May be Babies - The Third Trimester

[SirCharles]

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

hello everyone! i just got around to writing my loong birth story - here it is

will catch up with you all soon!
have also updated my profile with some pictures of the little one
congrats on all the lovely new babies!

Hey everyone, I had my baby at Glasgow Southern General Hospital on 22/05/12 @ 12.21pm. Her name is Heidi Anna and she weighed in at 7lb 15 (was told she would be a 9lber).

I had a great labour I am so lucky. Contractions were a b*tch but I managed to do it all on gas and air. And I'm not one of these earth mothers I was asking for an epidural but she came too fast! And no stitches, how jammy eh? Just grazed. I'll write a proper birth story but for now that's all you're getting.

We are so smitten with her, she is so content and she has a head of lovely brown hair too. I'm still in hospital so going to try and have some skin to skin time now. I can't put in to words how happy I am. Enjoy the good weather ladies xxx

Mythical - thank you for posting your epic birth story! Your early labour was my early labour with DS2 and your active labour (incl the epidural that worked on one side!) was my labour with DS1 (except it ended up in emcs!)
Not fun but at least you have now a gorgeous little girl to snuggle to!!! Enjoy!

BlueCrane and cupcake - anything new?

sesthebrave and Lucky number - i have had one successful vbac with DS2 but i feel i am gearing up to a section this time... im disappointed but i have to put baby's health before my own preferences...
will your hospital induce you for a vbac? At mine it is a big no-no (north london hospital). midwife said some consultant may try a low dose drip to kick start things but no proper induction, and def not the gel.
im in two mind about asking for a low dose drip...

about me - my worst fear has materialised, my waters are trickling and my contractions are not picking up.... hospital policy is to start antibiotics at 18hrs and discuss section. (since i cant have an induction) at 24hrs...
it has been 24 hours already and with DP we agreed we wont tell them until after 7pm tonight. with DS2 it took 6 days of contractions to reach "active labour" so we take the risk of infection and will lie tonight about the exact time my water broke. not a good place to be, to be honest... i have acupuncture this morning but tbh i had it with DS1 and DS2 and it did nothing... still worth a try i suppose...
i am slowly accepting the idea that this is all probably going to end up in a section...
contractions are regular and they have been through the night, but really not intense and not getting stronger or closer together... oh well, what matter is the baby.
Am i going to have another scar or do they re-open the old one?

Congratulations imissbrie - i was thinking about you actually!!! Glad everything went to plan! Enjoy your little girl!! :o

Tostaky. They usually use your existing scar, mine was quite big so she took the old scar out and made a new one, it's only been 8 days and it looks better than the old one already
My 2nd time section experience was absolutely great so don't feel too down about it, I felt so much better after just 2 days an after 4 days I wasn't even taking pain killers. Hope it all goes ok for you.

Congratulations on the birth of Heidi Anna bit of a difference from 9lb, they definitely don't get it right all the time do they !!

Congratulations imissbrie !
Lovely names :)

Tostaky - my MW said a similar thing about induction following a CS. She said they'd use the drip and try to break my waters but nothing else. I'm contemplating refusing an induction and having a CS if it gets to that stage.
I'm sorry things aren't going to plan for you. Hopefully you will soon have your little one safe in your arms and the how won't matter quite so much then.

Mythical - thanks for posting your birth story. The pics on your profile are gorgeous - congratulations!

Morning all! Huge congrats imissbrie

Well...nothing happening here. I did manage to get a good nights sleep though which was a blessing and have had a couple of period pain type twinges during the night and this morning but feel fairly normal unfortunately! Frustrating as, as much as I kept telling myself that it might not be the start of things, it's difficult not to think that and now feel as though I'm back to square one and that the previous night and yesterday never happened, but, will just have to wait and see what today brings I guess!

sesthebrave - can i ask you why you dont want to have your watersbroken? do you think it might increase chances of having an emcs? or that there is not enough evidence of it working? (or both?)
im not going to ask for the drip and at the moment i am hesitating between the faff and uncertainty of natural birth (which might end up in emcs anyway) and the careful planning of an elcs....
what if they break the remaining of my waters (im just leaking) and baby gets distressed because he is not 100% ready... thats an emcs waiting....

newtothisstuff - thank you :) i remember how quickly i improved with my first section... it is not half as bad as i thought it was going to be... Glad you are healing so fast!! and i wouldnt mind a new scar either i just feel like a failure... like my body doesnt know how to give birth.... oh well... what matters is the baby

Morning everybody:)

Still 2 in 1 here.

