starting, but then again maybe I'm just reading far too much into things! Feel like I want to keep upright rather than sitting down. DH taken dd out to the park, so going to potter and see what happens.

Beetle hope you are getting some rest in between visitors, its very important for you. Don't feel you are being rude to ask people to come at another time/day, although I know its hard when people want to see the new arrival. I had to sit on an inflatable childs rubber ring for the first few days postnatally, as I had so many stitches! then I progressed to a pillow. Its just so glamorous isn't it!

JKS Frak Kits any news today??

Oh fingers crossed Jen

JenAT sounds like the sweep might have promising results! Fingers crossed!

It's officially my due date today and was quite disappointed to wake up and find zero signs of anything happening! When I'm moving around and doing stuff it feels quite like the baby is ready to come.. i.e. it feels quite twingy at the bottom of my bump and I can feel the baby pressing down but I don't know if that's just because the baby is massive now. We took another bump photo on Friday and bloody hell I'm huge!! Don't think I realised how massive until looking at it in profile so I definitely feel like I am ready for the baby to make an appearance now. Also DP starts new job on Monday but the guy who will be his boss is actually on holiday for 2 weeks from Mondsay so there's not much he can do - he had a meeting with him on Friday and it sounds like if he's going to take a bit of time off when the baby is here it would be better if he did it while his boss is off then they can get into the swing of things once he's back. So I'm off out for pineapple later.. still haven't tempted DP with a shag.. he's showing an unusual lack of interest!

No news from me. well baby was definitely on my left hand side this morning but now feels like it's gone back to back again, but at least i know it can get around to the best position.
Definitely dropped too, very low and pelvis is v achy.

Waiting for fridge-freezer to arrive then there's no excuse holding me back lol! But no real signs.

Jen - hope the sweep has kicked things off for you :)

Right ladies, here's me again with a possible labour scenario. I've had pretty bad period pains in back and lower bump all day constantly. The pain has now started radiating down my right leg (upper and inner thigh down to my knee). Paracetamol not helping, bath uncomfortable.

Whadya'll think?

Sounds promising, Lis. Could be latent labour which is definitely a start. Maybe try to rest if you can?

Sounding very good for you, Jen. Definitely going to happen in the next couple of days race is on between you and Lis to see who gives us the next baby I think. Unless kits is currently obliging?

JKS it's the little things that make the difference. Subconciously you're probably not allowing yourself to go into labour until everything's ready so what are the odds of your waters going the minute you've loaded up the new fridge/freezer?!

My news is no news....we've actually spent most of today sleeping! Haven't got up or dressed or anything (might as well make the most of it!) so maybe there's something telling us to hibernate while we can because we'll need our energy tonight/tomorrow?! Or is that uber wishful thinking?