Late December - Early January Thread 2!

[Bella1985]

Hi! We're on to our 2nd thread for babies due at the end of December/Early January. 3rd trimester is in sight...!

At least you are in the best place Stealth. They can put your mind at rest. Amazing what they can see on machines these days. When I think to what my mum had. Although when I say things to her she tends to say, oh don't worry about that.

Thank you so much. I think you do naturally give yourself a hard time as a parent, well I seem to.

Just wanted to pop in and say hi and send some good wishes to you all. I've been so busy I've just been able to read the messages but not reply! I hope everything is ok with you stealth, like Bella said you're in the best place and I'm sure everything will be absolutely fine. And emz I keep thinking about mums who are going through pregnancy with a toddler in tow and I have massive respect for you - please do cut yourself some slack!
I'm on maternity leave as of Friday (brought it forward to help my mum move house) so hopefully I'll be able to be a bit more active on here now!

Glad to hear everything is good with you colonol - good luck with your mother's move and look forward to seeing some more posts from you

Hope all is well with you stealth

Everything is fine guys, thanks

I went into work but was still in pain so am just resting at home now (doing work calls from bed!).

Thanks. Feeling a bit teary. Think I'm just tired & finally managed a sit down (another film ). Haven't felt much movement today but think Iv just been on the go so much today. He/she has started to prod away now I'm seated so hopefully all is ok. Hoping DH will be home soon unlike lastnight when he got home at 7 (start of bedtime for DS).

Glad you are home & resting Stealth. That's the bonus of calls... No one knows where you are. When my DH used to work from home her sometimes makes FaceTime calls in a shirt & tie & jogging bottoms .

Think the baby has hiccups. It's like a pulsing that I can feel all over my entire tummy & on my pelvic floor. Weirdest feeling

I get the hiccups too, totally bizarre. How are everyone's belly buttons? Mine has been slowly on it's way out for weeks but still hasn't made it yet.

Glad to hear all's good stealth

Baby had hiccups last night - it's so strange! Normally I can only feel them inside but last night I could see my belly jump with them too. Saw a show last night with an orchestra and broadway musical songs, baby was super active for hours- I'm taking it as a good sign that (s)he enjoyed the music!!

Belly button still not properly popped out. After I've eaten and stand up the top sticks out more than the bottom half but it settles after a while.

Love your little Broadway fan bella

I haven't had any hiccups - stupid anterior placenta!

emz I was teary yesterday too - I think the hormones are well and truly starting to kick in. Or maybe it's the super moon?!

I didn't set my alarm this morning as had a late (11am) start at work today. Woke up at 1045 still absolutely shattered. Am just making my way in now, having missed my first meeting. Don't know how I'm going to get through the next 4 weeks, my energy levels are basically zero!

I have no energy either. I guess it's our bodies putting everything into growing this tiny human. I can't help staring at my tummy & wondering how there's a baby in there. Such a strange phenomenon.

My belly button pops out sometimes & then goes back in again after a while. It depends where baby is as well as he/she was kicking right behind my belly button which was pushing it out. Woke up with such sore hope this morning and was wide awake at 6.

stealth good to hear all's well.

I'm feeling a bit teary and emotional too . Just lots to do in the next few weeks and feeling overwhelmed. We are packing up for our kitchen refurb and it seems never-ending. My brain seems to have ground to a halt at work which is worrying as my boss has crammed in lots of meetings and presentations (that I have to prepare) for before I leave. My hospital bag lies half packed from the last time I left it as I've had no time to prep for baby or set up the nursery, which at the moment is our guest room - still have to get rid of the king size bed in it. Usually take it in my stride but the littlest of things set me off nowadays. Anyway, I'm hoping yoga tonight will help me de-stress.

3 more weeks to mat leave for me. stealth you are a stronger woman than me going one week longer at work! good luck. I'm ready for a snooze by lunch time

btw emz don't worry about whipping out the electronic babysitter once in a while, everyone does it, esp when kid / mummy's unwell. I do it in the morning when I need to get DD changed and ready to go in 15 mins. Those are the only times I get full compliance

Lucy, that's exactly how I feel. When DS moved rooms, the stuff in his new room got split between the nursery & my home office. So although DSs room looks great, the other rooms are crammed. It's really stressing me out as I know how little time we will have once baby is here. Being ill last weekend took all that time up so I'm hoping we can get it sorted this weekend as we have no plans. Just trying to keep DH focused. He tends to just want to float around at the weekend. Then I feel like a right old nag. The tv has been used well today, kept him company whilst I cooked dinner. Then I'm off to yoga. Looking forward to some "me" time, did also manage an hours nap today whilst DS slept. I was exhausted.

