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

Hello all. Oh dear so long since I posted. Was away on hols and travelling for work and you all move so fast that I couldn't keep up!! Glad I found the new thread. Glad to hear most are doing well. Anyway off to brazil tomorrow for work so better go and pack . This is my last long haul trip for work though, SO tired.
Have a good week all.

Hello, what are suitable antacids for heartburn? It's starting to kick in now :(

Truffkin OMG! 500squids for NCT classes?! I thought the 120 here was bad enough. I think I'll be sticking to the NHS, and I've been doing antenatal yoga too, which I've really enjoyed and will hopefully help.

PamSco I looked into hypnobirthing, and have been quite intrigued. Again, the price has kinda put me off, and the woman who came to speak to us about it in our yoga class sounded like she needed convincing herself. It sounds very much like a good, enthusiastic teacher is needed. How are you finding it? What kind of exercises do you have to do? I take it that there is alot of meditation involved?

Hello All!

Truffkin, I've booked onto the NCT antenatal course for £235 and post natal for £140, I don't think I paid the additional to become a member though. Where are you? Mine are in Stoke Newington I'm looking forward to them starting and to comparing bellys with people!

The riots in Tottenham are horrible, just a bunch of over aggressive bored kids using any excuse for violence, I don't think they give a monkeys about the man the police shot.

stripey I'm loving hyonobirthing. It is giving me such confidence and empowerment which for a slight control freak like me is wonderful. My friends always say how laidback I am, but they don't realise what I turn into when I feel I have lost control of a situation. So the premis of hypnobirthing suits me well. Oh I could go on and on

We have to work at it, positive affirmations, relaxation, visualisations. They also cover other aspects such as managing a stalled labour, perineal massage and post birth coping.

Classes seem different depending on who is teaching and their background. I am seeing a hypnotherapist so we do hypnosis in the class to plant positive triggers and develop confidence in self hypnosis so we can manage labour without drugs.

Obviously the hypnobirthing way is a preference not a stricture, so if special circumstances determine an alternate course you are still in control.

I can't be an advocate as I haven't had me baba yet but everyone I know who has used it (3 friends) swear it was an amazing experience. I'll let you know in November.

Sorry another evangelical soap boxing post.

Is anyone having Braxton Hicks yet? I had the weirdest feeling tonight, it felt like The Boy had done a cart wheel and his feet were kicking rigt across the top of me belly. But I wonder if that was BHicks? What do you reckon?

Welcome YouDoTheMath

TwoJacks glad that the first class went well. DH and I will start our antenatal classes on 2nd September and I too cannot wait to learn what to do with this tiny creature, as I have no idea

Stripey, I too have that pain. I think it may be the ligaments stretching. It feels like a nasty stitch that doesn't want to stop :(

Pam I have had BH a while ago, but not in a couple of weeks. For me BH was a tightening feeling. Felt as if someone was tightening a belt over, or under bump.

Sorry for not coming on last weekend. I did my typical hibernation thing that I do on weekends to recover from the exhaustion I build up during the week. Can't wait to finish work and just have a nap in the daytime.

Anyway, the Confinement Nanny came and she was a nice enough woman, but all she does is look after the baby and cook. Locals usually have the nanny look after the baby and they don't do anything hands on. DH and I discussed afterwards, as I feel I wouldn't be able to go out with LO in the pram and leave her at home and otherwise, she will not have much work to do, as I will want to look after the baby.
So we pretty much decided to get a cleaner in, who has experience with babies, who will pretty much do what you ask of her, ie shopping, cooking, etc. I think that that is more me and I feel much more relaxed about the prospect.

Yesterday morning I almost fainted once again, so I will no longer go anyplace where I need to stand for a long time (more than 3 minutes?)
Apart from next Monday's morning support on a client site, but hopefully I will be able to sit down.
Is anyone else experiencing really scary dizzy spells?

Hope you are all sound asleep and have a good start to the week

Awww...poppy'smom I know how you feel about the fainting - I've had a few dizzy spells and it's not the most pleasant. Normally I'm somewhere embarassingly public. Let's hope it's our last :) Very jealous of your cleaner.

Two J-Rs so pleased to hear your NCT class went well. I'd love to do NCT and Hypnobirthing, but have no £££ after stupid loft extension (£30,000) so I'm making do with a natal hypnotherpary cd. It makes me fall asleep after the first 10 minutes so I hope to God it works subliminally.

