Due in Feb 07. It's January its all getting a bit close now

[peachygirl]

Hi new year, new thread!

Suzi2, sorry pool was £280 plus £60 delivery/collection charge and is for 5 week hire period so £340 total, not £340 for pool before I do start you off into labour!

andyrobo - please stick me on your lovely stats list for Feb 3, although like most I have little confidence in it actually happening on that date. i have had a busy couple of months so haven't posted for ages so wouldn't have registered on your original list.

titchy - i reckon the 4/5 palpable means only 1/5 engaged, as i don't think they can palpate the parts that are engaged. that's only a guess, perhaps someone else can give you a definitive answer.

can anyone clear this up for me... i've had a few painful period pain-like episodes over the last week or so, lasting around five minutes each. Are these Braxton Hicks? A friend said BH aren't painful and that real contractions are like period pains, so I'm a bit confused. Wasn't expecting contractions at this stage (35+4) I'd have rung the MW if they'd continued, but they seem very irregular and random.
Any ideas appreciated.

sal

Thanks sallyn and snuggle, i have been getting bh for quite a while now and while they are not painful they are uncomfortable, and they make your belly go really hard. i would ask your m/w if you are concerned.xx

Thanks for that snugglebum. I can't for the life of me remember where I priced it at £200... I looked months ago and haven't really started looking again. I'm sort of working DH up to it... saying that at least then I'd get some use from it whereas with an inflatable we might not get the homebirth or get it ready in time. And I told him I could take DS "swimming" in it while it's set up lol

sallyn - my BHs with DS were always painful. Same this time. To start with (32wks ish?) they were periody and I felt like I had just come on or was about to need a quick loo trip! Often with sharp pains in my back. Later on they were more painful. I thought I was just a wuss, but on a positive note I obviously wasn't as I couldn't tell the difference between those and real contractions and was 7cm dilated when I got to hospital asking them to stop the damned BHs as I wanted some sleep

Hi Suzi2, have just had a quick search and I think it may be Crescendo Pool, I hired from them last time and they were great, it is an inflatable pool with a filter and heater, made of the smae material as a rigid inflatable boat rather than the stuff birth pool in a box are made from. I used it a lot during the antenatal period, it was big enough for me, DH and a large 10 year old DS so we often spent the evening sat in the lovely warmth watching celebrity fame acadamy (ahh the memories!). I think it would have been great for in labour, however I didn't use it then as I had decided to have a hosp birth. A client of mine bought her own for a homebirth this year, she bought it on eBay with the intention of renting it out post birth as a birth pool, I don't think it cost much more to buy than to have hired it, but they loved it so much they have decided to keep it for themselves as it does have spa jets in it and is actually a "portable jacuzzi"! If I can find a link I will post it for you.

Just found it but am rubbish at links so hope this works....

\link{http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/BESTWAY-LAY-Z-SPA-INFLATABLE-PORTABLE-HOT-TUB-JACUZZI_W0QQitemZ290067120624QQihZ019QQcategoryZ42240QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem}

Agghh why can't I work out how to post a link??? Search for Lay Z Spa on Ebay they are on for £299 or best offer so may get it a bit cheaper!

That's fab snugglebum! DH looks mightily unconvinced though lol. 900l is big though - not sure if our floor could take it

Mind you, if I'm going to be paying that to rent something then I'd defiantely consider it. How are the ones with filters from a hygiene point of view? I know that spa tubs can have issues with bacteria and krypto spiridium (phoenetic spelling!)...

I've actually done a bit of preparing
Had to buy some more Spatone Iron supplements so got them from Boots.com and bought some teeny nappies, muslins and big sanitary towels as well as some of those night time care mats for me (MW said they are good for mopping up mess at homebirth and also for putting on my bed)

All seems a bit real now but part of me still can't quite believe it's all going to be happening in a few weeks!

andyrobo - put me in for Feb 11th, although like everyone else I am sure it's never going to get that far.

Have now been putting hopsital bag together a bit and at the rate I'm going it's going to have to be a hospital suitcase.

Now I have to work out what to actually wear for the labour. The hopsital I'm at doesn't have a pool option (which is a shame, I think it would have been good)so I won't be in the buff, but I have never been a nightie person, and all my big T-shirts and PJs that I normally sleep in seem a bit short if I want to walk about the corridors. It's not something I really thought about before now and it seems a weird thing to have to pick. I am presuming also that whatever I wear it's likely to get ruined, so it better not be something I like. Any ideas ?

