December - yet another final thread!

[Loulou000]

The last one was getting too long again. There's just no stopping us!

Grrrrrrrrrrr.

Sorry, grrr was at summerlove's midwife, not at spinamum!

So glad I am not the only one to have had this experience with MW's its like I might as well not bother, cause there gonna write there own version of what happens/is said, whatever I do/say.

Summerlove & Spina - That is exactly the sort of thing that seems to happen every time I have to go to the Hospital.

That and the being made to feel you are wasting there valuable time by being pregnant and needing some help in the Maternity Day Unit

I wonder what they think they are there for....

just to add, I didn't leak anything until after DS1 was born and my milk came in fine, so wouldn't worry about it.

Just had some presents from work- very nice- a slingeasy sling and a bouncy chair. Quite excited about getting them home and trying them out! (not myself of course!!). Also just had massive Thai meal for lunch and feel like crawling under my desk for a nap!

Yes- I too get irritated with midwives and doctors..... esp. midwives that don;t listen or tell you that your iron is low for two months after the get the test results back. ahem!

sorry- by saying don't worry about not leaking I meant that not leaking before you have the baby does not mean necessarilly that you won't have a good supply of milk...... sorry not being very clear- feeling dopey...

Help! Quick question, i slipped on some wooden decking at lunchtime, didn't fall over or hit bump just ended up down on one knee. Baby is moving about like normal, I don't have to go to MW, do i?????

Your other option, Loulou is to but some of the Lindam sterilising bags, they're about £5 for a pack of 3 and you can fit a couple of bottles or a breast pump in them, then they just go in the microwave for 3 minutes. They are really handy if you only need to sterilise occasionally but don't want to faff with pans of boiling water.

With the leaking boobs, I didn't leak at all with ds, could squeeze out a bit with dd but didn't manage to feed either of them very successfully, thanks to my HV getting far too over zealous about weight charts and pretty much ordering me to add formula. This time I'm going to ignore her and keep going. My bottles and steriliser are going in the loft before dc3 arrives so I'm not tempted to give in in the middle of the night!

Some of your mws sound awful. I'm under a team midwifery service but have seen the same mw for every appointment so far who is absolutely lovely and really listens.

Got my growth scan next Thursday and the mw is coming to do my birth plan the week after so I probably ought to start thinking about getting all of ds and dd's things down from the loft and getting them washed, not to mention packing my bags! With ds I had my bag ready from about 32 weeks, this time I can see me being caught out! Was with it enough to stock up on maternity pads and newborn nappies last time I did a Tesco shop but that's as far as I've got. They're sat on the changing unit in dc3's room now - very useful if I go into labour!

Thanks judemum

I have a really silly concern about my belly button not having popped yet..or does it not happen in some people? It's not a biggie, just wondering...

Judemum, you and I must be living parallel lives today! I'm also just back from a huge lunch - though it was Chinese not Thai and likewise wish to crawl under desk and sleep for hours. Got some lovely presents including a sling and some vouchers. Can't quite believe when I leave here today that's it for at least 6 months!

No leaking here either and I hadn't really given it all much thought though am relieved to hear it's normal not to! My bra size hasn't changed though and that has worried me before but my midwife said that it wasn't uncommon.

Not sure how I'll occupy myself for the next few weeks though. Plan on doing my Xmas shopping and another friend started her maternity leave last week so we'll do that together. Not sure it's a great idea. She was hatching a plan to have her waters break in Waitrose so they'd give her a big hamper!

Gloria, don't panic!! If you didn't hit your bump and baby is moving then you'll be fine. A friend of mine tripped up a kerb and landed square on her bump at 36 weeks and baby was fine. They're very well cushioned in there and you'd have to take a pretty hefty knock to your bump to do anything significant.

Summerlovebaby, my belly button has never popped out in any of my pgs. It does if I pull the top of it upwards - great entertainment for a nearly 3 year old btw! - but it's never done the freaky poking through clothes thing.

