Christmas crackers: due in December!

[Loulou000]

Maybe this will really be the last one... until the postnatal one.

NearlyThere: He's still hanging on in there! Not for much longer though, induction week of 11th Dec....scary!

Has anyone come across a nice baby photo album while doing their Christmas shopping? Want to buy one for each of the Grandma's for Christmas
(arse licking emoticon!)

NearlyThere: He's still hanging on in there! Not for much longer though, induction week of 11th Dec....scary!

Has anyone come across a nice baby photo album while doing their Christmas shopping? Want to buy one for each of the Grandma's for Christmas
(arse licking emoticon!)

oops....sorry!

WB, Holland and Barrett do them, they're about £6.50 for 100 or so. Helpfully, on the back they say 'pregnant or breastfeeding women should consult a doctor before taking these' so there's no dosage instructions for pg! I'm also the same with wanting it all to be over so at least there's a reason for being awake half the night and another part of me that finds 6 more weeks quite a nice thought.

Spina, when I was late with ds we spent Xmas driving round finding the bumpiest roads we could to no avail!! TBH, it probably wouldn't have been the slide that caused you problems but the scrambling up all those foam steps and obstacles to get there! I nearly had a v. embarrassing moment in soft play last week when dd escaped and shot through two big rollers that I didn't have a chance of fitting through. I had visions of them having to call the fire brigade to get me out . Luckily one of my friends noticed and rescued dd for me!

ELM, glad baby is still hanging on in there but lots of sympathy for you - what a time you're having.

ELM, on the subject of arse licking, I'll lick the bottom of my employers and point out the nice album they sell at Boots. Nice neutral colours,teddy on front. No idea how ridiculously expensive it is, as I buy a very dreary black album form paperchase for my kids photos(but only put really arty one in there,so it'll take years for them to fill up)

Forgot to mention when on earlier how organised I've being today. Bought two nursing bras,did my GBS test(but forgot which swab was which and had to guess lower vaginal and rectal when I labelled them),wrote a birth plan, bought my essential oils.

I'm not sure I did the GBS test correctly(incorrectly labelled swabs aside!) If it comes back neg ,I'll still be in doubt but obviously I don't WANT to be GBS positive.

Nearlythere, I can see your point about work being less "work" than three year olds and you ARE in the best place surrounded by m/ws! Are you community or hospital based or a mixture?

WB, my stomach turns at the CHORE of raspberry leaf tea and I love herbal teas and don't remember disliking RLT last time. Obviously wasn't drinking enough of the stuff!

Be warned the tablets stink of tea when you open the bottle so it's a bit BLEEURRRGH too!

OH well means to an end (or not as past experiences show!!!!)

Very fast message...you know how it is!

Haven't even had time to scan posts since last Friday, but will when I can...missed you lot, and have been wondering how you all are, bumps and babies alike.

Mischa was born by section last Friday morning weighing in at 3.22 kg (7.2, roughly??) and for all my doubts before and during pregnancy, it was love at first sight. I'm utterly smitten, and no longer doubt that its possible to love two LOs

Delivery was good, in spite of needing a spinal and two epis to get properly anaesthetized, and it was really a totally happy occasion. Mischa was almost tranny again on delivery, and the placenta turned out to be VERY odd - not only did it have two lobes (which we knew) but the foetal vessels were not protected: they went into the membranes rather than the placenta, and only then into the placenta - so there was a very high risk of abruption and massive haemorrhage, which would have been disastrous for baby. Thank goodness for my OBs instincts, and for us trusting her, and for all the good advice and support we got - don't even want to think about the alternative.

Anyway: feeding - this time - is going really well, she's hardly lost any weight and we got home last night. My bp is rising - even though I@m on meds - so things are still a bit stressful, over the next couple of days will be watching it closely and may hvae to increase meds. I hate that part, it just scares me when I want to be enjoying all the other parts (yup, even the sleepless nights ).

And I caught some horrible virus, and came down with galloping runs for 24 hours on day 2, and then unbelievably painful throat ulcers (imagine 25 mouth ulcers on soft palate, tonsils and uvula) which are only just beginning to heal...so they kept me in to give me a chance to rest, took one look in my throat and gave me morphine followed by mega dose anti-inflammatories and aspirin gargles: the latter two I'm still taking at home.