Cots MiL has offered to get our cot and I have no idea which to choose - I was going to get a wee cheapy one, as she's not the richest lady. Just wondered if anyone has got theirs and what they bought?

Portobello market went well...I sold out so very pleased and £100 towards the loft :)

Hope you all slept well and any aches have disappeared - sprinking magic fairy dust -

xxx
Ziggi

Hello all,

poppy am glad you & OH have managed to come to a decision re: help that will suit your needs, good luck.

pam glad you are finding hypnobirthing helpful; I would have loved to do a complete course but at £300 the money just wasn't there. I have however got a couple of CDs and have been reading through the book so plan on using an element of self-hypnosis throughout labour.

twojack glad you found your NCT class helpful; we are doing a lamaze confident birthing class as it was half the price and the dates suited us better than the NCT.

stripey I too feel as if I have gone from calm & confident to a complete nervous wreck!! I hope the pain settles, if you are worried a phonecall to your MW may be helpful to put your mind at ease.

Hope everyone has had a good weekend. I spent mine up with my mum as it was my birthday (and I also had to collect DS who had spent the week with my mum & sister). It was lovely, though I walked a bit too much shopping with my mum & SPD extremely painful at the mo (regular pain relief being taken despite me normally not wanting to take anything unnecessarily).

Managed to raid my mum's loft & spare room (was DS's when we lived there) and got the last of the baby bits from her - bouncy chair, play gym, bathroom bits all now sorted :) Also collected car seat (stage 0-1) and put on the new covers & fitted into car to bring home; it will now stay there as saves us finding space for it in the house, though my mum has misplaced the straps (she will be searching for them this week) It was a nightmare locating a spare cover but luckily the same company I managed to get it from also has spare harness & at only £15 I may well buy a spare lot anyway!!

Am starting to feel pretty much sorted; just need to raid my sisters now for all the bits she borrowed.

Whilst at my mum's I managed to catch up with my best friend too; it as great to see her & we had a really good chat. Somehow she manages to make me feel better & see sense without even telling me what to do. Anyway, chatting to her made me realise quite how bad my mood has become again :( I feel that I can no longer cope with feeling this low & feel it is totally unfair to expect DS to cope with it, let alone baby. So I will be asking MW re: meds & be taking her advice; though not sure whether to phone her this week or wait until my appt with her which I am due to have next week!! Decisions decisions....

Work wise I am also really struggling; following physio I went in last week and said exactly what the physio advised. I was expecting my manager to say something like "well that's not possible" as it is pretty much my complete job role that has been advised against by physio. Instead she was very understanding & did another pregnancy risk assessment and has referred me to occ health for advice - just waiting to hear from them so we can see what I am able to do for the next couple of months!! The other staff nurse that I work with though was a complete b**ch and has said some nasty stuff over the past week - am dreading today as it is just me & her in (manager has 2 weeks hol!!) I can see me phoning the senior manager for help & advice if she starts to say anything!!

Anyway, sorry for the epic post - seems like I had loads to say!!

Hope everyone has a good start to the week x x

Mowwwwwnin,

Sorry haven't managed to catch up on everyone's posts so hopefully not being too rude to not reply to everyone since I last came on.

Perineal massage- I would like Pam or someone else to talk to me about this please.

I'm all for anything that will help me stretch to get baby out, although having had to immac this morning due to not being able to get a hot wax appointment I have discovered I can no longer see my fanny without difficulty- I wonder if I should start this massage now whilst I can still reach my undercarriage?

Officially in third trimester now. That feels lovely.

After almost getting rid of dream genii she/he and I have reached an amicable agreement in which she/ he snuggles my bump and I promise to try not to flip poor thing on top of me in the night. It's working.

Two Jacks glad NCT went well

I've checked out NCT but to be honest, the reply via email wasn't actually that friendly. At the risk of sounding like a picky hormonal loon, a wee thank you for your interest would have made me feel a bit more up for it not just it costs £122 and you have to book by wednesday, regards. Well, um, feck off. My tolerance levels are waaaay low these days.

Poppy'smom 1. Sounds like a brill idea to get a cleaner to suit your needs rather than confinement nanny who wouldn't be actually doing anything. And 2. This may sounds spectacularly stupid but, are you going to call your baby Poppy? your username makes me think you already have a child but I think from your posts you don't so one and one making 3 in my head now. lovely name if so, my friend has a Poppy and she's gorgeous.

bumps cross posting with you. Sorry to hear you are feeling so blue, glad you got some good sister and mum time at weekend. Personally I'd call the MW today rather than wait til your appointment. It will make you feel more positive to act I think rather than wait when there's no need to.

