May be Babies - The Third Trimester

[SirCharles]

A new thread as the other one was ready to burst!
Thanks *Mikocat" for the new name.

Re - birth plan. I haven't written mine yet either. Tbh I'm not sure how useful they are.... Because a birth rarely goes as planned and also 'usually' the midwife will ASk you about your preferences.. Like placenta injection? Vitamin k? Daddy to cut the cord? Do u want pain relief? Mine is like yes, yes, yes and no even if I beg for it!!!

Lol goodname I know I'm mad but just forward thinking, as this time I kept finding myself wanting to refer to my previous preg notes but not having them! Dh & I are pretty sure we want more than 2 kids but will see how we go with this one first!!

lime sorry you're still on this side too...

No sign of anything for me. Woke at 3am with intense pain & got up to walk up & down the landing but it stopped. Feel really down & fed up this morning even though I know I'm not that far over.. just really really want to go into labour naturally & really want it to be this weekend cos I can't face another week of mums at playgroups asking me about it all :(

Morning everybody
Thought I'd better make an appearance before somebody classifies me as MIA
Grumpy like hell,so sick of this bloody weather,can't remember the last time I saw some decent sunshine.Not to mention being cold like hell,it's 2nd half of May to hell,should be warmer than bloody 8˚ during the day!!!

tostaky,exactly,plans sometimes don't go your way.Maybe should put some general stuff like you said whether I want some painkillers(and which one),placenta injection and so on.I really should decide by now,but...thinking about gas&air(hope I'm not sick as some people are) not so sure about diamorphine(baby might be sleepy afterwards) or epidural (might be not available here and scared like hell of the spine injection). I'm bricking it as my pain threshold is low
The best way to go for me would be to get clunk in the head and wake up with baby in my arms.

cupcake all these questions are annoying,i don't mind when somebody asks because they are concerned(unless they ask me everyday),it's the nosey buggers that are getting on my nerves.

Poked my belly last night asking the baby whether s/he was going to come out on Friday(my EDD).No answer obviously but lots of wriggling.
I think it might have turned as well-no more tickling in my upper belly,more down and on the side,hopefully it's not back to back anymore.
Tried to have a look at the names again last night as I'm not 100 % sure about the ones we agreed on.Couldn't concentrate,came to the stage that I can't find any names I like :(

8 degrees

Well, some of my mucus plug has come away this morning. I am telling myself it's meaningless, but never had this at all with DD1 (18 days overdue) and not until 13 days overdue with DD2 (born 15 days overdue). It wasn't that much, certainly nowhere near all of it. Hoping the slightly breathtaking pains I've been having randomly over the last few days are still just braxton hicks - at least there is absolutely no pattern to them at all, which is good, and they are uncomfortable rather than painful. Phoned the labour ward just to check this was just part of the plug (had a lovely conversation about whether it was "snotty" with the mw!), and she said not to worry unless I have contractions... Feeling very twitchy / restless and my back hurts. Hoping the law of sod is having the weekend off, and that I make it to monday, as I don't want another EMCS!!!! Maybe I shouldn't have made the birth announcement cards last night, thus finishing my to-do list...

Lime your FIL & his wife sound delightful! We haven't decided on a name yet either - waiting for DH to express a preference, he'd better do it soon, as I want a name ready and waiting for her...

tostaky I haven't had any strange dreams this time, well not that I can remember. At least yours sounds quite sweet rather than scary!

goodname well done on getting out of the house by 9! I remember the mission that was trying to get DD1 to nursery while it was still morning when I first had DD2!!

cupcake, hope something happens this weekend for you! Otherwise you'll have to stick your fingers in your ears and hum when people ask you...

Re. birth plans, I think they are useful to have, even though you will need to have some flexibility if circumstances require it. Some hospitals are more respectful of your wishes than others, and some can be quite pushy about certain things, so imo it helps to have something written down to show you have expressed a preference and thought it through beforehand. You might want to consider what pain relief is acceptable to you, and what you definitely don't want. Do you want the baby passed straight to you, or dried and wrapped up first? Do you want you OH to cut the cord? Do you want to BF? I was never asked about lots of things, whether this was because they read the birth plan and did what I asked, or whether by co-incidence my wishes and their default activities were the same, I don't know!

