April 2011–Half in! Half out! On the grumpy couch...do the hokeycokey, breathe the baby out, that’s what it’s all about

[ILikeToMoveItMoveIt]

New thread here ladies.

Again, many thanks to Frakk for the inspired title

Do you think this thread will be the last ante-natal one for the April 11 crew? Or will I be the last one standing and having to start a new thread and talking to myself?!

No news here and last night had noisy student neighbours playing music and talking at the top of their voices from 3am to 4.30am, tried telling them to turn it down, ringing their front door buzzer, which was ignored and then climbing up in my bathroom so they could see me in their kitchen to tell them to shut up which got the response of "what do you want" and laughing !!

Finally called council who advise the noise staff finish at 4am so they cant send anyone round but they gave me a reference no to log any futher disturbances, Yeah Thanks for that !!

My DP ask if there was anything he should do and i told him call the cops as im going to go round and hold down the buzzer till someone comes down and then probably going to express my anger in person !! The noise eventually stopped at which i slept like a log for 3 hours till i had to get up and pee !

Stayed in bed till 10.30am today so feels like a marathon time in bed, lovely !

Lucielooo Any chane of posting that ginger/pear cake recipe, sounds delicious !!

Hope we have some babies this weekend, good luck ladies. Keeping fingers crossed for anyone who wants their babies out, me included !

Frak Bonjour, vous n'êtes pas un hippie'#. I thought it was maybe the same. I've read about mums to be withdrawing, like a primal thing, trying to find safety just as they are about to give birth.

Woke a 5.20 this morning is excrutiating pain in my lower back and side. Huffed and puffed my way along to the spare room to shout at DH just as the pain was reaching a peak. I really thought that was it, it was so painful! Then nada, zilch, nowt after that. Then when i woke this morning I've cricked my neck and shoulders through the night and can't move my head from side to side! I've a heat pack on it and I've taken my SPD painkillers in the hope they will work on my neck too! Bloody bloody as my mum would say!

I am beginning to regret not getting a TENS machine. Think I'll dispatch DH out to get one from Argos, I know it won't be a birthing one, but surely it'll be better than nothing?? Any advice gratefully received ladies.

#Please excuse my French, it's been a very long time (and I also trust Google translator too much)

Lis I think the advice is that you should use a specifically designed maternity TENS, tis what I was told by my MW anyway. My advice to you then would be not to bother with the Boots rental (which is around £59 as I found out) but go to Toys r us, if you have one nearby and hire theirs for £29.99 or failing that buy one for around £40-£50!! I was most displeased when I discovered the difference in price between the two!!

Still nothing doing here, DP is on a stag do and I have DSS for the day. He is under strict instruction not to get too drunk and to be home at a decent time - we'll see!!!!

Congratulations to Daisy, like the name Seth too :)

Thanks MrsWajs. DH has been despatched to Babies r Us! they have them in stock to buy now, but a rental would have to collect next week. So we will just buy it because I'm getting nervous about impending labour after that pain this morning! You should warn DP that if he doesn't heed your warning he faces the wrath of a forum of pregnant ladies who are all grumpy and fed up waiting!! Some of them don't live very far away either!! :o

I'm frantically googling where I can get one and making DH call every pharmacy I find D'ya reckon a vibrator would do the trick if I can't lay my hands on one?!

Aussie grrrrr on your behalf. Noise staff finish at 4am indeed

lis if it's not too late, you can hire a Mamatens in Tesco - think it was about £30. Having had a look round mumsnet it seems to be the recommended one and is the best price they have them at the pharmacy and you just go and pick it up on the day you want it. Assume it's the same in Scotland!

Aussie heres the recipe for the pear and ginger cake, it's a bit faffy and I didn't bother with the sauce as I'm freezing it but it was still good!

www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/845657/sticky-pear-and-ginger-cake

frak vibrator might take your mind off it if nothing else? :)

PMSL Frak honestly!!! :o :o

I'm imagining you turning up at the hospital with a rampant rabbit strapped to your back! :o :o :o

A cattle prod may have the same effect :o

Thanks Lucie, The nearest Tesco doesn't have a pharmacy, but because I'm positive I'm going into labour today I just want to have one now.

And when you've killed your rabbit from constant use during labour you can swap it here Frak!

EDD tomorrow...I'm with you I think Beckie. Do you think one of us can manage a baby on due date? What are the chances? Something hideously low like 2% of babies are born on their due date so I think we can safely plan a full day.

I'm having some crazy energy surge so I'm hoping it's a good sign. Been swimming, swimming, swimming, walking, walking, walking, cleaning, cleaning, cleaning, baking, baking, baking. Currently eating a scone with clotted cream and jam. The dairy will be good for milk production right?

Daisy, congratulations on the arrival of Seth

I bought my TENS when pg with ds because the price difference to hire wasn't that much different, I guessed I would use it more than once, and then I can get some money back selling it on EBAY when I've stopped having babies (ie in the next month or so!)

Frakk - if you have no luck at a pharmacy, it might be worth seeing if any Osteopaths hire them?

Grrrrr at your neighbours Aussie, we've got a neighbour who is starting to play loud music late at night more frequently. I've spoken to him about it but he couldn't give a shit. I'm biting my lip for now, but if he does it when I am sleep deprived with a new baby he better bloody watch out.

