Jue in June 2011....... labour here we come!!!!!

[Jer79]

New thread. Should last us a week.

crumbletastic, if you don't mind me asking, were your Hb levels ok?

At the first round of tests, my serum ferritin (iron levels) were considered to be low and the GP immediately put me on iron tablets (which btw can't be got over the counter i was told) for a month and it so so much improved my energy levels..This was of course in the first trimester. And if anything the iron requirements go up and up as the preg progresses. So, I would say persist with the dosage, despite the side effects and have it with some orange juice as it is supposed to help absorption and coffee(caffeine) has the opp effect.

Coming back to my orig Q abt ur Hb levels, i am asking, specifically, because after that first time, they have never done the "serum ferritin" test specifically. the 2 subsequent tests were just normal blood levels, which gives you the Hb levels but not the iron stores.

And the thing is the Hb levels have remained almost same on all the tests including the one where the serum ferritin was low..And i feel so so knackered most of the times. So, I am wondering if my Hb levels could be ok but still the iron stores are low and should a separate test be done for that? Does anyone have any thoughts ?

Sorry, it is unnecessarily long-winded, i have just woken up from a nap and not really in my best writing form.

Joanne when I had DS I really only had the basics to go on (no birth plan in place, no ante-natal classses). I knew enough to know what I wanted painwise etc (G&A, no forceps...). There are a few things I learnt from that that I want to differently this time, but basically what I'm trying to say is definately go with what makes you comfortable and don't let anyone pressure you into anything differently (unless it's a case of life and death of course). It's giving birth, not brain surgery after all

Does anyone know if there is a goats milk formula available in the UK? DS and I drink goats milk as UK cows milk doesn't seem to like us and I'm thinking if I end up stopping bfing before 12months again I'd rather give LO goats based over cow if I can (really can't stand soy (on principle and taste) so avoid it like the plague where poss).

What is this sunshine people keep talking of? It's been raining all morning

It's been sunny here, but really really windy! I hung out the bedding I washed about 9am and it is dry already!
If it wasn't for the wind, it would be quite warm, I think.

at a mid morning nap spg!

woefully behind with the chat ladies, but wanted to highlight the new Tesco clubcard voucher exchange now had a special 'pampers exchange'. Plus Pampers are on sale at the moment because of the Mother and Baby event, so you can get twice the discount. Exchange vouchers go until 15 May, but the promos end 12 April, and with wipes at half price or BOGOF, it's basically buy one get 4 free!

Hope alls well with everyone!

Thanks tinyk off to stock up, no idea where I'll find the room to store more baby tat stuff, but I'll damn sure try!

Have uploaded my bump pic from a few weeks ago, it's not beautiful and artistic like the other ladies', but it's jolly cheerful :)

Had a 2nd night of leaky boobage last night, don't really know what to do...do I really have to start wearing breast pads at 31 weeks :(

My two-penneth's-worth re: BF, I would really like to try my hardest to BF when the time comes, but I have researched the formula/pump/steriliser/bottles/teats etc that I would use if it doesn't work out for me. I have written all the details on a piece of paper and know that if, in the middle of the night I know that it's not working I can send DP out with his list and he can get it for me. I think I'm happier that way than having it in the house from day 1 (or day -60 as today is) but I won't feel panicked if I'm someone who it doesn't work for. Then again remember that I am the quintessential clueless first-timer, so what do I know!?

Is anyone else being given really weird stuff by people? In the past week, dad has bought me a potty and my best-friend's SIL gave us a santa bib - all very kind, but really, a potty and a santa bib? What do people think I'm giving birth to in June?

7th April tomorrow, AN Class on 7th May and EDD on 7th June [shocked]

Have a lovely afternoon, everyone.

spg yeah, I get what you're saying. I think my hb levels were fine, although I have my original blood test results in front of me and I can't decipher them, but I can't see hemaglobin anywhere. All I know is that from these results they initially told me all was fine, no anaemia etc but then I got a letter in the post a couple weeks later saying further to the previous blood test they wanted to do an adititional test for serum ferritin. From my limited medical knowledghe I think it is possible for your hb to be within range but your iron stores to be low.

Anyone else with a low-lying placenta?

GGGRRRR... (warning self obsessed rant coming..)

I emailed my Lecturer yesterday morning at 8.30 and asked for my assignment results (as she gave them to everyone else Monday night, wouldnt give them to a class mate for me (fair enough) and told me if I just emailed her she'd send them on...). Nothing yet. Am dying to know how I did. Pissed off.

