Feb Babies - Come on Down!

[tyaca]

'ere we go, guys!

that was meant to say babyarama. which still isnt a word, i know, but makes a little bit more sense than baboyarama [yawn]

but tyaca dh is a chef and if he was here he would be cooking dinner. i do second what you say about the ones with older kids to look after, its impressive.

Tyaca, I remember being preggas with no 1 (17 years ago!) and It took over my whole life. I gave up work really early and was very tired. It is weird but when your body has done it once it seems to cope better - with no 2 (and now no 3) I kept doing everything up until the last minute. Though i REALLY recommend preggie yoga - I discovered it with no 2 and have been doing Yoga ever since. I am sure it helps with everything (including tiredness!)

Egg - I hope your day has gone well and you get some sleep tonight!

I have an appt with MW tomorrow - due date. She is sure to offer me a sweep - I have to say I think I would rather stay pregnant! I'm obviously not fed up enough yet!

Day went from bad to worse when DS1 threw a (fairly large and heavy) ball at DS2 while I was feeding DD. I told him never to throw things at the babies, and carried on feeding DD as DS2 seemed ok, then DS1 got the baby monitor and threw it at DS2 . DS2 burst into tears . So did I . DS1 was taken to his room and left alone for a few mins. DS2 has still not managed to get back to sleep and is crying. How do I get DS1 to understand how bad throwing heavy things at a tiny baby is (DS1 is 23 months old).

Poor you Egg - you seem to having one of those neverending bad days. I can't even offer any advice not having experienced any of this before. Good luck though - tomorrow will be better.

oh Egg - hang in there. will/is your DH home soon to lend a hand? you are amazing to be coping so well, we all think so.

was going to ask you hatched ladies if you knew when things were starting, like a sixth sense on the day you went into labour? maybe I am hoping for too much.

mw was fine, although am banned from sofa to try and get LO to turn properly back to my tummy... likes to hang out side on. bouncy ball and wrong way around dining chairs it is then!

cosima - at 39+ I figure all and any food is good. I've just eaten a toasted bagel smothered in nutella choc spread with mashed banana

Am so glad you posted that widget - have just eaten a large amount of nutella straight from the jar, and about to cook some pancakes....

How the to heck do you lot manage to keep up with each other, and respond so efficiently to one anothers posts....i feel so 'out of it all' its like if i miss - not even a day, more like an HOUR.. then i get lost!!!! Anyway here goes...

mmm widget, toated bagel with Nutella.. i pigged out earlier by eating a heap of pancakes, with various fillings....strawberries and cream, icecream and choc sauce and lemon and sugar...yummy!!

Egg i think you just have to persevere with you telling him that its not the done thing,he will get it in the end, hes only 23 months remember. From what i have read i think you are doing a grand job, especially with the twins in tow. Its a trying time, just try ad take each day as it comes!

Congrats to all of you who have had your babies, its just a wonderful time getting to know the little mites! Personally i hate pregnancy, but love the birth and the first few weeks. I have suffered quite badly with SPD and sciatica and am off to see the Chiropractor on Friday, hoping for a bit of relief so i can sleep before LO comes along!

Tyaca.. not sure that the exhaustion does dissapear, but you just kinda get used it. Different things seem to matter more. I said to DH the other day, i feels like an age ago that i was able to wake up and then turn over and go back to sleep, once i am awake nowadays my mind is kickstarted into what i have to do! Once i am up and about though, you kinda forget about it! Its only once i have put them to bed and have sat down that i feel knackered - like now!!!

Might even have to have another pancake!

Thanks girls . DS1 definitely knew he had been very bad and was a bit quiet etc. No tv for the rest of the day and he behaved really well and went to bed on time with no fuss (yet).

DH home now.

Widget I had no idea either time that things were going to happen until I had proper contractions. No feeling at all, although I did think think it would be sooner rather than later with the twins!

Me again - still babe-less !! Sorry - LONG!!

Went for antenatal last night where lovely midwife tried to give me a sweep but couldn't as baby's head is in way of neck of the womb! Very painful and more than a little disappointing!

At 4am my waters broke, have been continuously leaking rather than gushing so off we went to maternity unit after some brekkie and a shower.

All ok but as there were no contractions went back to be monitored at 4.30 this arvo.

Baby fine but only one contraction the time i was there so now back home desperately hoping things kick off before 8.30 tomorrow morning when i have an induction booked.

