due oct 2006 part 2

[totallyfloaty35]

Well lets fill this one up too

btw: I've started yoga this Monday.Was quite nice.Shoudl do an exercise everyday, as I did in first pregnancy and was least painful birth!

glad they sorted you out whiffy! i've been lent an amazing silk dress in a cool swirly non maternity pattern that's by a french designer:veronique delachaux, she has a website and you can also buy from a fantastic shop in clapham which has lots of different brands. only prob. is i already dont fit it as my chest has expanded even more than the bump-34f at last fitting . never mind, am going on a girly day trip to paris with my mum hopefully on which we can stock up on cheap baby stuff and mat. clothes.
re yoga, went last week and felt v. smug, unfort. this week was just back to thinking about going again...

morning ladies, hope that you are all doing well

re the exercise/yoga. i do exercise but i dont do yoga. i have a workout dvd thing ('pump it up') which i do 20 minutes of everyday (im scared to do anymore than that because its one of those hard-core workouts) and i do those pelvic floor exercises off and on through the day lol. i feel like Mr-bloody-motivator

Was reading pregnancy and parenting mag last night and there was an article on how to have the perfect birth they recommend 20 mins yoga a day, 30 mins walking a day and no wheat. Only went into brief detail as they wanted you to buy the book (which due to preg brain I can't remember what is called!)

I just signed up for a pilates course,used to do it last year,was fun as she has all the machines and they work faster than mat classes.Also swim once a wk and walk dogs,but still feel huge,maybe i need to take up triathlons
Of course my natural inclination is to lie on my bed with a book,but that doesnt burn calories.
Anyone doing Nct classes? am tempted to sign up even just to meet other new mums

I did NCT last time and made some really good friends from them. Bit of a waste of time as preparation for birth/babies I think but the social side of it is really good!

I'm considering signing up for pregnancy yoga classes but with my ever pessimistic mind am waiting til after my 20 week scan on 23rd May

You ladies are all so good. Make me feel very guilty about my lack of exercise. Though we did have a family trot round our local park yesterday evening and I had a little kick around of my ds football. But did I mention I had a realy yummy curry for my dinner. Though dh says that a chicken korma isnt realy a curry! Just realy fancied it. Im not a curry person normaly so I just hope it doesnt turn into a craving. I went to nct classes with my first ds 12 years ago but didnt see the point when it came to the labour. Didnt use any of it except to pant when the heads born.But its brill to have a natter with other Mums that are experiencing the same things and different things.Oh I feel so lazy now reading all you fit ladies doing fit stuff.I do swim once a week though does that count?

of course it counts Gingema,im certainly counting my once a wk swim.My gp moaned about my long haul flight,kept going on about pg making you more prone to DVT,am so looking forward to the flight now

Oh floaty I think your GP is talking garbage.I once discussed long haul travel with my Gyni (what IS the abbreviated term?) becuase I used to travel long haul on business (4 long haul flights every month - most of them 10 hours+) and I was hell-bent on getting her to say there was a risk of some kind (so I could wriggle out of it at work) but she said totally not a problem. Jamaice will be fab so chill and look forward to it.

Oh, and by the way, I hereby confess to an alcohol craving same as you. Have decided to take the french approach to PG - if I'm chillin and the sun is shinin and I am socialising with friends, then sure as eggs is eggs a glass of chilled white will be downed. Only thing is that now I am opening the very best wines from the cellar. I figure that if I can only have a couple of glasses a week then by god they're going to be GOOD glasses

Wish I was off to Jamaica but can't complain as I have persuaded DH that the only way of avoiding a PG-hormone-inspired riot is by letting me have a girls weekend - so I have measured up the front room for a new rug (he doesn't know about that bit) and I am off to Marrakech next Friday.

hello all

got my next scan date through this morning for the 5th June.

me and dp are going on holiday mid june, but thats only a 4 hour flight (fuerteventura) so i dont think that really counts as long haul does it?

Ta whiffy,feel better now,MW says wear flight socks and move around and i will be fine,but DH in a panic and trying to upgrade my flights so i have more room,i shant tell him its not necessary

oh and on the wine front,im right with you,i only drink the good stuff,currant fave is Sancerre

Thanks totaly dont feel quite so guilty now. I love swimming while Im pregnant. Remember with ds no3 feeling him move as I was swimming. Strange thinking we were kinda doing the same thing. My hayfever is realy driving me mad. My poor nose is red raw and Im sneezing all the bl*Y time. Cant wait till dh gets paid again then Im straight down to the acupuncture clinic. They do wonders for all diff things. Dont know if anyone else has tried it but Id highly recomend it for what ever ails you! xx

well, cellars and sancerre is a bit posh for me. It's asda sauvignon blanc in our house I'm afraid. Only get expensive wines when we visit our parents!!! But only drinking the best stuff is a very sensible approach I think-perhaps we need a rethink.

not long at work for me til the weekend starts. hope it stays sunny.

about flying: just been to the Maldives.Had flying-socks , got up often, moved my feet and even fitted into my shoes next morning (11 hours flight) o yes it was business class, but in this case it just meant more space for your legs.Reccomended if you can afford it!
DH had feet the size of melons as he was sitting in the middle, didn't get up often.Het got some ice and they let him put his feet uo.
The best flights are those with airlines like the emirates, if you fly business with them you can make your chairs completely flat.But sometimes business clas means only a very little more space and a very bigger price tag!
if you move your feet and drink a lot ( no tea, fizzy drinks, best is plain water) you really shouldn't get DVT.

totally, I wouldn't worry. So far in this preg I've been to Moscow from Kazakhstan (5 hours), Dubai (4.5), and Amsterdam (7.5), and also been stuffed in the back of a car in Uzbekistan for a week, sometimes driving 7-8 hours per day. I think if you could get an aisle seat and wiggle your legs and feet regularly, walk up and down a little bit and as others have said drink plenty, there should really be no problem. Maybe also give your legs a brisk rub before you get on the flight.. Jamaica sounds perfect!

