May 2017 #14 'A baby each day in the month of May?...'

[RasperryInAMelon]

Thread 14... I'll post the other page links below too!

So odd - I keep getting a solid bump but it feels more like she's sticking her bum out - but maybe I'm wrong?

@RasperryInAMelon I get the solid bump, lasts for up to a minute then softens down again. I usually get like a spell of this for ten minutes or so then it stops.

My BH are never painful (completely sensationless actually) but if you feel bump with hands you can feel it's gone all tight. Other women do feel them though. BH should also be (I believe!) top of bump rather than down-low-cervix/period pains - those could be the start of something!

Ticky hope you're managing to relax and conserve some energy, sounded promising and I guess could go on for a while??
Rise what a day!
Esmes I bet that feels good, we completed our last big house job today and now DP is prodding bump saying 'come on then!'

Thanks again for all the input on the stepsister wedding invitation situation. We went and spoke to stepmum, DP had offered to take a lead in the conversation as we both felt stepmum would have less argument than with me. We were a pretty good conversational tag team and I felt that between us we were able to get a lot of the points that you all came up with across to her and that she gave examples of her own experience that backed them up. Hilariously though when we debriefed afterwards we had quite different views of how she had taken the reasons why we have to think about what to do/ whether to attend at all. Because she is quite manic she often doesn't engage brain before opening mouth and dominates the conversation by jumping in before you've finished a sentence, or had a chance to answer a question she's asked. So DP thinks we need to have another go at talking to her about it, but also that we can write a really nice and well reasoned card to stepsister saying that it's lovely of her to invite us but (and I wonder if stepmum has got this the wrong way round but she thinks under 2's are not invited to wedding but over 2's are) that it's not doable for me to be apart from the baby all day and that the reception is pretty much a non starter for any of us but that we totally understand the difficult choices that venue capacity necessitate. I think everyone will get what they want if we can duck out gracefully to be honest!

Braxton hicks are so confusing. I've been getting tightenings since about 20 weeks which can sometimes feel like period pains. I would say I get a few a day that feel like this, but when I was hooked up to the ctg on Saturday the midwife saw that I had 4 braxton hicks in 20 mins that I didn't feel at all so I guess some must be stronger than others!

Blimey it sounds like a few babies are planning their appearance soon!! stationary, mrsc, ghosts, ticky. Very exciting....

Well done on first stage rise! Hope you get a goooood sleep tonight, sounds like you're going to need it for this week.

Eeeeeek not long now then savage

Same raspberry, rabbity & mrsc!! Thought it was baby moving now I def know it's BHs. Didn't realise they could happen so high up but I also get them lower sometimes too... my solid bump can last for a few mins and it's uncomfortable but that maybe as I'm short there's not enough room!

Feeling much heavier down there today. Feels like there's stretching going on. Went on a wet woods walk and it was much more hard work than usual and got a good waddle on

Does make me worry more about movement though @Badgerbird - I know I moaned about having the CTG daily but I have obviously spent a lot of time mistaking BH tightenings for baby movements

Me too @RasperryInAMelon. Not sure exactly how to tell the difference. Will try to ask MW on Wednesday when I'm in.

I see what you mean raspberry. I tend to feel flutters down very low and bigger digs around my rubs up high on right hand side. Do you get any obvious movements like that?

Do report back @MrsJW15 👌🏻

@Badgerbird types of movements have changed so dramatically in the last few weeks. Bring on Wednesday... 37 weeks and operation get baby out commences!

@Badgerbird I feel hardly anything low down apart from the odd flutter. Pretty much all the movement I feel is high up just under my ribs and nearly always on the right which is where his legs are. He's been in that position since about 24 weeks and seems pretty comfortable there!

I don't think I've ever felt BH either. I feel her move - like a bum sticking out or sliding around, but I don't really feel 'kicks' as such. I've never felt her move loads, (AP here too), and the MW has said some babies just move less than others. Equally, she doesn't have a 'pattern' so I can't compare day to day. Nothing triggers her to move either (no response to lound sounds, cold drinks etc). Its been the same the whole time though.

Now I'm also thinking what if the feelings are BH & not movements?

Sipper - how you describe your movements is exactly like mine!!! I feel the odd flutter, the odd bum pops out and occasionally I get a little more of a sliding movement but largely I feel very little and with very little pattern.
Like raspberry it has also changed a lot over recent weeks with an increase in anxiety. I think because there are very few clear kicks and her legs are facing my back (with AP) it is largely hidden. Having said that I have had a little more movement the last few days - she may have twisted or engaged a little more. It's so confusing.
I guess I want to sympathise with those of you who are anxious about movement due to AP. Being unable to feel the baby and having to go in for monitoring a lot has kind of put a dampener on this pregnancy at times!
Hopefully it will be over soon and we can worry about what we can actually see!!

