November 2011. Bumps, kicks and less feeling sick.

[Missyraines]

Thought I'd take the plunge and go for it.

Buffy hmmm I would feel very on the spot with a red carnation on as I normally don't wear things like that don't forget to print of your voucher for a free MAM anticolic bottle!
Terrys yes please leave us some freebies! that's the only thing I'm going for! can't afford to buy things... might have to 'forget' my debit card at home
They are asking £8 for the parking alone! so glad I managed to get free tickets, cause the prices they dare to ask for these things are outrageous! I mean going to the shop doesn't cost anything!

As for birth experiences. I gave birth to DD in Belgium, the only pain relief options they have is epidural or eum... nothing! There is also no such thing as MW-led, babies are always delivered by obstetrician, unless they come out unexpectedly
I had always said I never wanted an epidural, scared of needles.
Waters broke early morning, went off to hospital without contractions and on arrival at 8am only had 2cm dilation. By lunchtime, still the same... with contractions but very irregular.
I changed my mind and got the epidural, it relaxed me and after my contractions stopping completely, I started dilating and contracting more regularly. I was able to up my epidural by pressing a button, which was great. I had to warn MW when I felt I needed a nr2, as that was when I had to start pushing, my epidural was that strong I never felt anything like that. So when she came to check, she said: oh I better get the obstetrician, as I can see the hair already after probably about 15-20 mins pushing, DD was delivered.

Birth plan for this one is... try with G&A and I would like a water birth. We'll see how it goes this time, I'll make up a birth plan, but I know that I can still change my mind at the time and have to go with what I think is right at the time.

(sorry for the long post)

I have found my ideal 'well done for giving birth pressie'!!

here

Blue I read "Birth plan for this one is... try with G&A" as "Birth plan for this one is... try with G&T" and thought oooh now that's a good idea baby wouldn't mind a small libation as it is getting its head rammed through a small tube!

PamSco haha! you made me giggle there! don't like G&T but I do like gin & lemonade

Alicat my DD watches Cbeebies a bit more than she usually did... sometimes nicely cuddled up next to me under the blanket while I have a snooze. I am 16 weeks today and still feel so exhausted sometimes.

Anyone else feeling hungry all the time? I could just keep eating. I had a huge curry round 7.30 and felt hungry again half an hour later. I guess little one is on a growth spurt and demanding more food.

mrsa wish I hadn't looked at that....it is a good well done for birth pressie (though after seeing it I think I would rather it be a well done for getting to 16 weeks pressie - that way can get it next week :) )

pamsco G&T.... something like that may be better than G&A, I wonder if they have done any studies with alcohol as pain relief???? Somehow I think not :(

blue I am suffering with ms one minute & then starving the next... one extreme to the other!!! Worst for me is the mornings, stop twice to vomit on my 20min journey to work, then get into work and nibble constantly until lunchtime!!

Has anyone seen the "misbehaving mums to be" on BBC3??? I think it's been a good series - though was in tears tonight with 2 prem babies (one of which was nearly very prem)

Am annoyed though that nearly all of the mums that they feature are "young"... It paints a really bad picture of younger mums :( I was 17 when I had DS - never smoked, rarely drink alcohol (can count the number of times drunk on one hand!!) & always try to eat healthy. With DS I still took all my exams with great results and went to uni rather than live off benefits (which would have provided much greater income). Am now 23, working full time and still never smoked etc. I know that I'm currently "stressed" which isn't great for baby - but antenatal depression isn't easy nor is it something I could prevent but I can, & am, learning to control and deal with (not sure how the stressed lady on tonights programme - probably antenatal depression - could be classed as a 'misbehaving mum to be)

Sorry for the rant.... I hate stereo-typing and the media portraying the stereo-types rather than a balanced view :( will go get some hot chocolate now and calm down

lk glad you got something positive out of it!! And I've been crying at everything! Mostly things that aren't even touching

alicat don't have any DC yet but you sound like you are doing a great job esp considering being so tired! Don't be too hard on yourself:)

blue and Bump I go from ms to starving and back. Would love it if I just felt hungry as iphone app is telling me to eat 65g of protein a day! Does anyone else get that much protein? I never feel like meat - think bubba is a vegetarian... which DH loves as he is a vegetarian as well:)

AS for all the birth stories - love hearing them too!
I think I just want to know that I can go in confidently thinking 'I can do this with no medication' but if it isn't straight forward then I will make sure to know my options.

Mrs arch love the idea of a present for delivery the baby!! I will have to look into a reward for myself (other than bubba)

Woke up this morning to DP making pancakes for my breakfast! Then got snappy with him for faffing about lunch. Even though he makes me breakfast every morning and always has my lunch ready for me. Now I want to cry because I was rude.

