October 2014 #9 - Into the home straight we go, 3rd trimester here we come!

[sazzlehopes]

old threads is here

Keep up the chitter chatter ladies!

Aww Pinkie where in Croatia are you off to? I went to Dubrovnik a couple of times and love love loved it!
NHS Scotland maternity notes that the mums carry around are very redacted in comparison to the ones the hospital keeps, it's just a booklet really, glad I don't have to lug the real deal about!
Fedup I hope you can find something to distract you from thinking about what can go wrong, a girl from school's baby was stillborn a few months ago, my feelings were a bit of a rollercoaster over it all when I heard, I agree with LondonJen natal hypnotherapy helped me to relax

CJ hope you're seen soon, will cross my fingers you get a nice scan to make up for the worry!

Thanks guys, long morning but got seen by Doc & baby is all good & head down again. :) Another Anti-D injection & more blood taken.
Now off to work for the rest of the day, gonna be a zombie by tonight! Finish at 9pm... Yawn. Zzzzz

I am worrying a little about still births fedup, more so with this pregnancy than with DS. I think its because I have the living proof of what a pregnancy should end up like, it kind of makes it all the more precious. My pregnancy book said that if baby was born this week (27weeks) it would have about an 80% chance of survival which both makes me feel better and makes me worry that it could actually come now!

I think I carried my notes everywhere from about 30 weeks or so, I think they would be pretty dog eared by now with the amount of crap that gets shoved in my baby/hand bag if I carried them from 20 weeks!

Hope all is ok CJ, sending positive thoughts xx

I took my notes up to Scotland last week when I was away but wouldn't carry them round on a day to day basis - not least because I'd damage my back/shoulder with the extra weight.

Bananas by the bed? It does sound very 'Carry on'...!

I'm also worrying about stillbirth Fedup. I have in all my pregnancies, but last year an old friend had a stillbirth at 38 weeks (baby died for no reason in her womb and she delivered a few days later). Utterly devastating - it was her second son. Made it all feel horribly real as I had researched stillbirth a bit first time around due to going to 42 weeks with DS.

Goats, I'm a big fan of evening primrose oil - I will take it orally and vaginally from about 35 weeks (can't actually remember when I started but feel I upped the dose over time). I was paranoid about going overdue with dd as wanted a vbac, so stuck with epo. I had a sweep on my due date, a show the next morning, went into labour that eve and she was born the next morning.

To counter this, I tried everything to shift DS (had 3 sweeps, shagged a few times a day, curries, pineapples, walked 10+ miles a day...even bought castor oil but dh hid it as it sounds like a pretty awful way to bring on labour!). And nothing worked. So really babies come when they're ready. Inductions can be fine though - I had one with DS at 42 weeks and even though I hyperstimulated immediately after one pessary (a rare thing to happen) and ended up with an emcs it was fine. I had no pain relief (I tried gas&air but it made me vomit), just my hypnobirthing breathing, and then DS arrived safe and sound. And made the whole thing worthwhile!

I think its natural to worry about what could happen especially when information is so readily available. My fixation is not getting through the caesarean and hubby having to deal with 5 kids without me.

Oddly take comfort in that others worry too and it's not me just worrying for a reason if that makes sense. Think I worried about this too with ds but since having 2 mcs and hearing of others stillbirths I'm just freaked out by it all.

I also worry about it, and 500 other things that keep popping into my head. Definitely need to start with the natal hypnotherapy again I think. After moving house this weekend, haven't felt baby move nearly as much and am having spotting again so now am convinced I've done something terrible by trying to do too much. I might just move into the doctor's office. I don't know who'll be more relieved when the baby's here, her or me.

Wow curious about the content of some of your maternity notes(",) mines is just an a4 booklet & not heavy at all. I must admit im feeling a tad paranoid about all of these prem & still birth stories ... So sad & a living nightmare for anybody to go through :( im tryin to keep my anxiety from esculating as i stopped all medication when i became pregnant, what will be will be i suppose and worrying about it wont prevent it from happning ? And i know stressing about things i cant control isnt really good for my baby... Thats what i remind myself of when i begin to think about horrible things ....

I know so much of it is out of control but there's always that part of me that is like - is there something I / the NHS should be doing / not doing to make sure the risk is reduced. It's like when I mentioned to my mw about someone I knew who had a still birth due to her catching slapped cheek syndrome. She knew nothing about it and said of I got it there wasn't anything they could do. Also untrue.
I know I don't want to wrap myself up in cotton wool but just having a panic week I think. Bit like coming up to my anomaly scan, I was obsessed with worrying about abnormalities. Believe me, before mcs I was really a normal and rational person - this had turned me into a total nut job. Just wish I could fast forward to having healthy happy baby in my arms.

porcito sorry to hear about about the spotting. Please do try and rest with your feet raised. I feel a bit like that with the mw when I phone up with another worry / concern. I guess they are used to it / it's their job!

