August '07 - One down, one on the way and still waiting for the expected mass POP !

[tokentotty]

How's this for our new thread ladies....??

Ditto.
My friend asked me the other day if it had dropped - i replied - about 3 inches! she joked - "it must be round your knees by now".
May be funny, but she's not far off, that's how i Feel!

Hi All

i'm actually feeling more ready for baby today, my aliments are better, and had lovely long nap

GBPus- Good Luck I reakon your next

banana- that was a gorgeous post about birth, put a tear to my eye, you sound utterly smitten
funny about dh too. The other night i asked my dh if he was getting excited about baby and he said "not looking forward to the hospital bit" - goodness me he just has to stand there.

Bananabump glad to hear it all went so well for you

Augustbride -Good luck and hope it all goes well for you someone I know was induced at Burton recently she had to wait all day for a bed it seems there must be something in the water around here with everyone being late. I know all the staff there are lovely it's where my sister in law trained as a midwife.

I just wanted to go to Lichfield as the only time I have used the Burton hospital was for my ERPC after the miscarriage happened a year ago at the end of August so just wanted to be in a different hospital for this one to arrive. However I am desperate to meet this one now so roll on Thursday. All other signs of him arriving on his own steam seem to have disappeared.

due thursday just gone and untillast night had nothing..but last night i just get to slep.i had enormous burt of energy and was up and down till 3.00 when i tried to go back to sleep..was ravenous and kept going to empty bowels!!plus was having regular crampy feelings low down but woke after three hous sleep to find they ve gone but def feeel different ..maybe he s engaged now and that was what i was feeling all night ? i go tup this morning and by 10.00 had made three different dishes of food to stock up plus hoovered up and started craft withmy other two..but feellike i ve got an habgover from the lack of sleep but cant rest as im all fidgety so perhap s serious nesting going on...and very hungry..last night i got cravings for bananas!!! so watch this space..maybe things are happening although i was expecting another week at least as both my others were very late!!

Bananbump many congrats, sounds like you really deserve a rest now, not sure whether you'll get that with relatives around, I banished all mine last time!
I'm feeling better after stomach bug but DS had it last night so was up most of the night with puking toddler, really made day 5 overdue fun! DP kept his distancem he's being totally paranoid about getting our "disease" and won't go near us, says it's for my benefit as he'd be no use to me in labour if he's ill but I know he just doesn't want to be sick. Would have been more help to me for him to look after DS while I recovered but he keeps running off to the garden muttering darkly about germs, am beggining to worry he's developing OCD, does mean I don't have to cook tho!
Much lower back ache today, don't know if that means anything, have kind of resigned myself to being 10 days late again.
Got a 3 year old's birthday party to go to today so probably will go into labour during that!

Bambi06, definitely sounds like things are happening for you, all good signs but like you said, could still be days, think some of us just carry babies longer than others! Actually I'm beginning to really not want to go into labour as I'm having a home birth, planned one last time but ended up in hospital with epidural etc and barely remember anything of my labour so really scared this will hurt more than I'm ready for. Hope my anxiety isn't whats holding the baby up, just don't like the idea that there's no stopping it once it's started!

Rhiannon -I had a homebirth that ended up in hosp as well -one reason for not wanting to go too much over - it was size of babe that sent my back into spasm and everyting stopped working. I certainly feel "different" today, nothing I can define, just "different"....

fingers crossed!! (for all of us late's realy!!)

Hi guys, thanks for all the lovely messages, it's been so nice to have friends in the same boat to share all this with. Still finding it hard to catch up on posts, I scanned through quickly and I'm glad you're all ok. Sorry to hear about delayed inductions and those of you who are overdue, achy and fed up. trinaj and bagpuss, it WILL happen, and soon! I have my fingers crossed for you. Treacletart, I have the midwives coming round for the next 4 or 5 days giving me the clexane in my tummy, it's been fine to be honest. Glad to hear mimi's doing well!

Yep, I'm well and truly smitten, and dp -Mr "babies are ugly"- is absolutely besotted! lol He keeps telling James how gorgeous he is. And he is. I had a bit of a tearfest last night when he opened his eyes during a late night feed and stared up at me, and I realised he has my mothers eyes. I lost her two years ago to cancer so it feels like I have something of her back, which just blew me away. Getting all blubby again now, aargh!

