October 14. Thread 12. Still no babies? Let the raspberry leaf tea drinking commence

[YellowWellies]

New Fred

Oof fedup my head would be sore with all that to take in today, hope you can find some distraction for a bit.
No mention of birth plans, sweeps etc at any of my appointments, wondering if it'll ever be brought up! Not that I have much of a birth plan; yes to birthing pool if it's available, will try my bestest with TENS beforehand or if pool is a no go, plus G&A. But I'll see how I get on, and please leave cutting the cord til pulsing stopped.
Continuing with driving lessons and just playing it by ear, much like the birth plan really!

london episiotomy rates are very low with spontaneous vaginal births I.e no ventouse or forceps. The only reason mws would perform one is to expedite delivery if fetal distress and baby very close. Or if looks likely that tear maybe 3rd or 4th.

Had my 34 week appt fundal height is measuring 34 must have been a growth spurt at last appt. Bp and heartbeat good.
Awful headache today need to drink more. Also feeling very achy am like an old woman trying to get out if bed in morning.
Dd back to school tomorrow not looking forward to school runs in hot weather.

I was going to say the only friends I know who got episiotomies had them to allow access for either forceps or ventouse. I'm very much of the view that my BH are toning my uterus to prepare for labour and I'm not going to take anything artificial to help. I know it can help psychologically (especially with your first) to feel you are doing something to make labour easier or shorter but this time I'm going to trust my body to deliver him / her at its natural pace (if I'm allowed to labour naturally!).

My sister is off to a post grad open day on the 27th September, 100 miles away, when I'll be 36 weeks. What are the odds that's the day I go into labour and we have no one to look after J

I need to catch up (2 pages behind!) But just wanted to say my sis is in early labour! Waters broke at 5 am and irregular contractions s since then! Yes this is the sis that usually has 10min labours! She is very bored right now! Midwife has been and gone with plans to bring her in for induction in the morning! These babies are so unpredictable!

Mum2 in her case I'm so chuffed to hear her labour isn't a fast one!

mum2 hope all goes well, yes we never know what these babies will decide! Is it her 3rd as these are notorious for bucking the trend and taking their time. Hoping I'll go the other way as my 2nd was induced due to prom and not the usual quick 2nd labour.

I was thinking about your sister this morning mum2. Really glad that hospital is looking like an option for her now!

Re tearing vs cutting, I thought it was better to tear as the skin knits back together easier rather than a clean cut? I got away with just a graze last time and no stitches, hoping for the same again. I have realised I am imagining this smooth, easy, lovely water birth in my head. I will be really stuffed if that doesn't happen!

Some teeny tiny nappies got delivered last night and I just can't believe DS's bum was ever that small or that there will be a baby in them soon! All starting to get a bit real now Also getting a new storage unit delivered which I will fill with teeny tiny baby grows and vests. Once that is done and the crib is put together I will feel ready I think. And probably a bit impatient!

Argh had forgotten how much I hate folding babygrows!

Jelly the tear vs cut thing makes me think of the Dara O'Brien sketch about going to an NCT class with his wife, a surgeon, who mocked the 'tears heal better than cuts' line by questioning why, if that's the case, all operations are conducted with a scalpel when they should just use a bear .

I had an episiotomy in theatre as they needed to use forceps to turn him to get him out. It was either stitches there, or stitches for c section and I really wanted to avoid that purely for the recovery time. Little did I know or been warned about recovery time after pushing for nearly 3 hrs, every muscle in my body hurt for weeks!!

Ok sensitive topic but weight gain.... I'm not one to regularly weigh myself but I've just been on scales and put on 10kg since booking appt with mw. That seems loads and I'm only 34wks. Does anyone know what's normal, should I be more careful? I tend to be craving sweet things and not sure that's helping.

sweetpea - I think the norm is around 2 stone for the entire pregnancy but should be a little less if your already overweight to start with. I have put on that much and am 34 weeks also . Apparently you put on about a 1lb per week from now on so we might end up a little over 2 stone heavier.

Yellow - folding baby grows is my way of nesting I think, I love it! This is the pic I took last time round, I used to go into the nursery and just gaze into the drawers all happy and contentedly Those drawers now look like a bomb has gone off in there - oh well!

