July 2015 - into the final trimester we go!

[broodylicious]

Hope this works....

I got my letter today so can finally relax and start packing.

Sorry to be going on but it means so much to us all.

Veey tired and in pain from work today, but only 7 shifts left after holidays. X

Naps never work for me, I always wake up even more tired than before...

I'm a big fan of naps as well - got a 4am start tomorrow so plan on some serious afternoon snoozing when I get home.
Have a fab time Charlie, glad the letter came in time.
Zampa was it you who was flying easyjet? Did they ask you for a fit to fly letter in the end? I'm flying with them a week on Sat and am hoping they won't ask.

Zampa did you enjoy the rest of your holiday relaxing in the end?

Yes eventually bet you're so relieved Charlie - enjoy your hols, it will all be worth it when you can just chill and grow a baby rather than work!

I'm excited as this weekend we are having a maternity photoshoot. I'm currently totally in love with my bump (although probably a touch biased lol)...

Clstow I wasn't asked for anything at all on either leg on my easy jet flights. If you don't have a letter, just take your notes and I'm sure that you'll be fine.

MrsF I did enjoy my holiday, thanks for asking. However, I did get very stressed once home about the reduced movements and ended up going to maternity triage today. It turns out I have an anterior placenta (previously told posterior) which is absorbing all the baby's movement. Calmer again now!

smallgreenbanana UCH is really good hospital and if you live in cambs I’m sure your OH will be able to get to you quickly in time for the birth – but it is very unlikely to happen that early anyway so don’t worry too much!
Jmjo it’s great to have a midwife on here – so much helpful info on tap. Thank you for sharing your wisdom with us!
Mustbe so glad your SIL is ok. I hope the rest of her pregnancy continues healthily
MRSF we had a lovely BH weekend thank you. Reaped the rewards of our hard work! So will you soon ?
Charlie have a lovely time on holiday!

I’ve started thinking about my birth plan. Going to keep it loose though. I’m thinking…

• Tens machine for early labour at home. Candle and bath
• Phone hospital once contractions are less than 4 minutes apart
• Ask to go into birth centre (MW led) and have water birth if possible
• Tens machine and gas and air
• Delayed cord clamping, baby straight to breast and natural passing of placenta

This is the ideal scenario, but willing to take drugs if it all gets too much! Haven’t even started to think about hospital bag yet, feeling very behind you ladies.

Re: royal baby name. I guessed Alice but really like their choice.

Changed my very first nappy last week - a newborn boy (whereas I’m having a girl) but still really helpful practice. Found it quick tricky, mainly because he needed changing as he weed everywhere when nappy was off! Couldn’t believe how swollen and large he was. Mum said they go down after birth. Must remember for girl to wipe front to back and that the picture bit on nappy is at the front not back.

Hello Ladies, hope everyone is doing great today.

Please ladies do go out there and vote, not just about us anymore . xx We can't complain if we don't vote.

I'm off to vote tonight. Voting with my heart and local, rather than tactically!

On way to physio session and once again I have caught a bus with a formula one driver hate public transport at the best of times but I definitely hate feeling sick and wobbling all over the place while the driver seems to want to break his previous record! Voting later when dh comes home. And yes Lucky I had a shock when I had my son lol

Baby boys have giant balls with tiny willies!

Hey all
Struggles today... couldn't feel the baby moving last night before bed so didn't sleep well and woke up all frazzled.
Is anyone else finding work really difficult? Small things seem to make me so emotional (today I burst into tears when a round robin document got out of hand - so many people making changes, idiots not cc'ing everyone etc) which is a bit of an extreme reaction! I work from home so no one saw but it was really difficult to deal with. Just feel like I don't want to be working any more but still almost 8w until mat leave.

Hi all, starting to struggle here too! Back ache/piles/hip pain/can't sleep etc etc! Went to pregnancy yoga last night which was lovely, some really nice stretches and a great way to relax and de-stress. Can recommend it to you ladies!

Zampa I've also been into hospital this week due to lack of movement, all was fine here too and although I felt a bit of a time-waster the midwives were lovely and said it's always best to be checked.

Luckystar good idea about birth plan - a couple of other things to think about... are you happy for your baby to be given a vit K injection after birth (one to research if you're not sure)? Does your DP want to cut the cord/tell you the sex?
Also, beware of anyone who tells you a 'magic number' for time between contractions! With my DS I was sent home from hospital at 3cm dilated and told to come back when my contractions were 3-4 minutes apart - they never actually got more frequent than every 5-6 minutes and as a result my DH ended up delivering him at home which was not the plan!

Penny and Charlie - sorry to hear about your concerns although it's nice to know it's not just me worrying about foetal movement. The midwives at my hospital were great too; really put my mind at rest.

Charlie If you are still worried, get checked before you go on holiday so you can enjoy yourself whilst you're away.