Suis, I gave birth to DD1 in DH's old favourite work shirt! It didn't get ruined so I wore it for a few weeks afterwards too (after a good wash of course!), it was nice to hide my wobbly belly under and easy to feed through!

I didn't find anything that I wore at the time got ruined, not a lot of blood escapes from anywhere and it washes out anyway...

Moosama - I had a growth scan before Christmas as DS was small at birth and they were just checking that this one is growing OK - They measure head circumference, abdominal circumference and length of leg between hip and knee and then put it all into a program that calculates the current weight of baby. Then they produce loads of graphs to show if the measurements are in normal range. If they are not they will probably do another scan in a few weeks to see if lo has grown and they may measure blood flow through the umbilical to check that there isn't a problem there. So the short answer is that nothing much happens on the first scan As others have said the fundal height may be affected by lo being engaged.

With DS I bought a cotton chemise type nightie from asda for £4. I'm not good at really long nighties and things - tops and PJs for me - but the chemise was more like a mini skirt and strappy. Covered the relevant areas but wasn't bulky. I bought bright pink and intended to throw it out post birth but it didn't get a makr on it. Unlike several bed sheets post birth! I wouldn't wear anything good or expensive though jsut in case.

hi can i be added to the stats list due on Feb 9th - have been trying to kep up with threads but been busy at work - am now on maternity leave so may be able to keep up a bit better!!
went to midwife tuesday was supposed to be 34+2 and am measurnig 36 weeks - do you think this means he will be early? or huge??
Hope you are all feeling ok.

HI all, Yesterday was very busy
suis I got those two nighties from matalan at £6 each. They are front fastening all the way down. I have thought of getting a vest style one to give birth in which I know will be cheaper and I thought I might be hot. I have one at home but it is not stretchy and very tight over my bump,

snugglebum do you want any symbols to do with the new baby. I could sort you some out but it will need to be in the next two weeks as I have access to the laminator in school and I finish on the 19th. I can print symbols at home on my laptop but I can't laminate them.
In my experience most children with SEN do not even notice their mum is PG (obviously this also depends on where they are developmentally) my class certainly haven't noticed my big belly although they have given it a pat now and then. We have found it most useful to say 'a baby is coming to live in you /my / our house rather than go into babies in tummies etc, so when I go on my leave I will be geting my house ready for the baby. HTH
if you do want symbols email the address I put on the other thread and put a message on here as I do not check that email everyday.
I've been having lots of movement recently and lots of baby hiccups

A belated Happy New Year and Merry Christmas! Had a smashing Christmas but whole family (including 86yr old MIL) managed to get very nasty D & V bug in run up to new year. All except me! Never changed so many beds in my life!! Could probably do it in under 15 seconds as contestant on Generation game now!! Told GP that I am looking forward to going into labour just so someone will let me lie down for an hour or so!
However, feeling pretty good, but have more than passing resemblance to Mr Wobbly man from Noddy!
Head is completely engaged since 35 weeks (1/5 palpable abdominally) so fingers, toes and legs (!) crossed it shouldn't be late!
My due date is 1st Feb if you'd like to update the stats .

Ladies - all this '3/5 palpable' stuff, when does this start? All my MW does is check wee and blood pressure, measures me, listens for heart back and gives me a feel, she has said its head down and written 'ceph' in my notes, but nothing about the engaged stuff - should I just ask next time (34 weeks)?

As far as I know they leave it blank until it's engaged a bit. They might write "free" if it still isn't engaged near the end, is this your first?

It is my first! Will I notice a visible difference or feel anything when it engages? My bladder is already the size of thimble, so I'm not sure that would make a difference!

Alocin..the head will start to engage within the next few weeks if this is your first. However even if it doesn't it's not the end of the world as everyone is different! Sometimes you feel like you can breath a little easier and you might feel like your bump has dropped. Or you could notice very little difference as the baby will continue to poke it's feet, bottom whatever the little acrobat can manage into your ribs!!! My bladder seems to have a thimble capacity at the moment too, so no discernable difference there! From personal experience I would say that once that head is well down there is considerably more groin pain! Lovely!!!

Been to hosp for routine appt with consultant - took Dh as he didn't believe me that very little was said or done! Well know he knows! All well with buba - suffering with headaches last few days - probably being back in work - but only 12 working days left - hee hee!

All well sith diabetes and baba - managing to keep a lid on my levels - so that is good for now! Even treated mself to a small piece of christmas cake last night - it was fab!

