February 2018 Babies!

[pretzelpieces]

Hello! Just got my bfp, would love to join up with others expecting next Feb.

My DD is 16 months, so we're expecting (almost exactly!) a 2yr age gap all being well. EDD 2nd Feb.

After waiting to get my appt through in the post I just rang ante natal (rang dr surgery last week who said that they had referred me) turns out they hadn't referred me or spoken to ante natal at all! So have my first appt next wednesday will be 9 weeks. Glad I chased it up otherwise I wouldn't have been seen!

Gahhhh Toomanydogs that's so frustrating!!!

Thanks all . And Emwahs you're right - 12 week scan can't come soon enough!!

Tonight I have the fun of telling dp that i had a GP appointment and scan without him, haha...this could be interesting. He's massively stressed about other stuff at the moment so didn't want to worry him unless I needed to...

@TriJo I cannot face my usual morning coffee or even a cup of tea. I know its bad but I've been sipping a small glass of coke in the morn instead. It's the only thing with caffeine in that I can bear at the mo! I also cannot stand the smell of wine! I hope I return to normal once I've had the baby! 😳😂

Thank you lasies for all the bra advice! I shall get onto it very soon. 👌🏻

*ladies not lasies

Hi Toots and welcome. You have the same EDD as me! (Although assuming I actually get that far I'll be elective C Section, so will probably be much earlier in Feb). Hope you have an easy 8 months from here .

Great news about the various scans. Really reassuring! I'd like to think I'll relax after the 20 week scan, but with DS I never relaxed until after he was out and ok .

Ginger - I think we should be lasies not ladies .

Glad I'm not the only one suffering with the nausea, it's been on and off for the last two weeks but is gradually getting worse, still coping with morning cup of tea though!!! Last pregnancy I switched to earl grey which really helped but just one sniff of that yesterday made my stomach churn.

Welcome Toots!

Ahhh, the midwife just called to arrange my booking appointment - 3rd of July when I'll be 8 weeks. It's feeling more real now. Hope DH can come along, he's being doing a lot of overtime lately so maybe that'll work in his favour.

Hi @coffee!! I'll be opting for an elcs too so maybe a week earlier for me. Did you have a c section prebiously or are there other reasons?
Thanks @loxy that fab about the appointment.

I had a call from gp to tell me my ovulation test was normal and to keep trying. Was delighted to tell them we got a bfp!
Also have my booking in appointment sorted for the 17th July when I'll be 8 weeks (all being well)

Awww how exciting Toots, the booking appointment makes it start to feel real! That's also so lovely that you could tell them about your BFP .

I had to have an EMCS with DS. I won't say too much as I don't want to freak people out, but in short I was induced and was in labour for over 24 hours when they decided I needed an EMCS...lots of stuff went badly wrong (just because sometimes shit happens, not because anyone did anything wrong! The doctors and midwives were amazing!) so I was quite badly injured and I was told that if we ever had another child it had to be delivered by c section. I'm actually a bit worried about whether I'm properly "fixed" internally and able to safely carry this baby . It took us several years to conceive DS and we were told my fertility would have been affected by the EMCS (because there's less healthy tissue to implant upon)...but unbelievably we conceived after only 3 months.

Very scary! Glad the bfp didn't take long this time round. How old is your ds?

I had an emcs too with my dd, nothing too bad other than failure to progress and meconium but I still hope to have an elcs if all goes well with this pregnancy

Welcome Toots!

I'll also be jumping on the elcs bandwagon. Had a pretty awful tear after DS. Geez Coffee that sounds horrible - an elective will be a walk in the park for you after that!!

I had another scan yesterday and afterwards DH asked me why I wasn't more excited. I immediately burst into tears and started talking about the mc in December. I didn't even know those feelings were lurking. I'm delighted to be pregnant but It feels like I'm not going to really connect with this pregnancy until I get closer to 12 weeks and that makes me feel guilty ... or maybe the constant sickness is making me irrational.

I'll be having an ELCS too, had a very long labour with DD who was back to back and it turned out the cord was round her three times so she was never going to come out naturally! Am a bit nervous about ELCS but think it will be the best choice all round for us.

I think I'm a weirdo.

I want a vbac this time as I had EMCS with DS after a failed induction, ventouse and forceps attempt. I had 5 sweeps, went into hyper contractions after gel was put in. Failed to progress so had drip next day and waters broken. I was 42 weeks.

This time I want as little intervention as possible. No induction, no sweeps. At my debriefing I was cleared for vbac but told I can have elcs if I haven't gone naturally by a certain date. I'm desperate to have a vbac. I'd have a home birth if I could but DS was 9lb 10 and got stuck and they've said next one will probably be bigger.

But I'm determined I'll get the birth I want this time.

