September 2011 - a month or so to go, come here to share the joys and woes of the final stretch.

[100years]

Now I know the threads we were in weren't finished, but there were 3 threads for the September due dates, and I thought it would be nice to get everyone together and share their experiences.

Stats thread is here If you aren't on there, then get adding yourself.

Hopefully we can all get through the last stint together :)

I'm due 1st Sept, so one month to go, if the LO is punctual.

candr, I'm still puking too which is ludicrous. We went to a really posh hotel for lunch this week and I had to do super quiet retching in the loos!

Big congrats to you ssmile, that's fab about the job. I too haven't been bothering to sit on anything but I have put a special absorbent mat from MCare on the bed as I don't want to ruin the mattress! Have a great night out tonight.

Excellent news ssmile... !!

Yeah sebs, I'll see what they say too, I think they put you in a bra on the loosest fitting with the thought that ribcage will shrink afterwards, I too had thought of sleeping bras, I might do that instead, but my boobs are massive and so not sure I'd even look like I was in a bra if I only get a sleeping bra. RE the tens, my midwife showed me (or rather OH) where to put the pads as he is the one who will be doing it when I need it. I hate that quiet feeling too.

Ssmile :) for the job, well done, that's great news :)

We do have a waterproof picnic blanket, waiting for OH to dig it out, he's currently cleaning the kitchen after I messed it up making tea I'm only sitting on something as I was worried that was it last night and my sister's waters did actually break before she started with major pains when she had her first. I've been banished from the 'good' sofa now, but that's fine, this one is bigger.

Yay, congrats on the promotion Ssmile. :) Enjoy your night out.

I'm finished work now so am really going to try to enjoy these next few weeks with DS and also try to fit in a bit of relaxation as I remember there was no time for that at all for that when DS arrived. This time there will be even less with a baby and a toddler! Does anyone else expecting their second have a mini panic every now and then about coping with two?

Had MW appointment today and after being breech at last check thankfully baby has now turned head down. Sewmuch I know the worry you are going through with that so am keeping fingers crossed your LO turns too. I did lots of strange poses with my bum in the air and head low leaning forward off a sofa or bed. No idea if it helped though!

Is anyone else planning on drinking raspberry leaf tea? I did with DS and have just bought some so planning on starting tomorrow. Seem to remember not liking the taste that much though.

It sounds like some are getting very close to the big day. Wonder who will be first. I can't wait to start hearing all the stories of all your new arrivals! :)

Thanks had lovely night out just ate too much so was bit stuffed resting on my ball before I could get to sleep. It's beautiful blue sky crisp day ere so off to park with DD to meet her friend &buy her first school shoes :) hope you all have gdays too.

Hiya all

Another late joiner. Am due with a little boy (our first) on 7th Sept.

Had final check up yesterday and midwives appointment this morning and predictions are for an August baby, as he's moved down and everything seems to be shortening and softening. Not sure whether to rejoice as have been feeling very uncomfortable the last few weeks or panic, as I have to finish my master thesis for uni still, due 31st August.

Otherwise doing very well - though dreading the Braxtons that are about to descend as midwife has given me accupuncture.

Hope everybody is doing well.

Cosmic, my blood runs cold when I think about coping with the exhaustion of broken sleep, NB baby, + my bonkers toddler. My mum told me that I am being a wimp and I nearly punched her I was so cross. DS starts at proper nursery in Sept though so that'll give me some time off a couple of mornings a week but it's still going to be really hard I think.

I thought I'd only go for the raspberry leaf tea if I get really desperate; I'm going to try the more fun methods of shaking the baby loose first (i.e. curry and sex, although maybe not at the same time). I have warned DH that I will be expecting normal practise to resume next week if the baby has not arrived as I am getting very bored of being pg now.

Sorry, hi waspsankles, good luck getting the thesis done; not sure I'd be able to sit still for long periods of time doing something marathon like that so hats off to you!

