May 2017 #8....... Bumps, Bargains and Baby Clothes

[RasperryInAMelon]

Here goes thread #8

Hello to all! If anyone is just joining us - please add your details on the spread sheet of EDD's...

May 2017

Also a link to the last thread Thread7

Adventure yes we will use Flemish as maternal language and sadly OH is unable to speak it but he's able to pick up certain bits and am hoping that will improve. I just can't figure my parents struggling to speak to their own grandchild. My nephews and niece are bilingual Flemish and French, living in a Flemish speaking area. Although there are some issues with nephew nr 2 finding it difficult to speak French he understands it very well.
I think my biggest challenge will be for me to speak it consistently to my baby. Just to give you an example I had been to embassy to pick up my passport and realised only afterwards that I had only spoken English there, whilst enquiring after the possibility of having Belgian nationality for my baby! No surprisingly the lady had asked me why on Earth I would want that! Hindsight is a beautiful thing!
I have a fair few Dutch friends who have tried but failed to continue, two of them due to nasty remarks from their English parents in law!

Anecdotally, our son categorises you into a 'language' when he meets you for the first time and gets a bit cross with you if you speak another language. He practically refuses to speak French to anyone except the au pair (even when they go to french-speaking groups!), he'll have all 3 languages from OH, and he'll have 2 from me (I don't speak French).

My MIL speaks the 3rd language to him, but can speak a bit of French, but he insists she stop!

So there might be something in the OPOL theory :)

That's the one Moo - thanks!
It's available on both android and iPhone, however you can't cross link. My mum quite liked the info last pregnancy so she downloaded it and used my log in, but hubby couldn't use my log in on his phone.
It's got a contraction timer on it too, and a names section and an appointment section. I found myself looking at it every morning before I got out of bed last pregnancy!
And again, Moo is right, it's about £2 from week 14 I think, I paid last time and just updated info for this time.

Eeeeeeeeee! I love the baby pics!!! So exciting to think I'm gonna have one of them

Aah ok tea, hopefully I won't need one then.

bean thanks for lavender bath tip :)

Oooh I hadn't heard of OPOL before but I plan on speaking Spanish as well as English to our little one.

There are some posts on here that are interesting concerning OPOL
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/language_bilingualism

Forgot to say earlier, My BiL(Uk ) and SiL (JAP) speak Japanese with their daughter and English with everyone else. She also gets Japanese when going to the playgroups. She seems to understand so many words already at 18 months and has about 25-30 words in Japanese. When playing with my OH, her uncle, she understands him quite well, and he loves being the one to teach her English!
I hope to be just as consequent with ours...

Skipper - I am really scared of tearing too - unfortunately I knew a couple of extremely keen over sharers with horror stories when I was a teen and it has scarred me for life!

Tea - your comment made me laugh; I am starting to get very anxious about approaching the 'business end'. Can't believe it will prob only be a few weeks until babies on this thread start making an appearance! In one way I'm not ready for it to be real, in another I would like to be put to sleep and woken up sometime mid May!

If it makes you all feel any better I tore (mainly) due to the forceps (hopefully a non-forceps delivery wouldn't have torn!) - and I healed very well, with no side effects. I did have stitches, but that was OK too.

I tore a bit. Was sewn by a midwife so not too bad. It all healed fine but it did take several months for things to return to normal down there.

Wondering if anyone else is getting irrationally worked up over cleaning the house, I seem to be far more bothered about deep cleaning than I ever have been before and certainly more than I was last pregnancy. Can't decide if it's my hormones or because I have more time on my hands working part time.

I have to say I really appreciate the experience sharing from you ladies, I think having a idea of what may happen helps to make it less scary!

I think if you have the option to do OPOL you should, even if you think the language might not be helpful later in life. The ability to think in two languages from an early age makes learning other languages later easier Unfortunately the best we'll be able to do is Scottish (me) and English (DH) which apparently doesn't count!

