The PESH are waddling their way to Christmas & trying not to freak out!

[FrankelInFoal]

The ante-natal fred for BESH graduates.

Recent Grads (aka CRESH)

blonderthanred, boy, born 26th October 2012
FriendofDorothy, boy, born 14th December 2012
QueenRollo, boy, born 21st January 2013
LazyMachine (38) boy EDD 9/2/13 - need an actual arrival date!
CamelKnees (34) EDD 22/04/2013 - need actual arrival date!
HaveALittleFaith (31), Faithlet arrived 14th April 2013
fertilityFTW (34) arrival date needed!
pinkr, (33), girl born 25th August 2013
Jethro (36) boy born 23rd September 2013

Waiting to lay:
Noks - EDD 28/12/2013
Frankel - EDD 4/3/2014
Sinky - EDD 18/3/2014
Ginfox - EDD end April 2014
Kat - EDD needed
Drizz - EDD 7/6/2014
Draf - EDD 19/6/2014
Winks - EDD 29/6/2014

Apologies for any misinformation or omissions!

Whoop whoop euro!

I still wish I'd had chance to get the drucks.....noks I think that's a sensible attitude. Do you have a TENS machine? I found it helped with the back pain from the contractions.

My parentcraft covered the birth basically - what to expect when, what drucks I could have ha ha some bits about breast feeding (because I said I planned to). It made us feel calmer because we had some idea of what to expect.

They're mad keen on breastfeeding aren't they? Don't get me wrong, I want to breastfeed - making up formula is a boring pain in the arse and if I can avoid it I will - but they way they yap on about it makes me twitch towards the old aptamil.

Ahhh but if you can make it work (and I know not everyone can!) breastfeeding is so bloody convenient!!!

Great news euro. I am getting desperate for a scan now - I just want to see that everything is ok because I just don't feel very pregnant.

The midwife is coming to my house tomorrow to do my booking appointment which will be fun. Wonder if it will be one of the midwives I know.

Got a TENS machine faify. Tried it out the other day. It felt like I was electrocuting myself every time I turned-up the current. T'was strangely addictive so I had to put it away.

Know what you mean twonks. The Tit Stasi can fuck right outta my town if they come'a'marching. I really want to bf but will not make myself or the nipper anxious for weeks on end if I can't do it. I have some Aptamil in my hospital bag, funnily enough (that and a Tommee Tittie bottle). I may crack it open and start freebasing if the Nork Nazis get on my buzzwams.

dor having knocked over sterilised bottles whilst trying to add the fucking powder that goes everywhere, with nough to starving in a millisecond twins screaming as I started again, I am definitely all over the handiness of breastfeeding! No sterilising, no powder, no waiting for things to boil or cool or heat up, just whip out a tit - fantastic. But it's being told, over and over, that gets my back up a teeny bit. Cos I'm juvenile And I'm still traumatised after that day of babysitting!

Glad the fred helped, Noks! Lots of experiences but very few melodramatic descriptions, which is always nice :)

Good to see you here on a more permanent basis, euro!

I know what you mean about breastfeeding, winks. I fully intend to give it my best shot, know that it is the better option (if all goes well, anyway), but at the same time sheer bloody-mindedness makes me have the Rage at people who harp on about breast is best and all that shit. As far as I can see, all that slogan does is make formula-feeders feel like shit. Quite frankly, I reckon that feeding your baby is a Good Thing, whether breast or formula...

Euro - am thrilled for you, smiling all over my face

Noks - good luck for the next day(s). So jealous of you meeting your baby

Re. Anti D - I had mine last week and was dreading it as had heard it was painful - I don't normally mind injections/needles at all. By the time she did it (towards the end of appointment as BP and bloods needed to be done first) I was shitting it. It was fine... No more than a scratch and def no worse than the flu jab at all. Had my whooping cough today and crazy nurse threw the needle at my arm like a dart, making what should have been a tiny jab smart more than the anti d! So I think it also depends on who does it, but the anti d was truly not worth fretting about and the needle was no bigger than any other (the volume of what they squirt in is a lot, so it takes a tiny bit longer than normal)

You're up early Merks, is the insomnia kicking in?

Sending you sneeze-like thoughts today Norks, all the very best

Morning hags!

Today you'll meet the little nipper norks. Massive good luck to you! I cannot wait to hear all after the fact!

YAY for hearts in heart-shaped wombles, euro.

Have you been booked for a scan yet, dor?

