October 2016 (thread number four). Entering the second trimester.

[FuzzyOwl]

Last thread can be found here

Oh and my 3 year old is currently driving me insane, yesterday so was so wingey and today is proving to be the same

Please be careful Fresh. I know someone who suffered spd and decorated the nursery at about 32 weeks. She ended up lying on her back in hospital for the entire rest of the pregnancy. Really recommend a ball if you can get a smaller size.

That's a scary thought!

Has anyone here had a previous emergency section and had a chat about natural birth?

Just had an appt with a VBAC midwife, and they are keen for me to have a natural birth but will only let me labour for up to 6 hours, with one hour of pushing or it will be another emergency section. Also, will need to be on my back being monitored the whole time and if they feel I've not progressed enough then move to caesarean. Very tempted to push for an elective CS as I think it will stress me out being 'on the clock' so to speak and I really want to be active to get things moving, which they will not allow.

My last labour (DS1) was 32 hours of back to back labour and then emergency section when he got distressed after 2 hours of pushing (and it was all a bit stressful!)

Has anyone been in this position and what did you do?

Does anyone else's tummy go rigid after sex?! Mine goes lopsided too. Bit weird.

Has anyone decided on names yet? We've got a list and currently have two favourite boy names (Freddie and Henry). We're finding girls names much harder, as there are so many lovely ones; our current favourite is Emilia (took Olivia off my list as my best friend has just chosen this for her daughter). Still plenty of time to decide though!

Enough I think that's normal, the uterus contracts which makes it go hard but it's not dangerous or anything. I guess it's lopsided depending on how the baby is positioned?

I love the name Emilia, Tea. We're having a boy but since I find boys' names harder and dh has odd taste in names we have a list of one possibility at the moment! Despite this it doesn't really feel like it belongs to him yet, we still call him 'the baby'. I'm hoping it will click once he's here, otherwise he might be nameless for a while!

Hi Taffeta I had a vbac with my second dc and think I may have been told similar things although they weren't too worried about length of labour and said my chances of success were good. In any event when I rang the ward in early labour they weren't interested in me coming in straight away and when I did go in I was only 2-3cms so they gave me a sweep and sent me home. I cam back several hours later to be told (by a consultant) that I was barely 1cm and to go home as I wasn't in labour. I struggled through the night on my own and eventually went in the following morning at 6.30 am, I was 10cms and spent the next 2 hrs pushing, they didn't monitor me at all (although I believe they should have) I did end up with an episiotomy but gave birth naturally with no other intervention, total labour was 32 hrs!
Whilst this wasn't ideal it did make me more aware of my own power to make decisions so I had a homebirth last time which was a lot quicker and less stressful for me. You don't have to have continuous monitoring or be on your back, a vbac mw told me a few weeks ago that there was no evidence that the outcomes were any better with continuous as opposed to handheld dopplers. Do your research on what you want and tell them what you have decided, it is entirely your choice obviously you have to weigh up all the risks. Sadly I find they treat us like idiots and try to bully/scare you into doing everything in a medicalised way so it's easier for them, you have to be firm and tell them what you want to do. I'm not advocating taking risks with you or your babies health and if you would rather have a cs then they can't refuse you either. Sorry to rant but my own experiences with the NHS have been disappointing to say the least.

I don't actually have a clue what I am doing this time. Consultant was deeply patronising and gave me untrue facts, which has caused me to immediately distrust her, vbac mw said all the right things but said basically it's up to me to do my research and make a decision. Despite having had two natural births now (consultant said I was 'lucky') part of me wishes I could just book an elcs but I won't be able to manage the recovery with 3 children and no outside help.

Thanks Havetobe. I've been researching and all you've said has been mirrored elsewhere and I think I'm going to tell the consultant exactly what I'd like to do for my labour, and see what he says. As a second timer, I am not taking half as much notice of the preaching this time around, but the VBAC was uncharted territory so it's tough to know what to do. Seems as you say that the majority of the medicalisation seems to be based on nothing other than ease for the medical staff.

I shall stand my ground.

I've no experience of sections so cannot comment. I've had three pretty straightforward births with no need for forceps or episiotomy or even stitches. Hopefully baby 4 follows suit.

I had so many girl name. I have two boy names I am set on using one of and I'm scared to share incase I trigger a rise in popularity lol

None of my DC have top 10 names but all are normal unusual names. One of them has one of your chosen names teagirl

For a girl I had liked -

Elodie
Macy
Lila / Lyla
Marnie

I've always found boy names harder to choose!

