Due June 08 - Creme egg season is over, summer is now here, so time to tidy the ladygarden before the big day

[bitofadramaqueen]

I wonder how quickly we'll get through this thread?!?!?!?!

So excited for you Makecakes! Can't wait to hear your news.
Glad you had a last meal of freedom.

Morning well first day of bedrest!thank god for mumsnet.

OOOh exiciting makecakes bet you cant wait, dont worry sure every thing will go well

needahand hope all goes better soon

Josey we will try keep you company!!!

Dr appointment ok yesterday LO is fine and very content in breech position, transverse too so no chance at mo of vaginal birth

Wondered what your thoughts were on manually turning baby. Dr said yesterday she recommended that i go in on Fri to turn baby as its best done at 36/37 weeks

have looked at some natural methods but obviously being on be rest and having high BP rules out some like headstand!!! Even spending long time on all fours not good for BP

OOOh exiciting makecakes bet you cant wait

oops repeated myself and also meant bed rest!

Good luck makecakes. Paro I've read somewhere about visualisation techniques? Not convinced, but can't do any harm. You spend about 10 minutes each day 'visualising' the baby turning into the right position. I mentioned it in passing during my NCT class and the teacher had also heard of it. You could give it a try while resting?!?!

makecakes good luck for tomorrow, have you trained your husband in how to post on here to give us the news asap?

splodgesmum I totally agree with you regarding interventions, I'll avoid them if I can but if I need them then go right ahead if it's better for me and baby, I'd like us both to get through as healthy and non-traumatised as possible! I think it will help having DH there though as he is also medical and therefore can make judgment calls for me!

needahand so sorry that you had a rubbish holiday, sounds like you need a break to get over it. hope your SIL starts to recover and accept her treatment soon.

can't remember who was saying something about Pethidine (alipalli?) and the midwife putting you off with the fact that they give the same medication as they do to junkies who OD? It is the same, but this is because they are from the same class of medication (opioids) and therefore need the same reversal agent if required. I wouldn't let it put you off using an opiate based analgesic if you feel like you need it. it's very safe, and you and baby are in a safe environment, as opposed to the unfortunate souls who OD on street purchased drugs.

got a letter yesterday that made me angry, 3 weeks before my Mat leave starts, I received a form from payroll at the hospital I work at refusing to pay my statutory maternity pay because I haven't worked for them for long enough! I work on a rotationary post and get sent to different hospital on 3 and 6 month placements (which I started in August) and I have been in continuous employment by the NHS for nearly 5 years! As a cost cutting exercise they have decided this year to give us short term contracts for the duration of each placement (as this means among other things that they no longer have to pay us travelling expenses for commuting to peripheral hospitals etc) and therefore this particular trust hasn't employed me for 26 weeks! They are however paying the rest of my mat pay . Apparently I can apply to the department of Work and Pensions and get maternity allowance which is the same amount, but requires me to go nad get the right forms (during the working day)and have loads of hassle which I could do without at this stage! not sure why it's taken them until now to send me a letter that required them to tick a box!

sorry for rant, got it off my chest now, clearly am going to do no work today in protest!

Paro- from what I remember of yoga classes it's the movement that makes a difference when on all fours, ie walking around like a cat, not the length of time.

An easier suggestion would be reflexology- I've heard that can help with turning babies, although not tried myself, and at the least it'll be relaxing and fill in a bit of time. Must be boring being on bed rest.

LauraT- the way work has treated you sucks and I hope you can get the pay you deserve. I'm sure employers know what they're doing when they put up these unfair obstacles. ANd to leave it so late!

Laura, how frustrating! Hope you get it all sorted, but it's not what you need at this stage.

Makecakes - how exciting, hope you manage at least to get some rest today though I can imagine that will be difficult! Keep us informed when you can.

Have put my horrible nighties and some maternity pads into a bag, think that will be my hospital bag packing done until I'm off work - like someone said earlier, perhaps leaving everything late is one way of ensuring I don't go overdue

Hope everyone else is having a good day.

Laura, that's rubbish, sorry to hear about your mat pay nightmare. Can they actually do that? Might be worth a quick call to the ACAS helpline just to check. I spoke to them a while ago, as it was possible that my team could be in a redundancy situation, and we were on short term contracts, but if they've been renewed, it doesn't really count. Might be different if it's different NHS trusts, but worth checking out. They should also have replied to your mat leave letter within 28 days - did they do that?

Makecakes - hope you have a restful day before the big event. V excited for you - sending hugs and all good vibes!

Paro - I think I saw on another site that you could try raising your bum on cushions to encourage baby to turn - shouldn't affect your BP?

I feel crap today. DP was out last night and didn't get home til nearly 5am and I have a v dodgy stomach. Could rasp leaf capsules give me the trots??!! Thought somebody else said they could cause constipation? Don't think I've eaten anything dodgy, and please let this be too early for pre-labour clear out - not even 35 weeks til Friday! Have called in sick and now lying around feeling a bit sorry for myself.

