**********November 2006 - Has your DH/P sniffed yours?**********

[NatalieJane]

Here we go girls, probably the last one, so make the most of it

And any ideas for a new name for me when this is all over with would be great thanks

good luck LA and debbsy, and congrats to schmizaj

Still absolutely NOTHING happening here. Everytime i get some backache or a twinge i get all excited but then just more nothing. This baby definately does not want to come out at all.

I really don't want to have to be induced,but that's whats happening wed morning if he's still not here

I feel like you Kaybee....I had a show yesterday morning and thought finally something would happen, but no....it was not to be! Dh is going to Glasgow for the whole day tomorrow (4 hours drive) so how much would you bet it kicks off tomorrow?!!

Sooooo fed up of waiting now....congrats to Schmizaj and hoping to hear some news from LadyAnne soon!

wow - congratulations on the birth of Verity and good luck to all thoses starting something. Your baby's may be born on my birthday I just thought I would pop in and keep you all updated on our progress.
I had quite a tearful day yesterday, I felt like Freya cried all day but it took me a while to work out she was hungry - I forgot about these sudden growth spurts but on the up side, she fed soooo much last night, I gave her the last feed at about 10:45pm and she didn't wake me up until 8:30am this morning She must have known it was my birthday and decided to give me a lay-in ..... even ds didn't get up until 7:30am so am feeling quite refreshed today. Hope the rest of you are doing well. Take Care.

Oh no harrogatemum, it really would be sods law for you to go into labour tomorrow while your dh is so far away!
My dh is only an hour away at work during the week, but i wanted it to happen on the weekend when i knew he'd be around Unless something kicks off tonight its not to be. Am soooo jealous of all those whose babies have arrived

Oh Happy Birthday Mummy2toby, glad you're feeling better today

Message withdrawn

thanks mygirl
happy birthday mummy to toby
anymore news for anyone yet my edd is tomorrow who's with me?

had another show this afternoon and tummy v tight when I went on a walk, but no pains......

feeling really uncomfy again

Hope everything is going well Debbsy

Good luck HM, you might find it all happens quite quickly after the twins

hiya Nat how are you?
hows ds?
any further developments for you?

Hiya hun

DS is much better but still not had a decent meal or a proper nights sleep, so I don't think he will be back to school tomorrow, which he is going to go mad about! I am feeling about as bad as you can feel with the flu, I think my body has stopped anything happening labour wise, all the contractions have stopped and nothing feels like it going to happen soon, which I am very pleased about!

Just waiting to get over this bug and then things will really get moving I think!

I am going to go and get back into bed, before I freeze to death! Good luck tonight, I am sure you will be holding your LO in your arms by tomorrow xxx

aww thanks hun ill reserve judgement on that one though off to bed myself,glad ds is feeling a little better ansd really hope you do too xx nanite

OK so I am back out of bed, is anyone else finding those bed mat things make your skin all clamy and then you get a really sore/itchy patch of skin? I can't lie on it any more. It probably wouldn't be so bad if I could move in bed but I can't so I am in the same position for hours!

And Debbsy, I am sure it will be tomorrow, positive thinking and all that!!

morning ladies - been up since 4.30am worrying as DH has gone off to Glasgow for the day.....and is therefore a minimum of 4 hours away should anything happen - AAAGGGHHH. And it is just sod's law that today is when something will kick off. So today I want lots of non-going-into-labour thoughts from everyone, at least until around 7pm this evening when he will be a couple of hours away!

How is everyone - NJ, are you feeling any better? And Debbsy any updates? I wonder if LadyANne has had her bambino yet....cant be long before there is something in birth announcements!

Morning all, LA, sorry I missed your exit - but hope all goes well.

Debbsy, I think you, me and Nat are going to be having a week of finding tall bookshelves to put books on if LA's experience is anything to go on!

Well, mum & dad finally arrived about 7.30pm on Friday and I managed to get dinner on the table about 9.00 , not very good buy nevermind. I do make a bloody good lasagna so it was worth the wait! On Sat. me and mum went to see a man about carpet for the nursery (nope, still not get it yet!) and hopefully he'll be coming here today to measure up the rest of the house and we'll order the nursery. DH spent the weekend glossing the hall and landing so that we can get that all carpeted before christmas too.

Me and mum and dad then spent the rest of saturday sorting, tidying, throwing away stuff to clear the dining room enough to fit the birth pool in. YAY.