Morning all

Had the hv out to meet me today - and pleased to report that no probing/uber personal questions were asked :) was a bit worried after reading something on here the other day... She seemed lovely.
waspsankles welcome and I know the feeling - I've had my thesis to do all through this pregnancy and now have the corrections to get done before poppyseed makes his appearance! And given I have no idea when that'll be....makes it quite hard to manage my time (also just discovered they sent me the wrong corrections report...very annoying and lucky I hadn't attempted much!)

37+4 now and trying to avoid the feeling of a waiting game...getting some crampy feelings, but could be trapped wind . DH doesn't finish work for another two weeks (redundancy) so hoping he'll hang on til then :) Birth pool is sitting waiting to be used - and drugs are in the fridge from the mw! Haven't thought about sitting on anything on the sofa though...should I?

washing all the baby clothes today...gonna be so strange seeing them all on the clothes horse! Lovely day here after the torrential rain of yesterday. Hope all are well :)

100years - going to go on Sunday for fitting now... knackered today so aiming for a quiet one before busy weekend - got step-kids (which'll be fun) and meeting friends and their kids tomorrow, so noisy and busy!!
Cosmic - think the Raspberry Leaf Tea is only good for strenghening the uterus and doesn't actually speed up the process... Think I'm with Feral on the fun attempts!!

To everyone finishing their thesis... good luck! I honestly don't think I could concentrate on anything like that right now, so hats off indeed! It's a fab feeling when you hand it in, all finished...

Didn't start the day too well... the dog decided to go walkabouts for 1 1/2 hours After much waiting and searching the village and fields, and whilst wondering what our next move was going to be, he comes trotting up the lane with a "what's all the fuss?" look on his face :) He's been pretty quiet all morning... sleeping off his epic journey no doubt!!

The day can only get better...

ssmile - well done on your promotion

waspsankles - welcome!

No word of a HV visit here, so have no idea if one may visit prior to LO's arrival.

Hadn't thought about protecting the sofa (have put a waterproof matress protector on the bed in the last couple of days)....but do have a waterproof picnic blanket in the boot of the car - so thanks for the suggestion candr!

Pelvis not too bad at the moment (osteopath visit a week ago really improved things), sciatica still a pain in the backside (literally), but have seen osteopath again this morning, so fingers crossed...shouldn't need to see her again this side of LO arriving!

Went to the waterbirth workshop run by the hospital on Tues. I'm sure I want to get a birth pool now - there seem to be so many benefits. But for some reason DH 'is not convinced' - he can't explain why, and can only see the benefits, so not sure why he's not convinced...He's happy to go with whatever I want, but I'd prefer it if he was totally on side.

Thanks everybody - concentration is indeed a problem and finding a position to sit in for longer than 2 seconds. That and feeling very sorry for myself that everybody else is on maternity leave and I've been so unorganised and lazy to leave it all til last minute - as ever .
Misty - glad to find somebody in the same boat but got my fingers crossed for you. Lets hope the LOs hold off long enough.

Consultant told me yesterday not to drink Raspberry Leaf Tea as it apparently has draining effect and can leave you dehydrated if not careful. Got the impression he was just not a big fan, but as I've heard it's not the most nice tasting I'm not too wildly keen in the first place.

BH have started and baby is wriggling like a little dervish - lets hope it eases off so that I can get somemore work done - here comes the self pity again

Ssmile glad you had a lovely night out. Have fun at the park today.

Welcome Waspsankles. Sending lots of good luck vibes for finishing your thesis. Just keep in mind how fab it will feel to have it all finished and handed in :).

Feral glad I'm not the only one panicking about coping with two. DS is really good most of the time but bedtime lately has been a bit of a trial so hoping that settles down a bit.
I'm planning on drinking the RLT more for the uterus toning effects rather than encouraging labour as don't think it has an effect on that. Will try some of the more fun methods for that too when the time comes but happy for baby to stay where the are for another few weeks.

