JULY 2014!! PART 3!! 12 week scans & festive plans!!

[MrsB2013]

Part 3 already!!

July Due Dates

Pencilsandprams - (26th June)
Roozocheeks - (26th June)
Rainbowweaver - (27th June)
Biffle - (27th June)
LadyGoneGaga - (29th June)
Pearlsaplenty - (29 June)
MrsB2013 - 1st
AhoyMcCoy - 2nd
Liquidstate - 2nd
deeda811 - 2nd
getagoldtoof - 2nd
Mrsc020987 - 3rd
Fiveleaves 3rd
MrsA2 - 3rd
BrightonSquirrel – 3rd
Moochie01 - 4th
SomeDizzyWhore1804 - 4th
Jbiscuits - 4th - 6th??
Ismarah - 5th
Jaykay - 5th
Collie1806 - 5th
Lemonpoppyseed - 6th
Frostina - 6th
AuntieMaggie - 6th
MargeryDaw- 6th
OttersPocket - 7th
Blueberry234- 7th
FoxtrotOscarBackToEconomy - 1st - 8th???
Lauranne - 8th
Doodlequackquack - 9th
xjulesx - 9th
mummyzoe2012 - 9th
fifi669 - 10th
mamachelle - 10th
grobagsforever - 11th
Ipsumlorem - 11th
elliejjtiny - 11th
SmallOlympianbear - 11th
Casmama - 11th
Umanayana - 12th
LemonLovely - 12th (twins)
coco808 - 12th
museumworker - 12th
JuiceInAWineGlass - 12th
Ladybunnikins - 14th
Sparky321 - 14th
HomeIsWhereTheGinIs- 14th
kim2783 - 14th
Mummystein - 14th
Dollydaydream2 - 15th
Zing - 15th
MGJoey - 15th
SuzB83 - 15th
Incapinka - 15th
BlueC2 - 16th
Charotte31 - 16th
It'sAlwaysBetterOnHoliday - 17th
Littleangel21 - 17th
LazyDogJumpedOver - 17th
StrawberryNesquik - 17th
Beanpod13 – 17th
Sparklesandfizz - 18th
PicnicPie - 18th
MoreSnowPlease - 18th
Jeezaloo - 18th
Kim222 - 19th
turnwest - 20th
teaandkittens - 21st
justhayley - 21st
BringOn2014 - 22nd
baggyoldcow - 24th (Twins)
Froglet88 - 24th
Plateofcrumbs – 24th
funkymonk- 25th
Safyre – 25th
Babymamatobe- 26th
talulahbelle- 26th
Howly - 26th
NancyinCali - 26th
Hollyjokes- 27th
ShoesBagsDresses - 27th
MrsKate - 27th
FlyLikeABird - 27th
TheBookOfRuth- 29th
DorotheaHomeAlone - 29th
ChristmasCrackFox - 30th
AnyFuckingClue - ???
Baggyoldcow - ???
Insideout - ???
Theborrower - ???
DinkyMole - (1st August)

Near me there's a mid-wife led unit, which is great - my ante-natal appointments have been there, there are private rooms and birthing pools. The only problem is that there are no doctors, and if you have any problems or decide you want an epidural you have to be transferred to the hospital, which is about 15 miles away - not great when you're in labour. I'm not sure whether to decide on the hospital in the first place, just in case something goes wrong.

Glad you're feeling better today zing.

I was a crying hormonal mess yesterday - DH took DD out for the morning and that helped. Luckily feel much happier today despite a 5.30am start (well sort of, I ignored her and DH got up instead ha!).

I had DD here (after starting my antenatal care in the UK) and was lucky to find an amazing practice of midwifes (my MW was British which was so nice!). Most people have an obstetrician and while some are great (my friend's OB was happy to wait until 2 weeks over to induce) there's no doubt that interventions are a lot more common. Even my MW wanted to induce at 10 days over (I went into labour at 40+8 after acupuncture which may or may not be related). I gave birth in hospital but stayed home with a doula until my waters broke and I was 5cm dilated when I was examined in hospital. I was left to pretty much labour in peace with my DH and doula with occasional monitoring. I used a TENS machine, hypnobirthing techniques, massage and finally spent two hours in the bath at the hospital (with just LED candles for light, was lovely!).

I'd have loved to had a water birth but it's not available at my hospital. No gas and air here either. As I was in a hospital a doctor could be called quickly (which they did do as DD's heart rate was dipping but everything was fine).

Obviously the big downside of all this is cost. We pay monthly insurance premiums via my DH's work and we have to pay an excess on treatments. Plus the doula isn't covered by insurance. The upside of insurance is that they're required to cover two nights hospital stay for VBs. I had a private room and good food. DH could stay the whole time too.

