October 2012 - where we all bury our heads in the sand

[pinpan]

I'm starting stretch and sweeps at 37w. I fully expect it to be as unpleasant as it sounds :(

Wriggler is still transverse. I had a good view this morning as it stretched out across my belly, deforming it massively. Not sure which end was head and which was bum, but no doubt it went straight across :(

thunderbolt - I've started the waking-in-the-night-needing-a-wee too, but as I'm sleeping on my own (yay!) I can put the light on and read myself back to sleep. Have you got a booklight you could use to do the same, maybe?

Gah, no way I'm getting back to sleep now. I'm on my own too, though, so can MN read freely

Friend due same day as me had a giant kebab on Monday and had her baby by c section yesterday. Quite jealous as now she has a snuggly baby and I still only have a belly fruit that likes to kick me, DH, the midwife and anyone else who dares touch my stomach

[eats kebab]

I only had to get up once for the loo last night! Normally I'm a two or three times kind of a girl.

No internals here yet and I'll be 39 weeks this weekend - might ask the midwife on her top tips for getting things going when I see her tomorrow. I was snuggling a friend's 4 day old baby this afternoon and getting very jealous. Every little twinge or cramp I get makes me unbelievably hopeful for about five seconds...

Just made DH an awesome axolotl shaped birthday cake (thought I should get in practice for the next few years of novelty birthday cake requirements!), but ate too much icing and cake offcuts in the process and feel a little sick now.

I've been getting up for a wee every 2 hours for the past month or more! You're very luck

I've been offered stretch and sweeps by the consultant (but to be done by my community mw) from 38 weeks but I really don't want one til I'm 40w - hopefully the MW will agree!

thunder only starting now with the nightly loo trips is amazing! been having at least one, prob 2 trips per night since about 5 months. But it can be hard to sleep after, especially with lots to think about... Biscuits might help?

gizzy good news about your FIL and good luck with getting the baby on the move!

Haven't even thought about stretch & sweep yet but only 34+5. check up today to write birth plan with MW.

Had our 2nd nct class last night which was fine. Nice people but cant tell how friendly everyone will be afterwards. A bit unstructured though - think I might go to some of the hospital classes too.

I don't mind if we join post natal threads- but I also like that this one has slightly fewer people and easier to keep up with!

Only once a night for me too? Impossible to sleep afterwards.
goodsense we had our second NCT last night too! You're not in Bristol are you? Finding that I quite enjoy it. It's nice to find things out and I don't feel so overwhelmed by it all
I'd prefer our own postnatal thread as I don't know Amy of the others and feel like we've all gone thru this together. If we join up tho, I'd still go on it

I just ate 400g of pineapple. Partly because I really wanted it, and partly because I went into labour (almost certainly coincidentally) about 5 hours after eating a load of the stuff with my son. I really wouldn't mind having a baby today :o

38 weeks today and 1 and 1/2 days left at work!!! Hurray!!!! Very excited and i really wanted to share that with you!

I continue to have light contractions/period pains, specially at night! The other things i am experiencing is tummy aches... Is anyone else havign those? They come on specially at night when i try to turn around in bed... it just feels like there is no more room for the baby in my belly!! Maybe time he came out?? It really hurts though, it feels as if the skin is streching as well....

ST82 - depends on what you mean by tummyache - I get pain in the side of my belly when I turn over sometimes, and also if I cough or sneeze - but I work on the principle it's just my overstretched ligaments whinging about the extra stress on them.

Showed DH and DS my belly button yesterday (they asked) - DH agreed that it looks very stretched and tender and has now stopped pissing around trying to pat it. It doesn't pop out, didn't last time, won't this time - just gets very stretched-looking and almost bruisy, iykwim.

CapnHetty - exciting! Hope it works for you then :)

I just wanted to share that I had a beyewtifully sharp Clexane needle this morning - it didn't need any effort to get it in at all (hurrah!) and didn't hurt. Wish they were all that sharp.

Just had a lovely clary sage bath and am supping the RLT by the gallon. I shall add pineapple to the list later Hetty

Thumb I have never had an outie before but have got one this time! I dont think I like it. I especially don't like how it pokes through whatever I am wearing

My TT scar is really stretched and sore. Wee baby Boo gets very active in the evenings and it pulls and tugs and really hurts down there. I also get a sharp tummy ache pain from baby pushing on my bladder and back passage Now that really does smart a bit!

ST enjoy your last day and a half at work

I have been religiously getting up 3-4 times a night to pee for about 4 months. Last night I slept from 10pm until 5:36am I then had to get up due to the starvingness, but still!

Waves to everyone else

I'm going to appear really thick now but I never understood how the numbers on blood pressure readings work - is there a big difference between 138/78 and 120/60?

The more risky of the two is the lower number, Hetty - the diastolic pressure. But so long as it stays below 90, it's generally not a problem. The higher number, the systolic pressure, is subject to more variation than the diastolic - so can have a bigger variation without it being a problem.