Welcome Alexander! Hope you are a good boy for Mummy.

Egg - you've got your hands full. I don't know what to say.

Sarah - fingers crossed your cold goes soon.

PK - OMG - where do i start?

Why is MIL smoking in front of you?
Why is she making you run around after her (carrying things etc). I really think that you need to tell DH what happened.

hurray for widgetsmummy, i had a turkish delight and a packet of jaffa cakes.

blondie - good luck, i will have a bounce on the birthing ball for you.

egg - is your ds1 jealous? i hope tomorrow is better for you

Evening all! You are all so lovely, thank you all for the nice things you've all said, and yes, i'm still here, still pregnant, still bored and still nothing much to report!! Nearly pmsl regarding emperor penguin comment though! I've got fatalistic about thursday, nothing i can do anyway, and there would be something kind of appropriate about it if lo was born then, even though i've already explained to my mum that we are not naming any child after my dad (he had a horrible name and it wouldn't be fair!)
First of all Congratulations to everyone!!!! Wow!! i leave the Pc alone for a 24 hour period, come back adn there are 3 babies to celebrate!!! delighted for everyone concerned, and lovely to hear about quick births!! welcome to the world, little ones!
Anyway, sounds like a mixed day for some of us, i had a crap night with sciatica, took some paracetomol at 5, up at 8 with dd and spent the morning walking about the shops (just to stop myself going mad.......) and all i managed to do was make myself really knackered! had a sleep this afternoon when dd crashed out but am still yawning so will go for hot bath / early night / 2 paracetomol and see if i can get some rest.
Egg, i feel for you! that's my worst fear, dd not understanding how gentle she will need to be with the new baby. We bought a big playpen just before Christmas ( we put the tree in it!!) and plan to let lo sleep in bouncy chair or baby gym or moses basket in the pen so that dd can run about like usual, but wouldn't stop the throwing things nightmare... hope it's been a one off and everything has settled down now. If you find a foolproof method of protecting them from big sibling attention let me know!!In the meantime i recommend strong drink(only wish i could join you)
Anyway, pk..... i am almost speechless for you!!! think you might have to lay down some ground rules about the mil... although i understand you don't want an international incident. I'd have slapped her by now though!
Anyway, away to watch Masterchef.... always makes me laugh!!! have a m/w appointment tomorrow afternoon, but not expecting her to do anything, i have a consultant appoint at hospital next wednesday so that's the earliest they'll take pity on me i imagine! Have a restful night all, and thank you all again, you are lovely! lolo x

Egg - DS1 was 23 months when DS2 was born. It sounds to me that you did exactly the right thing today and he knows he did wrong. When I look back I now think I expected an awful lot of DS1 - 23 months is still so young. I would just never leave babies alone with toddlers. It's a lot more difficult for you as you have to leave one twin unattended whilst you deal with the other.

Hopefully will hear of some new babies tomorrow!! Hope all of you overdue ladies are not getting too fed up!

Big hugs egg, it's probably 'normal' behaviour under the circumstances (new babies) but thats not much consolation. Stay strong, he has to know the boundaries.

Big hugs egg, it's probably 'normal' behaviour under the circumstances (new babies) but thats not much consolation. Stay strong, he has to know the boundaries.

oh bugger!

Jeez this thread's only 2 days old and it's over 100 posts already! Sorry haven't got time to respond to everyone as I have 4 children to get off to bed after they've finished stuffing their faces with pancakes! but I'll try...

Congrats Saskia, Lucy and MorningGlory! Sounds like you all had good births in your own way, and cam get on with getting to know your bubs

Anyone who's overdue and pissed off - chill out, they'll come when they're ready . And remember you don't have to be induced just because you've hit a certain date, whatever hospital policies are, it's always up to you.

Those of us who are overdue and NOT pissed off...my midwife told me to arrange something fun for every day this week so tomorrow is breakfast with DH in nice cafe and a haircut in the afternoon, shopping on Thursday (the poncey shops in Clifton all seem to have good sales on at the moment), and not sure what on Friday but will be my last day of no children for quite some time so I'll think of something! Am also glad that I told everyone I thought the baby would be late anyway, so now I counter all the "oh dear poor you being overdue" comments with "no really I don't want it to come till the end of the week anyway"! I'm not too tired or uncomfortable most of the time so can certainly wait a few more days...if it's not turned up towards the end of half term I'll probably be getting a bit pissed off though! Getting to 42 weeks would be a first for me though so hopefully won't happen.

