October 2017 #5!

[GimbleInTheWabe]

Hope no one minds me setting up a new thread- we were getting full up on the other one!

Here is the link to the deets sheet, feel free to add or edit your details as you please:
docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1pa8LZMKMLvREYH4kFiNqn1dD7aTb053cT_KHvghwvSM/edit?usp=sharing

Bring on the third trimester aches, midwife appointments and birth plan chat!

Nessalina I'm getting the same pains in cervix, fanny daggers is a word I've seen used a lot to describe them. Baby was at best only 2/5 above pelvis on Tuesday and pretty sure she dropped even lower yesterday. I just need her to stay put until Tuesday and then I'm eligible for the maternity allowance!

To whoever said they can't have a sweep until 40+5 it might be worth asking a second opinion. They can and do do sweeps earlier, I had one at 39 weeks with ds2 and a friend will be having them from 37 weeks with hers. Although from my experience a sweep is agony and I wouldn't rush to have one. From what i was told at the time a lot of midwives think they don't do any good unless your body is pretty much ready to go into labour anyhow.

Not heard about changes to recommended times in car seats. I leave the house by 2.45 to head to school as can't get parked unless get there by 2.55, and not usually back home until 3.45 so she needs to be in the car for an hour each afternoon... mornings are easier as I leave around 8.35 and back by 9.05 ish

I did hope your DH comes to his senses, mummabub! I think this plan is something you'll get to tease him about a lot in years to come. Sorry to hear about the sweep. My midwife said they would only consider them earlier if I got consultant approval, although that was fairly likely as I'm over 40 and they are supposed to encourage us oldies not to go overdue.

Ooh, cake on a sofa, Gimble! Sorry, I mean ooh a photo shoot! How exciting! That sounds like fun and an interesting campaign. Can't wait to see. Did they give you any free nappies?

We had a bit of a car seat panic on Saturday. We're reusing our first son's infant seat for the new one but still use the isofix base for his current seat, so bought a new one in plenty of time. Late Saturday afternoon, DH had the idea of fixing it in whichever Grandma's car was looking after DS while I'm in hospital, so they can just move the seat and drive him here and realised from doing this that it is the wrong base, so we had a mad panic trying to find somewhere with one in stock so he could buy it before my induction, which was supposed to be the following morning. I can do a bit of a hollow laugh about that now!

Good luck with today's appointment, lionqueen. If you are induced, I hope it goes well and faster than mine. I started on Sunday and am finally supposed to be having my waters broken this morning at 9:30-10 but it's a busy week here and they get lots of emergencies. They want a theatre and a labour room free when they do it, plus me nil by mouth for several hours and full staff on hand for emergency ceasarean section under general anaesthetic in case my peculiar placenta bleeds again when they do it, so yesterday wasn't possible and I'm even wondering about today. It all sounds alarming and I have to keep reminding myself that this is only a small maybe and fingers crossed all the extra precautions won't be needed.

Oh wow Loopy keep those legs crossed!! My mat leave doesn't start until next Weds, so I'm hoping she's staying put until then or it gets a bit complicated with my hours holiday and all that jazz, but that pales in comparison to getting a mat allowance or not getting one!
I was worried about the round trip to nursery and the car seat, but DH was like, "look, it's not as if our car seat has changed, or babies have changed, it's just that the guidance has changed", and he's right, we used to have DS in the seat for 2hrs at a time because that was the guidance last time, and now they've moved the goal posts. So long as you're keeping a close eye on them, occasionally going over the time will not be a problem I'm sure!

I hope today is the day Cineraria!** It's good that they're taking precautions, but I hope things go so smoothly none of it is needed!

Weight off my mind this morning, finally got round to asking my occasional childminder if I can drop DS round at very short notice when I go into labour if it's a day he's not at nursery! She's happy to do that, so I'm hoping things get started in the early morning so we can drop DS with her and just tell my folks to travel over in time to pick him up at 5pm (they're 2hrs away!) That way I can have an uninterrupted day labouring at home without worrying about anything 🤞

Good luck today cineraria!

Gimble I had no signs with my first and was actually told by the midwife at 39+6 that he was not in a good position and she expected it to be weeks still. I cried, went for a long walk and out for dinner with DH then when we got home I promptly went straight in to active labour (contractions 4 mins apart from the outset), DS1 born 10 hours later. Honestly I much preferred having no build up than this weird stop start thing I have going on now, although I did feel it would never happen at the time! Keeping busy is definitely the key to staying sane.