Catsycat - I lost most of my plug 6 days before giving birth to DC2 and with this one, I lost some of it two weeks ago!!
So you are probably ok until Monday? Saying that babies all have their own way of coming out!! Cross your legs!!

Catsycat there's a long story behind my FIL and his wife but they are getting on my nerves.When my now DH called him to announce our wedding he never even said as much as "congrats", no hint whether they were going to attend or not.We got the wedding acceptance the day before the event asking "what do we want as a gift".We didn't want anything and said so.

I kept my mouth shut but I'm not going to do it anymore-it's jibe,jibe,jibe and then sugary sweet text message or mail that makes me sick.
DH went to hospital-was in and out the same day but 6 weeks off work.FIL couldn't find the time in next 24hrs to call/text/mail how his son was.

His wife is very family orientated-except that her family takes the priority.I said to them that they are welcome here anytime but please call beforehand just to make sure somebody's going to be in.I haven't seen her here in about 18 months.Last 2 years we saw them both only around Christmas when we dropped the card/prezzies.

FIL has popped here twice last year-both times when he needed/wanted something and his lovely faaaaamly orientated wife (FIL must have dropped her to her daughter who lives half way).They live just 30 miles away from us.

They invited us to their place for the dinner last week before Christmas-her son and DIL were expecting a baby in January-while she was pottering in the kitchen she said to me "I thought we were finished with the grandchildren".

Now I just want them to leave us alone and let us live our own life.I don't need their snotty comments because I can be snotty as well and I intend to be if nothing changes.I said to DH that I won't restrict their access to our child but I'm not going to do all the running around them when the wee one is born.Citing somebody from MN "my days as people pleaser are over"

Well,from what I heard,read and was told mucus might come off weeks before the labour or just before the labour so might be something/nothing?

Sorry about the longish ranty post above-I'm still grrrring as I had some texts/mails this week announcing "getting in touch" next week so I'm just bracing myself thinking "what's next"?

Morning all... lime yes, we have bought an M&P Zoom...it's pretty simple to fold, change the bits around etc so don't worry - you'll pick it up pretty quickly! Sorry about the family issues though...such a pain and it's amazing how the big life events seem to bring them all to the fore...weddings, funerals and babies arriving!! Hope it settles somehow!

I had an irrational time of feeling very emotional and that I didn't want DH to be far from me at all yesterday - he was due to be out all day today and normally I would be fine with it but I just felt that I didn't want to be apart from him (I'm normally v independent so this is odd) wondering whether this is part of my body starting to say things are getting closer or I'm just slowly losing the plot As it was he utterly slept through his alarm and missed his train by so much that it wasn't worth going so is now here with me which is nice!! Might try and go for a walk this afternoon and see if that encourages LO to get a move on...oh dear, I'm only 38+4 and already getting impatient!!

catsy hope you manage to hold out until Monday - I've also heard that the plug can come away quite early. Am intrigued about your birth announcement cards as I've wanted to start these but then been a bit as I don't have name/weight/date or photo yet (obviously!!) and I was going to print these onto the card and stick a photo on so feeling a bit stuck other than buying the bits...what have you done for yours (sorry...nosey!)

cupcake hope things start moving for you soon!!! I've only had a couple of texts and questions so far but they're already starting to get a little irritating!

Right...need food...catch up again later!

BlueCrane Lucky coincidence with your DH sleeping in :)
Spoke to the lady at the shopping centre-complete stranger but she had Zoom so asked her how she found it.She said it was great,very lightweight and easy to manouvre.
Tell me about getting impatient-feeling like a beached whale and longing for the time I'll be able to turn in bed without whinging,climb the stairs without puffing and be able of bending in my waist again.
I suppose I can blame my food intake,not going to say how much i put on but far too much .
Looking forward to jumping on the bike to get in shape while DH minds the wee one in the evening.
Off to guzzle some milk as I said yesterday the heartburn was gone...well,it's back sometimes

