Flying mattress graduates - dock here!

[festiemum]

Hey chaps! Here's the space for us to witter on incessantly about our pregnancies!

20 week scan today and it was soooo fantastic! I'll post some pics on my profile later. The sonographer wasn't 100% sure, but thought that it was probably a girl, due to lack of visible meat and two veg!

Hope everyone's doing well! xxx

Rus don't panic yet, according to your dates the 2nd is your due date so she might well turn up before sweeping etc is needed. (Fx I am checking in regularly just to see if you have had her yet) It sounds like she is getting ready.

Festie how and where are you? Hope the side effects are easing, bp is stable and you're at home with your feet up eating choccy biscuits!

Hey rusulka - get her out tomorrow and we'll share a birthday!

Lol at sweaty bum crack! Sweating wasn't so bad today, but the pills do zonk me out a bit.

The sitting forward is good, as you say, and it's great that she's getting comfy and engaged ready to come out.

Anyway, I am at home! Discharged last night, though they couldn't provide me with my pills and wanted me to go back today to collect them! ( a two hour round trip! ) Luckily I managed to get an emergency docs appointment and scored a prescription from him. Still had to yomp round 4 chemists to find one that had the pills in stock! Bloody rural living, sometimes it's a pain in the arse!

So, the plan is- I go back in on Saturday to have full bloods, urine, blood pressure series, foetal monitoring etc. If all is well, I'll be back in twice weekly to be checked until the baby arrives. If things escalate again, I'll be readmitted, and the baby will be induced at 37 weeks. (only 9 days time!)

It's quite stressful at home, and not particularly restful, so I don't know what affect that'll have on my bP etc. It's not ideal having to yomp to and fro to Truro every few days, but I'm glad they're keeping an eye on me and Cleetus!

Home you're enjoying your last few days of freedom lil and you're as comfortable and unfrustrated as it's possible to be in your situation, rus!! xxx

Lil I can only hope. Haven't had any more practice contractions, was hoping they'd reappear and it'd be third time lucky... ah well, will just have to see.

Yay Festie!!!
So pleased you're home.
Well you're a Virgo and you're not so bad, so maybe Peanut will be ok... didn't want her to be a September baby though!

Had a talk with her in the bath earlier explaining that people will be interfering on Monday and the following Saturday, so if she wants to do it on her terms, she's running out of time. Think she had her fingers in her ears though... certainly felt like it!

Yay, pleased your home Festie and they are continuing to keep a close eye on you and cleetus. Wow, you might have a baby in 9 days, thats so soon! Rural living is a pita but it has it's up sides too (although you sound even more rural than us!) Hope the kids are helping out abit and not causing you too much stress.

I've had a fairly productive day today but did need to go for a nap this afternoon as suddenly was shattered - not looking forward to going back to school and not having that luxury so enjoying it while I can.

Rus will have a few glasses of water if I have to give bloods again and see if that helps, thanks for the tip. Hope you have had a good day and are managing to find some comfortable positions.

The lump on my coccyx has got bigger and gone hard.
DH says it's gone down, but I don't believe him. It still feels hot, and I can't even stand up now without it being sore. Comfiest position is on my tummy, so I have to smoosh the duvet into a lump for my belly to flop behind, and then it's kind of awkward but not too bad. Getting a lot of backache from twisting to avoid sitting on or near it.
Hope it resolves itself soon, I'm running out of time!!!

Is that a sign that the a/b are working? Sorry you are in so much pain this late in the day, you must be torn between wanting peanut out and waiting for this cyst to sort itself out.

I'd stay on your tummy for a while and let DH bring you tea and cake!

Hello!

Sorry your lump is literally being such a pain in the arse rus. Having to lie on your front at this stage is no fun at all!

I have had a lovely day. Some friends visited all the way from North Devon with pressies, lunch and cake and all our kids played really nicely together! I've paid for it now though- was so exhausted earlier this evening I went all shivery and weird and dh was threatening to ring the midwife!

Back into hospital tomorrow for bloods, bP series, trace etc. My bP has been okish at home but, there have been the odd high reading, and my feet have started really swelling up, which I know can be another Pre-eclampsia sign.

Still, we'll see what they say tomorrow. It feels weird to think that if they decide I am becoming Pre-eclamptic they'll be booking me in for induction soon!

Hope you're ok lil and I really hope that your lump goes down quickly rus, and then peanut gets her arse in gear! xxx

Festie hope all has gone well with the tests at the hospital today. But if not, like you say, they'll book an induction and there'll be a light at the end of the tunnel- and then you can all be home and your bp can do what the bloody hell it likes, lol.