Less movement here (also AP) but have been having regular hiccups really low (head down) which reassures me. Also get the bum sticking out probably BH feeling too

Here also more slidey movements now than proper kicks (except last night when it was like the YMCA in there, I honestly thought the baby might have popped its waters at one point with the cervical jabbing that was going on!). However, whenever the midwives try to palpate to see how baby is lying (or to get its heartbeat) that triggers a flurry of activity although even then I don't feel much of it (you can see it and you can feel it with hands on bump though).

Hiccups again yesterday as well.

Oh the bloody AP!! It is so hard to know what's "normal"  Always amazed to see so much movement on the ctg that I totally can't feel.

Mine is in same position as yours claire so it's her fingers by her face fluttering down low and her legs and bum giving most movement up high. I get the swish/roll feelings too which are very strange and regular hiccups which I love and make me laugh.

She doesn't seem to respond to loud noise or me poking and jiggling belly around shouting "wakey wakey Rosie!" either sipper  Obviously this means she will sleep well when out!

It does make me wonder how I'm supposed to monitor movements during labour though as they always say baby should be moving then too..... will be interesting (nerve wracking!)
Not long for us all now....

Monitoring baby's movements during labour was probably the last thing on my mind.... midwives are listening in every 15 mins via the doppler anyway (unless you're on the CTG, which there's no decent evidence for by the way.... evidencebasedbirth.com/evidence-based-fetal-monitoring/ )

As if the last few weeks of pregnancy aren't worrying enough, now I think I might have shingles Had some areas of tender skin on my leg for the last couple of days with some small spots appearing last night. Called the GP this morning and was given an appt for 10.20. Turned up and they had no record of my appt!! 😡They've fit me in at 4.50pm instead though. Just so frustrating after a night of 💩 sleep thanks to DH snoring and clicking all night.

Anybody got any suggestions for music you're planning to listen to/ did listen to during birth? I've downloaded the two albums my yoga teacher uses and am thinking the gravelly tones and fairly base themes of Leonard Cohen (see user name) might be good choices for me. Interested in what you're all thinking.

Oh bless @Barnes79 how annoying! Hopefully GP can prescribe you something that will help quickly.

Agree that last weeks are a bit rubbish and difficult to handle - we're nearly there!

Dream www.birthyouinlove.com/new-tools-for-birthing/can-new-music-genre-reduce-perception-pain-childbirth/ ... ?

badger Claire your movements sound very similar to mine, gentler hand movements low down and bum/ kicks upper right.

I don't think I've had any BH (pretty sure my bum sticking out feeling is just that - happened when I saw the midwife and she agreed). But I have been getting period type cramps lower down.

@1004Rise good luck with the move! Always more complicated with pets but I particularly hate moving cats they hate it don't they. My dogs don't really care where they are as long as we are there.

dream I haven't really planned music for my labour, I wouldn't have wanted it when I had my miscarriage (at home, had contractions, took a while 🙄). But I've got a fair bit of stuff on my mobile anyway - I was thinking non-vocal/ambient stuff so it doesn't put me off it in the future haha! Currently listening to Caribou maybe something like that? Love Leonard but don't want him associated with anything negative (or playing in a loop like a nightmare!).

Sounds like we are all finding movement a bit stressful. I can't quite explain to DH why I'm worried about it, but I just am!

Dream on music, I've made a playlist of music that I find relaxing - Sarah McLachlan is one of my faves so she features quite highly. I'm also wondering about getting some classic fm on.

Wonder who is going to be the first May baby then?

Huge sympathies re snoring husbands, mine has been banished to the spare room since BabyTea was born. I couldn't face losing out on the precious few minutes sleep I was getting by being disturbed by him!

BabyTea night be having a growth spurt, he has fed just about constantly since 10pm last night with only a single 2 hour stretch of sleep overnight. Thankfully he's decided to have a nap now so I'm able to sit down and get some food. DH went back to work today but is working from home so I didn't need to do any packed lunch prep or get the other DC ready.

Ohhhh savage listening to 'The Bridge' now, it's... interesting. Maybe we could help up the sample size from one to see if it works. Good point autumn and sorry for your loss. I wouldn't want to associate something I love with a potentially difficult experience and DP doesn't 'get' Leonard unfortunately so I might struggle there. I will have a listen to Caribou and Sarah McLachlan MrsJW

Tea we had the same due date I think, 3rd May - going for a curry tonight and think tomorrow might be weird when nothing continues to happen!!