Graduated elderberries - 30+ and looking forward to DC1! (Thread 5)

[Alexandra6]

Hi everyone, hope you had good wkends, I'm looking forward to my holiday next Saturday (although won't be the usual sunbathing with wine flowing!), still can't wait just to relax especially as I'm feeling a bit rough and sick today! Work are piling on the pressure ahead of my hols but who cares, in one week I will be off for two weeks woop!

Just wondered when the really preggers people started to get lightning crotch/cervix pangs? So I can be prepared and not go into cervix panic!

Congrats Cavort!

but yes, 4 beds is shocking!

Woohoo! Huge congratulations Cavort so so glad she's finally here and has the appetite of a trojan

How are you feeling. .? Hope you are feeling good and enjoying life on the other side of the torture!

Boo to needing a transfusion Purple but I bet you feel tons better after... as will your beloved caveman

to you both.

Niggles have eased off here, and operation nesting is having a soft launch... have finally accrued a gym ball and a baby names book in case it's a boy, tho irritatingly, DP is doing a frightening good job of talking me round to his favourite!

Janey you have such a beautiful little boy :) can't wait to see (probably) Elodie!

Thanks Berries We are definitely calling her Elodie Amber. I let DH choose the middle name after spending the last 6 months twisting his arm on Elodie.

Just waiting in my ridiculous 4 bed ward to be discharged by the doctor. And waiting. And waiting. And waiting. God bless the NHS, who were absolutely brilliant yesterday but this is so frustrating. I just want to go home!!!

Brave I recommend www.nameberry.com for names.

I agree with ouchie sore nipples. Victor cluster feeds, but luckily during daytime. At night he again fed ad midnight, 4am and then slept happily til 9.

Janey how do you manage with the charming quirk of baby boys, peeing all over whenever you try to change the diaper? Or maybe it's just us. Thank god we don't have any carpets.

If you haven't got a sling yet, I would certainly recommend one. We have a moby wrap and Vic is very happy there. Especially after a feeding episode when he's sleepy and full, but just wants to be on the boob - he often settles in sling as well. And dh has you have your hands free to do other stuff.

Thanks for the tip Cavort, have total name envy right now tho - would love an Elodie Amber but DP vetoed any name starting with El months ago!

Hope you get to escape soon :)

Cluster feeding sounds fun am totally impressed with the breastfeeding effort going on... you will be my role models!

Glad to hear sling is working... am very keen to get one (lazy) so all encouragement appreciated!

Re the fire hose effect, saw a tip. Fold a square of muslin and rest it on top of the ahem 'sprinkler' any sprinkles will be contained and absorbed.

Hazle I am pretty sure there is a little penis cone thing that you can buy specifically for that problem!

Lovely name Cavort. I know what you mean about the four person wards - why do you think I discharged myself!

I'm still stuck in the hospital of death, I've been here since 9.45 and so far after three attempts they managed to take blood from my shrivelled up veins and...that's it. Not a peep from them since. Getting seriously fed up sitting here waiting

I'm also envious of all the sore nipples going on as my baby is still steadfastly refusing to drink from anything other than a bottle.

You mean one of these cavort?

Hazle - we're not coping that well with it. Day one at home and he managed to spray pee everywhere, including into his own mouth Bad parents...

Purple that sounds shit. Poor you.

In our hospital there were six beds in the first ward I was put in. Six!! On the second and third nights though they put me in a side room on the basis that it was unfair to keep me up all night with other people's babies crying, when my own was in intensive care.

Finally escaped and have come home to sleep to start my new life as a Mum. I have started by losing the Lansinoh between the hospital and home. Aaarrgghh!

Brave I am also not keen on having an Ellie running around with all the millions of other little Ellie's, so I think we will call her DeDe or Eldy. Of course I can't influence what her friends will call her but I definitely won't be calling her Ellie.

Hazle I have also got a wrap sling. I obviously haven't used it yet so it's good to hear that you are finding yours so useful. I might try her in it later. Although with the epidural wearing off slower than expected and me having to have a small episiotomy my walking is currently worse than it was this time yesterday, so I don't think I should probably have a baby on board yet.

You lot are making me really really excited about our little one arriving now. It all seems real finally now I'm getting movement and hearing the heartbeat yesterday.

Did any of you have a Doppler? I've always thought it would be a recipe for anxiety for me, but a friend has got one spare and I am wondering about asking to borrow it. Thoughts?

I was too scared quod. Weird, I know. But I just thought I'd be obsessively checking on at least a daily basis, and probably scaring myself each time I couldn't find a heartbeat.

I think cavort had one though, and being far more sensible than me was able to use it without giving herself heart failure.

Cavort - buy some new lanisoh!! I've been using it religiously yet still have incredibly sore nipples, would be scared of not having any! And enjoy your first night at home as a family

Quod I would vote no - I got one even though I said I would not. On the one hand, it was reassuring a few times when I panicked that I had not felt the baby move and could indeed find the heartbeat. Then again, if you are really worried about the movement then this is not really enough anyway and it's better to go see a MW. And it caused me a lot more panicky moments when I simply could not find the heartbeat - and that happened all the time.