Also just try and ignore that silly cow at work and I'd be taking a wee note of what she says if you can bear it so that you can let your boss know when she returns. No one deserves bitching and bullying at work- least of someone who is pregnant and vulnerable.

Take care x

Folic Sooooooooo agree about terse NCT emails in this branch/area. My booking was cancelled as I was in hospital and couldn't cough up quick enough. I understand they are busy courses but purleeeeaase!

Heyho.

Ok Perineal massage. Should be done from 32 weeks (I've been told) as the action itself is erm stimulating don't want to do it too early as stimulates opening. Probably means you need a helper by that stage. I'm also told (by a friend) that Neal's Yard sell a lovely oil for the purpose.

Sometimes I can't believe that I sit with my fellow accountants at work talking about such matters.

Details are at this link on the "how to".
www.childbirth.org/articles/massage.html

I've had one little practice when we first got instructions and developed the first "must do" - trim and file nails diligently.

Looks like Sept 4th sling meet at PPC could be the next MN meet in Edinburgh? We could pop into Cargo or Loudon's after for cake? I know this date didn't suit everyone so we could have another soonish after, without sling distraction?

Bump I'd definitely call sooner rather than later. I am one for leaving things to fester until they come to a head, and then regretting it afterwards (so I'm not very good at taking my own advice). But there's no point messing about when it comes to your moods, and it's better to get some help if you need it.

I'm back to feeling weepy myself, but there is a real difference between a bit of hormonal weepiness and when it's interfering with your health.

Poppy I think I'd do the same in your position - it sounds like a confinement nanny would be doing all the things you'd want to do, and none of the housework that (let's face it) any of us would like to avoid!

We're booked on the NCT antenatal classes but then they're not as expensive here - I think about £150 with NCT membership as well. We don't know many people in the area, so for us the meeting people is definitely the ulterior motive.

I've not booked the postnatal classes though - anybody had any experience of these?

And re perineal massage - would definitely appreciate some tips if anybody has any, as am reaching the same point as Folic and can no longer see what I'm doing down there...

Morning all, can't believe I have entered third trimester - woo. Time seems to be flying by at mo.

Have been busy buying Xmas pressure for DD. Have got her an aqua doodle which looks great. Hasn't arrived yet. Does anyone else have one?

Best get on with my day. Shower, then cooking up some finger foods for DD. Cocktail sausages, sweetcorn pancakes and cheese and sweetcorn muffins. Yum.

Here's a link to a PDF about perineal massage:

www.oxfordradcliffe.nhs.uk/forpatients/090427patientinfoleaflets/090924perinealmassage.pdf

Xmas pressure? Bloody iPad autocorrect... Xmas prezzies!

Sorry bump that you are feeling down :(

Folic, I should really change my name. It came from the size of the baby when we got our BFP. The size of a poppy seed. Then we were told at 15 weeks that we were having a little girl, so left the name, but subsequently baby has grown boy bits, so the name for bump is a bit girlie and we have been calling him other pet names.

And yes, this is my first. Will think of a different name more seriously, because this one is misleading

Poppy it's a good name if you want him to pop out with minimal effort on the big day.

I did pereneal massage when pg with DD. By that stage I couldn't do it myself, so got DP to do it for me and we always ended up having sex!
Not complaining though - sex is good for labour near the end. There is a school of thought that as sex creates the baby, so labour and birth should be a sensual experience. Some women are encouraged to kiss their husbands as they have contractions!
One MN thread I was reading talked about making sure you had an orgasm a day in the 2 weeks prior to due date - with or without DP/DH present

My thoughts are just to go with what feels right at the time. maybe not full sex in front of the midwife, but hey!
I have been told then when you feel the burn as the head pushes at the opening of the vagina, to stop pushing like mad and gently let it ease out to prevent tearing.

bump I'm sorry you feel down. I have the day when I feel low but it must be hard to feel low all the time. Hope you get the care you need.

Whoever asked about heartburn - I can highly recommend dual action Gaviscon. Safe in pg as well. Just costs a fortune!

And whoever is flying to Brazil today with work - hats off to you! Hope it's at least business class.

Oh my god all this talk of giving birth, contractions and pushing is scary the out of me... With all this pregnancy malarky if almost forgot that at the end I would need to get Bean out somehow....

