We will BROOK NO ARGUMENT on having serene, pain free, uncomplicated pregnancies and sneeze births! Vol 8

[ScreamIfYouWantToGoFaster]

Hello ladies! I can't wait to see how many No Brooking babies arrive during the course of this thread!! Do you realise we have now filled SEVEN threads (and that's just the graduates!) That's 7000 posts and counting!

Let's all get settled in for some serious No Brooking, we have a lot of painless sneeze births to get through over the next couple of weeks!

too - get one of the mw to check the latch for you I reckon. Do make sure you use them while you're there.

Hi too and biscuits

Definitely buzz the mw for some reassurance too and hopefully they'll be able to check a few basic things. If there is no bf advisor in hosp then you could get one privately when you are home finding one here. Plus there is the nct and la leche league helplines to try. Hmm not sure that is even answering your question. Think what biscuits said is right so hang on in there. My milk came in around day 4 (she says struggling to remember....) But it was tricky until that happened. Watch out for the notorious day 3 where your hormones are all over the place although mine still are

dream glad all is ok and sorry you had a fright. These boys seem to like to test us...

Ooh hello pomme how are tricks? Give Annie a snuggle tom the brookers.

And yes pomme I'm gnaw my own arm off hungry all the time too. Operation dechubb isn't going anything as I 'need' lots of chocolate and cake.....

I know I'm not a Mum yet but can I join the night shift too? This wretched migraine isn't going anywhere, which is making sleep pretty elusive.

I hope Maia settles down soon and lets you get some sleep Too. In fact if all the mini No Brookers could let their Mums get a little sleep right about now that would be great!

Still No Brooking for Purple! I'm hoping she had a sneeze birth right after the sweep and is now snuggled up with her gorgeous LO but unable to update us because of lack of signal in the hospital.

There continues to be the occasional
muted movement over here, but nothing yet to make me breathe a sigh of relief. I may well go in for a little monitoring in the morning even tho I bet it'll be like the GP's office and I'll feel fine as soon as I arrive!

Hi scream was hoping you'd pop on to say that you were being kept up by the wriggles. Please do go in tomorrow to get checked if you can. The extra worry won't be helping your head at all.

I would also like to be an honoury night shifter along with Scream- still suffering from lots of pregnancy insomnia...

Scream, definitely go in for the monitoring. Even if just going there kicks off LO's movements in a sods law type way!

Dream, glad the monitoring has reassured you.

Biscuits, hoping for some sunshine for you, and that the touch of jaundice disappears quickly!

Too, hope you managed to get some reassurance from a midwife. That's what they're there for after all!

Hope all's going well with Abbie and Farley, Pomme and Hawthers!

Oh, and brooking madly for Purple! Exciting things afoot!

I know I'm a bit late but just wanted to say a massive congratulations to Too, Mr Too and Maia. So pleased to hear that all went perfectly. And yet another beautiful name - us Brookers have got good name taste, that's for sure!!

go purple go !!!
Just in case she is in hospital but baby being slower to arrive than Ethan!!

too hope a mw came and helped you. It definitely felt better once milk came in and I agree, beware day 3 hormones!!!

scream t2 did actually move more than he had all day on the ctg, I'm still so glad I went. Dreamt my waters broke today though, v realistic dream, I've freaked myself out a bit, how ridiculous!!!

Isla woke up.n couldn't get back to sleep last night, so i feel I'm.kind of joining in with the new mummy crowd

Hello biscuits, I didn't offend you did I? How's feeding going for you so far?

No offence whatsoever Dream you dafty . To be fair, since I was 4cm when I got to the hospital it was probably a moot point as to whether I could have had a CS, after all that thinking and deliberating!

I'm also being wary of the day 3 hormones. I mentioned to DH that day 3 was the day the baby blues sometimes hit. His response? Oh, I'm a bit tired, but I feel ok . Errrr, I think they mean me more than you sweetie.......

Struggling to get E to feed a bit overnight and this morning because he's so sleepy - he fed at 2am well, but then we tried again at 6ish because he was a bit sick, and woke up, but he just fell straight back to sleep and we couldn't get him to feed. I've just woken him up again but there doesn't seem to be much demand for this demand feeding!

