December 2012, 'Christmas rush' has a different meaning for us this year!

[StaceymReadyForNumber3]

Thought we should have a shiny new thread.

bellaboo I'm hoping to BF and express also, I haven't been to any bf classes and this is my first. Was thinking to bf only for a bit then introduce a bottle of breast milk so as to make weening easier . Then on to baby lead weening if all goes well

My body has been having a good clear out today, and handsome wicked cramping, but sadly I think it's all down to my crappy cold (which is making me want to cut my head off)

MW put 4/5 engaged and when I asked her what that meant, she said "he was definitely on his way"...what the hell is that supposed to mean? People who don't give straight answers piss me off!

Awww, hugs mama

Eggs when I told mw about pains in the night she looked at me and said "ooo what do you think that is?". !!!

Hi all massively over did my migrating cervix marching yesterday, been feeling rather woozy all day like fighting off a cold but doesn't seem to have progressed to snots so hoping it's the flu jab stretching its antibody legs or something! All bhs really eased off - I get tickles and pokes right down there (makes sitting tricky!) but no stabs! I reckon many of you are way ahead of me! Only thing I've got is sore thigh muscles! So mammoth catch up.... sorry if I've missed bits, have major pudding head!

Wow congratulations greatexpectations what a surprise and loooove the name! I hope your lo is ok, he's definitely in the best place though.

How was hv pidj?

ellie what a frustrating day for you. I must admit I have a lot of relief knowing no more hospital crap at the mo, I do feel for all you gd people.

Pleased to hear things are good mamapo take it easy and look after yourself! Ooh Kate sounds promising!

Oh eggs you sound like your battling to hold the fort, hope dhs migraine clears soon so he can give you tlc

Get well soon stacks

Oh dear gils - that might mean nothing mind. Have you been offered a sweep? I've learnt that tbh it's the cervix that dictates how soon etc - a girl at aquanatal wasn't engaged at all right up to birth with her first. Been engaged for ages but my cervix ain't budged! Lots of walking and stair climbing (but don't over do it like me!) And you and prune can join me at the [benvy]overdue bar, been propping it up for 4 days now!
Been clearing out for weeks and now totally link bhs to any digestive movement!

Baby's head divided into 5ths, 5/5 is floating free and 1/5 is right down there but they can pop in and out and also diff professionals feel dif things, but it can be confirmed on portable scan at hospital (if they fancy it)

(Sorry massive post!)

Thanks Clarella, it wouldn't have taken much effort for the MW to say that!

grrrr, just wrote a whole reply and computer crashed.

Bella - we are mainly BF but was given bottles of expressed breast milk when in SCBU and at the moment DH is doing one of the nightime feeds with a bottle of EBM. Dash is quite happy switching. We were told the same thing at our BF class so when SCBU asked if it was ok for him to have bottles overnight we were a bit reluctant because of the nipple confusion thing.The consultant and the neonatal nurses said that the idea of nipple confusion is one propagated by BF facists (their word, not mine!) so women will persevere more with BF.They said there was no rreason why babies shouldnt swap between the 2.So we went ahead and let him have bottles of my milk when i asnt there and BF when i was. The consultant said most babies left scbu being able to bottle and breast feed as its very hard to exclusively BF while in the unit.

we have an Avent electric pump which ive only used a couple of times-its ok, but not great. i'm mainly using the one we borrowed from scbu at the min but need to give that back soon. Have been meaning to ask spotty i think - how are you finding the spectra pump?

Thanks honey I thought that was the case - it's so unfair were confused enough as it is and then they put guilt into the mix!

emily that's my plan too!

bella - i think a nurse said something along the lines of as long as they can suck andget food they couldnt care less where it comes from! Introducethe bottle asap and they wont know any different!

We did the big BF no-no of letting him have a dummy at about 3 weeks. Doesnt seem tohave caused any problems!

Felix has a dummy already and he loves it. All the SCBU babies do so they can associate sucking with a full tummy when being tube fed and so he can get some comfort. My sister was all 'oh they shouldn't have a dummy until bf is established' but as long as he's happy I don't care.

The Spectra is fine my only problem with it is that's its slow but I can't imagine anything I could afford would be on par with the hospital grade medela. The hand pump is quicker but hurts my hand and there's no suction control so hurts to buggery when you start off. I'm finding all the expressing quite hard tbh and am really having to force myself to keep at it.

