Nov 2011 - Mat B forms are in and time is flying not long now

[PamSco]

Sorry just went for a new thread as I couldn't see another.

Hope you are all well this morning

Dh for me too! Though my mum did comment at how her and my sister would love to be there! I was like... erm... no!

I've already decided that DH is staying head (mine) end and no looking down below!

We've just booked onto a birth prep course that my yoga instructor runs, which goes through good birthing postures and breathing exercises etc. I think she also covers things for DH to do whilst it's all going on rather than standing there feeling useless!

Hope everyone's feeling better today? Only 2 days left until long weekend (and week off for me and DH!)

x

Stace I tried the whole "you have to stay at my head" thing, but my DH is one of these types who is interested in everything, he likes to see how things happen and he went and had a look at Belle's head coming out and then shouted very encouraging things like "come on babe, keep pushing, she's nearly here"

Seeing a baby come out hasn't put him off that area at all! haha!

Hopefully I can be a little more active this time, I was flat on my back the whole of Belle's labour, (only 5 hours proper labour in the end, but took 5 days to get to that point) mainly because I was so out of it on morphine I couldn't stand up anyway. But I guess this time it still depends on how many drips/monitors I end up hooked up too. I know I'm on antibiotic drip throughout labour for a start.

Dh is my birth partner. Bless he is very screamish but having made him watch a water birth on you tube he actually said he would like to catch the baby.

Have a wedding to attend this weekend. Not sure if I will cope as we are going out for dinner with bridal party the night before and as dh is one of the best men he won't be with me much during the day. Originally it was just the boys going out so was planning an early night. At least it is all taking place in the hotel so can pop up to my room for a power nap if needed.

Stripey I've been scaring my DP by getting up at 7.30 with him and tidying the house - nesting instinct! I do crash out around midday though, so I hope you get the same afternoon luxury nap as I do...

Tjuice Not just Danes there, I'm afraid. I work in a call centre full of gay men - when I said I was 5 months pregnant they raised an eyebrow and said "Only?"... With Danish men you probably know that you can be just as brash back though! I tried with my English divas and they just sulked...

PamSco Aren't DPs the best? We've started having cuddle time - go to bed faaaar too early, and just cuddle in bed talking, enjoying being us two, we put the fairy lights on and he gives me a foot rub - I can cry and be low if I need to, and he has really opened up as well.

I showed him how to feel Sprouts head/shoulders last night and he just burst out laughing and gave my belly the biggest kiss - e"It's like she's actually in there!" - yeah, tell me about it...

Tjuice My come back was mostly "What's your excuse?" or "How far gone are you then, lovely?" - If they can't take as good as the give, too bad.

Day 2 of holidays and I'm nearly wishing I was back at work! 10 year old dd has major hissy fit yesterday. 13 year old seems physically linked to xbox and mam is making food and washing and shopping and so on. Never mind, next week I shall seek revenge! Haha.

Just been down to the shops and really hurst the bottom of my bump carrying a bag to and from shop to car. Bloody sore it is too. Must just be ligament type pain? Over stretched ligament type pain at that!

Cali how well trained is your baby already! Head down and engaged! Am sure this one keeps moving in and out and that's what's causing discomfort and crampy feelings a lot. My colleague at work was like there is nonway your gonna go 42 weeks and perhaps even 40! She has either jinxed me or is psychic!

I need someone to dragme away from eBay, keep spending a few little pounds on things and forgetting! Boots has a 3 for 2 event on it's baby stuff as well, including disposable nappies, wipes, mat pads etc.

Morning all,

At home having been to work for an hour, the to a GP appt and now awaiting my specialist appt before I go back to work for all of about an hour!!

Having a really emotional day today, barely slept last night and have been in tears 4 times already today with silly things triggering it. DS has gone camping with my sis and so missing him as well - really could do with one of his cheeky smiles and squishy cuddles

Chip am glad lil Sylvie-Rose is doing well and you managed more cuddles, hope she continues to do well. My friend's premmie baby is having a difficult time at the mo, she had a really bad night last night and almost lost her battle twice...she is now stable again and fighting alongside her mummy & daddy; am hoping they have a better day today.

Sorry for all the gloom...really struggling with PMA today but thankfully baby is moving well today, so comforting atm.

Continue to fight poorly lil ones, so many people thinking of you x x x

glad most of you seem to be well today.

bump sorry you seem to be struggling today, when is ds back? sorry your friends baby had a bad night, hopefully tonight will be better.

dreading tomorrow, don't do well with no food.