Well that's more than you could possibly want to know about my experience of pregnancy and birth in the US so far! Next stage of the process is tomorrow when we go for the "12 week" scan.

Nancy How was it to have a doula? I assume she was someone you didn't know prior to engaging her services?

Here it seems that depending on how long you labour for the midwives pop in and out - which means I wonder about continuity and consistency of care. Also, the first midwife I met made me want to walk out of the surgery which would be a complicated process in the middle of labour...here's hoping the next one is a tad more human and pleasant!

I'm going to a natural birth unit attached to the hospital. Has lovely rooms and pools and gas and air and you can ask to be transferred next door to the general maternity department if you want an epidural.

With ds I made the same decision with the view of low intervention/pain relief at first and I can always change my mind. I didn't write a birth plan or anything like that as I didn't want to be locked into any decisions as i had no idea how things would affect me. Also all the midwives I had met had been lovely (and I never saw the same once twice) so I trusted that whoever was caring for me during labour would look after me.

Probably all a bit naive but it worked for me and ds was born very quick with just g&a. Hopefully the same will happen this time but only time will tell.

I had a pretty ok birth with DS in hospital - was in the pool with gas and air from about 5cm dilated til transition then got out onto bed (on my knees) to push. But we only have one pool at our hospital and no mlu available so am seriously considering having this one at home and hiring a pool. We live less than 5min drive from the hospital so any problems I could be in there v quickly.

On a different note DH is still ill and in fact quite ill-i'm v worried about him but there's not much I can do :( his cough so bad I thought it might be whooping cough-doc says its a nasty viral cough but I still wonder as it sounds awful :(

So much to catch up on! I will post properly tomorrow, just updating the list with newbies joining us :)

July Due Dates

Pencilsandprams - (26th June)
Roozocheeks - (26th June)
Rainbowweaver - (27th June)
Biffle - (27th June)
Mrsc020987 - (28th June)
LadyGoneGaga - (29th June)
Pearlsaplenty - (29 June)
MrsB2013 - 1st
MrsA2 - 1st
BrightonSquirrel – 1st
AhoyMcCoy - 2nd
Liquidstate - 2nd
deeda811 - 2nd
getagoldtoof - 2nd
Jaykay - 2nd
Jbiscuits - 2nd
Trish07 - 2nd
Fiveleaves 3rd
Moochie01 - 4th
Theborrower - 4th
Collie1806 - 5th
Lemonpoppyseed - 6th
Frostina - 6th
AuntieMaggie - 6th
MargeryDaw- 6th
OttersPocket - 7th
Ismarah - 7th
FoxtrotOscarBackToEconomy - 1st - 8th???
SomeDizzyWhore1804 - 8th
Casmama - 8th
Doodlequackquack - 9th
xjulesx - 9th
JuiceInAWineGlass – 9th
coco808 – 9th
fifi669 - 10th
Blueberry234 - 10th
grobagsforever - 11th
Ipsumlorem - 11th
elliejjtiny - 11th
SmallOlympianbear - 11th
Icklekid – 11th
mamachelle - 11th
Umanayana - 12th
LemonLovely - 12th (twins)
museumworker - 12th
BlueC2 - 12th
Dollydaydream2 – 13th
Ladybunnikins - 14th
Sparky321 - 14th
HomeIsWhereTheGinIs- 14th
kim2783 - 14th
Mummystein - 14th
Lauranne - 14th
Zing - 15th
MGJoey - 15th
SuzB83 - 15th
Incapinka - 15th
ComeBabyCome – 15th
Charotte31 - 16th
Becky2208 – 16th
It'sAlwaysBetterOnHoliday - 17th
Littleangel21 - 17th
LazyDogJumpedOver - 17th
StrawberryNesquik - 17th
Beanpod13 – 17th
firstbaby01 - 17th
Sparklesandfizz - 18th
PicnicPie - 18th
MoreSnowPlease - 18th
Jeezaloo - 18th
Elllimam - 18th
NerdyBird - 18th
Kim222 - 19th
turnwest - 20th
teaandkittens - 21st
justhayley - 21st
kiki88 - 21st
BringOn2014 - 22nd
pinkbunny2012 - 22nd
Bubbless - 22nd
baggyoldcow - 24th (Twins)
Froglet88 - 24th
Plateofcrumbs – 24th
Safyre – 25th
Babymamatobe- 26th
talulahbelle- 26th
Howly - 26th
NancyinCali - 26th
Hollyjokes- 27th
ShoesBagsDresses - 27th
MrsKate - 27th
FlyLikeABird - 27th
Bentley1981 – 27th
TheBookOfRuth- 29th
DorotheaHomeAlone - 29th
ChristmasCrackFox - 30th
ImMarmite - 31st
AnyFuckingClue - ???
Baggyoldcow - ???
Insideout - ???
LaDay - ???
Khaleesi1985 - ???
ellentullo - ???
DinkyMole - (1st August)

Awake and worried/excited for tomorrow's 12 week scan.

