Due July 08- The "Oh my goodness we're really actually properly pregnant" thread

[Minkus]

Thread title reflects the fact that every day that passes it dawns on me a bit more

best way to have your evening banana is in a split. my dp made me one the other night and it was soooo good. he's american, so thinks he is an authority on these things but anyway he split the banana with light chocolate, caramel and banana icecream scoops, freshly whipped cream, freshly toasted nuts and a maraschino cherry. divine and also working to prevent those cramps

aww Tjuice will you stop it that sounds divine and much nicer than just eating a banana

TJ - yum!

Hi guys, hope all is well. It's been a bit crazy and feeling a bit low/crappy the past few days so have kept my head down but wanted to say hi

x

Hmmm YUMMY TJUICE - we are all salivating now Does he do good waffles and maple syrup too - if so send him over here!

DISNEY - I take it your DH is fine now then if he is back at work - the meds are keeping him right? If I lived near you I would come over and do a reflex for you I'll send you calming vibes in the meantime though

SWEETKITTY - why black - there are so many nice colours?

I HATED hospital when in with DD. It was a brand new hospital - lovely and clean and shiny but so busy and they had wired up the buttons incorrectly (couldn't afford to redo them) so every time someone pressed the MW button the alram went off instead - arggg! No sleep, no peace, the food was unbelievably atrocious - no fruit or salad and everything was mega salty! I never got a tour and only discovered the day I was leaving that there was a wee sitting room you could go to to sit and chill and make toasta dn tea for yourself .

Am dreading this hospital it is going to be mobbed and roasting in July arggg!

No tearing would be good - I did the old perineal massage with calendula oil last time but still tore - don't know how badly as I had to go to theatre anyway so they just stitched me up in there.

What is it like delivering the placenta? Do the contractions feel the same and how long does it usually take?

Hope everyone is well - I am increasingly tired too - but that could be DD teething and colds - it is a never ending cycle of snot and teeth at this age!

God I am a right misrable old bag arent't I? On a brighter note the sun is shining more now and the plants are flowering and the trees are budding - yippee!

Rumpel - I know black is boring quite like the sand though and still think the pink camo one rocks but don't want the town to see me coming!

When I was in hospital having DD1 it was July central London and although the hospital was less than 5 years old it had no air con so we had fans blowing hot air at us. I was in a ward and everyone kept their curtains drawn constantly. As you said it was SO noisy no way you could sleep, had everyone and their dog popping their head around the curtains wanting to sell me photos the day she was born , the food was like bad school dinners think packet mash and macaroni, I made DP go to M&S and bring me back goodies. The toilets were unclean and the whole experience made me cry. I had DD1 at 3 on the Tuesday morning, got out the Wednesday about 5pm, had to go back in Thursday morning as she was jaundiced, got back out Friday at 6pm. Was a total nightmare.

With DD2 I was lucky enough to have a homebirth, born 4am, DD1 came in to see us at 6.30am, I got an hours sleep (too excited) and put a washing on at 10am I felt great after she was born, all that weight and pressure gone. I was out shopping the next morning. After the horrendous experience with DD1 I felt so lucky.

Anyway placenta, with DD1 I had the syntometrine injection and after that they have an hour to get it out or your uterus clamps down and you need to go to surgery. After the birth they tried everything to get it out including a funny moment of me standing by the bed dripping over a bedpan with the cord and scissors hanging from me to see if gravity would do it, it didn't and I was at 55 mins when they said they would give it one last tug and then call theatre for a spinal and out it came. Oh and after all that I spent an hour getting stitched up.

DD2 didn't have anything but DD2 was already feeding before cord was cut, I delivered it after about 10 minutes few pushes and a couple of whiffs on the G&A, after the baby it was no big deal and by that time you are too relieved to have the baby out to care. It felt like a big clot really, the baby is hard but this is soft and liek a big plate of jelly.

Sorry I am going on now I am a chatterbox though.

They have got some sand ones on ebay - unless you want brand new?

I love bright colours me

That syntometrine jag is hideous - no way am I having that again. I would like a home birth but I am too scared after last time! Did they give you anything for the pain when stitching you up? The umbilicol cord snapped with me so they had to top up my epideural to manually remove it - I couldn't feel anything for hours and it was a horrible sensation when the feeling came back - pins and needles all down my legs.