Cep is it a GTT?

I've got my 1st anti-d injection tomorrow at 9.30. Who's had one? Last I had was on delivery. Where are they going to stab me? I love needles can u tell? Ha. I have had a lovely ish day of sorting out and cooking. I don't really bake but I love to make dinners etc so the boys are having a roast chicken dinner and my dd and i are having mince and dumplings with veg. I love love love having a home cooked dinner ready in the oven to dish up! Really helps with the nesting!!

I feel your pain cep. I went in for my fortnightly scan, and have been summoned for a GTT on Monday. My community midwife had just told me to hand in an early morning urine sample for her to retest, but the hospital midwife and consultant just looked at each other and agreed that that plan was pointless. They said that of course I would get a suitably low reading after fasting overnight, but that wouldn't tell anyone anything about my body's ability to handle glucose. They said my previous 6.9 reading was on the high side even for someone who had eaten in the last hour, especially as I hadn't had anything sugary. Sigh. Going to find it very hard to drink the required amount of lucozade without throwing it back up. Bleahh!

Also the consultant (usual one on holiday - which he had told me about, so fine with that) asked if anyone had mentioned my placenta to me. It had been pointed out to me on my 4D scan on Tuesday that my placenta is low lying, and basically the consultant today confirmed this. It hadn't been mentioned to me previously, and I'd happily thought I had an ideally positioned central posterior placenta. Double sigh! I'm told that it's very unlikely that it has moved down, so it must always have been an issue, so I should have been told earlier. Moan moan.

Hmmm. PMA: Sometimes it's good to have less continuity, as you get a fresh pair of eyes!

Knockedup the stuff I had to drink was far worse than Lucozade, it was warm sugary water, and it was so sugary that the water was sort of thick and gloopy. I'm shuddering just thinking about it! But, PMA, apparently the other hospital in our health trust makes patients drink a litre of it!!! I only had to drink 300ml, so I reckon I got off lightly. The midwife said she was amazed that any patient at the other hospital managed to keep a litre of it down for two hours to get another blood test taken....

Ladies, I know I sound like a big moaning minnie, but my stomach bug only lasted a day which was great, and now I have .......ta da ......toothache! The last time I had toothache was in one of my baby teeth when I was about six, how the hell did I manage to get it now?! I'm a teeth cleaning, dentist going freak, and I was at the dentist earlier this week and everything was fine!!

Knockedup, mine was 7.1 after eating lunch and having half a can of lucozade. I'm narrowly avoiding GTT by gett

Sorry, I've been very self centred with my moaning!

Was also meaning to post that Chip I'm glad you got a bit of a cuddle going with Sylvie-Rose.

And Bump I hope things get better for you, you've sounded very down in your last few posts.

Where is H007? Was thinking about her earlier, wasn't she going for more tests?

I'll try again.... Getting a random someone at the hospital to agree to me getting an early morning blood sample at my docs and sending it off. You have my sympathy and about the placenta! NOt your day is it! What will they do? Monitor? I don't know much about placenta stuff I have to admit!

cep good luck for tomorrow.

snoozle glad your stomach bug didnt last long but :( for the toothache

Well today didn't really get much better; think I have cried more than I have ever cried before in one day....still feel like I just want to burst into tears but hey. Spoke to DS earlier who spoke as quick as he could to go back to having fun with his cousens; all enjoying themselves though can imagine my sister will be ready to hand him back come Sunday!! Made me cry though knowing he was enjoying himself and didn't want a mummy hug :(

Both appts today went well though. GP was really supportive and wasn't surprised that I had now hit the point in which I cannot cope with feeling so low again - apparently hormones in the last few months can be as bad if not worse than the first trim, she was all up for signing me off work until I start Mat leave. The specialist was good, wanted to know everything from birth to now....I can barely remember what day it is let alone most of the questions he was asking me so most of my answers were "I don't know, about " But apparently I have anxiety, depression and OCD tendencies which he thinks have all be triggered by the pregnancy and bereavement at the start of preg - oh the joys!! He was really surprised that I am still managing to work and has given me some anti-depressants to take; still not really sure about taking them but he was adament they were one of the safest during pregnancy and shouldn't cause any issues for this late in the pregnancy - so I guess it is worth a try.