Heartburn seems to be back really badly & I feel so sick in the mornings, (I was actually sick this morning).

I can't seem to focus right now either, can't imagine what it must feel like to try and pack up a whole kitchen! I have 3 days off work and barely touched my to-do list.

Felt a bit off yesterday so went in to co-op pharmacy to have my blood pressure measured (baby was moving fine and couldn't pin point what felt wrong so thought I'd rule out preeclampsia as I was starting to get paranoid) and had slightly low blood pressure so had to have a chat with the pharmacist about it. He advised me to rest (and go in to hospital if baby had reduced movement or if I felt faint/dizzy any worse) so obviously I gave up my to-do list and just napped for the whole afternoon. I'm feeling fine this morning and baby was nice and active all night.

I've only got 2 weeks left in work, can't wait to turn off my alarm. I might just start getting things done off the to-do list when I don't have anything else to focus on...wishful thinking

Iv just dropped DS off at nursery & have the day to myself (got the pick up to do but he's going to my parents for a few hours after). I'm so exhausted that Iv sat down... Fatal error as now I don't want to move. Iv only got a few jobs to do & then I could relax. Need to focus.

Yoga was nice lastnight but just couldn't switch off. Look at us reaching 34 weeks. I wonder when these babies will start arriving.

I was thinking the same Lucy - if the other December thread is anything to go by we could start any day now.

After having slept really well for most of the pregnancy in the last two weeks I've been waking up every single night in the middle of the night for a couple of hours. I think there's just too much going round in my head. I keep hearing about tragic birth stories and it just sends me in a spin, everything is particularly grim in the middle of the night isn't it. Is anyone else having these mini freak outs? I feel like if anything bad happens so many people are going to be so devastated.

Apart from that happy 34th/35th week all! I hope you all have lovely pelvic pain free, unstressful, easy energetic Fridays!

I do apologise for the morbid post

I don't think it's morbid Col. I think it's realistic. I read a story that had me panicking too. I guess that's why midwives are upping the anti about movements. The U.K. Isn't as good as it should be with maternity care. There just isn't enough money.

I'm still confused about how they can date a pregnancy on the size of the baby at 12 weeks. Babies are born all different sizes so how can they give you a due date. Mine was pushed back a week but I know the exact date I ovulated & conceived (I had a scan on the day of ov by chance). So my dates put me a week further ahead. I guess it's all just guesswork & estimates.

No I don't think it's morbid either. I've not been able to relax as much this pregnancy. Unfortunately within my social circle we've had 2 couples with infant deaths this year, one born prematurely at 27wks then sadly passed 3 weeks later and another late term stillbirth. It's made me really appreciate how fragile this baby-making business is. Despite all that I see on tele about teenage pregnancies, obese/smokers/drug users giving birth to perfectly healthy babies.

emz Apparently ultrasound dating at prior to 13wks has an accuracy (or 95% confidence interval for the mathematicians) of +/- 4-6 days. so you may well be right and that baby is a week ahead!. I'm a big fan of reading research papers - i use google scholar all the time - something of a nerd in me

Our new kitchen cabinets have been delivered (hurrah) and now we have 2 kitchens but no kitchen space to work in. col hope your mum's house move is going well.

Lucy I had also read about 4-6 days thing. It's hard as they make a lot of decisions based on the dates... Induction for example. If the baby came at 37 weeks on my dates it would actually be 36 weeks & considered prem. Not that I suppose that matters if they are healthy & ok. I'm like information & feel better prepared if I read lots.

My yoga teacher said something very interesting lastnight. Stage 1 of labour you need to be relaxed & calm as possible & breath as much as you can which encourages oxytocin & helps you get to 10cm more easily. 2nd stage is when you fall apart & panic that you can't do it (I do remember that bit from DSs birth) which floods your system with adrenalin to get the pushing done quickly. 3rd stage us placenta delivery. I hadn't thought about it like that before but the mechanics of it makes sense. You all probably know this already but it helped me make sense of it & realise that actually it doesn't matter what happens as your body will do what it can naturally. I think I tried to control my body last time which didn't help. Hoping I can relax more this time. Be a passenger in the car rather than the driver (famous last words!)

