December 2011:Once we pop, we just can't stop

[OiMissus]

Here's the new thread!
Squee-eeze those muscles, or squee-ee-eeeze those babies out!

Mouse, you are quite right, of course. DS had Great Big Balls (and feet) . I just haven't really seen a newborn girl before, so it will be very strange for me!

I thought the point of inducing labour was that all sorts of things might start going wrong if the pregnancy goes on too long. The placenta might stop working. Also, babies are drinking and then peeing into the amniotic fluid as they go (and practising breathing it), so it's just all potentially getting a bit used up in there. It would be ghastly for something to go wrong at such a late stage, so please, please don't think of induction as the Devil's Work. It is intended to save, rather than savage, a bit like an emergency c-section. (I wouldn't elect a CS because it's surgery and could be harder to recover from, but I am really grateful it is available as a life-saver, and it's in my birth plan as a go-ahead if necessary).

Plu agree that in some cases induction is the best thing but is more often than we'd like unnecessary & if baby isn't ready to come yet can more often than not lead to a whole lot of unwanted interventions. As normal gestation is from 37-42 weeks it would seem premature to be induced at 40 weeks without expectant management in the first instance, don't you think? They can scan & monitor blood flow from the placenta to make sure it's still viable but it's not done in most trusts unless you request it or refuse induction.

I will see what they have to say tomorrow. If mini mouse on good form I think I will hold out for it to start naturally.
By next week I will probably be so hacked off that I will be looking to get things moving anyway :)
What a day, very excited for my bed now. Sleep well, don't let insomnia into your rooms tonight x

Trying to distract myself from obsessing about cramps and pains, or lack thereof. I put clary sage on a tissue and am wafting it about. I am kneeling forward over a beanbag. I am the size of a house. I am drinking hot chocolate with a peppermint stick (according to the Lancet this is a recognised labour inducement method for a December baby). Now I just need to just fucking go into fucking labour!

Ahem. Sorry.

Does anyone else get ridiculously excited when they post a recipe suggestion on a thread and MNers say "ooh that sounds delicious"? It makes me feel so good and also needy and desperate for approval

mouse hope you and mini mouse have a good night after such an eventful day

I'm not trying to upset anyone; I just felt uncomfortable going along with an idea that inductions are automatically to be resisted. As I had DS 10 days early, I don't know what the pressure to have an induction is like, nor what the situation of going overdue is like. However, I did have more intervention than I would have liked in that birth (waters broken for me, syntocin drip, episiotomy), and although the whole process was something I remember with regret and distaste, I cannot be sure that I would have progressed properly otherwise, and I guess I just had to surrender any ideals or control, as it just wasn't working, and sometimes it just doesn't work. I hope this birth will go better than the last one (it had better!), but if it doesn't, that's what's going to have happened.

I just hope no-one tenses up about interventions, to the degree that they feel sick with regret during/afterwards, as that would be very sad and unnecessary. I sometimes read posts on MN, from people who take personally their "inability to give birth naturally" or something, and feel very sorry that they have ended up feeling like that, as motherhood is about more than childbirth, and, to be honest, human bodies are not well designed (not "designed" at all, but evolved) for this sort of thing.

tinsel yes! I had someone pm me to ask for a recipe a while ago, my ego was inflated! I will be taking that induction tip I wonder if eating gingerbread works too...

hohohomouse apart from how inaccurate growth scans can be, 7lb really isn't especially small!

More work related crap for DP today...on his Christmas night out it will be, his Boss and boss' wife, his collegue and partner...and him on his own. I was not invited, he is expected to be gooseberry! I mean really! I would have enjoyed it too (meal and drinks at a very good comedy club, I could have giggled the baby out!) but now he is thinking about not going because it will be weird.

plu I just read a fascinating book which argues quite convincingly that when humans (or more correctly, Homo erectus) learned to cook, we could then extract more nutrients from food and therefore expend more energy on brains. This made us much smarter and prompted the evolution to Homo sapiens but also meant that human babies were born larger heads and the female body has been playing catch-up ever since, since in evolutionary terms this was only about 5 minutes ago.

I actually had a chat with DH this afternoon about how hard we were going to fight against the MW if I went a full 2 weeks over and they recommended induction - I want to think we will fight for monitoring in the hope of getting started naturally, but we're going to play it by ear. I'm trying really hard not to get too set on the homebirth to avoid any of that regret if we do decide to go down the induction route or other interventions. Most important to me is that DH and I are on the same page and neither of us feels uncomfortable.

Oh mrsbuggy that is awful!! What were they thinking, two couples and then him on his own!? Could there be some mistake?

I have been a long time lurker on here and sadly just missed the bus as my baby was born on 30th November! Just to offer good wishes and support for you all, even of it doesn't go as planned.

My little girl is currently on special care after being in the NICU. She swallowed and then aspirated some amniotic fluid and junk and suddenly stopped breathing 5 hrs after birth. She is getting better though.

You will be amazed what you can manage!

Like that "fourth trimester" theory (we're born premature as our heads wouldn't come out otherwise) I mentioned a while ago, but I think the evolutionary "story" I read placed more "blame" on our standing upright, and changing the shape of the pelvis, from a nice roomy one you could easily drop a cow out of, to something perhaps elegant but rather useless ! The meat-eating/-cooking business was probably in there, too, but I had just forgotten it.