In work and so tired I could literally sob my heart out crying. My legs and feet are starting to swell up again (have been doing this for the passed few days) and Im just dying to go home. I've really bad heartburn and I've just ran out of gaviscon. I feel so very heavily pregnant and its going to be ages yet until I can have a rest.

My dh's cousin is pregnant and has just been informed that her baby has down syndrome (at her 20 week scan). I cant help but feel so so sad for her. I know the baby will be an absolute joy but obviously we all want ours to be 100% healthy and as far as Im aware, because the child has downs syndrome he/she will likely to have many other health problems.

Im also selfishly panicing over this news as this is the 3rd baby with downs syndrome in DH's family to be born in the last few years - unusually all to couples in their (early!!) 20's. (DH's cousin, DH's uncle, DH's 2nd cousin). His granny's sister also had downs syndrome. Im confused, I thought it was caused by an extra chromosone? It appears to be very much genetic? I also thought age was generally a factor? Im worried sick out of my mind now, as I havent had an an anomaly (or any other) scans and the lack of care is terrifying me anyway but now.. because of this latest diagnosis, Im (again, very selfishly) panicing, I would rather know if theres something "wrong" with our baby and am also thinking, if our baby had DS or any other condition, which could have been picked up by US, arrangements could be put into place now for transfers for surgery etc.. to be in place at birth. (Arent DS babies more likely to be born with a hole in their heart and to require immediate surgery as it can be life threatening?)

Im probably being a lunatic.

No Jer (well not as far as I know in the absense of any monitoring ) have you just been told this?

Barbie, I think it is time for a sick afternoon...go home, watch crappy TV, put your feet up and eat cakes! As you might know I didn't find out i was pg until 24-27 weeks depending on who you ask so there was no time for anomoly scans or any other digagnostics, but when I has the emergency Sh1t how pg is she scan they spen a good 45 mins looking at the baby and said there are no obvious signs of defority or health problems which set my mind at rest. Maybe in a sligjtly less tires state you should have a think about getting a scan either NHS or private just to set your mind at rest?

Your so kind Joannezipan, thanks a million (Im not usually like this, honest )

Im in Ireland and have had serious ishoos over the level of care Im receiving this time round - one 2 second "dating" scan at 18 weeks pregnant. Thats it, have been told there will be nothing more. I would have happily paid privately for an anomaly scan but stupidly had expected one through the health system and was waiting to be called, by the time I realised I wouldnt be getting one - it was too late . I could really do with the peace of mind to be honest, I dont know why (3rd baby and all!!) but this time round Im really worried about the baby - alot more then I was with our other 2.

I've rang some private clinics and at this stage (32weeks), they've said any scan will be cosmetic and non medical.

Oh Im really sorry for moaning!!!

and being the selfish cow I am this evening, Im so sorry joanne, also did mean to say, am so glad they spent that amount of time scanning the baby and that all is well!!!

Selfishcowisum is a side effect of pg we don't talk about much - you should see the treatment my DH gets at home! :o It was intended to reasure you anyway - book the scan, at least then you will know what's going on and that all is cosmetically well. No cleft paltes or club feet or funny joints on the scan will be a big indication that everything is well. Go home and book the scan. and go home

Hello all,

Jasmine no worries about the clothes. Am really quite enjoying having a streamlined wardrobe. Now I work from home 4 days a week and live far from humanity all I really need are big pants and a cornflake encrusted dressing gown.

re: mothers at births. The thing I have found most shocking about OBEM is the amount of people who take their mothers into hospital with them. I love mine and get on very well with her but no way would I consider allowing her to see my fanjo with a baby coming out of it. No, no, no (in fairness we haven't ever mentioned sex so we're probably a bit of a Victorian family). Apparently DPs large family have a habit of maintaing vigils outside the ward door during births which horrifies me and seems completely improper.Ideally I'd like a proper long confinement before emerging in trim, sweet smelling, ladylike fashion (having also stopped leaking anywhere, ditched cornflaked dressing gown, dyed my roots and sorted out annual haircut obvs)

I was reading a load of mummy literature from the MW t'other day and ended up furious about the patronising tone of the breastfeeding information (including cheesy comic strip infotainment). I totally accept the health benefits but if it's so bloody wonderful for mums and easy, why the sledgehammer promotion and the provision of so much support? I think we're adults that could deal with honest, pragmatic information, some of which might be that it can be a fairly shit experience for some women. I'm going to have a crack at it but am dreading it, I have really sensitive nipples and feel really queasy having them touched at all. Am thinking expressing and feeding by bottle might be a way round it but will see...