Yup, I'm on the mood train!

Aw Cali that is really sweet of your DP. Hope you'll feel better soon

Bump I understand your frustration with misbehaving mums to be. It's been an interesting show but definitely leaves you with the impression that young mums are less likely to get it right. Really annoying as we all know younger mums that are really responsible (and older mums that really aren't!)

Reading all your birth experiences has been an education - I think the thing I've taken from all of them is that there's no one way that suits everybody.

Having a late start this morning which is lovely! The alarm didn't go off until 7 and now I have an hour before the boss picks me up from home for our road trip to Hertfordshire. It's amazing how much better I feel for a really good night's sleep :)

I agree with Buffy very useful to learn from other experience - and it is better learning here than with the scary TV images :)

I'm putting my faith in hypnobirthing and meditation to take away the fear. I think fear will decrease my ability to cope.

Cold is getting worse here, ready to peak over the weekend, woohoo!

Yoga is going well but nobody speaks to each other before or after class :(

Just popped in quickly from work (oh, I can do that now I have told people!) and while it hasn't been so quick but has been great, wow what a lot of activity, great stories and advice. Hope you are OK Cookie, how is the pain now?

Will have to put a reminder on for "misbehaving mums to be". Its funny its like a whole new world is opening up...so many programmes/newspaper articles/products I never took any notice of are suddenly really interesting!

Thinking about when to start maternity leave, any advice? I'm due 29th Nov and what with holidays etc was thinking of leaving on 7th Nov - that's a whole 3 weeks of waiting!? No idea how I'll be in the 3rd trimester, bored to tears? Thankful for a rest?

p.s. I have been eating constantly, it seems to have staved off any major sickness, have been very very lucky on that one reading all the stories!

I too am swinging wildly from feeling sick to starving. Though often they occur together to be fair. I'm eating my weight in marmite. Not seen this mums behaving badly programme but I can well believe you. We all need to remember that whenever we watch any of these things though. My big fat gypsy wedding or whatever it was called springs immediately to mind
And none of us should feel bad for being suboptimal mums right now. I keep telling myself I am already a mum to two children, and sometimes the one inside places demands on me that mean the one outside doesnt get the best of me. Thats going to go on happening once its born, we all need to get used to spreading my energy a bit thinner. My love I can still lay on just as thick and thats pretty important. I'm lucky i've been really well supported by my partner and some well timed visits from grandparents over the last 2 months though.
Maternity leave, I finished work three weeks before my due date last time. And it was about right. Physically, could have stopped a week sooner I think. Probably will this time.

Oh I tell you it's nice to come on here from a computer instead of a phone for a change. Laptop seems to be on total blink at home though grrr.

I haven't managed to catch up on all the posts, so hope you are all well. All fine here, still on cloud nine after hearing heartbeat. Good luck to anyone left to get a scan. We'll be getting to the end of that now and then it will be the start of the new ones.

I've ordered a yoga for pregnancy DVD and would like to join a class but dreading an experience like PamSco. I thought these yoga and pregnancy exercise classes are supposed to be where you can meet kind of 'friends' in the same boat as well as learning new skills. A bit like this thread, but with bare feet and sweat.

Folic I expect it will take a few weeks for people to get chatty but it is only a 6 week term, 2 down I hope not 4 silent ones to go.

sunshine I've been trying to guess how I'll feel in Oct/Nov as well regarding maternity leave. I thought 3 weeks as well. I'm due 12th so I thought 1 week holiday then 2 weeks ML? What did others do with previous pg? Is this too optimistic?

When do you at the latest have to start your maternity leave? I know in Belgium you have to have one week before your due date.
I am planning on taking up the rest of my holidays beforehand, and only 6 weeks after the birth, in order not to have to scrimp down on money...

blue it will depend on your mat leave policy but am pretty sure you are allowed to work up to due date/date you deliver!! You can start mat leave from 11weeks before due date & if you are off sick in the last 4 weeks before due date because of a pg related illness your employer can start mat leave then!!

I plan to officially start mat leave on my due date (worked right up until due date with DS who was 1week late). Though this job is totally different to with DS & involves a lot more driving so might be too optomisitic - I should have 3-4 weeks annual leave to take before mat leave so hopefully it will all work out (just need to pin down my manager next week & make her discuss my leave as I'm the only person in the office not been allowed to book any yet!!)

Blue,

my maternity policy at work states that leave can start between 11 weeks before and the date of delivery and if I am off sick in the last month they will start my leave, think I have to supply a fitness to work certificate each week in the last month!!!