I love folding vests but babygrows are so blimmin untidy to fold!

And I know during a middle of the night poonami DH will ruin neatly organised drawers as he scrabbles to find a change of clothes

jellybeans I am also happily going into the nursery and gazing at clothes etc. They are so frickin tiny. It is the quietest and cleanest room in the house at the moment!

mum2 - that's so exciting. Does she know what she is having or is it a surprise?

Natural tears do heal better than episiotomies, despite what Dara (I remember him saying this when I watched him live I was squirming in my seat!) O'Briens wife thinks! This has been proved by reasearch that episiotomies take longer to heal and are deeper than natural tears and quite often result in scar tissue.

jelly here I was thinking wow so organised for someone already has a child the. Saw that photo was for your 1st! Phew reassured now this baby hasn't even got a drawer just a section in the wardrobe with about 4 baby grows and nothing else! No Muslins no nappies no blanket! No nursery will be in with us then siblings.
All I can say is baby better hang on until next pay day as we are skint until then.

Me23 I'm sure that's true but the Dara O'Brien sketch makes me

mum2kiss glad to hear your sister's labour isn't going as quickly as feared. Do you live near her? Newborn cuddles tomorrow?

SweetPea 10-12kg is supposed to be ideal weight gain over the whole pregnancy. I've also gained 10kg so far and am 33 weeks tomorrow. I'm convinced that everything that isn't baby, amniotic fluid, blood and placenta is muscle .

I've also worked myself into a state of apprehension today, mostly by reading about some (presumably rare) complication of VBAC in the Ina May Gaskin book. It's particularly ridiculous because there's no reason at all to think the hospital won't be aware of the risk factors and check for contraindications when I'm close to term.

me23 glad to hear I'm not the only one who hasn't started any proper baby stuff preparation. We've brought the bedside cot up from the garage and vacuumed off the spiders and, umm, that's it! I really should pack a hospital bag, but if the baby came now I'd still have time to sort the rest before it was allowed home, wouldn't I?

Pea, me too! Feeling a bit horrified tbh, esp as midwife says my bmi's increased so much as a result. Not sure what I can do to stabilise - all v well to say we should exercise, but I'm still f/t at work so not sure where to fit it in...not to mention physical discomfort levels of trying to exercise with a big bump!!

Oh my goodness.....baby just did the biggest shudder/shiver! What the heck was that about?! Any ideas?

I've just bought the most beautiful blanket from Next. All bright coloured stripes. Makes a change from the "white" that has taken over every other piece of clothing.

Both my dd and ds had colic. Trying to cut out/greatly reduce dairy. That for me is milk! I miss it already. I had to top ds up with a bottle as well as breast feeding as he was a hungry big baby. So I'm going to get some formula in incase thus one is the same. Since I had him tho I've seen Aptamil and SMA both do a special colic milk. Am I okay to give that to baby? Or do I have to wait for a doc to tell me to change onto it?

yellow I did find the show hilarious but couldn't help thinking "no, don't sprout this obstetric lie to all thses people!"
Oh yes hospital bag! Oops totally not on my radar right now lol. Hoping to get it done by 36 weeks. (Need to buy a bag first have nothing suitable though I heard primark do some cheap big bags) However don't really think it is such a big deal worst case scenario if I go into labour can send OH home after for a few things we only a short walk from hospital. All being well I'm hoping for 6 hour discharge and plan to stay at home for as long as poss in labour.

Well I've put on 13kg since booking in but I did similar last time so not suprised. Although my thighs feel huge i don't feel like I've out that much on elsewhere.

Thanks for the supportive words after my post mw appointment downer. I have re read notes and it's 4/5 palpable so pheweeee it's prob not going to rock up when DH is away.

Went to the shops today and ended up buying loads of clothes for ds rather than anything house or baby related! But did see some house stuff to buy once we can live in it again!

Re tears and cuts - it was the scar tissue that the mw was talking about today and reason why no MLU for me. I had both episiotomy and third degree so who knows what it's like down there! So guess I just have to wait it out for scan at 38 weeks so see what is recommended. Going to try forget about it in the mean time (easier said than done!)