It's all balls, bicycles, and babies for the PESH!

[maamalady]

Antenatal fred for BESH graduates

CRESH

Faith - pinky faithlet arrived 14th April 2013
Pinkr - suitably pinky one arrived 25th August 2013
Jethro - blue one arrived 23rd September 2013
Noks - pink one arrived 12th January 2014
Frankel - large pink one arrived 10th March 2014
Merks - pink one landed safe and sound 21st March 2014
Sinky - Stubborn blue one arrived 26th March 2014
Driz - blue one arrived 12th June 2014
Kat - pink one arrived 21st June 2014

PESH

Draf - Expecting a late pink one EDD 19th June
Winks - EDD 26th June
Ginger - Miniginger due 13th August
Dor - A very special pink one expected 18th August
Euro - eager Centime expected to arrive a lot sooner than 28th August
Buggerlugs - Buglet due 20th October
Fankle - ESHlet expected 4th January
Cunty - Minichops expected 7th February

So the June cluster is halfway through laying, and then we're on to the July/August batch! Are we even going to have time for Wimbledon and Le Tour and the World Cup in all this excitement?!

winks!!!! A baybee!!!! She looks scrumptious. Eeek you sound sore. Hope it's a quick recovery & your home soon.

It is bubble bath made with horse chesnuts (or something). Very soothing!

Yes that's the one. If you're worried bugs go and get checked out. I had to at about 37 weeks and I was glad I did.

Oh coco that's so wonderful! I hadn't seen the news either! but now I'm in the loop I'm utterly delighted for you

Blimey, winks, that sounds hugely painful I have some lavender oil that I can send you if you don't have some at home for baths already - I bought it in preparation but obviously c section doesn't really have the same needs. Fingers crossed you heal up quickly and cleanly :)

cherry that's fabulous news, I'm so happy for you! Onwards and upwards and all that shizzle.

winks, sorry you had a tough time! I second the use of a jug when weeing to help with the stinging! also the first poo is never as bad as they say If you find it really painful to wee someone told me to run a few inches of warm water in the bath and sit in it to wee. I never tried it but I'm told it's very soothing.

euro hope you're feeling ok today.

Hope all the newborn ESHlets are being snuggly and letting their parents get at least a little sleep. E is still grumpy baby today, but the magic calpol did it's trick last night so it will be out again if she carries on being a grouchy-pants!

I had lots of stitches and a vulval variscosity (seriously ouchy!) and the only way I could wee was to strip off my bottom half and run the shower over my bits whilst I peed.

I had plastic jug that I filled with water and poured warm water over my bits as I peed. Best 75p I ever spent Tesco value range

Ouch winks. That sounds pretty brutal.

I'm mostly feeing tired today hags. Having had the steroid jabs on Thursday and Friday, they caused insomnia so I have hardly slept at all the past two nights. I just had a little nap now when I got back from the hospital. The consultant we were getting the second opinion from today came up with measurements similar to the Thursday scan (which have baby measuring very small - under 3lb ) but formed the same opinion as the previous sonographer. The blood flow issue is a problem, but the baby doesn't seem to be distressed and is still growing, albeit slowly, so there is no need to whip the baby out straight away. So we are having more monitoring - heartbeat trace on Monday, another scan with him on Tuesday, and we'll see where we go from there. So we are back in limbo, which is really, really stressful, but if we can get an extra week or so, we are close to 34 weeks and that is a leap forward in terms of lung maturity and so on.

Can I ask the CRESH who have had sections how the recovery is/was? I won't have the ability to sit on the sofa for a couple of weeks (which is what a few people I know IRL have advised) as the baby will be in NICU after I am discharged so will have to be back and forth to hospital, in and out of taxis and sitting up rather than laying down and letting air get to the scar. I'm quite worried about how I am going to manage, although I suppose people do. I'm not the first to be in this situation.

I can't talk from experience obviously, but while I was in hospital with E there was a lady on the ward with a baby in NICU who had also had a Caesarian, so I'm presuming they'll let you stay in for a good few days at least. She was expressing for the baby, with a rather noisy pump!

I don't want to stay in though, given how I feel about hospitals (and as we are switching to private each extra night is £1k...). My bestie had a CS with her twins who went into SCBU and she was discharged quite quickly. I guess it depends if the hospital has beds anyway.

