January 2015 Thread #9 - Crossing legs and fingers for the final stretch!

[KateTheHuman]

Welcome to the third trimester ladies!

Stats here

Mad that is a very sensible suggestion and one I should have thought of :) You sound super-organised for Xmas! I have lists of what batches need wrapping and posting or hand-delivering when but nothing more than that yet.

4 days left in work! Hurray!
I've bought/ordered all the Christmas presents... Just waiting on a couple to arrive in the post then I'll wrap them next week when I'm off & do cards.
not sure how DH is getting his to his mum & Dad because we are not driving 2hrs to deliver them...

Christmas is one month today! Eek!! :)

Ladies, you out me to shame with your Christmas organisation. I've bought a few presents and I'm knitting a few others but that's all! Oh, yes, I forgot! We updated the Christmas card list! I think I'm going to wait for mat leave to start first and then starts getting organised.

Madrigals That's another good way of making your DH panic a little: ask another man to do your heavy lifting for you! Keep us posted and if all else fail WE will go and talk to Mr M

All this talk of Christmas pressies makes me feel bad for the fact I have so far got none! You have all spurred me on and I think when Ds has his nap I will get ordering, then pop to town to get others later this afternoon!! I mean you never know when baby will decide to make an appearance. I can't believe how close to the end we all are! I remember typing my first post and us getting through a thread every few days!
34+4

I can't wait to wrap my presents for Christmas next week! Yay!

We went to the breastfeeding session with NCT last night. It was very interesting and I know where the local support groups are and when. Last NCT class is on Saturday and then we are supposed yo be ready to be parents! Eek! Exciting!

I'm wrapping and finishing off shopping next week too cheshire

Last day of work tomorrow - hurrah!!!!!! Though had some stupid colleagues and students deciding to ask me today for things they want me to do/information they need. They've known I'm going to be leaving for the whole fecking term!!!!

35+3

calling I know that feeling! I finish on Friday and got a huuuuuge list of things people want info on today that could take a week to get together... aint happening!
hope your last day goes well tomorrow!

Happy 35 weeks fellow New Yearers! high fives cheshire :)

Woohoo! 35 weeks! Thanks Kate!

Hi all, hope everyone is feeling well!

I've been having a pretty crappy time of things tbh. After my health scare at 28 weeks where I found out I only had one kidney and that baby was squashing the outflow and causing it to be mildly blocked I've been being monitored every two weeks by the maternity team. I felt utterly awful on Monday and ended up bailing out of work to go to maternity triage where I was diagnosed with a UTI. Slight panic as if it affects my kidney I could end up very unwell and possibly needing surgery. Now on antibiotics and back at work but feeling generally a bit crap. Ended up working 2 hours late last night while my boss left me (I do a very physical job and was on my feet without rest for the entire afternoon until 7pm) which I felt was a bit unfair! Not great for the back and pelvic pain that has crept up on me over the past few weeks either! Counting the days til maternity leave starts (11 work days to go).

The good side is that baby has been super active these past few days, and I'm starting to really enjoy the constant little (and big) thumps I get. I'm measuring slightly small (31cm on Monday) but apparently it's still within normal limits. Had my first CTG, too, which was apparently perfect so at least someone is doing well out of all this!

33+3

Gosh, chiruri, you're really going through it. Make sure to put yourself (and your baby) first.

I had my latest physio apt today and have been issued some lovely NHS elbow crutches. The physio said the progression was typical. When I described one pain as 'being kicked in the groin with a steel capped boot' she nodded grimly.

She also confirmed the only solution was more rest, more painkillers, and ultimately delivery. And it'll probably (definitely) get worse anyway before then.

She did compliment me on my pelvic floor progress though! I'm astounded!

It's the little things, eh...

Oh my chiruri what an awful time you've had It certainly put things into perspective and now my pelvic pain and swollen ankles really don't seem that bad! On a more practical note, is it H&S allowed to be left alone at work when heavily pregnant?!?

Last day at work today, and I woke up drenched in sweat (yuk!) at 3am! And I'm 34 weeks now! To think baby bilbo will be full term in 3 weeks only...

We are having some more work done this weekend but that should be the last of it before baby's much older! We need to be careful with money, although I was happily surprised by how much I'd get during mat leave money wise! Once the work is done, things can be put back in their place and I can start with my favourite activity: decluttering

Have a lovely Friday!

henrietta the crutches don't look like fun at all. How can u walk with them? I'd struggle with them before being pregnant, let alone when I have a huge bump to carry around!

Bilbo it's my last day in work as well today! To say I'm pleased is an understatement!
This week the sleeping issues have really kicked in... I'm an 8/9 hr sleeper but I'm now lucky to get 6hr in and that's interrupted. LO is worth it though!
We're doing our second Saturday of NCT on Saturday which we're looking forward to.
Anybody got exciting plans for the weekend?

Congrats to all of you who have thief last day at work today, you got there sorry to everyone who is going through it at the moment. It makes me feel guilty asking/ moaning about this but just wondering if anyone else was the same.
I woke up this morning and felt very heavy headed.... But like I was going to collapse. I have been really rough all week, having funny turns, sickness etc but not like this. I went to the docs yesterday and all was fine. I rang again today as I feel unsafe if you know what I mean and she is coming out to see me (as I need bloods taken anyway). I feel really silly and like I'm wasting peoples time as so far everything has come back normal so it makes me feel like it's just pregnancy and I'm being over dramatic. I was so I'll with Ds that I don't really know what's normal. Anyway, anyone else feeling similar?
34 + 5

Hello, hello ladies!