I really must go now and do things before Dh gets home with DD!!!!And besides my bum is numb

I told them specifically no syntometrin and I wanted the cord to stop pulsing before it was cut too. The MWs had about 40 years experience between them but I was their first homebirth they weren't used to not giving the injection and I remember it was me saying "it will come give it time"

When I had the stitched in hospital I was given an injection of something that was supposed to numb the area but it didn't, I was out of it on G&A and TBH it was quite traumatic and quite painful. Every time I was examined it was agony I think I was very bruised downstairs, but it healed fine although feels a bit different than it was. DD1 was a compound presentation, hand by her face and thats what did the damage.

DD2 was 3lbs heavier and I never had anything, felt a bit tender afterwards for about a day.

I am still incomplete denial I am going to go through labour again though.

Lol SK about being in denial about another labour

re: injections/stitching, I had syntometrin before and didn't even notice the placenta being delivered. No pain, very straight forward for me. I only had two stitches to a small tear with ds but the 2 injections they gave me to numb the area (one either side, where your legs join the fanjo bit) were the worst bit of labour for me! Felt quite deep and really achey and sting-ey at the same time. [Shudder]

Aaah poor Rumpel you're not miserable just pregnant! Go with the hormones

And TJuice please STOP WITH THE FOOD PORN!!!! Last time I was rendered a dribbling shell of a woman by your descriptions of caribbean hamburgers, Nigella's pineapple upside down cake, and naughty fruit salad with oreos and now you do it again with banana split . Now I'm gonna have to go to Morrisons to get the ingredients! And it's raining! So if I get wet it's your fault

Hey everyone else hope Wednesday is going well xxx

Hi, just thought I'd add my twopenceworth on the syntromycin injection and delivery of placenta.
I had the injection and to be honest with you the placenta was delivered within a couple of minutes after DS made his arrival. I don't remember any contractions, the MW just pulled and it came out without me feeling anything! Mind you I was out on gas and air throughout my labour (bloody wonderful stuff, Boots should bottle it and sell it imho. I did have a third degree tear where DS was in a rush to get out (and me not listening to the MW when she said stop puching and pant and I thought sod it and just pushed and he shot out - with cord wrapped around his neck) and MW calmly says, not let me check if you tore and DH said to her, 'didn't you bloody well hear her!!!!' LOL.
I then had my feet placed in the stirrups and they gave me a couple of injections down there to numb the area and to be honest I found the whole stitching process far worse than the labour itself - sorry first timers. It felt most peculiar down there when they pulled the tampon out after stitching, but I think the anaesthetic was wearing off by then. I also continued on the gas and air whilst they were stitching.
10 minutes later I was off to the bathroom for a shower. I was shocked though that although the nurse took me there, she left me to get on with it and to come back to my delivery room on my own. Left DH in the room looking after DS. Mind you, when I got back to the room I was bought a cup of tea and some toast which was much appreciated.

libralady - I felt the same when they took the tampon thing out as well and that the stitching was worse than the labour in some parts. Wanted to even things out with DD2's birth so first timers don't fall over. At one point I had 5 MWs around my stirruped legs wondering how to put me back together again in the end they got the doc in but I'm sure they never gave me enough of the numbing stuff.

Seriously you won't be giving a toss about the placenta a cabbage could have come out followed by a string quartet and you are so in awe of the beautiful baby and marvelling at the amazing woman you are that you don't notice the placenta!

One of my best memories was that I was half out of it on the wonderful G&A and concentrating really hard on DP who was cradling DD1 and the look of sheer awe on his face was amazing, I'm welling up thinking about it now. Poor DD2 I think all we did with her was comment on her size!

Honestly first timers it IS the best moments of your lives.

for all the scottish mums anyone want to meet up at the babyshow

baby show

hello all!