Misty glad your HV is nice and didn't ask any intrusive questions. We don't see one here til after the birth so really seems to vary by area. Good luck to you too on getting your corrections done and hope it doesn't take them too long to send you the correct report. Grrrrr at them getting it wrong in the first place. Hope baby hangs on for another couple of weeks for your DH to finish. Does he have another job lined up?

Sebs hope you didn't get too exhausted searching for the dog - naughty boy running off but glad he's home safe and sound.

Lxr glad your pelvic pain has improved. Fingers crossed it continues. I too would really like to use a pool this time after missing out on one with DS. Going for a hospital birth again this time though so really just depends if there is one free when we go in.

Right off to go and hang some washing out as this is the first day in ages it hasn't rained here!

Congratulations ssmile! :)

Cosmic, the raspberry leaf tea is just a strengthening tonic, it does nothing for inductions/fast labour sadly. I get mine in a tea bag, around 30 in the box, by a company called Heath and Heather which I think most health food/vitamin shops carry. It's got raspberry leaf in it but also has apple and raspberry berries so it's a lovely red colour and has a sweet, fruity taste. Much nicer than the manky green stuff that looks like dried weeds, the leaf on it's own is vile. With the tea bags I like a cup of hot but I also like it chilled over ice, tastes just like a fruit tea.

This is them here for anyone who is interested:
Heath and Heather

Can I ask anyone on their second (or more) time a question, where did you start counting from in terms of the length of your labour? My labour with DS was 36hrs from first noticeable contractions to baby in my arms but the MW said that they only count the portion of it that was active/established labour which is from 4cm onwards. My old notes show that I was admitted to Delivery at 4cm and my labour was just under 9hrs from that point to the finish which is apparently relatively fast for a first time. Is she speaking rubbish (bearing in mind it's the MW from the other day) or is that right? Can't wait to speak to my own MW on Monday!

Cosmic, my DS has been a pain at bedtime lately too. Wonder if it's to do with all of the changes going on? Anyway, I got him this little light thing from B&M, it's like a mini lava lamp full of glitter. You shake it and it activates a multi-coloured light inside. It was my mam suggested it and I thought it would be rubbish but the light and the swirling glitter throws all these multi-coloured patterns on his bedroom walls and he lies in bed watching them before going off to sleep without a peep. He's even started having his afternoon nap in there (usually he naps on the sofa) so long as he can have his "shake shake light".

Hi everyone, this thread has got big very quickly! have been scanning through posts, hope everyone is well, I wonder when the first baby will make an appearance?
I had an extra scan this week as was measuring small, they found I have low amniotic fluid levels, does anyone have any experience of this? It seems like if the fluids drop further or the baby becomes distressed I will have to be induced early. Its all a bit worrying as I have been googling (not a good idea I realise) and it seems that low fluid levels mean an increased risk of complications in labour such as cord compression.
I am going back for another scan next week to see what is happening. Would love to talk to a consultant about all this but I don't have one as I'm still under midwife led care - i'm hoping that means that this isn't actually a big deal and i'm worrying about nothing!

hazel can u ring the hospital and ask to speak to someone if you are worried or ask your midwife for a referral? I am under MW led care but I have seen a registra & anesthetic consult for different queries and found them very willing to help, its better to keep you calm than stressed to avoid other health problems.

cbear like the idea of the shakers lamp. My DD has always had hit n miss sleep but last couple wks we been getting lots of bad nights again with her up 2-5am with bad dreams. She also asks me everyday how many sleeps till baby comes so I think she is vwell aware and thinking about the new arrival. She is 4.5yrs so big into role play about looking after a baby. I just hope we can ride out this bad sleep patch again as its so tiring when your not sleeping much with preg!

hiya, theres so much to read and am feeling sleepy (tho im sure as usual i still wont manage to get to sleep until the early hours!), so havve just scanned thru

good luck to everyone with your sweeps, will be 38+5 when i see midwife on thurs, do u think she'd do a sweep then? im sure the mw i had did sweeps before i got to edd before.

