January 2012 - Will any of us deliver before Father Christmas? The race is on!

[MakesXmasCakesWhenStressed]

Hope you don't mind the slight tweaking of the thread title :) I was feeling creative! Not that it matters, at this rate it won't last more than a week...!

Hope you're feeling better Addicted and hope everyone else is well too.

I have 2.5 weeks till due date and I'm feeling much more tired now. The baby still seems to be lying on the right (although I have solid bumps on both sides - hoping they are not transverse). It makes lying down on either side quite painful which doesn't help me sleep. Oh well!

How's everyone doing with Christmas preparations? I've got to get food for the main Christmas meal (I'm going to attempt beef Wellington) and I'd like a few small, silly presents for DH although I have his main present. It'll just be the two of us as usual this year - I like that. We've done both sets of parents and siblings already.

I'm finding doing baby prep and Christmas prep pretty tiring though!

80% is that right? That seems very high. Surely if that was right they would just offer c section over induction. My mum was induced with my sister at 38 weeks. She had a pessary, then her waters broken and she had my sister an hour and a half later. Not all inductions are terrible.

parsley people really don't understand that their "helpful" comments are completely counter productive. I have a number of friends who were induced, and none of them had c-sections, so try not to dwell on it. In fact, a number of them had very quick labours, so that's a positive!

spag and yummy you make my Raclette and 1 mince pie yesterday fade into insignificance! I feel positively virtuous now (said while stuffing face with Ferrero Rocher)

red as green says, the skin to skin and active labour are all encouraged these days, and certainly at HH - I gave birth starkers, hanging over the back of the bed and the MW was very hands off except to monitor the baby's heartbeat, at which point she was virtually lying on the bed under me, so she didn't have to ask me to move! They encouraged me to BF straight away as well. You do realise I'm now talking myself into moving there as well!

easily - half the time? Ok, that's enough time for DH to get home from work, in laws to get over to take DD and me to pack my bag (ahem)! My friend had her second in 45 mins from the first twinge, and her husband had to catch the baby while being talked through it all on the phone to the ambulance people! Really hoping it won't be that quick!

fish really stupid question, but what's the best way to use the lavender oil? I've only ever used it in a burner, and it's never crossed my mind to use it any other way!

I know someone who had a fab natural birth after induction the first time and looks like being induced this time too. She needed no pain relief or anything.

The stat you've been given is completely unfounded. In first births, where labor is induced, it can result in c-section twice as often as in spontaneous labour. EMCS rates are around 24% in the UK including inductions. But of course it's self selecting as people are often induced for a medical reason, so the whole stat is skewed. After 41 weeks induction may even decrease the chance of an EMCS. Studies vary massively by country and even by hospital though.

I just looked up the nhs maternity statistics for last year and from what I can gather 24% of inductions end in c section.

I thought it seemed a bit of a high statistic - I was just a bit cross she said it. Particularly as she'd just heard me say that I was a bit worried and then encouraged me to ask for a C section straight away. I had to explain that I didn't want a C Section either unless I had to have one..

I've also done some more research this morning and induction can still be a good experience and I can use all my hypno techniques still. Thanks for all the positive stories ladies - it's made me feel a lot more upbeat :)

red at my NHS antenatal class I was very surprised at how similar a lot of what the MW said was the same as hypnobirthing - which I found very encouraging. She said that lying on your back is the worst position, encouraged active labour and skin-to-skin for mums and dads. She also said they don't "offer" drugs - you have to ask.

fryn - any way you want to. Lavender is one of the very few oils you can use neat on the skin, so you can dab a bit on your temples, put it on your pillow or a flannel and inhale it, mix it with a plain oil (like sweet almond oil) and use it for massage, drop some in a bath - whatever you want really. Wouldn't recommend this with most other oils, mind. If in doubt, mix a drop or two into a carrier oil then add more if it doesn't smell strong enough - much safer.

Parsley - the main issue with inductions is that surges can start more strongly so women jump to wanting stronger analgesia, which means a less active birth etc etc - if you've got yourself into a really deep relaxation before they start you off there's no reason why you can't progress using hypnobirthing exactly as you wanted to originally xxx

That's what I'm thinking cakes - if I can get myself in the right frame of mind when I go in then hopefully I can breathe through most of it.

