The Deli gets funky: Ah, PESH it good - P-PESH IT REAL GOOD!

[Scorpette]

This fred ain't for everybody - only the menkul wimminz!

BESH BAYBEES

dontrythisathome, girl born March 25.
Cheggers, twinz girlz, born April.
FannyPriceless, boy, born June 8.
CurlyCasper, girl, born June 24.
CUNextTuesday, boy, born June 29.
AlpinePony, boy, born 1 July.
Carrots, boy, born July.
IggyPiggy, girl, born July.
Cosmosis, boy, born Sept 5.
Backinthebox, boy, born Sept 7.
Skatergrrrl, girl, born Sept 10.
VAG, boy, born Oct 2.
Silversky, boy, born Nov 1.
SomethingSuitablyWitty, girl born Nov 2.
okiecokie, girl, born Nov 12.
Honeymoo, boy, born Nov 11.
ReginaMonologue, boy, born Nov 13.
Maswera, boy, born Dec 24.
PollyPoo, girl, born Jan 5.
MrsFC, boy, born Jan 7.
ChoChoSan, girl, born 6 Feb.
Ginhag, boy born 11 Feb.
Muser, girl, born 15 Feb.
CluckyKate, boy, born 18 Feb.
Perfect Dromedary, boy, born 23rd February.
Medee, girl, born 26th March.
Casserole, girl born?

UPDIFFED

Scorpette, not top of the list at all, lalala, I can't hear you!, due 18th May.
Laurielou, the unmarried hussy with the "surprise" diff, due 31 May (ish).
Rocketleaf, sprouting out all over the place, due 1st June.
TwinkleToes, supergluing her fanjo shut, due 20 June.
Orchid, hoping for a zen like child, due 1st July.
Ginfox, loving the new mega-boobs, due 12th July.
LadyGoneGaga, No, it's not fucking twins, due 24 July.
Ivegotmrbitey, appears to have eaten posh spice, due 27th July.
Macaroonmum, eating for 7, due Aug 6th.
Owlbooty, suddenly weeble-shaped, due 7th August.
Ocarina, there's a what in there?! due late August.
Mountie, too shy to shine, due Autumn.
Truffkin, growing a padawan, due 17th November.
kat2504, 25 sticks pissed on and counting, due 5th December.

Hurrah hurrah. Now go for a long walk, eat a curried pineapple and follow that with a nice bounce on your ball.

Re OP, the mw told me. I did everything I could to get him to shift but the ?stubborn bugger? little darling stayed put. I?d heard horror stories of b2b labour, but it was fine.

Great news lozza!!

Hooray for Laurie and the BP Great news!

Thanks LGG for the roof advice. I may have to mention it to Mr O and suffer the fallout if 'tis only a matter of fixing a tile or two. Probably better to catch it now rather than in the winter I suppose. Just yet another job to add to the never ending list of house things to be fixed! I'm starting to think a new build would be a far better option (that's if I could ever face moving again!).

MW told me on Mon that baby was OP. I had my suspicions anyhoo as although I can feel what I thought (correctly) was a bum near my ribs. I can also feel kicks either at the side or more towards the middle of the bump, so figured the spine must be more orientated towards mine than t'other way round. I spent ages looking at this online last night and I'm going to do my best to tip my pelvis forward whenever I can, but MW said as squidge is literally sat at the brim of my pelvis I don't have long to try to move it before it gets comfy and starts to engage in whatever position it's in at the time. I figure you can but try and I'm trying not to stress too much about a back to back labour. Cosmosis has just made me feel better that if it does stay put a b2b labour doesn't have to be horrifcally painful/time consuming experience!

Really pleased for you, Loz. Have a nice chilled weekend and hopefully you might lay before Monday anyway.

Talking of laying, I hope Score and Rcokets and their little ones are out of hossie veh, veh soon.

Fab news loz! For it to be dropping under such close inspection must be a good sign that in real life it is much lower?

I am dying for news on sunspider (tiny scorps according to google) and littlegem, I want to know that all are well and huge amounts of snuffling are going on!

Parent craft was fabby last night, there are four sessions. Last night was on natural child birth, next week is on medical interventions, then breast feeding and then for the grand finale how to look after a baby. I learnt the following: One, when your waters break they can be a gush (fore waters) or a trickle (hind waters), two, latest evidence shows that massaging your perineum with sweet almond oil does reduce tearing, three, 88% of women in my local hospital will poo while delivering their baybee, four that the hospital/ birthing centre will send you home if you turn up too early, five, the community midiwfe will examine you in the house before a final decision about going in to hospital is made and six, I can get from my house to the birthing centre in twenty minutes outside of the rush hour. An evening well spent I believe!

