PART 3!! Sept-2012 Baby Bus!! Christmas-and-New-Year-Shaggers-all-aboard!

[TinkerMaloo]

Cant see another one anywhere on the board and part 2 is full up (finally) so here is part 3! (unless I'm just being a moron and missed it?)

Chat more please ladies, we are too fat and useless to do anything else! ;)

Hi all, I really should check in more often!! Congratulations to cakelady and brizzmus - lovely names as well!

I'm also lax with the pelvic floor exercises, need to be reminded constantly. Although (almost) everything has been bought for the hospital bag, so am feeling a little prepared!

Although my mum's been freaking me out with the stories of the quickness of labour in our family. Apparently she went from 3cm to 10cm dilated in THREE MINUTES!!!! Might have to buy a tarp for the living room just in case!

Glad to hear that Amber is doing so well Cakelady, although I know it must be tough for you being further away than a walk down the corridor.

Possible engorgement your boobs hurting so much?? As loopy says expressing often is the only way to compat that and try to build up your milk supply. Maybe watch out for possible mastitus? Are you expressing by hand or machine? When ds was in NICU/SCBU they hired out electric breast pump to me for free to take home. I found it really, really tough to try and get anything out. Combination of being sick myself and baby not meant to be there already according to one of the midwives. One tip they did give is to take something home that smells of the baby as it will help to produce the hormone (oxytocin I think) that is involved in letdown.

Can't help with bf advice cakelady but hope your DD will be home with you soon, she sounds like she's progressing nicely :)

macaroons I agree with maketea although you need to know the risks of all pain relief options so you can make an informed decision, scare tactics are unnecessary!

Oh god, was scared by NCT class discussion on PF exercises and possible prolapse, tampons falling out etc but still forget to do them. Not meant to do when peeing as apparently it sucks a little bit of wee back up and can cause UTI's but am never sure if I'm doing them correctly if just do when standing/sitting.

cake,ady for breast engorgement pain i have heard lots of amazing things about.... Cabbage leaves! Seriously. Apparently refrigerating them andnthen applying them in your bra. Something about the sulphur in the leaves helps. I heard about it at NCT and went off to research it, and it gets mentioned in several places.... Dunno if it works but maybe wirth a try? Here is some stuff on it....

www.babyzone.com/baby/breastfeeding/soothe-breastfeeding-soreness_65516-page-2. (has helpful instructions)

www.breastfeedingonline.com/cabbage.shtml

www.lactationconsultant.info/cabbagecure.html

Here I am again, have been reading the posts. Thank you MakeTeaNotWar and WhereAreMyShoes - the info you gave was encouraging and got me through the couple of tough days. Now I feel comfortable again.
Looks like I can pull along / hold on for few more weeks before delivery/labor.
If any consolation, I have my hospital bag all packed.

Hi all,

glad to hear the babies are doing well. They sound like little troopers.

macaroons i found out yesterday that my little one is also head down but back to back so i'll be joining you on all fours. midwife also recommended lying over the birth ball which i'll try but i can't actually see how to do it with a huge bump!! I really want to get him turned and avoid a back to back labour if i can, or at least know that i've done all i can to prevent it.

am going to make a concerted effort with the pelvic floor exercises after reading all the posts - it's reminded me!

better run, hope everyone's well.

sorry its only a quick post again, i try to keep up with reading the posts but just don't have much time to post properly!!

macaroons i have not had an epidural but i have heard plenty of times that there is an increased risk of intervention (be it ventous, forceps or EMCS) if you have an epidural, as you cannot feel when to push and have to be told when to by the midwives. Pretty sure there was something re this on the RCOG site.

And re back to back, if you don't manage to get your babies to be in the right position by birth, then good luck. I would recommend getting the midwives to tell you when you go into hospital exactly what position the baby is in, and if it is in back to back then do not allow them to make you lie on your back on a bed, as its the worst position you could be in - it can reduce the space in your cervix by up to a 1/3 which makes it very hard if not impossible to give birth....my DS got into distress and nearly lost him because i was made to be on my back, and it didn't help that he had a big head either...

even if your baby is not back to back dont let them make you lie on a bed! (unless it is absolutely very very neccessary) there is no worse position to give birth in, Im sure standing on your head would be better!!

I think I am nesting!? I mopped all the floors yesterday for the first time in months, and today I cant sit still, I am reorganising and tidying and puylling things out and throwing things away... So not like me!

All this talk of pelvic floor exercise is great. Every time us see the words on here it jogs my memory, so keep it up!!

