Due March 2008-New thread so we don't miss anything! Bring on the babies!

[turtle23]

Present for Merryberry

Hello all

Just to let all the March mums and mums to be know - Arielle Dinah born 6am Thursday 6th March!

Exqisitely painful back to back labouring till 5cm dilated (12 hours), then epidural. If I wasn't already married, I'd have proposed to the anaesthetist there and then. Dr Finn at the Whittington - I love you! After that, no pain, a couple hours of sleep, then woken up to be told to push as baby's heart rate was going down with each contraction. 20 mins of pushing and she was out. 6lbs 14 oz of joy.

Since then home, jaundice, back to hospital over weekend under uv lights, she cracked the breastfeeding thing like pro once jaundice sorted, home again and adjusting to life as parents.

She's sleeping in my arms snuffling away while I'm typing this. Just hoping she'll get the hang of sleeping during the night as well as during the day sometime. She's the most beautiful creature I've ever seen.

Congratulations Merry on your big boy - at last!!!!

Congratulations too M27 - what a beautiful name, and up to Merry - what a dainty size!

Let this be the start to all the overdue/due births in March! Waiting for MW to turn up to check my BP - hoping it's gone down rather than up further!

Wow, congrats Merryberry, what a whopper! I'm very impressed. M27 - congrats to you too, I hear back labours are hell on earth so well done you!

Oooooh yay all the babies are coming now! I go in for induction at 1pm tomorrow providing they have space on the ward so hopefully should have her by the weekend Going to Chez Gerard for dinner followed by a comedy club tonight so looking forward to my last baby free meal out!

Whaou!!!! Congratulation Merry Berry you are truly amazing and what an inspiration. All the best with the recovery.

omg congratulations MERRYBERRY and wow what a size, so pleased you got your home birth, sounds like you did amazingly, well done and more congrats xxxxxxxx

congrats to m27, owch at the back labour, not nice at all, glad to hear the feeding is going well

well i am still here 12days overdue, have had a bit of a show but not much in the way of contractions the plan is still to go to hospital on fri, have ctg, a scan etc and chat over options, i know i can go over 14day but tbh i am not sure if i have the patience, esp when i have the other three to look after.....

3madboys - I know how you feel and I don't even have any other children! I am just sick of being pregnant, the worry that something might go wrong etc. Friday seems to be a busy day all round as I think quite a few of us have hosp appointments for induction.

Trust your instincts. Lots of people say induction is easier for subsequent babies so you may only need some gel to kick you off. Good luck whatever you decide to do!

i wont be having the gel missingmyheels as i am allergic to it. they will break my waters to get me going which is what they did with ds2 and ds3, it worked both times, but i really wanted a home birth and obviously if they break my waters and i dont go into labour then i will need syntocin and there is the risk of cord prolapse, intervention, c section etc... i am trying to stay positive and remind myself that i worked fine previously and i am already 2cm dilated and 'very favourable' but i cant help but worry

congratulations merry and m27 cant believe how big he was merry and heres me worrying incase this one breaks the 8lb barrier im a wimp

been to mws and baby is now 4/5s engaged, been crampy and having lots of bhs but still not due for a week or 2 so just things gearing up. not seeing them now till im 40+2 so hopefully will have had baby by then (wishful thinking and all that)

good luck everyone whos got inductions coming up, hopefully this is the start of lots of babies

congratulations MB, fabulous news and what a fantastic size - well done you....
and M27 - congratulations to you too....
such happy news - brilliant.

Have just had second sweep, booked in for induction on saturday but have every intention of things kicking off before that...have tried explaining to the baby that better for both of us if it happens naturally but not sure its listening - according to scans and monitors its quite happy.

Good luck to all still waiting and those approaching due dates. If I can offer any advice to anyone due later in the month - assume your date to be wrong...it makes a lot of difference if you don't hold on to the due date as any sort of d day I think. it's made my waiting a lot easier than some.

HQ - so sorry to read of your news - gutting. I hope you both find the strength at this time and I am quite sure she'll be keeping a very close eye on you when she has passed away - in fact your baby and her will always have a special 'circle of life' bond even though they may never meet...won't help now but I do hope you will be ok.
take care of yourself.

Wow Merry! Congratulations on the birth of your toddler baby . Hope you are recovering well. You are inspirational! I no longer have worries about the size of my LO .

Congratulations to m27 on your little girl. Glad you are doing well and her jaunice is better.

3madboys hang on in there! Hope all goes well for you too.

congratulations merryberry wow that is impressive

Oh forgot to say preggers thanks for the update on your dd. I'm glad she is recovering ok now and sending you all {{hugs}}

Well, MW gave me a sweep today. Head is down and engaged but still only about 2/5. Said cervix is in good anterior position, still a bit long, but softening and she could open it to about 1cm. Said breaking waters (should we get that far) should be easy.

Am now booked for induction at 41+6 which is a week today. Sounds like I can ask for an exam and another sweep at that stage if I don't want to be induced. I'm sure I will be advised to go ahead, but good to know I have options. Gah, here's hoping I don't get that far!

Now it's just a waiting game.

Good luck to all with inductions, etc. Sweep wasn't bad, BTW, just like a smear test.