Have some worrying news after I trip to the docs following MW's advice regarding issues with my boobie I've been referred to the breast cancer screening unit this afternoon... I don't mind admitting on here I am soooo scared! The doc says that the chances of it being the big "C" are
minimal but he doesn't have a clue what's wrong so best send me to the specialists :( I just can't stop thinking the worst! I've had skin cancer before but that was a different kettle of fish it was the "best" type of cancer I could get and a minot opt followed by some plastics work due to bad scarring and generally I forget I ever had it... But I wasn't dealing with being 6 months pregnant then either!

H007 lots of unmumsnetty hugs for you. That sounds really frightening. I hope you get some reassurance soon and it turns out to be something and nothing.
meetup I was thinking of going to the slingmeet too so that date works for me. A newborn sling, buggy board and footmuff are the last things we have to buy for this bubba. Assuming she's happy in all of DS's castoff babygrows .
perineal massage hmmmm I might have a try of that this time. It would have been a waste of effort first time mind.
BH contractions do you know I never ever felt one when I had DS, not even sure if I had any. There were some times when it felt like he was pressing his back right up to my bump and I could feel immense pressure but I'm not sure if that was them. The only pre labour contractions I got for sure was in week 40 when I sniffed clary sage oil because I was fed up being huge and preggers. Wooo wee I stopped doing that quick!
Raspberry leaf tea now were nearing the final third I think we can drink this soon. Not sure quite when though so do check before buying. Its taste to me is the essence of J's pregnancy, and as I had one minute long contractions every two minutes from an hour or so after my waters went I think I can assume it helped tone my uterus! Napiers does a lovely blend of it but it is pricey. Am already looking forward to getting our our teapot and brewing some up.

H007 you have my sympathy, anything breast related is terrifying. I hope your visit to the screening unit is a positive one and you end up with your mind put at rest.

Sorry to jump to something so much more trivial, but mooseymoo had asked about Aquadoodle. DD had aquadoodle and it was great, she loved it, but there were just a couple of downsides that I'll alert you to! Firstly, be warned that if you don't empty the water out of the wee pen things and leave them to dry, they quickly get a sort of slimey black mould on them. And the other thing is that if the mat itself gets dirty, particularly with anything that leaves a greasy residue, its pretty much ruined. I tried everything to get it clean, including in the end throwing it in the washing machine (which it said on the label not to do) but nothing really helped, and once it was dirty, the top sheet didn't really 'stick' to the plastic backing anymore, so it didn't really work properly. Having said all that, I still think it was a great toy, and worth having, but it is not without its drawbacks. I think I'd say it has a limited life span, even when well cared for.

Oh H007 that sounds scary, hope everything ok, very unmumsnetty hugs sent your way.

Omg when did the conversation turn to 3rd trimester stuff like erm labour, raspberry leaf tea and the like! Honestly I feel like am a first timer not a 3rd!!

H007 Lots of hugs - finger's crossed it's all good.

Had midwives appointment today - measuring 29 cms at 28 weeks!
Finally got referred to physio, too. GTT is normal! Yay!

voodoo totally agree, I keep thinking 'third trimester this week f*cking hell, how'd that happen!!!'

Yep! 13 weeks til due date.... Argghh! I went 2 weeks over with my other dc, so wanna reckon I'll go 2 under this time but I reckon not! I feel really restless at the moment, like cos I haven't paid for the pram etc I can't settle.... Am I losing the plot?!

Has anyone had/got twitchy or restless legs? It doesn't matter what I do but am so uncomfortable! Legs/lower back feels like I can't keep still. Have to keep moving and resettling my legs. You know when u have been for a mega long walk or something and you get into bed and as u are drifting off to sleep your leg kicks? It can feel a bit like that. Normally when I feel like this I go to bed and rest/try to sleep and it feels a little better but today nothing I do helps. Am going to scream honestly!!!

Evening all,

I can see your points with the NCT people, they did send a slightly nippy reminder to pay my fees, but as there is really no other choice as far as I can see up here but the NHS classes which were at an inconvenient time and we are totally clueless about what we are doing we went for it, although I did wonder about not doing any of it, but glad that we have as we have learned alot.

Bump, sorry to hear that you are feeling down again, I agree that you should speak to someone sooner or later and dont let that colleague get you down, or we'll all come round and help you beat her up, just think all those hormonal preggers women all sticking up for you!!!

H007, more hugs from me, hope it's good news and at least the doctor is doing something to get to the bottom of things for you.

Edinburgh ladies would have loved to meet up for the sling meet, but I can't, so count me in for the next one, will be looking forward to it :)