Shellybop Before baby turned I was using the ball to lean on and getting on all fours.
You can only really lean on it with your arms and chest, but having your bump hang down I think helps them get into the right position.
I did find I had to put a cushion under my ribs as the weight made it feel as if I was crushing myself!

I was so grateful of my nesting weekend a couple of weeks ago. It was the only way those floors were going to get cleaned!
Been doing lots of sorting and throwing stuff out. Very satisfying!

I ended up labouring and giving birth lying on my back and really wished I was allowed to turn over and get on my knees. But I was told I had to stay on my back for the monitor things strapped to my bump.
If I have that again this time, I will insist on moving. Once I'm comfy, they can sort the straps out.
After all, on my back I was continuously curling up on my side with contractions so probably kept messing up the reading anyway.
But as it was my first I was conscious not to misbehave!
This time, I'll probably mention how I've done it once before and that qualifies me as the expert or something equally embarrassing or obnoxious!

Same here wherearemyshoes My first labour was an induction and I behaved like a good girl and lay there on the bed with the monitors strapped onto me and ended up with foetal distress and an episiotomy and ventouse.

Second labour was much better, still had the monitors on as they made me have Syntocin (evil evil drug) to speed me up (as I wasnt fitting their timescale due to a hind water leak) but at least that time I was allowed to move about! (Diff hospital) and it made all the difference! The birth was a pleasure compared to the first one which was frankly bloody awful.

Third time lucky coming up!? I am going to refuse Syntocin and will not be lying down for anyone! (crosses fingers)

oh wow babies arriving - gosh sending big hugs to cakelady and brizzmus. 37 weeks tomorrow and I have my bags packed, I'm ready should he give the sign. Had awful joint pain so went for a massage today - blissed out now. ALthough that wont help get the last bit of my work done (deadline was last week!) - the joys of freelance. Anyway another scan on Monday and firm up the CS date.... its getting close ladies

Thanks everyone on the labour advice, I missed my positions nct due to moving house, so it's great to get some here. My auntie said she finds lying on her left side was the best for her, but I think I'll move about until I get comfy. So need to get the Oh prepared..

It's great having this warm weather, I'm getting rightly through the washing. And I just can't believe the size of some of the clothes, so tiny :)

I'm so excited about getting the nursery painted next week, can't wait until its done. Anyone else getting pictures painted for baby's room? Nesting hasn't kicked in with me yet i dont think but I'm still waiting for Oh to make shelves.

Good to hear you and Amber are doing well cakelady

Been having terrible nights sleep recently, needing to pee loads and hurts like hell to move. And leg cramps omg are so so sore, hopefully only a few weeks to go so trying to ignore them.. Xx

tinkermaloo i wanted to ask you about syntocinon..... I had a fight with my consultant about it. I said i definitely DO NOT want synto and she was all adamant thatbsmetimes it is useful ( i am s heduled for a natural birth but wanted to write NO SYNTO in my birth plan, and she didnt like that.)

Are we actually allowed to refuse synto? If the baby's heartbrate were dropping and they said 'lets do synto' i really would prefer to go for c- section, although i really ideally want natural birth.

My consultant had synto herself when she gave birth to her second child... Had natural the first time. She claimed that the contractions were the same and that synto wasnt a big deal. She was really emphatic even though i told her what i had leared in NCT and hypnobirthing, about the contractions caused by synto being (a) much harsher and (b) not accomoanied by ghe necessary other body changes and hormone release that make normal labour work. She didnt agree at all and loves synto. She even said that she didnt need an epidural with it!!!

Wow the threads gone quiet! 4 weeks till my cs and it's feeling really real now and I'm feeling really huge, hot and tired. So achy too, been getting terrible cramp in my left leg.
It's dd's 3rd birthday tomorrow and I've been busy making the princess cake for her party; just hoping the weather stays nice. No idea what I'll do with 8 three year olds if we can't play in the garden!

Girls! I've barely been here but just wanted to let you know... I gave birth on Tuesday to my little 34-weeker and it was a great experience!

Had sudden PROM on Sun, synto induction Tues, 7 hour labour, 19 mins pushing, no tears, no stitches, discharged 18hours later! Nurses and doctors all fab, I couldn't have asked for anything more.

(About synto... I think if it's a good fit for YOUR body, it works well. But some are less lucky of course. I was having some irregular ctx and was leaking colostrum from PROM onwards, so my body was priming itself already at the time I was induced. That obviously helps.)

Babe is in NICU for a bit but no big problems, he's 5lbs 10oz, happy and alert and feeding from a bottle, no wires/tubes/drips thank God. They're just monitoring him as he gets over jaundice (I'm Rh-neg and he's -pos). Lovely snuggly thing!