I'm keen on Poppy or Phoebe with Alice as a middle name. Might consider Scarlett if she comes out a redhead! (Neither me or DP are ginger but my brother and several cousins are so you never know!)

Hi ladies logging back into thread fell off due to phone problems, finding FB easier (shame on me) and just a lack of things to say.

I am 26 weeks today feeling HUGE really don't see where I am going to grow for another 14-16 weeks.

As we having a boy and this is last dc our girl name of Georgina is now up for grabs if anyone wants it I swear I have met or heard of more Georgie's since finding out LO was a boy than I have in the rest of my life. Typical!! Still stuck with boys names we only have 1 at moment but open to suggestions still.

Boys names I like but won't/can't use include

Oscar
Caleb
Noah
Mason

Our shortlist is:
Angelica
Saskia
Seraphina
Claudia
Evangeline
Xanthe (but I think this is out because of spelling/pronunciation issues)
Astrid
Adrianna
Pandora (love but I think it's too out there)

Anyone care to tell me which they like best, I really, really can't decide. DD1 is Vivienne.

I like Adrianna best from your list angharad

24 weeks tomorrow!

I really need some boys' names ideas! I struggled the first two times as it was.

Love the girls' names suggestions so far. Here are some I can't use because I will prob never have a girl!
Delilah
Betsy (Elisabeth)
Pearl
Emmeline

Love your list, Angharad!

Xanthe was on our list for a girl - love it! Boy here though so back to the drawing board but we're getting there.

Got my glucose tolerance test tomorrow, other than that nothing else to report except for heartburn which has decided to kick off this week, especially on an evening. Not fun!

I am absolutely stumped for a girl's name this time.
My youngest is called Coral Nina and my eldest is Elizabeth Ann, I don't like popular names so have been staring blankly at names list for the past hour.
Quite liked Hazel or Astrid but DH doesn't.

Still plenty of time but it took me a week to decide last time (after she was born) and everyone was getting impatient.

Nickname I love all yours too! adore Pearl and would definitely use that if we didn't have one in u family already.

Crazy we're living in the US atm and you have to give them the name before you leave hospital which I found soooo stressful last time so trying to get one sorted well in advance!

My fave is definitely Adrianna Angharad. I loved the name Claudia when I was younger and used to want to use it, however always think it would suit someone with pale skin and long black hair and since I am unlikely to have a child that looks like that I won't use it now if I ever do have a girl!

Yes Claudia makes me think of dark hair too, I don't know why.

I know someone with a Ruby & Pearl which is funny. I'd like to see what she named a third girl!

I quite like Alyssa and also Alize (should have accent on e)

So how big is everyone? I think a lot of people still can't tell I'm pregnant - 24+2 now! I'm kind of dreading the attention after the summer holidays when DD goes back and I am suddenly huge!

Enough I'm 24 weeks too and I'm absolutely huge - a friend of mine rolled out the old classic 'are you sure it's not twins in there?'....

I had my glucose tolerance test yesterday, the drink tasted just as vile as I remembered from my previous pregnancy. I'm glad I took a book to read, the test process takes hours. Could only get blood from one arm so I'm looking pretty bruised now.

Finally feeling strong kicks (anterior placenta) and DH can feel it now too, mainly in the the evenings.

To those for whom this is not your first baby- any advice on double buggy vs buggy board etc? My 22 month old currently flatly refuses to go in her buggy but can only walk short distances. No idea how I'm ever going to get out of the house with both little ones when this baby is born!

Just back from my GTT test - looking like a pin cushion as they only took blood on one arm too. Took a book too so at least that passed some time. Felt really light headed though about 90 mins in.

Calling back tomorrow for the results

Good luck with the test, tallblue!

What about a carrier or a sling? The Ergobaby has a good newborn pod. You can always buy a buggy after the baby is born, after you've seen what your DD is willing to do (buggy, buggy-board, walk). That's my plan anyway! I actually did the same when DS2 was born (although DS1 wasn't in a buggy anymore when DS2 was born). I didn't get a buggy until DS2 was about two or three months! At first, friends thought I was mad. I thought I was being mad! I didn't actually mean to wait that long. But it worked out really well, and i had a much better idea of what I wanted by the time he was that age.