Hope everyone is well, especially Purple xx

Wish I'd checked on here in the night, I've also been awake since 3am. For some unexplained reason DS woke up and didn't go back to sleep until 6. 3 hours of listening to him singing and shouting that he's awake, wants a drink, wants a wee, wants a tissue, wants medicine and I was at breaking point. I've got awful rib pain from all the coughing, my nose is blocked and I've already had a major tantrum at DH for not showing any sympathy.

Scream I hope things are all ok with you this morning?

Lovely to hear that all of our arrivals are doing so well. Too definitely make the most of any BF help you can get while in hospital, it does take a while to get the hang of latching on.

I wonder when we'll hear from Purple

Biscuits - with dd1 I got MAJOR day 3 hormones and the PILS were at our house being a bit crap and it was awful, awful, awful. This time I was okay but on day 3 dh was moody and difficult. I do think I gave them to him this time. :)

Just keep trying with the waking and feeding, it's so difficult isn't it? Have you got him stripped down to vest and nappy?

Brooking for sleep for dream and scarlet before babies arrive!

Also brooking for purple. Something must be happening, how exciting!

Here dh is building the most enormous wendy house in the garden with dd1 and I am doing our little companies' books with Abbie asleep beside me. Still feeling okay, wondering when the no sleep crash is going to appear.

DD1 doing okay but gets jealous when I am bf and just wants cuddles. She is watching too much telly and eating too much cake/chocolate but I guess it won't damage her for a few weeks right?!

Pomme i'm sure telly and choc is fine until it all settles into more of a routine and dd gets used to it. Just give her the cuddles when you can I guess?
I remember day 3 hormones very well. I got very upset as we had so many problems bf. I will not get stressed this time! I hope you all sail through it without issue.
Not as snotty today but still chesty, hope it goes soon.
Hope purple is doing well and enjoying snuggles. Will check in later for any news.

Morning all!

Oooooo still no Purple! Go Purple! Go Purple!

I eventually dozed off some time after 4, woke again around 7, then dozed some more until 9 when my head pretty much exploded and it became impossible to sleep anymore. I had forgotten these fun-filled migraines from the first tri!

The LO is still super quiet. I counted movements for the first hour after getting up and got to maybe 3, although I'm not sure if some of that "movement" was just me moving around and therefore jiggling her around. The movements are just so soft it's like being 18 weeks again and all "was that a kick? Or wind?".

I've just eaten breakfast and I'm tracking for another hour (so far nothing) but to be honest unless she does a tango in the next 40 mins I'm planning to head into hospital for monitoring. I think it'll prob be absolutely nothing, but I'd rather KNOW.

To be honest I'm less concerned by the number of kicks in a particular hour, and more worried by the fact that I haven't had a single STRONG movement all weekend. Usually the movements are really sharp and occasionally there's a painful boot in the ribs. Everything is just so muted at the moment.

Gah! All these new (again) Mums and gorgeous little babies and I'm being self-obsessed again! Very sorry. Lack of sleep sucks, and I'm No Brooking for all the newborns to get the hang of sleeping all night very quickly! (After drinking an appropriate amount of milk first! Yes little Ethan, I'm looking at you!)

I hope Too was able to settle Maia last night. Also, poor Scarlet! No Brooking for you and your DS to be back to normal asap! Biscuits I did on reading your DH's response to Day 3, good to know giving birth hasn't affected him too much!

Dream how are the symptoms today? Feeling any better? Ooooo and Musical how is the house buying going?!

Sorry I'm on my phone (can't use the laptop at the mo) so I can't remember who else I wanted to speak to! Sorry! Hope you're all having good weekends tho!

Gosh I'm so sorry to hear about all these disturbed nights of sleep - that won't do at all.

Scream I think you'd be doing exactly the right thing to get checked out and I hope you're being monitored as I type. Naturally being a brooker, you'll be getting loads of kicks as soon as you're monitored .

Other classic quotes from my DH - no. 3845: While trying to get up off a bean bag yesterday 'Ow, I did loads of squats at the gym on Thursday and my legs really ache now' . To give him credit he did realise half way through what he was saying.....

Scarlet sorry you have had a bad night too - is your DH around today? Any chance of sneaking a nap later?