I was planning to work until two weeks beforehand, although will have to see how things pan out, I can work mostly deskbound if I have to so am planning to do the non-desk work during the summer so that as I get bigger I dont have to go out of the office so much, fingers crossed that will work out as I would prefer to have time with the baby rather than waiting for the baby, although I might change my mind about that!!!

Hi all, hope everyone is ok :)

Thinking about the mat leave question too. I have a good reason to want to go off on the 1st of October as that is when current secondment is looking likely to end and would mean that my 6 weeks 90% pay is paid at the higher rate of salary, theyreby taking me to the xmas pay cheque! However I too want the longer time after the birth so might have to leave on the 1st of Nov (due date being 8th Nov). Boss is quite happy for either as he knows how difficult the 1st Oct has the potential to be with the return of the person who has been off. Really cant decide!

Being lazy as I feel rubbish today and ordering a pizza in, dd is away with her friend at the caravan so it is just me and OH and DS who are camped out on the PS3. Plan to have a very lazy weekend, before my busy week ahead!

Yup, mood train continued throughout the day - I'm in a -really- noisy and attention deficit training group at the moment, leading to me having to actually go out of the room a few times to just cool down.

Also, the BACS payments messed up, so no one was paid today - 3500 people in my company without money = no work morale what so ever.

They did, how ever, give everyone MacDonald's for lunch - and I've now found the perfect cure to my... (sorry, tmi) constipation. Great!

I'm going on Mat Leave about 2 weeks before - I'll want to sleep a lot to prep for the birth, and my mother is joining us from Sweden to help me out in the last weeks before/few weeks after, so I'll have company.
Also, having a home birth will mean cleaning the whole place inside out!

At the moment I am looking at starting in September (I know very early) I'll be around 27/28 weeks but our year for annual leave starts the 1st of September so I have to fit all my annual leave around my maternity leave else I'll lose it! I also have the rest of this years annual leave to take so have got two or three weeks at the end of August so it's looking like I've only got another 8 or so weeks of work left.... Oops

Ah so very jealous of your only 8 weeks work h007 although I may possibly only really have the same. 8-12 working weeks left for me.

Officially I think I'm going to put down on paper a 1st October mat leave start as I'm probably being induced mid-oct, but I'm going to play it by ear before that. I'm a teacher so off work all of the summer, but if I'm not up to going back in September so be it. We hit the same point in pregnancy as we lost Belle 2nd week of September so i think it will be a very vulnerable time.

We probably won't bother much in the way of a birth plan - just do whatever it takes so I can bring my baby home just about covers it for us!

Had another bleed wednesday overnight into thursday. very very small and nowhere near as much as two weeks ago, but did as I was told and phoned in because what there was was red. Can't fault hospital had me straight in thursday, did a cervical check (lovely, hadn't missed those at all...) which was all fine but they could see brown blood still to come down (sorry for tmi), swab and urine tests. swabs gone to lab, ringing for results Mon/tuesday, but I have a water infection which is being blamed for this little upset. On a course of ABs now.

Oh and they scanned again - baby happy and the evidence of bleeding on placenta edge two weeks ago couldn't be seen, so all looks well inside. as lovely as it is to see baby even more extra times, I really could do without all these little upsets. Baby Bow really is going to be the most scanned baby in history I reckon. I'm 15+3 today and have already notched up 4 scans... with another 7 planned at least...

cali I also had a mcdonalds for dinner today that seemed to do the trick! lol

Does anyone else feel like time is slowing down? I thought first tri went really quickly, but every week since has felt like an eternity.

caz I know what you mean and I feel like I am in no-mans land at the moment! Feel like I should be doing something but don't know what!

I'm a teacher to but in higher education so I do get really good annual leave but do have to do desk duties throughout the summer. Still one more week of teaching, the exams, the marking and a trip with student for a week involving camping and I'll be ready to start winding down!

H007 just check out the legal situation re your annual leave. I have a feeling that when it comes to maternity leave they can't force you to take it before your leave and can tack it onto the end next year. I could be wrong but worth a check. I'd much rather have more time with the baby. I finished work at 36 weeks with dd and was quite bored (she came at 39 wks luckily). This time I'll work till 38 weeks I think - take 2 weeks leave and start mat leave on my due date.

Woke up starving so ip eating cereal!

My work told me when on mat leave my annual leave van be carried forward to the new year so can tack it on to the end. It sounds as though that could be the law?

Work and project wise it would suit to finish at 35 weeks think probably stay later. Did anyone who went 'early' before regret it? Suppose just m
Need to see how I go.