THREAD 12 Jan 2014 - The one where we start mainlining raspberry leaf tea and festive treats for "the baby"

[fryingpantoface]

Thought I'd go for it

frying expensive bed sheets were one of the best wedding presents we got. Would never have bought them for ourselves but I absolutely love them. Makes going to bed even nicer

It's on like Donkey Kong, sultana :o

frying, Egyptian cotton bedlinen is the best thing ever. I will not have polycotton on my bed

puggle, stroking the bum :o
We've been doing the same -- having done this twice before, I'm absolutely certain the baby is head down and has been for a couple of months. My midwife agrees. But I've said to DH how funny it'll be if we're wrong and he's been kissing its arse all this time.

We'll find out for sure which way up it is at the scan tomorrow.

My bump feels/looks far lower today. The baby's bum is only just above my belly button. But it's not engaged. Its head is where it always is -- halfway between my pelvis and my right hipbone. So it must be really squished today, poor thing!

choco poor you. Hope they sort you out soon

toby that must be super squished. I'm sure I have a bum up against my ribs (feels like its on the outside when I sit down as I get this hard overhang bit up and over my bra (it's not fat as I've squished it to check). Don't think I'm engaged at all though so maybe just higher?

That's where mine's bum is normally, MrsV. Goodness knows how it's contorting itself today :o

It's definitely not engaged. I can easily feel the head in the usual place. It's not even hovering over my cervix! Mind you, neither of my DC engaged before labour, so it's no surprise to me that this one doesn't seem to be bothered.

I'm no expert, but I'd imagine that if I do have to have a CS it's probably easier if the baby isn't engaged anyway.

choco I am embarrassed to say I've been meaning to do inversions/swim/sprinkle herbs for the last fortnight and have never quite got round to it. Baby puggle hasn't turned though - its just we were all wrong! Am glad I haven't been putting effort into turning him/her as it would just have been turning them breech rather than the right way ifyswim

Choco you poor thing, that's really bad luck. Hope it clears up quickly.

Puggle brilliant baby's head down - and baby bums are very kissable so no biggie

Sultana I dreamt my waters went and was so excited when I woke up, then felt really disappointed! Haha... Was like dreaming about snow when I was little and looking outside to discover there wasn't any!

Frying sounds tough with DS. Hope he lets you shower. Mine was up half the night and really weepy and clingy today. Hope he's not coming down with something. We're currently napping together but he's like a little radiator and has clamped his arms round my neck, so I'm too hot and can't move! Do love an extended sweaty cuddle though

Toby I think this bump baby is also very squished - was fully engaged at last check (better bloody not have moved) but there's a very protuberant bony little bum sticking out well below my belly button!

frying and extra I'm sure my dh feels your pain. I'm the weepy clingy one at the moment. Had a shower in our new shower for first time this morning (after baths only all this year) and cried because dh hadn't left it on for me, then because I was cold, then because I didn't know how to use it (very simple) then as we were leaving because I caught my foot. Generally just crying!

I'm being very clingy with DH too. I've caught myself following him round the house like a lost puppy more than once.

I've just realised I've not put anything about the 3rd stage on my birth plan and I have no idea where my green notes are. Not as organised as I thought I was!

Just heard back from the doctor regarding my blood test and she said my bile acids came back as abnormal but aren't worryingly high at the moment, so that explains my itchiness! She's going to speak to the MAU and see if they want me in today or tomorrow to monitor me. Hope it's tomorrow as we were planning on moving some more stuff over to the new house tonight! Did loads of research on obstetric cholestasis last night and it looks like they can keep an eye on it with antibiotics and regular liver function tests/monitoring of the baby so looks like I'll have a fair few trips to the hospital in the next few weeks at least I know what it is now and it can be monitored! And I only live 5-10 mins from the hospital so not too bad also read that if your levels get high they will induce you at 37 weeks which is scary considering I'm 35 weeks tomorrow AHHH!!!

extra its funny when the dream feels so real and gets your hopes up isn't it! Mind you, the sign of labour in my dream was bright red blood and we were panicking about it, so a bit of a relief this time that it wasn't real!