Updated list below:

SALLYALLYALLY 1 Feb
SOUNDBITES 1 Feb
BABYDRIVER 1 Feb
SMUDGEMUM 2 Feb
SALLYN 3 Feb
SORKYCAKE 6 Feb
MUMMYTOJAKE 7 Feb
LUCYB9384 9 Feb
BABE 7 ? 14 Feb!
DRJO 13 Feb
TITCHY77 15 Feb
THELITTLESTBOHO 15 Feb
SUZIS 11 Feb
TUTTIFRUTTI 16 Feb
KATPOO 16 Feb
MOOSMA 16 Feb
ALOCIN 18 Feb
PEACHYGIRL 19 Feb
TOMMY 22 Feb
MRSJOHNCUSACK 23 Feb
CHACHA 25 Feb
ANDYROBO237 26 Feb
CURRANTBUN 26 Feb
FORGOTTENFREETIME 27 Feb

FLOWERTOT ?
CADEAUXBURY ?
PLUMPBUMP ?
BUBBLEBELL1 ?
BECS21 ?
12YEARGAP ?
BIENCHEN ?
JULEZBOO ?

Sorry havent posted in ages, has been really mad here during run up to Christmas ending in a horrible Christmas and New year for us with DS,DD,Dh and myself all coming down with nasty flu like virus lasting whole holiday .

As far as Braxton Hicks I seem to be having them loads and wow are they more uncomfortable and happen at the slightest exertion this time round more than anything I remember from last pg's.

I can't belive it's next month our babies are due ...I think I win the prize for being totally disorganised have really not given it much thought yet, havent bought anything, havent looked out baby equipment and as for packing a hospital bag hmmmm I'm starting to panic myself! Think I might go and order TENS machine then at least thats done.

Updated list:

SALLYALLYALLY 1 Feb
SOUNDBITES 1 Feb
BABYDRIVER 1 Feb
SMUDGEMUM 2 Feb
SALLYN 3 Feb
SORKYCAKE 6 Feb
MUMMYTOJAKE 7 Feb
LUCYB9384 9 Feb
BABE 7 ? 14 Feb!
DRJO 13 Feb
TITCHY77 15 Feb
THELITTLESTBOHO 15 Feb
SUZIS 11 Feb
TUTTIFRUTTI 16 Feb
KATPOO 16 Feb
MOOSMA 16 Feb
HAIRYCATERPILLAR 16 Feb
ALOCIN 18 Feb
PEACHYGIRL 19 Feb
TOMMY 22 Feb
MRSJOHNCUSACK 23 Feb
CHACHA 25 Feb
ANDYROBO237 26 Feb
CURRANTBUN 26 Feb
FORGOTTENFREETIME 27 Feb

Hi all,
Please can I join your club?
I must confess to intermittant reading for the past 8 weeks or so but have only just managed to get round to registering myself.
I am due on 14th Feb (so 34+1 today) and this is my first baby. I live in Berkshire and am booked for a hospital birth (but hopefully no cs, consultant is being very supportive) in Reading due to my limited mobility from inflammatory arthritis (I use a walking stick/crutches/wheelchair depending on how I'm feeling).
Feeling quite excited now as I have finally managed to order the pram and car seat tonight, only another thousand things to get!
Is anyone else feeling sick atm? Despite having a snack during the night, for the past week I have been feeling sick in the mornings again, mw said its indigestion/heartburn.
My BH are getting quite uncomfortable now as well, sleep is impossible when they are underway.

Well Ladies.........

Our lovely son, Jacob was born on Tuesday, January 2nd 2007 at 0920am weighing 5 pounds and 1 ounce - at 32 weeks. He's in Special Care but has was moved out of ICU into a cot in the Unit Nursery and is progressing as well as we could hope. He's absolutely gorgeous!

I woke up to find my waters breaking at 02.20, rang the hospital, went in and got transferred to another place by ambulance as there was no room in Special Care. By 7am they still weren't sure if they would deliver or try and prolong labour or halt it all together. They couldn't do an internal exam due to risk of infection with waters gone. However, by 7.45, the midwife felt she had to "go in" and found me to be fully dilated with baby's head there and ready. An hour and a half later, Jacob was here and was taken straight to SCBU.

All feels very surreal and I am quite sad tonight as I have come home, though will be back in the unit at 7am tomorrow. Hope you are all ok, sorry not had time to read posts. Will be in touch again, hope I can stick around seeings as we're born not now due!

oh congaratulations! So there's our first! Glad he is doing so well