I didn't get to do anything I wanted to do in late preg! Wanted to go swimming and feel baby move inside, wanted some late-preg photos... make sure you do all that stuff! May all of you have as wonderful an experience as we did. DH elated that it all went well, I think he was shitting himself a bit that it was going to be a disaster.

Oiko congrats on the birth of your son, I'm glad he is doing well. :) hope your keeping well :) x

Well done oik, that's brilliant news and i spoke too soon about things going quiet. Hope your gorgeous boy gets home soon.

Congratulations on your son oikopolis hope he can go home soon. Gosh, all these September babies sneaking into August! We've done the last of our shopping today so I now think we have all baby needs. Just need to get some big granny pants for me and we are all set. Hope everyone having a good weekend x

Wow Congrats Oikopolis - your experience sounds brilliant and is v reassuring. So glad your son is doing so fantastically!

Congratulations Oikopolis, great news.
I'm hoping I get an August baby too!

I've been told I'm having the synto drip, but only for the third stage. To prevent me PPH-ing like I did last time after 'scraggy membranes' got left behind!

So, I've heard this synto stuff is nasty and can give you all sorts of side effects.
No health professionals have actually told me this. So I assume lots of people refuse it?
I'm sure the side effects will outweigh the risk of losing 2.5ltrs again!

Been having leg cramps early in the morning. I wouldn't mind so much if it wasn't for the fact they only happen when my son takes a lie in! I've not really had a chance to take advantage of one yet!
And little one keeps getting hiccups, which makes me irrationally agitated and I have to get up and walk around till it stops.
Don't know why it bothers me so much?

Congratulations on the birth of your son oiko . I hope you get him home soon. Have yous decided on a name yet?

It sounds weird but I'm getting a little bit impatient reading of all the early births. Obviously I want little dd to be healthy and come when she's ready but ds was a December baby born in October so I'm not used to this later stage of pregnancy - and it isn't fun

I'll not be going down the synto route because of previous cs. Even if I go overdue I don't want to be induced in any way - they may just cut me open again.

Wow! Congratulations Oiko What a surprise!

If any of the busy new mummies whose babies made a surprise entrance into the world return, did you have any inkling they'd come early? I'm 37+1 and do not in any way feel baby is coming 'soon'. Some of my friends have said at this stage they 'felt like a time bomb' and didn't want to go out etc but I don't feel any different to 3+ weeks ago except I waddle more

Hi, not posted in here before today so sorry for barging in at such a late stage! Was just reading through and noticed you talking about synto, I had a synto drip with my first as my waters had meconium in so my entire labour was spend sat on a bed with a drip and belt monitors on. I went for 5 hours with no pain relief at all and then had one shot of pethadine. Ds was born 3 hours after that with no other intervention and a 20 min pushing stage so I just wanted to let you know that an epidural is not necessary. I was adamant I didn't want one and I didn't need it!

This time (due 12/09) I'm in a country where epidurals are the norm and gas and air isn't used and I'm still planning on not having one :D

twizzle funnily enough, 12 hours before PROM i'd said to a friend "I feel like I'm about to drop this baby at any minute". Just felt heavy with an achey fanjo!!! And later that day, I felt some shifting/stretching/pressure in lower left pelvis and said to DH "it feels like the baby is moving down to get ready".

And then when i got up for a wee at 2am the next day, lo and behold, i was losing pinkish fluid.

I have hypermobility syndrome so i was at risk of PROM in any case, so i probably should have expected this more. but you don't do you? the risk wasn't huge so i thought nothing of it.

on the subject of synto, I was doing OK without an epidural until an internal about 5 hours in. so so dreadful! i was assaulted by a Dr a long time ago and it brought it all back (even though the OB was very kind this time - it was purely the sensation that freaked me out iyswim). i started sobbing at that point and felt really wobbly. from then i couldn't cope emotionally with the idea of another internal/other procedure without pain relief.

epi was inserted, was only half effective (again this is common with hypermobility syndrome, they're not sure why), so i could still feel 30%ish of the pain during ctx, but at least the pushing bit was much calmer than it would have been. was great in the end.

DH is adamant that the half-effectiveness of the epi was the key to the whole thing going so well. he feels it kept me calm, but i was still able to push v efficiently since i had some sensation.

i was always someone who wanted all-natural and all-fours and no epi and all those things. i longed for a home birth... i will tell you now, that's changed for me. i thought the hospital and all the options available were wonderful. just a great experience.

So you did have a 'feeling' then! So glad it all went well oiko your DH sounds like he's on cloud 9!

So am going to write my birth plan but have no idea where to start. Any advice guys? It all seems to be wishful thinking...