Lil DH is never here to bring me tea and cake!

Well, I had an eventful day yesterday. Thought I'd treat myself to a mooch in town, but get the bus both ways- only I got there just as the bus was leaving, so thought oh fuck it I'll walk. Really pleased with myself for doing it! Unfortunately started feeling a bit weird and not right halfway round the shops, so completed my errands and then got the bus home... and about 20 mins later started having contractions again.

"Here we go again!" I thought, but they got closer together so they were 3 mins apart. Hmm.
Got up to get phone so I could ring DH if I needed to, and was bothered to find that they started again 10 mins later- normally if I move, they stop. Double hmm.
Left it for a bit, wondering what to do and whether to bother him, then he texted me, so I texted back explaining the situation, and he rang to say he was on his way home.
I rang the hospital and got the world's rudest midwife who must have had a massive shitty on about something, because she gave me no end of grief- basically said I was fine to stay at home, and started trotting out the old 'when you're in pain' line... when I contested this, she got a full blown arse on and said "I've been a midwife for 25 years and I can tell you're not in any immediate danger of delivering" !!!
And then went on to say they were shockingly busy, but if I REALLY wanted to, I could come in, although it would basically be a massive waste of time because she wouldn't be able to see me, as everyone else would take priority, I might not get seen for hours and hours, and even when I did, they'd probably send me home again because there wasn't anywhere to put me. (!!!)
I agreed to ring back after monitoring it for an hour, and immediately added her to my death list.
Meanwhile, DH and his dad got here, they brought me cookies and muffins (aw) and FiL stayed until I rang the hospital back in case he needed to take us, but the contractions stayed the same, so they basically told me to just keep an eye on things.
He went home, DH and I occupied ourselves while still tracking, and they continued to come back even after I moved. But they didn't get any more intense and they didn't get longer, and I wasn't in pain, although they did make me breathless.
They petered out at around 10:30pm, about 6 hours after they'd started.

So I still don't know what the fuck's going on.

I hate that the midwife was so rude to me. I don't care if she has been doing it for 25 fucking years, manners cost nothing, and it's my first one, and the rules on coming in are stupidly ambiguous.
They put so much store in whether you've had a show, and whether your waters have broken- I've read that your waters only go beforehand in 12% of cases so what does that say?
And because I don't wear pants, ever, for all I know, I have had a show, and I just peed the gunk down the loo and never noticed. Grr.

Considering I didn't even want to give birth in hospital in the first place, this is not an experience that's making me want to go in... obviously I'll have to on Saturday to be induced, but if anything happens before then, I'm just staying at home I think. I'll wait and see what happens, but unless my waters break or I start rolling around screaming, the hospital doesn't want to know.
And I don't do rolling around and screaming. I expect if I'm lucky enough to go into labour on my own, that Peanut will be born at home, either in the bath or on the bedroom floor. And I'll just cope.
I know it's not what DH wants, but I won't be treated like a badly behaved child when I've done nothing wrong and am just looking for clarification on a murky and iffy set of guidelines.

Humph.

Rant over! Sorry, that was a bit epic, lol. Really am pissed off about the whole thing.

God that would have really pissed me off no end rus. There is absolutely no need for you to be spoken to like that. In my book, if a pregnant woman phones in for advice or reassurance, that should be what she gets, regardless of whether she's actually in established labour or not!
Trying to reassure you slightly; in my experience, midwives like that do exist, but are thankfully rare, and you probably won't come across that harridan again.

Well, somewhat inevitably, I have been admitted back into hospital today. My Bp was too high and I'm getting odema in my hands and feet. Also there was protein in my wee, so it looks as if I'm stumbling into pre-eclampsia territory and cleetus will be coming a bit early! I expect I'll hear the full plan when the dr does their rounds in the morning. Got to take more meds too which is shit, cos they make me feel nauseous and tired!

Ho hum! xxx

Oh Festie! What a pain in the arse! And you're right, the bright side of it being yet another what the fuck is that I didn't have that witch deliver Peanut... or more importantly, touching my downstairs!

Hope everything is alright for you, I'm sure Cleetus will be fine. At this rate you'll have had yours before I have!

Got to go put a hot compress on my poor old bum.
Apparently DH has slain 2 spiders for me! He's just asked if he gets any experience... someone plays too many RPGs, lol.

