May 2015 - thread 8 - Maysters unite as babies start arriving! Eek!

[Titsalinabumsquash]

thread 7

New thread ladies.

Lina apparently eating bananas can help with night leg cramps, something to do with potassium/electrolyte imbalances or something. Also massaging the leg muscle before bed. Had a horrendous calf cramp the other night, sooo painful! Was limping the next day because of it so I feel your pain!

had a letter through door today to let me know asda have another baby & toddler event online 18th April in store 20th, no doubt all the other supermarkets will follow suit.

thanks for letting us know about the baby event snooky will bear that in mind in case I need any last minute supplies!

Enjoyed the pub quiz last night.....and we never win! All just a bit of fun :)

I slept really bad AGAIN! Was awake at 3am, downstairs at 4am watching master chef and eating cereal! Think I am going to try and have a nap now as had a very lazy day!!

Thanks ginger - I'm going to the supermarket to stock up! I'll try anything to prevent that again -

It was bloody awful! I'm feeling much better this afternoon though.
Despite accidentally falling asleep on the couch from 9-11.30, I've still managed to clear the ironing and washing baskets, sweep and mop the kitchen and sort through 2 massive boxes of baby clothes! (And have a cheeky wee half hour sing at the piano haha!)
Was so annoyed at myself for falling asleep but don't feel too bad now.

lina your post is me at the moment - I feel like a bug stuck on its back when trying to roll over.

I have two pillows between my knees as I can't bear my legs together and the cramps or numb bum or dead hips!!!

Needless to say I was drinking tea and watching Towie at 3.30am!!!

Think I've got a sumo on my hands too...mw appt FH was 3 above current week so been referred for growth scan...because have had so many scans as lovely as it is to check up on baby am getting tired of being prodded and poked! Generally ive always been a ive the line anyway 1cm then 2cm so naturally 3 is next hehe

Re tidying up below I got myself today as it was on offer a new razor that's also got a bikini trimmer so with a mirror ive taken a bit off so not quite as forest like now! Still not as I normally have but best I could do with mirror and remembering I'm looking in a mirror when moving the trimmer!!!

Lina bananas do help with leg cramp, I have been having a small banana at lunchtime and another about 8pm and I haven't (touch wood) had another bad cramp since my horrible one a month ago. Am also suffering with hip pains at night, will be glad when can sleep in back or front again!

turquoise thanks for tip re BF night feeds!

cockbollocks I too feel like a bug or turtle stuck on back when trying to get up!!

Sorry to hear everyone's having trouble sleeping. Am also finding I get achy hips/back especially when I try to turn over or get out of bed. Last night I was lying in bed the wrong way round with my feet up on the wall to try to tackle the massive swollen ankles of doom, then when I wanted to move I realised I was stuck like a bug on its back - just like you, Cock!

4.5 more days at work...

Gosh we are all suffering in the night aren't we! I was up eating cereal at 4.30 the other night. Couldn't get comfortable due to hip and sciatica pain and was starving..

I've been wondering.... And I've been too chicken to ask at my NCT class, but what do labour pains actually feel like? Do you just "know" when they arrive. Can any one who's already been through birth shed any light?

twinkle I think it varies from personto pperson but for me the early stages were like period pains in my lower back. In fact all the way through the contractions were painful in my back. The weird thing is that in between I felt fine - no lingering pain after the contalraction pain subsided like there would be if you hurt yourself in another way. It wasn't the intensity of the pain that was the most difficult - burning your finger for example was more intense - but rather the mental strength required to brace yourself for each one as it builds, knowing it is only going to get harder. That said, I was expecting it to be worse, in a way. Each time I felt I was reaching the top of my tolerance level something new would happen to take things back to a bearable level eg transfer to hospital, which for some reason made things calm down for a while, gas and air and then birthing pool. I actually found pushing ok. It was the but just before when I was trying to resist pushing that was the worst. I also felt a bit zoned out - time slipped by without me being totally aware of it passing. I am aware I was lucky - dd was in the right position and my waters didn't break till the very end (in fact they had to be broken) which I think allowed things to build quite steadily and my endorphins to keep up, but I remember being grateful for positive birth stories with dd as it helped to know that horror wasn't inevitable! I am not saying it was easy - I remember asking myself in the middle of it if I could go through it again and thinking "maybe once more but that is it!". I wwouldn't say it's unmistakable at first. I definitely knew I was contracting but I wasn't sure if it was practice ones or the real thing until they were pretty regular.

