Jan 2013 part 4: the one where we are closer to the end than the beginning

[PricklyPickle]

Here we go!

Stats: 16 girls, 9 boys, 13 surprises

BuntyCollocks (29) DC2 EDD 28/12/12 She?s a girl!
Pmgkt (33) DC2 EDD 28/12/12 He?s a boy!
Birdies (33) DC2 EDD 30/12/12 She?s a girl!
Pascha (35) DC2 EDD 30/12/12 It?s a surprise!
PricklyPickle (31) DC1 EDD 31/12/12 It's a surprise!
LowLu (31) DC2 EDD 02/1/13
TootieMaroo (32) DC2 EDD 03/1/13
MarasmeAbsolu (31) DC2 EDD 03/01/13 She?s a girl!
Lora1982 (30) DC1 EDD 04/01/13 He?s a boy!
IsSpringSprangedYet (?) DC4 EDD 05/01/13
DollFisher (28) DC1 EDD 05/01/13 She?s a girl!
Allchik (30) DC1 EDD 06/01/13 It?s a surprise!
Pockemuchka DC3 EDD 06/01/13 It?s a surprise!
Happyhow (26) DC1 EDD 07/01/13 It?s a surprise!
EmilieFloge (38) DC? EDD 07/01/13
Complicated24 (44) DC1 EDD 07/01/13 It's a surprise!
Newbie6 (36) DC1 EDD 08/01/13 He?s a boy!
Norfolkinway (25) DC1 EDD 09/01/13
Octanegirl (34) DC1 EDD 09/01/13 He?s a boy!
BumgrapesofWrath (30) DC2 EDD 10/01/13
Kim222 (30) DC1 EDD 11/01/13
Lulabel27 (29) DC2&3 (twins) EDD 11/01/13
CraftyGirly (26) DC1 EDD 11/01/13 She?s a girl!
Cejay8 (32) DC2 EDD 12/01/13 It?s a surprise!
Tinyeyes123 (30) DC1 EDD 13/01/13 She?s a girl!
CreepyCrawly (22) DC1 EDD 13/01/13 She?s a girl!
PixelCarrier (37) DC1 EDD 13/01/13 It?s a surprise!
Shakemyhead (37) DC1 EDD 14/01/13 She's a girl!
Godzookey (35) DC1 EDD 14/01/13 He?s a boy!
PeshwariNaan (33) DC1 EDD 14/01/13
Hormonalhell (40) DC2 EDD 15/01/13 He?s a boy!
DoIgetastickerforthat (36) DC4 EDD 16/01/13 She?s a girl!
Theboutiquemummy (35) DC1 EDD 17/01/13
ChutesTooNarrow (33) DC2 EDD 18/01/13 She?s a girl!
Glorious (28) DC1 EDD 18/01/13
Tugstonia (33) DC1 EDD 18/01/13 It's a surprise!
SpringFlowers (39) DC4 EDD 18/01/13 It?s a surprise!
Eagleray (40) DC1 EDD 18/01/13
13mma (29) DC1 EDD 18/01/13 scan 13/09/12
LetThereBeCupcakes (30) DC1 EDD 20/01/13
Silversixpence (29) DC2 EDD 20/01/13
mulan07 (27) DC1 EDD 20/01/13 He?s a boy!
BadgerFace (34) DC1 EDD 21/01/13 She?s a girl!
PreggoFabulous (30) DC1 EDD 22/01/13 He?s a boy!
Bunny222 (31) DC1 EDD 22/01/13 It?s a surprise!
Bealos (34) DC2 EDD 22/01/13 She?s a girl!
AppleCrumples (??) DC4 EDD 22/01/13 It's a surprise!
Woody2313 (33) DC1 EDD 23/01/13
SigningGirl (?) DC1 EDD 24/01/13
Mrsbugsywugsy (34) DC1 EDD 25/01/13 She's a girl!
SquealyB (29) DC1 EDD 26/01/13 It?s a surprise!
knuckingfackered (39) DC2 EDD 26/1/13
Thinkingpositivethoughts (28) DC1 EDD 26/01/13
MrsMallard (35) DC1 EDD 26/01/13 She?s a girl!
Salt1 (38) DC1 EDD 27/01/13 She?s a girl!
Lilblondepessimist (33) DC4 EDD 28/01/13
MamaMary (31) DC2 EDD 28/01/13 She?s a girl!
Sebsmama (32) DC2 EDD 29/01/13
BionicEmu (26) DC2 EDD 29/01/13
Missymoo (32) DC2 EDD 30/01/13
DiscoDomina (31) DC1 EDD 30/1/13 He's a boy!
Brugmansia (35) DC1 EDD 31/01/13
Mummypud (32) DC3 EDD 31/01/13
PipIsOutNow (27) DC2 EDD 31/01/13 scan 19/09/12

