June #9, The ABSOLUTELY FINAL stretch! The one where the little ones start arriving. Here's to sleepless nights and lots of cuddles.

[nehagarg]

Will we make it to the end of this one with all the babies here?

Here is the latest one people.

And a link to the stats.

docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1oTx71GeTR-ilVPTpIhNhutAwZPqNyYNEyIDwO80PmKQ/edit#gid=0

Enjoy!

The worlds least appealing form of massage...

Wow. So many more babies. Congratulations everyone for your gorgeous little bundles.

Just spent 30 min catching up on everyone's news while the baby is sound asleep in the sun. I miss talking here. Cant wait for us all to get on the post natal board.

Spock - i hope its nothing. Not sure about pre-eclempsia but if it turns out to be OC, they might want to induce hiven that you are 38 weeks. How bad is your itching? Mine was mildish and came and went a lot. My levels were always very borderline. Hopefully its the same for you and your hospital will be happy to let you get to 40 weeks. Mine wasnt.

How is Rishi settling in Neha? It's scary to think we have 8/9? June babies here already! I've not finished work yet lol

It is indeed. Only a few weeks ago I was saying that I am about to have a baby next month and he is already here.

Rishi is settling in. We are surviving on 4-6 hours sleep at night. Feels like heaven when its closer to 6. Lol. Luckily itt didnt take me very long to get back on my feet after the c section so feeling a lot better.

He still cant latch on though. Had a tongue tie appt yesterday and they dont think he has a tongue tie so we just need to persevere until him and me figure it out. Really wishing it would happen soon. Would love to save the 2-3 hours i spend expressing milk for him at the moment.

Great to hear from you Nehagarg! Have you tried the nct or la leche league helpline? They might be able to suggest something xx

Eastend amazingly no tear! I did get a little graze on my labia though, so I had 2 stitches. I would second the perineal massage- no idea if it helped but I was doing it since about 37 weeks so it's probably worth a try!

Sunshine baby nap sounds idyllic neha! I'd second seeking different help with the feeding- just telling you to sort yourselves out is less than you deserve! And not fair on you to have to research and arrange it yourself in the baby haze. Hats off to the expressing- you're amazing to be keeping it up!
So glad to hear you are recovering well from the c section- sounds like it was such a good decision to go for it when you did!

Glad to hear your doing well nehagarg but pretty rubbish about the lack of bf support.
Bertie seems to have more or less got the hang of latching on although he prefers the left side to the right. I'm also not producing enough for him right now so he's getting a bf then a formula top ups which he seems to be coping with.

Thanks ladies! Unfortunately she only does clinic on Thursday mornings and she's off tomorrow so can't follow up. I'll get the results tomorrow if there's something to worry about though and bag is packed for hospital so I guess I'm ready to go in if necessary! Hopefully it'll turn out to be nothing.

neha great to hear from you! The itchiness is not too bad but more than mild at night and is all over. I mentioned it at the last appointment but as it wasn't on my hands or feet at the time she said it was probably the heat and didn't test me. But last night it was my hands and feet

Sorry to hear your difficulties with bf, I hope you get some support for it. Nct has a helpline you can call and there might be a local la leche league you could attend? It's great that he's still getting breast milk from expressing, though you must be knackered!

Congratulations mollie.

divergent glad you said that, I'm still working too although it's my last day tomorrow. Not sure if I'm going to be emotional about it or not.

Divergent, Cautious- still working til next Friday. Not due til 20th but had enough now!

I'm due 19th east have noticed people at work eyeing me worriedly (is this even a word?) as if I'm going to give birth on the floor in front of them

I'm tired and so glad I only have 3 more mornings left; I don't have anything to do now but no leave left so I have to go in.

Congratulations strawberry, he is dreamy! So glad it went smoothly.
And congratulations Mollie!! How many weeks were you? 5cm to birth in half an hour! and no tear. Fabulous.

Congrats on the babies!

Neha definitely recommend a 2nd opinion on the TT. I went through hell last time because I saw 2 different people in the first few weeks about TT and they would not snip. I kept going with the pumping and the pain and the weight loss..... Ended up with a very skinny baby who was having trouble transferring milk from the breast and the bottle.
Eventually got a private ibclc to come to the house who referred me to another ibclc who came to the house and did the snip.
Amazing. Can't believe I was made to wait until he was 4wo. Took another 3-4 weeks to feel comfortable fully but every day things improved. He BF well past the WHO recommendation of 2yo as a result. But I will never forgive the NHS for almost ruining the newborn weeks.
Best money we spent was on those lactation consultant visits.
Highly recommend
Where are you? If in London I can recommend some great ibclcs.
I also highly recommend la leche league and NCT helplines and BF drop ins. Got me through some tough times!!!!

