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!!

Oi so glad to here you're doing well...sounds like gingerbaby was just giving you a bit of a halloween scare :) I'm going to try beat you to the finish now!

cheep meant to ask how far along you are...assumed you were due but if you think it might be premature labour then obviously best to leave your cervix alone.

Just adding about internals, there isn't any need to worry about them hurting, they don't at all. The reason I refuse them is that they don't give much extra information (my labours don't progress according to the way they 'should') and I have ishoos around being touched by midwives from my first birth. I'd have one if there was something untoward happening, but I won't have the routine every four hours ones.

Have to say about internals, surely it's personal as to whether or not they hurt? I find smears excruciating even when they use the smallest speculum (usually reserved for virgins ) I have tried every relaxation method but I basically just clamp shut (TMI - sorry) if a stranger attempts to go downstairs. I've been known to throw up &/or faint during internals...obviously I'm an extreme case but I know plenty of people who've found internals during labour painful & they're generally unnecessary/pointless as women dilate at different rates.

Ok so i did what mw told me to do. I took painkillers and went to bed and rested and sleeped. DH stayed home from work and has sat around all day waiting for the pains to get worse or stop.

Most of the day they just staied the same 5 min apart, mild but noticable, no change.

But now i have had no pain for the last 30 mins. I still feel crap and i have just had a pain in baby bump

I will be 36 weeks on monday but baby measuring a week ahead and my son was born at 38 weeks. It will be better if baby Hope stays put for a week or two longer but i have lost the mucus plug and she is fully engaged and i have had pains on and off for a week now.

I will leave my cervix alone - just thou it would be easier for me to do it than try to get a mw out to check it

I have pain in my cervix, top of my thights, my hips and round the back of my hips and the middle/bottom of my bump.

I'm fed up with all the false starts

We are going to see if the pains come back tonight and if so make the trip to the hospital but i dont want to be kept in as i have son to look after! DH thinks they will come back worse when the painkillers wear off and that it will not be long til baby Hope is here

Hope your bodies start to behave a bit better, OiMissus and cheeptrick!

cheep sounds like you could well beat oimissus to it.

I have nothing against internals but I don't want to have them when they aren't necessary. My labour was quite fast with DS (5 hours from the start of established labour) so I'm not bothered about knowing how I'm progressing.

msbuggy, thanks for the link...shall be upside down for DH when he returns from work!

Good luck cheep, hope you either feel better or Hope makes an appearance soon!

Honey, sorry your iron levels are so low! I don't know how (I've fallen back into old eating habits, still gaining weight but really only eating once or twice a day) but my iron, wee & blood pressure are staying in the normal zone?!
You sound very relaxed considering the nightmare you've had today with MW!!

good to hear you and bump are ok Oi. Does codeine stop contractions then?

Hope the pain subsides Cheep

What are these false starts about? Is it the body's way of preparing? It doesn't seem very efficient of mother nature to tire the mum out for days/weeks and then start the full blown stuff.

Good to hear your news Oi. Hope you get released soon!

Thanks AWCH DD definitely seems to be back to normal today. She's also gone from one extreme to the other on the fruit eating today too so (sorry if TMI!) there's now no stopping her in the poo department!

AWCHI think it's the hypnobirthing...I guess the nightly Rainbow Relaxation has had an effect on me even if I'm sleeping through it because I'm usually a bit stressy but I'm not worried at all; apart from feeling battered & bruised from the kicking I've been getting I feel fine & I trust my body to let me know if something's wrong. Anyway, she called back & rearranged my appt for next Wed; looks like she was panicking unnecessarily about my platelets not that I was worried but she implied I was on the verge of bleeding to death from a paper cut & the even better news is they only want my iron to be +10 to recommend a home birth & as it's up from 9.5 to 9.8 I think that's doable with the increased dose...I'm having a home birth either way but it'd be nice to have them on side.

Evening all!

Visited midwife today - yet another new one, sigh. She also seems to be of the shouty school. Honestly, if I hadn't been to NCT classes/ mumsnet i would have been clueless with the lack of interest or info my midwives have given me. She told me off for not eating enough iron and not relaxing when she roughly prodded the bump

On a more exciting note, little dude is apparently pointing the right way and head is one fifth engaged, woo!

Oi so glad to hear you're feeling better

cheep hope all is well, thinking of you

plu you made me laugh with your forceps/ salad forks post! Reassured about internals tho

The doc has just been - he promises to see me first thing tomorrow, and as long as baby behaves, I can go home! He also said that if the baby arrived first, that'd be ok too.
I don't think that codeine stops contractions. It probably just helps to relax...?

Hey Ladies,
I've been treated to a meal out tonight and had a lovely bath run for me when we got home.

Cheep Hope either the pain stops for you.

Oi Hopefully you'll be home soon.

Yay OI!! Hope u get to go home if nothing occurs in the meantime! I looked out for u on the antenatal ward last night but didn't see u!
Hope ur feeling ok.