Been in France for two weeks and just about caught up with the thread! I was relieved (although sympathise of course) to hear others feel they've reached a tougher point in pregnancy as well. I'm 29 weeks today and feel like the last two weeks have been much more tiring and physically demanding. Can't believe there's another 10 weeks to go (c-section at 39 weeks) and full time work for another 9 weeks, yawn. I've had two separate people say to me today when looking at my tummy 'any day now then' and when I say no, not until the end of September they give me this confused look as if maybe I've made a mistake. Anyway it's not all bad and sorry for those of you who are still suffering regular sickness, severe pain, spotting scares etc.

My friend just announced she is pregnant and I'm so happy - she started trying a few months after me and it took us both about 18 months so I'm so pleased it's happened for her as well. Was feeling weirdly guilty as I already have one child but this will be her first.

Captain we have the same due date my cs is pencilled in for 23rd Sept at 39 weeks to

Has anyone elses sense of smell gone newly haywire?

The smell of EVERYTHING makes me feel a bit sick. Particularly anything fishy, boyfriend's breath, butter/dairy things. They all smell so strong it's gross. This is new.

Oh dear I've had a weird evening, came home very hot from stupid tube and decided to still do Pilates DVD, had shower, made dinner, soon as I sat down I felt very unwell, short of breath, weak and thought was going to throw up.

Feel fine now just tired, lasted almost two hours was it the heat do you think? I also feel baby is bigger and moving up now so perhaps less room for lungs :(.

Fedup I too am anxious about the tube, luckily working from home tomorrow as have hospital appointment but back to work on Thursday and plan to leave early to miss rush in evening but still unacceptable temperatures for pregnant women on those tubes.

ohthegoats yes I've had the exact thing for the last few days. I'm also super sensitive that I smell!! If I get too close to people I can smell their breath and feel sick. I can smell my bathroom coming up the stairs, everything is exaggerated! It's like the early days of pregnancy when my nose goes into overdrive!

flip I've not heard of taking EPO to induce labour. How much should you take and at what stage? I've been having acupuncture throughout the pregnancy and an definately going to have it weekly leading up to the date. I heard lots of stories about women having acupuncture when they're overdue and then going into labour.

bump it sounds like the heat. Take it easy and if you feel a bit wobbly in the morning don't go to work!

Ah you're working from home anyway!

Me too re: the heightened sense of smell, I could smell my cat's dirty litter tray from halfway down the stairs yesterday but DH was clueless, jeez the smell of it nearly knocked me down!
Hormones were in full swing this evening, after a seemingly endless weekly shop with DH I burst into tears for no apparent reason on the drive home :-O
Just really achey today so I think it was starting to get me down, feet swollen too and dreading bed as I know I'll wake up sore somewhere again!
Oh do shut up Kirstipops.....

I'm now addicted to sugar snap peas and Lidl chocolate twist pastries. In bulk. Am looking like a house. Dairy made me gip all last pregnancy - the paed reckons its often an early symptom of dairy intolerance. I just think hot milk smells minging.

I'm v nervous about having a prem because it seems to be what my family do. Myself and siblings were all 7 weeks early, my sister's eldest was 2 weeks early, her second 13 weeks early, my first was 4.5 weeks early and am apparently being watched closely for early labour this time. Not that, thus far, I've been seen more frequently than every 14 weeks! I'm going to ask for steroids at 28 weeks as a precaution I think. Just watch me have to be induced at 42 weeks.....

Phew - survived work.
Since I still have 8 weeks of work to go I have decided to have 2 pamper days between now & due date. I'm mega excited about them, getting bikini line waxed, hair highlighted, pregnancy massage & reflexology, might even build in a pedicure to the one right before due date.

I tried everything in the book to bring on labour naturally with DD but nothing worked. I did raspberry leaf tea, EPO insertion, curry, sex, nipple twiddling, very steep hill walking, reflexology, acupuncture & black cohosh. The key thing I was missing was the Oxytocin release, I would deffo suggest it is the major player. I was so busy fussing & cleaning & stressing about what might bring on the baby as I had preeclampsia that I did not allow the Oxytocin to flow...

This time I will do massage, raspberry leaf, walking, accupuncture & some husband loving! I will couple this with lots of laughing & being REALLY relaxed.

CJ spot on. Oxytocin is key. Stressing about wanting to go into labour actively prevents it. Hence so many women 'threatened' with induction don't go naturally its a bit of a catch 22. Think happy love hormone - oxytocin is what works.

Pinkfizz sorry for being unclear! Epo doesn't induce labour, just makes the cervix more favourable I think. I also had lots of acupuncture (my hospital offered it in fact), which is lovely and relaxing but did nowt for shifting DS!

Yellow I have to disagree about stress preventing labour (think of all the women who manage to give birth in war zones or refugee camps). I actually think there's a genetic element (all the women in my family went 1-3 weeks overdue with their first kids). Blaming stress puts the 'blame' on the woman (same as the 'relax and you'll conceive' argument that I think is rubbish!). And pregnant women get enough weird blame/responsibility without feeling like they're delaying their baby's birth! I definitely think oxytocin helps labour though - all that Ina May Gaskin stuff.

Kirstie with you on the hormones! Am so hot and sweaty all the time I'm really struggling - the humidity here is dire. I feel like I should stop whinging!

Me glad you're on annual leave. Are you on maternity leave now?