Hop aboard the good ship JS Grads for it's sweet 16th pregnancy party. Don your party hats, grab a bouncy ball and quaff copious amounts of raspberry leaf to celebrate our coming of age!

[Minion]

Welcome, welcome, welcome to the 16th grads thread... celebrating the success of Just Shagging in getting us viroids upduffed!

For those that don't know, a 'viroid' is from the original JSing thread 1, where someone was trying to type ladies (in reference to all the JSing ladies), but their phone decided to call us all viroids instead!

The name stuck and we've been the JSing viroids ever since.

The thread we have graduated from is here in its 33rd outing. WARNING: they're all a bit kerazy not to mention randy!

There is also a Just Mumming thread in postnatal clubs here for once your babies come along, or to keep up with the graduated graduates! It's a bit quiet at the moment, but with all these upduffed viroids hopefully it won't be for long!

There is also a private facebook group (so it doesn't give the game away in your news feed!)... if you want to join to see photos of new babies etc, just ask in-thread!

So, roll call below please, viroids!

Oh Ness how lovely That made me a bit weepy Well done lady, amazing xxxxx

Ooh ness that was wonderful! That's exactly the birth I want to have!!!!

It's sounded nice and calm

Ness, that sounds really great, I'm so pleased it went so well for you My placenta took ages to appear - turned out I had a very full-up bladder blocking its path

Poo update please, La

I used a hand pump a couple of times but got along much better quicker with an electric. If you're planning on expressing more than occasionally, you may end up with cramp in your hands with a manual!

Its hard to know I guess. I'd think not more than once a day, but I guess it depends how bfing works out...

Ness that sounds great! :)

We've got an electric pump but I haven't tried it yet! I'm way too lazy for manual
J has been a feeding machine today! 11 feeds & counting. Nips are getting tired
Hehe, glad my account wasn't so long it put y'all off reading it! It was fab really. If we do it again, I'd like the same again! Not sure where I go to order that...

Great description ness! You make it sound achievable even but still scares the shit out if me.

Except now. Nothing gets the shit out now! Right la?

I feel a bit rubbish. DH is so lovely and amazing and I am useless with a messy house. And I didn't get the steam mop I wanted today. I need it now!

Once a day is fairly regularly popz, I think you might appreciate having a manual and electric.

Popz definitely go with an electric, but I would suggest sticking with a single rather than

Oops early post fail! Was trying to say go with a single not a double. I had an electric with manual option and got 17 months' excellent use out of it, including expressing in pub loos once or twice when I went out on a rare boozy leave pass!

Am up finishing DD's birthday cakes for party tomorrow. Just about to head off to bed but ness thank you for your lovely birth story, it is inspiring and really is what I hope for next time. Juni I also had (prob always will have to some degree) lots of regrets and sadness about how things went with DD and while I have talked about it somewhat, I am just now really determined that this time will be different. God knows how I will deal with the aftermath if it all goes pear shaped again. I do hope you get some decent counselling and RL support and please know that you are not alone....xx

It's actually concerning how many of us are saying we didn't have good birth experiences and that it's never really been dealt with. It must be so common and yet it's really not talked about much.

Thanks for sharing Ness, it's so far removed from my experience but gives me hope for this time round. How's the infection?

Enjoy the birthday Fresh.

Morning viroids

Up early feeling sick and with the remnants of a bad cold I've had all week. Ugh.

It was lovely to read your birth story Nessa. It sounds mostly brilliant.

My DS's birth was mostly rubbish. Nothing "traumatic" happened - no crisis, no disaster. But there were multiple things about it that made me feel like a non-person, sad and scared. And they built up into not really wanting to think or talk about it afterwards. So much so that I cried every time One Born was on TV and someone managed a vaginal birth (I had an EMCS).

Hence my MNname... it took me a long time to even contemplate doing this again. And we are using our savings from the last 2 years to pay for a private midwife. I need someone I get to know and can trust - while there must be thousands of lovely, kind and supportive midwives in the NHS, I couldn't stand to get (another) one who was bored and harsh, who couldn't wait to get off shift. That's me though... I don't want to bring the thread down. It will be all right this time :)

Morning viroids!

I'm pleased to announce that after a slow and difficult 24 hours in labour my poo baby was delivered at 7:30 this morning. Considering the fuss I was surprised that it wasn't of tee proportions, however I did weigh myself before and after and it was a good 2lb.

Phew. Back to feeling nauseous and stretchy, rather than agony.

Before that's so sad. I hope you get the experience you would like this time.