Gizzy, I don't want this one to be an outie either - I don't think it will though, as I say, it's stretched almost flat. FX - it might make me feel a bit ill if it pops out!

hello everyone. i have been getting light contractions for the last one week or so, mainly durign the night, they're not very strong but strong enough to wake me up. yesterday i have my first couple during the day and today i have had a few every now and then during the afternoon.... what does that mean? they're not too painful, more like light period pains but they're def there, right at the bottom of my belly... do you think, things are progressing? my period pains used to be an absolute nightmare, for my last period i was given gas and air to elevate the pain, so my pain threshold and what i consider painful may be quite different to most people's.

either way, it is very exciting!!!!!!! maybe i should go home and have some pineapple as well, give baby boy a little helping hand

Thanks Thumb, never did understand what was considered high or low!

I'm pretty sure for pineapple to have any real effect you'd have to eat, like, 7 of them or something. Either way since my pineapple binge this morning I've had a few tightenings but nothing regular, so going to have to give up on that one I think! I'll get the birthing ball out tonight and watch reruns of One Born Every Minute. I can try and bounce myself into labour whilst simultaneously scaring the absolute crap out of myself at the thought of giving birth again.

I wonder if you can scare yourself into labour....

I also had an 'only one wee' night last night for the past month it's been 3 or 4 times a night.

I had MW appt today. She wouldn't fill inthe paper work for a home birth yet as my iron is still low, I'm keeping everything crossed that when it is retested next week it is closer to the recommended level.

Also, when she listened to the baby's heartbeat it was 128 bpm- I said it sounded slow but she reassured me it was fine. However when I looked back at previous weeks,the fetal hb was sound 140-150. So now I'm worrying of course. Baby is still active so hopefully all is ok, but does anyone know anything about this?

Plastic my midwife doesn't ever record the bpm. She listens in but just writes FFHR for fetal heartbeat heard + regular. Some NHS trusts don't even routinely listen in now as movement is a better indicator of fetal well being.

I have also never had my tummy measured. She has a feel and tells me everything is perfect.

I'm well crampy. Think I might have over done it with the clary sage

What I was trying to say was I'm sure everything is fine and if she was at all concerned she would have sent you to the unit for further monitoring

Oh and that should be FHHR

On the CTG baby's heartbeat varied from 120 up to 180 at it's highest, and the MW said it was normal.

Out of interest, does anyone know what the bottom reading on the print-off from the CTG is? The top one is obviously the heartbeat but I can't figure out what the bottom one represents. It's a percentage, goes up and down in waves, could possibly have been the tightenings I suppose.

Thanks Gizzy and Hetty, I will stop worrying now, I'm sure I never worried about everything in my previous pregnancies!

I'm crampy too, it would be lovely to have a baby inthe next few days

Argh I am so fed up with crappy internet not working!!!

Will try to catch up!

Misspolly thank you for the reassurance. I?m really looking forward to finishing work and just staying in, glad its not just me who feels so yucky (tho obviously not glad you are feeling yucky! :) )

Newton sorry your last day was rubbish, How are you enjoying being off?

goodsense How you getting on with the flat? It?s a nightmare getting stuff organised!

Shell If you get the channel Watch I totally recommend Australian Masterchef, I can?t Wtch the UK version now cause the Oz version is so amazing!

Hetty How are you doing? At least baby is moving fine so that?s the main thing. Has the pineapple had any effect???

thumb glad your blood pressure turned out ok! That?s good.

Gizzy Glad to hear positive news about your FiL, now just have to get your baby out for him!

ST Oooh the excitement, maybe you?ll be next for a wee baby!!

Plastic I?m sure I have read that as the baby gets bigger its heart rate slows down, just naturally.
My midwife doesn?t write the speed either just that she has found the beat.

Sorry to those I haven?t name checked, it gets hard to keep up!!!

I am not so hungry anymore so hopefully making up for when I was stuffing my face a couple of weeks ago! I?ve not weighed myself at all, I have body image issues at the best of times, so put the scales away after the first 12 weeks just to keep myself sane!

I am feeling slightly better today, last day at work tomorrow, thank god! Cannot wait to finish! Just getting desperate to meet baby but terrified of labour at same time! Lol looking forward to next week, planning to chill, tidy and go swimming!

Hope everyone is doing well.

Not sure I can explain it very well, but when my mw checks baby's heartbeat she says its good that its varied during time she listens something to do with good oxygen intake.

Urine sample contained protein so they're now pretty sure the low fluid is down to a problem with the placenta and not me leaking fluid, just got to keep an eye on things really. I'm stressing more than anything now because I've been given all these symptoms to look out for, so I'm constantly looking for symptoms that aren't actually there

Slightly uncomfortable this evening but willing little lady to stay put as DP is an hour away aaaand the lights on the car have stopped working. If I go into labour tonight he'll be missing it, she's only permitted to arrive in daylight hours until it's fixed :o

re weight my MW insisted on weighing me at my 36 week appointment, I've put on 10kg

You'd think after three babies I'd know whether labour is starting or not, but after so many nights of on/off tightenings I just don't know any more...

Been awake 45 minutes now having tightenings every 6 minutes. Uncomfortable enough that I have to stop moving and typing but not increasing in intensity or getting closer together yet... I feel incredibly sick and need the loo every 5 minutes, I'm also bloody freezing cold!

Hoping if I manage to get back to sleep this will wear off, I really cannot do this tonight, DP can't move the car in the dark and he's an hour away, my other birthing partner is my sister and she's also an hour away with a car that's not running... and there's nobody else nearby with a car to take me in apart from my ex and I need him to have the other kids.

Stay put til morning at the very least baby!