BlueCrane I'm still trying to convince the baby to go out,that it's very warm outside and s/he would be very happy in the garden snuggled in a lovely Moses basket under the shade of fragrant lilacs,granny desperate to take it for a walk and daddy ready for cuddle while mummy gets some comfy beauty sleep
Well didn't work at all,little one still sitting comfy and high.

Sounds interesting with you,might be it!

Mythical,read your story,having baby at the end is fantastic but why the nature makes it so hard sometimes?

imissbrie congratulations on the birth of your daughter :) now you can have some brie i suppose

tostaky do whatever is best for you but please don't wait too long

Nothing happening here,catching up with housekeeping a bit.40 wks tomorrow and mw appointment.I know it's silly to expect the baby to make an appearance exactly on the date but I just have it etched in my mind.I want a May baby stamps feet sooner the better.

tostaky - it is predominantly the desire to prevent an emergency CS.

Having fun out in the sunny garden with DS here. Hope you're all having good days :)

ses and tostaky, I'm really interested in your thoughts about induction/secti

Sorry - hit send!
Your thoughts about induction v. Secti

Try again ! Induction v. Section. I've been thinking about the pros and cons all morning. I think my hospital will give me a choice. But I know induction will have risks and also I'll probably have to have an epidural, and then longer labour / greater chance of forceps or eventually emcs, which would just be the worst type of birth scenario. But having had one successful VBAC, it feels a bit defeatist to just go for an ELCS from he start (although far preferable to an EMCS.) plus I had thought myself into a quick stay in hospital , getting home ASAP this time....
They're offering to break my waters next weds, but as by my dates (not their scan ones), I'd only be just 41 weeks at that point, I'm wondering whether to ask them to leave me alone until at least fri next week...?

Well the acupuncture did the trick for me ladies! The things I weren't sure were contractions were definitely contractions by 6pm.. got to hospital 8.30 and my massive baby boy born at 9.22 last night (22nd) weighing 10lbs!! Can't believe it! His name is Sebastian John. He arrived in the nick of time as it was the last day I was allowed on the mlu (my official due date was 9th but I still maintain he was only 40+6)
V v pleased to avoid induction & have pushed him out myself (had forceps with ds1) esp as he was so massive & back to back & his shoulders got stuck.. but goodness I'm a bit fragile now!

Masses of good luck to all still waiting I know just how you feel!tostaky really hope things work out ok for you sounds like a horrible situation :(

Yeah fab news cupcake not suprised you're feeling a bit 'fragile' now!!!

No more news here...except being pretty hot and uncomfortable and have the sneaky suspicion I may be getting a sore throat (NOT what I want at the moment obviously!) Have had a very relaxing day which has been nice...lovely walk in the park this morning and then an afternoon lie down/nap which has rather killed the chance of me getting anything done that's left on my to do list - oops...but then it is a bit on the warm side at the moment!

lime I keep telling bump that there is sooo much more space for wriggling, and getting cuddles etc if it would just come out from inside but alas, not listening to me either!

tostaky not an easy choice! I am hoping not to have to get to the point of discussing sweeps, induction etc etc but very aware that in another week or so then it will easily come up in conversation with the midwife! I often wonder why some of our body's just seem to get the whole labour process and why other's don't IYSWIM

Right...have the house to myself for a little while so going to try and get a few bits and pieces done before everyone gets back...catch up again later!

cupcake!!! i am very pleased for you!!! :o what a big boy though!! you must feel so much lighter now! My last baby was around 9lbs so i may join you on the huge baby front! Cingratulations!

Luckynumber - the more i think about it, the more i prefer an elcs, less stress. i know what will happen, i know baby will be safe. if i push for induction, there are more risks for both the baby and me, thats how i see it.
of course, im disappointed, my vbac with DS2 was great and i was really super happy to be up on my feet minutes after i gave birth. it was also an accomplishment (feel like a failure not being able to deliver a baby first time round).
in my hospital, i know they wont allow vbac-er to have the epidural. the only pain relief are gaz and air or diamorphine. you should check with your hospital.
also, i would need to convince a consultant to let me have the drip, but having had a really bad experience with the drip with my first labour, im not too keen. plus contractions with the drip are on another level of pain, compared to natural labour and without pain relief i am not to sure how i will cope..
breaking the waters - well apparently it speeds up the labour by one hour only, so if your body wasnt really ready, it is a bit pointless and then you may end up with an emcs again. Not worthy in my opinion. plusthey usually recommend the drip a few hours after the ARM.