I am suddenly stressing about who is going to look after dd if I go into labour in the middle of the night. Does anyone else have a plan? My dsis works in london and is on call to fetch her from nursery, put her to bed and stay the night if I call her at work but she lives in Cambridge and wants to go home to her own bed at least a few nights a week so won't be on hand 24/7. Dm and mil will be on callbut three hours away so I need a stopgap. Am thinking I am just going to have to have a network of friends on call but Iit's quite a big ask to drag someone out of bed and my most local friends have small babies of their own. It being half term complicates things as some people are away.

longest Thank you so much for writing that-so useful for a newbie! Sorry I can't help about DD

Mine was similar to longest I had the sweep the day before and woke up at 5am with period cramp so thought it may have been starting, when I went for a wee at 5.30 I had a show so after that was preparing myself... I went back to bed for a few hours and managed to sleep on and off between the cramps which were uncomfortable but not unbearable, this continued all day until about 8pm when the pain ramped up a level the cramps were more intense and they were coming more frequently, my bump was also going hard and I knew I had to keep my mental strength going as it was going to get harder... I bounced on my birthing ball all the while I was at home with my yens machine which did help, by 10pm I rang the delivery suite as they were coming every 3minutes and lasting for a minute each, I was told to come in and when the examined me I was 5cm so I was moved to labour ward and got in the pool... At this point I was thinking I don't think I can do this, they were coming one on top of the other with no break inbetween it was hard but I knew in the end it would all be worth it... I was examined after 2hours in the pool and was 7cm so decided to get out of the pool and lay down for a little bit, 20mins later my water broke and the urge to push just took over and I went with my body, listening to my midwife as well! 21 minutes and 2pushes later she was born.. I'm not going to lie it was hard work and painful but it's totally manageable if you don't panic and remember what comes at the end of it all is worth it 100 times over...

Thank you Chook and longest it is really nice to hear detailed accounts of birth stories! I keep getting really painful fanny daggers and i am like 'oh god please don't be like that but X100' At least i know to keep an eye out for period type pains!! :D

Another one here up eating cereal in the wee small hours. Normally I sleep in the spare room so when I wake for the 50th time to pee/roll over/generally toss and turn I'm not disturbing DP. But his patents are visiting so I'm back in with him, which means he's getting a crap night too and we're really nightly with each other. Plus I'm grumpy in general, so EVERYTHING that DP or his parents do is irritating the crap out of me (tbh, that's a whole other post ). I just want everyone to go away so I can nest in peace!

Okay, positive thoughts... Weather has been beautiful so have got loads of washing done - hurrah!

Parents not patents, and niggly not nightly!

Hi ladies- hope you're all well :)

been rubbish at this keeping up business :( can't even remember if i've posted on this thread yet so far and no idea how to check!

33 weeks today, lurking nicely at the back of the bus :)

Thanks Chook&Longest that is reassuring!

Aberjen you have just described something v similar to the last 72 hours in our house, except rather than the in-laws staying yet, in our nesting frenzy it seemed a good idea to repaint our bedroom so there's been no escape for me through the night to clear off anywhere else when I'm overheating or not wanting to disturb DH after my 3rd nocturnal venture to the loo! Honestly, I'm trying everything to get rid of the smell of paint but it won't shift. Oh well, nearly the weekend.

Lina and Ginger - there's something in tonic water sadly not gin that is a massive help with cramp too. I couldn't believe some of the after effects of getting it really badly in the night but that was a bit earlier in the pregnancy! A really bad case lasted a couple of days I'm sure! Pains now seem to have moved to the lower back too like Piglet Smiley & Cock

Longest I'm sure your dsis would want to help you and not have you worrying about childcare when the moment comes. Maybe she even has a wee overnight bag ready at her work to come and stay with you and look after your wee girl? If it seems tricky, maybe closer to your due date you could speak to your respective DM and MIL about who might be on call to come and help too so that you've got more peace of mind about it

Thanks dottyne. Dsis and dm both on call during the day - just would be a bit trickier for them to get here quickly if Labour starts at night, but have emailed lovely pal with the small baby and she has agreed to be fall back, hurrah. Really hope not to have to call on her and would be nicer for dd to sleep in her own bed undisturbed but it's a weight off my mind to have a fall back plan.

Had diabetes midwife appointment this morning which was quite reassuring. Have had a few high readings but mw said they were overall excellent and everyone has to have the occasional treat. Bit rubbish that a single hot cross bun is now the height of vice but nice to know everything is still on track. Baby is head down but not engaged.

Tonic water contains Quinine which is great for cramps.

Cheers chook and longest those were very helpful descriptions! Thanks for taking the time to type it out..Glad also to hear some positive birth stories too.

It's all so new and strange and about to be imminent! Just feel like I need to get my head properly around what is going to happen next. Eeeeeeeek

Thanks chook and longest, helpful to know :)

Second NCT session tonight, was good as we learnt more about pain relief. Whilst I knew some of it, it helped DH understand Iit all better and where I am coming from.

Sorry to everyone also suffering, listened to my hypnobirthing CD today for the first time, was asleep within minutes.. Apparently that's OK cause the subconscious should pick up on it, hope that's true ha ha.

Longest that must be really difficult not having any family close by. Have you got anyone you use as a childminder or nursery worker who you could even pay to be on call? I've heard of people doing that before. Very stressful for you though. Glad your diabetes is not playing up. You've been really good to manage it. I would be rubbish at it.
aberjen why are your inlaws staying? We never have house guests, I hate it. Maybe when we have an extension with separate kitchen etc. I love having people for dinner etc but not staying over.
dotty hope the paint smell goes soon! You can probably smell it more with being pregnant.