Codeine is the mutts nuts when you get it in the 30s from hospital/doctor:o The co-codamol you can get over the counter from the pharmacist is 8mg codeine to 500mg paracetamol, and the dose is 1-2 tablets every four to six hours, no more than four doses in a 24 hour period. Not that I have been on and off codeine most of my adult life or anything. The over the counter stuff doesn't tend to work very well for me when it comes to serious pain, but it is very very handy at taking the edges off things which can make them more bearable, and when combined with ibuprofen (not when pregnant obviously) working in a staggered relief system can do some good.

Been a long week this week. I think we all deserve a relaxed weekend.

To that end, I hope Oi and cheep have sudden case of lackofcontrationitis, that kri5ty gets either a massage or at least some calm time and that the rest of us get sleep, rest and varying amounts of turned babies, snuggles and chocolate in the required doses.

I'm off to get up close and personal with my bed, as it has been calling me since I got in an hour ago. Night folks:)

My "Friday-night-in-hospital-entertainment" was reading this thread. See, told you I was feeling better!
So where to start...cheep looks like you'll definitely beat me, but i hope you'll have an easier time of it from now. It is all very exhausting! It is almost as bad for the DHs. Stuart has spent a couple of nights with no food and no sleep, having to sit on uncomfy hard chairs. They do not get looked after. DH has been great though. Really supportive. Only once did he whinge about how tired he was, I nodded and said, "it's hard work, Isn't it?" and he then realised that actually he had the easier job - even though I do get the bed.
mmm glad the scan went well.
Kristy your DP needs a kick. We should get together with Becs and her DH. Stu can relate his experience and maybe that'll make your chap realise he has serious responsibilities.
figgy WTF, a snake?! Sympathy for having a DH who is lacking in the driving dept. Isn't it frustrating when they aren't "alpha" at everything?
Re: birthplans - mine will be simple. All the midwives here seem to believe in BF and lots of skin to skin, as well as intervening as little as possible. And they have all been amazing - especially on the delivery suite, this experience has given me complete faith in a hospital birth.
plu re driving. Doc says I must have a week if rest before going back to work. But she said no to my 45min-1hr drive to work. That was not acceptable. I must work from home or stop.
And finally, awch Apollo. I was always madly in love with Dolph Lundgren, what was his rocky character called?!

OiMissus, glad your MW is putting her foot down about driving. We had this conversation with kri5ty about the vertigo, and it really stuck with me as a worry. What if...?

Your DH sounds a real star. How were his colleagues about his non-paternity "leave"? Will he take a full complement again when it really is time?

Oi Good to see your feeling better and DH is being supportive. Let's hope tonight is your last night in hospital. Also good that your MW is putting her foot down about work & driving.

Nowt all on TV tonight :( but sure I'll be asleep soon lol x

Great news that you could be home tomorrow oi, when were you planning to start maternity leave? Glad that your DH is being so supportive and got to stay there with you. When I stayed in before DS was born they made DH leave when I was in early labour as I was on the antenatal ward not in the delivery suite. He didn't dare go home (we're nearly an hour from hospital) and spent the night asleep in the car bless him!

Is it a bad sign that my mum seems more excited about this baby arriving than I am? Every time I speak to her she says "ooh not long to go now". I'm hoping it's just the hypnobirthing keeping me calm, and it's not a sign that she'll want to come round all the time when the baby arrives. I'll have to find some confidence and tell her to bugger off that we need time to adjust and bond.

Anyone have any exciting plans for the weekend?

I am discharged! I think they want to do a final monitoring before I leave, and then that's it.
I've asked DH to bring two sets of flowers and chocs for the ward and the delivery suite. (half thanks and half bribe for when I come back in a few weeks )
Can't wait to get home and have a bath or shower and wash my hair properly!

Morning! Hope everyone is hanging in there, I survived my long Friday, only 3 more of them to go...

I've got a quiet day planned today, though the house is screaming at me to do some organising/tidying. May stick my fingers in my ears and take the DDs shopping for party presents instead (be warned, when they hit 4-6 the party invite circuit goes mental!)

Brilliant news oi, make sure you continue to take it easy when you get home though.

seven Definitely go with the backbone now. It's easier to tell folk to bugger off before your hormones do an utter meltdown than after >_< She might just be excited, but if you set out wishes and boundaries now there can be no 'confusion' later:)

Oi Rock and stroll, hope you enjoy that shower:)

aethel I'm pondering poking the housework too, am just concerned that it might poke back!

Morning all

I had sleep lots of it - it was fab - contractions stoped but got sharp pains in cervix and lost more gunk but feeling better and more optermistic today.

OI glad you get to go home and all is good - our DH sounds great, its half the battle when you can really rely on our DH for support. With my last birth my DH sleeped thru most of it and stayed out of the way the rest of the time but he is a great dad and does all the worrying and planning, so he is useful

Hope everyone has a good weekend. I was planning on taking Air to a firework display but he will have to go with his gp's instead. Will try to take it easy for a bit.

Housework sch mouse work - so let the mice do it!

Have a nice weekend, all. I hope the fireworks don't keep you all awake. There was a little bit of popping here last night, but it wasn't too bad. DS has made a firework out of pins in my pin-cushion, so I'll put that on my profile today, in honour of Bonfire Night!