no, i really like the idea i will have my baby soon, that i do not need to worry about his well-being so much now, but that is because of my situation (waters gone, risk of infection and cord prolapse). i feel more relaxed now, yesterday i was almost crying but now that i have accepted this scenario i feel more calm.
bit disappointed that baby may not be exactly ready for the birth, that he'll be full of mucous (will not get squeeze out through the birth canal), i wont get immediate skin to skin, i wont be mobile straight away etc... but for me, it is the best solution now.... my doula is soooo disappointed!!! :o

good luck with whatever you choose, lets hope you get the vbac you want :)

Congrats cupcake Hope you're enjoying those first few hours / days with him.

BlueCrane - wasn't an afternoon nap on your to do list?!

Lucky anbd tostaky - I've not had a previous VBAC as this is DC2 but I did feel cheated last time with my unavoidable CS and feel like I've fought to get my VBAC this time. However, I do think I will ask about ELCS rather than induction and the risks that brings of further interventions and potential emergency CS.

Oh tostaky - I meant to ask why you think you wouldn't get immediate skin to skin? I guess if you mean literally within the first 5 mins then no but DS was given to me whilst still in theatre and it prevented him from being whisked away to the SCBU. They were worried about his breathing but when he was given to me and latched on really quickly they let him be and we had an hour of skin to skin / feeding in the recovery room before going back on to the ward.

Sesthebrave - they showed me DS1 and gave it to my husband because I was soo tired and drugged up. If I do end up having an elcs, I hope I will get skin to skin asap!

Been to hosp for monitoring everything is fine. Will start antibio tomorrow evening and then discuss elcs.
Since I arrived at hosp my contractions have been every 5 mins though and slightly stronger than yesterday... There is still hope!!!

Thanks tostaky and ses - I think that's made me realise I don't want all the risks of induction. I must admit, I did think what's the point of breaking my waters if im not having contractions and they can't follow it up with any gel or drip? And I did actually have quite a good experience with my planned ELCS withdd1. So I think I'll cross fingers that I go naturally in the next week, and if not, request a CS.
Congratulations cupcake - well done on getting to the mlu - and one of my favourite boys names, lovely.

congrats cupcake and what a whopper! i read somewhere that it is sometimes easier and faster with bigger babies than smaller ones.

lucky whatever's better for you-if you go for elcs at least you'll avoid emcs but cs is still cs.

tostaky good you went to the hospital-at least they'll keep an eye on you.

the other girl in the village had her baby-they came back home today causing the gathering on the street-everybody wanted to see their little one.I was off for a walk,had to change my route as I was nearly crying.I know it's my turn next but why the heck I'm always the last one in the queue everywhere :(
bloody hormones,getting all teary now,grrr

oooh...think a bit of my plug may have just come out...now bouncing on my ball and tightening feeling seems to be returning DH, DM and DSD are laughing at me bouncing away whilst I'm typing!! Haven't told any of them about the plug though...or the return of the tightenings...DM will go into a slightly over excited mode so will wait and tell DH when we're going to bed...or maybe let him carry on with his relaxed evening...and see if I can get any sleep in this heat!

lime so sorry about the continued waiting...tis all very frustrating!!

More babies- fantastic! Congratulations to all who've had theirs and good vibes to all who are still waiting .

ELCS- I've found that I'm recovering really well from mine so I'd certainly say they are not bad. I've been signed off to drive and I'm really starting to feel almost normal again. I will of course be waiting the full 6 weeks before I resume housework again but I can do most things now 3 weeks down the line.

Had our first health visitor appt today- Adam is now 8lb 4oz so 2lb over his birth weight. I'm pretty pleased with that. Poor lad has a sniffly nose so lots of grunts and sneezes and I've not slept too well the last couple of nights. It will pass though...

Hello...anyone else awake still? Just can't seem to get to sleep, no pains, just need to wee lots and don't feel tired enough to sleep...rather frustrating!

Hi bluecrane - cant sleep either... Wondering when to go to hospital... I fell asleep for a good half an hour and got woken up by a big contraction. And also want to pee every 5 minutes + it is boiling here, all the windows are open but still...
Are you having anymore tightening? Did you tell DP about your plug?