I got my confirmation of my leave and pay entitlements from my hr team today, it's one of the most confusing things I've ever read! I realise it's because the different amounts come form different places but what I really want to see is my total monthly pay rather I did laugh because they also include a notification of birth form that you're supposed to fill in and send back within 4 weeks of the babies birth... I can imagine that will be the thing at the top of my mind!!

Thanks for the reassurance re: tearing. Think I'm so worried due to hearing horror stories too!

skipper have you heard of perineal massage? I've no idea if it has any evidence behind it, but my NCT leader recommended for reducing tearing and I did it religiously last time towards the end. It's not particularly dignified though.

I had to have a episiotomy with dd1 as her heart rate plummeted. One quick cut and she was out. It healed over about 7-10 days but no issues.

No tearing or stitches required for dd2.

I never did perineal massage with either of them.

Thanks everyone for sharing birth stories... so many people only tell the horror stories so it's great to hear some less scary ones!
Been for 28w appointment today. HB was good but had my first fundal measurement. Everyone keeps saying how big I am so was expecting to be over but when she measured it, it was below all 5 lines on the chart. Have to go for growth scan but not til next Thursday which is a long time away! Trying to not worry and convince myself that if they were worried they would have sent me in much quicker but now very anxious. Anyone else had a small first measurement?

I had a bad tear with DD1 - almost 3rd degree - and needed a lot of stitches but it honestly did not take that long to heal. Tore again with DD2 but nowhere near as bad despite her being 1.5 pounds bigger.

I'm not obsessed with the cleaning yet peas but with DD2 we had to be at the hospital to be induced at 1pm, DH had to wrestle the steam cleaner out of my hand at 12:30, I was adamant that the kitchen floor had to be spotless!

Peas I don't typically do the housework at ours, DH works from home so does pretty much everything usually, but I'm becoming a bit of a clear freak and have started ironing baby clothes... I barely iron my own clothes! 🙈

Sorry Rasperry I'm laughing at you ironing baby clothes.... our iron is more like a piece of modern art it gets used so little. If clothes need ironing I don't buy them I really hope I don't start down that road

Ha Rise, mine is exactly the same! I don't do ironing. I need to get a cleaner, I can't get on the floor to scrub them to the level I want 🙈

My work managed to lose my MatB1 form, so I have to arrange to get another, so fraustrating as I just want the confirmation!

Being stitched up scares me more than tearing, it makes me want to think about drugs more