Barbie - you are not being selfish, it is completely understandable to feel as you do. And, if there are other family members with children who have Down's then you are more likely to worry about it. It doesn't make you a bad person of course we want out babies to be healthy - just because you feel that way not does not mean that you wouldn't love a disabled child any less than one without any disabilities.

Just been given a mountain of baby girl clothes from a very kind MN friend, lots of gorgeous clothes. Damn, there goes my excuse for buying more. I guess I will have to buy chocolate instead

Barbie firstly, you're not being selfish worrying about your baby's health, you're being a good mum! I'm so sorry you've got this sadness in the family, esp at such a stressful time for you anyway. I worry about my baby having problems and I've had all the scans and so on so I can't imagine how you must feel. I can't believe the lack of care you've had, WTF?
DS is caused by an extra chromosome which has a genetic link but just because you've got it in the family does not by any means mean that your baby will have it. It is also linked to age, but again, younger mums can have babies with it whereas much older mums don't, it's not cut and dry.
Is there anyway you can cut down a bit at work/uni? I don't know how you cope, I moan about going to uni, you've got that puls work puls two young children, you are superwoman! I think you're doing amazingly and more than entitled to a good moan/cry/whatever the hell makes you feel a bit better at this point!
RE swelling, make sure you're drinking enough (probably more than you'd think), counterintuitively water retention is aided by adequate hydration so keep sipping throughout the day and get your feet up at every possible opportunity.
Also, ((((HUGS)))))

Barbie and AlmightyCitrus so sorry you had such horrible BF experiences :( I think you're dead right about trying and if it works ace, if not well, you tried. There seems to be so much to beat yourself up about as a parent, why make it harder for yourself? Happy mum=happy baby so if you're stressed baby is going to be stressed too.

Crumble wow that's low! At least you've got the answer and can start doing something about it :)

*Confessions what about this?

jasmine couldn't you tell your mum that the hospital only allows one birth partner and that it's your DH? And then if he can't be there ad you're having a friend that you had to ask her as your mum wouldn't get there in time? Or just say you wouldn't feel comfortable having your mum peering up your nether regions!

Oompaloompa I am really breathless as well and I don;t have asthma. It because your baby is squashing all your other organs up into your chest cavity, leaving no room for your poor old lungs to inflate properly so you feel like you can't take a proper breath.

Jasmine I'm pretty sure that it's anatomically impossible for the baby to get his foot stuck!

Funniest ever Friends quote:
Rachel (on the subject of pregnancy): Your boobs get bigger, your ass gets bigger, you lose bladder control. (holding back tears) It's such a magical time!

Wow - seem to be really behind now - trying to catch up...

Barbie you are not being selfish AT ALL - anyone would be feeling exactly the same and therse hormones really get us on anxiety-alert! I'm also feeling sick and fed up of this pregnancy, and struggling mentally in a way that I didn't before

Kara jealous of your baby clothes - no one ever gives me any hand-me-downs - I would LOVE some.

Notoast I totally agree about the mothers - no way would I have mine in with me - I get embarrassed telling her I'm pregnant as she will realise that I actually had sex. No way could I have her there
I haven't seen any 'official' bfing stuff but last time I looked it was all a load of rubbish. They have campaigns constantly - I suppose it's fair enough as bfing rates in this country are really really low, but they never seem to approach it very well for some reason. If anyone is looking for good, factual literature and info on bfing, you'd be better checking out kellymom to be honest - they cover every conceivable angle and are all evidence-based

Jer79 not that I know of - did they find this out at a scan? Is there still time for it to move?

spg I'm fairly certain that hb can be fine but iron stores not fine - and it's a different blood test, so I would ask your gp for a specific iron stores test if you're worried.

Thanks for the compliment about goood bfing advice Barbie although I'm not sure my 'just wing it' approach would be approved by the powers that be

confessions - I actually saw my SIL with a tin once - it was called 'nanny milk' or something like that.

Right - pelvic floors ladies - squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeze

Hi all,

Ive had such a stressful week already this week and its only Wednesday!

Got a phone call from the midwife on Friday saying that my 28 week blood test results were back (having been taken two weeks ago i think they must have got lost in the post or something) and that my white blood count was unusually high. She said to me that if i felt unwell i should call my GP as soon as possible. Well i felt perfectly fine so she said ok i will check you over next week at your antenatal clinic.

Ive had so much uni work to do this weekend and I couldn't get any of it finished because I was worried why my white blood count was high and did i have an infection. SO I thought i will call the Doctors on monday and get an appointment.

Went to see the doctor on Monday morning and she seemed a bit alarmed that i hadnt come in sooner as the notes said they results were abnormal and i needed to see the Doctor urgently. She told me that i needed to have my bloods re done to see if the count was still high.