Trying to get more active before spd kicks in
Did LOADS of house work which in my book is 1.5 hours non stop then went out and ate cake and coffee with dp and then did another hour solid gardening

DO feel better if a little achy

I do agree with you all re food. i am sadly OBSESSED with it and all the wrong stuff - weight gain is not good at the moment and i have been worrying but still the compulsion to eat Cr@p overrides all this

really want to go ahead and buy the pa nd t in sand - feel if i wait i will not be able to get it and sand is discontinued...

have the sand bugaboo (Sweetkitty this may interest you!) - bought it originally in black but felt all gloomy in summer and so bought the sand covers - have loved themm and they do not show grubbiness anything like as badly as the black

Where does anyone recommend I buy P & T ( slight panic emotion here as i was about to link to a decent value one in sand and when i looked it is out of stock!!!)

still feel queazy on and off all day - only mild but not nice at 27 weeks you do not expect it

Gosh what a self- obsessed post. will read the rest of the thread now

well. its sounds . . . terrifying.

was just reading in my "what to expect" book about perineal massage and thinking that getting my dp to lube me up with ky jelly and stretch that area sounds so . . . urgh.

but when i think about it - all the bits and pieces of my body that have been about sex since i was 16 will now be about something completely different . . .fanjo through which baby comes, boobs now about nourishment, not allure.

tell me honestly - aside from the inevitable tiredness which means you're probably not up for it anyway, how do you feel about your body and having sex after childbirth? when do you feel sexy again? and honestly - does your fanjo ever go back to the same size? how long does it stay 'baggy'?

sorry for such graphic and straightforward questions - but honestly - the books kind of fudge around the issue and so do my RL mum friends, so why not ask into cyberspace?

lol Tjuice

I always try to get back to having sex quite quickly ( two weeks max) after delivery - i tend to spend the whole time going ' can you feel anything' 'is it awful' and gripping as hard as i can!

The boobs thing are a bit of an issue as dp does not realy like breastmilk so it is kind of off putting

Re fanjo going back to normal - yes it does - not sure how long it takes but within a couple of months you should feel the same as ever down there

certainly by the time periods come back i am using a normal tampon with no thought that anything has come 'out' in recent months!

For me the body is an issue - i do not like having a belly and huge tree trunk thighs and whilst it all feels quite sexy in pg - afterwards i find it a bit depressing.

Again that does go - there is life after childbirth Tjuice!

thanks for that! - and sorry if its a bit too personal.

its not like I imagine being a mum means being non-sexual or anything but i just suddenly realised what a dramatic change of function your body goes through - know what i mean? its been my own to use and abuse for 32 years and now things are really different.

Hope everyone is well.

Im def enjoying the sunshine feeling so much brighter and chirpier.

Being a deputy nursery Manager I am in constant contact with the kids coughs and colds but today one little girl showed signs of possibly having Slap cheek, so rang mum to take her to the doctors. waiting to hear if she has this or not as it can be dangerous to pregnant women.
From what i have read it mainly dangerous up to 20 weeks and can result in miscarriage. Im now almost 27 weeks so fingers crossed if i was to catch it would be ok but still alittle bit of worry as can still cause stillbirth or birth defects in rare cases.
Luckily i have the next two days off work so can avoid contact for a while anyway. -Yeah lay in tomorrow!

Right I've had my banana and now I'm off to bed! Here's hoping for a good night's sleep.

is he Vicky Pollards fraternal twin?

whoops wrong thread that was supposed to be the apprentice!

TJuice, I have to say it took months for me to go back to having sex after DD1. I had an em cs with her, and it took me quite a while to get over that (I had quite a lot of ishoos about it!). Then we had a bit of a communication issue, in that my DH admitted later that he would have liked to 'restart' earlier but that I was quite wrapped up in the baby, very tired and he wasn't sure how to approach it. I was concerned that he didn't fancy me anymore and didn't say anything either - you wouldn't think we'd been together for over 8 years would you!! Anyway, obv we did get back to it and we did get back to sex much quicker after dd2 was born and she was a VBAC. I did ask dh about how things felt down there, and he said there was a difference but it was not that it was (TMI alert) looser, but actually a slightly different shape.
As regards how I feel about my body, OK it's not what it used to be but I've had 2 beautiful babies and I'm quite possibly more relaxed about how I look now than before.
DH didn't like the breastmilk either mind you.

Tjuice - I don't feel any different about my post baby body TBH. After DD1 we has sex once to get it over and done with then didn't have it for about 3 months. I did feel a bit different as things definitely changed down there how can I put this I have bits I didn't have before but according to DP it all feels the same as it did preDC. He's not a boobs man anyway and boobs are off limits whilst milk is coming out them. I actually lost 1 1/2 stone since having DC and got down to a size 8 so actually felt a bit better about my shape.