Takeaway for you tonight (and the next few nights) then Lucy. Good excuse! We plan to do our kitchen in the spring. Not sure how I'll cope with that, a toddler & a baby!

It's hard when the reality of a situation is in front of you. It's really not easy having children & I want to explain to friends (without children) who assume it's just a case of stopping contraception & it all happens. I understand wanting a career & building that but it's an assumption that you can have them when you want. The worry doesn't stop, ever. That's hard for you Lucy when it's happened so close.

It's only this week that I've become aware of the dangers. I've obviously heard of stillbirths and infant deaths but sort of thought it happens elsewhere, like in 3rd world countries or poorer places than the uk. I haven't known anyone to suffer a loss so late in the process (that must be so hard lucy) so when I read a thread about it this week on MN and saw how many shared their experiences it actually dawned on me that I'm not safe from it just because everything has gone well so far... it's quite a sobering thought but just made me appreciate how lucky I am to have got to this stage and hope that things continue to go well. I can't imagine the heartache those poor families have suffered and I look around my living room with the changing table and glider chair in place for baby's arrival and think about how hard it must have been for them to go home to all this baby stuff but with no baby

emz I love that yoga story about the process of childbirth. That really puts in in perspective and sort of justifies the panicky I can't do it stage. Will tell DH about this so that we can try and embrace each stage as they happen (if we have a birth that goes to the conventional plan). After the antenatal class I'm trying to keep an open mind about what might happen and how things may be out of my control...there are so many unknowns!!

It's reassuring I'm not the only one who has these worries. I am trying so hard not to think about the things that can happen and to limit my reading around them but it's hard isn't it. My mum was telling me about how when she was pregnant she didn't have a single worry because she simply wasn't aware of the things that could happen. There are pros and cons though because definitely we're able to be much more vigilant about movements etc nowadays and hopefully this is reducing the frequency of tragedy but on the other hand I can't help but feel that this ignorance would be so blissful!

lucy I hope your kitchen is going to be fitted soon? It must be very tedious for you right now!

emz I also like what your yoga teacher said it's a good way of thinking about it. DH and I have been listening to 'Effective Birth Preparation (Hospital or Birth Centre): Self Hypnosis (Natal Hypnotherapy Programme)' but I'm not sure how useful it's going to be.

I've been recently thinking about water births - is anyone considering this? I decided the other day to youtube some positive birth experiences (I had been avoiding watching anything up to this point) and I found that every single calm and natural birth that came up was a water birth which has got me thinking.

I really want a water birth. The single thing that puts me off is poo. I know it's seen by the midwives but my DH wasn't aware of it last time (I was!) and I think it'll be unavoidable with a water birth but I might just try it to keep myself calm if I can. Really need to book a your to have a look round. We used a different hospital with DS.

Feeling so achey today & there's definitely more pressure on my pelvic floor. It's aching there too. 34 weeks on Monday & going Christmas shopping. Will be taking it easy but really enjoy getting into the Christmas mood.

I'm totally about a water birth - all that bodily fluid and poo and sitting in with it, it's just so 'icky' - but at the antenatal class I asked the midwife about positions to use during labour with SPD and she was so enthusiastic about the pool that I've now packed my bikini top! She said it could be used as a pain relief method if I didn't want to actually give birth in there and seemed so genuinly positive about it I think I might give it a go. And if I don't like being in the pool, I can always get out and use the bed - they can't force me to stay in the pool if I don't like it!

I'm really achey today too, been tidying and sorting the house this morning amd went into town at lunch time and I had to go sit down in Costa as DH completed the shop, my lower back was so painful. A strange heavyness/pain low in my abdomen in the front too, different to SPD. Relaxing on the sofa now and trying not to think about period type pains being a sign of early labour...

I've got the low pressure in the abdomen too. Obviously this is all part of the long run to the end! I went to Pilates today and I can definitely feel everything softening and loosening - am just desperately hoping that my stomach muscles don't separate.

And I definitely have morbid thoughts too. It seems so odd to come this far and still have there be a chance of something going horribly wrong. It's why I hate the reduced movements stuff, it just makes me anxious and worried about "what ifs". I think having had an ivf pregnancy doesn't help either - I'm used to being on the wrong side of the odds.

I won't be having a water birth but apparently my labour room has a bath in it so will probably hop in there for a bit if I'm in early labour. Not taking a bikini top, though, I've decided I'm going to let it all hang out Packed half my hospital bag today and am feeling a bit more organised - at least I'll have some stuff if it all kicks off early!