morning all,

currently trying to force lucozade down my throat,yuk!

Happy birthday to all the birthday people.

So I actually read the leaflet about the lucozade trust and it said that my trust offer it routinely to all pregnant women, I guess others are different.

My work don't have maternity cover for me yet, they have submitted a request to HR to advertise but the new person almost certainly won't be able to start before I leave. So I have to handover to someone else, then that person will handover to the new person The joys of working for a huge bureaucratic organisation. I'm still waiting for my risk assessment too, I expect I'll get it the week before I go on mat leave.

Cejay I'm planning a homebirth. I think it makes sense if you are low risk and live close enough to a hospital in an emergency. Our hospital apparently doesn't do tours any more and I think that was a motivating factor - I don't really want to go and give birth somewhere I've never even seen before.

Hello everyone. Welcome Emily the more the merrier, and belated happy birthdays all round! Good luck today for your lucozade test MrsBug Rather you than me. I hate the stuff.

cejay I'm having a home birth. I gave birth in the local hospital MLU last time and it was fine but we live out in the sticks a bit and my labour wasn't very long last time. I would much rather be at home all ready to go with MWs on call for me, DH's mum on call for DS and all the stuff I need than have a panicked husband delivering my baby on the bathroom floor at 3am all alone and totally unprepared, with DS waking in the middle. Since Widget has done as told and turned upside down, my Hb is good and I have no medical issues I'm really hoping its going to be straightforward. (of course I know I have probably just put the mockers on it now and I will have the longest most painful labour in existence )

I bought the Maggie Howell birth prep cd off ebay for a fiver yesterday so I shall be putting that on the ipod and listening to it when it arrives. As long as it works I think I've got a bargain. Might put it on DS's audiobook playlist to freak DH out when he shuffles the list hehe...

pasha I really like the Maggie Howell book - but think I need to get listening to that CD more.

Cejay8 I'm having a home birth too. The continuity of care so far - the same midwife, coming to my house, every 4 weeks - has been amazing. I feel treated and given all the time in the world to ask questions etc. I also have a friend who is a doula coming so give me that full back up support I didn't have in my first hospital birth.

Pascha thanks for the tip! She's not as good at following the torch but we'll practise. It won't make her blind will it? I'm using the flash off my phone :|

Count me in to the birthday crowd, mine was last week :) Happy birthday everyone!

hello all, hideous nights sleep again, spent most of it on the sofa with one of the cats. had a lot of pain last night, had it a couple of weeks ago too, think it might have been baby having a big movement and changing position and needing to have a big poo. very uncomfortable and pretty painful, still feel a bit sore this morning. anyone else had something similar?

Wow so many birthdays, happy birthday to all. Hope your all being pampered and looked after :)

welcome emily.

Good luck with lucozade test mrsbugsy. Hope everything is ok.

On the homebirths I had one last time. It was great not having to be stuck in hospital and having all my home comforts around me, and lovely to get into my own bed after. Also the fact our local hospital is 5 mins away helped. However I had a really long labour during which I found myself worrying about looking after everyone else and due to a very quick and sudden delivery our sofa was ruined and I nearly ended up in hospital anyway as placanta refused to deliver. I don't want to put anyone off and it was lovely that my boys actually heard their sister arrive but I don't think I'd do it again. This is just my experience and I've heard loads of lovely stories from others who had great homebirth experiences.

No it won't make her katolla . Eyes open about 26-27 weeks once the retina has developed. How much she follows is entirely down to her, and whether she's facing in or out of course.