Checking in again! Have mw appointment later today, but baby seems content and I'm quite content too but desperately want to meet him now.
Also got an appointment with my herbalist - she helped me a while back with hormonal issues, and I've now asked her for a concoction to make my boy appear on time, in a couple of hours, with no pain whatsoever. Here's hoping...

whinegums it's not the same trust, as they farm us out to staff the DGHs as well as central hospitals, in previous years, all registrars were paid centrally but they took on twice as many trainees this year and decided to fund it differently, so until Feb I was employed by greater glasgow, and since then Ayrshire and Arran. they sent me a letter saying we have received your letter and will pay your occupational mat leave and let you know about SMP, which I received within 28 days (I think). What is the ACAS helpline?

hope you just have an upset stomach, 35 weeks is a bit early for a clear out, maybe it's the weather getting to you? might be the rasp leaf tea capsules as you say, perhaps a component of the capsule rather than the rasp leaf?

Laura, that sucks! Here's the ACAS website - www.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=1461 - they can give you free advice over the phone about employment matters. Also, the employment board on here has some v good people giving advice. ACAS helpline: Monday - Friday 08:00 - 18:00 - 08457 47 47 47.

Who were you working for when you reached 25 weeks - that's your qualifying date for SMP. Sounds like you may have just missed out on getting SMP from greater Glasgow.

Okay - it has just taken me ages to catch up since last week!

Congrats to neenz and fingers crossed for all others who are getting close... I am now 36+5 so I guess that means me too!

We had our charity ball on Friday night - didn't get home until 4am! I was shocked. I wouldn't normally have made it to that late if I wasn't pregnant, so god knows how I did it this time (maybe it was the lack of alcohol sending me to sleep?) Then had a pretty lazy weekend enjoying the sunshine and catching up on sleep.

We discovered on Monday that our boiler has died, so we have had the landlord out and the boiler man coming today... the landlord said he promises it will be fixed before the baby arrives... I bloody well hope so! Luckily the weather is warm, but we have no hot water, so I am showering at the gym... I get funny looks as I walk in and the bump precedes me by five minutes!

had moved to A&A by 20 weeks, prior to that I'd been in the Victoria Infirmary for 18 months! Arggh. A colleague had the same problem in Dec, and tells me mat allowance is the same amount it's just the hassle of sorting it out that I coul do without

Bummer Laura, grrrr at the cost cutting on your behalf. Hopefully it won't be too difficult to sort out mat allowance - I think there is a difference in the amount though (sorry, feel I am harbinger of doom) - with SMP you get 90% of earnings for first 6 weeks and then standard (£117 per week) for remaining 33 weeks, with MA it's £117 or 90% of earnings for first 6 weeks, whichever is the smaller amount. V unfair I think.

they are paying my occupational mat leave though which tops it up I think. need to read the small print tonight!

Hi everyone

Just back from a visit to the obstetrician as they wanted to have a discussion about induction with me now and manage it, rather than waiting till 42 weeks.

Essentially, they are not going to allow me to go more than 4 hours with no progress from synto without a C section. (Last time I went 20 hours on synto before dilating.) Not that I want a C section, but it's better (and the recovery time is shorter) than a three-day induction complete with every instrument going (+ episiotomy and flying placenta!). My doula came with me as support - which was fantastic. Baby is measuring 33.5 (instead of 34.5) so may be growing slowly as before ...

Laura, that's a nightmare. Do those Trusts come under the same NHS Board?

whinegums, sorry you're not feeling so hot.

makecakes, how exciting! ALl the very best of luck!

They are all west of Scotland, but A&A is separate from Greater Glasgow, although I was employed centrally by the west of Scotland Deanery for a 5 year training job! V complicated, I think to try and stop us complaining about it or to make us give up without sorting it out!

Afternoon all

Makecakes how exciting you wont have long now, hope all goes well for you, make sure you have lots of mags to pass the time till induction kicks in.

LauraT that completely sucks which hospital and which area shouldnt be a factor at all you pay always comes from the same pot...whether the smp and ma is the same amount or not it principle.

Aberdeen, he isnt away yet will be next week,he's supposed to go to the JWMaclean which is NorthSea...They were trying to send him to the Britannia which is off Holland just now....lucky they have a woman placing the jobs and she told the a/c manager to get a grip!! The longer he has just now the better though gives him plenty money for a slower summer(so I keep telling myself)

Still cant get that happy skippy feeling back and feel like im in a right slump need to kick that fat backside of mine and get a grip.....but how the FK do I do that when I have my mil & sil to stay at the weekend

OMG - I've not posted for long this thread no longer appears on my 'threads I'm on'! Opps. Sorry ladies, but there' been so many posts I'm having trouble keeping up. Sorry to all of you I've missed:

GOOD LUCK MAKECAKES!!!

Keep us informed Josey - very exciting...

Paro - I think I heard that acupuncture can make baby turn....?

Laura - that is really crap!

Whinegums - Things have been a bit, erm, looser for me recently and I couldn't think why. Could be the RLT...I'm only on one cup a day at the mo, but if you're on more that might explain it.