Why are my deliveries never straightforward?!?

dd1 is coping brilliantly - bit wild, bit defensive with me at times (I can see the hurt and mistrust in spite of her outer cheeriness) but we've talked about it already, and I can feel our bond settling down again, or starting to. That part is hard - I missed her, a lot, but at the same time it was great having time to just be with Mischa, just the two of us. Blinking guilt.

Speaking of which, I feel bad that I have no idea how any of you are - this is a very 'me' post! First time I've been online, and next time I'll just read and catch up....really hope alls well, and that any of you who have had your LOs since I posted last are enjoying your babies as much as I'm enjoying mine. Preferably wihtout the sore nipples, throat, scar and had

xxxx Am going to have to change my name now...or add to it

Oh wow - couldn't resist a fast scroll down - Calm and Jabber, congratulations!!!! I'm so glad all is well, and am looking forward even more to a leisurely read now; well done both of you, and welcome to your LOs

Fantastic News Eli
Welcome to the world Mishca xxxxxx

Sounds like you got pretty poorly, hope you are feeling a lot better now x
I am off for my section in the morning and will either get Dh to post on here or ther is another mumsnetter I know who I will text the details to and she wil post.

If I don't get back on before then, look after yourselves and see you all soon xxxxx

Yay, Elibean! We've all been wondering how you were since Friday...welcome to the world Mischa, what a gorgeous name Hope the bp meds kick in & the ulcers stay away (urgggghhhh). I'm really glad the section went well & it was the right thing to do in the end. Congrats!!

Hi Eli!!!! Welcome back! Congratulations. I love the name!!!!

Big hug to magnolia for tommorrow. Looking forward to your birth announcement!

congratulations Elibean and welcome to the world Mischa

You go away for a few days and there are babies everywhere! Congrats to Eli, Jabber and Calm.

I've had a weird few days in that I saw my m/w on Monday and she said she could definitely hear a heart murmur again in the LO so I got sent down to the clinic to be monitored. I've been everyday since for a 20 minute strapping up to the machine. I also had another scan yesterday and they are concerned that I'm low on amniotic fluid so when I saw the consultant he said it was best I was induced. He came in with his diary and told me to pick a day next week so we've gone with next Friday which is my due date anyway. Now I'm nervous because a) nobody really explained what the low amniotic fluid could mean and b) I haven't given induction much thought till now. All the things I've been reading say labour can be longer etc etc. ARRRGGGHHHHH.

DH thinks it's better because now he can plan when to have time off! MEN!

Wooohooo an Elibean "and" a brand new baby
Welcome to the world Mischa xxxxx

Hope you are feeling physically better soon Elibean and so glad you are enjoying the new baby

Will be thinking of you tomorrow Magnolia, hope it all goes well. Can't wait to hear all the news..

Had a mild panic this evening, went to check my tens machine out before putting it into labour bag and remembered I needed to purchase new pads for it, they are ordered now, just can't go into labour until they arrive!!!! cant believe I forgot!!

Hooray, Elibean, congratulations . So glad c/s went well, did the news about the placenta make your worries about doing the right thing disappear? She sounds worth all the ordeals though. Hope you feel better quickly and that dd finds her feet as a big sister.

Magnolia, looking forward to hearing your news tomorrow night . Will be thinking of you tomorrow.

Beaker, I was induced with dd and had a really easy time of it. As with most birth stories, there are lots of scary stories out there but you don't hear about the straightforward ones because they don't make good reading! If you've got any questions just ask away and don't get worked up about it!!

On the subject of rasberry leaf tea, I wish I'd saved the link to the article I read but basically 6 x 400mg rlt tablets per day was statistically shown to reduce the stages of labour. It doesn't induce labour, just tones the uterus to make it a more efficient muscle!! Suffice to say, i am taking 6 tablets per day!!

Yay congrats Eli!

I can't sleep.......

wow, eli big congratulations! What an ordeal, though. The throat ulcers sound horrendous
I'm glad your dd is coping well. Poor little ds is having a pretty hard time of it. In omw ways i'm glad ds2 and I had the longer than expected hospital stay so that we could bond and rest, but it did make it harder on ds1.