By the way, wanted to say that if it's any consolation to those of you who are first timers like I am and are dreading the aftermath, even WITH stitches, a sore ladygarden, chewed nips and shitty grinding afterpains when you bf, I wouldn't swap being heavily pregnant again for the world! you really will feel miles better afterwards, if only because you can go for hours without peeing again! Bliss.

Not looking forward to the rock hard boob stage though. The midwife told me that I'm already producing lots of milk and that's why James throws up so much (my laundry basket overfloweth) I assumed I wasn't producing anything yet really so I'm amazed. I spose I didn't have much faith that everything would work. lol

So he's feeding great when I can latch him on properly, but he's caused a few blood blisters with his vortex mouth. Ouch! Was funny actually when I asked for help with getting him latched on in hospital, the midwife announced loudly to the ward that "it's cos you have such big nipples" Thaaaaanks. She may as well have yelled "it's cos you're smothering him with your chapel hat pegs" lol Ah well, leave your dignity at the door and all that...

Oh, and to end on a moan (as ever lol) dp asked me how long mil could stay, I said 2 or 3 days. I later saw on his phone he'd told her 4 or 5 days...and as she said goodbye to sil today she said "see you next weekend" so I'm a bit p'd off with that as there are people I'd like to be visiting and things, and it'd be nice to be able to breastfeed downstairs where the tv is etc instead of upstairs alone.

Of course she has an opinion on everything (as mothers do!) so today's was "tummy tub? no don't use that, it's not a good idea" and then "told you so" when he screamed BEFORE he was put in the water. Also apparently I'm doing everything in the wrong order. A roar of "let me make my own mistakes!" is perpetually lurking at the back of my throat.

She's got me a load of little freezer pots "for when you start pureeing his food and weaning him when he gets to about 3 months, cos your milk won't be enough by then" LOL... I bit my tongue. a) My milk WILL be enough, it's what it's designed for, b)I'm not weaning him til 6 months, and c) I'm not pureeing/spoonfeeding anything, I'm doing BLW ! That conversation will be fun.

Oh, and last night, sil gave my 1 day old baby some chocolate on the end of her dirty fucking finger. I was so angry I could have punched her in the face. I still can't think about it or I just start to get really furious. Trying not to be too precious about baby, but honestly, what are some people thinking?

God, sorry for wittering on, I'm even worse than usual! I'm going to try and post a pic or two of James in a bit, to be honest they aren't the best but I'll post more as we take them.

Congratulations Bananabump! Glad to hear it all went well and that you are settling in.

poor you, having to put up wiht your MIL. Hope she goes home soon so you can have some peace and quiet!

BB - your sil and the choc reminded me of my brother putting his VERY strong prescription glasses over my Ds's face when he was a few weeks old... I nearly killed him!.. but choc to a 1 day old? SCARY SIL!!!!!!!!

Keep up the good work hun - nod and smile and know that you can ignore what any of them say once your back on your own with James and DP.xx

Congrat's bananabump and good luck to august bride.

Has still been no news from Annie75, or have i missed it.

I'm getting fed up now, roll on wednesday when i have ECV, if LO hasn't turned by then.

I was very uncomfortable last night LO just couldn't make up it's mind where it was going lie.

One minute i had a flat stomach on the left and a huge bump down the right side. Then Lo was laying across the top under my ribs and i had a nice flat stomach .

Congrats bananabump! Sounds like it all went very well for a 1st-and fast by the time you got to hospital. Remember you can tell anyone you like to P* off - (i would have killed anyone offering choc to my DS when new born) and then your DP can blame it on the hormones! The same goes for MIL staying - you have just had a baby, your prerogitive when she goes home. You're a better woman than me - i'll be desperate to get rid of mine after a couple of hrs - but then I'm mean and nasty!!

BB - you sound like you're dealing with your MIL fine - I would have definately screamed at mine by now! Do my trick of accidently leaving the baby monitor on while having a bit of a moan. Easy way of getting her to understand how you feel without have to say it to her face! (and got my inlaws to leave a few days early!)

Today (and for the last few) been having crazy cravings for plaster. DH won't let me drill into our new house walls to get some! It seems to be all I can think about! Had one for chalk with DS - slightly easier and more hygienic to get hold of! Any one else being a bit weird like me?

Good luck BB, sounds like MIL quite a strain. Think I would have gone mad at her or dp by now!
SIL giving choc reminds me of MIL giving WINE on her finger to dd at 3 days old!
And my friend's MIL giving a wotsit crisp to her 3 weeks old ds2!
They always seem to know best don't they? lol.
Still they won't be around forever - roll on next week eh?