My birth story is not as nice as the other two but DS got here safely in the end. I started having contractions at 4am on the morning of Xmas Eve so got up and used my tens machine which was great. They were about every 15 minutes at that point. I continued having them all day and went to hospital about 3pm and was told to go home as I was only 3cm dilated. It carried on with increasing intensity, like bad period pains but not horrific. I went back to hospital on Christmas Day morning and was sent home again as I was only 5cm dilated but still having intense contractions about every 8 minutes. I had no sleep as contractions woke me up.
I had my Christmas dinner and my waters went in the middle of it about 4pm so my mam took me to hospital again. It was bizarre because there was about 20 guests at my cousins for dinner and they were all helping me breathe through the pain and timing my contractions.
Hospital once again wanted to send me home and just said I was in slow labour. I refused to leave and demanded they helped me as I didn't think it should be going on this long. They put me on the monitor and said baby was transverse and they would turn him by hand but I could have pethidine first. This made me out of it and I just remember this doctor telling me he would try to turn the baby.
It was truly awful and I would never allow that again. The baby then started to get distressed so they said I would have to be induced to try to hurry things up so I was put on a drip. This went on for several hours with me trying to push but nothing happening. Then they attempted to give me an epidural but that failed for some reason.
48 hours passed from the first contraction and I'd had no sleep at all.
I remember my consultant coming in and shouting have you not got that baby out yet??! They decided to give up on the epidural and I had an emergency section under general anaesthetic. I fitted badly after it and bit the end of my tongue off.
Baby was fine though. They discovered during my section that my cervix does not go in a straight line but curves all over so I could never delivered naturally and that I had half a womb, one ovary, one kidney and one Fallopian tube.
I woke up 5 hours later to a shocked H holding the baby that I didn't remember having. Hardly a dream experience. Probably a bit mixed up as so much happened.
My elective section will be a dream compared to that.

Oh my god turquoise that sounds like such a terrible experience, so pleased that this time is all planned for you

d0t sorry you're struggling too sleepwise, it's so crap!

turquoise to be fair, in laws live about 150 miles away, are in their 80s and only come to us about twice a year. They have invested a lot in our house too, we couldn't have bought it without their help. Normally I'm much more patient, but pg has def put paid to that this time!

Just found my birth story from last time on my phone (sorry it's a bit long!):

Woke up on at 3.30 am with crampy pains under bump. Wondered if this was start of labour but wasn't sure as kind of felt like the beginnings of food poisoning! Kept going to loo feeling like I needed to go, but couldn't. Cramps kept coming in irregular waves - tried timing them but not consistent. At 6.30 decided it probably was labour so called maternity assessment unit to let them know. Was advised to stay at home and call when contractions were 4 mins apart and lasting a minute.

By 9.30 am contractions still irregular but was starting to struggle with pain - was feeling contractions in my back and had backache between contractions so felt like no respite. Called MAU again and was advised that first labours slow and to try and stay home a bit longer but call again if really struggling with pain.

Lasted until 2 pm but was then finding pain hard to cope with. Called MAU again and went to hospital. Wandered around waiting area while waited to be seen, with DP rubbing back during contractions. Felt like I was making a scene as another woman was there sitting quietly the whole time while I paced and demanded back rubs!!

Waters broke in waiting area at 3 pm just as midwife came to get me for assessment. Felt like contractions really ramped up, poor DP was begging for pain relief for me while midwife examined me. Was 4 cm so we were taken to delivery suite. Me "4 cm, that's good, that means they can't send us home!"

On delivery suite DP again asking for pain relief for me. Gas and air arrived, which was great fun! Took the edge off a little but not for long. Examined at 5 pm and am now 5 cm. Me "only 5 cm?!" Was now completely out of it and epidural was mentioned. Me "yes please". Them "are you sure?". Me "oh, I don't know" "yes I want an epidural!"

Epidural installed and I tell the anaesthetist I love her. I then tell everyone else in the room (midwife, and poss another doctor, plus DP) that I love them too so they don't feel left out (!)

By 7 pm am 9 cm. At 8 pm am nearly 10 cm but not quite. Still no further along at 9 pm, so syntocinon drip started. Fully dilated at 10 pm and left for an hour before start pushing at 11 pm. Baby's heart rate dipping during contractions and forceps mentioned - plan is to use forceps if I don't push baby out before all instruments etc ready! In the end, have episiotomy, 2nd degree tear and forceps delivery. Head delivered and DD starts crying before body delivered - I hope this not sign of things to come. DD checked over then put on my chest for skin to skin - she's gorgeous! 7lb 9 3/4 oz of perfection :-)

Birth plan was gas and air, breathing exercises and hoping to avoid epidural but not ruling it out. Pretty much went out the window from moment we arrived at hospital but whole experience was so positive that really didn't mind - all of the staff were absolutely amazing, I never once felt scared.

Oh, and as far as I know it wasn't a back to back labour, although read a bit like one. Mw I saw this time said it could have been partly due to anterior placenta pushing DD into a slightly back to back position. Have anterior placenta again this time so advised to keep good posture, etc (finding this difficult when there is a bum stuck up under my ribs and I just want to flop leaning back on the sofa...)

And whilst at home my contractions never became regular (not sure about when we got to hospital and waters broke)