PK - your MIL is clearly insane, stop trying to accommodate her, or it will just get worse over the years.

Egg - trying to remember back to when I had a 23 month gap between DS1&2 but not sure what we did about jealousy...could you not put the baby you're not feeding at the time in a sling on your back to keep them out of the way? Lots of pouch slings can just be shifted round to the back. Other than that, he is old enough to understand that the babies can get hurt so deal with it the same as any other naughty behaviour and hopefully he'll learn soon, it's when they hurt the baby by being kind to them (e.g. picking up for cuddles or putting teddies on their face!) and you can't tell them off that it's trickier...

Beansprout - glad the feeding is going well and DS1 isn't demanding to tandem constantly - I think I will have a definite cutoff and not let DD feed again once 'the baby's milk' comes, but then she is older than yours and doesn't feel herself to be a baby at all so I don't think there will be any problems there.

People with building works happening....god I feel for you, I've put ours on hold until the baby's here as I can't bear the thought of having to ask the decorator/plumber to leave because I need to give birth now! Annoying to not be able to get on with stuff though, we have one room completely out of action which will only take a few days to get decorated/carpeted but it's just got to wait.

Omy - ROFL at you accepting loads of stuff to borrow which you don't need, someone lent me something quite large which I then decided I didn't want but am too embarrassed to return yet so will have to store for a few months and pretend I used I think!

Widget - my MIL doesn't really give a toss about the baby, she told DH that she'd tried to phone me but clearly doesn't realise that if she had there would be a record of it on my phone...not that I want her input anyway but I resent her gossiping about my pregnancy without intending to be any use at all...still planning not to tell her when it's born so that she can't go round announcing it to people and pretend that she's involved in our lives at all.

Tyaca - sure I already told you my top tip for not being exhausted with a small baby - breastfeed and cosleep. When I see those polls that say 'average sleep for new mothers is 3 hours a night' or something I just can't get my head round it, no way could I survive on that little sleep. Yes you become more aware and wake up more easily if your kids are sick or whatever, but I've managed to keep up a good sleep average over the last 13 years of parenting, I just do whatever makes it easiest for myself i.e. not fretting about trying to get babies to sleep in cots etc, having them sleep on me in the evenings instead of getting up and down a million times trying to settle them etc. Well that's worked for me...

Right, it's taken ages to get this written so will post before it disappears, at least the younger ones are in bed now (thanks DH!) and we now need to get the water in the birth pool changed, it's a bit murky now and I'm not sure I'd want to get in if I went into labour tonight!

40+3 tomorrow...

everyone - yuck to pancakes!!! hate the things! all those that like them are more than welcome to them but don't cook them within sniffing distance of me! This isn't even a pregnancy aversion, I've never ever liked them! wierd aren't I!

cosima - your mars bars and tea weren't far off my diet yesterday only real variance being that I had snickers not mars!

sarah - get well soon

joosey - I hope things get moving soon!

ty - I'm exhausted too but as you can see by the time stamp, my sleep is a tad irratic!

egg - sorry you had a really really pooh day.

blondie - ooh good luck! I'm thinking of you

love - you ask why she's smoking in front of me now... I told her that there will be absolutely no smoking permitted in my house when the baby arrives. her response "I'll have to smoke in the bathroom then" my response "NO. I don't care how old you are or how cold it is, if you choose to smoke you will be doing it out side. If you care as much for your grandchild as you claim to you will not try to kill it by smoking in my bathroom will you!" She looked offended and hurt but it's tough really!
Mom and I have figured out the carrying thing... the psychopath was trying to get me to go into labour so that it would happen when she was here and she wouldn't miss anything.
DP got told everything tonight. The baby hasn't moved as much as usual today and I got more worried when I got into bed as this is usually the time when she really goes for it and wriggles around like nobodys buisiness and all she did was sort of shift position a bit and that was it. I started to literaly feel sick with worry and DP asked ifI'd been worrying like this all day. Well, the flood gates opened! I told him I'd been wound up for days and it was all because of her and I didn't answer the phone to her today and she called the house 7 times and my mobile once (DP picked up the last call and told her that I'd been trying to sleep all day because I've been having trouble sleeping at night and when she called every 45 minutes she was waking me up) She got all sheepish and told him that she was only worried to which he replied "I've told you before mom, if something happens I will let you know. If you hear nothing everything is fine and she's not in labour"
Anyway, I ended up telling him everything, including her insults about my family. He now feels really shit that he's not here to answer the phone to her every time but we've come up with a plan that keeps everyone sweet. I have to call her as soon as I wake up and tell her I'm fine, I'm not in labour and I've had another crap nights sleep and then she'll have no reason to call and I don't have to stress all day about it!

