January 2012 - Thread 3

[ParsleyLion1]

And we're back......

The earlier they catch anything the better, so the fact that your having a blood test now is good. Won't stop you worrying tho (((hugs))) just keep the end goal in mind

Oh mummyzoe, that's worrying. I'm sure it'll be fine though. Dd1 had chickenpox while I was pregnant with dd2 and I seem to remember them saying then that I couldn't catch shingles from someone with chickenpox and shingles wouldn't harm the baby, it was only chickenpox itself that would do that. So if you've had chickenpox it should all be ok. I think shingles is only a risk to pregnant people who've never had chickenpox. Hope everything is allright...hugs :)

On the crib/moses basket front I tried to use a Moses basket, didn't last long as dd1 hated it! Bought a bedside cot and it was the best thing ever. They have their own space but are right next to you. Particularly good if you are breastfeeding. I would suggest using with sleeping bags rather than blankets though as you can't really have baby sleeping with their feet at the bottom of the cot and still have them next to you. Like you Biddy, I've lent mine out so have been considering getting a bedside crib until I get the bedside cot back. There's a really good one in John Lewis for £160, the Troll. It looks like it could last for maybe 9 months. I've also seen some on ebay that they ship from Germany that are much cheaper.

Sorry, the bit about catching shingles from someone with chickenpox isn't relevant to you mummyzoe, that was just my situation back then.

Adding to the cot / basket topic.... We had a bedside crib which rocked, a blessing during the night wake ups. When he started rolling over i wasn't too sure about the stability of it, but we weren't ready to move him to his own room, so I actually put him in the travel cot for a few weeks, as there was no room for the big cot next to our bed. I put a thick towel under the sheet to make it less hard.
At 6 months he then went into big cotbed in his own room.
For daytime naps we used carrycot off the pram until he got too big, but by that time he was ready to nap upstairs anyway.

Mummyzoe www.patient.co.uk/health/Chickenpox-Contact-and-Pregnancy.htm did a quick google and this popped up - may reassure you slightly as it says that if you have had chickenpox you & baby are OK. Still you've done the right thing getting tested & hopefully results will come soon and set your mind at rest

falabalamb may look into the Troll (bizarre name ) considering sleeping in different room from OH for a bit which we haven't done previously but think of all the extra room in bed!! He's a light sleeper and I am always stressed feeding babies with him there and end up creeping off somewhere else which is rubbish

ghost - you'd be very welcome. We have brownies and scones floating around currently, but not for long I should imagine ;-)

All the baby clothes I have were either donated by a friend who's had one, plus a couple of little bits from my mum. It may have sounded like a lot, but it's no where near enough for a small person constantly puking and pooing - 3 or 4 babygros, ditto vests, 1 little hat, 2 cardigans and a snowsuit thingy. I did wash everything though, because I hate the smell of other peoples' laundry detergent sometimes, especially on 'my' things, also the brand new stuff is all crunchy and new shoppy smelling.

We don;t have the room by the side of our bed for a cot at all. Only about 60/65cm and even if we found one to fit that it would leave me no room to get in and out

Is anyone else already really clumsy? My cooking is suffering and I am most definitely suffering - keep banging and scraping myself and shutting my fingers in things :-(

Plus I've had crampy period pain type feelings all day and they're making me paranoid. I keep feeling like I'm not going to stay pregnant and I feel like such a drama queen saying that to DH, so I'm just fretting about it and trying to find the heartbeat again with the stethoscope we have. I wish I could feel bubba moving about, it ould be so reassuring. Had you all felt movements by 17+5 ?

clumsy? why certainly. Only this afternoon managed to drop a cast iron griddle pan thing and the handle has snapped off. fortunately it didn't land on my toes . My cooking is suffering not because of the clumsiness but because of the forgetfulness when shopping or even when doing lists / online - can't count the times a key ingredient has been missing. so annoying!!

Cakes I loathe the smell of other people's detergent too! It only seems to be an issue with piles of clothes, not on actual people. Reminds me of the old lady smell of charity shops...

ghost that's it exactly. I love the smell of my own and my mum's, but anyone else's generally smells gross and unclean and all wrong.

I keep burning food. I get so distracted and forget about it...

mummyzoe it is very difficult to catch anything off somebody who has shingles, you have to actually share the same bed and have no clothes on to catch something from shingles. They do the blood tests anyway just to make sure you have had chicken pox as most people had it as a very young child so it's not always reliable to take your word for it just in case. Try not to worry

Yeah rocking crib seemed a bit scary after LO starts rolling over so we found the cot with a drop side easiest, I guess similar to beside cot. And sleeping bags really make life a lot easier, my DD was a wriggly one right from the start so never stayed in sheets, even when she was swaddled.