How fucking rude! They say to ring when you're contracting and go in when 5 mins apart - clearly the woman should not be allowed to talk to anyone, I don't care how good a mw she is, she needs to learn how to communicate. I would be grr too - it's my first so how do I bloody know what's going on? I'm mad for you now.

Fx she is nowhere in sight when you actually do go in - unless peanut makes an appearance on the bedroom floor before then. How is your bum? Hope it's easing.

Sorry to hear you're back in Festie. Have you heard what the plan is yet?

Went to a wedding yesterday. It was lovely but shattered today and DH is hungover so don't think much is going to be happening here today!

He he, couldn't have put it better myself lil! WTAF?! People like that shouldn't be in the job.

Funny how tiring such normal things become when you're pg, isn't it? And the mad thing is, you do go back to normal in the end!

Well, I'm pretty hacked off, truth be told. Meds up, but haven't kicked in yet so still getting diastolics of over 90. Nothing happening as it's Sunday, so reckon no decisions will be made before tomorrow! Will be fine about being here if I just know what the plan is!!

Hope your arse is getting better rus. I now have a painful ailment I need to mention to someone, cos it's just getting worse and worse.. I have a very painful swollen red lump on one of my nipples! Last night it was so sore I couldn't bear having anything against it, so ended up sleeping with my boob out!!! Anyone peeking round the curtain would've got a right eyeful!!!! :o

Aah, I hope they go for induction at 37 weeks now. I've had enough of this! Fingers firmly crossed! xxx

DH is rescuing me from the bag of fruit pastilles...

OK, so here is the bum update:

Got up this morning and it was still huge and throbbingly sore, so rang NHS Direct, long story short and 4 conversations about my arse later, the out of hours doctor prescribed more antibiotics, and I've collected them from Asda along with 2 baby gates (my arse may be broken but there's nothing wrong with my time management!).

Basically the situation is this: we have holes in our bum from when we used to have tails. Sometimes for a laugh, something icky sets up residence there and gets infected, blah blah blah. So the antibiotics are to fight and kill said interloper. What they want to happen is for the festering icky mass to come to the surface, develop a head, and squirt pus and mank and whatever else is in there everywhere. Hooray! Then it can be squeezed, cleaned, whatever, and can heal. Sometimes a week's lot of meds isn't enough, so not only have they given me another week of the ones I already had, they've also given me regular penicillin to take too, which should hopefully give it what for.
BUT
They told me it is best if Peanut is born before my bum starts squirting guff out, as it will be messy and awkward and whatnot. So I just have to keep everything crossed that the sweep tomorrow works- ironically I think I will be in more pain than I was on Wednesday, so my midwife kindly leaving it to let the meds work was a bad move! .
And failing that there's induction on Saturday. We shall just have to see. But the lump is sticking out further now and it's just so uncomfy... am just about managing to sleep, but daily activities are a grind because getting up to do anything, or even trying to sit is just so painful... if I do scream in labour, it won't be because of Peanut!

Sigh.

Lil lol at you getting your hackles up on my behalf. Bloody NHS. And I know what you mean about being knackered! Sometimes I need a sit down from the effort of getting up to go to the loo, lol!

Festie again, bloody NHS. I hate relying on them at weekends as nothing ever gets done. Hopefully you'll find out what's happening soon and we'll have a happy Festie again. FX for the induction being sooner rather than later if that's what you want!

Going to go play on the PS2 to take my mind off things (old school)... except not really old school for us as we also have a megadrive, SNES and Atari. We like our games vintage and pixellated with boopy sound effects and 7 whole colours! Lol.

Hope the gaming is taking your mind off your bum Rus and fx for your sweep tomorrow. Bum lump sounds fun - puss porn has a big following on MN and yours sounds like it could be a classic! On a more serious note I hope it does clear soon and isn't too painful.

NHS are rubbish Festie hope the meds are kicking in and tomorrow brings some answers. At least you are resting which should help the bp.

Oh rus you and my ex would get on like a house on fire - he's a complete gamer!

Your bum ailments sound horrendous! Hope it all eases off soon... My nipple has officially gone into WTF territory. Overnight, the swelling has doubled the size of it and it is all red and yellow! Bloody sore too! I showed it to a midwife yesterday who just looked quite alarmed and said she'd get a dr to come and look at it, but alas that hasn't happened.

As I suspected, seeing the dr yesterday was a waste of time. She was a junior and had obviously only read the last page of my notes and had no idea about my previous admissions etc. She was going to suggest discharging me, then having me back in all day tues for more monitoring. Then she asked who my consultant was, looked back through my notes and realised she is scheduled to do the ward rounds today and decided to keep me in so I can see her and get a plan formulated!