Crossing fingers I get to that point!

I'm waking up at 4-5am each day feeling nauseous which I'm taking to be a good sign.

Coffee it should be in your notes whether you can have vbac. Worth asking for a debriefing. Mine put a lot of my ghosts to rest.

Hope I've not scared any one. I'm very much an anomaly among my friends. Most had perfectly straightforward labour.

Choo - I want a CS if this pregnancy goes ahead just because DS is only 8 months old. If there were longer between them (I.e. At least 2 years) I'd probably look into VBAC, but the risk of uterine rupture is too high when there's such a small gap between them. I hated the CS and recovery was awful (though I seem to have found it much worse than many of my friends), but I don't want to risk anything happening to either the baby or me and CS looks to be the safest option.

How old is your DS? Sorry - I'm sure you've said before! Good luck with getting the VBAC. I hope it goes smoothly and that you have a better experience this time. I can really see why people want a home birth!!!

Rainy and Toots - I'm so sorry you also had bad experiences and ended up with EMCS. My friends who have had ELCSs seem to have found recovery MUCH easier than those of us who had EMCSs. Probably because you don't have the exhaustion of hours of labour, drugs, interventions and damage done if the baby's started working his/her way out!

Sorry if this sounds scary for any first timers. Many people have really straightforward labours (one of my friends apparently gave birth within an hour of her first contraction and said it didn't particularly hurt...insane!). All I will say is, if things do get a little hairy, the doctors and midwives are so good at monitoring you and reacting accordingly, so please don't worry.

Oh Look I am so sorry. That's totally understandable that you won't want to be too invested and get hurt all over again. So far though things are looking good, and having one MC doesn't mean you're more likely to have another, so hopefully you'll be able to relax a little more soon. I think everything you're feeling is totally normal though .

Everyone I know who had a ELCS says what a positive experience it was so that will be my choice too if this baby stays put like my DS. He was just far too comfy!

My DS is 2 so I've had more time to heal - my scar is barely visible now.

I do think that whatever birth you choose it's just so personal and just stick to your guns if you decide what you want (obviously unless baby needs to come out quickly for some reason). I didn't and didn't speak up and I do regret that.

Home birth just seems so lovely and calm. Will have to see though when we get there. 'When'! I keep repeating that! Think positive!

I agree about recovery from ELCS. My friends said it was so much easier. I struggled after my EMCS but 2 years down the line I must be feeling ok as here I am doing it again

I honestly don't know, haha - first timer here! What I've found is that from reading about birth online, you rarely see positive stories...people like to share the negative and not the positive!

Ideally would love a natural birth, but guess we'll have to see what happens down the line. Am seriously tempted to go down the water birth route, but already been told that even if I request it at my booking appointment, it might not happen as there are so few facilities for it.

Definitely know that I'm going for all the non-invasive screening tests on offer, though. Dp and I went through the questionnaire that I need to take to my booking appointment the other night...

Just as a positive story - I had an unmedicated (gas and air only) birth centre vaginal birth with my son. Roughly 9 hours in active labour and he was born after around 30 minutes of pushing. Only 2 very small (1st degree) tears which healed very quickly. I was back running 5 weeks after he was born. I'd love the same this time but we'll see!

Birth is a total crapshoot though. Out of the 8 couples in my NCT group most of us started out wanting the natural approach, we ended up with one ELCS (breech), 2 EMCS after failed induction and all the others apart from us ending up on labour ward for various reasons.

Hi all,

Just having a mild freak out here - woke up this morning and my breast soreness has gone! Worried that it's been so constant and today they feel normal!

Has anyone else had symptoms come and go?

Squinty fear not - totally normal (albeit unnerving) for symptoms to come and go

New mums please don't panic or worry reading any of the stories or hearing people's birth stories. I've heard more good than bad and at the end of the day it's just so so worth it. Your baby is here and they are amazing. There's not a single moment where I wouldn't do it all again to get my DS, he's just so lovely and funny.

Tri yours is a great story! I think it's so encouraging to hear the positive.

Emily - I think that's really true. As with everything, you hear the bad news stories more as they have more of an effect on people. When things go well you just crack on and don't think about it anymore!

Squinty - I think it's really normal for symptoms to suddenly go. I know it's only one person's anecdote, but with DS my symptoms totally disappeared overnight. I was terrified but everything was perfectly fine .

Totally agree with Choo!!!

@SquintySquirrel same here today. Boobs feel like normal no pain at all.

I'm still freaking out because the spotting and cramps are still here.

The heartbeat was so strong yesterday I'm hoping it's still there.

If this carries on over the weekend I'll call again on Monday.

Honestly I'd happily have a emcs if I could swap for this anxiety! I just hope I can get there.