Toby I actually emptied two bags this afternoon and put a couple of bits in one since we made the pact, so am feeling slightly more organised. I reckon if I do a bit each day I can get it all done by Friday. So far, mini shampoo, conditioner, toothpaste, tissues, face wipes, hairbands and headphones are in my bag..... Was going to sort bubs outfits but then got overwhelmed by the choice of sizes and decided to leave that for another time....

felix good job they checked your bloods! Phew!

MrsV finish early - I am certain you wouldn't regret it. No one ever says 'god, I wish I'd gone to work instead of...', do they?

nature fantastic news! I'm so pleased.

puggle well done for spinning that baby around. I'm seeing the mw on Thurs, pretty sure it's head down from where kicks are, but no idea if it's back to back or . Hopefully not b-2-b.

sultana and toby I am going to be bag monitor (having finally packed mine) and check with you both on Sat.

felix great news!

NCT class was ace - we just chatted (for five hours) and covered loads, but not in any boring agenda-y way. Also, some of the things we were worried about that involved the partners, she will bring up with them tonight (e.g. If you ask 'where is the...' or 'I can't find...' when I am in labour, I reserve the right to tear you a new arsehole. For once, use your eyes/yes, all the crying and shouting and swearing is normal/pick things up for her, bending over is now painful, etc etc). Which is nice

humpty that sounds like a very worthwhile class! Always good for them to hear the truths from someone else!

Thanks for being bag monitor!

Toby meant to say, good luck for your scan tomorrow....

:o bag monitor!

Thanks, sultana. I'll report back :)

Brilliant news nature bet your counting down to Friday :) Love the idea of a maternity shoot, realised recently there are hardly any photos of me pregnant. Need to get some taken before I get too big, just need to sort out the mess of head hair as I haven't had it cut in months..

mrsv If you can bring your ML forward I would, I wish I could the last 13 days are really dragging! Hadn't thought about pension contributions, might ask HR about that. So many things to remember...

choco poor you, I hope this sorts it out quickly for you, sounds horrible!

felix really glad you got checked out and that they are monitoring you.

toby hope the scan goes well tomorrow.

I was back at work today after leave Thursday / Friday last week and being off sick with this horrible cough and head cold yesterday. So much to do and so little time, also concerned with how many things just aren't done when I'm not in though when others aren't in I have to cover everything. I am the manager but my deputy doesn't do half of it and it's starting to drive me mad. Oh well only 12.5 days left and I need to fit in another leave day so I don't lose it as well.

If (big if) I do this again I'm starting maternity leave earlier, or at least will if they haven't sorted out my cover. It's too stressful to be still trying to work at 100% when 34 weeks and no cover in sight. Would have been lovely to hand over for December then go off at 37 weeks. Well I can dream right?

nature how excellent

mrsv if you want to finish earlier go for it. I wish I was finishing sooner now, but I can't change at this point as not enough notice to finalise everything. Oh well.

felix glad you got checked out and they are going to monitor you. Hope they can control it for you and bubs.

sultana and toby get those bags packed You'll never be able to find anything once xmas hits!!

toby good luck for the scan

puggle yay for head down baby

humpty glad the nct went well.

We had our last nhs class tonight and i am so glad they are over. They were nowhere near as good as my nct ones and it has meant the last 4 tuesdays have been a manic rush as they start at 6:30pm!
I have a real gut feeling at the moment that baby is going to come sooner than expected.
Am getting a lot more BH now and i always feel like i am wetting myself. Hoping it is just pee and not waters. Don't even have the energy for pelvic floors but my pants don't seem soaked so am not sure if baby is engaging and that is why.
I just cant get comfy or anything and have to keep going to the toilet to check my underwear as i always feel like something is coming out, but then sometimes it doesn't look like anything is.

What do BH have to get like before you worry about them? They are just uncomfortable not painful and they aren't regular (i don't think) so does that mean all is going well and my body is just preparing? Thought it was the start of pg that was worrying, not the end!!