Mat leave - at the mo I am due to start mine at 37 weeks. My MW has advised I start it at 34/35 weeks latest and GP was asking if I wanted to be signed off sick until my mat leave starts. That with the specialist being surprised I'm still working is making me think am I doing the right thing staying at work??? I can understand where they are coming from as I am barely coping on a day-to-day basis but to be off work = loss of money.
Financially if I was to be signed off sick I would have 2-3weeks full pay then onto half pay + stat sick pay (effectively costing my £550); if I started mat leave 2 weeks earlier it would effectively cost me £800. Not sure if I could afford to do either...but not sure working is worth it. Work have said that I can go onto office duties if needed (handy as secretary going on 5weeks hol so I can do her job) but not sure on that either as I'm not that keen on office work.....need to think things through!!!

Sorry about the long, self-obsessed post

Hope everyone is well x x

Bump sorry you are feeling so low and that your options seem limited at the moment. I hope you manage to come to a decision that suits you and helps you to manage your illness for the rest of your pregnancy.

Re: GTTs, I had the horrible sugar water too and just about managed to keep it down until after the third lot of bloods had been taken and then literally lasted as long as it took me to find the toilet!

I am full of PMA today as I have finished work for my holiday and have a whole 10 days off in a row - I'm so excited! It meant I was in the office until late tonight getting my list of important things finished as I now intend to have a proper break and try to keep well away from emails until I'm back at work. Anyway, back to the PMA! I am spending tomorrow doing a few errands (like getting the car serviced and packing our bags) but am also going for a facial and having my hair done so I will be prepped and ready to go. We're spending this weekend in Birmingham catching up with friends then travelling down to Cornwall on Monday to stay in our lovely hotel and avail ourselves of the spa facilities - can't wait! We then have a family wedding and our nephew's baptism the following weekend so I'm glad we're fitting in the relaxing seaside break in between. It will be really lovely spending time just DH and I and hopefully we can start to have the name discussion, which has been evading us so far!!

Can I ask for opinions on nursery furniture as well? We will be moving quite soon after the baby arrives so I had thought we would just wait to get furniture until after we'd moved. However, I have now unfortunately fallen a little bit in love with this furniture and am trying to think of all ways of ordering it and keeping it stored for a few months until we are in our new place and can get it all set up I could have the gliding chair and stool here and possibly store the rest in my Dad's garage. Seriously, can someone give me a proverbial kick up the arse so I get real? There is absolutely no need for me to be buying nursery furniture when we don't even have a nursery!!!

Am of to bed now so hopefully I am fast asleep before DH comes home from his work drinks and keeps me awake with his snoring

Bump I saw my GP again today, too, who scored me 23 out of 25 on the "How badly depressed are you" test and signed me of for another 2 weeks. I've got OCD and GAD since I was 14, so it playing up in pregnancy with hormones was no surprise.

I know medication is scary and daunting, but I agreed to start back on them (I was on 40mg fluoxetine before pregnancy) because I have to be able to at least function. Don't beat yourself up about it - they're safe as long as they're monitored well. You're doing great getting this far without them.
Remember that the stress you're experience without it is more damaging to the baby than the meds.

I don't want to sound preachy, so apologies if I come across as such.

I'm a PM away if you want to chat.

cep good luck for today

bump really sorry you are feeling low :(
Can you get onto the office work and do it from home? That may help? I am spending all of September working from home, as I can no longer cope with the heat and the commute. I will have to visit clients a couple of times though

Truffkin I hope you enjoy your holiday. I think it's great that you are planning to not catch up on anything in your time off work. I did that with my last 2 week holiday and it was bliss.
I am planning to do exactly the same next week when I am off 2 days and the week after when DH and I jet off on holiday.
I'm going to be rubbish and tell you that the furniture is gorgeous and a nice price reduction. I'd get it and either see if the store can keep it for you, or store it in your Dad's garage.

I agree, haven't seen H007 in a while. I hope she's ok

Nothing new here, apart from being absolutely knackered, after bump kept waking me throughout the night. I slept all night on my left with pillows under bump and between knees, just to trap and release the nerve (or whatever it is) this morning in such a violent and painful manner that I collapsed. Now DH has cancelled his trip to Germany in November, which has me really upset. He isn't worried about the baby coming early, but is worried about me. I feel really bad, as it would have been a brilliant opportunity to network for him :(

It's Friday and even though I have to train a client today and am exhausted I cannot wait for the weekend.