hazel i dont know much about it, but dh's cousin has recently had a ds, she was measuring low on fluid but at the scan she had after that (i dont know the time frame) everything was fine and back to normal

with dd i i tried hot curries (local indian got to know us well!), pineapple, sex, bouncing on ball, raspberry leaf tea walking about with 1 foot on road 1 on pavement etc, she was 8 days overdue. with ds just drank raspberry leaf tea-he was 1 day early. yet somehow i still keep trying to think up things to try to make this an august baby (tho im not quite sure why im that bothered) and cuz im desperate to meet this little un!

not sure ds quite understands whats going to happen, but dd keeps telling me how she's going to play with and feed him/her, she doesnt understand that baby will be too small for those things for a while, she was great when ds was born tho and she was only 17months old when he was born.

cbear i counted from when i 'knew' i was going into labour, which from memory was right near the beginning. was 5cm on arrival at hospital with both, approx 24 hours from start to birth with both. but saying that, i know that 1 1/2weeks before dd was actually born i was 2-3cm dilated, but i didnt feel like i was in labour so carried on as normal.

this time around i've been quite lazy, barely leave the house, shop online only go out so me and the kids can get some fresh air and a walk. went to beach today, but was too lazy to walk home so took up the offer of a lift :-/

Cosmic, enjoy your maternity leave :) Glad LO has turned for you.

Welcome wasps, good luck with getting the masters finished, maybe LO will wait till half an hour after you are done!

sets I did get mine yesterday, got one that's 2 cup sizes bigger than I am wearing now, but it's a back size smaller, so I think it works out 3 or 4 cup sizes bigger! I could actually wear it now, it doesn't drown me, but if I have to go up any more then I need a K!! OMGG

Hazelnut, hope the next scan goes well and there is no more drop in fluid.

I reckon I am immune to curries as it's been part of my diet through pregnancy, so unless I end up just eating raw chillies then I doubt curry will do anything. Sex, well it's something we haven't stopped doing so whether that will work or not I have no idea, pineapple hmm heard you have to eat shed loads of it, bouncing on ball, well I've sat on it and had a little bounce occasionally, will be on it again later as it's quite comfy, raspberry leaf tea - not sure, what else?

Went to the shops yesterday to a) get a bra and b) pick up some disposable bottles just in case for the hospital not that I'm planning on using them. Ended up spending an hour in town, then did a little bit of food shopping as we had a friend over yesterday evening for tea and our delivery wasn't due till this morning. Was quite tired after all that.

I swear my bump is getting lower by the day. Getting slightly more uncomfy in bed, I have a bad left shoulder from an injury and so can't lie on my left all night, so alternate the sides (every wee break is a change of sides) but now my right hip is sore, so I'm not sure which is worse! Never mind. Still all chipper here and happy to wait some more. Even though I want to meet her now.

Had a very bad pain last night, just the one, lasted about 1 minute, right through to back, must say was not pleasant, wondered what on earth I am about to put myself through!!! Haven't been worried about labour at all, but I do wonder what it will be like compared to things like that!

Done some more of my blanket for LO, although it won't be finished before she gets here, managed to get myself doing the longest blanket out of the book, wish I had thought about doing a different one, but it will be so nice when it's finished. Also done a square of crochet for the blanket that is being made for Magic8's family, didn't really see many of her posts, but wanted to do something to contribute.

