September 2019 #10.

[Karigan195]

New thread so we can leave #9 as a type of condolence book for little Roy and Twittlebee. Sleep in peace little man

Morning all, sorry to all the people who are suffering with GD, it must be tough having an extra thing to have to think about! It sounds like it’s quite common though and I’m assuming it goes away after the birth?

Anyone else suffering from calf cramp? I’m getting it in the morning when I stretch first thing and it’s not pleasant! Apparently it’s a third trimester thing so just hoping it doesn’t get worse!

Yes I'm getting it @Puglover88 - it's not nice! I've found by stretching my legs but flexing by feet and toes (as in pull them towards my legs, if that makes sense?) stops me from cramping though!

Puglover - yes! Cramp in both calves every morning when I first straighten my legs out. I’d assumed it was because I’m now sleeping with both legs bent where I don’t normally, but maybe it’s just one of those things.

Exactly the same as Coffee- I do get it, but it's eased massively since the physio told me to stop stretching my legs by pointing my toes down, and start pointing them up towards my knees, heels down instead. It stretches the muscle in a different way, and it helps stop the cramp in its path too

I would kill for a full night's sleep right now. It feels like it's been so long.

Yeah exactly the same. Never stretch with toes down. Always pull toes up first then stretch. And eat bananas :)

Yep, wake up feeling like it's about to start to point my toes up towards my body and seems to stop it.

@iano tell me more! What did the osteopath do? Mine is only ever on the outside of my hips but the physio says it's standard PGP. I can't walk by about 8pm so would try anything!

@puglover88 yeah, GD goes away as soon as you give birth. It can increase your likelihood of getting T2 diabetes so they test you every year.

@Megan2018 had, I had to give up wholemeal pitta. 'Twas a sad day.

The nhs advice is shocking re diet for gd. @Megan2018 Do you have time for a quick 10 min walk after lunch? May help? I find breakfast hardest as there's little grab-able acceptable food if I'm running late...

@KnobJockey A full nights sleep on my tummy - I actually can't think of anything I want more right now!!

32 weeks today - very exciting. Only 8 more weeks max if my hospital has their way... we will be discussing this further though. On a train on my way down to visit my brother and nieces, engineering work going on so wrong week to travel into London I think. Oh well!

Ah I’ve been stretching with my toes pointed so I’ll now change to toes up. Thanks for the tip guys!

@iano also interested in what a osteopath offers over physio, I was less than blown away by my physio in my first pregnancy. There seems to be so much more internet info this time and my pains a lot less constant. I've been doing the stretches on YouTube from the Raffles hospital (minus the butterfly stretch that seems counter intuitive!)

Feeling good today! Im getting used to so little sleep it's been so long. Feel like I should be doing some proper organising, but first a weekend proper coffee treat and feet up with some crap TV while DH/DD are out for haircuts.

At work I can’t usually time a walk to coincide with after lunch- I’m lucky to get time to eat at all. I do walk when I can but its unreliable.
I was warned it gets harder to control and am approaching the 32 week mark (32-36 is the worst they say).
Annoyingly the Nairns oatcakes are recommended on the GD site but they don’t seem to suit me. I need something cracker-esque for my cheese and houmous!

It's funny how much it varies in what we can tolerate. I couldn't touch pasta but can eat loads of rice but have a friend who can't touch rice at all. Have you tried spike testing the oatcakes on their own?

It could also just be that lunch isn't a good time for you - when they talked me through insulin for meals they said that you could need it for just one meal of the day. So in theory you can tolerate food well at breakfast but not lunch for example, regardless of what you are actually eating.

I've definitely found 32+ to be more erratic. Not out of control but far less predictable.

Hi I’ve only just found out about mumsnet and I was wondering if I could come here for support I’m 28+5 with our first baby, a little girl💖. I’ve been struggling with depression during pregnancy due to my relationship with my parents and am now getting help for this, but I’m the first of my friends to have a baby so I don’t really have anyone to talk to about pregnancy things so I was wondering if I could join for a chat?

Hi mcshakey! Yes of course please offload to us! Sorry you're having a hard time with your parents.
How have you been feeling generally throughout your pregnancy ? All ok health wise?