So I thought I would give you all a laugh. We have a load of stuff piled in front of our cupboard under the stairs. I needed to get something, just about got in there but then managed to wedge myself stuck on the way back out. Dh had to come and move everything to free me! Haha! So glad I found it funny and didn't cry.

I think bubs is paying me back now as she has some crazy amounts of hiccups going on though.

toby good luck for tomorrow, hope it's good news.

felix (I think) lucky you got yourself checked out. Glad they are monitoring you.

Have we heard from another recently?

Had our first hypnobirthing class tonight. Not sure what I was expecting but I wasn't too impressed. I think partly because I had all ready read all the stuff we covered in the book, and the relaxation at the end wasn't as good as the one at yoga. But also they were very much pushing for home birthing which dh and I don't want (and I don't think is an option for us either because of bubs). Hopefully the next few classes will be better but on the plus side I was by far the most read up and prepared of the class which will hopefully be to my benefit.

Good luck today toby

Aw, thanks all :)
It'll be fine. And at least we'll know what's going on one way or another!

Half price on all changing bags at Mothercare online today! Just bought myself the babymel navy stripe satchel for £21

Another night of rubbish sleep. I was starving and had to get up at 4am for food.

But on the plus side inc today I have 8 days left in the office... Whooooooooooop!

frizz I feel like that too, but apparently we'll know if it's waters, particularly if they just go... There'll be a flood of water, rather than dribbles.

toby good luck for your scan!

felix hope you can hang on for a bit longer.

choco hugs... Must be horrid at the moment.

nature just realised we have no pics of me pg ... Will need to get the camera out this weekend.

On my phone, so apols to anyone I've missed... Scrolling and memory are rubbish.

Have good days all

Good luck today Toby. You will finally have some answers!

nature I can just imagine you needing rescuing! Lol! Thought that was gonna be me yesterday emptying my bags on the floor - didn't leave myself enough room to be able to roll over onto all fours. Panicked a tad!

mac I am with you on the crap sleep and the hunger! My stomach was proper growling at me from about 3am. Just had breakfast and it was heaven! My tummy is grateful!

My waters with ds were just dribbles. I went to the toilet and had to keep wiping. They never gushed as it were. They didn't even soak a pad. I went to the hospital and the midwife said it probably wasn't waters, but when she checked it was.

if you're at all thinking it's waters, go get it checked. They really don't mind

Thanks for the Mothercare sale tip - I'm still to get a changing roll mat (portable one), bottles and various other things.

Frizz It all sounds good to me - increasingly regular and uncomfortable BHs is all going in the right direction, and then one day you will wake up and it will feel crampy as well as tight and hard, and you'll think and then about ten mins later it will happen again and you'll think it's happening! And then about 24 hours later (if it's your first!) you will be happily suckling a squidgy newborn whilst everyone sends you flowers and presents and you'll feel absolutely heroic. Best feeling ever.

So am gonna call the midwife in a bit just to put my mind at rest. Think my sister going into labour at exactly this point (34+5) is playing on my mind and maybe making me over think everything. Just feel generally damper down there and don't feel my pelvic floors are doing anything (might just mean baby is starting to engage) but earlier today I had bh every 10 mins for just over an hour. Seem to have stopped now but.....
Hoping they say that all sounds normal and not to worry.

Frizz definitely speak to your midwife even if it's just to put your mind at rest!

So went for my appointment at 9 and had bloods taken. Been prescribed urso tablets to try and regulate the bile salts in my liver and also vitamin k to stop blood clots. Got to go in for weekly monitoring now so back here next Wednesday! Got to have a scan today to check baby (she hasn't moved much today and she's usually very active) but only slot they had available is half 12 so just been hanging around all morning! Sat outside because I can't get signal in the hospital haha. Midwife said if bile acid levels rise they will induce at 37 weeks but otherwise it will be 38 weeks, so I'm not sure if ill definitely be induced or not? Will have to ask. Also got to have a scan on my liver next week and had my urine sample sent off as they think I have an infection! Phew! A lot going on. OH is at work freaking out and texting to see if I'm ok constantly!