Seriously hoping to get a plan today! Kids back to school tomorrow too, so it's going to get quite difficult to come in for the day as an outpatient and make sure someone's there to meet them from the bus at 3.30!
The trouble is, the nhs can't take that kind of thing into account, can they!?

You back to work today lil? Hope it goes ok if you are. Good luck with your sweep rus! xxx

Just seen dr.

No induction, go home, back in as out-patient in a couple of days. I can see this going on till due date now - nearly 4 weeks! It would be doable if we didn't live so far away! And with the kids back at school, this is gonna turn into a logistical nightmare!

Nightmare Festie, I guess it will be good for Cleetus to get a bit nearer to your due date but what a palava. Did they take the distance into consideration at all? Hope it's nice to be home at least.

Any news Rus? How did your sweep go? Have been thinking of you today and hope you're quiet on here because you're busy pushing

Back to school tomorrow. INSET for Tue / Wed and then kids in from Thursday. Feels very odd as haven't spent half of the holidays in getting classroom etc ready. Also first antenatal class tomorrow so I get to miss the morning

Hey ladies, still here.

Festie that's a bugger about induction, I hate it when they just assume everyone lives nearby. Addenbrookes were the same with my dad, they'd ask him to come in at the drop of a hat and then sniffy when it took them hours to get to Cambridge from Norwich, tut.
Hopefully your BP is stabilising though, which can only be good for you and Cleetus!

Lil how did your antenatal class go? I was distinctly underwhelmed by mine, hopefully yours will be better.

Midwife couldn't do sweep yesterday.
She gave me an exam, but my cervix is high, posterior, firm and closed- exactly the opposite of what it should be.
So god only knows what all those contractions were about.
Induction this Saturday it is.

Really frustrating as my friends are down from Norfolk this week as they have tickets to the paralympics, and I was hoping to have a Peanut here for them to meet...
But as everyone keeps telling me, at least we can prepare properly for Saturday and we know when things will start happening. No more second-guessing crazy contractions!

Bum still killing me, the lump is looking angrier, more purple and shiny, so hopefully will burst soon and give me some sort of relief... really hope so!

Got to spend today and tomorrow tidying house and getting stuff in and ready for guests, but really don't feel like doing anything. I'm not hungry, I'm not thirsty, I just want to lie down and not be in pain.

Had a call today from some company we'd been referred to about figuring out if we were entitled to any benefits, since I'm not getting maternity allowance or anything like that, and basically because of DH's salary, which frankly isn't that hugely shit hot when you've got a mortgage and life insurance to pay, we're only entitled to a fiver a week in child tax credits. Oh, and we'll get child benefit, but that's it. So about £100/month all in. Guess I should be grateful to be getting anything, but I'm just annoyed at the whole situation. If DH earned £5000/yr less, we'd get nearly £45/week child tax credit... but we wouldn't be able to pay the bills! Argh!

Really grumpy at the moment. My poor guests will wish they'd never come!

Ah bugger Rus, was sure you would be in having / had her by now, sorry you're still hanging around. Hope induction works better.

A-N was nice, Dh couldn't come but a girl I was friendly with at my old dance class was there and is due the same day I am. Didn't really learn anything new but was lovely to meet some people in the same boat and hopefully will have some mummy friends to hang around with when I'm on mat leave!

How is the BP Festie? Hope you have had a relaxing day.

School was ok, nice to see everyone and amazed how chilled I was all afternoon thinking 'at least I don't have to do all this' during INSET

Oh pissflaps (my new favourite word) rus - you must be so frustrated. Still, I guess you've got a date to work towards and a bit of time for your bum to recover maybe?!

My arse is bleeding - piles again. Got myself into a bit of a pickle last night when I wasn't sure where the blood was coming from! (d'oh!) Hoping I can treat them before I go into labour. Done labour with piles before, and the aftermath ain't pretty! To continue the tmi theme; managed to get a dr to look at my nipple before I was discharged yesterday. The lump popped and I managed to clear out most of the gunk before I saw her - it would warrant a whole sporn thread of its own lil! She reckons I've pretty successfully treated it myself. It was basically a nipple abcess, lovely! Now though I've got a gaping hole in one of my nipples which I'm fervently hoping will heal before Cleetus arrives - I don't fancy breastfeeding with a gaping hole much!!! :o

Jesus - tmi queen today! Anyway, my bP was ok at midwife. Back tomorrow for same and then down to Treliske as an out patient on Thursday. It's like Groundhog day!