Pearlsaplenty - that's my current plan - to go with the flow and see what happens. There's a MLU with private rooms and pools one floor below the labour ward at our hospital, so my current thinking is to start there and transfer upstairs if I need stronger pain relief than what's available in the MLU. Having never given birth before, I have no idea how I'm going to find labour! Going also (once I'm 'out' as pregnant to wider family) to talk to my uncle who's a consultant anesthetist about all the pain relief options and pros/cons!

Also aware from friends' experiences that the way the pregnancy goes can have bearing on what is/isn't possible in labour so trying to keep an open mind from that perspective too.

All seems a bit pie in the sky until I see that tomorrow's scan is OK though. Eek.

ismarah hiring a doula was probably the number one best thing we did. We decided quite late on in the pregnancy to get one but we still had 2 pre-birth meetings to get to know each other. I trusted her implicitly - my midwife worked with her regularly, she'd attended over 100 births plus had 5 kids of her own. I really hope she's available in July (she's pregnant with number 6!). She had me waking the block not long before my waters broke to get DD in a better position (she was curled round to my side), massaged me, coached me and DH, helped with positioning and afterwards visited me at home to help with breastfeeding and general support (no midwife home visits here, have to take baby to pediatrician office for their checks and I had to go the MW office for mine!).

itsalwaysbetter my scan tomorrow too! Good luck :)

bluec2 hope DH is better soon, sounds very worrying. Not sure whether a humidifier would help? We have very dry air here so when DD has a cough I put one on in her room and it seems to help. Might help a little? Send him back to the doctor if not better soon though.

PS sorry for individual posts, I can't hold enough info in my brain to put everything in one post when I'm using my phone!

Back to work today. I'm awake but not out of bed, not sure I want to get up

Talulah it's horrible going back isn't it! I was in Thurs and Fri, the thought was worse than the reality. Still dreading a full week though - I'll miss my midday naps...

Oh, MIL threw in a gem last night; we were talking about the fact the hospital is about 30-40 mins drive from my house. She was pretty horrified and went on about how unpleasant that would be in labour and hope I get there in time.

Well it's either that hospital or a home birth, I don't exactly have the option to demand that they open a hospital nearer to my home do I...!

Good luck for scans today nancy and itsalwaysbetter

Bleurgh - work today. The horror.

Good luck to those with scans today. Mine is after lunch but have to survive first swimming lesson with large toddler first!!

Still feeling absolutely shattered and am 13 weeks tomorrow. When is the tiredness going to go?! (Soon please!!)

Thanks for good luck wishes and the same to NancyinCali, Incapinka and anyone else having a scan today.

My scan isn't till this afternoon either. Feeling shattered as was lying awake for ages in the early hours and managed to sleep through my alarm this morning. Luckily I'm working from home this morning because of scan this afternoon so am still on time for work :)

Great to catch up on how everyone is doing!!!!
I had my 12 week scan on Friday and was so great and so relieved to see bubba!!!

Ps: is anyone having a doula? If not, get one!!!! If you want any info, let me know
Pps: anyone planning on having a Homebirth (first baby)? (I'm in london)

good luck with scans today

come

great news, mine was the same day - such a relief!
and for me it's another VBAC and I'm in high risk category (previous C-section, previous assisted birth, previous PPH, grand multip and my age) so looking forward to another hospital birth with lovely epidural!

having a nap - had to be up a lot in the night as DS1 banged his head on the ice yesterday and although ok, after trip to A&E we were advised to check him regularly through the night.

Big Brother is amatuer hour compared to the daily dramas in our home!

Everything fine at the scan. Seems a lot more real now! Officially updiffed and everything looking as it should :)

Have to wait 10 working days for the full combined test results though.

Sorry - meant to add, hope everyone else had good news today.

Just wondering has anyone else had a scan where the baby was in the wrong position and they couldn't get a nuchal measurement?

I wasn't too worried at the time but have to go for bloods on Friday so starting to thi k about it now!

Friday scan cannot come soon enough. Still feels like ages. Became pregnant again almost immediately after second MMC in September so it feels like months of waiting

Scan done. Took ages as baby not playing games. But just as she was going to send me for another walk (had already been for one 15 minute march and done some star jumps!) it decided to behave. Very relieved that there was only one there! A week to wait for risk report but they seemed pleased with what they say. Due date brought forward to 9th July so now nearly 14 weeks but I don't really believe it!
Good luck and congrats to everyone else having scans today/soon

yay incapinka we are the same due date

that's rubbish casmama i'm sure i've read that happened to other people on the June thread (sorry not 100% sure)

Hey coco! DS was 8 days late so I think you will win!