Agree with the other juvenile Junites. Very keen to give bf a go, but getting a little tired of all the over kill messages...

My tea is making me feel sick, is this the moment to make hot chocolate? I am working from home, so will be in and out to check on progress!

No scan appointment yet :(

The midwife is due in half an hour, just in time for The Little Mister to fall over, smack his head on the bed and have a massive egg by his eye!

Thinking of you today, noks.

BTW, now I am properly on the fred, I should say that my EDD is 28 August (our wedding anniversary - awww). And to think that 3 years ago I postponed starting ttc by one cycle because I was worried about having an August baybee.

Odds are it will be an early September baby!

Getting my popcorn ready and victory cigars! Hope all goes well noks

Whoop whoop euro.

I am at the hospital. They didn't have a bed for me despite me calling in. Thirty seconds later, they did have a bed for me. I shall try to remain calm. However, I made the mistake of buying Hello magazine and it has an article about David Copperfield. Well he can fuck off for a start. He gives me THE RAGE

Euro, I remember those heady early months of TTC when I fretted about summer babies, clashes with weddings etc. Times change eh?

Noks, so exciting! Am uber jealous. Am refluxy, not sleeping, baby is alternating between bouncing on my bladder and not moving at all. So I'm veering between knackered acid hell and irritated or knackered acid hell and scared. Roll on march! Got my whooping cough vac earlier though and didn't feel it at all, so some pluses!

Are you going to give us blow by blow updates?

I vote in favour of blow-by-blow reporting, noks. Massive good luck.

Welcome on the fred for real, euro. I love your due date :)

After being unable to eat much over Christmas, now I am starving all the time and failing to work. So I looked up 19 weeks stories and it turns out being ravenous is normal. So I just decided it's lasagne (spare from Wed) for lunch. And I had pregnancy-rage at someone at the water-company. It was quite scary. Maybe I should have a snooze post lunch.

Come on Norks! - a PESH live labour fred is what we need.

Are we having a sweepstake? I say 0245, boy, 8lb 1oz :)

I have heard the phrases 'she was snoring so much that I was going to pull the curtain and tell her to shut the fuck up' , 'well, he's just a cunt' and 'd'ya know what I mean, for flicks sake'. And I'm in Surrey. I love a good swear, as you know, but this is ridiculous !

My naughty child is perhaps back to back and really doesn't like being monitored, so they have been trying to get a continual half an hour trace before they can insert a peasant up the old Afrocentric womble to kick-start things. For the last TWO HOURS. Ffs.

If they can get a peasant up your womble they won't have any trouble getting naughty baby out :) Ugh though norks, hospital wards suck ass. Even in Surrey.

I have an amusing labour ward story, courtesy of my bestie, who dropped hers in King's.

She had all the usual annoyances - 10 visitors round the next bed - and saw various interesting dynamics - what appeared to be the second wife of an Islamic family giving birth with the jealous first wife on hand. Most hilariously, she heard the mouthy sauf London type several beds down have the following call "you better get dawn 'ere now, cos you're the faver, right and I'M TEN METRES DILATED".

I assume the baby strolled out.

Arf at 10 metres!

Good luck Noks, if you do your Rolling Cobra might he/she shift a bit?

Rolling cobra?!

It's a yoga-type move they teach in Lazy Daisy classes, or at least in mine.

You get down on all fours (oh er missus )
Then keeping your hands on the floor rock all your weight to your bum so that you are pretty much sitting on your heels
Then bend your elbows so you lower your upper body to the ground and push your weight forward again keeping your head and chest low to the ground before straightening your arms again so you're back in the starting position.

The theory is the rippling of your spine as you move is uncomfortable for the baybee, so they will change whatever position they are in to try and move away from it.

I've probably not explained it well though!

I do apologise for the terrible fecking auto correct on my last post. A pessary has, indeed, been inserted up the womble. Unfortunately they has run out of peasants.

That's brilliant euro. Sounds like a scene from Eastenders, only vastly more entertaining. franks I do indeed need to do a rolling cobra. There isn't enough room to swig a sodding cat in here though so it may be a bit difficult..... I shall have to insist on a space to do my exercises

Aww, boo to lack to peasants for fanjo insertion

Hope things speed up a bit for you Noks, but not in a scary speedy birth kinda way. I think you should throw a middle class strop, no one will be able to hold it against you. You're a woman in labour for crying out loud, you can get away with anything