January 2012-Close encounters of the third trimester kind.... Too much nesting not enough resting!

[fishandlilacs]

Here we go ladies. A shiney new thread.

Arghh the Icandy Strawberry and Peach Jogger release date has been put back again John Lewis don't expect delivery until the new year

And in other news I am having lots of Braxton Hicks along with cramping, going to monitor for the next hour as worrying me slightly.

DVLA give you 14 days grace (I think). DH did this two tax discs ago and was driving around with an old one for 4/5 days. If you do it online, it will be automatically registered as taxed. So in the 'unlikely' event you get pulled, the police will already see on the system that you have a disc on route. (I think!)

Try not to worry. My tax discs usually arrive within 3 days. (Also, as long as you don't 'look suspect', the police are unlikely to pull you over anyways - unless they are specifically doing a stop and check!)

31 week MW appointment tomorrow. Am I being selfish by looking forward to the lie in more? I've got Monday 7th Nov off work (6 hours Opera North supervision) and then booked Weds 24th Nov in the afternoon (3 hours Opera North supervision) as the morning is my 34 week MW appointment and being 1 hour from work, get the morning off anyways!!!

The letter went out to parents telling them of my impending maternity leave and about the new teacher. My heart started to race and sweat beads poured down my forehead as the realisation began to sunk in!!!!

maternity pads I'm going to open a pack to see what they look like. I don't think I'll mind 'wearing a nappy' around the house.

Ergh.
Whatever the throat thing is it's making me cry. I suspect it is heartburn, but pharmacist wouldn't give anything as it isn't a burning sensation. But it did go away overnight lastnight, and didn't come back until a couple of hours after eating lastnight. Am going to risk a peppermint tea and see if that helps, and then possibly hunt down a pharmacist and batter them with some form of pointy stick.
Crying has not been helped by coming down stairs and blowing the lights fuse. Fuse is in the garage, and as I'm already sobbing like a loon, I probably shouldn't be out there fiddling about (i.e. standing on a chair reaching behind a rather large, immoveable object).
Can't be arsed to wake DH as I'm obviously just being hysterical as I'm tired.
Now I have to think of something to do, in the dark, whilst I drink my tea.

oeisha they can't stop you buying some gaviscon. Just buy a small bottle of the liquid stuff and see if it does the trick. Not everybody gets a burn sensation, I have no other word for what I feel than "acidy" (though that doesn't completely describe it) and I sometimes burp up sick. Gaviscon does the trick nevertheless

Ps. With my boots vouchers I think there was a money off gaviscon one. Though I think it was the big size which I've got on prescription now anyway.

Oeisha I know exactly how you feel. I had this for 2 weeks solid about a month ago, and absolutely nothing shifted it - not not-eating, not eating, not what I ate, not Rennie, not almonds, not drinking more/less. It woke me up at night too. And one day I just woke up and it had gone, and it hasn't been back... Don't know what that was all about but I sure hope it stays away.

My two-penn'orth to the baby cosmetics debate, FWIW. For my other two I used a mix of real nappies and Pampers (real nappies for just bumming around (haha) and disposables for nights and going out for longer, just for convenience). I got some nappy liners for the real ones but they were so scratchy that I just used the nappies alone (with pants of course) and washed them on 90 deg. and they were fine. Can't get much in the way of that sort of stuff here so I couldn't try different types. I have Cotton Bottoms, which are basically just squares of layered fabrics that you fold into 3. I'm sure there are better on the market now, but I'm not splashing out any more.

On the bum I used Bepanthen (the tube with the pink stripe), which I found was amazing, neither of mine ever had any rashes or anything, and any random irritation was down within half a day with extra applied. I tried Sudocrem but couldn't get it to spread evenly so went back to BP. We still use it as ointment on scratches, grazes and irritation now. It's expensive as hell here, but I don't care. But like someone said upthread, no two babies are the same and who knows, all my theories may be blown out of the water this time...

Have to admit to using packaged wipes, purely for convenience (didn't have a problem with skin allergies so bought whatever came to hand/was cheapest), but fish your mixture sounds good and really appeals to my hippier side so I think I'll try that as well if I can get all the ingredients. Can I ask what EC is? Is it where you learn to recognise baby's signals and hold them over a toilet/sink/bowl to wee/poo instead of putting them in nappies?

For bath time camomile tea in the water (we have really hard water) but I don't remember what cosmetics. I was going to use Olive oil post-bath but the GP said she'd heard of lots of allergies, so I didn't, used some local stuff, but I want to change dr for this baby for various reasons, so may try the OO this time.

Ugh, what an epistle. Giraffe how are you this morning? hope things calmed down for you.

Morning all.