Well, crazy over-emotional state has continued today, cue lots of blubbing for no particularly rational reason this afternoon I feel strangely hormonal as I used to the few days before my period used to start, so now wondering whether I have strange hormonal changes going on at the moment?! Anyone have this in the lead up to labour starting or is it just another side effect of late pregnancy? It's also exactly a year since I had a complete meltdown a week before my 12wk scan (where an MMC was found) so I do wonder whether my body is trying to give me the 'heads up' of things being close to starting if that makes any sense at all?!?! (ie crazy hormones/v tearful before AF, same the week before MMC found which could've been linked to a sudden change in hormones at that stage even though it had all stopped a few weeks before then). Sorry...probably waffling here and not making much sense...I'm also not sure that I want LO to arrive on the anniversary of that scan (26th May) or the anniversary of my erpc (9th June) both of which are entirely possible

lime hope the milk helped and the heartburn has subsided again. The docs prescribed my Gaviscon Advance...which actually burns as you swallow it! Must have some bizarre extra ingredient in it, or just be v v strong!

Hope everyone else doing ok?

Hello all

bluecrane - Funny you should mention your emotions, I was very emotionally on the day Finlay came, must have burst into tears three times!

limeflower - prob not easy but definitely straightforward! I also hated turning over in bed at the end, now it is a struggle as breasts so heavy and full of milk!

Hi catsy, hope you are not in labour! How typical would that be after going so overdue before! You must be excited about Monday though, 21st was my original due date.

I see some others have experienced the hideous after pains! I was so shocked. I don't think I really had many with ds, I certainly don't remember them, but no 3.... ooooh....

Feeding - Going well, not leaking as much as I did with the other two. Not sure if it is still to come but so far just a small amount. Breasts not so engorged but still v full and latch on right side v sore at first. Can't seem to improve it much!

Pregnancy notes - They whipped these away right after birth and am so annoyed with myself as so meant to copy them too.... argh. Would be great to compare with if I had another baby but then again I'm not planning too so... . How much does it cost to order a copy does anyone know? I'd like all three.

So far Finlay is a good and calm little thing so I'm hoping he stays that way. Haven't really noticed how often he wakes as I tend to avoid looking at the clock! Think it is the usual every two or three hours though. Generally exhausted but dh has been great so managing fine. Trying to bolster myself mental for next week, yorky sounds like you are doing really well!

How are those with the totey babies doing with clothes?? Nothing fits Finlay except 'tiny baby' vests I was given and thought would be too small! Oh and one sleepsuit. Have bought a few smaller bits (all ds's 0-3 is hanging off him) and they are also too big! I know that soon enough he will fit them of course, already he has gained weight, now 6lbs.

Oh must mention MIL presents; box of maltesers, one old baby vest and a (used!) tub of sudacrem! She is terrible. She also brought an incredibly old rusty scooter for ds1 and said it was for his birthday (next month)! Honestly I like second hand but really perhaps one wee new thing for a new baby...? And an opened tub of sudacrem?? Ugh. On the other hand my mum brought a lovely box of goodies from local wholefood supermarket (fudge, bubble bath, pate, cheese, sweeties, etc), suits from John Lewis and some champagne. They are soooo different.

How are everyone else's visitors? We've had most of the main folk expected. Not dh's dad as they live up north (plus he is rubbish anyway) and dh's brother hasn't organised to come down and dh pretty angry about it. He texted him midweek and brother said oh v busy with work but will come soon, haven't heard since. And as my sister said 'we're all busy with work'. Oh well!

'I was very emotionally'!! Idiot.

catsy get loads of sleep now in case the mucus plug is the start of something, I lost mine in lots of dribs and drabs on the day April arrived
birth plan - The first time I wrote a very formal one using a friend's as a template, but this time it was more instructions to dp e.g. tell me to breathe, put a drink to my lips rather than ask about it and I'll drink if I want to. I put that I only wanted gas and air and that's what I got. For me, the pain is less of a problem than the tiring outness of a long labour. When it really hurts you'll be near the end anyway.
placenta injection - I opted not to have it with dd1 wanting to be all natural, but it's such a bind to have to continue pushing once the baby is out. I lost 700ml of blood and it took an hour and was really painful. I would heartily recommend the injection.