Come on Purple - you can do it my lovely

Well DH has taken DS to buy a loaf of bread, E is asleep, so I'm just watching tv! . this '2 children' malarky is easy . Naturally I'll be revisiting this idea at some later point. Like maybe when I'm looking after them both on my own

Oh, and with the feeding thing he did have a better go after my post this morning (I think it was the look Scream gave him ). We are trying stripping him down and it does help. He's not weeing much, but then they take in so little liquid until the milk comes in I don't see where he'd get much to wee out?

Can I slightly go off topic to ask about newborn poos? He seems to have got all his Meconium out, but nothing since then. My brain says with only a tiny bit of stuff going in, there might not be much (anything?) to poo out, but is that right or should we be getting some poos do you think? I know they change colour and stuff as you go along, but I don't think he's pooed since Friday evening?

Sorry to bore you all with my poo questions.....

biscuits - think we had a couple of poos inbetween meconium and proper bf pops when milk came in. I definitely remember a dark brown changing one. Abbie didn't pass meconium until 15 hours post birth though.

hawthers - glad I'm not the only one failing operation dechub (love that phrase!). Imagine how hungry dream is going to be feeding two babies!!

Also scream - a while ago you mentioned wipes that were just water. What were they called again? Thinking will work for out and about with dd2 as cannot remember how I did cotton wool out and about with dd1!!

Still no sign of Purple? I'm No Brooking that no news is good news!

Pomme these are the wipes I was talking about. They're called Water Wipes. I've bought just a few packs to get me through the first month, and then I imagine I'll move over to the sensitive version of one of the more accessible brands. I bought mine from Amazon but they seem to be out-of-stock on Amazon at moment unfortunately. Hopefully there are other places to order them!

Biscuits yay for being a natural Mum-of-2! Clearly it's all too easy for you, just taking it in your stride Glad little E is settling in so well and starting to feed more. How are you feeling?

Mr Scream and I did go to the hospital for monitoring in the end. The good news is they did all their checks on blood pressure etc, and that was all fine. The trace of the baby's heartbeat was also perfectly normal so they were happy with that. However in the whole time I was at the hospital, and since, I've had barely any movements at all. So they suggested coming back for more monitoring tomorrow if I don't get any more movements before then. I'm a bit reluctant though because it was hugely painful getting to the hospital and lying still on the stiff trolley while the monitoring was being done. If all they're doing is tracking the heartbeat I might just ask my imw to come round to my house tomorrow and do it at home.

My only real concern is that I guess I don't understand exactly what reduced foetal movement indicates, i.e. if reduced foetal movement is just a risk factor for an abnormal heart rate, then I'm totally reassured by the trace. However if the foetal movement is a risk factor for something other than the heart rate, then what is the point of them repeatedly checking the heart - which seems fine - when there could be a different problem?! I guess I was just expecting them to do a quick scan or something, and then say that actually there's plenty of movement happening but I can't feel it so much any more because of XYZ.

It's what they do though, it's their job and I just have to trust they've covered all the bases. If the only thing they care about is the heart rate, and not reduced movements, I wouldn't have bothered going in because my doppler already confirmed that the heart rate is fine. Maybe this is all part of the baby getting bigger and having less space to move around, I just wish it hadn't happened so suddenly! I had ten times more movement as recently as Friday!

Scream, I'm sure others will be along with more knowledge, but I got the idea when I went for my monitoring that they use the heart rate to check for movements by looking for peaks and variations in the heart rate. So they get a base line, and if they see peaks from that, then that suggests the baby is moving around, as moving would increase its heart rate. Also I imagine that dips in the heart rate might suggest a problem but I don't know what?

Also I always found when I was being monitored that I could hear movements that I couldn't feel iyswim - did you get that at all?

I'm not feeling too bad thanks for asking - obv a bit sore around the undercarriage and nature seems to be drip feeding me various sore muscles one or two at a time each day, so I'll suddenly find my legs ache, or a shoulder or whatever but I think it's just everything healing up.

