sleeplessness, toothache, hip pain - the joys of being due August 2007 !!

[tokentotty]

Now that's all out of the way in the thread title we've all got to head down the "things can and will only get better now" ok?? All ailments stop and nothing but good things will befall us all.

Right.

Annie75,

I'm a SAHM with a 3 yr old, so in between struggling to get down floor, then up again ever 5 min as she has the concetraction(sp) of an ant. Just burried dd in her teddy's.

I am doing the housework, cooking and cleaning although it seem to take 10 times longer then before.

But the main thing is of course mumnetting while watching tennis.

Of course being a SAHM I don't have the probelm of growing out of the smart clothes for the office.

How am I filling my days?.... MUMSNET!!!!

Yesterday I virtously hid all the "new" baby clothes.. by folding all the dear little items nicely, they havebeen absorbed into the previous screwed up heaps in teh drawers. I washed 2 loads of washing. I watched the afternoon film on channel 5 and went shopping.. exciting huh?

Today, I went to bed. Got up shortly after as I STILL had heartburn and decided to eat my way through it. I have finally entered our clothing lot on Ebay (it's been sitting in my dining room for 2 months waiting to be sold), I have ironed ALL the stuff I washed yesterday and I've jsut cleaned the bathroom.

DH will come home in 1 1/2 hours, and still peer scornfully at the things I haven't done (like the filing next to the computer.....)

Oh - and last week, I successfully spread chicken pox to my best friend's son. My DS had a very few spots, and wasn't really unwell..... guess what - hers is covered, and feeling very poorly. How guilty do I feel?

Happy birthday Loler and to you for tomorrow Annie - hope tomorrow is better than the last couple of days!

I am still having the opposite problem to all of you re clothing. I ran (well not quite ran perhaps) upstairs on sunday night with a pile of freshly ironed clothes in each arm and my maternity jans fell down around my ackles - had to call dh to hoist them up for me so I could continue up the rest of the stairs without breaking my legs! Next time (if there is a next time) I will buy adjustable ones rather than ones than have the big stretchy panel at the front.

After hospital appointment tomorrow I have a meeting with my doula to discuss birth plan etc. Ran through a couple of the after birth stuff with DH to get his opinion on whether he wants to cut the cord (he's undecided) and whether we want her placed on me straight away or be taken and cleaned up. He plumped for cleaned up but I want her on me stright away for skin to skin contact. Don't want to disregard his opinion now that I've asked him the question so how do I persuade him that having her on me stright away is the best thing?

There's a thread I've been watching - one of the june 07 Mums to be -who is currently in early labour.... but she's 4 days (at least) overdue.... and has been contracting on and off since yesterday morning!!... I am so praying I get a labour like with DS - hard and fast ( that's labour, we're not talking about sex again).

Dont' worry Hersetta - believe me - when you have given birth NO-ONE makes the decisions other than you!! Your DP will be sitting in sheer amazement/ horror/ shock/ exhaustion at the wonderful thing you have just done - and wouldn't dare argue.

There is plenty of time for baths etc for both of you.... go for the skin to skin. I can't remember much about it other than "bloody hell, he was huge, and its over"

Why don't you show DH the breast crawl video Hersetta? It shows how important skin-to-skin contact is in the first half hour after birth. Might be worth a try?!

Yawn.....I have spent the first three days of my maternity leave mainly napping. Just woken up. Am stuck indoors waiting for the alarm man to come and do the annual service on the blooming thing and he hasn't had the decency to turn up yet. Therefore am trapped indoors so I guess it must be time to forage for food. Having been tortured by the earlier talk of McDonalds which I couldn't go out to get I shall make myself some salad and feel virtuous instead.
As for settling down with hot chocolate and a good film - good luck ! There's b*gger all on the box so I'd definitely arrange loans from friends of all those series you missed that are now on DVD a la BLM.
Am also irritated about clothing. Bought loads of lovely maternity stuff in the States but funnily enough for summertime wear. Am beginning to realise that'll be one thing that isn't going to happen this year.
Hey, MrsB - are you going to join us at this large shopping centre in Kent ?

Hersetta, it's funny, I was having a similar discussion with dp last night, as to whether he'd want to cut the cord etc

He's a bit squeamish on the quiet (hates anything like casualty, holby city etc...says it's because the acting is crap but secretly I think he goes a bit green around anything medical- bless) so he has said he doesn't want to cut the cord. I'm not bothered who cuts it as long as they wait for it to stop pulsing first.

In our antenatal classes the midwife briefly said that "they give you an injection in your thigh to make the placenta come out, then we pull it out" which I don't like the sound of. I don't mind an injection but no-one's pulling on anything thankyouverymuch. I'm not working to their sodding timescale, and that's going on my birthplan.

And I don't really want to see the placenta, don't think I'll be terribly interested once I have a real live baby to look at!