NJ - re leaving it late, don't I know it! Unfortunately, when I booked in I was put under Obs care i.e. no home birth for me, because I'm on AD's. At 20 weeks I had an appt where I was told that as long as I wasn't experiencing any problems with depression, I would be released back to midwife led care at 36 weeks and would be able to have my home birth - which I said I wanted right from the beginning. Then, when I went to my 36 week appt, I saw a different doctor (SHO?) and he said I couldn't be transferred back, even though I've had no problems, because of 'protocol'. I left in tears but managed to tell him I wasn't happy and wanted to see the head Obstetrician. They made me wait a further 2 weeks for an appt with him, but he was lovely and had no issues at all with releasing me back - just another wonderful example of how to bugger your patients about.

So, at 38 weeks and 3 days I got my home birth clearance, midwife couldn't get to me until Friday when I was 39 weeks - and now, at the very last minute, its all go!

Midwife brings the gas and air with her and hasn't mentioned anything about leaving any bags or anything here....I just have to collect my pethidine from the chemist. But there's a problem with that too. When I took the prescription in on Sat, the chemist said the doctor had messed up by not writing the quantity in words as well as numbers, so I've got to take it back to the doc today to get it amended and back to the chemist to collect. Fortunately for me, the chemist went ahead and ordered it anyway so it would be ready for when doctor gets it sorted.

I get moaned at for 'not letting go' of things and letting other people sorting them out, but this whole pregnancy just seems to have proved that if you don't do it yourself, it just won't get done.

Anyway, mega mega post over with - keep your fingers crossed that I can sort my pethidine out today and that my birth pool arrives!

Cal

Morning all

well lo and I are still hanging in there, no signs of anything kicking off. Induction is booked for this wed but I don't want it now, think I will try to change it to later in week to give lo a bit more time to come naturally.

My birth plan is useless as I can't have the water birth/labout I wanted (hospital birthing pool out of action - for 3 years - just found out )

Sorry for the moan, I am in a right grumpy mood today

Hope everything is going well for LA and anyone else in labour

xx

Kaybee, that's crap, sorry you're not even going to get a chance for a pool birth....I don't know if it makes you feel any better but I was told that if you're induced they won't let you have one anyway though? But that could be myth as was told by fellow pregnant lady at aquanatal, not someone 'qualified'.

Have you been doing the whole eating fresh pineapple, going for long walks, sex, nipple stimulation thing? Anything to get it going? One of the midwife's I met swears by reflexology to stimulate birth naturally - might be worth asking around to see if you can get it going that way?

Forgot to tell you all about best bit of weekend - one of my friends is a professional photographer and she came round yesterday to take photos of bump - DH and I went with the dog to the park and had loads of shots taken there, then it was back home for some more posing - but mostly without the dog! For the first time all pregnancy I actually felt quite proud of my bump - instead of just fat and cumbersome....now can't wait to see the photos...

morning well official due date today nothing yet though feeling uncomfy AGAIN but thats nothing new cal they should be able to do your pethidine script straight away.
nat not a very good nites sleep then?
harrogate lets hope everything kicks off for you tonite then instead of today
Kaybee ((((((hugs))))))) you must be getting very fed up.
Who's going to be next i wonder.....

Hi calsworld, the photos sound great, it's nice to have a tastful reminder of your bump Lucky you knowing a professional photographer! You will be able to get some lovely shots of lo too

I have tried curries, pineapple, sex, bouncing on gym ball, walks...all but the nipple stimulation, which i might try today (sorry if tmi) Might have a look into reflexology too.......

morning all.. busy weekend on here, congratulations schmizaj!!! and goodluck ladyanne! bebbsy and nat, any thing moving yet?? harrogatemum, keep your legs crossed!!

nat, yes, those bloody mats are horrid.. but i don't wanna ruin our new bed!!

sleeping is awful at the moment, i kept dp awake by crying in pain half the night.. this is inhumane being left to suffer in such a manner!!

still, theirs a full moon approaching, apparently madwives are a whole lot busier when theirs a full moon.. so hopefully us last lot will have it all over and done with soon... then facing sleepless nights of a different kind!!

Bum, just spent five minutes typing a post only to do some bizarre key combination and make it all disappear.

Kaybee - I was told to manually express from about 38 weeks by midwife, for two reasons, first because i've suffered with incredibly painful boobs all the way through, and the expressing seems to relieve it although they don't actually know what the problem is and secondly, its supposed to help trigger labour which my midwife is supporting me in achieving coz she knows i want a home birth. Just thought I'd mention it coz I think perception is that nip stim has to be sexual orientated but that's not the case.