Glad your first day back was ok lil, and that you met a buddy at ante-natal. Sorry you're so hacked off rus - it's perfectly understandable at the moment though. I'm having some pretty grumpy moments myself!

I don't think they can take the distance from hospital thing into account really. When I spoke to the doctor yesterday, she did ask me how far away I lived. When I told her, she said she'd arrange for two community midwife appointments and then back in on thursday instead of Wednesday, which is what she normally would have done, so small allowance made there! Oh well, it can't be helped. Hate this limbo, though I've been very good, and rested today.

at pissflaps, going to keep that one to use at some point!

Sorry to hear about your bum/nipple problems Festie I was a bit eww and intrigued at the same time!

I hope when you go in tomorrow it is good news and they can let you go for longer without having to go back in.

How's things Rus? Have the drugs done anything about the lump yet?

Struggled abit at school today with tiredness and haven't had a class yet! Hope it is just getting used to working again and not due to bp or the next 8 weeks are not going to be fun. Feel bad now as Dh is out sorting the garden after working all day and I'm sat here on MN shattered!

Hi Festie how did it go yesterday? Any news on bp / cleetus / nipple / bum? Hope the list of things you have to worry about is getting shorter and all is well x

Still hanging on Rus? Hope you are not too fed up but by this time I think I will be climbing the walls. Are you being induced tomorrow? If so enjoy your last day of quiet and relax. :)

Nothing going on here, just getting bigger!

Weeelll, I was a bit pissed off yesterday. Got to DAU at half 9. BP quite high, protein in wee. Uh-oh I think. Bloods taken, bP continued hourly. Staying highish. About lunchtime they decide to give me another drug in addition to the labetalol to try and control bP. BP however stays the same.

We spend the afternoon waiting for the dr to make a decision about me. It seems likely I'll be admitted again. Midwives already have me up on the list! It takes them until half five to make a decision. And they send me home with a prescription for new drugs and don't want to see me for another week!! Wtf?!

It gets better.... Off I trot to the hospital pharmacy to get my pills. They don't have the right ones in stock. I'm supposed to be getting this long release, once a day pill, but they only have twice a day ones. After a fair old wait, he manages to get hold of the dr, who says to prescribe me those, but only once a day, so I'm basically getting half the dose! The best thing is, the pharmacist explains all this to dh while I'm sitting there as if I have learning difficulties or something!

Anyway, I also have to ring the community midwife to get myself checked this weekend, so I spoke to her this morning. She was really good. Said they'd check me tomorrow and probably again in the week too as she thought thursday was too long to leave it with my history. She also said to ring the urgent number if I had any concerns at all, so that reassured me.

Finally (sorry-gone on!) been having very mild, very irregular contractions this morning. Not under any illusion that I'm going into labour. My last baby did this
in the run up, but it's nice to know that it's all getting ready.

Here you're settling back into work ok lil and are not too tired. Hope you're ok too rus, not going too mad and your bum is behaving itself and not causing too much pain. My "ailments" are, thankfully on the mend now! xxx

Hey ladies, relatively quick update as I am too knackered to do anything else.

Long story short, Wednesday night to A&E, as couldn't even sit or lie down without being in pain, admitted for bum, kept overnight as they couldn't drain it without obstetricians present, yesterday lunchtime they cut it to let the pus out, felt the knife go in (local anaesthetic my arse) and once they'd peeled me off the ceiling and dressed it, back to ward. Stayed overnight again with a weeping bum, they just left it open, discharged this afternoon, going back in tomorrow to be induced. Once I've had Peanut, got to go back again to have cyst/abscess properly treated under GA, they wouldn't do it while I'm pregnant.

So I can sit down again, but I'm all oozy and it's well mank, and I have an open sore. In disposable pants with giant nappy pads to stop it gooping everywhere.

Hopefully tomorrow will have a Peanut!
My friends were due to arrive yesterday but decided not to stay with us because of everything going on, and my sister's coming on Wednesday so really want to be operated on and fixed by then. Tight deadlines here, we don't do anything easy...

Hope to update you with good news soon. X

Rus I'm hoping you are in and having peanut as I type. Thinking of you and hope all goes well. The bum doesn't sound nice but at least it has relieved some pain. Looking forward to your next update.

Festie sorry to hear the hospital can't seem to make their minds up - it does sound weird that they are keeping you in and then send you away for a whole week! Hope the mw has been to see you today and all is well. Is it sunny there? Try to enjoy it and relax!