I want skin on skin straight away, I don't care how mucky he is. And I doubt your dh or my dp would notice it to be honest, they'll be too caught up in the moment to see a bit of blood and vernix. (That's the theory anyway)

Anyone else put any thought into doing a birthplan? I think mine will be short and sweet, unlike my MN posts!! LOL

unfortunately not TT - I am a) far away in leafy Oxon and b) at work till the 27th (not till my due date as previously planned - like Annie I decided that was A Silly Idea)

why is it important to wait for cord to stop pulsating?

Hi everyone, blimey you've all been busy today while I've been away! Sorry in advance for the mammoth post.

Had my first NCT class this morning, DP is in Greece with work (he promises it's his last trip out of the country) so I was a bit nervous but everyone was lovely. Covered the first stage of labour and when was the best time to head to hospital - apparently timing the contractions isn't accurate, she told a story of a woman she saw on the street who was in transition but hadn't gone in yet because contractions were still 20 mins apart. So the best cue is when we're no longer talking between contractions, or we need pain relief!

My belly button is still an inny but it's a lot shallower than it used to be. I'd quite like it to pop out, just out of curiosity, as long as it goes in again afterwards! Reminds me of a bloke at uni who thought a pregnant woman's belly button popped out when the baby was ready to be born, a bit like a pop-up turkey timer.

I've got a few brown marks on my face bananabump, but they're quite small and pale so they just blend in with my usual freckles.

MrsS, I'm a bit of your sex drive, mine disappeared entirely about 6 months ago. Poor DP! Ah well, guess it gets him used to what it'll be like with a little one around.

Hersetta - the NCT woman explained this morn why skin to skin straight after birth is so important. As well as being comforting, it means the baby is colonised by the mum's bacteria (in a good way!), which is what has been protecting it for the past 9 months. It means bub is a lot less likely to pick up an infection.

Itchy - I think until the cord stops pulsing the baby is still getting nourishment from the placenta, so it's best to wait rather than cutting it straight away. NCT woman said if the labour is quick and you have to deliver yourself to pop the placenta in a carrier bag once it comes out rather than cut the cord!

I'd be up for the Bluewater meet-up but I'm not off work until August 2. Some of you will probably have popped by then!

Apparently some new research showed that leaving the cord unclamped for two minutes might improve the immune system and help guard against anaemia. Trying to remember where I saw that but pretty sure it was some online scientific journal (am such a geek for facts).

Have a real dread of baad daytime telly, TT. It's almost enough to make you come back into work. But sleeping is always a good fallback

The baby in the breast crawl video has been cleaned up before being handed to its Mum. I think I would prefer that? I am really struggling to come up with much in the way of a birth plan to be honest. Maybe that's for the best!??

What they said! Also there is blood in the cord/placenta (not a lot to us but quite a bit for a tiny baby) which if you wait til it's stopped pulsing, goes inside the baby.

Well, my bathroom is almost done and it's looking great. Can't paint behind the loo so dp will have the pleasure of doing that bit! heehee

I wondered if anyone had any thoughts on the injection they give you regarding bringing on the placenta delivery (didn't realise they might also attempt to pull it out - will be very clear that I don't want that) ? Any of you second timers got wise words and suggestions on that and the Vitamin K shot they give the baby???

TT I was reading today about the injection to speed up the delivery of placenta. Aparently they can wait about an hour for it to come out naturally and then the risk of heamorage becomes too high so they need to get it out.
Not too sure, but I imagine that after labour I won't want another hour of waiting for the placenta to come out?
No idea about the Vit K thing.

bananabump, well done with the bathroom! You've inspired me to tackled the spare room tonight.

TT, I think I'm going to put into my birth plan that I don't want the injection to bring on delivery of the placenta, unless nothing happens naturally and I need a kick-start. I'm a first-timer though so I'm not sure how likely it is to happen naturally.

I guess if nothing goes wrong with the birth you could spend the hour waiting for the placenta to come out bonding with your baby, it probably goes really fast.

Sorry TT, thought after I had posted that it wasn't you who was breech but then couldn't remember who was, Baby Brain!

Have been offline all day as the electricity has been cut off whilst they do some repairs outside so have only just seen your post.

Sounds like you are having a bit of a rough time, hope it eases off soon.

tokentotty

I had the injection last time, and i will be having it again this time as although i had a quick painless labour last time i didn't want another hour plus of contraction to deliver the placenta.

As for the vit K (it's for blood clotting), for us made more sense to have one injection then weeks/month of drops. Again we will doing the injection.

On a different note my sister (34yrs) has had to have her 6monthly Vit K injection as she has a blood clotting problem [grin}

But, KB, I'd prefer not to have that hour distracted by more contractions. But I'm a first-timer, so am really only going on what others have told me - who knows!!

Has anyone here tried the waiting option?

I waited - it was only about 20 minutes and like delivering a jellyfish... wierd!

I opted for no Vit K - and we didn't have drops either. The vit K is just incase you have a rare clotting disorder......

That's all right then I guess. Although am not sure what the down-sides are to the injection - getting it over and done with option. What made you decide no injection Bagpuss?

for the strong here's a thread on memorable things said to mums during labour