April 2015 thread 5: where we hit the half way point and determine the sexes

[TheBooMonster]

Hi Everyone.

Our previous thread is here and our stats thread is here Do make sure you update your details there if you haven't already :)

Hello! Have just joined the fb group. Haven't posted for a while, so I am way behind on the conversations:

• My 16 week appointment was longer than expected. Urine sample requested but not provided because I'd forgotten what I'd done with my sample pot , also bp and babies hb checked. Midwife spent ages chasing up my blood results, turns out I had antibodies in my blood which weren't there for the previous pregnancy, they wanted to make sure they weren't dangerous to the baby. (they were unthreatening antibodies, apparently). Also my doctor failed to let me know I had a urine infection so was given another pot for MS test. Still haven't had the results for that yet, so assume all ok....

*BF: My mm bf me and both of my siblings, my MIL ff my DH as he was put in the NICU when he was born and she wasn't able to feed him there at the time , but she bf his brother. Me and both my SIL bf all our children so far, although the majority of mums around here all seem to ff. I had no trouble at all bf from the start, no pain that everyone on here seems to speak of, it was about the only thing that went right for me! However I did have trouble expressing, didn't get any more than 1 oz per breast no matter how hard I tried and dd wouldn't take a bottle anyway. This time I really want to mix feed so DH can feed the baby as well as me. I found that dd only wanted me once she was tired and refused to be handed to dh or let him bathe her/put her down for a sleep, I think a lot of that was down to dependency on me for breastmilk. There is a crazy amount of support for bf in this area; I found I was hounded by people checking it was going ok and bending over backwards to offer support! I felt a bit bad that I didn't need it, really!

I went to see my consultant at the clinic regarding having an ELCS today. It was a frustrating session to say the least. They make you do a urine sample when you get there. Fair enough, have got used to medical professionals asking me to piss on arrival. Then when she asked what I wanted to do I said have an ELCS. She told me lots of risks etc, etc and gave me a leaflet on VBAC. I expected that, to be honest. Then told me to make another appointment at 38 weeks to make a final decision. 38 bloody weeks! Seems like they're pushing it a bit fine to me! Gah. THEN asked for a MSU sample before I left. Am I a defective pregnant woman? Can the rest of you all just piss on demand?! I said really, before I leave? There had been all of 5 minutes between this and the last urine sample. They said yes, water fountain over there... I drank half a can of diet coke and managed to squeeze out half a test tube worth. If that's not good enough, then tough! Gah, rant over... Still, only a few more weeks until I find out the sex

17+3

No bump from me... Still just looks fat...

And no, will not vanish...

We won't leave you wine!

Sorry for epic post!

bonjour also had the birth options clinic today. Fortunately to me they said I can book it when I see the consultant at 34 weeks. I am 99.99999999% sure I want a csection...

I'm not so sure now, to be honest... I think part of it is I just don't want to give birth if I don't have to , part of it is it went so wrong last time and the induction dragged on for so long, I ended up being rushed to the operating theatre by the midwives and I was so so tired I was barely awake by the time dd was born. I just want to be more conscious and with it for this ones birth, I think I was so tired last time, I felt a bit...detached from it all, tbh. In my mind an ELCS would ensure I would enjoy the experience a bit more. Does that make sense? Equally I'm not keen on the risks of subsequent c-sections causing bladder injuries, risking hysterectomies, and I did suffer from a bad infection after dd birth which meant my first week with her was horrendous. I ended up getting readmitted. Still at least I've now got 21 bloody weeks to make my mind up. Will talk it over with dh.

They can't force a VBAC but it seems they can postpone the decision making long enough to make one a real possibility...

Although dd was a fortnight overdue so prob wouldn't happen!

I wont abandon this thread! Though im a fairweather poster anyway!

I had my heart set on the Cosatto Giggle, I loved the bright prints and it had everything I wanted - pram, car seat, etc. Then I was featured on Watchdog because they have a habit of randomly collapsing and to make it worse Cosatto's customer service was terrible and they didnt give refunds. OH immediately declared that we wouldnt be buying anything from them so its back to the drawing board.

OH confided that he is feeling like he'll be a bit redundant as im planning on EBF. Going to look into bottles and sterilisers so he can do some feeds too. Or I offered a compromise where I can do all the feeds and his domain can be looking after the other end! Haha!

I obviously understand some women need to have a C-section, but my understanding is that a vaginal birth is optimal, if possible, and this is a good reason why: www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/toni-harman/microbirth-babys-mircobiome_b_4947959.html. Just info in case anyone didn't know.
And for those with a previous bad experience of birth, subsequent births are supposed to be quite a bit easier.

Not so worried about the microbiome, tbh - I did do immediate skin to skin and bf for a year - would do that with the next a well, my main worry is being awake enough to be engaged with the babies birth vs. not risking another infection.

PS baby was kicking quite a bit yesterday and I haven't felt it at all, today. Still I heard the hb earlier so know all is well!

blimey bonjour that sounds like a bit of a palava! And no, I can't pee on demand either, I have a stash of bottles at home so I keep one in the bathroom to use on the morning of any appointment and take it with me (much to the confusion of the poor woman who did my flu jab earlier in the week, so did not want pee...)

ha ha wibble DH definitely got the lions share of the nappies whilst he was home, much to his disgust :P

Ooh, that's a good idea, Boo. I have to make sure I do mine after having had a drink though, or I get told off for not being hydrated enough

DH also got the lions share of nappies at first, dd was often changed on the floor and my caesarean scar prevented me from getting down!

The ladies I know locally have elcs at 39 weeks.

I'm biased as although I had a very long induced labour with ds1 I managed to give birth without assistance albeit in stirrups with 2 doctors in the room! But I think natural deliveries are easier to recover from and my much easier labour and delivery with ds2 healed a lot of the mental scars I still had from ds1. I'd love to spontaneously go into labour this time and have the water birth I've always wanted but we'll see. I do have several friends who've had emcs first time and elccs second time and say an elcs is so much easier to recover from. It's always a gamble I guess but you have to with your gut as to what is more important to you. My cousins oh had an elcs due to breech baby and then vbac, I guess partly because she had never been in labour so her cervix had never dilated she had a long labour but said she was always glad she'd gone for it.

Ds1 has made me super proud today! He got a 'good news home' postcard from his teacher today, was the only child in his class to make a hexagonal prism out of sweets and tooth picks and in the afternoon he made the best map of Norway (his topic this half term) :)

Thanks for new thread - I'm up for joining the Facebook group too, just need to work out what to do!

Here's my bump at 17+2

I recovered fairly well from my emcs, and I am still breastfeeding, so that wasnt an issue... I was stuck at 9cm for hours... So I feel I have tried it...

You got further than me, TinyTear - I got up to 6cm then later regressed to 4!! I didn't even realise that it was medically possible to go backwards, but I managed it! Apparently because the cord was around dd's neck, she was - quote "bungee jumping". Horrifying image, isn't it!

I was induced with DD, and then they missed me bleeding for hours because they thought I was dopey on gas and air >.> I lost 2 litres of blood and although I was back on my feet after a couple of days it would have down me good to have not been, almost passed out in mother care a week after the birth >.< I'm still aiming for a vaginal birth this time, but if they even think of coming near me with vontouse (that's not how you spell it...) I'm screaming blue murder till I get a section! This time I'll be on a drip for a few hours after the birth to ensure I contract properly...

Not feeling well since the afternoon today. Hate days like this, just when you're enjoying pregnancy suddenly bawm sea sickness.

Oh I'm 16+2 and must be growing a beast in there.