How much raspberry leaf tea should you drink? I have stockpiled a few boxes ready as the shop nearest me that sells it closes during university vacations whcich is when I will want to be drinking it. I have no idea what the reccomended amount is though.

Who on God's earth would have first thought "I know, I will massage my perineum with sweet almost oil. That ought to do the trick."

It's the same kind of reasoning which discovered that basking shark liver oil does not coagulate at high altitude and was therefore suitable for use in aviation. I mean, why?

I am starting with one cup a day from 32 weeks, Bitey and gradually building up to 3 or 4 cups a day by the end. Keep an eye on how you react to it.

Sounds like a good parent craft session. We're not doing much since I've done it before, although MrG hasn't! I have decided we can't afford the Hypnobirthing lessons as we are moving house so just have to do my CD. And we are going to a labour workshop run by my yoga teacher so hopefully this will be enough for MrG - plus insisting he reads some books!

I think it doesn't mater what you use to massage, Rie. Is the massage that is meant to stretch out your perineum. By the way, the massaging is not nice and relaxing. You have to stretch til it burns and stings for it to actually do anything. And is flipping difficult to reach to! You could use WD40 instead and have same effect

I don't know whether I can be arsed this time. Did it loads last time and still ended up with episiotomy, but this prob more due to dodgy positioning of MiniG.

That actually makes it sound like you have tried the WD40 option GG and have decided on reflection you prefer the almond oil!

Why the heck did I write "almost oil" above?

Ooh forgot this bit - she also suggested "moxibustion" for turning breech babies around. It's a chinese therapy and involves burning herbs or a candle near an accupressure point on your little toes. I was very sceptical but have looked it up in a couple of medical journals and there are a few RCTs that show that mothers whose baybees were in the breech position were more likley to have baybees in the head down position when they had this treatment. Interesting but high risk of ruining your pedicure too!

aries some kinky so and so I suspect!

gaga did the WD40 stop you squeaking though?

A squeaky fanny would be the least of my worries, Bitey

I know someone in RL whose baby turned with moxibution bitey :) Good innit?

GG that is a classic. I'll go and oil my foof right now

I too had antenatal class last night and came away feeling panicky and depressed about the sheer number of pain relieving methods that might be employed even though I already knew all this shit already. Up til now I had managed to convince myself that it would not hurt very much. I was planning on running with that concept until the point where I was proved wrong.

Owlet is quiet and not kicky today which is also shit. I wish he would start up again. I don't like it when he is quiet. I don't know how long I should leave it before I ramp up into full blown panic.

In summary, today blows goats. I hope everyone else (especially the snuffling ones) is having a better day than I am.

I had a couple of days of MicroG being quiet at the weekend. Horrid, isn't it. I very nearly rang hospital, only didn't as I reassured myself a bit with doppler. But I think it is normally when baby has moved into a different position so you don't feel the kicks as well. Drink a glass of cold water and eat something sugary and go and lie down on left side for half an hour. If you are still worried call the antenatal assessment unit.

Try not to worry about the pain. You don't go from "La, la, la" to "Oh my fucking God, don't ever come near me again". You sort of build up the pain from periody niggles up and your body releases endorphins so you can deal with it. TENS is brilliant for this but you have to put it on early before you think you actually need it as it works by building the endorphins up. And the contractions are not constant - so you just focus on breathing and getting through the next one and then have a bit of a rest. And if you are having a shit time then there is no shame in lovely drucks at all. And honestly, you sort of forget afterwards.

Hope you feel better later.

Owlshoes, sorry to hear you're having a crap day. LGG gives v. good advice re getting the wee man to move. Also, try not to worry about the labour pains. I went into labour last time with the same thoughts as you pretty much (i.e that it won't hurt THAT much and I could get through it). It was a strategy that worked well for me and I got through with gas and air only. You have to approach these things in the best way for you and I don't see any harm in running with the idea that it doesn't hurt too much until proven otherwise. For me that's much better than going into it presuming it will hurt like hell, tensing up and ending up using drucks just because that is what you have conditioned yourself into thinking. Not sure if that makes complete sense, but hopefully you get the idea!