Wotcha,
So much to say to each of you, so to avoid an essay I shall say a general, all encompassing 'hi!' and hope that you're all continuing to feel happy and well as B-Day approaches...
Also to recollect a tale from my DH who went out t'pub last night with friends and got talking to the new girlfriend of a mate - a mother of DD (4 yrs) who, once hearing that DH was an expectant Dad spent the next hour telling him hideous stories of dreadful childbirth. Also said 'if you love your wife you won't let her breastfeed' Why do these folks want to spoil other people's excitement and regale such negative tales?? Poor DH was quite distressed. Makes me cross
So anyway, we have resolved to remain confident and calm and just take it all one step at a time. I have also promised myself that never will I scare a FTM-to-be with unsavory stories!
Am going to bake some cakes now. Can second the Heath & Heather recommendation for raspberry leaf tea, tis refreshing and not nasty at all.
Good luck everyone!
:)

Wotcha tiddley. Luckily I've been not really exposed to horror stories like that, I have a medical background, and have seen 2 births, helped deliver babies over the phone and nearly seen countless others, yet people feel they need to 'protect' me from hearing how their childbirth went! I think some people don't know what to say to pregnant women or their partners generally and so will just say something be it good or bad.

I went for a lie down for an hour, woke up to OH grinning at me like a cheshire cat, proclaiming he was bored and wanted to make cake. He's just made a batch of biscuits which have just gone in the oven. I think he would have made cake except I haven't written the cake recipe in our homemade recipe book and he wasn't sure what eggs were needed. Mmmmm homemade biscuits in 15 minutes :)

Gosh there is a lot going on over the past few days......good luck to all finishing thesis'.......having been there and done that when not pregnant I can only say go you guys! Can I ask what you are both studying? (I found old essays and so on the other night whilst clearing the attic......still can

Glad everyone is pretty much finished up for maternity leave, hopefully the sun stays around for us all to enjoy when pushing prams :)

I honestly thought things were starting here last night, period like cramps, hard achy tummy, being sick, bath at 10pm, 4am and 6am. All stopped at 8am!!! Im beginning to wonder if the indian we took the kids for last night was to blame

Mmmm, cake... What a lovely image 100years, of you and your OH baking together! I just made myself and DH a strawberry smoothie having discovered a punnet of week-old berries at the back of the fridge. Yum. I have one of those hand-held blenders which makes life very easy - bring on the weaning :o

Oo, Sew - things are hotting up then? At least you'll be very clean if it carries on along the same vein?! Good luck!

100years - yes I think pregnancy can encourage a deluge of advice etc. It can be frustrating as with this particular lady (who to be fair had consumed a fair amount of wine before recalling her birth story), but also very encouraging and life-affirming. I almost wept over my M&S purchases at the counter last month, when a very sweet lady told me how happy her babies had made her. I was at a garage s/market yesterday evening buying treats for a film night with a girlfriend and struggled to find my wallet for a minute before paying. The lady serving said 'oh you're pregnant! I thought you were just being stupid!' - Ha ha, no, I'm like this regardless of pregnancy!

Must be a day for baking. I've just had three friends and their kids around (so that was 8 kids) so baked a cake this morning. I've not got the nesting instinct as such, but the baking one is definitely there! Only one piece left :)

Stories of births seem to come from everyone. They see you're very pregnant, and decide it's ok to tell you about their stories/wife's story. From "ooh, my wife only took 1 hour... didn't know what all the fuss was about..." to the ones that took days... Think I've heard or known enough birth stories to ignore them all now... what will be will be!!

100years - I'm kind of the same... enjoying this "calm before the storm" but equally can't wait to meet her. The "joys" of late pregnancy seem bearable now there isn't long to go. Although... I'm typing here thinking "where's the Gaviscon... I NEED it NOW!!!!" Heartburn alert...

Glad you got bra sorted (I'm off tmw) and enjoy those biscuits :)

So, I'm off to find the Gaviscon... enjoy your Saturday evenings everyone!!

Definitely a baking day! I've made some very lopsided Thomas Tank cupcakes with DS while DH was working, it's no surprise they were wonky when they came out because the pair of us were really only in it for the chance to lick the whisk afterwards :)

37 weeks tomorrow and Operation: Get Out of Me officially begins :o I know none of the old wives tales really work but it's fun to try some of the more benign ones like walking, cleaning the floor, etc. At least I'll be entertained for the next three weeks.