Well, I'm another one who had a lovely surprise for my last day. Got a v generous gift voucher for Boots and some smellies. Really touched given I've done all this before and they had a collection then. It's only a small office too. Trying to decide what to get from the list of non-essentials but would be great to have.

After days of nothing, also finally had a few signs that things might be on the move - some quite painful cramps, sure I can feel the head much lower down and (TMI alert) jelly-like discharge. It's a bit strange for me as even though this is DC2, had absolutely no sign of anything happening at all with DS until I was induced so have no idea how things would kick off naturally.

Trying not to get my hopes up too much but thinking curry/romance might be the way to go here tonight as well (although having second thoughts about the curry given some of the posts upthread )

you sound like you're doing amazingly well though spotty - lots of positive vibes and have you had any more Felix cuddles?

At my antenatal class the midwife said most people prefer the Medela electric pumps and Tommy Tippee hand pumps. I haven't been organised to get anything like that yet but maybe I will. Whoever said upthread about their nesting instinct taking the form of internet shopping (sorry can't remember), I can definitely relate to that!

giraffe glad to hear that about tommee tippee hand pump as that's the one I got (had no clue what to get)

Hi just skim read the thread. I find it really hard to keep up with!
Congrats on all the new babies. An updated stats list would def be a help.
I'm supposedly team boy too- have carried v differently this time and heartbeat high....prob still a boy!

Clarella I'm due in 2 days and have walked a couple miles a day this week- at toddler pace. Midwife has advised that I conserve energy now. She didn't think would make a lot of difference as baby will decide when to come. However, she did say being active in labour is a big help.

I'd be inclined to agree with her cashmere. Tested that theory to the max. Now googling 'feeling fluey before labour' !! Still, my thigh muscles have had a nice little work out which will help with the squatting during my Inevitable epidural active labour water birth! How are you feeling?

Congrats to those finishing work!

Re the head thing again - when I mentioned to the girl at aquanatal who wasn't engaged till before birth I was 3/5 she said that that is classed as fully engaged (she's a doctor) which is what I was initially told at 36 weeks then felt deflated when I saw 3/5 in the notes. And now I've noticed mw just puts '-3 ceph' though verbally said 2/5 and even thought lower (maybe till she felt my high cervix?!). As I say ( please correct me on any of this peeps) i think it's all in the cervix though!

I'm okay, the plan this weekend is to do as little as possible. I'm hoping that this will make baby decide is a nice safe time to come!
Still planning a homebirth....hope it doesn't seem too surreal in reality though. Our boiler broke last night but thankfully had been fixed this am. Had row with DH as he just said 'oh well we'll get it sorted tomorrow' in a blasé way. Last night it gelt like a catastrophe!

The texts have started. I'm trying to view it in terms of the fact that if peeps showed no interest I'd be upset. However, as due date approaches it does make me feel like I'm somehow failing...which is a bizarre way to think/feel. Hormones I guess!

Oh and I'm 3/5ths and loads of sharp pains. It seems that all these signs mean 'labour is imminent OR a couple weeks away'!!

Giraffe, that was me with the Internet shopping- nesting from the sofa!

What does 3 ceph mean? How come I don't know what I am? No one has mentioned my cervix....or where it should be?

Just looked in my notes and it says ceph roa free off to google that

Nesting from the sofa is definitely the way to go [bgrin]! I was feeling energetic and domesticated this afternoon so spent less than half an hour cleaning and dusting in the bathroom... then was tired and spent about 2 hours recovering!

Emily- ceph just means head down, short for 'cephalic'
ROA means right occiput anterior. So baby is head down, lying with its back on your front right.

Cashmere is it your first or second dc?

Have to say the 'due date' thing is such as weird non event I wish they were a bit vaguer ' youre roughly around this week' would be more manageable - I seem to feel a little embarrassed now when people say 'when are you due' and I reply I'm over or last Monday. Firstly it feels like I'm late handing in some paperwork thing and apologising to them and secondly their eyes kind of glaze over a bit and they hurriedly wish me luck as if I'm actually in labour then- before edd it was expressed with more excitement!

Oh and free just means the head isn't engaged, so floating free above the brim of the pelvis.