In a nutshell, best to go into it thinking this is something that you can deal with. If circumstances change then you can adapt your mindset as things unfold, but my PG yoga teacher swore by positive thinking and being relaxed for helping people through. Sorry if that's too woo, just trying to be helpful

P.S: I'm not anti-drucks! I'm not trying to put you off using them.

P.P.S: sounds like Scorps is having fun in the hozzie! Fingers crossed she's home soon and can tell us all about it properly.

I also went in to it very much with the ?I will just cope with this? mentality, I just focussed on getting through each contraction, rather than through the whole labour iyswim. I did have G&A and tbh I hated it, it made me feel really spaced out, and I gave it back after a while.

I did cop out of the whole ?ring of fire? bit by having a ventouse which involves a local anaesthetic though

You lot are lovely and I am shite for forgetting to do a little dance in celebration of Lozza 's BP drop.

Orcs and Cos and GG tis v. helpful to hear that sort of thing from people who have done it and come out the other side. :) I am also not sure about the G&A but am aiming to start with pool at home and add extra drucks if required.

I have tried ice cold water and a large coffee with sugar and received a small kick for my troubles so I think he is just the wrong way round like you say and probably hiding in my pelvis as he used to do when smaller. Was nice to have a legit excuse for sugary caffeine though

Hope they are both home soon with the gorgeous ESHbaybees.

Woohoo for lower.bp.

Aw boots glad you have had a kick now . The only thing I didn't like last night was the focus on fears and anxieties. To be fair it was so she could address them but I hadn't thought about being anxious! As far as I am concerned once biteybach has been deemed good to go by the consultant that's all I care about! I am very happy here in De Nile! I have got the medically one next week and am glad you have said what your was like as I feel a bit forewarned is forearmed about it now. I do want to know about the huge variety of pain killers out there just in case but am going to attempt to deal with it by seeing them as a plan b. I certainly don't have anything against the luffly drucks and will probably demand all of them!

boo I am intrigued! Did she go to a acupuncturist or a chinese herbalist?

Re G&A, I had nitrous oxide balloons at a festival and they are brill! Alright I had too many and fainted but I was laughing as I passed out

owlz I freak out some days because the boy goes from being really active one day to quiet and sneaky the next. I find lots of truffle-shuffle-like movements usually gets some response. Think he just has lazy days (but still likes twanging the bladder constantly...). Tis shit though and most worrying this malarky.
I didn't have the choice of an epi here and there's no G&A either so I HAD to go in with the 'just get on with it' attitude . But knowing that really helped and I distinctly remember a moment when I thought 'I can do this' so it never really got that bad for me. I still really remember the feeling of her in my foof though, just before the head crowned...it was incredibly uncomfortable, but not painful. I was a lucky bitch though.

I haz broke the fred with talk of my foof.

I AM BACK, BEYATCHES! And just in time to say yay for Loz's lowering BP And an even bigger yay for baby Rocket Leaf! Life is good :) So, so happy for you, Leafy!

Can't thank you all enough for the pacing, happiness and lovely thoughts - you guys really the best After only 1 hour's sleep last night , we are finally home and I have just ignored the 'please let me off the hook' tone in TYF's voice when he offered to change The Lad's stinky nappy so I can finally chat with youse guys

May I bore/terrify all with quick run-through of what's been going on for me/us? Because you know what? I ended up with what most of us would call a nightmare birth and yet I found it not only untraumatising but quite empowering, in an11 I-am-Scorps-hear-me-roar (for an epidural) type way!

I am knackered, so will do tomorrow, if peeps are interested :)

Oh, and Edith fucken ROCKS. Classy names are only recognised as such by classy people...

PS Will be referring to The Lad as Mr T from now on (but please no-one reveal his name). I pity the fool whose baby isn't as insanely gorgeous as mine!
PPS I also pity my nips - Mr T just wants the main nip and nothing else. I keep telling him he needs to eat all his meal to get pudding but to no avail...

Oh dear, someone is wailing from the spare room/nursery. Mr T doesn't sound too happy either (hur hur)...

Woo hoo, the return of the Scorps You sound outrageously happy, which is bloody brilliant and am looking forward to hearing your story tomorrow. Loads of love to you all.

Nice work on the BP lowering Lozza hope things quieten down for you until the laying

I'm soooo excited for Salade too. Hoping to welcome you back to the deli to share your tale soon.

Seriously, with all these new baybees you are really spoiling us!