Cavort in France the nickname for Elodie would be Dede (or Didi, as it's written here).
Now, as you had such a tiny bump, are you one of those annoying people who left the hospital in your pre-pregnancy jeans without a hint of a belly as well? Mine is going down, but still there, so am approaching the "not sure if fat or pregnant" stage again.

I'm at the 6- and 4- people wards. Yes sure it's cheaper and if you're just sick, can manage. But hello, newborn babies! They cry! And mothers who have just given birth are exhausted - who on earth would think this is a good idea? Surely this is the place to make an exception.

8 hours later... Finally got a cannula in but still no sign if any blood and they've decided I'm so ill I need 4 units not two and they want to keep me overnight which they promised me on the phone wouldn't happen so I've got nothing with me. Seriously fucked off.

Oh purple poor you :( Goox job you've gone in though. Shit they're going to make you stay in. Are you in the postnatal ward? If so, hope it's not too cramped or too bloody hot.
Hope they give you the units you need quickly and you can go home ASAP x

Oh and cavort, you enjoying having a pee now? I know I keep going on but isn't it ACE to be back to normal in that respect?! Almost makes up for the sore nipples and lack of sleep

Quod My SIL gave me a Doppler and I really enjoyed using it. I think you just have to keep in mind that you won't find the heartbeat every time and don't get too neurotic about it.

Unfortunately not Hazle, I know it's only been a day but I currently look like a flabby version of roughly my 26 weeks photo so still in maternity clothes. I might jump on the scales in the morning and see what the remaining damage is.

Janey it is HEAVEN even though my undercarriage is currently like a train wreck.

Oh boo Purple! I hope they release you from prison soon. and now maybe a small

< sigh > I know I'm a really whiny miserable monster today but I really wish they were as considerate here as they were to Janey. As it is my baby is at home being looked after by Daddy and I'm stuck listening to someone else's baby cry. Unfortunately my boobs don't know the difference and they won't take the cannula out of my arm despite my phobia 'just in case'.

Not holding out hope for any a lot of sleep between the rock hard leaky norks and 'bad arm' which I've had to completely disown so the thought of tubes sticking out of it doesn't make me totally freak out. So I can't move or bend it at all (they stuck it in the crook of my elbow as the veins in my hands were hiding) so not very comfy

Aww Purple I really feel for you. Couldn't Lucy have stayed in hospital with you to at least give you some company/purpose while you are being kept awake? Surely they didn't expect you to spend the night away from your baby after just a week?

And it's nowhere near the same, but when I once broke my wrist I had to spend the night in hospital trying to sleep with my arm at 90 degrees to my body, bent at the elbow and attached to a fixed splint which was on a stand next to the bed.... anyway, I am waffling as usual but I know how shit you must be feeling.

Well I am nearly 6 hours into the second night of the cluster feeding marathon. My nipples are killing and it's only day 2. After last night's marathon she slept for 8 hours solid so as soon as she finishes this one at least I should get some decent sleep at last. Every cloud I suppose.

She could have stayed but I passed baby care duties to the person with two working arms! Was a bit worried I'd struggle to feed and change her one handed. Well, three screaming newborns later and I haven't really slept I've just filled their fridge with bottle after bottle of expressed milk through the night.

On the plus side my lips do appear to be pink once again rather than the Dulux shade of walking corpse they've been all week so hopefully the blood transfusion was worth the sleep deprivation.

Hope you get some rest Cavort, I'm amazed at how much all of your babies are feeding - mine must be the laziest baby in the world, she'd rather sleep than eat. I think she gets it from me!

Oh Purple how horrible, I remember being in hospital overnight with a drip once and how terrified I was about ripping the tube out accidentally, has made me squeamish about canulas for life. I hope you are well on your way to getting discharged now

I had assumed that 4-6 bed post-natal wards were pretty NHS standard? My sis had 6 in her room and was in for 4 days I think. Another reason HB is attractive in my opinion!

Cavort can we have a pic of Elodie?

Yes I read about the muslin over the sprinkler as well, but that does not work. He's very wriggly during changes, so either manages to get rid of the square or pee from underneath anyway - it's quite amazing how much pee such a little person can hold.

Oh my word, there's a woman on the ward who has just had her 4th child who is loudly telling anyone who will listen (midwives, family on phone etc) how very easy her birth was and how great she feels. I had my baby a week ago and I want to punch her so lord knows how the other girls in here feel!

As a departure from the doom and gloom, my stomach whilst still very wobbly has shrunk back to almost normal proportions. That's the good news story of the day

Purple no doubt her birth was easy! After four kids her fanny is probably like the blackwall tunnel, surprised the kids dont just fall out

Bet her first wasnt so easy when she was unstretched!

What a shit thing to be bragging about, for all she knows one of those women could be sat their stitched from their errrm armpit to their elbow (ifkwim) or in with post birth complications like you and so hearing about her lovely sneeze birth is like pouring vinegar on the wound.

Hope the midwives are unnecessarily rough with the old witch!

I don't care! They've taken the needle out of my arm and I can go home when they've done the paperwork everything is ok with the world again even though with every needle they've stuck in me chances of Lucy getting a sibling ever have diminished

Yay, whoop whoop Purple, fab news!!!