My birth was swift. Woke up with a bit of backache (at the PiL's house). Thought, 'excellent, I've made it to 37 weeks without backache!' Went back to bed, it seemed to go away...half an hour later it was back - annoying. So I took a couple of paracetamol. An hour later it became apparent that 'a bit of backache' didn't come and go with such regularity. 'Fessed up to DH that we probably should be closer to home, and started writing them down (no app for me ), seemed they were every 15 mins.

Drove home (via the retail park on the M1, to pick up the car seat we had ordered: two contractions in-store), DH driving my car telling me how he isn't really ready for this ('I thought we still had three weeks!'). I went to the toilet and passed the bloody show (snot and blood and lots of it!). Called labour wd: 'you seem to be coping well (every 5-10mins), come in in an hour as we're a bit busy now'. Played on the birthing ball.

Went in an hour later, actually hurting a bit now. Abandoned the car in one of the ambulance bays as there were no drop-off spaces. Examined (by friend and colleague), the face she pulled led DH to believe the baby was breech...instead she told us I was 9cms and I needed to get to delivery ward swiftly. Arrived, LW co-ordinator (another friend) declared she was going to deliver me and was so delighted :) Tried to use the G&A but it kept falling apart.

DH gave me lovely back massage, then halfway through I yelled at him to stop because I had to push. Body took over, she arrived soon after (about 6h start to finish). Ring of fire exists, didn't last too long though, my waters went the push before her head arrived.

Placenta arrived after my bladder was emptied. Examined: a bit grazed, MW didn't want to suture but I bled quite heavily so ended up with a cannula and drip. Suturing with G&A as the horrible doc didn't wait for the local to take effect. Nice stuff, made my feet tingle though. Suturing did more damage than good and I ended up with an enormous haematoma, on oramorph for pain relief - that's the only bit of my birth I regret, that I didn't put my foot down and tell her to wait, to reassess once the bleeding stopped, to stop.

It's very sad how many people have traumatic births and them are left alone on ward. I've also heard the stitching up is the worst bit - ouchy.

I just hope for a safe birth but I'm truly terrified

It is sad, and like Wil says obviously relatively common. I think this must be why things like Lazy Daisy are gaining in popularity, as they're all about empowering women to have the labour they want, and giving them the knowledge to allow them to make informed decisions about pain relief, interventions, VE etc, rather than just accepting the status quo. That said I think a lot more midwives/ labour suites are into things like active birth, hypnobirthing, delayed clamping etc nowadays - my nhs antenatal classes were a lot more that way focussed than I expected tbh. I've never had a particular fear of childbirth (which may come back and bite me in the ass soon!) and I've done a lot of reading up on it. I know not everyone is similarly inclined/ privileged to be able to do so, and its a shame nhs/ maternity services are so strained nowadays that women don't necessarily get the choices they want, (or even made aware there are choices!) or the aftercare they need. Sorry to all those who had a less than positive experience and GX for the next one Juni Glad you managed to get things off your chest a bit to the HV - can she refer you to someone for a bit more in depth counselling?

Congratulations La! Doesn't seem five minutes since Little Stanley was born Is he pleased to be a big brother?? (2lbs )

Thanks for the pump advice ladies. The TT manual doesn't have the greatest reviews so may just leave it.... that said its only a tenner.... I've truly no idea how often I'll be expressing. In my head atm I'm only going to be doing it so Mr P can feed the baby every so often.

I'm doing a poo now! No weighing though, DH does that though. Compares with his brother . He will be impressed by your 2lber la, as am I! Congrats!

I've never been that scared of the giving birth but either popz, it will happen because it has to one way not another. But it is sad to read how bad some experiences can be. And I had never heard of this ring of fire...

It depends how you get on with pumping as well Popz. Sometimes it can take a couple of attempts to get enough for a feed. I had a philips avent one which could be manual or electric. If you could get a deal on something like that, that would be fine.

Chat your birth sounds great.

Must admit that's probably cos it's always been an abstract idea... I have had the odd panicky moment recently as it occurs to me that the only way is out for this baby... sooner rather than later!! Lol.

Haha, boys....

Never heard of ring of fire? Aka crowning?

Oh my god I'm on train and the child behind me has quite obviously done a poo :( I wish I had nose plugs. In quiet carriage but child is screaming. All the way to London - amazing.

Yes La. Thankfully I'd had an epidural by that point so didn't feel it. Hope someone changes the stinky child at some point.

Do you think the shops will still be awful today or might they be quieter because of yesterday's madness?

Awful I'd say! We're into the last 4 shopping weekends before Xmas!
We're just off to the OOH GP with J, I think he has a cold! He's all snotty bag sniffly bless him

Has it finished now? I thought it was all weekend. Shops will be hellish either way I guess!

Eurgh, La Switch seats??