Hi everyone, just checking in to say hello again. It has all gone a bit quiet again on the baby front in the last few days hasn't it?
It's also my due date on Monday... but absolutely no sign of anything happening / changing with me, no show or anything. So I'm still expecting at least another week of waiting really. I saw a doctor yesterday, (was supposed to be a consultant, but no consultant has seen me through the entire pregnancy, despite them classifying me as "high risk" due to previous csection). I went to try and plead my case for being allowed into the midwife-led birthing unit. It's just so much nicer in there, more space, more freedom, birth pools to use, toilets in the rooms, tea/coffee making facilities etc. and most importantly, more chance of having a midwife with you during labour! (Last time I was left on my own for hours and hours in the labour ward with no checking / support). But the doctor is still saying no, that I have to be where there are doctors, should be having continuous monitoring etc., that midwives might not pick up when intervention is required as early as a doctor would. I did say that as no monitoring or doctor's checks took place last time on the labour ward I couldn't see what difference it would make! Also the birthing unit is in the next ward area to the labour ward, so they can move you fairly easily if they need to... but no, it's too risky, could take too long apparently!
I seem to be in a catch22 - they tell me I'm not high risk enough to have a planned section, (which worked well for me with dd1) but I'm also too high risk to be in the midwife unit or use a birth pool, (despite a VBAC last time with no complications!)
Sorry for the long moany rant...I just don't feel like I've been given any choices with this pregnancy and don't have a lot of faith in the system once I get to hospital.
So I have a sweep booked for the 27th when I'm 40+6, and induction booked for 30th May (40+10). At that point they will only try to break my waters, but won't use gel or drip to induce due risk of scar rupture, so I could then end up with a c-section after all.
Those of you thinking about birth plans, tonight I have written my first ever "birth preferences" list to put in with my maternity notes. I didn't bother with the last two pregnancies, as I really feel you just have to go with the flow, and what happens in labour/birth is impossible to plan. But today I just thought, you never know, they might just take more notice of my preferences or work with me a bit more if I write something down?!
Good luck to anyone who starts labour tonight / tomorrow!

Lucky11 I was told I had to go to normal labour ward rather than MLU last time for what I thought was no good reason. When DH rang the hospital he just asked if it was okay to go to midwife unit and they asked about the situation and said it should be fine and just to go right there. So its probably worth just pushing it and seeing what happens on the day. This time round I gave birth so fast I could only make it to the first room in the labour unit before I started pushing him out so no lovely water birth this time unfortunately. I must agree though the MLU is so so much nicer, big rooms with bathrooms and nice lighting etc (and we got more toast afterwards :)). It seems unfair that just because you are higher risk you have to go to a less nice place to give birth and go on a scabbier ward afterwards.
Poor wee finlay has been vomiting quite violently since last night and am a little worried but he has managed to keep some feeds down. Cant work out what is causing it, does anyone else have any experience?
Little Sarah, cannot belive your MIL gave you an opened tub of sudacream, that could be the worst present ever. I like malteasers though :) My finlay was slightly smaller wieght wise than his brother but he seems twice as long so he is right at the end of his 0-3 babygrows. Only the next ones (which seemed massive on fergus) fit him properly.
Is anyone else uncontrollably hungry? I cannot stop eating and am going to look even more like a large dairy cow soon if I dont watch out? I can easily eat 4 bits of toast for supper a couple of hours after dinner. And three bars of choc in one day is not an unusual occurance .

Finally sitting down to try and get this birth plan written...whilst DH and friends watch the football in the background...keep thinking it'd be v strange if any of them looked over my shoulder at what's on the computer screen, though all bar DH and one of the other guys have DCs so maybe they wouldn't be too surprised

goodname my friends have all said that they were super hungry when breastfeeding!

Hi again, thanks for the reassurance goodname, that sounds a bit more promising hearing your experience with the midwife unit on the day.
Also, those of you saying you still haven't settled on a name - I am exactly the same! Going a bit mad thinking about it all the time, still have about 8 options in my head, and DH has not expressed any preferences in the last few weeks so it's all still up in the air. I think I'm getting a bit like you limeflower, I've looked at so many lists that I'm not sure I like any names now!