Beaker, my boobs have never grown in any of my pgs either. I'm the same size as I was pre-pg with ds, 3 years ago. They do go up slightly in the first few days after my milk comes in but nothing huge, they just kind of get firmer. It's a bit gutting tbh, I'll never have a decent pair of boobs without surgery!

summer- my belly button isn't sticking out- its just gone completely flat. I think it depends on all sorts of things- I don't think it popped out with DS1 either so again, wouldn't worry about it at all. Just depends on your shape, how baby is lying and of course, how "pingy" your belly button is!

I agree with Olihan Gloria- if baby is moving around still, then am sure its fine, but I would keep an eye on it. I slipped on some stairs a few weeks ago and its very nervewracking....

Beaker- parallel or what??! Sadly I have another 2 weeks left at work, but sort of work in two departments, so this is the first round of lunches etc then I have another lot in 2 weeks- am milking my departure as much as I can!

Ahhh..thanks Olihan, it's a small concern but was wondering if I'm a freak case or is baby not growing properly (it's below average from my last scan).

I didn't leak at all before ds and I was an absolute milk-producing cow! Since I expressed so long, I can tell you it was always around 8 ounces total. I didn't realize that was quite a bit to express until much later.

My baby's measuring 4 weeks ahead of what it should be and it's still an innie so I don't think the size of the baby has anything to do with it!!

I also have small boobs which don;t get especially big and I too was a milk machine, as was my mum who is even flatter than me! I just think you can't tell really until you have the baby whether you're going to be a good milker, so to speak! i tell you what though, sitting on the sofa "expressing" aka milking yourself, does not do great things for your sex life. Especially if you start moo-ing whilst doing it, which I did once "for a laugh". Don't think we managed it for several weeks after that. We also haven';t spoken about it since. Would advise against doing this.

Thanks for confirming what I thought! have been doing my best not to be too neurotic all the way and didn't want to trip up (so to speak!) at this late stage!!!

Oh, judemum, thanks for the laugh! I think I live in the naive world where after having ds/d (we don't know what we're having) we'll actually have a sex life again though not until she's a few months old.

I'm hoping for a natural birth without drugs but wonder how realistic I'm being given I'm a wimp! DH has already said he has no desire to see how things are progressing and he's probably even too squeamish to cut the cord which at first I was upset about but really don't want him passing out!

Beaker- it did take us a while to get back on track to be honest, and frankly I think seeing all your bits during the birth is pretty hard for your partner to reconcile with the sex kitten he knows and loves... still, I suppose its all part of loving each other and we did get back to normal eventually....hence DS2 en route!

I managed a pretty natural birth with DS1- just gas and air. I have to say it nearly polished me off though - very hard- and am not completely sure am going to be able to get by again. I suppose you just try your hardest to do it they way you want and if you can't then you just start screaming for the drugs .

My belly button is not sticking out, either, just a bit flat.

I'm horrified at the thought of milking myself. I may not ever be able to see myself as a sexual being again, let alone what poor DP will make of it.

Don't worry I remember being back "at it" 2 weeks after DD was born

My tummy button sticks out - it is gross. I'm sure it has nothing to do with LO's growth.

Milk production is certainly nothing to do with size or leaking colostrum now. My norks are huge and I didn't have much at all with DS. It's one of those demand/supply things. He just wasn't bothered - which just about sums up his very laid back personality aged nearly 5. Little darling With DD who was ferociously hungry I produced much more though it took a plummet when her gastric reflux kicked in so it can also be quite an emotional thing.

My DH used to PHSL when I was "milking". The electric breast pump makes an awful sort of groaning noise and he used to come into the room flapping his arms and mooing like a cow

It's really not so bad. But, having said that, I don't recall that dh ever watched. I seem to remember he made himself scarce while I was doing it.

my tummy buttom is flat too.

B/F is great but it really put me off 'you know' for ages. I felt like a milking machine and not a 'wife'. Not everyone feels like that of course..

oh, me too. That's one of the things I am not looking forward to...

Eli, how did you get on at hospital today? Any developments? Has your LO turned?