I hope I don't end up in hospital at any stage but if I do I do and thats ok. I just feel I will have more control if its all calm and arranged from the beginning. Last time I went from talking calmly on the phone to the hospital midwife at 12.55am where I got the paracetamol and bath advice to Fucking Hell these contractions are fast at 1.05am. DH drove like a bat out of hell, ran over a rabbit on the way and there was smoke coming from the tyres when we got to hospital at 1.15am. I was 8cm dilated by then.

No more unnecessary bunny deaths here thankyou! If I go to hospital it will be by ambulance transfer arranged by a midwife and in a timely manner!

Ooh pascha that sounds dramatic! Sadly I have quite long labours (last time it was 2 days) so I'll probably have plenty of time to get there without panicking. (sort of hoping now I've said that this one will be really quick...). It probably doesn't help that our house is quite small and already full of children, seriously considering asking to stay a little longer after birth so I can get some rest and some time with baby before the hordes decend! :)

Sorry, I forgot to say welcome Emily earlier.

The midwife appointment was OK. My bump has grown a lot - it now measures 30 cm at 28 and a half weeks, before I was measuring 24cm at 25 weeks. Apparently both are within the normal range, but my feeling that I have expanded rapidly over the last few weeks seems to have been about right. Also the baby has turned head down, hopefully she will stay that way

We had the usual struggle to get blood out of me for the blood test for glucose, and I will get the results later this week.

However the less good news is that my blood pressure was quite high. There was no protein in my urine which apparently rules out pre-eclampsia, but I have to go back later this week to have it checked again. I have a feeling it might be to do with being so stressed at the weekend so I am going to try to take it easy for the next few days, cut down on salt and try not to have any caffeine, and see if that makes a difference.

salt you have my sympathy, it's awful when you can't sleep.

Mostly just that bit, and a little panicked rush up on a trolley from MLU to Labour ward upstairs when they couldn't control a stubborn constant trickle of blood. It still took another 4 hours to give birth and everything was fine. They say second labours can be half the time so if the first was 7 hours, I can expect 3.5 hours this time, unless baby is in an awkward position. Of course I know that this could all be bollocks...

Did they tell you the blood pressure MrsBug? I had one hospital appointment once where it was 150/85 but that could have had a lot to do with them losing my notes I had handed to them minutes before and then making me wait an hour til they located them mixed up with another lady with the same first name. Last time my BP went right down after I finished working, this time not being at work its been dead normal all the way through. Do chill as much as you can!

Pascha it was 150/90, which she said was high, but not high enough for them to send me straight to hospital or anything.

Of course I am now stressing out about it which is probably making things worse!

Update - we think ours is a GIRL :)

Anyone else's husband refusing to read up on labour? Am trying to get started with hypnobirthing but he couldn't be less interested.... grrrr.

salt
1st time round I had loads of that.
Its trapped wind, trapped poo and trapped baby which trivializes it but I'm convinced thats it.
On several occasions I was crippled to my knees in pain in the middle of a street or shopping square very close to tears with pain.
Once I was on mat leave I found getting on all fours the mo it starts and letting baby 'hang' really helped but obviously not practical outside of your own home.

Get going with prune juice, lactulose and gallons of water.
We've got a while to go and they just get bigger and heavier to carry.

Thats borderline I think MrsBug. I expect they want to see if its always like that or just a one off from the stress of the day. I remember being told its the second figure they are concerned about. If it goes above 90 they might consider some BP medication which should do the trick.

I started the day by dropping the toilet roll down the toilet, followed by knocking over my just poured juice (for the record, one sheet is NOT Plenty) and then forgetting my support belt all before 8.30am.... The rest of the day hasn't been so bad but bloody hell!!!

I will def be having Baby in a hospital. Home births really don't appeal to me but I can see why others like it.

Sorry that you're in the same position as me Woody. I told them when I was 5 weeks so early May as two others in the dept were also pregnant. Stupid management that can't get their fingers out their arses!!!!!!

salt I am the same, cannot sleep and its awful. Still working and am resembling the walking dead most days not to mention being extremely short tempered and crying at the slightest thing!

Also suffering from heartburn and constipation so life is a joy here :) have started having a glass of prune juice every day which is helping although the taste makes me gag!

Cannot wait to get junior out so all this pain and worry can stop and then it's just the worry of being a parent, oh lordie what have we all done :)

Hope everyone else is doing ok!