Sudacrem: I know goodname, I was a bit 'oh how rubbish' before I saw it had been used! She also brought her inebriated boyfriend down when she visited... luckily not too inebriated... I've heard he's been far worse at other family gatherings. I have only met him once about 6 months ago and yet he kept telling us how proud he was of us...

I too feel very hungry, in fact thinking of having some scones which my stepsister gave us to take home after visiting this afternoon, or those maltesers!

Lime poor you with the FIL etc. Think you're right about being snotty back! Families can be such a pain. :( BTW I weighed myself the other night - I'm convinced the scales are wrong!!!!! Also fed up of being unwieldy and massive.

Blue I think the emotional stuff can be a sign, but not sure on that. On the birth announcement cards I've got a stamp that has space to hand write in the relevant details - have used it for all 3 DDs now. I've just bought simple off-white blank textured cards, punched out butterflies on them and added a coloured paper insert. Bit of the same coloured paper on the front with "new arrival" stamp, and a ribbon round the spine of the card, tied at the side. Took me about an hour to do 20. Will stick a photo inside when we have one! They are a bit home-made-crafty, rather than looking professional, but I'm happy enough with them, and had fun doing them.

LittleSarah I believe the notes from DD1 were about £50, and DD2 about £35. With DD1 I ordered them later and the hospitals were in different counties, hence the different prices. I think some charge more the longer you leave it after the birth. And, sorry, a used tub of Sudacrem????? What on earth???? Would take the Maltesers though

lucky thats rotten about the high risk thing and not letting you use the MLU. What a shame - worth trying goodname's idea I think! I've also never seen "my" consultant this pg, despite being "high risk", it's just been whichever registrar was there at the time.

goodname hope Finlay is OK. My friend's daughter had reflux and that came with projectile vomiting - could it be that? I can't remember what they did about it, but I think they were prescribed something in the end (sorry to be vague!).

Things are OK here - not in labour thank goodness. Have been a bit period-painy all day, but had a long lie down this afternoon, and it seems to have got a bit better. No more plug yet, so that's good. Only 36 hours to go..... stay where you are baby!!!

blue and others I'm with you on the emotional stuff :( I've been so tearful today & just desperately fed up.

After midwife had been this morning I had a really good cry on dh. 3rd sweep & she seems pretty sure baby is direct op :( feel so full of fear about another induction & ending up with instrumental delivery or c section. The main thing I'm emotional about is actually the possibility of having to leave ds for a few days if induction is slow and/or recovery long..I really don't think I can handle that. He's been extra cuddly today & it keeps making me cry :(
Went for another long walk this evening but still nothing.. :(:(
Sorry for me me rant just feeling desperate.

lucky that is so rubbish you're stuck between high risk & not high risk enough! Seems ridiculous if the mlu is right by cu, & actually you're more likely to have constant attention on mlu so problems probably would be picked up quicker. Stupid doctors!
Hope you settle on a name, try crying & dh will be forced to discuss it/choose

sarah sounds like you're getting on really well (apart from weird families!)

catsy your cards sound lovely! I may get the template for the text prepped on the computer ready for printing and work out the layout/design etc...I have loads of cards left over from making wedding invites 5 years ago so am planning to use those though can't buy any ribbon to tie around yet as we don't know what we're having! Though just had a quick look on a craft website I've used before and they have a lovely teddy bear shaped punch and some nice green polka dot ribbon which would be nice for boy or girl so I coud maybe make more of a start...actually could be a nice project for next week secretly hopes that starting something might tempt the start of labour!

cupcake x post...hope things start v soon for you!

Thanks blue :)
I'm tempted to start a project now too.. with ds I'd made a load of thank you cards before he even arrived & just left a space for a photo..maybe I'll do that over the next few days.

cupcake sounds like a plan...I think I may try and do a generic template that I can use as either a birth anouncement card or a thank you card...am thinking most of the anouncement bit will probably happen via telephone. Also realising I need to start a list of gifts we're being given as have already had a few and I wanted to wait until I had proper thank you cards sorted before I sent any out, but don't want to miss anyone and suspect brain may turn to mush soon!