I spent all last evening coughing my guts up so much i brought up my dinner, i too ended up hysterical oiesha crying on DH for ages, then crying again when I finally went to bed. I just feel shit-going to docs today after I have been to the hospital for my vbac clinic. I have had this cough for over 2 weeks. I am supposedly having a pampered chef party tomorrow evening but I just don't see that i'm going to be well enough. It hits me really hard in the evenings. I really don't want to cancel and let everyone down but I really am not going to enjoy it. They are going to think i'm such a flake.

oh fish and oeisha lots of virtual hugs coming your way for such crappy nights.

i spent 4 hours yesterday talking with a friend who felt like suicide - my brain was totally fried by the end and i went to bed. yesterday was obviously just one of those days

Red virtual hugs for you too, sounds like you could also do with some.

Fish I have had that as well. I have a soar mouth this week so think the the antacids arn't helping and giving me thrush. I had this last time I was pregnant. Other than the soar mouth things are good and dh and I are going into town as it is his birthday today. Hope you and Oeisha are better. I would ditch the pampered chief thing now and just explain you feel to under the weather to do it. I would do it after the birth and then you will know you will be ok.

EC- as far as I can remember is elimination communication - where you don't put babies in nappies but put them on a potty and they in theory become aware of their bodily functions. In practice and this is only from what I have seen was the mother becoming more aware of what the baby was doing and catching it before an accident ( but not always). I'm afraid I will be using a mixture of cloth and disposables as I studied these ideas in the past and though it may work I can't see me wanting to wash any more clothing than I am now.

Mum2be79 I am impressed you got this far working as my daughters teachers were off sick before this and had a terrible time. I can't imagine trying to be cheerful around little ones. My 2 dd's had 2 pregnant teachers so far and they all tried so hard to help them out, sadly can't say that for all the kids hope your class are behaving nicely.

hey ladies, awful to hear about the probable heartburn oeisha, I really sympathise, and fish, get thee to a GP, hopefully they can help.

and red that can't have been fun , hope your friend can get some professional help.

Sounds like everyone's had a rough few days. oeisha fish and red sounds like you all need a day of rest today.

Braxton Hicks finally calmed down when I had a bath and then baby was doing mental movements for the rest of the evening. Going to take it easy today due to strength and frequency.

Hiya guys, thanks for your kind words. I'm so fed up its nice to hear some friendly voices as it were.

I have cancelled the pampered chef thing. I deemed it sensible, i had lots of school mums coming and would have felt pressure to do extra housework and stuff but now i'm not bothered and can rest tmrw.

Just back from the VBAC clinic. That was emotional-basically it's down to me, it was very interesting to go back through my notes. My dd was bigger at this stage that this baby but I was under the impression that this one was the biggest. Theres things in there I have totally no recollection of-apparently I was "insistent" that they attempted forceps the 2nd and 3rd time and yet I have clear memory of saying the midwife as they were prepping me to not bother with forceps and go straight to c section but was advised otherwise.

Recovery was very touch and go-I had no idea how much danger I had been in. I lost 5 pints of blood by bp and heart rate were really flakey. Scary shit.

My wound and infection were severe, I lost pints and pints of serous fluid.

The upshot of all this is that although the hospital have agreed my c section if I decide to go forward they have strongly advised me to let nature take it's course and see what happens. So the current plan is: If I go overdue there will be a c section, if labour doesn't start smoothly there will be a c section, if I don't get into established labour easily there will be a c section and if i labour for more than a few hours without progress there will be a c section. If I start naturally and alls well, stay at home for as long as possible then go in when things are close if that is the case then I may birth my son myself. All of the above depends on 2 more further growth scans and ultimately my decision depending on how brave I am.

I might be needing some advice and help on hynobirthing after all!

fish sorry you been feeling unwell, yuk for you. Sounds like you had a very informative time at the clinic. Do you feel happy with how things stand re the c-section? Was there pressure for you to 'give it a go' or do you feel you have the outcome you wanted in that the choice is there to have a section if needed? Sounds like you had a really hard time last time, do you wish you didn't know how bad it was?

oiesha hope you feel better, sounds rubbish. I have been finding myself crying and being hysterical over random things, I have been thinking a mixture of tiredness and hormones, am quite ready to have this baby now.

Hi to everyone else. All uneventful here today, had my midwife appointment this morning, she told me my ferratin was really low and I had to take the tablets as well as the floradix cos I need a high dose. Bump measured spot on for 30 weeks. Was lovely to hear baby's heartbeat and see the probe bounce up as she gave it a massive kick!

Hope you all have a good day

Fish - that clinic info sounds really good - in fact to me it sounds like the best of both worlds, because if at any point it all gets too much you can go straight to C section - how do you feel about it? And feel free to quiz me about hypnobirthing. I have my first session on Saturday next and have been reading up :)

butterfly and Nanny - yes, EC is elimination communication, where the parents/caregivers learn to recognise the signals that heir baby needs to go to the loo and can then hold them over an appropriate vessel and let them go. Obviously you put them in nappies anyway, so if you 'miss' it's not the end of the world, but it's about being aware of the baby and its needs in much the same way as you'd recognise their signals to feed or sleep. It makes so much sense to me. Do some reading online if you're interested, there are quite a few support groups around which can give further advice and so on.