X

Hi all

Thanks for the birthday wishes and happy birthday to cejay and pgmt. I have had an amazing day so far and am being thoroughly spoilt and nearly got very emtional earlier on today as a result !

Bealos glad you had a good time at Kew Gardens, DH and I are members there as we live locally and it is one of my favourite places in the world.

Welcome Emily.

Pixel your cake will be delicious if you have started soaking the fruit now! Yum.

Good to hear about people's birthing ideas, I am too much of a 'fraidy cat to go the home birth route but can see why it is appealing . Peshwari DH is definitely ignoring labour, and when I asked him why he is refusing to engage he said it is because he doesn't like to think of me being in pain and him being unable to do anything to stop it. Which is quite sweet really and maybe this is the case with yours too.

mrsbugsy the mini GTT with lucozade is standard practice for all preggy ladies at my hospital too. Hope the blood pressure evens out soon.

salt much sympathy here, not sleeping is no fun at all. Hope you get a good nights sleep today.

As for maternity cover, my lot could not find a suitable locum (obviously I am irreplaceable ) so have decided to hire someone more junior and that way they can invest in training them etc and share my work out to other more senior team members. So no bad thing I guess. Cannot believe how disorganised some places are.

Mini essay over now...sorry!

I'm the same newbie6 - want the next two months over and have a safe and sound/healthy baby that I can actually SEE! Being pain free will be a bonus....

Does prune juice actually work?
It sounds vile, but some days...you know.

dieciocho I suffered from constipation early on, and took every bit of advice going. Touch wood it has been fine ever since, but seeing as I am doing a few things I don't know which one is working, if that makes sense. They are

drink lots of water
gentle exercise (pregnancy yoga)
eat plenty of fruit, including a few dried figs or apricots every day
put a handful of linseed on my breakfast cereal

I haven't resorted to prune juice yet!

Thanks everyone for the BP advice. Will try to take it easy till Friday and hope things have improved.

Peshwari I think DP is terrified about the birth. Watching someone you love in pain and not being able to do anything about it is pretty horrible, to be fair. I have asked my sister to be a second birth partner, partly in the hope that she will take some of the pressure off him (as well as being a support to me). Are you going to antenatal classes? If so hopefully he can pick up everything he needs to know there. And meet some other similarly terrified men.

Gotta agree on bugsy's constipation advice (what have we become!).

LOADS and LOADS of water - yes, more wee! - I find juice and fizzy water good to gulp down too.
Dried apricots, figs - great as snacks throughout the day
Linseeds in muesli

Also, some multi-vits have a type of iron in them which is very constipating.

I know Bealos, I find myself chatting away about various bodily functions to my DP. Then I realise who he is and promptly shut up!

I already drink 2 litres of water a day; do you mean I need MORE?!

Thanks for the welcome ladies, and happy birthday all round!

Today at work I've been pretty useless (I work on a counter in London for Estée Lauder so on my feet all day) I've been feeling like I've eaten a massive bowl of pasta all day and have not got much done. Only just over 3weeks till I leave (if I make it) on a plus, I ordered a tens from work and got discount and points (I'm in a boots store in Kensington) I've heard they really help with contractions and can help keep you at home longer

Welcome emily. Ooh I bet you get some good make-up freebies! I used a tens first time round and can't imagine what it would have been like without it. You do need to be careful though as it worked so well for me I had my DD an hour after getting to hospital (didn't think I was in proper labour). Funnily enough mine just arrived today from Amazon so I'm all set (I borrowed from a friend last time).

Happy birthday to....everyone?! Feel like I'm the only one without a birthday haha! Hope you had a lovely day anyway. Agree with the need to be spoiled when pregnant, ESP on birthday.

My little DD has been a bit constipated as she's gone off her daily prunes (can't blame her, they're disgusting). I would chop them up and put them in her porridge. Dried apricots are working now though and taste nicer I think - so might be worth a try diecio. Have a nice evening everyone :)

Do love coming home from work and catching up with all your news. More birthdays. Wow. Huge congrats. A friend had her baby boy today so it's all feeling very real and imminent now.

I too am considering a tens machine but must confess I know bugger all about them other than they're supposed to be good. There are lots in Amazon so any recommendations on which one to buy? Will check out eBay too.