Hope baby stays put for now loopy. You've just made me wonder if I accidentally swindled my old company. I only qualified for mat pay by 3 days according to my due date but had a section 1 week early. Never even occurred to me until now and they never mentioned it...

It's my birthday soon, just thinking it's a pity we can't get a babysitter otherwise we would have booked a fancy meal out somewhere and labour would definitely have started just as we were leaving for the restaurant

Hope things progress for you potatoes, sounds tough!

Tippety being mat allowance I don't think for a second the government will pay me if she comes earlier, but that's nice your old company turned a blind eye!

It's my birthday this weekend, am spending as much time as possible lying down in the hope gravity helps keep her in a bit longer, will be 37 weeks tomorrow so at least she won't be classed as premature then. My biggest worry is that if things begin to happen, I've been told to get to the hospital asap so they can do the section and I'm on aspirin and fragmin injections that I shouldn't take the day before the section so my blood isn't too thin when they open me up, but if things start naturally then I won't have missed those the day before. DH has a commute that's roughly 2.5 hours, and I have 2 ds's so if my mom picks them up then that means I'd be going to hospital on my own, they told me to phone for an ambulance rather than drive, it's 45 minutes from here in a car. And if it happens at night then would have to get the boys up from their beds to go to my moms, but at least DH could drive me then and drop me at the door.. guess what will be will be but it's just on my mind a lot since being at the hospital on Tuesday!

Good point re car seats, I can't do anything about it, it will be an hour each afternoon, and if she is anything like her brothers if I were to try and transfer her from car seat to a carrycot she would wake and then would be back into the cycle of feeding and needing a change, which I'd rather not do whilst waiting outside school!

Random Q- I've got an obstetric tens machine and midwife at antenatal class said it's a good idea to "practice" with it from 37 weeks (partly to get used to it but also as apparently if you use it before you need it your brain learns to release the endorphins that counter the pain quicker?) ... is there a limit to how much you can use it? I love the feeling of it and to be honest would quite happily spend several hours using it but wasn't sure if anyone has heard of a limit/guidance on how much to practice?

Thinking about it are you sure loopy that it isn't calculated by due date rather than birth date? No idea, but it seems really harsh not to mention unfair to penalise mums whose babies arrive a bit early for whatever reason!

Rest of it all sounds stressful. I can empathise as no sure fire way to get to hospital and no nearby childcare but I don't have the medicine to worry about too. Fingers crossed it'll all go fine on the night. Often things seem worse in anticipation than when actually happening. So I keep telling myself!

Can't help mummabubs sorry, but can I ask which tens machine you got? Want to hire one but not sure if some are better than others.

I've had period pains and back ache for most of the afternoon plus quite a lot of tightening and pressure and a generally heavy feeling in my hips. Don't for a minute believe it means baby is imminent as there are no contractions, no show, and it's fading away rather than escalating, but it definitely feels different today! Internet reassures me I could feel this uncomfortable for another few weeks. Hurrah.

It's definitely on birth date, because I know that if you start your mat leave too close to the birth and take holiday before, and the baby arrives before you're on mat leave, your mat leave starts from the day of birth, and you just lose any holiday left untaken. To qualify for mat allowance you need to have been in paid employment a certain amount of time before it kicks in, which I'm guessing is what loopy is waiting for!
Sounds like you lucked out with work not paying attention

Anyone else struggle to get back to sleep if they wake up in the night? Didn’t help that DP woke me up looking for the spider that he’d brushed off his arm in bed he couldn’t find it so now I feel like I can’t relax or sleep.

Got 6 messages from different people today asking in round about ways if the baby was here yet! I mean, it really is lovely that people care and are thinking about me but c’mon!

That's spot on nessalina. After my second son I took a career break. Then had 12 mc's and decided at the end of last year that I needed something else to focus on so applied for a job in my old industry. However fell pregnant just as they contacted me back and due to lots of red tape I didn't end up starting the job until I was 12 weeks pregnant. So 2/10 is the first day of my 26th week and rules are you need to have had 26 "weeks" employment before the birth although they don't have to be full weeks and a part week is still counted so as long as I can hang on until the Tuesday I'm safe! Had a dream last night that she arrives tomorrow so hoping that's just a dream and not a premonition!!

I have the same problem @GimbleInTheWabe , as soon as I get up for my first wee I just can't get back to sleep, it's so annoying! I hope you gave your DP a suitable telling off about the non existent spider!

Looks like the weather is going to be really crap here all weekend, which is annoying when it might be the last weekend that we can get out and about for a while.

Morning all!

