DECEMBER 2011 the final countdown (in honour of OI)

[kri5ty]

Sorry for the new thread and crap name but i needed to start one oi how are you doing good luck xxx

I have fallen off the face of MN for a week or so and have loadsss to catch up on! I have been busy doing coursework and seriously nesting!!

PGP is awful, to the point of making me cry, finally got a pyshio app, but not for another 2 weeks :( doesnt seem much point. OH continues not to even attempt a massage if i ask and rolls his eyes.

Been having really bad shooting pains that take my breath away, but seems as though baby is head down (and very low) im guessing its a nerve he is on.

Very strange and TMI... but earlier (when i went to the toilet) i could feel what felt like the head bulging on the outside, through my lady garden lol... freaked me out!!

Good luck oi !! Fingers crossed

tye glad you took the sick advice!!

Lala Drink some gaviscon or ask the doctor for some tablets - i'm on Omeprazole and works a treat :)

Feeling fine today thanks Darcies the ankles are swelling up again now so by time get home from work will be immense again!! I think maybe forgetting to take my preg vits 3 times last week didnt help eyesite fine again too so not sure what was going on yesterday.

Massive sugar highs are how i am getting through the remaining few weeks will worry about the weight afterwards!!

so hungry but I don't know what I want to eat!

Lala I was prescribed ranitidine because the gaviscon stopped working - would be willing to go up against darcies omeprazole any day

Darcies - I just had the rest of last night's aloo gobi with cucumber raita and hot lime pickle, and fried up a paratha from the freezer. Now to wash down my RLT tablets with some ice cream, will epi-no while DH is out coaching rugby and then saunter into town to get some exercise and reward myself with the first peppermint hot chocolate of the year. If I reach 8cm like yesterday I deserve it!!

I'll have pasta, salami, & cheddar cheese for tea tonight with DD. Peppermint hot chocolate sounds yummy - might have to invest in some.

Quickie question (again!); Squatter is hiccupping atm, I can only feel it deep down in my lady bits & my bump is hardly moving when he/she hiccups; does it sound likely that he/she is head down & engaged?
I've not been able to tell what is kicking/moving where the past few days & v. worried about it still being breech at MW's apt on friday.

Darices, thanks for the help/advice re. card making.
Tyel, you've got me craving aloo gobi now, mmmmm. Off to make some marmite on toast

AWCH not sure about where you'd feel babys hiccups if baby was breech. I know my baby is head down and when gets hiccups is right in my ladybits!

Any more questions re cardmaking i'm always available for tips etc. :)

lala I'm on remegel (chewy mint ones much better than gaviscon for me!)
They are £3 for a four-packet pack in sainsburys but compared to a bottle of wine (that I would be buying if not pg), that's not too bad!

When babies hiccup their whole body jumps so it doesn't matter whIch way up they are! And for those who like a little detail, the smaller the baby the higher pitched the hiccup! When I worked in SCBU a few years ago the tiny hics were very very sweet!

That's it... I am going to make my own Remegel & Gaviscon cocktail for tonight and then get the dr at my appointment (next week) to prescribe me Omeprazole or Ranitidine. And I don't care what it costs... coz I am at a stage where I'd £30... let along £3 for the ability to lie down and sleep without waking up with buring in my chest and throat!!!

As for work... bascially I have worked out it sucks! I really don't want to be in the office feeling like this. I want to be at home, snuggled in my bed, with someone waiting on my hand and foot. Really is that too much to ask???

Mmmm glad things okay. Hope the pains ease up though - it sounds pretty miserable.

Still on a miserable 5cm with Epi-no but guess I should remember it's only day 3. Will aim for 7 by the weekend (which is better than nothing). Poss TMI but I find it impossible to keep the thing in - it just pushes it's way out the minute I try to inflate. Have tried all diff positions and just try to hold it in but it always seems to be mostly pushed out by 10 mins even with that. Phew ....I find it hard work...

oh lala you've just taken the words right out of my mouth!

i'm sitting at my desk completely exhausted putting through stupid changes that someone else could much more easily do but just becuase they are more senior to me and are lazy too busy they are trying to get me to do which inevitably isn't what they want becuase i'm not frigging psychic!

plus trying to get everything 'finished off' before i leave the office next week which is just such a ridiculous idea i can't even begin to explain

I haven't felt hiccups for ages now that I think about it - plenty of tectonic heaves and stretches though, not that that's any help awch.

I have a question regarding slings/baby carriers. MIL has given us a manly black Wilkinet which looks pretty great and has long straps to fit DH. The family who lent us their moses basket threw in a babybjorn as well but I'm a bit dubious, it seems to have a lot of mysterious buckles and snaps and isn't very intuitive. Neither of them seems like the kind of carrier which might be conducive to the holy grail of hands free breastfeeding.

Anyway another generous card arrived today from my law school class/trainee intake at work so we now have a £70 cheque and £100 in John Lewis vouchers to spend!! I've been instructed to use the money for "something nice" that I can show off to them so have been considering getting a stretchy wrap or a ring sling...we don't need either of them I'm sure but if I have this cash I feel I ought to be able to show the generous givers at least one biggish thing that their money bought instead of frittering it away on little things.

I had a lurk on the Natural Mamas website and was paralysed by choice - there seem to be ten bazillion kinds of stretchy and woven wrap slings alone. No idea which ones could be used for breastfeeding. Baby likely to be on the chunky side when born but don't know if that makes any difference...