Could just do with some HBs to practise on...

Has fish posted anywhere today? Hopefully she's just busy with first day of holidays.

thanks cakes , yey, only a few hours at work to go! have another busy night but hopefully I can start relaxing tomorrow - I have a GP appt first thing followed by my massage and pedicure which was my present from work! Then we just have to, er, clean the whole house, go food shopping for christmas, prep all the food we can prepare, muster some christmas spirit, and wait for the in laws to arrive on Friday night

Am going to mention the slightly painful HB's (frequent but not regular since Saturday) to the GP (must remember not to call them Higgs-Bosons) but mostly I'm hoping that it's not a sign that I have a puny pain threshold and am whinging about something that most of the rest of you can't even feel! Generally I have a highish pain threshold, as evidenced by all the injuries I've inflicted on myself by training with chronic injury, but childbirth is of course something else entirely.

oh and cakes - 37 weeks tomorrow, wohoo us!

Ghost I have a high pain threshold and have experienced real labour contractions but still find some HBs really painful. I get loads too. Some I hardly notice and some feel like proper contractions. I was getting them every 10 minutes for a couple of hours today, had to stop what I was doing and the pain was in my back too then they just disappeared.

frilly that's exactly it - some nights they're strong enough to wake me up and make me stop what I'm doing; other days I notice them if my belly has gone hard but not from anything else. Glad to hear it's not just me! I wonder if this means ppm will be earlier than the due date, or just if I'll have 5-6 weeks worth of HBs!

We should have a little round up after we've all popped to compare our anecdotal 'symptoms' before labour started - would love to know if there's any correlation. At my last MW appt the baby wasn't even engaged so it's not like there are serious signs.

They wake me up too. I find some movements really painful too. Like he's going to burst out my skin!

I'm due the 12 Jan and was 4/5th engaged last tue and 2/5th engaged on friday

Hoping baby can hang on till after xmas

anyone else engaged yet?

Hi Lisa, does that mean 2/5 palpable on the second visit or did you go backwards? [interested]. I'm due on Jan 12th too!

Hi Lisa - I was 2/5 engaged but i've gone backwards and she has disengaged again.

Hi Ladies, just back from midwife appointment. I'm now 3/5 palpable, measuring at 39 weeks (I'm 37+3) and favourite comment from my midwife "Wow! That ain't no six pounder!"

Hi

2/5 palpable, my friend is also due 12/01 and shes not engaged at all. Although reading up on being engaged doesnt seem to give you much of a clue how long you've got left.

I've had period like pains but thats it so hoping babys not coming too early, i'll be happy once xmas is out the way

We saw the consultant today and baby is no longer breech. No concern about size now and we got the impression that the fact that im walking their not concerned at all about the pgp. So as far as their concerned its a normal pregnancy.
Baby however is not engaged so things could change.
They want me back to the hospital next week for a sweep as they would prefer that they done it at 39+4 rather than the community mw doin the sweep at 40+4.

I had got myself mentally prepared to be told baby was still breech and would be a section. So im abit relieved that its not now, but, then worried about the idea of a vbirth with my pelvis being so sore.

You'll be fine sho! Just be careful not to over extend at any point (no stirrups or having other people move your limbs) - I suspect you'll be distracted by the other type of pain anyway!

Ppm is having a quiet day today! C'mon little one, wiggle a bit more!!!

And also EEK next week!!!!

Errr, sorry about the many exclamation marks; I'm a bit excited about finishing work you see

Hurray for finishing work ghost!

And Sho great news about not being breech! :)

haha and so you should ghost, enjoy your mat leave!

Think im just a bit disappointed in myself. How did I not know that baby had moved? The movement pattern has been consistent which was why I insisted they check again as mw was sure it was head down.
Also, because I was sure baby was breech we had been preparing ourselves that baby would be here before 40w (01/01/12), so now we're back to the reality that baby will be here any time in the next 3+half weeks. Which seems an eternity right now!
Given that dd was born at 41+1 the chance that baby will late is likely.

Lisa I've had period like pains too, I'm due on the 8th. I've had them for a while just niggling in the background. I don't want the baby to arrive before the 4th - I want a bit of a break from Christmas.