Due June 2020: thread 7. The one where babies appear

[AndddddHerewegoagain]

Hi everyone. Starting another thread!! Hoping we start having babies appear very soon!!

@AmyMaria2 yeah I was 3/5 engaged at 34 weeks! I hope I follow in your footsteps and something similar happens for me! Hope your doing well! How did the situation with your birthing partner coming into hospital go once your waters had gone? Xx

Had a positional scan today as baby's been transverse and then breech whole way through but the midwife at my appointment on Wednesday said she wasn't sure anymore and couldn't find it's head (assuming breech bottom was 2/5 engaged)! So today it turns out it is head down, although it's body is sort of twisted round to the right. Hopefully it will straighten up a bit as it continues to engage? As now it's sort of neither front nor back to back!

I'm relieved but I now have to get my head round maybe having a vaginal birth, as I'd been gearing up for a c section at 39 weeks. Will maybe try the massage a few more times and refresh my breathing techniques!

If baby is 2/5 engaged at 36 weeks, will it stay like that for a while or is it likely to come early? I guess it must be quite variable...

I've one active little madam today! & I'm feeling knackered
My OH has just got word today that Nissan go back to work on 8th June!! Due date 21st.
I thought I'd be ok if he had to go back before her due date, but i'm so bloody nervous given how far i am.
I've got family all around me within a 5min drive I'm sure I'll be ok.

Had a nice long chat with the health visitor today over the phone, quite informal just really asking how I was, how I was feeling and if I had any worries about the birth or breast feeding! She is sending the red book to me in the post and text me some links to breast feeding information.
Today also marks my last day at work (not that I have been working for last 9 weeks) so maternity officially starts tomorrow! 😊 all feeling very real now and I can not wait to meet my little one.

38+0

Thanks @Gigitree!

Appointment went well. Apparently head is engaged. It's so surreal (and a bit scary!) to now be one of the most pregnant women in the waiting room!

Is there anyone in the group who is thinking they will go for an epidural? I'm 70% sure I would like one as I know my pain threshold is low and I want to be as calm as possible throughout the labour. But I'm not ruling out not having one if I can manage. Trying to keep an open mind..

35 + 5

@Magpie21 I've already said I'll start at the bottom & work my way up with pain relief, if end up wanting a epidural i don't mind, but thats my attitude too I'd like to be as calm as possible. I'd just like to avoid a section if i can unless she's in distress obviously I've no issue there

35+5

@Gigitree oooo I'm from East Sussex originally too!

Any other second timers finding baby's head isn't engaging as much this time round? I think this one is jumping up and down from what I can feel; first time she was well engaged quite early and didn't really move much from then on. This one hasn't had a single engagement stage recorded at an appointment yet. Position wise mine is also lying to the right @NakeliP - daughter was the same and still able to move round to the front every so often up until birth. It's better than back to back I think, it's less far too turn to get bum forwards!

@Magpie21 like @Zoey92 says I’m going to start off with nothing and try gas & air, birth pool if I can and go from there. I don’t love the idea of an epidural but I’m not going to rule it out either. If possible I’d like to have the patient controlled epidural, so you can boost it as and when you need to but you don’t have to be completely numb. A lady from my NCT class gave birth early and had one of these and she highly recommended it because it takes the edge off the pain but you can still feel enough to push etc.

Oh wow @birdgarden, where abouts?

@NakeliP it may be worth looking at the spinning babies website. Theres a few exercises you can do to get baby in optimum position but head down is a great start!

@BirdGarden this is my second and she keeps bouncing between being engaged and not. 38 weeks she was 3/5 then this Wednesday (40 weeks) not at all. Spent alot of Wednesday evening on my birthing ball and she was back engaged yesterday and definitely is today cos i can feel her head in my pelvis 🤢 midwife says its really common as the first baby has stretched the pelvis from the first time.

@Magpie21 i have an awful pain threshold and didn't need an epidural until the end when I needed forceps to get him out. I found gas and air enough but then i also have a low tolerance to pain relief as co- codomal makes me pass out!

Just remember you can change your birth plan at any time- my plan was to start with the lowest pain relief ie paracetamol and gas and air then work my way up the list as and when it was needed!

@Blizy my feet have been super swollen since this heatwave started. I have a mw appt tomorrow - first face to face since beginning April and I am going to mention it due to the pre eclampsia risk. They aren't going down if I ice them or elevate them and one side worse than the other.

For those considering epidural, I didn't find any issue with the pushing at all last time. The mw tells you not to top up when it's nearly time to push so it wears off a bit.

@pegase, I'm in Glasgow. We have no heat wave🙈 the swelling hasn't reduced and the feel very tight. I'm still feeling fine. Although I think I'll call mat assessment tomorrow if they haven't gotten any better.

That's the same as me @Pegase my left side is worse then the right and they are not reducing through elevation or ice! As I said earlier I have mentioned it on two occasions with the midwife and she was not worried as my face is not swollen.
My blood pressure has been fine the only thing she picked up on last time was my pulse rate was slightly high but I have another appointment Tuesday so I'll bring it up again then.

@Zoey92 starting from the bottom and working up the pain relief scale sounds sensible.

@Gigitree that's interesting to know about the patient controlled epidural.

@andddddwegoagain It's good to hear that you also have a low pain threshold and didn't need it until the end. Yes you are right regarding the birth plan, best to keep an open mind and know you aren't tied to it.