Pass a scone with jam and clotted cream over here Caramel

I don't think there is anything out of the ordinary asking for the sweep to be done in your bedroom Lucie. The MW should be happy to do it wherever you are comfortable

Exciiting Lis!! As long as you get one that's all that matters!

I've had period pains on and off since this morning and just had a very snotty, green wipe which I'm hoping is a bit more plug? Was sniffing at the Clary Sage last night so maybe that's done something?? Fingers crossed! Just told my sister all this.. I think something about pregnancy makes you totally forget what's an appropriate amount of personal info to share!

TENS machine in my possession! Tested it on my arm, weird feeling. DH was nosey so put it on him. Whacked it on full, I think I'm a bit of a sadist :o!

I am now fully prepared for labour!

Oooh Lucie - i'm very of possible signs!

Nothing here, just loads of painful BHs which are getting annoying.

Internet keeps crashing too so people are spotting that i've not been on my FB for a few hours & tongues are wagging. Think I may make it a habit to disappear for a few hours every now and then, lol

Daisy - congratulations :)

Ahh but I haven't had any BH JKS I'm not convinced I've ever had any so perhaps it evens itself out? :)

Lucie - can't remember if you already have DC? I didn't have any BHs with DS1, a few odd ones near the end with DS2 - when bump just went hard. But these actual painful ones i've had on and off since about 30wks!
But today has been exceptional so maybe they are gearing up to something...?

Loving the shiny new thread, thanks Frakk an loving the vibrator idea ad me laughing at the thought

All this chatting I bet if you look at past months threads we have the most antenatal banter of them all

So far we've had three curries, on spicy chilli pasta dish, we've been out walking for a few hours each day, lots of tmi! I've eaten a whole pineapple, booked in for sweep on Wednesday, driven over seed bumps, mountain passes, bounced to daft punk on the birth ball (with helmet on as it's got a lot of very fast beats to bounce to) Oh did I mention threw up a few times, period pain, back ache for two days and.........

NOTHING!!!!!

Father in law heading back to Epsom tomorrow as Granddad is not allowed back to home with Grandma as he's too ill now so he's going back to find a nursing home. It's a real shame as they are both 90 this year, have been married since 19 and this is the first time they will be apart. The hospital don't think he will be here too much longer as he's now refusing to eat .

Mother in law staying until she has to return to teach. Once baby is here we will head down to Epsom for a few days to see DH grandparents and make sure they meet their Great grand child before it's too late

All good though, still pain free, walking around like nothing happened and looking surprisingly well, it's the first time I've been told I look blooming, better late than never I suppose

JKS this is my first - that's good about BH, my sister never had any either so perhaps it doesn't make any difference - did you have a long labour with your first? She did, and I wonder if there's a relationship between the two? Both my sis and my mum had labours over several days and I've heard it can be an indicator of how you might go so just wondering really? Actually, I think I'm totally planning on this being the case as I'm not doing my bikini line until I think I am in labour! If it's so quick I don't get time, then I doubt I'll give a shit about a hairy fanjo anyway!

I think you must be gearing up to something - without sounding stupid.. how do you tell the difference between painful BH and early labour bearing in mind you're full term??

Well DS1 was 19hours, which felt bloody long at the time, but compared to some isn't that long.
(my main mistake looking back was not eating/drinking enough so i had no energy to 'make' more contractions so thing slowed down a lot)

DS2 - i tend not to count as 'proper' labour as he was breech so not his head doing the work it should have done. But was about 20ish hours before things finally ramped up enough to call out a MW and get examined.
(DS1 i was 6cm when they showed up, 5cm with DS2 - so MW reckons i do very well at the early bit, yey!)

As for telling the difference - well i might be wrong here but:

• firstly they are irregular and disappear
• often caused by me needing a wee
• and the whole bump goes rock solid (ouch) rather than how i remember ctx being sort of more like period pains lower down, and then spreading out/up.

I had imagined pre-DS1 that ctx would be like the BHs i'm getting now, the whole uterus kind of squeezing the baby out, so wasn't convinced to start with when i got these 'aches' - even when combined with show, waters breaking & being 38 weeks lol!

I may try timing the BHs later for fun but got annoyed the other day when they were 10mins apart for a bit, then disappeared.

I cannot describe how much i am willing my waters to go!!

39+6....

salted that's so sad. But also so lovely at how long they've been married!

Ah that's interesting JKS.. I imagined contractions to like you describe BH.. so your whole bump would contract at the same time and sort of squeeze the baby out downwards if that makes sense?

Fingers crossed for your waters breaking I'm off to sniff at the clary sage again, if nothing else I was out like a light after a good sniff of it... smells lovely!

Salted I cross posted with you earlier, but so sorry to hear about your DH's grandparents, especially after an incredible 70 odd years of marriage

It's a boy! George David, born 3:08 pm, 16/04/11. 8lb 11oz. Induced by artificial rupture of membranes at 12:15pm. Bloody quick labour, episiotomy done, just gas and air no time for anything stronger. Just got home from hospital. Feeling totally knackered eating chips in bed!. George is just gorgeous. Will post more when feeling more human. night night.

Congrats Jen, enjoy your chips and snuggles with Baby George!

Still nothing happening here ..... ah well whats in a due date!

Woohoo congratulations!

Yay. Congrats on baby George Jen :-)