Anyway, I hope things go well for everyone, and if we need inductions, that they go well, too!

msbaublestwinkle, sounds like a very misplaced concern for your well-being (or can't-be-bothered awkwardness on the organisers' part) - what a shame you haven't been invited! When is it, by the way?

Laura congratulations and welcome to your little girl - best wishes for her recovery and hope you're out of the hospital and home soon!

Laura welcome, and i hope your LO is back enjoying your cuddles again soon.
msbuggy - how incredibly rude of them!! Why would they do that??
C'mon tinsel let's get these babies moving! My curry wasn't hot enough, hope you have better luck with yourchocolate!

Im going to be induced at 39 weeks due to gestational diabetes and a big baby. For me, the risks of going over 39 weeks are much more important than the potential (but by no means guaranteed) complications of an induction. And i have to agree with plu that sometimes i feel a bit put offnby all the anti-induction stuff i hear/read on mn. I totally agree that there are cases where induction is pushed when it isnt really necessary and that if people want to avoid them thenthats their choice, but there are circumstances where they are necessary and potentially life-saving.

In any case, as far as im aware, the additional liklihood of intervention in an induction mainky comes from the increased use of epidural, thats what my consultant said. If so thatsnirrelevent for me anyway as i will be having an epidural whatever happens.

I hope that doesnt come across as too ranty! Im having a bit of a hormonal day! Foungdnout that im immune to chicken pox which is great, and means the baby will be immune for at least 7 days but its not guaranteed. DS still not showing any symptoms and the incubation period is up to 21 days so he is likely to be infectious when DD is born. So i am stressing out about having to keep them separate and DH may have to go and stay somewhere else with DS while i bring DD home on my own. Having had such a complicated pregnancy already, and having DS in scbu for 5 weeks after he was born, i just want a normal, have baby, bring her home, spend time as a family experience but the liklihood of that happening seems very small. Sorry for me me me but justbseems so unfair :(

Ps have had no more mucus plug show up but feeling very hot and sweaty tonigt even though my temp is only 36 C. Wishful thinking that its a sign of labour!

Hope you get to have the loving family togetherness that you wish for mmmm. fingers crossed! [hugs]

Congrats to Kirsty and cheep!!!

I am down with flu! Just when I thought things could not get worse! I am exhausted with the pregnancy, baby is unlikely to make an appearance given I haven't even had a BH yet!!! Plus I can't get myself out of bed coz of the cold, cough, head and body aches!
Waaaaaa!!!
I just want my pre pregnancy body back already!!!

Hope your DD doesn't need long in special care, LauraSmurf - what a nasty shock for such a wee thing!

fala did you have a flu jab?
I haven't had any BH either.
I want my body back.
Waaaaaaah! Indeed.

So after saying I was only getting BHs, it turned into labour at 6.50am this morning (1st Dec), and although I hadn't had a bloody show or waters I went into hospital at about 9am as it was too painful to stay home, was examined and was 6cm which I was gutted about (when I had got to hospital with DD I had been 9.5cm), and then spent the next three hours begging for another internal examination to check progression which was flat out refused by mw incase it caused infection... I pleaded, I begged, I tried to bargain but nope, they wouldn't budge and insisted that I would know when to push as it was my 2nd. They recommended I go in the birthing pool (with my gas and air which I had demanded upon arrival), so ended up with a waterbirth which I hadn't planned for (mucus plug and waters only went a few mins before the birth during the pushing stage), and DD2 was born at about 11.45am. Sorry for TMI but I am unsure if anyone has ever pooped as much in a birthing pool as I did .

DD2 is 7lb6oz (surprising as mw kept saying I was measuring big) and is called Hawwa (full name is Safia [after DMIL] Hawwa [Arabic for Eve]), and I was incredibly lucky and got off with only a very small graze. However Hawwa has been attempting to BF for the past 2 and a half hours and my nipples are now just clusters of blisters, I know it will be fine when my milk comes in but thats days away :(

Congrats Bee, sounds like you had an ok labour? Minus the poop & them not budging. Hope your milk comes in soon. x

Welcome & congrats Laura, hope DD is out of special care asap. x

Falala, sorry you've got flu, would like to join you in pre-pg body wishes, my best mate said today 'I'd be surprised if you ever get your arse back, that thing is WIDE'.

mmm, fingers crossed everything works out for you.

Will catch up on the thread now, bloody sick of BH!

Laura Congratulations on birth of your DD

Bee Congratulations, sounds like you had a good labour - minus the poop and stroppy MW

I'll be taking the tip of peppermint hot choc thanks. Sex & walking doesn't seem to be doing alot Raspberry leaf tea is vile, will have to have more hot curries!

Congratulations bee!!! and welcome to the world Safia Hawwa!! (how do you pronounce Hawwa?) lovely lovely lovely!
Sorry about the blisters and the poop, but otherwise it sounds like you had quite a good birth.

hohohomouse just a quick one to say hi from the small baby collective (well me anyway). Do they really think that 7lb is small as I always thought that the dc birth weight was 7.5lb? Anyway IME it's comparative sizes they look at so ensure growth is steady rather than absolute size so the second scan might give you more info. and we all come in different shapes and sizes. And anyway I'm sure they are being over cautious but a bit cross with them for worrying you. Hope you got some sleep and please try not to worry.

DMIL here for a few days so will have to wait until Mon to catch up on the rest of the news by which time we'll have had loads more babies and probably be on a new thread!

Grrr phone - meant to say average birth weight