Congrats to all new mums!! Bananabump, Conker, Myweegirl, Treacletart and Babymad. Fantastic news!! hope I haven't missed anyone??

I've had a bit of a strange week. My m/w picked up high blood pressure at my a/n check on Tuesday and sent me straight to hospital. DH and I spent 5 hours in hospital, while they ran blood tests and monitored baby's hb etc. I was allowed to go home at 10pm as BP was back down a bit but we had to go back for a growth scan on Thursday.

All was fine at the scan and it was reassuring to see baby again AND to see that he/she is defo head down!! I had 6 m/w's and 1 doctor double check baby's position and they've confirmed that baby just has a very boney bum - not breech!!

Anyway, after the scan I went to get BP checked again and couldn't believe it had shot up even higher!! It's been around 70 throughout the pregnancy but had shot up to between 90 and 100. So we spent another 4 hours at the hospital and had to wait for more blood tests. The good news is that there is only a trace to (+) protein in my urine and my blood results were ok again - I know they're worrying about pre-eclampsia and looking for all the warning signs but at the moment it "just" seems to be Pregnancy Induced Hypertension. I'm now on beta blockers to lower my BP - as I'm so close to my due date they're going to let me run as close to that as possible.

Feeling a bit gutted as everything has been going fine up until now - and I didn't even feel ill when they discovered the high BP. Still trying to practice my prenatal yoga and hypnobirthing relaxations to see if that helps but to be honest am a bit freaked out by being in hospital this week and all the things the doctors have said!!

Going back for more tests on Monday, so fingers crossed BP will be lower. Just want LO here now

Sorry for long, moany post after not posting for a while. Hope everyone else doing well.

Sorry you've had a worrying week BLM. Hope everything goes well for you on Monday.

Banana I'd also be fuming if SIL gave baby chocolate I'm still not sure how I'm going to deal with ILs when I've had the baby. They've been here for the last week which has been fine but apart from a definite trip planned mid September are here until early October. Kind of feel when DH off work for the first 2 weeks we'll want some family time just to ourselves. Think I'll be enlisting DH to broach that one!

Poor Bananabump, really sympathise with the MIL trouble but remember if having just given birth isn't the best excuse for being rude and ungrateful then don't know what is! I can be smug tho as this time round my ILs are hundreds of miles away, they moved abroad and tho MIL ws dying to come back for the birth, FIL didn't let her so I've only got SIL to bother me now and am using my heavily pregnant therefore rude and irritable card to the full. DP can make excuses for me later and to be honest I don't care. No I don't want two fire engine shaped cot beds that you've got off someone for me and if you're going to look so upset and put out maybe should have asked first!

Hello folks

Bananabump, you get the prize for most obnoxious in laws, they sound just as awful as you knew they would be, but in a week she'll be gone. Congratulations.

I'm still 2 weeks off due date and to be honest dont want LO to come before the 20th cos thats when my mum gets here to look after ds, otherwise it'll be panicky phonecalls to various potential sitters who may or may not be able to come and look after him.

Slight worry this evening as LO having hiccups right up at the top of my bump. Please tell me this doesn't mean the top of the back is up there and (s)he's gone breech. Normally I feel the hiccups low down near my pelvis.

Hi everyone,

Not been able to catch up sorry, I thought while daddy is trying to settle baby Connie I'll post a quick hello, sorry I've not been on I've just enjoying Connie due to having abit of a hard time (feeling very down and teary) on Wednesday I felt resentment to her as BF wasn't working out (toe curling pain and nipples bleeding, her not feeling full at all, despite BF support saying I was a natural and didn't see any problems with the way she or I was feeding) so we went for the AF method in the end and she's been like a completely different baby since but trying to get her to sleep anywhere but on you is almost imposable, bless, she has got herself in to a routine already bless, AF method is working alot better than my milk did but I tried. I've had REALLY bad backache (and feeling faint at times) since the birth (painkiller's not working) and boobs today are killing me but that should settle in the next 24 hours I hope. I've not seen a MW since the day she was born, BF support are coming round tomorrow not sure why but least Connie will get checked over! I'll try and catch up tomorrow, going from a family of 4 to a family of 5 is...... ..... busy but loving every single min and I wouldn't change it for the world, she is my little bundle of love and so are my boys. Babymadxx

Babymad, don't feel bad about using formula, you gave bf your best try and that's all anyone can do! The main thing is your lo is happy, healthy and gaining weight, nothing else matters.