Hope it's springlike where you all are! It's lovely and leafy here now, might go hiking in the mountains this weekend, though not right up at the top cos of altitude problems. Trying to walk to work every day which is about 30 mins but sometimes just too lazy..

Anyone else finding it hard to concentrate at work and not look up things about babies on the internet every spare second?!

Gemmity, I asked you before: where will you give birth?

and the rest of you..where and how do you plan to give birth? hospital-home- water-epidural- live on the internet??

i would like a natural hospital birth , if possible.For one reason or another I always ahd to go to hospital anyway.But if the birth is straightforwrd, don't need antibiotics ( had that last time for b strep.)and children at school., might as well stay at home.but the idea of getting away from then for a few hours is attractive! no water I supoose, or it would only have to be for the first part of labour.But can't be bothered hiring a pool as if it is likely that i go to hospital and anyway, last birth was so quick, I'll know it will be over soon and no big problem.

hi Rianna,

I will prob give birth in Antwerp, where my in laws live. I had a scan there while we were over, and visited the maternity ward. It was very clean, and they had 4 midwives for 1-2 women per day. Midwives spoke English and seemed very caring and nice. Plus it's epidural on demand with a patient controlled 'pain pump' (sounds good to me!), and you stay in for 5 days after the birth with breastfeeding consultant, physio etc coming every day... Will pay for a private room. It's not actually that expensive (not rip off Britain!). They also have a birthing pool, and will keep options open, but based on what everyone has told me about the pain I'll prob have an epidural. If only you could have epidural plus pool!

would try for pool or home birth for next kid (thinking ahead a bit there!)

that's Antwerp in Belgium by the way.. The hospital had a vast selection of Belgian beers in the canteen, which put DH in a good mood [grin}

Gemmy, don't know belgium mentality that well, as it is different from dutch although it is the smae language. the dutch are very fanatical about natural birts, no epidural and then after a difficult birt they go councelling :(
i think it is great that you can have an epidural, had one with no 2 , who was posterior , and engaged and pressing on my soine, very painful and constant.i was so thankful being in britain, not holland!
but with no 1 (also posterior but not as much engaged) and no 3 ( perfect position) birt was easy peasy, honest.the pushing is quite horrible burning, immagine being constipated with a melon , something like that.but with an edidural you will feel that as well, because if you would't you would need assistance.birth 1 and 3 were great as i was in control of my own body, give yoga a try and keep an open mind, that's my advice.First try out your own body, if it is too painful, no shame in pain relief. or you could get an ceasarian of course, by now a fifth of the women will have it so i'm trying to inform myself about that too...( pictures in teh books make me a bit sick).Do you have enough pregnancy books over there? could send you one!

Good morning ladies. Im hoping for another water birth this time. Had one with dsno3 and thought it was fantastic. Though judging by my sil last and 4th baby she was born in 3 hours. Takes 2 hours just to fill the pool. If not it will be a hospital birth with as much walking around as poss. Every time Ive mentioned its my 4th baby everyone assumes I want a home birth. Unless it is too quick to get to hosp then yes but if not I definately want to be in hospital! Wouldnt want a home birth anyway I live in flats and can imagine the neighbours knocking to see if I was ok. They mean well but are very nosy also........

thanks Rianna,

well they seem more pro-epidural in Belgium: they are Flemish (so straightforward, direct and friendliness of Dutch attitude in terms of the midwives) but they also have the French attitude of 'let's use all the tech' as well, which is perfect for me, certainly for 1st baby: I'm a real real coward! I'm going for the university hospital in antwerp cos they are very progressive and woman-centred and you can do what you want.. will try water birth but unless it goes very quickly will probably need something stronger.
Don't mind thought of pain and effort at the end to push the baby out, if I'm not worn out with the hours of first stage etc.

gingeme: yes, would be awful to have the neighbours come round! It will be lovely having 4: I want 4 but DH not so sure!

Have booked an independant MW as want a water birth at home,mainly as have huge fear of hospitals,but if i have to go in she will be with me and i know i wont get pushed into anything just because its NHS policy.
First birth was c-section after 28 hr labour and 2nd was 14hrs and forceps delivery.I wont have an epidural this time(unless no choice) as both times it stopped me contracting and i had to have a syntocin drip to start me up again,then it took nearly 9hrs to wear off,which means you cant feel to push so get a very managed birth.
Apart from all that i know epidurals can be wonderful for some women and i think pain relief should be available to all.My 2nd birth was at a private birth unit,which sounds very like your belgian hospital Gem,it was very nice and they used lots of holistic therapies,for instance as my baby was forceps they booked a cranial osteopath to come that day,i think it really helped she was a very calm happy baby who slept through from 3 wks,im def getting an osteopath for next baby

ive thought a lot about this and have decided that it would be best for me to be at the hospital (this is my first) and i would love to go for waterbirth. if the pool for whatever reason is unavailable, then id just try my best to get through the birth as naturally as possible. ive read and heard a lot about the positioning helping a lot in birth, natural methods of pain relief etc.

would like to try waterbirth, and will see how it goes on the day, but am frankly terrified of the pain, have asked lots of mums and read the entire internet it seems, and what I hear just scares me more and more! getting really depressed about it . On the other hand I have an over active imagination and am a big worrier, so it cannot possibly be worse than I imagine (although my cousins tell me that's the problem: it is worse than you imagine!)