I'm getting fed up with work.
I have 15 days left and i have to start compiling my handover notes and meeting with the person who's taking over from me. Also the guy I work with is off for 3 weeks leave and has 2 weeks left of that so o am picking up his stuff and well as looking after my 8 projects and then I also have to do a technical presentation on my last day of work. Then yesterday I was selected for a 2nd presentation that's also happening on my last day. I called my manager to say it's just not feasible and she seemed understanding but then came back to me and basically said I'll be fine, I'm fierce and to think of this as a last push before my real push.
Wtf.
I'm considering going to Dr and saying how exhausted I am etc but then I know my maternity leave would kick in immediately and then I'd lose that time with my baby next year.
What to do....

Aww @whisky2014 that's not good. They should definitely be facilitating you to be winding down now. I know you still have your job to do but what would they do if you had the baby early and went off before you had finished all that work?!

Do you think that they would definitely start your mat leave early if you went off sick?

First time round, I was signed off from 32-35 weeks. A colleague had her baby a month prematurely and they decided I would cover her full time job as well as do my own. I tried to discuss it informally and with HR but they wouldn't budge and I was doing 15 hours work a day. My only option was to be signed off but they didn't start my leave early, probably because it was their fault!

@Whisky2014 Thank you!. Everything has been going alright, I had bad sickness at the start and now that my bump is getting bigger I’m struggling with backache (although everyone says my bump is tiny).
Your work sounds very full on. I’m struggling too, I’m a TA so spend most of my time with very little children which I used to love, but now I’m so tired my patience is running short and it feels like a lot more work than it used to. I hope your manager figured out some way to ease the pressure off for you.

@BBell2 and @Stroan
It was really relaxing. She moved me about and sort of 'jiggled' my back which relaxed the muscles. She also made my back crack which sorted out some of the discomfort straight away.
Defo less work than going to the physio and doing the exercises.

Whisky you're not 34 weeks yet are you? I think they can only start your maternity at 34 weeks+.

How understanding is your manager usually? If you called her back and told her that she's expecting too much of you, and you are close to being signed off NOW with exhaustion, which you really don't want to do as it will leave them with no handover period and noone to do the original technical presentation, how would she react?

@McShakey my work is full on but probably not as exhausting as being with little kids all day! Sorry you are struggling with backache. I think walking helps. Maybe consider massages every 2 weeka or so as well?

@KnobJockey I'll be 34 weeks on Thursday coming. She wouldn't react well. I have actually been there since Feb so I don't want to look bad or let them down but I have seen how unapproachable my manager is and i did raise concerns to her manager! A couple of weeks ago her manager was up and thanked me for being frank and honest with her last time and hearing my comments made her aware of things going on that she didn't know to listen out for before.
I have also seen emails between my colleague and my manager and my manager is just so difficult and even wrote to my colleague he was a let down to the team and disappointing! This was over something insignificant so the.. She's not great.
All of us are in the same boat
..completely overstretched.
Another.colleague told me yesterday she had been off on "special leave" which o thought she meant to be off with stress but actually her dad has died. When she returned to work last week our.manager told her to ease back in but in the same conversation told her shed be covering someone's holiday a this week, taking over my projects on maternity so she will need to start handover with me AND she was also lumped with a presentation.
So yeh.. manager nor great!

So because I only started in Feb I don't get smp or the company package..only maternity allowance. But I'm sure the policy states if I go off for pregnancy related issues within 4 weeks of my current date of maternity, then maternity leave kicks in from the next day. My maternity leave currently starts 12th aug.

@Whisky2014 I get DH to give me massages every night, but I’ll look into proper ones

Yeh as much as it's lovely your husband is doing that, i think professionals just have a bit of an edge that might help.
Also, cosy baths?

I might run myself a nice bath tonight actually, see if that eases it at all. I think baby is all towards by back as my bumps small but back is in killing!

@KnobJockey I think it's 29 weeks isn't it? I'm sure it was when I was last employed and pregnant although it was a while ago now!!

GD update for me - first day in and so far so good! Have kept my levels under so far, and the midwife was extremely impressed with how informed I was (mum with type two diabetes helps in one way I guess!)