I was scared of childbirth for ages before I even got pregnant, I think the way it's depicted on the TV etc., makes it seem a bit awful! Obviously it's hard but from what I've learn through hypnobirthing it's not always as bad as you imagine.

4 weeks to go now! Looking forward to seeing the baby announcements (and birth stories) in the next few weeks.

Well done @Kez437

It's lovely coming on and reading everyones posts, shit's getting real now lassies!

I was back up at Daycare for an appt today. My rash is getting better and the itch much better too so hoping next bloods to check for choleostasis will be ok. Scan booked for Thu as baby went from 50th -95th centile last time but again, that seems too big to be real so hoping it evens out a bit. Nonetheless, with my concerns about movements I'm likely to be offered induction anyway. I'm quite happy about that as even if all was normal I would prefer induction to going over 40 weeks and because I had a quick vag birth last time it should hopefully be ok. I'm feeling much calmer and happier today. The MWs have been fab.

Has anyone here been induced before? Would love to hear your experiences xx

@andddddherewegoagain unless something has changed overnight, good luck with your induction today. Hope it goes well and your baby is in your arms very soon x

@AndddddHerewegoagain good luck, I hope you have a safe and speedy delivery. X

Good luck @AndddddHerewegoagain x

Good luck @AndddddHerewegoagain
Hope all goes well.

I'm open to all pain relief options. I had an epidural last time and it was such a relief. I didn't really like the gas and air, but it did help early on.

@BirdGarden also no 2 and no head engagement at all. I've got my gym ball inflated now, so will be bouncing on that.

@SerBrienneOfHouseTarth the induction bit of no 1 was ok. The pessary insertion wasn't pleasant, I'll admit that. I'd got that in about mid afternoon, had mild period cramps overnight, fine with paracetamol. They broke my waters first thing in the morning and started the drip soon after. Things did ramp up quickly, but I managed without pain relief for the first few hours. Got the epidural at about 6cm.

A lady from my 2017 bus was induced yesterday and had her baby this morning - 13 hours from pessary to birth.

Good luck @AndddddHerewegoagain !!

God is anyone else feeling like a bloody Humpty Dumpty, whale?
My belly is massive. I'm almost 35 weeks.
I struggle to get my socks/leggings etc on now.

Good luck @AndddddHerewegoagain hope everything goes well for you! ❤️

Yes @MsMiaWallace I don’t even bother with socks anymore 😂 and I find things like that particularly hard due to my SPD.
My DH had to cut and file my toenails for me the other day - that was a true love moment - lol 😂😂😂

Thanks everyone. On my way now so will keep you all updated

@AndddddHerewegoagain good luck for today! So excited for you 😊

Yes, I have been feeling like a beached whale since the last week. Everything feels like a big effort and I waddle waddle now haha

Anyone have experience with water birth at all? Was watching a video and it looked as if baby doesn't breathe straight away when pulled out of the water ? I think if I didn't know beforehand I'd freak out but if that supposed to happen (since they're still attached to the cord and getting oxygen that way) I would like to know beforehand! Who knows if water birth will even happen but I'd like to know lol

I've been catching up so apologies that I've lost track of the names.

Swollen feet here for the last couple of weeks. No one seems worried as hands and face haven't swollen. I have 'restless leg', especially in my right leg, which can mean a circulation issue/baby on the nerve, along with possible water retention for the feet, but again, no one seems worried. My feet are generally swollen all day, but get worse if I'm just sat a lot, so I suppose the circulation might be the cause. Heat and raising them helps a little when they swell up further, but they haven't eased completely. Nothing much seems to help the restless leg, so I'm thinking of bringing it up with my midwife again when I see her on Tuesday. My SIL went up many shoe sizes in her pregnancy due to swollen feet.

I have given up on socks. My trainers are ones I can flip my feet into without needing to bend or fasten anything, so that's helpful.

With n#1, his head engaged at 32 weeks and he stayed that way until he was born at 39+4. I don't know the fraction of engagement though. With n#2, I had weeks of him moving around and it feeling like he got it in for it to come back out again, which apparently is normal as the first has widened the gap. Think he finally engaged around week 39 or 40 but it didn't set anything off and I was induced at 40+12. This time again, it feels like she gets it in as I can feel it right there around my pelvic bone but then comes out again. She's mostly head down and attempting it now I think, but she still favours my right side and being back-to-back/on her side, which adds to the fun.

Re: induction. I had a pessary at 40+12 last time. It's not the most pleasant thing but mine wasn't too much worse than the actual exam to see if I was already dilated at all. Baby and I were low risk, so after a bit of monitoring I was sent home. I had some period like cramps/BH on and off during the day, then some very strong ones just before we went back for monitoring (12 hours after it went in). They were strong enough we thought I might actually be starting labour, but they just hooked me up to the machine and left us to it. They tapered off after a while and I was sent home again. I wasn't checked to see if I was dilating. I thought since they'd tapered off, that there wasn't much point in insisting at the end, but maybe I should have, as about an hour after we returned home, my waters went and we were on our way back. Active labour and delivery was quick, far quicker than with n#1 but I don't whether that was to do with it being my 2nd, the pessary or something else.

@AndddddHerewegoagain hope all goes well today

@AndddddHerewegoagain good luck for today, I hope it's a speedy process for you xx