I've been sitting up (on the sofa) rather than lying down, euro, and the wound is healing just fine. Moving is very slow, though - we went for a walk down to the end of the road and back today, which is about 200m each way and I was really feeling it. Getting up/down from chairs/toilets is fine with something to hold on to (chair arms, mobility handles, convenient husbands etc), but getting out of and turning over in bed is awkward. My DreamGenii pillow is still useful in bed to support my sore belly. It's all very similar to laparoscopy recovery, to be honest. While centime is in NICU you'll probably be able to use a decent chair, I'd have thought? Especially if you express milk while there? Rest as much as possible, anyway.

If it's any comfort at all, HOTB has been shocked and impressed by how tidy my wound/scar looks - he had a good look yesterday when I took the dressing off, and said he'd not believe it was so recent if he didn't know otherwise. It's very close to the start of my pubic hair (no more than 1cm, tops) so pretty well hidden, and about 15-20cm long. Given that mine was a post-dates emergency it's probably both longer and higher than yours will be, if what I've read about sections is to be believed.

The giraffe calf was born late Tuesday night, and my health was up to scratch for going home by lunchtime on Thursday. We ended up coming home late Thursday night as there were concerns re baby jaundice (not a problem, as it turns out), which seems a pretty swift discharge to me.

Hope that's helpful :)

Draf how are you getting on? Is breastfeeding getting easier for you both?

Oh, and glad to hear that the second opinion fit well with all the thinking so far - at least bitchface was not totally out of her tree? It must be so stressful having pros and cons to delivering both as soon AND as late as possible. Monitoring makes sense though - more info is always good - so hopefully that will allow a decision to be made in good time.

Getting easier in that my milk is in and we're getting nice long feeds on a regular basis, Frank, yes. As my nipples are already sore from poor latches initially (and let's face it they're probably far from perfect now), latching on hurts like hell. It's more comfortable once the start of feed furious sucking has calmed, thankfully. I remain hopeful that it will get easier! At the minute HOTB is holding baby's hands every time she latches on as she tends to flail - getting thumped in the sore nipple really hurts and is also irritating, especially when her hands are in front of her mouth!

Thanks draf. That's quite reassuring about mobility. Two nights in is what I have been led to expect, under normal circs. But baby is probably going to be in for 20-30 days (that's the average for this gestation). Hopefully once stabilised he/she can be transferred to the local hospital from Tommies, but either one is a cab ride through london traffic (local hospital is closer though). What sort of drugs have you been on?

That's good news about the scar too. The surgeon we have gone for used to do plastic surgery. Given my issues around scarring, that is probably the best I could have hoped for.

Yes I had the sore nips for the initial latch all I can advise is lots and lots of Lansinoh. If it doesn't get better, or you are starting to get cracked nipples, then make sure you get H checked for tongue tie.

Oh yes, sore latching is normal to start with is normal. I found it toe-curling for at least a week or two!

Yup to painful initial latch at first - literally toe curling. It gets better. And GHJ used to have to hold R's arms out the way as well - that gets better too!

I'd agree with Draf, Euro. Limited movement to the extent of needing help to pick up baby/walk to loo on first night, then rather rapid improvement to slowly walking short distances easily within a day or two. Within the first week I was happy potting around the house, looking after baby etc. Drove at 12 days without a problem. Turning over in bed and sitting up with the baby in my arms was the worst but I just had to be careful. And this was after me being quite unwell prior to section. I was surprised how quickly I felt near normal.

And my scar is hidden beneath my bikini line - no fear of it showing on holiday!

Just paracetamol with the odd ibuprofen top-up, euro, so really nothing very intense! I also feel like I've come full circle from the IVF as I'm doing stabbing again - fragmin to help with minimising blood clots. I don't know if that's usual for sections, all postpartum mums, or if I'm special, though.

That's encouraging, Frank and dor - I can deal with the pain if I know it'll wear off eventually! She might potentially have a posterior tongue tie, but if so it's a very small/insignificant one, apparently. We'll probably go to a class or something if the initial latch doesn't improve after a couple of weeks, though.

I had to take fragmin but that was due to my BMI.