Due May 2008 - the floodgates have opened!!!

[thefortbuilder]

Pleased to be able to start the new thread with our birth announcement!

Samuel arrived at 1923 on thursday 20th March, weighing in at 4lb 10oz! After a fraught day of trying to find a hospital with a NNU with a cot (our hospital NNU was closed just as we were about to go to theatre), we finally ended up at Epsom General!

Sam is still in NNU but should be coming off his last little bit of oxygen this evening, is off CPAP, and having a go at bf'ing whenever he can (he's being fed by a tube).

I'm home and feeling a whole lot better than I did last time around, although very sore - TAKE THE PAINKILLERS THEY OFFER!!!!!

Jacob not sure about the new arrival although is smitten with his new scooter

will catch up with posts later but thanks for all your thoughts, prayers and good wishes over the last few days

xxx

gcg- i agree that a student MW will probably spend more time with me than the others on a busy ward, therefore the note that they are welcome, but would like any complications or serious bits dealt with by qualified MW.

well lets see what's going to happen when the time comes, i am quiet happy with the treatment i got from my selected hospital so far and not really worried about the care they will give me.

and the birth plan is just a guide line isn't it, so therefore some bits will probably not beeing considered anyway depending on the situation.

got 7 weeks to go, but after all these birth announcements, seeing a light at the end of the tunnel.

pina- lol...would be weird/funny/not funny that especially you(one of the biggest chatters on this thread) left till the end
just remember: baby will come out, when baby is ready to come out.
my DD was a weeks overdue last time and i was counting down from about 25weeks onwards
it is just a matter of weeks now and most babies are not born on their due dates anyway. (pretty sure my baby won't)

azaduhi agree about complicated bits being dealt with by qualified MW!!

Well, just packed hospital bag, about 90% anyway. Now I'm wondering things like 'will 4 pairs of knickers be enough?? Will 10 nappies be enough for hopefully less than 24 hrs once baby born?? Will I manage not to eat the wine gums before I actually go into labour??"

Thank you all for you good wishes. Nico is thriving and a very good little baby. I woudl say to any first timers, don't be scared. Mine was a real emergency dash to the hospital and all really intense and fast and we needed the ventouse and so on but it really was an amazing experience and I would do it again in a flash. So don't be scared, it's the best day of your life.
But be prepared! I didn't even have my hospital bag packed! Was shouting instructions throught the contractions for DH to pack bag!
Hope you all feel well and pregnancies are going well. Who do we think will be next?

Have uploaded a photo onto my profile page.
I think podglet quite a good bet to be next! looking forward to hearing of more new arrivals.

15th of april is still a long time and i am sure we will still have some surprise premmies before that.

Moring all

Macaco SOOOOO cute wow its lucky im preggers or i would be feeling supper broody!!!

Pinacolada82 Don't worry about being last on this thread im not even due till 24th and was 10 days late with DD so am thinking a June baby for me I just hope you will all pop back in so i have someone to talk to in that horrible long wait of overduenesss!!

I do hope that Chuffed is OK its weird that she hasn't even pop in to say she has had the babies but then again with triplets all in SCBU she probably got her hand well and truly full !!!

I'm of to town today to take back some shoes i bought DD and then am just going to chill all day!
Oh i wanted to ask has anyone else been getting really bad drawing pain (like after you give birth and then try and stand up and walk around) in the fanjo because i have been getting really badly (but not as bad as after a baby) and i sometimes have to stop walking and sit down! ive also been getting bad pain in my pubic bone (i think its called that) has anyone else been getting this??????

sweetbean-- i have the same pain and was wondering how to name that area but pubic bone sounds right to me.

i have it whenever i lie/sit down for long and then trying to get up and walk, quiet painful and DH looks at me each asking if i'm alright.
anyone know what causeing these pains, does it mean that head is slightly engaged or something?

Macaco - glad to hear you and Nico are doing well. Thank you for the positive promotion of labour - very reassuring!

Sorry to hear about the sore pelvises - ouch! Hope these settle down .

I had a bee in my bonnet about needing new slippers for the hospital (hardly essential but I didn't want to shuffle about in my chewed old ones) and today I found a lovely pair in Sainsbury's for a fiver. They are like fabric ballet pumps and pink and white polkadot - very jolly looking! NOW I can give birth . I also picked up raspberry leaf tea and tablets from Holland and Barrett. I got the same advice from the sales assistant as some of you had received - don't start until 36 weeks. Have any of you started taking the tablets earlier than 36 wks and not suffered any ill effects? I understood that it takes the cervix a while to gain the benefit of the reaspberry leaf and surely if you left it until 36 wks that's not long enough?

On a happy note, I saw the community mental health nurse today (I'd been referred because of anxiety) and she discharged me!! Hurray! I have got to a stage where I'm managing it all okay and don't need to see her again. I'm really chuffed.

Lovely sunny day here. I hope you are all well.

Congratulations on the OK Mocat!

Macaco - i actually just got all teary looking at your LO. so cute, i want mine...

sweetbean - know what you mean about feeling broody - i havent even had this one yet and part of me is thinking that it would be lovely to have another... im sure that'll change after labour...

so jealous of babies engaging (ok not that jealous of the pain...) my LO seems to be the wriggliest baby in the world... she prefers to sit with her head under my ribs (left hand side) however we shift about evry half hour including my personal favourite the rolling punching kicking move... 10 minutes of internal pummeling... having said that if she does have a quiet day now I imediately panic and drag poor long suffering OH to the hospital...

pina- i think i read somewhere that babies can still turn, but better ask someone else for professional advise

raspberry leaf tea....what was good for again? completely forgot the positiv effect it can cause!
haven't taken it in previous pregnancy but if it makes things easier.
oh wasn't it to encourge contractions to start or something? anyone advise or good experince with this tea?
i think i read somewhere that it tastes awful, but then again i am reading too much these days that i forget half of it?

anyone thinking about a waterbirth?
i only heard positiv things about it and if possible i am going to try it when the time comes.
any experiences welcome

pina - email me on the addy I put below and I'll send you the doc I've got on turning babies etc.might help with positioning.

Well, I got up from my desk at about 11am this morning and felt like a very hard slightly small football descended into my pelvis with a THUD! And there it has stayed, so I'm guessing she has engaged a bit - for today anyway. I can't get my legs together and it hurts to walk, took me by surprise a bit! But at least it's a step in the right direction (until she decides to climb back up I guess....) - have a MW appt this afternoon, which is why I'm home now, so will be interesting to see if she confirms it - I'm probably completely wrong!

In other news I think they tried to deliver my birth pool this morning while I was at work (hoping for a homebirth) - that's my "once I've got that, she can come item" so will be pleased if it is that...

thanks pina

oh i am also going to hire a tens machine for the first time, thinking about the
elle tens one as it seems to be the most popular popular one.
any recommendations welcome..even though i know that tens works for some women but not every one, but well worth a try

Wow, three babies already!
Congratualations Macaco, he looks a lovely little chappy and thanks for the reassurance for first time mums!

Saw the MW today and found out that baby is currently breech, I know that there is still time to turn (32 weeks) but was rather hoping baby was head down and ready to go!

Searched my music library for any songs with 'turn' in the title this afternoon and have been playing them loudly (Turn by Travis is a fav!) However I think the birth ball is more likely to help