I think I'll wait till 20 weeks scan and then start doing the same cakes with washing all of DD's old clothes in our vacuum packed bags in the loft. And working out what we actually need as I'm sure we probably need more than I think. Scan on 19th so luckily not too far away, hopefully the food weather holds till then for all the washing!

Are you all going to find out gender at 20 week scans? The talk of washing babygrows has made me wonder as we've got boy and girl stuff in the loft. DH says he doesn't want to know but I definitely do so I can sort things out!

I see the consultant today and all of a sudden he's talking about vbac and saying in his opinion theres no need to go for a section. Even considering my mental health history.

I am utterly terrified of attempting a natural birth, I am welling up even thinking about it. I have grieved for and put to rest my desire for a natural birth and I was ok with it. Now all of a sudden theres this possibilty that it isn't a done deal. I know a succesful vbac would be better for me and the baby, faster recovery would mean it's better for my family too and if it were a success an lot of emotional healing could come from that. I am in turmoil really.

I have requested an appointment to see a consultant midwife who runs a VBAC clinic who goes more deeply into the notes and circs. I have to wait almost 2 months for that appointment though.

Hello all! I'm back briefly from holiday (my husband had to go back to work for a couple of days so we had to come home for a few days mid break). So much to catch up on!

Welcome Biddy! :)

Mummyzoe, I hope everything is OK - it sounds like the docs will be able to take action based on the blood test results. It must be worrying though.

Makescakes: I still haven't felt a thing in terms of movement and I'm 18+2! I keep telling myself that the midwife said it was normal to feel the first movements between 18-20 weeks, and not to worry if you don't feel anything before then. By 24 weeks, apparently, we should be feeling daily movements. I'm finding it hard not to get paranoid too though - I'm looking forward to my scan on the 23rd.

Spagbol, I hope the food posioning is better now.

capy I've had really painful nipples too, particularly in the cold. It was especially bad on cold nights while camping - I've never had anything like it!

I hope everyone is well. I was camping last week and the plan was to go camping again next week, but my back ached so much after a week on an airbed, I just couldn't do it. I could barely bend at all by the end of the week. We're going to Guernsey instead and staying in hotels - hopefully much more comfortable! :)

Bednest has any one seen one, I am thinking of one even though we hava a gliding crib. I would find it so much easier having little one next to me.

Think I have decided on getting a mothercare spin pushchair as it converts from carrycot to seat with a few clips and pretty much everything comes with it. Will hang on till after the 20 week scan. I still really haven't felt movement yet. I didn't till 21 weeks last time but I am carry extra weight so maybe the reason. Also look pregnant this week and have had others asking me to.

fishandlilacs - did you have a v-traumatic time, I have had friends who have felt like you. I think for doctors they see difficult births all the time but have no appreciation what it is like for the person or the baby who had to go through it. I want a home birth like last time but I almost didn't as no one was on call and my midwife lives 8 miles from me on the other side of town. She did arrive and I delived an hour later but came with no gas and air so it was all natural wether I wanted it or not. I am not sure that I want to spend an 1 1/2 hours in immence pain with out my beloved gas and air. I think you almost have to go over all the events in your notes with a midwife who can help you understand what you went through. I certainly am going to have a long discusion about things with mine as the hospital is only a mile from my house so can't see why the back up m-wife couldn't bring something. Otherwise will see if she will deliver me in the rbh, as I hate strangers.

Thanks for the reasurance all. will update on friday with what doc says. i know i had chicken poxs when i was 4 or 5 and i had them realy bad and was halusinating with them, but hopefully doc will say im all clear and am defo not going to get them.

on the finding out the gender i dont want to know but dp wants to so i said he could find out and id have the supprise but his parents have said they would go out of the way to tell me so i think we are both going to find out on the 7th september now and go and buy 1 blue or pink outfit that day before we tell our parents.

Is anyone hoping for a certain gender child, im not as long as baby is healthy im happy!