Crikey with the stories of Christmas organisation. I got some of my presents ready & off to the relevant family a little while ago, but have completely stalled since then. This weekend we have NO PLANS for the first time in weeks, so I'll crack on with some card writing at least, I think. And hopefully overseas parcel sorting. SK28, I don't think your fears about writing them too early are irrational at all!

Mad and Bilbo that's really interesting to hear about engagement. I had a hospital appointment this week (in which I was finally declared a fit, healthy woman with a low-risk pregnancy - hurrah!) and while examining me the consultant tried to see if he could "wobble" baby's head down into my pelvis. Well, since then I've been walking like John Wayne & it's felt rather different in my pelvis, but I wondered whether at 33 weeks it was too early for baby to start engaging. Maybe not - that might have been the encouragement they needed?!

Exciting to hear about your home birth plans, Mad! I'm very tempted to go for one now I've finally been declared low-risk, but as it's my first labour we're reading round the research and thinking hard about it. I'll chat to the community midwives about it as well. I'd love to hire an independent midwife - I met one of the local ones a few weeks ago & she was brilliant - but my husband is much less keen. He's much less risk-averse than I am. Ah well, we have time to keep thinking about it.

Sorry to hear some of you have been having such a rough time of things. Hope it starts looking up for you all very soon! Dec2013 I wouldn't worry about wasting people's time at all - if your doc thought it wasn't worth it she wouldn't have arranged to come see you! Sounds good that you're taking your symptoms seriously & getting yourself looked after.

33 weeks tomorrow!

Hurray! I finished work! That's it now... Time to relax before baby time!

NCT tomorrow - looking forward to it!
Got to decide what to do this week... I'm thinking... Nothing!

Have a lovely weekend ladies!

Re babies engaging - I had a mw apt on Monday and she said babies head was in the top of my pelvis so not engaged as such but almost there. Exciting times!

35+1

Hi Five cheshire !!! We made it I have a ton non work related things to do but for some reasons, I don't even panic! Just the thought of being able to stay in bed if I want to. Nap when I need to. Even go to the loo whenever I want without coming back to a war zone noisy classroom... Even now, it's 3.30am, insomnia is here again and I am not even anxious wondering how I will survive the week with so little sleep Did you get flowers/cards on your last day? I did, and some lovely little notes from pupils. I have to admit I welled up.

rumi When I started to feel baby's head down there I had a bit of a panic as I thought it was far too early! But the MW said baby can drop at any time after 30 weeks and not to worry. And that she is likely to drop even more, although it wouldn't be as dramatic a change. It's almost as if one morning I got and realised I had room between my breasts and the top of uterus. Oh, and of course, the John Wayne impression

Dec I would follow your instinct. It's best to call for help and be told that nothing is wrong than the other way round. If she's coming to you, it means she's taking you seriously and it is a good thing. They won't take risks and rightly so, so you did well to ask for help. I hope it all goes ok for you xxx

cheshire 6 hour sleep? I wish! It's funny how we need different amount of sleep! I'm a 6-hour night type person usually. I've never needed a lot of sleep, even as a kid my mum wishes me luck if baby is anything ,ike I was with sleep So 6 hours would be plenty! But as it stands, I have to survive on 3 hour a night, sometimes 4 and yesterday was a real struggle when driving. But it's all irrelevant now because we can rest at home

Have a lovely weekend ladies!

bilbo I have to confess that I'm very annoyed with my work colleagues. We work in a small company - only 8 of us so we are generally a close bunch and they did nothing to mark me going on maternity... No baby presents/flowers, not even a darn a card! Very upset with them and it did put a dampener on my last day if I'm honest.

Insomnia is definitely kicking in here... I wake around 3am and then seem to stay awake for a couple of hours but manage to drop off again around 5am.

We finished our NCT classes today... Hoping to keep in touch with everyone from the group as well. We've set up a fb group so hope that works out as well.

Hello all. Checking back in after a long break. Well I have time on my hands now that I have started mat leave and not a moment to soon. These past few days the exhaustion has really kicked back in and I can manage about 20 mins of activity before I feel like a clockwork toy running out of, erm, clockwork? Not helped by the insomnia, waking up fory 4am wee I was usually straight back to sleep but now I can lie awake for hours and even this afternoon when I was shattered and dragged myself off for a nap I only managed half an hour before I woke up and couldn't get back off again. grrrr. Have a repeat scan on Thursday as baby is measuring small still, around the 10th centile. Hoping might have had a bit of a growth spurt in the last couple of weeks and give me one less thing to worry about at 4am. Hope you are all doing well and the last stretch treats you kindly.
35 +1

Hello everyone. I am envious of you all starting your maternity leave. I have three weeks left in work, finding it difficult even though I'm only 34 weeks.

cheshire I understand your disappointment. It's not like a card is that hard to organise, and a nice goodbye What did they say when you left? Did they acknowledge your going on mat leave? Anyway, now you're off! Think of the future I'm certainly enjoying it today. Being a teacher meant that I always used to have something to do, even on my day off. Now it's only the phd and even that I plan on leaving for a while in a week or two

monty I'm 34 weeks too and I decided to leave early. I was supposed to leave at 37 weeks but my commute was just too much. And insomnia didn't help! Are you able to reduce yours hours/work from home to alleviate the pressure?

ready I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you! Is baby healthy apart from the 10th centile? And how I feel for you regarding the insomnia. It's awful. It's like torture. In fact, isn't sleep deprivation used as a form of torture in some country?

bilbo they acknowledged I'm off now for 9m and have taken my work phone & keys but that wAs it. Got an email from one colleague who was working in another area on Friday so I didn't see her saying "good luck" but that was it!
Anyway, I'm off now and that's all that matters.
I've spent this morning doing washing and painting my nails!