lolo - sorry you've been suffering. I hope the solution comes soon

Slacker - like the idea of making the tail end of pregnancy more fun, might give that a go myself. Although it'll have to be free things so... lots of walks in the park?
I agree, I think MIL is a complete nut job but DP assures me that she is just excited as she's been waiting for a grandchild for at least 34 years (when DPs sister was 16 - same age MIL fell pregnant for the first time) and had thought she was never going to get one. This combined with boredom (she's retired and has no hobbies and no intelligence), Trying not to notice that her husband has parkinsons and trying to forget about the impending loss of her home has meant that Me and my pregnancy have been getting extra attention.
DP swears to me that she will calm down when the baby is here and become a human being again and if she doesn't he will set her straight as in she either backs off or she doesn't get to see her grandchild. DP just begs me to be indulgent of her for just that little bit longer

Oh by the way, I don't want any of you to worry. Once I'd had a good cry and a cuddle off DP the baby started wriggling properly again. I think my mood and how tense I was was affecting her too!

Slacker - thanks so much for the advice about doing something nice each day! - and reminding me that this is possibly my last week of freedom for a very long time! (Other
DDs are 10 and 16!) I was so sure it would be born by now that I have gone into twiddling my thumbs mode. But I did buy some more tapestry thread yesterday so I can finish the one I started 11 years ago with my last pregnancy!

I am so impressed at your relaxed attitude to parenting nearly 5 children! .

Lolo - how horrid to have sciatica - you need a preggie massage!

Blondie - good luck with the induction today - or perhaps you won't need it by now!

Pk - glad you and DP have sorted out a plan re nightmare MIL. I have borrowed loads of Marylyn Monroe and Fred & Ginger Movies from a friend to watch (free entertainment!)

I have an appt at Queen Charlottes today and I am dreading it. I have been having visions of causing a big fuss (very unEnglish, but out comes the Australian in me!) in the waiting room and ACTUALLY complaining about the 'care' I have received there. I don't think it is acceptable to be treated like a number during pregnancy however busy and overstretched they are - At no time in this pregnancy have I felt that there was anyone I could ring with a question or worry. I have had a different midwife (2 of whom have been horrid and dismissive) or different GP each appt. I have coped OK since this is my 3rd pregnancy but it is really crap situation. I was so lucky to have a one-to-one midwife with DD2 and I went to the same place and saw one of 3 caring midwives at St Mary's with DD1.

SO I plan use my 1 1/2 hour waiting time today usefully by giving out a questionnaire to all the fed up people waiting for their appts. Questions will be along the lines of 'If you were worried about something is there anyone at QC you feel you could ring and ask for advice?' and 'have you been made to feel valued and cared for by the staff at QC?' etc... 'Has anyone greeted you with a smile and asked how you were?!!!! EVER?'

God what a moaner I am!

omy - I don't call that moaning! I think you have a justified complaint so justified infact that I think you should contact the head of midwifrey or chief executive for your hospital and make a formal complaint.
I complained to the head of midwifrey about my midwife last week. I don't know how much my complaint will benefit me as I don't have long left but at least women being seen by her in the future may get a better deal!

Thanks for the advice PK - I will try and catch the names of the previous grumpy ones today - I was too upset last time to do anything - in fact I was speechless (very unlike me) with shock that anyone could be so rude to a 37 wk pregnant woman who has waited so long and was so looking forward to one of the rare hospital appointments. I know we are over emotional during pregnancy but surely that's the point? My DH says they need to reassign people like her to deal with the drunks in A&E!!

My DH also has a much better idea for dealing with the long wait - take an ipod and my tapestry and my bouncy ball and find a corner to zone out in!

omy - I think your DH's idea would work well on my midwife too! her looks are sobering enough! I always take my knitting - I'm not knitting anything in particular. I suppose it's a blanket it's a big rectangle made up of rainbow stripes and I don't know when it's ever going to end but it has kept me company in many a waiting room!!