Soo, I'm supposed to be going to bed. Gizmo (cat) is frantic.. I'm ignoring his attempts to "round me up" (yes, exactly like cattle, he take me for a wee and then allows me to wash my hands, before going nuts again until I'm in bed). He;s usually right, Whatever time he picks, I'm usually knackered. Only, someone's decided to startnudging the hell out of me...
...previously Yolkis had kept all his/her nudging for when I've been active. It's all good, but a little Should I be able to feel all of this? And just how active can one Yolkis BE?! Been noticing bouts of activity all day! IS this NORMAL?!

Capy Yup, have had exceedlingly sore nips since day 1. They are def. worse when cold...and sometimes one eases off a bit...so normal I'd say...either that or we're both freaks. Though I do seem to have been felling very cold recently...even today (glorious sunshine), sat at home with ls top, cardi and slanket....
capy, I feel your pissing pain (well...errr) I was peeing up to 5 times a night until I got my dreamgenii, now I'm sleeping better I'm waking less. I kinda have to be 'just right' to sleep, so despite trying hard, I have to wee before I go back to sleep.

Mummyzoe I'm sure you will be fine. Keep up ya fluids and watch the temp but I'm sure you will be ok...if in doubt ring MW/nhsdirect (if uk). When DH had shingles he described the pain like someone frying his nerve endings...he did get swollen where the sningles were attacking...mainly on his 'chickeney bits' (all the tender bits like armpits, breasts, groin, lower back/bum).

Annoyances of the day:

1. Dr thinks my thrush may not go away whilst pg...bloody marv. will go mental if I don't get a decent shagging soon...but would rather not have to go through weeks of pain and discomfort for it.
2. Bloody women in pharmacy (and other random strangers later) when I handed in script for pessary "Oh, yes, you're very obviously pg"...err, yes...this then lead to a 5 min assault by her and a collegue who both have decided I'm having a boy as I'm "round and round"...did try telling them I was just as fat before I got pg but they muttered stuff and told me def. a boy... GRRR!!! If I wanted to know I would ask!!! Later, people just plain talked about my bump to me and then looked horrified when I said I was only 16wks...(17 tomorrow!), whereas others are saying how neat my bump is. I'm of course, ignoring all of them, but at some point I'm just gonna lie and say I'm not pg and watch the buggers squirm...
3. work...but what's new there.

Well, I'm finally not being nerfed by Yolkis, but Gizzy is giving me EVIL stares, so I'd better go!

fishandlilacs - is hypnotherapy worth thinking about? I am very very scared of hospitals and being 'treated', but since I started down the hypnobirthing route I have been so relaxed about giving birth and the whole thing feels totally achievable now - not to mention I can't get to sleep without my hypno CD! Still, at least DH is having a nice relaxing pregnancy too - I'm playing it out loud because I hate earphones in bed! :-)

Moobee - if you want to you could come to my bumps and babies group in Wallingford tomorrow... I'm the only bump there, but they're a nice bunch and you get to play with the babies and get lots of really useful advice from women who have just been through it all. It'd be nice to meet you, too. PM me if you want more info.

In pregnancy news my tastes are getting really weird - I'm making a salad nicoise for lunch because I really fancied it - anchovies included! Now this may not sound like much to most of you, but since I only started eating fish 3 years ago and tuna even more recently than that, the fact I want anchovies is bizarre.

10pm last night I started fancying a La Reine pizza from Pizza Express. DH, bless him, offered to go get me one, but I wasn't desperate enough - I figure I'd better save that goodwill for when I really need some food we don;t have in the house in the middle of the night! lol

Oeisha - have you tried applying live natural yoghurt. I used to get awful bouts when I was on the pill and that was the only thing that soothed things. It also helps to do a rinse off with tepid water and white vinegar (cider or white wine - about 2 tablespoons to a pint) then reapply fresh yoghurt. It really helped me and at least it's not going to make things worse... unlike bloody Canesten which I think I must be allergic to because it burned.

Oeisha-have you tried a 3 day sugar starvation diet-basically avoid avoid avoid like the plague all refined sugars-candida loves sugar to live on. It's so hard to do but if you can it should help.

also get some acidopholus capsules from holland and barratt. The good bacteria will help you fight it.

Cootn knickers, "blow dry" your foof after the shower :)-dont use towels, the spores can linger on them for ages.

Oh yes - acidophillus is good stuff! And I second the hairdryer tactic and stay the hell away from any kind of soap. Plain ol' water (and the water and vinegar solution) is more than enough to clean a - what did fish call it? - a foof? :-D

Oh yes - and wash all your undies and towels at 60 degrees to kill off any nasties before you wear them again. Not good for elastic to do this all the time, but deffo worth it when you're experiencing an outbreak.