But the after pains haven't been as bad today. I think there's proper milk now but haven't had mega sore boobs yet. Oh and the mw said my uterus is shrinking back ok

Glad you're healing well Biscuits despite the sore muscles. It must be great that you can still play with DS1 as usual rather than the cs recovery you were worried about! It's great that your milk has come in without the dreaded engorgement stage as well! Within a week you'll be totally healed and breastfeeding E like a pro!

As for the heart rate trace, they do monitor accelerations from the base line, but not as an indication of movement, that's simply the ideal heart rate pattern they're expecting to see at this stage. Regular accelerations and few if any decelerations. From using my doppler at home I've also found that the extra background sounds I hear along with the baby's heartbeat are almost always the doppler itself moving on my skin, even the slightest movement such as me breathing seems to create a tiny amount of friction on the doppler which sounds like background noise. Sadly there was nothing in my trip today to indicate that the baby is secretly moving more than I can feel. She's still in the same position she's always in. The only thing that could have shown hidden movement would be a scan, and they didn't suggest that. They just seemed focused purely on the normal heartbeat and not concerned with level of movement. It makes me think that maybe I should just do a daily heartbeat check with my doppler at home and not bother tracking movement at all any more, if the docs don't really care about it. I'll ask my mw about it.

Ah, Scream maybe the fact that I could hear the 'missing' movements was related to me having so few as 'normal' - there must have been more going on in there than I could feel. I think it sounds tres wise though to ask your IMW though.

Oh, and I'm under no illusion that we are in a honeymoon stage . But every day that we get through without ageing drastically must be a good thing right? I'm not sure I've missed the engorgement stage, but the fact I have to feed him every three hours to help with the jaundice should work in my favour . The norkages are a bit more sore this evening though so we'll see how they are overnight.

I also have rib pain this evening - its like the rib pain I had in pg is maybe reversing?

Pomme - we had a changing poo in his nappy this afternoon so I feel a bit better about that too

Hello to all the new babies. I hope you have all had lovely days and are now ready for a lovely sleep in this dark period we call night, punctuated only by swift and efficient feedings. Hope all the parents are doing well- lovely to see that you have joined us, Mr Too. Any news from Purple?

Glad to hear that feeding is largely going well. I realised my milk came in when I felt it dripping on my feet just before I got in the shower! I had been on a 3-4 hourly feeding schedule, like biscuits, although mine was because of DD's blood sugar, and I'm sure it helped it come in. Didn't help the day 3 hormones (although I think they were actually about day 5) when I could be found weeping over the state of skirting boards of all things.

I did giggle at your dh, Biscuits, mine has suffered quite a few phantom-pregnancy symptoms both times round. It drives me mad!

Scream sorry to hear you have had such a miserable few days. I think it is really important that you go back tomorrow if your LO is still quiet although I absolutely appreciate that it is a lot harder for you, with your SPD. I went in last week, even though I had some soft movements and was seeing the consultant and having a scan the next day, and the consultant was adament that it was the right thing to do, even though the trace showed everything was fine. In my case, it was just that the baby had moved position and that, combined with my anterior placenta, just meant I couldn't feel much. He was very definite that I must go back if it happened again, even though I am being seen weekly now and having everything checked each time, despite it being entirely explicable.

I think biscuits is right that the trace can show movement- it's not to do with sound but with accelarations and decelerations, just as our own heart rate goes up when we move around. The trace can show this over a period of time, unlike a handheld doppler which really only gives a snapshot of a particular moment.

The midwife at our antenatal classes explained that reduced movement can be a sign that the baby is trying to conserve energy and that is why it is so important to get it checked out, particularly if it recurs. I would guess that if you are still not getting a normal amount of wiggles by tomorrow that they would scan you, and probably do a doppler scan to make sure the blood is flowing through the umbilical cord. I would probably ask for this to happen if they didn't offer it.

I am sure that your LO is just having a quiet couple of days but please go back and get checked everything checked out if things are still quiet tomorrow.

Hope everyone else is ok. I keep meaning to ask how Dream is getting on driving her bus?!

Can I please put in a request for a little extra brooking this week? I am 35 weeks tomorrow and it was at this point that things went a bit tits up with DD. I have another growth scan/ consultant appointment on Wednesday and am feeling a little bit anxious about it.

Also, my mum is coming to visit which would test my blood pressure at the best of times