Hope everyone is having a better time today

voodoo sorry, i didn't come back on last night, and i didn't see an answer. the gtt is the test for gestational diabetes. i was just worrying about the not eating, but i'm starting to worry about this sugary drink.

copy the concern for h007 hope you're doing ok.

bump sorry you're still feeling low. I don't think the dr would have advised taking them if they were ok whilse pg. even if you decide to stay in work for a little while, i'm sure the dr would still sign you off if you change your mind and decide you don't want to be there during last few weeks.

i'm starting a weeks annual leave today, is my first proper leave since xmas, and i sooo need it. is going to be a busy weekend though, we're moving ds over to the "big" bedroom, this weekend, and i need to do all the moving toys and clothes and things.

oh and i'm hungry already

Sounds like lots of people are needing TLC on this thread at the moment xx

My repeat blood results came in yesterday. My iron levels had dropped significantly in a week so I'm not being put on iron tablets and my white blood cell count was still up so I'm off to the GP this morning to try and deduce what is causing it and get someone to try bring it down.

I'm so paranoid about infection. There was slight sign of infection on my placenta with Belle, they think it started developing after she died because obviously it took 5 days to get her here, and it wasn't prevalent enough to have been the cause of her death. (This is the main reason I'm on antibiotics throughout labour and birth too) but I'm not taking any chances. If my white blood cells are up they need to treat it even if they don't know what it is.

Of course it could be the insect bite on my leg that has gone all sore and puffy - it hasn't been sore and puffy for over 10 days, but it has probably been there for over 10 days... we'll see what the Doc says.

Anyone else feeling all sicky again? Its like a return of the early days here at the moment.

After a relatively quiet day yesterday X woke up at 10.30pm and had a proper playtime kick around for about half hour or so! Made me giggle!

so I'm now* being put on iron tablets... oh dear, silly typo.

Caz I hope they get to the bottom of it for you, I can see why it is scary when something like that comes up but it really sounds like you have a good level of care, which hopefully gives you some reassurance.

I haven't really stopped being sick, although it is far reduced from the first five months now thank goodness. If I am tired or stressed it seems to be worse so this week I've been sick every morning (even this morning, so my body clearly hasn't caught up that I am on holiday yet ) It's a pain isn't it? It's one of the reasons that I've not gained as much weight as normally would be recommended, although as my HCPs think I started off as a bit too fat anyway (based on BMI, although I'd not really realised as was a size 14 with big boobs, so had assumed I was 'normal'), it's not a problem and hopefully just means I will have less to get rid of once the baby is here!

PMA - it's nearly the weekend for all of the 9-5ers!

Bump, why does your pay drop so much if you take the doctor up on his sick note? I thought they had to give full pay for 6 months when you're on any kind of sick note, and if its pregnancy related it can't go on your permanent record. The earliest an employer can force you to start maternity leave is 36 weeks, so even if you don't go back at all, you will only lose one week of maternity leave and pay. I already looked all of this up because, as a teacher, I will be back at work full time next week having been off for 6 weeks, and can't see how I'm going to cope. I'm just going to work on the principle of one day at a time, and if I can't do it, then I won't. I have also been offered a doctors note for antenatal depression, before the summer holidays, but I have managed to recover well having a bit of time to myself. It is so difficult to balance what is the right thing to do in this situation, and it is admirable that you want to stay at work as long as possible, but don't run yourself into the ground, your son and new baby need you to be at 100%. Is there someone in HR you could talk to about how things are going, maybe they could cut your hours or change your working pattern - legal obligation to help integrate you if you want to return having been signed off by a doctor. Look here for advice on statutory maternity pay, but also take a look at the statutory sick pay section (link on the left). You could print out anything you are entitled to and take them to help you in discussions. Being practical helps prevent me from feeling useless, maybe it could help you too.
Hope you're doing ok as well Cali, some of this might help you too, though you sound strong.

I am so impressed to hear about Sylvie-Rose's improvements, I hope she continues to get stronger, and will be home in your arms soon enough Chip.

Sorry for mammoth post, I hope everyone is doing well, and test results for Cep and Caz come back with all the right results. Good luck for anyone I haven't mentioned.

Lizzy I only get SSP - no full pay what so ever, at any point. We've been surviving on DP's pay for big bills and £81/week for food, commute and gas.
It's tight. Two weeks ago we only had £13 to shop for food. For a week. For a pregnant lady and a full time working bloke.