I've been thinking about hypnobirthing but there aren't any classes near me. Are the CD's any good? I might try those. I keep crying when I think about being in labour. It's not that I've had particularly traumatic labours, just that had to battle against very old fashioned medical opinions and I think I need something that'll calm me down. Fish, I hope the specialist midwife is useful, shame you have to wait so long for the appointment.
I had a midwife appointment yesterday and got my blood results. I've had a reduced platelet count in the last 2 pregnancies although it's never caused me any problems other than not being able to have home births. Apparently this time they are already at 139 (I think bottom end of the normal range is 141) but mw said they only start worrying if they go below 135.
How have all your blood pressure measurements been? I was told yesterday that mine was low, 90/40, I didn't think that was particularly low for this stage of pregnancy.
Has anyone heard the old wives tail about how the babies heart been sounds being an indicator of their sex (train=boy, horse=girl)? I heard the heart beat yesterday and it definately sounded like a train whereas dd1 and dd2 did sound like horses. Do you think there's any truth to this? The mw gave me a meaningful look and commented on it sounding ike a train, so I would say she believed it!!! :)

Capy - I had to wee 4 times before going to sleep last night (in the space of an hour), and then woke up 2 hours later to pee again! All I'd had to drink yesterday evening was half a glass of water - I really don't know what that was all about. Baby must be sitting solidly on my bladder.

makescakes - I had to have a La Reine the other evening too (luckily was out anyway, which made it easier!) It was very odd - I haven't eaten one for about 5 years, but it was sooo worth it.

fala oooo - a sage MW! I've heard about the sound theory, but DD never sounded much like a horse in my opinion, but equally I didn't think she sounded much like a train either! A more trained ear would probably have been able to pick it up though. You do get some MWs who really just know - I had one who just looked at my bump last time (2 weeks before I was due) and said "that baby will be early" and lo and behold she was a week early. Then again I also had a mad woman in Southend say "you don't have long" as she walked off cackling to herself, and DD came next day. I'll have to go back, find her and see what she predicts for this one!

Thanks guys, seriously my mental health has taken a total downturn this last few days. I was raging at my daughter yesterday, today i have had cold sweats and anxiety over debt. All of a sudden it's come crashing down around me. I feel such a weight. I am seeing my lovely lovely psychiatric nurse on friday who has agreed to see me in her own time, bless her. I have been so good for years now, had considered myself fully recovered from all the birth trauma of before. Now one little meeting and I really wasn't expecting all of this stuff to come back up. Theres still so much anxiety just right there. It's hard to keep perspective, this is the reason my dd is almost 4 and were having a bigger age gap, this is the reason I had decided I wasn't going to have more kids. But then i thought maybe I could and it would be ok.

Ah, sod it, i'm sorry this isn't the thread for this-you guys are all so hopeful and theres lots of first timers on here. You dont need my doom and gloom.

Tried everything. Unfortunatly we think the thrush is repeatedly happening as it's internal...can't get natural yog there...thou as I'm feeling a little better I'm only using the cream at the mo. Gets any worse, then back to pessaries...
I'm already hotwashing anything near that area. Eating bio-yogs (tums not happy with that, but hey ho). Ironing the gurdles, using non-bio powder, not useing fabric conditioner, wearing lose clothes, changing pantyliners every rime I wee (lots of discharde, so can't not at work), washing only with water blah, blah blah.. Not heard of the sugar thing, but am reluctant to as it's often only sugary things that stay down :(

ARGH! gtg, didn't realise the time...

fish, poor you, that sounds awful. For what it's worth - you can do it, however bad it gets (you did once already) - and you're doing the right things by addressing the situation early. This time around you know what to expect; and you're not letting one consultant dictate what happens to you. I don't have any experience with this so I can only sympathise, but would it help if you wrote down a list of your reasons to want an ELCS so that you could calmly stick to them in any future meetings?

It sounds like it's perceived lack of control that is causing you to panic, so do whatever you need to do to take some control back. Push for an earlier appointment if you can. Perhaps you can come up with one line to repeat if you're being pushed for a VBAC - something like "I have not taken this decision lightly. I need to insist on an ELCS".

(sorry if that's not going to help - it's just that my mum has a chronic condition which is uncurable, but somewhat treatable, and her darkest days were all triggered by feeling like there was nothing she could do to help herself, and nothing anyone else could do either, so we were encouraged to help her focus on what she could control and could manage. It sounds like a good policy to me.)