Also, I'm sure NJ was told by mw that sex doesn't necessarily need to involve anyone else - sorry if that's a bit too personal....but the 'contractions' from achieving orgasm can get it going apparently .

I have to say though, the way I feel about myself lately (elephant like blob that can't bend in the middle), I think I'll be reaching for the yellow pages and looking up a reflexologist !!!!

Have spoken to doc surgery and all on track to collect my pethidine today - phew! Also phoned birthpoolinabox because I realised this morning I hadn't received a confirmation email, but the orders been shipped and will arrive today.

NJ - mw said for homebirth that I need to have 'lots of sheets and towels' - what quantifies as lots? Am I converting my dining room into some bedouin style tent with sheets draped everywhere? If I've got plastic sheets down to protect carpet, are the sheets just to cover and provide a 'soft' layer over the top? When you get out of the pool, are you going to have somewhere to lie down, if so , where? what?

I could do with a picture of 'the ideal set up'....probably thinking about it all far too much, but I've got nothing else to do with my days now that mum's been and cleaned and tidied everything !

Hi all

Thought I'd better let you know - baby is still firmly inside me. Went to hospital on Saturday as the contractions were five minutes apart - the mojority of them I could tolerate - which probably should have given me a warning. However there were several that took my breath away. Went in - met by a lovely chinese MW called Khim - who is also an acunpucturist. Put on monitor - babies heart not too bad (but they said monitor was rubbish anyway). Contractions clear - assistant MW even offered me gas and air - I said I'd wait until I couldn't tolerate the pain. MW did all the things they are supposed do before examination - including examining pad (I had felt a very small leak with one of the contractions) etc,, etc... nothing on pad but they said they weren't concerned - still having contractions of varying intensity - baby still being monitored - baby fine. INternal exam - nothing - not even a millimeter dilation.
She told me I wasn't in labour - and despite still feeling contractions I was devestated. It seems that a combination of painful braxtons, baby lying in a different position then usual (something I had noticed earlier that day. but didn't think anything of) - in which baby was pressing on a a lot of my spinal nerves and my own anxiety (I'm a first time mum - of course I'm going to be a bit anxious) had resulted in my current condition. They wanted to give me some pain killers/ sedative type thing to help me sleep - as I was very tired (I had only had a few hours the night before) and keep me in overnight to see if it did develop into labour. Inducing baby was sort of mentioned but as it wasn't overdue - sort of dismissed almost immediately. Then they said "or you could go home" ... I decided on the latter - I was starting to get emotional (as well as still having those damn contractions) I thought being at home with Mum and DP would be better. I had to wait to take the first dose of medicine in front of them - then went home feeling very upset. The MW had given DP some acupressure tips and ideas to help calm me and relaxe me and possibly help baby shift. Was very tired so went to bed quite soon after only to wake up in the night feeling like my head was about to explode. There was a huge storm which relieved it a little - but the whole side of my face and head hurt like hell until about 11.00 the next day - I think it might have been the pain killer (Co-Codiene) they gave me - I knew that Co-Proxemol gave me headaches - but had never had this one so obviously I didn't know I'd react so badly to it. I considered going back it, but felt like I'd wasted enough people's time anyway (silly I know - even MW had said not to worry when I left earlier) In the end I decided to see if my theory about the pain killer was right and just let it go out of my system.

I continued to have contractions throughout the day (still have a few of them) but I can't be bothered to time them as only a few are really, really painful - Apparently it's a conditon that can go on for 3 to 5 days. I have no intention of taking the pain killer they gave as the headache was definitely worse.

It's a sign that baby is imminent - but with no other symptoms - I'm resigned to the fact that baby might go over due date (today). I just hope my mum's boss lets her stay a little longer as I really feel like I need her at the moment.

Anyway - sorry I haven't got any good news (I've had fresh pineapple - a glass of red wine, sex, massage from DP - who's suddenly very interested in acupuncture/acupressure - a long walk and a journey in the car through a bumpy lane - I'm going for along walk again today and consiudering calling my reflexologist friend - but my heart isn't really in it - baby will come when baby wants to come - I just hope he/she turns up in time to meet his/her nanny.

All the best folks - LA

Noticed how bad my spelling and grammar is in that last post - and me trained to teach English..

Still sad - LA

by the way - apparently listeing to 'The Planets by Holst' is a good way to kick start things - according to a website DP found some American doctors recommend you don't listen to it (especially Mars) until you are at least at term as it's 'too intense' - got it on now - I can certainly feel the music in my bump region. Also riding an elephant has brought on labour - not sure that it's possible to find one around here...

Feeling a little better with the music blaring - LA