Another one here due around 19/20th June who is still at work.
Tubes were up the swanny yesterday. Got on the jubilee line to find I couldn't get to the seats. Suddenly realised there was an equally pregnant woman standing next to me too!!!! Both of us working in the Wharf until next week.... We both stood all the way to our stop. Crazy that other people are so selfish they didn't offer us seats. They only had to look at us or listen in to our conversation to know we were almost ready to drop.
Am so over the commute and working. Am so dog tired!!!!
How are other people coping? I have a really professional job but am really not feeling it right now
Am also getting looks in the office as if they expect me to go into labour at any moment!!! On the other hand people keep telling me "oh you are so small" grrrr. Wish people would shut up. Last time kept getting told how huge I was!!!!!

Nehagarg you may well find things improve with the latching over time naturally just because he was a bit early? Your body didn't go into spontaneous labour and you haven't even reached your due date yet, let alone the date he might well have chosen for himself - I think it really makes the difference! My DS was an ELCS at 39 weeks and he still struggled for 2 weeks and then suddenly seemed to "wake up" and get it - instinctively I knew that was probably when he would have decided to come, had I gone naturally.
He had a mild tongue tie but I sill insisted on having it snipped as it's such a minor procedure yet everything to gain, nothing to lose.

I get the comments about being small a lot too mindful, it didn't used to bother me but now it just feeds into the nagging worries I have.

People have now started with the, 'any contractions?' questions. I forgot how annoying they can be.... Especially if you end up being late!

Great to hear from you nehagarg & glad to hear Rishi is settling in well and you're recovery was good!
Hope the TT is sorted soon bless you.

I'm getting the opposite mindful & biking, yesterday someone looked at me & said 'wow!! Thats a bump and a half' then repeated herself three times. I did the polite fake smile/laugh us British seem to do but all I wanted to do was tell her where to go!!

Lovely to hear about all of the new arrivals! Despite consistently measuring 2 weeks bigger I have now levelled off and just yesterday two people commented on my 'neat' bump for 39 weeks-definitely the first time I've heard this this pregnancy! I'd say it's because the baby is low and in position-but he/she doesn't seem to want to make an arrival!

I seem to get as many "oh you are tiiiiiiny!"s as "is it twins???" Nobody really has a clue how big bumps "should" look, they are all just talking crap! I reckon it depends on clothes as much as anything!

People just like making small talk. I quite like it when other mothers ark how long I've got left and then day "oh you're looking good" or "not long to go now, could be any time!" - just what you actually want to hear, not a comment on your body!

Everyone keeps trying to compare this pregnancy with my last one. "Oh, you're so much bigger this time, must be a boy!" or "Oh, you're so much smaller, must be a boy this time!" Then there's the "You're carrying so much lower/higher" I don't think anyone actually remembers my last pregnancy but me! Haha!

Had my growth scan this morning, baby is on 50th centile on my personalised chart and is estimated to be about 6.5lb so according to estimates will be about 8.5lb-9lb at birth. It was supposed to help me decide on how to deliver but hasn't really helped at all. I wanted someone else to decide for me by telling me it was breech or too big to try a VBAC but it has't helped really! I know they aren't always very accurate. Still much further over into wanting an ELCS than a VBAC but its a big decision to make!

Oh dolly so tricky! It sounds like in your heart you know what you want- go for the elcs! You don't need anyone's permission- I think there's a lot of crap talked about choosing cesarians (too posh to push?!? Wtf?!?) but only you know what it right for you, and your gut instinct is so important- good doctors are trained to pay big attention to the patient's gut instinct. An elcs is a good, positive wise choice (just like a VBAC is for people who feel that's right for them instead), there is absolutely nothing wrong with choosing one if that is what you want, deep down!

Mindful I'm in the wharf too but luckily go in from Bethnal Green so the commute is ok. "Working from home" today though which meant a midwife appt, a bit of shopping and a long overdue catchup lunch with my little bro who became a dad at Christmas. The midwife said everything looked good but bubs is only just moving into my pelvis so unlikely to go into labour for a couple of weeks. DH looked very relieved!!