Upsidedown - I'm afraid I don't know what synto is... Glad that you have your doula to support you and help ensure you don't get bullied into anything you don't want. The more I read about C Sections, the more I want one (although am not actually planning one, no electives at my hosp!) - esp as I can't drive and have no bikini plans for a long time yet...

Re: me and lump, 36 week M/W appointment on Monday went well. Bump 37cm, but not dropped. Bizarrely it appears to have done so over the last 48 hours, but i'm not sure how much of that is due to wishful thinking...

Woke up on my back last night and panicked that I'm hurt the LO until he started wriggling again. Can't remember why we're not meant to sleep on our backs, can any one else remember?

Working from home today and tomorrow, and Friday is my last day. Yay! Got an email today about one of my team members that I think is unfair on them. I am finding it really hard not to get wound up about it and just let it go....Not much I can do now, which almost makes it worse.

Neighbours still being a complete nightmare: 1am - 4.30am fighting and screaming, incl threatening one another with knives last sat....however house sale paperwork is taking forever and I'm pretty sure that we're now overpaying by quite a lot as the market has dropped so much in the last three months. Has anyone got any experince of having to re-negotiate price after original offer agreed? Part of me can't be bothered due to preg and neighbours, but I know in the back of my head that we're probably overpaying by about £20,000 and the survey wasn't that great either....

PregnantPengin - lying on your back stops the blood from your legs going back to your heart & hence cause you to pass out. During sleep our bodies will naturally (or should naturally) turn us to either the left or right side.

If you can be bothered to re-negotiate I would, it's £20k less on your mortgage than in someone elses back account!!! I would speak to your estate agent about price reduction - also if you go on Motley Fool website it guides you through gazundering - I would defo try to get the price reduced - worth a try.

PP - sorry you're having probs with the neighbours. Our last neighbours were like that and it was bloody awful. No info on renegotiating price tho - can your solicitor or CAB help?
Re lying on your back, the weight of the baby can press down on an artery in your uterus, reducing blood flow to both of you which can make you dizzy and is not great for bambino. But my MW (not the mad one) said you'll naturally roll over/ wake up if it's becoming an issue. It's if you do it when you're awake that it's more of a problem as you won't naturally move. So don't panic!
And don't forget that women didn't always know this - my mum thought it was so you didn't hurt your back! Am sure LO is fine.

MAKESCAKES - GOOD LUCK!!! How extremely exciting. And just think, no more SPD you brave lady!

Totally second all the natural/ intervention discussions. Like Neenz, I feel v sucked in at the mo by the pro natural stuff, but I am realistic. When I had a v painful operation a few years ago I was doped up to the eyeballs afterwards and grateful for it! I do want to try for 'au naturel' but I realise that doesn't always happen and isn't right for everyone. I just wish my pal had been given some time to go into labour naturally as she is so very upset by her high intervention experience .

Laura - your bosses surely can't do what they're saying. Get onto ACAS pronto. What a ridiculous situation, and the last thing you need.

Paro - research done on visualisation shows that it does actually work (can't remember the figures). Have a look at Spinning Babies - they have lots of info and you can contact them directly too - good luck!

Hey ho, off to enjoy the sunshine. Have a good day all (and needahand, hope you're enjoying yourself now your holiday is over!)
xx

Laura that is absolutely disgusting, you work for the nhs and it should make absolutely no difference to you that you move trusts. If you are just getting smp then they claim it all back from the government anyway and the only reason not to pay it is to save them the hassle - bloody ridiculous imo. I hope the helpline can help!

pp was at aquanatal today and mw who takes class was talking about lying on your back, she was saying it actually theoretical that lying on your back could cause you to pass but you shouldn't worry about it as if sleeping your body would automatically move and you certainly won't harm your little one!

No more contractions etc here, although mw said if I've had a show should be soon and didn't expect me to be at class next week!

Good luck makecakes! How are you doing G43 ?

Greenfairy, hope your friend comes to terms with what has happened over the next few weeks. She might want to check out the birth trauma association www.birthtraumaassociation.org.uk/. There is loads of useful information on there and support for people who have had a difficult birth experience.

(which is, I should add, proportionately a fairly small number of people - don't want anyone looking at the site and scaring themselves!)

katyjo I'm still here too, still getting contractions and with each round there are more regular, frequent and painful and then stop again. Feeling fed up but beginging to accept that as I only have two weeks left it's not going to be that long!

Makescakes , good luck with your induction! If I were you I wouldn't be able to sit down for more than five mins due to excitement.

Laura Your mat pay issues are really crappy. When I got pregant with dd1 I was on a permenant contract within the NHS, during my pregancy I moved to the bank staff and was doing the same job/hours. It was a battle to get the bank agency to accept that i had to get maternity pay until I took them pay chacks from both jobs both from the same trust.

PregnantPenguin when we were selling our flat/ buying our house our buyers on the day we were supposed to exchange contracts demanded we drop the price by £4000. We got it down to £2000 as we really had to move to get the school place we wanted for dd1. If it wasn't for the school place we would have refused to drop price. So you can drop price but it's really not nice when it happens to you.