And congrats to M27!

hi all, feeling every bit of frustration for those waiting for appointments and inductions. I am now 16 days over (12 by hospital dates)am due to go for induction tomorrow...hoping and praying that all i might need is some gel to get me going...feeling really teary, sorry for myself and pissed off. Mad and angry that my body wont do as its supposed to and quite deflated that after all these weeks of waiting for it to 'kick' off, that i wont experience spontaneous labor....i am a bundle of laughs huh!

3madboys, you sound positive in your outlook, so am going to try and take some inspiration from you, hope it all goes well for you!

Missingmyheels - very good luck for your induction tomorrow, enjoy your night out tonight! Maybe have a glass of wine!

M27 congratulation on your new baby girl...bummer about the back to back laboring. I think thats how this LO is lying, i have chronic back ache all the time, wondered if this has contributed to me not progressing any...does back to back , always result in an epidural? does anyone know??

Thanks caz for your thoughts, this little bugger is a stubborn one!

right off to prepare for tomorrow, will post later xx

merry- i think i might need to lie down! 11 lb 11 ozs, seriously that must be skipping newborn and 0-3 clothes?

m27- congrats, beautiful name

oh jaysthird, it sucks doesnt it, this will be the 4th time i have had to be induced, i waited till i was 17days over with ds3 and still ended up going in and getting my waters broken, it did work tho and i had a quick three hour labour.

if baby is back to back it may be a factor in why you are taking longer to go into labour, try spending lots of time on all fours etc that will help little on turn around.

and back to back doesnt always mean an epidural, ds2 was back to back, i had a 7hour labour, i spent lots of time on my knees and all fours, mainly in the bath with copious amounts of gas and air, but he turned just before he was born in the end, i have to say, feeling him turn when in labour was NOT NICE, but he did then come out ok

good luck for tomorrow jay, and i really think being positive will help, i am trying to imagine baby pressing on my cervix and it opening nicely etc, very sad i know but hey it cant hurt

Hi jaysthird it depends on lots of things with back to back. In itself it isn't a problem, only if the head is deflexed i.e. neck streched and arched back as this presents the widest part of the skull first. Also if you have a large baby anyway this makes the position worse.

Try not to slouch on the settee at all (difficult I know)
Try the inversion technique if the baby has engaged OP to get it out of the pelvic rim so he/she can turn.

Sleep on your side, not on your back.
Spend lots of time on all fours, scrubbing floors is good.

Mine engaged back to back a few weeks ago but when I went for the scan last friday it had got into the correct position doing the above. HTH x

congrats M27 and MB.
The size of George has scared me a little I have to say!
I am due today and surprise surprise nothing has happened. So have been on a long walk with my dad...
Booked for a sweep tomorrow pm...

congrats to MB & M27! What a whopper MB....

Had to spend all night at the hospital. Complete hell. Well, no, complete hell would have been the life of the other 2 girls on the ward with me, one speaking no english who freaked out at a VE and was screaming away, the other had been in since Friday for induction.
So didn't get anywhere near trying to sleep until 2am due to baby monitoring in next cubicle at full volume, overhead lights on, then woke up crampy at 5 and couldn't get back to sleep.
Got overlooked by consultants due to confusion over who should see me, so wasn't followed up on until 2ish when i burst into tears on a midwife and said i wanted to go home. Bless her, she was lovely and gave me a comforting hug...and finally seen by jr consultant, who couldn't make a decision on letting me go home, so had to wait another hour for senior consultant.
Overall agreement is that BP isn't partic high if it's around 90, but the 110 was more worrying. Have agreed that i get a bp check at home tomorrow, then back to assessment unit for ctg on friday, and if nothing happening before then, get admitted sat evening to start induction on sunday.

However, managed to get a sweep today at 4th attempt, am 2cms but still posterior (ooer) and feck did it hurt, wasn't expecting it!

Am now confused as they said to expect cramping tonight, but don't know if i'm supposed to be able to distinguish between that and contractions. Presumably the contractions won't go away with paracetemol They think the baby looks a good size...am now concerned following MB's size revelation! However, also got told i had a good sized pelvis. Have known that for many years

Hoping for action tonight as it's DH's birthday tomorrow, he's happy to share with LO though don't think LO will be so happy in future

and HQ sorry about your news, she may yet hold on, but if not, she'll be there in spirit when the baby does arrive.

MB CONGRATULATIONS!! Can't wait to hear more about homebirth/big baby/shoulder dystocia if/when you have any time - I'm having huge battle with consultant to be allowed to try hb because dd1 was 9lb7 and had shoulder dystocia and this baby is already around 8lb at 38 wks!

ok, if these are mild cramps, i'm pushing the baby back in....

congratulations merryberry and m27 and welcome George and Arielle

sorry to hear about your DH's Granny HQ and hope she holds on to meet your LO. e14 is right though, they'll always be joined in your memories no matter how things go.

JFly we're induction-date buddies. I go in next Wednesday if no movement by then. I have so far not managed to be swept as my cervix is too far back or something.

Merryberry - just wanted to pop in and say congratulations, it has been a long hard journey, but well done, I am truly impressed! Hope you get some rest now and enjoy your new son.

AH, skidoodle. I was wondering about you, as I had a glance at the dates thread. People keep saying how much things can change in a few days, so I'm holding out hope. Don't feel any different today after my sweep. I thought how nice it'd be if that did the trick and I went into labour! No such luck....

Hope your cervix gets into position!