Re. #GE2015 I heard that the returning officer for Doncaster North got out in the neck for listing Ed Miliband on the ballot form but not David Cameron! Wonder if it's true?!

charlieis30 yes totally! Had a nightmare day working at home, bombarded with emails from people wanting unreasonable or annoying things, got hardly anything done I had planned, and to boot got really cross with them all and felt like telling them to f off. Spent ages drafting and redrafting emails so that my extreme mood did not come through. Should have just turned off email the whole day!

luckystar great birth plan! I've started thinking about mine too. Only thing I wonder is if you've done some research on tens machines? Our NCT instructor said the effects were cumulative rather than immediate relief. So really you need to start with it right at the beginning and keep going the whole way through. If you're taking a bath and then having a water birth you'll have to take it off at various points and therefore lose the benefits. That's what she said anyway.

Last few weeks I've taken to listening to rain sounds - on the train, to get to sleep, when I'm a bit cross like now! Seems to help.

small I love the sound of waves lapping at a pebble beach!

There's a website called Noisli which I used to use - all kinds of white noise, very soothing!

small and lucky, that's my understanding of tens machines too - that they work but you need to use them constantly. I love mine when not pg so it makes sense to use it in labour really but not sure I can be bothered. I had in my plan last time to use gas and air but as it was, I was so into doing my pg yoga breathing, I just didn't want to be distracted with anything else so went through it all sans drugs. I've a feeling gas and air would've made me vom anyway! There's a few girls on the fb group using hypnobirthing, anyone here doing/planning on the same?

notpennysboat
Sorry to hear you’re feeling bad, hopefully not too long to go until mat leave? Haven’t got round to yoga, but planning to do antenatal swimming class when I go on mat leave.
Thanks for the tips – no idea what Vitamin K is so need to go away and research that one. That’s very interesting that you did not experience contractions less than 5-6 mins apart. How scary for you and DH to deliver at home!! I was under the impression that they will get less than that. I think I will revise to 5 mins- I wanted to go with 5 but DH concerned hospital will turn us away. Worth a quick phone call to check with midwife I think.

smallgreenbanana
I feel for you re: annoying people on email. There has been some research recently that found the increase in emails has led to a decline in productivity in the UK market – I can believe this! I too love rain sounds when i am stressed. Also enjoy a bit of classic FM at bedtime.
I’m a regular Tens machine user so a bit of an advocate of it – I have found it is the only thing that has worked for the chronic back pain I’ve suffered for years. I actually stopped using it when I became pregnant but my back pain has improved since being pregnant – probably due to the relaxin hormone. I agree, if you are not used to a tens machine, then get lots of practice in before hand…and tens and water definitely don’t mix!

broody hypnobirthing sounds really interesting, but I think you need to be very committed and practice lots beforehand. Lady at NCT is doing it. Sounds like an amazing, positive experience. If you're good a mediation and yoga could be for you.

Apparently a hypnobirthing experience will be very hands off midwife-wise. The room will be quiet. I know my DH and he is not very good at being quiet, so don't think it would work for us.

Zampa I'm confident that we will be fine. We had a scan last week, less than 2 weeks before we fly, and saw mw this week. Everything is fine at both apts, he's just big, but healthy and I feel fit & healthy.

I need to start thinking of birth plan but I'm pretty easy going. I would like to avoid a c section but understand it may not be possible. As for drugs n water I'm of the thinking that I won't know until I'm there. Apart from I don't really want an epidural, it's just not something I've ever got on board with.

lucky a hypnobirthing labour can be what you want it to be to be honest and it will likely depend on where you give birth. I was meant to use the labour suite as technically I was high risk because of DD's issue but was still intending to hypnobirth there even though its a proper stark hospital room with full on lights! But luckily the MW who admitted me saw sense and let me use the mlu. I had the standard 15 min obs during DD'S labour. I did have the lights dimmed but it's personal preference. To be honest unless there are difficulties the MW tends to be pretty hands off anyway, there isn't much for them to do until the end. My Dh isn't great at being quiet but he just had his laptop and some earphones and kept himself occupied (regularly feeding me jelly babies ) but we were only in the hospital 3 hours before DD was born so not much time to get bored. At home though I had all the lights on and was sat on my birthing ball chatting to Dh and my MW so a bit of a contrast. You do have to practice but only a few times a week, my CD only lasts about 40 mins so not a massive time commitment I didn't find. It's more about relaxing and trusting your body.

Things ticking along here. GTT results came back clear yesterday which was a relief. Had a few issues with work and my mat leave but all sorted now so only 5 weeks to go

Don't know whether to be more depressed about the election result or my first stretch mark appearing ...

luckystar thanks for the sympathetic words! I guess I should be asking you advice about tens then as I'm really keen on it!

There's been a lot going on at work other than actual work, which has definitely not helped. I'm really looking forward to leaving it all behind now as it's really stressful - it's a shame as I really enjoyed my job before but now I'm thinking I will need to find a new one after maternity leave. But on careful reflection this morning I think that I've been worrying a lot about fetal position, and this is probably what had made everything else worse. LO has been moving around a lot but mostly in posterior. Even though I know there's weeks to go before I need to worry, somehow I've become really fixated on it. I'm really struggling to control my emotions and remain rational - this part of being pregnant is really hard to cope with, much more than physical stuff!

Sorry for the moan , ladies. Think I need a spa day!