Well as everyone else has shared I'll drop mine here too...
sorry it's a bit long!
My birth story...
Got taken in 3 days before edd due to high bp. Put on some kind of tablet medication to lower bp. Given pessary. Had been wandering the halls for an hour or so because I was bored and it was New Year's Eve and visiting time was over.... got bored of wandering as baby was heavy! Had a sit down, as soon as I sat down I needed wee! As I got off the bed felt my jeans go damp. Panicked a little that I'd wet myself and clamped my legs shut and shuffled to the loo. Unclenched as I went to go for a wee and realised that must be my waters as I was sure I didn't need to pee that much. Then proceeded to create a puddle with more waters, in which most of my pessary reappeared, - relaxed and had my wee (!) let the nurses station know, went back to my bed and laughed to myself as I took off my jeans and knickers with my very thin and completely useless tiny panty liner. Then made a fresh puddle.... there was soooo much water!!!
After about 20 mins I pressed the call bell to remind them to come to me, they brought the absorbent massive bed pads, so I got changed and into bed. Examination followed..... 2cm. Advised to sleep. Over the next hour or so I felt very slight twinges in very low tummy. Eventually went to sleep just after midnight. (Had to see the New Year in!)
Woke up about half 7 in search of food. Was told whilst I was eating breakfast I'd be going up to delivery... called hubby who was at home. (No pains or aches at this point at all) they made me use a wheelchair to go to delivery. I felt silly. Sat there with the stupid bp and heart rate monitor strap thingys around my tummy to be told I was slow contracting. Couldn't feel a thing. Drip connected on 'slow' at midday (right after I ordered lunch which I was then not allowed) - as no delivery suites available.
Drip turned up once suit was available. Sat and bounced on ball. Stupid strap thingys and drip got very annoying as needed to pee every 7 seconds... very nervous husband telling me my contractions were getting bigger...
Could actually feel them at this point but as long as I concentrated they didn't actually hurt. Got told to get onto the bed and asked if I wanted gas and air. Refused as didn't know how far along I was as they wouldn't check. Then it becomes a bit blurry. I evidently did have gas and air. Stupid strap thingys kept losing baby's heart rate. I shouted at the midwife and told her if she touched my tummy one more time I'd hit her because it hurt baby got a monitor put on her head. I remember a multitude of positions and even managed to pull out my drip when asked to turn over to help baby along. Apparently they got this re-inserted... I do not recall! It all went so very quickly. I do remember knowing what was going on, but not being in total control and only realising a couple of seconds after everything. Not really any 'pain' at this point. Made it interesting. Got asked if wanted more pain relief. Refused as they wouldn't examine me still... asked how I would know if I needed to push and got told I'd just know but it wouldn't be for a while.. Got very annoyed.
Then knew I needed to push! Hubby went running out to find mw who was very relaxed as she 'knew' I wouldn't be that far along yet (despite no examination since about 2pm I think) had examination. (Don't recall this at all!) was 9cm. Got told not to push. Hardest request ever! Did some pushing. Claimed baby was stuck. (Apparently was not) did some more pushing. Claimed baby was stuck. (Repeat a couple more times) I could feel baby coming down whilst pushing and moving back up when I stopped. It hurt a fair amount by this point. Midwife and I didn't get along so I requested demanded doctor. By the time the doctor arrived I'd done more pushing and had torn. Doctor performed episiotomy, and then I tore a little more... experienced quite sharp hot pain for what felt like 3 million years and baby's head was out. Immense relief. Both hubby and mum were invited to look. They both looked. That miffed me a little bit! Gave another push and could feel the jelly like baby literally slide out. More immense relief. Baby got cleaned and came for s2s. 8.05pm. They then gave baby to daddy and told me to push on my next contraction. I then protested as I'd already had my baby why would I have more contractions - having completely forgotten about the placenta. That was pretty quick and painless. Then the stitching up - which felt literally like the doctor had her whole upper torso inside of me. This is the only point I think I was calm enough to use my gas and air correctly and didn't hurt at all. Was then given baby back, and tea and toast whilst the drip emptied. On reflection I quite enjoyed it and I am hoping for induction again this time - I'm not sure I'd like spontaneous water breaking!

If that cleaning obsession happens to me, I'll be sure it's the nesting. Maybe I should use it to my advantage when it comes, because otherwise I'm not at all very ahem cleaning type.
I have my MATB1 form now, yay, but need to take it to both employers and hopefully they won't make a fuss.
I have a planned telephone appointment with GP on Monday after I'll have spoken to Occu health and operational lead. By then I'll know what to ask for... fingers X
There was something else but I can't remember. Oh joy for the baby brain! At least I managed to count how many lengths I was swimming, or sort of...

Rise it really isn't the norm! DH couldn't believe it! But they do look so cute when they're all ironed and clean

Yes I deep cleaned our back door frame yesterday

I''ll also admit to ironing baby clothes worse than that I ironed muslins till he was over 1. And I iron NONE of my own clothes!!

In case anyone has purchased/been given a Snuzpod (not the Snuzpod2), the manufacturer is sending out an upgrade to the stand brace if you have an affected batch number. I checked mine, contacted them and they said it would need the upgrade, then they sent it for free. So that's good customer service, but it's pretty hidden on their website, I only came across it by chance at www.snuz.co.uk/Product-Notices

I loved a pile of ironed folded muslins! In amongst the chaos!