February 2014 - all our bags are packed, we're ready to go...

[sunflowered]

Well... we're getting there at least, and definitely ready to meet the first thread baby!

Welcome pieceofcandy :)

Eeyeore It is nice when they wriggle loads isn't it! Though sometimes it feels like he's trying to break out of the bump!

I really want a changing bag that I like, but feel so bad for my OH's mum who got us a very practical one, and I'd feel guilty for having a different one. On the other hand, she doesn't live in this country, so she'd never have to know :P Might take the advice and go for a rucksack instead.

marzi I agree on the surreal idea that baby is actually a proper human being now! So odd. Also feel like baby would be too big to fit in the bump, but I'm sure I'll find him tiny when he comes out anyway! Been years since I saw a proper newborn.

I'm so emotional at the moment, not sure if it's hormones or sadness - probably a mixture! Just about everything sets me off crying.. Huff. Also very jealous of all your shopping options. Craving proper shops with affordable prices!!

Welcome Candy!

Gosh we went to the hypno refresher class that was supposed to be an hour and actually ended up being three! Poor DH is a bit shell shocked!

No ikea yet but I'm gonna check when it shuts and decide if I can face dragging myself there if it means we can have meatballs for tea and not have to cook! I am very tempted to just not move from the sofa now

missk 3 hours, wow! Was it useful though? Any good tips? I'm making slow progress in reading juju sundin's book, I must get cracking reading it.

37 weeks today, funny to think that baby is now fully cooked. I don't feel that labour is imminent though, I'm feeling really chilled and I don't think baby has engaged any more.

I am starting to feel nausea like I did with morning sickness again, which is a little shit. Literally I've been eating little and often all day but it's not really working. At least I don't have to try and work through it this time.

Has anyone started their perineum massages? I'm a bit nervous about trying it!

I tried perineum massage last time but only managed it about twice! Purely anecdotal but my friend only half listened to the MW's advice about pushing with dc1 and had a first degree tear. She wanted to avoid tearing at all with dc2 and said she was REALLY going to listen to the MW's this time. She had a second degree tear. My mw gave no advice on pushing and neither did another friends mw and neither of us had tears. Could be down to just listening to your body, could just be down to position of baby, could be down to speed of labour. Who knows?

Baby was managing to power punch/kick me when driving yesterday and at the same time felt like they were scraping great big nails down my uterus. I kept yelping and poked it back. The swine.

My midwife gave me no advice during pushing stage other than I had to get him out urgently. I just pushed hard for 40 mins and she didn't advise any little pushes or panting or anything. I ended up with a nasty graze and a second degree tear. Not sure if the 2 things are linked....

eeyore Iv been getting the horrible nausea back aswell! I wondered if it might just be baby squishing everything including our stomach?:/ so horrible though when you think your past all that!

I never did perineal massage last time and ended up with an episiotomy but DD1 was a big baby and havnt done it this time either. Also a bit nervous and really no idea how but I wonder just how much of a difference It makes. I would try anything not to have an episiotomy again!!

misskat 3 hours!? That's a long sit! Was it good? And even if you only make it to ikea for the meatballs it would be worth it:) haha

Is anyone else getting burning/tingling at the top of their bump, under the ribs? I got it last time too but this time is so much worse! Keep waking up in agony in the night, it seems to go right through to my back sometimes.

I was gutted to discover ikea closed at five so alas not shelves or meatballs for me today. Hopefully I can drag DH along tomorrow. I've got a "presentation on pelvic girdle pain" at the hospital tomorrow as well. Part of me really cant be arsed going as I don't know how useful it will be and i'm already 37 weeks - but I could still be preggo for another 5 weeks so think I probably should go along and hope it's not a total waste of time.

The hypnobirthing class was really good actually. I think it gave DH a massive kick up the arse was he realised he knew pretty much zilch so i'm hoping now he's off this week he pulls his finger out and gets practising the things we need to. I do feel a bit more confident in him though, as the teacher told us to practice what we'll do in labour (well more what the birth companions will do to keep us calm) and he actually did a pretty decent job of helping me get relaxed etc. He just needs to familiarise himself with the breathin techniques and some other bits and bobs really so he knows what to prompt me to do if i forget.

I'm slowly getting through the juju sundin book too Eeyore. There are some good ideas in it - although sometimes it feels a bit like there are too many options as there are so many variations of things - but I guess it's all about what works for different people in labour.

I haven't started perineal massage yet but want to as I reckon it can't hurt. Our NCT instructor emailed out this in case anyone wants instructions

Misskat, hats off to you as I think you are the most conscientious preggo ever. Please can I hire you for my doula/life coach for any possible future DC2? I'm good at packing hospital bags and decorating nurseries and I did buy a baby book but the plot line was rubbish so I gave it up after a few pages as a bad lot in favour of a good thriller. I am a very badly behaved preggo - I really hope I'm better at actually being a mum!