Hope those of you who had crummy days are feeling better today. Anyone want a brownie? They're still a bit warm atm...

I am overjoyed as I have discovered a bus stop very near the house that goes into town! It's £3 return, so not cheap, but at least it means I can get into town once a week for the library and my bumps and babies group!

[head-desk]

does anyone else feel like work will just fall into a million pieces when they're away? Maternity leave still not sorted, technology faff today that has literally nothing to do with my current job description but somehow I'm STILL the only one who knows how to set about dealing with our (frequent) IT fail. Today I've been balancing on a swivelling desk chair poking around with the comms box and dodgy electrics - bad mummy that I am - and I don't have the faintest idea how to fix it; I'm just the only one who is prepared to approach the problem logically and systematically. ARGH!

ghost - repeat after me "It's not my problem, it's not my problem, it's not my problem..." etc. Repeat until calm.

It'll just mean they're even more pleased to see you when you come back!

makescakes I definitely want to hear about the hypnobirthing this weekend. I got the natal hypnotherapy CD's from a friend because we are far too poor to go to anything but the NHS birthing class at the hospital.

I've done the guided pregnancy relaxation a few times, and I think that it really helps me get to sleep, as I use the techniques when I'm feeling restless at night. I don't know how the actual natal hypnotherapy will work, but I thought it was worth a try, as other people on MN said it had helped them.

I'll be happy to give you all a run down when I get back, but do you have any queries in the meantime? Happy to answer if I can.

Just out of interest - are there any qualities or skills or anything that you hope your little ones will inherit? Something you or DH have, or something that neither of you do and wish you did?

I am desperately hoping my LO will be cuddly and affectionate like me, very musical like DH and don't get me started on physical attributes, but I'd rather all my LOs look more like DH than me, cos he's beeyootiful with nice long legs.

I really do hope at least one of them ends up as a musician of some sort, even only as a hobby. It's something I'm terribly jealous of.

sincerely hoping that the baby inherits DH's mesomorphic build instead of my slightly more endomorphic build! Would love it if the baby inherited his brain for science, sooooo much more useful than my arts brain. Also DH's immune system and robust physiology instead of my asthma, short sightedness and skin intolerances/flare ups.

... hang on a minute, why is DH procreating with such an inferior specimen...?

We're both physically quite confident from years of sport, so I'd love to share that with the little one, but that may be more of a nurture thing. Um. Seriously - why can't I think of anything I would like the baby to inherit from me? Seriously...

fish gosh - I'm amazed you're having another one after that experience! I'm glad it sounds more positive though, and at least it gives you options.

cakes shovel over that brownie - all I have on my desk is a satsuma and some nuts. Really not doing the job.

It's interesting to see what DD's inherited from us both - she looks really like DH but with my chin and eyes (not necessarily a good thing!), has his confidence with people, but my reserve when it comes to new things. Oh yes, she also has DH's poker straight blonde hair - I'm sort of hoping this one has my dark curls (frizz?) just to prove that there are some of my genes in there!

Gah - they're interviewing for my mat cover at the moment, in a meeting room with a glass door. I'm having to stop myself doing a commando roll past to see what the person's like! I can't even casually walk past as there's nowhere to go beyond that room. I'm rather hoping they pick as badly as they did last time - the first person was made permanent almost straight away as another post came up, but it transpired that while she was lovely she was a bit crap, the next person only lasted 2 weeks, and everyone hated the third! Just one fairly competent but essentially unlikeable person would do - I just want everyone to be pleased when I come back!

fryn, I dare you to attempt a pregnancy-commando roll past the window, that'd be properly funny . Sounds like your company had some awful experiences in the past with maternity cover and I hope they select more carefully this time! Like you say, you don't want your cover to be too good though . We've had a minor disaster with maternity cover and our first, not-especially-desirable candidate turned us down (I heard on the grapevine that his boss is gutted as they don't get along!). My boss is procrastinating with the best of them and we currently appear to be trying to get hold of someone who is retired just to see if he fancies going back to full time work for a year . Sorry, not v professional of me to post on here about this but I'm finding it all fairly stressful.

wait, I've thought of something! I have much softer skin than DH and I'm not nearly so hirsute (according to DH I'm freakishly hairless, but I'm not sure that's really the case) so I'd like the child to inherit those things from me instead of from DH.

[nods and feels better]

DD is a total mixture of me and DH, looked the spit of him as a baby, now looks like me - except with the brown frizzy curls - which must have skipped a generation.
Traits wise, she is confident and popular like DH, but same as fryn in that she is reserved around newbies to begin with. She also has my stubborn nature and impatience, but my good skin and bum! thank goodness, as DH has no bum! lol

Wonder if the 2nd DC is anything like the first... they are normally very different aren't they? DH is just glad that his Steven Gerrard print will be allowed out of the garage and into the boy's room at some point! hehe