Thanks for the thread link ss. I've been popping on mainly to post here so probably would have missed it otherwise

Well, sewage guy has fixed our problem before it became a smelly disaster, ds1 seems to be on the mend. My visions of a quiet restful recovery have been shattered but life still seems pretty amazing when I look at ds2. Like you, eli, it turned out to be literally a lifesaver for him that we had already decided on a c-section as no one knew about the cord being around his neck. 3 times...he must have been really bouncing about in there

spina- i'm based in the only general hospital for 57 miles around, which at the moment they are trying to downgrade in the new government guidelines etc- we have a community team but i was booted off the team at 26 weeks (health and safety reasons, not incompitance i may add!!!) and had to transfer to the unit where i sit merrily all day playing on the web, shopping and occasionally doing some paperwork- far more relaxing than maternity leave for me!

Out of interest you guys i'm thinking of starting a thread about views on midwives, hospitals and the service you feel you've got from them- no names need to be mentioned, but it would be good to have views from people outside our catchment- may give us some ammunition for the trust. They are wanting to downgrade our unit from consultant led to midwife led, meaning that anyone with a med- high risk pg would have to travel to Shrewsbury or Camarthen both of which are over 100 miles round trip over the welsh mountains taking over 2 hours to get to either! I think its disgusting, but we are trying to get a compromise, meantime a lot of ladies in the area are paying to have private births (and i'll stick my hand up in shame and admit that i am myself paying for a private home birth, but only because we are too short staffed to offer them on the NHS at the moment!)

ELI!!! Massive congratulations and what a gorgeous name. You sound really happy and content- really pleased all gone well. Keep us updated.

Nearly- it would be good and very interesting to start that thread. I should think most people on MN will have quite a lot to say, but be prepared...... these sorts of threads can get very very heated!! You might want to use a different name to start that thread!!

Yes, last 2 days at work for me and then baby due on 2 weeks. Had bizzarre experience this morning, of being in the middle of a handover meeting with this guy, only for his mobile to ring and his wife announce she was in labour!!!!! So we threw all the files into document boxes and he sped off in his car, woth me feeling a bit envious!!

Am also drinking raspeberry leaf tea, but it does bring on BH which are pretty uncomfortable so I'm not drinking it too much.

I've always been of the opinion that there's no point in really worrying about labour because it's got to happen. I know I want to try and not have any drugs and have ruled out an epidural totally because I hate the thought of the needle and don't like thinking I won't be able to walk afterwards. So at least being induced means I know what day and we can work around that. Of course it could still happen before but at least I know it won't be too long after!

Judemum, how exciting for your colleague! We'll expect an update!!

oohhhh ooops either BH getting stronger and regular or i could be leaving you guys, and i was just starting to enjoy myself!!!- just stretched to put a file back and now can't sit down!!
got rid of the computer chair, replaced with birthing ball, actually very comfortable- collegues all running around like headless chickens trying to work out who's insured to drive my car!!!!

Ha Ha, convinced its not happening (you know how you get 'that feeling'- well i haven't, but not going to tell them that- its amusing!! At the rate their going they'll have me at home and in the pool within half an hour of saying ouch!

RIGHT, keep legs crossed, think preggers thoughts deny all knowledge of pain and maybe it'll all go away! Am determined to go to 40 weeks and have it smack bang on due date (monday!!) just to prove a point!

Where are all the other pg women around here? really quiet on the ward today- usually i'd be told to wait until shift change and someone'll drop me home, but nooooo, they're all sitting in the corridor whispering about getting me home and phoning DH, equipment and G&A. i just want some peace!!

I thought being surrounded by mw's would be good at a time like this but really not happy with collegues looking at my nether regions (one i wouldn't mind, but they all want a go!!!)

Hi Eli, conratulations on the arrival of Mischa!

I am so jealous - but am resigned to going over due date. And having MIL for at least 2 weeks

My back now spasms whenever I sit upright which is why I have not been on here much, so spend a while catching up and then just say 'still pg'

Good luck today Magnolia!