The lovely nurse took my blood and it got sent off to the hospital to get checked out. I managed to get an extension at uni for the work seeing as i was stressing myself out far too much and it wasnt very good for me or my baby.

Tuesday morning comes round and i have 3 missed calls from the doctors and a voicemail saying i need to call the doctor about the tests that i had done the previous day. So i called up and got told that my white count was still high and that i needed to have more blood taken to test for something else. So I dragged myself back to the doctors and got more blood taken - this time by not such a lovely nurse -and got told i had an appointment in the afternoon to check if the results had come back.

So Im back in the doctors yesterday afternoon and i see a male doctor who is confused as to why i had two blood tests done in two days and he says that he isn't worried as my count had been at 23, it should have been at 9 and it was now down at 17 - still high but not worryingly so. So his recommendation is that ive got to go back next Tuesday to have even more blood taken to see if its gone down any more. If not then ill be dragged to hospital for further tests.

Now for someone who doesnt like needles or blood this has been extremly bothersome for me plus i have an almighty cold which is making me feel completly useless - and my partner has concussion so not really a good time for us!

Lets just hope that the test results come back normal next week otherwise the doctors will still be confused as to the unknown infection thats causing no symptoms!!!

(p.s. sorry its so long i just needed to throw it all out there :) )

Hi all, well, I only posted yesterday on the old thread but already feel hopelessly out of touch after wading through so many posts!

BFing is such an emotive issue; I just winged it a bit like sasamaxx and was very lucky and didn't have many problems, but I have two friends who had problems and both had to stop. I suppose my advice would be to try and relax about it if you've never done it before and just see how you get on. It doesn't work for some people, as some people on this thread know from experience, but if it does it can be amazing. I feel very sad for my friend who has just stopped (her ds is 6 weeks old) due to suffering from thrush and mastitis, as she doesn't want to go to any local mother and baby groups as she's worried she'll be judged as soon as she whips out his bottle of formula. It's terrible that this kind of attitude exists but I hate to admit that in the area we live in her fears probably aren't completely unfounded .

Barbie sorry to hear about the bad news in your family. I don't blame you for being worried, I would be too, and it is definitely not selfish. I hope you're feeling better this evening after a rest .

I went for a blood test today for iron levels, as I was sooooo tired on Monday I could hardly move. I have still been suffering but managed to make it into work. I kind of hope my iron levels are low, cos at least then I might rediscover some energy before I have this baby! SPD is not so bad, the exercises and chiropractor visits seem to be doing their job, although my chiropractor did warn today that it could go downhill once the baby drops and there is more pressure on the area.

oompahloompah I am also breathless and don't suffer from asthma, everything feels like it's getting very squished!

crazychic I feel for your mammoth blood-letting week! I was having regular blood tests, every 3-4 days, for weeks before I conceived to try and work out my cycle, and typically I had the longest cycle ever (about 2 months ), felt like a pin cushion by the time they worked out I had OVd (it was the cycle I conceived on though... hurray! ).

My maternity cover started this week, so I have been enjoying handing him over cases today! One month today til I finish .

I agree bfing promotion is crap and misleading.

I'd rather spend the money on supporting mums who do want to breastfeed!

I was lucky as I got lots of help in the early days with ds, saw an NCT bfing counsellor and loads of advice from here and Kellymom (Which is a fantastic site).

Dr Jack Newman's website is also good and has loads of useful videos as well.

Still waiting for physio appointment!

Crazychic - what a nightmare, I hate needles to so I wouldn't have been too happy with all those blood tests. Surely if you have a cold though, would that not account for your elevated white blood cell count?

Is anyone online at the moment to advise?....I've had a rough night and woke up this morning hot, ill and been sick. I'm feeling better now but that might just be post-huey lull. I am assuming its not serious and therefore MW or GP wouldnt be interested unless it got severe or bump stopped moving, is that right? I'm worrying because bump is bouncing around, has been all night and I have it in my head that he might be distressed....I'm imagining all sorts to be honest. Just done my BP and its given me a stupid reading of 85/65 - if that was right I'd be lying on the floor...will try again later.
Anyone reassure me that I'm not dying and a little bit of sick is nothing to worry about?

Hi Jasmine, I would say that if you are worried you should give the midwife a quick call to set your mind at rest, I'm afraid I can't give you any advice about whether your baby is affected by your temperature / sickness. I would say probably not, but it's only natural to worry, and I'm sure they won't mind reassuring you.

Hope you're feeling a bit better, sounds horrible