Any advice, experienced ones, before I dip my toe into the slings forum here on MN?

I only really feel the hiccups (hiccoughs?) down in the lady regions where it's head is - so I hopefully your baby isn't breech anymore.

I read some research on perineal massage where the conclusion was that there was no difference in the state of the pernium for 2nd time mums. For first time mums it slightly reduced the need for an episotomy but no difference regarding tears. However, what was interesting was that p massage worked better for people who did the massage 1 or 2 times a week that those who did it more regularly.

So like many other things associated with having a baby... it could just be down to luck!

... hope I am lucky

bluebells the epi-no pushes out for me too and I have to hold it extremely firmly to get it to stay put. The way I have found best is to sit on the edge of the sofa so I am holding it up into my body iyswim. Semi-reclined it was just like that scene from the South Park movie with the ping pong balls. I've been listening to 10 min or so of the hypnobirthing CD first to relax everything - making sure my jaw and face are really relaxed, doing the hypno breathing and when I get up into the 7-8cm range, doing horse lips to make sure I'm still breathing and my lips are relaxed - and then keeping an eye on the itunes time left on the track to time how long it's in there.

I find it really hard work too and pretty uncomfortable - but I figure it's one less thing to be apprehensive about now I know how it feels to have a baby sized balloon up there for 10 min, and if it helps with tearing then so much the better. I figure when I'm in labour I can just keep thinking - it still doesn't feel as big as the epi-no...so I know I can keep going...

Sorry to those feeling crap and suffering from heartburn. DH used to suffer from terrible heartburn when he smoked and found that taking milk thistle tablets made a huge difference. I don't know if they're safe in pregnancy but might be worth a look if anyone wants a more natural approach than prescription meds.

lala interesting about perinial massage making no difference for 2nd timers. I think I'll carry on anyway as DS was so small, just in case!

Does anyone have any advice on the best thing I can do to prepare for BFing? I was going to pop into the local BFing group at the surestart centre earlier but it looked so uninviting I didn't even bother going in.

Lala Hope your doc can prescribe you something to ease your heartburn hell :)

tyel no idea how it'll feel with LO in it but I bought a good as new moby wrap on ebay for £12 & DP & I are both very happy with it...we tried it last night with a cushion in it & it was very comfy

bluebells I'm semi-reclined when I use the epi-no but have to hold it in very firmly & I have a mirror positioned so I can keep an eye on it to make sure it's not pushed out too much. Interestingly I've found I can blow it up more right after a bath which makes me glad I've invested in a birthing pool :)

lala I get Gaviscon Advance prescribed by the GP, if you call your MW she can probably get the GP to prescribe something before your appt next week, I didn't see my GP for the prescription.

Had a phone call from the Health Visitor regarding the ante-natal visit, wanted to come on 1st dec but did make her aware of the possibility that baby will prob be early. So is now coming between 3&4pm tomorrow. Has anyone met their health visitor yet? What happened at the visit as its all changed since DD was born back then it was a post natal visit.

My lycra bits and I require no stretching.

:o

Can't we just squirt some WD40 up there (or extra virgin olive oil) at the crucial moment, and watch the baby slide out?

Oi wouldn't that be the ideal thing lol

Tyel and Honey, I have a moby wrap too. I didn't use a sling with ds but liked the idea this time around. Watching the youtube videos of how to tie it made it seem easier, although I'm sure it will be easier when the bump goes down a bit. I like your cushion idea Honey - we tried it with a teddy bear! If you're not sure which type to go for Tyel, there is a slings topic here on MN with lots of advice and links to www.slingmeet.co.uk/ to see if there is a slingmeet near you, where you could go to try on different types to see what suits you.

I'm 36+6 today, am seeing the midwife tomorrow. Baby has been engaged since 32 weeks, but other than what feel like almost constant BH, think he's staying put for a while yet.

I'm another one with heartburn. I've discovered that it is better for me if I swap round my meals - having a larger lunch, and a tiny dinner at about 5 pm. It does mean that I don't get to eat dinner with DH, but the upside is I don't wake up in the middle of the night (well, not with heartburn anyway - the spd wakes me each time I try to turn over)

Have a good, relaxing evening everyone

Thanks (again!) for all the advice/comments regarding hiccups & lady areas! Feeling more positive that Squatter is the right way, fingers crossed for Friday (and MW apt)!

tyel, I can't advise on baby slings, but we've got a 2nd hand Babybjorn classic sling & it's comfortable/holds a full sized Tigger cuddly toy well

Oi, great idea...I'm not going to bother pushing, just going to put the Dyson on & test the suction

awch having turned this baby, the hiccups have gone from being in the middle of bump when breech to very low now she is head down! Sounds like yours has turned too.

We have just got in, such a busy but fun day! We played outside at the adventure centre with Home ed group until 2, then made paper mâché dragon eggs at a friend's house this afternoon. We are all knackered now, I am really looking forward to the DDs going to sleep!

I've never done perenial massage...have had second degree tears that didn't need stitching both times, but both DDs were posterior, DD2 was brow presentation. Neither tear was that bad really, felt normal a week later and (TMI moment!) I just have a small ridge of scar tissue that DP didn't notice until I pointed it out.