Sorry for the radio silence ... it's been a whirlwind of a week!
Is baby has a name now! She is Thea Elizabeth! We are both doing well, had our 3 day check yesterday and DD has only lost 6% of her birth weight which is amazing and I'm on the road to recovery!
I can give you all my birth story if it's something anyone would like to hear?!

I can honestly say it has been the hardest yet most amazing 5 days of my life! I'm so excited for you all.

Hope nobody is going to crazy on labour watch!!!!

DH let me have a massive lie in today, I didn't wake up until 9:30! I've had many nights of waking up at silly o'clock and not drifting back off until 6am, only to be woken by DS at 6:45 😭

Gosh loopy what a year! So sorry to hear about your losses Karma says that your little one will stay out until next week, surely?! When's your actual due date?

XPost! Gorgeous name wapsmahoney! Yes please to birth story!!

@wapsmahoney lovely name. All the details of the birth please lol. Hopefully not too long for me now due one week tomorrow! Although not having any signs just odd twinges. I'm painting skirting boards today as weather is rubbish it's pouring down here. Maybe it's a sign as I had an urge to paint haha xx

Lovely name Waps and really glad to hear you're both doing well. Yes please to the birth story. If ever I get to write mine I might exhaust the word limit for one post; I think the consultants here are going for the Guinness World Record for the longest running induction! DH said that's fine as long as he exits before he graduates as he is then responsible for supporting himself! I'm hoping for a little sooner; can you imagine the stretch marks otherwise?

The new online notes system is causing chaos too as there are so many things it doesn't capture, including scans and blood results and seemingly whatever your current plan is. I'm taking notes of what each consultant says plus their name and that of their junior or a midwife who overheard as I'm surprised each time someone comes in at what they think is supposed to be happening. I have twice been offered a pethidine injection even though I have no pain! I think they were for some of the ladies that are on the same ward. If it weren't for the needle phobia, I'd be tempted to say yes and make time pass quicker that way!

I'm on day 3 of Induction and ready to just run away and leave
hope your doing ok cineria

total name fail their sorry!!!

Fingers crossed for you to have your baby soon Greentrees! Don't let me taking so long worry you; apparently it's really unusual for "nature to be stronger than the drugs" and "Everyone in the hospital knows about this taking so long" according to the consultant I just saw. She was really nice and is happy that I'm now protesting slowly by myself and looking like waters could break soon, so we're going to give it half a day for labour to start naturally and examine again. If I do start naturally, she signed me off for the MLU too (so happy to hear that) and I've had my cannula removed!

What are you finding to do to pass the time? I keep packing and unpacking my bags; they are so neat!

Did you get the balloon Cineraria?

No Legend, I was gong to agree to that route but I was already nicely dilated next time they looked (either I had a slow reaction to the drugs or was just naturally preparing for labour) so that wouldn't have helped. The problem is that I haven't effaced sufficiently and I don't think it helps as much with that. It's not very common to be like this they say and if they did break my waters like that, there is a big chance I'd have a long ineffective labour followed by a ceasarean section. I chatted with them and both they and I want to avoid surgery if at all possible so we are all happy waiting for natural progression.

(Typo in post above: protesting should read progresing)

Ah fair do's. I'm weirdly fascinated by the balloon catheter, it's so common in Europe but not really used here.

FWIW, should you end up needing surgery (a CS) don't be scared. It's very quick, very effective, and nowadays the way they do it means healing is fast and effective.

I'll shut up now and let you get on; sending you positive laboury vibes xx

Good luck to all those possibly going in to labour today! And @wapsmahoney That’s a gorgeous name - I’ve only known One Thea (pronounced thee-ya, is she a tay-a?) and she was super cool so I’ve always had good vibes about that name. And yes to labour story if you’re happy to share!

Just went for an accidentally really long walk up the huge hill and park where I live and then a Sainsbury’s shop, why I did this at 39+5 is anyone’s guess.
And sorry that you’re sleep afflicted like me @PingusMistress! Thank god for the internet otherwise I’d be so bored staring at the ceiling for hours on end at night!

I hear staying active till the end is a good way to get things started Gimble so I say well done! Good luck to those who are on the cusp of babydom!

I've still got my badly stuffed nose and nausea and have started to get occasional back/stomach ache (just pain, not contractions). I'm keeping my level head on as I know at 39 weeks today this not be the start of anything imminently, but it feels like a step towards the next step if that makes sense? (I'm also a bit of an emotional wreck but I think that appeared around week 7 and never really left so I'm not counting that haha!!) 🙈 DH is going to pack his hospital bag tonight so at least if anything does happen we're relatively(ish) prepared!