Right am shattered off for a swig of Gaviscon and off to bed.

Hello everyone had a bit of a couple of days tired and really hacked off.

Had stomach pains early hours Tues morning assumed it was just wind from IBS because that is what it felt like tried everything inc a bath at 4am nothing helped could still feel little on moving so was pretty sure they were ok. Had an appointment with GP in morning anyway and he was lovely had a prod took a we sample and sent it off although nothing in it when tested Found the little horrors heart beat first time so I am very impressed no one else has. Said to ring him or hospital if got I decided to toddle off for a short walk and ended up at the zoo thinking if it was wind walking would shift it.

Home early evening still feeling sore so went to bed woke up no better and decided to ring hospital who obviously wanted me to go in and my lovely neighbour took me in. Doc thinks on of my fibroids has over grown and is dying and that is what hurts it will pain will stop in a few days but until then it's just pop pills. CDS were lovely but busy the ward they took me to after 1am was crap. She told me initially that I was not written up for PRN analgesia as well as regular stuff when I asked for it she then informed me it was opiate based and did I really want it well so is bloody codeine and yes I want it I am in pain and the obstetric doc has prescribed it.

And from then on it went down hill never slept other than a doze from 4am to 5.50 when some idiots alarm went off so I gave up and went and had a shower. Must have missed to doc by seconds when I was actually eating breakfast no one tried to look for me or tell me they had bloody been. They wanted bloods and a urine sample which I I had given them the evening before and my GP had sent one off already then I sat around waiting thinking I was waiting for a doc, asked about this at 11 but my midwife was off having a break and would come and see me when she got back well she did not. Had lunch and asked again pointed out I had left phone at home in rush to get there, was not expecting to stay in had no clean clothes, no one actually knew I had been admitted.

They eventually came to tell me the docs had been but did not bother to talk to me !!! And considering I was in there for observation no one had been to ask if the analgesia was actually bloody working or done any obs or anything since I was in CDS no one actually came to check I had eaten or was ok. No one even noticed I had been crying or was getting up set.

Anyway as I have ranted on a bit a lot less money in my purse (phone ate it and did not even get through) tears and threatening to leave unless the doctor came to see me they eventually turned up at 4.30 did not finish writing up my meds until the pharmacy had closed so no meds to take home and midwife tried to make me stay another night no bloody way I need some sleep and the bloody cat needed some food. Yet again they seem to fail to realise no one actually knows I am here and I have no way of contacting anyone (they would not let me use there bloody phone even to ring my community midwife to ask her to pass on a message to my neighbour who could have a fed the cat and b got my phone brought in so I could at least feel in contact with the world. She did not want me to get the bus home (had £1 in my purse). Free bus finished by the time I escaped so I ended up walking the half mile into town to get some money out (she would love that) stupid thing is the girl opposite was in a similar position although she did have her mobile and her family knew she was in and they sent her home in a Taxi because she lived in Weston not me cos I lived in Bristol.

Had a sleep but now I am awake an just over tired. Never ever are they going to get me on that bloody ward again.

Sorry that's a little long tomorrow is another day

Kaz what an absolute horror. Glad you are back home now where you belong. Take care of yourself.

As for sex, I think it took us a good couple of months to do the deed after DS was born. I was quite sore down there as I'd had three layers of stitches and was absolutely paranoid of getting pregnant again (I absolutely hated pregnancy last time due to all the problems I'd had and swore I would never do it again). In addition I was knackered and probably too occupied by DS. My DH is an absolute sweety though and very very patient. I must admit I can't remember the last time we had sex since I got pregnant! We always have time for kisses and cuddles though. DH has mentioned it, and the timing has never been good for me, so he just says 'fair enough, I shouldn't be so mad for it! I'm insatiable I know!' Bless him. Don't know what I would do without him. I love him to bits

Oh by the way, the banana didn't work last night. I still ended up with cramp, but just the once. In my foot in one foot and shin of the other leg at the same time. Just used the opportunity to stretch and flex when I got up for my usual trek to the toilet.