Hi ladies,
I am a Midwifery student and have been set an independent project on a topic of my choice. I want to investigate if there is any link between diet and due date?
I was wondering if any of you would be interested and willing to help me out? It will consist of taking a survey as to what foods you eat and have eaten on the build up to your birth and then obviously your delivery date. You can remain anonymous of course.
If anyone is interested in giving me a hand please reply and I can send my contact details.
Many thanks for your time. I hope you are all well :)

I've bought the gel and put it 'on' most nights BUT haven't done any of the stretching. My nails are too long and it's so difficult to do anything down there. Ouchy.

In other Shrops TMI news those 6 dates a day are making me REG-U-LARRRR, literally every time I go. Yowzers.

Thanks gemlou, you've just made me VERY aware that I have just posted my last message on a VERY public forum.

Il do your questionnaire, I'm that bored.

Lol - thanks notone - I'm not actually that great at remembering to do all the things I find out about. I think before being Preggo I was very scared of birth etc tho so now I'm very much "if it might help ill bloody well try it!!!"

Lol shrops - I'm with you there I keep getting worried it's my body getting ready for birth but it's probably the dates!

Gemlou - happy to help as well - although chronicling my appalling Preggo diet will probably make me weep!

Shrops - 5 times a day on average I'd say

Ooooof! So if it's all coming out now then we defs won't poop in labour. Yesssssss.

love the oversharing shrops

I had a very weird dizzy spell an hour ago, felt like I was going to faint. Was on way back from church, I'd just eaten sausages and drunk lots, so it wasn't low blood sugar. Luckily DH was there to prop me up until the world stopped spinning. I don't think I'd like it to happen when I'm on my own, it was really horrible.

I'm not doing half the stuff I should be doing. Definitely not a conscientious preggo here. Eating rubbish, drinking diet coke (admittedly not loads, but still...)

After spending a couple of hours at the MAU last night I am just desperate to get this baby out asap. Unfortunately, after a fair bit of monitoring, poking, prodding, swabbing and all the usual obs, the doctor and MW both agreed there was nothing untoward happening despite my intense abdominal pains when vertical (and of course the increasingly painful SPD) and sent me away at 10pm with a box of dihydrocodeine to take when the pain is bad. Great.

The thought of feeling as uncomfortable as I do now for the next 5 weeks really is making me miserable. However, all that I've read suggests that none of the natural methods for bringing on labour are proven to work so I'm reluctant to go and spend £££s on RLT capsules (apparently you would have to drink gallons of RLT for it to have much of an effect), EPO, fresh pineapple, or any of the 101 other things that are suggested for getting labour started. Sex is (I strongly suspect) off the table - I think DH is just too scared of me now! He's being an absolute gem looking after me, doing all the care of DS1 & 2, running around etc though.

Haha shrops genuinely made me laugh out loud. Maybe best I stay off the dates just now then as iron tablets are already playing havoc with me!

Oooo eeyore that's not so good. Hope your feeling a bit better. Maybe a sugar rush? I get like that after Iv eaten breakfast.

gemlou also happy to help:)

Hello everyone can I join too I am 35 weeks and have just finished washing and ironing bumps clothes. They are now all hanging up in his little wardrobe I can't stop looking at them. I have just packed his hospital bag but haven't started mine i'd better get cracking

Is anyone else in bloody agony with rib pain/upper abdominal pain? Doctor thinks it might be gallstones but I don't know.

Very jealous of you regular lot - am still struggling in that regard, very unusual for me!

I also keep putting off the perineal massage. I think I feel slightly sceptical about it, and indeed about the other things, though I am eating my dates (mainly because I'm always famished at the moment...)

Eeyore it wasn't low iron related was it? I'm sorry - I've lost track of who is taking iron supplements - but know that can be a cause of dizziness. That said I have had a few horrid dizzy spells and my iron count has been very high throughout, so it might just be par for the course with all the extra body for blood to flow round.

Welcome to the newbies.

The massage is the only thing I have any faith in (and poss. dtd to stimulate contractions). Amongst a lot of old wives tales surrounding labour prep the one thing I can get my head around, scientifically/logically, is that deliberate stretching of skin and muscle will go some way to minimising tearing damage of same skin and muscle. Like training over months to do the splits versus slamming down into the splits on an icy day! Or if I went from flat tummy to full term bump overnight I reckon I'd have a lot more stretch marks than I do from the gradual daily growth my abdominal skin has been subject to.

It may not prevent broken fanny for me but if it could potentially take me from a third degree tear to second degree then I'm going I give it a shot!

Gemilou I'll do your survey.

Gemilou I'll do your survey as well...

Agree with you about the massage notonesomething else to add to the list of things needing doing.

emma and artistic I get bad upper bump pain when I've eaten too much.. put it down to acid problems and lack of space for my stomach. Esp if it's going thru to your back or worse at night. Dose up on rennies and gaviscon is my advice!

Sorry to hear about your eve last night sugar but good news LO is still doing fine in there. In less than two months even the latest of us will have had our babies...and sunflowered has already kicked things off. Am still amazed by it and can't equate the squirmy thing in my belly to a real live baby.

Happy to the survey gemlou, would also be interested to see the results!

winter yes it goes through to my back and is worse at night. It's sooo painful I was in tears the other day!

I can't believe there is an almost full size baby in my belly, my bump doesn't look anywhere near big enough