Mine is feeding like a pig but really suffering with painful bad wind so he cries and is sick a lot, so it's never plain sailing! Hope you're feeling less of the baby blues soon. I'm not looking forward to it at all, especially with mil here to observe my behaviour.

Hmm. I sortof feel like I should defend mil a bit, my last post was rather scathing. To be fair she adores the baby and she's been very helpful around the house since she's been here. She took him off me for a few hours last night to let me sleep when he was screaming, which I really appreciated.

It's just that when you first get home you want to try out all the baby stuff you've bought and try techniques you've read about, you don't want someone telling you "don't do that" or "no, you can't go out, it's too soon" I know she's doing it because it's my first baby but it still feels a bit invasive, and it's a hard time to be strong and stand up to her.

A week isn't so long, I'll try to be more understanding. Not about sil though, she's out of order.

First pic of James, with windy smile!

Oh he's utterely gorgeous BB, i love the Big cardi on him and his little fists

Hi folks - am finally home and able to catch up with everyones progress. What an exciting week - congrats to all the poppers so far, and sympathies to all those frustrated with the wait.

My story is as follows -
Had been having on/off contractions for days as posted previously. Felt a pop in my belly on Monday night and a gush with my waters breaking about 11pm . Strong contractions started shortly after. Off to hospital - monitored for a bit - she couldnt tell if my waters had broken cause she could still feel some round the head. Sent home - contractions stronger and stronger so went back in 5am.

Long morning bouncing on birthing ball etc waiting for a bed in the labour ward - using tens machine - eventually decided it was not giving enough pain relief so asked to be moved down asap. Got to labour ward and on to the gas and air - fantastic stuff. The reward for not being able to drink alcohol for 9 months. Had really quite an enjoyable afternoon sucking on the g&a and gibbering nonsense, various CDS including the entire Miss Saigon soundtrack playing in the background. Finally decided the contractions were getting too sore and would ask for more pain relief, but when exmained was fully dilated so was too late.

Long pushing stage - dont want to post much about it cause it wasnt pleasant - said they wouldnt let me go on past 2 hours, but by the time the doctor came in with the ventouse etc and it was all set up, and the baby actually came out, it had been 3 hours. The midwifes were determined to get it out before the doctor could set up, and the baby came with the first pull of the ventouse so it was nearly there anyway, but there was a lot of slightly frantic activity and lots of people in the room by the end. I was bleeding too much at the end as well so ended up getting a syntocinon drip for four hours after the birth.

It was one of these bizarre occasions that so much was happening and I dont really remember it all yet - dh keeps reminding me of things that happened and things that were said etc but all i remember before the actual birth was having the midwives help me contort my body into ever more complicated arrangments of legs over heads etc to get the baby out.

So not to bore you with every detail, but Struan Robert was born at 8.15pm on Tuesday, weighing 8lb 4oz. He is gorgeous.

In hopsital, breast feeding was not working to start with - he didnt really get how to latch on. Midwives made a huge fuss about it and kept coming up with more and more reasons why it wasnt working -his tongue is too short and his jaw is not aligned properly after the birth being two of the more bizarre ones. As I now know its very common for some babies not to take to it straight away, and the less panicked you can be about it the better.

Anyway, he ended up getting top ups of formula to stop him getting de-hydrated. Had a bit of a bad time of every midwife telling me a different thing about the feeding and making far too much fuss of it. He worked it out for himself by Friday. But by then he'd had blood tests for jaundice, infections which was very slightly raised, and had lost 12% of his brith weight, so all in all it was a bit of a rollercoaster.

His feeding picked up on its own, his infection blood count went down and his weight started picking up, and as there was no medical reason to stay in hospital, I fought with them to get to come home yesterday. Dont think they believed me that his feeding had totally turned around until one mid wife wathced me feed him, and when he came off, milk was spurting out of the nipple so that put her gas on a peep.

So now sitting at home in bed with my two boys (DH and Struan) snoozing beside me - very very happy.

Sorry if that post went on forever but its been a long week to summarise quickly.

Will post pictures soon, and hope that those of you getting ready to pop can stay positive and cheerful. And definately stock up on sleep.

OW I'm definitely in labour now!

ooh rhiannon thats exciting - how do you know? contractions?

hsve put some pictures on my profile.