Due Sept 08: The one where we pack our bags and write our birth plan.

[mamamufin]

I thought I would be brave

Did you have a blood transfusion Starlight??? I don't remember you mentioning one...

I got my bloods back and apparently I'm low in iron. There was a sweet little note handwritten at the bottom of the report advising me to eat more greens and red meat!

A big juicy steak is what I need and it's our anniversary on Weds so DP and I are going for dinner. Mmmmm...

Oh dear... And that she has a different blood group!

starlight saw your post on the yahoo group. hugs. just don't want to bung it up with messages.

I saw my consultant today. He is not adverse to my HB idea. We discussed a little about the staffing issues and he is sticking to the party line though. It isn't his job to respond to me anyway so I await an official response from the Director of Midwifery, et al.

He mentioned what about if i went into labour at night and they don't have the staff to cover the ward. [Bitter laugh from me at this point] I reminded him that is why I am avoiding the ward this time round. To be in labour on a ward will bring back flashbacks of the first one where I ended up abandoned and unconcious with no one knowing what the hell was happening to me for hours.

Can't you rely on the medical profession!!

We're off camping this weekend for a week in our vw campervan...can't wait, a little worried about how i'll manage to climb in and out of bed though! Only 4 sleeps to go...ds is gonna love it!

so also feeling down. I have felt like crying a couple times driving home and refusing to let the bastards get to me.

The community midwives here will not even contact me about my homebirth til I am 36 weeks - lets hope I dont have the baby early as I did with ds.....

Cant help feeling that making it so hard/difficult/stressful to organise a homebirth is a bit of a ploy to make you choose a hospital birth as the "easier" option....they obviously dont know me very well heh, heh.

Can someone tell me what community midwives are for if not to attend homebirths and provide both ante-and post-natal care????????

Oh, and the parentcraft classes have been cancelled til further notice (not that I wanted to go, but some first timers must be very disappointed)

Got another ante-natal appointment at the hospital next monday and am going to make them aware of my concerns and plans for a homebirth.....should be interesting!

Anyone else being driven mad by itching?

My bump is soooooo itcy its really uncomfortble!

Any tips????

Starlight - really feel for you being put through this. I do believe that they are just trying scare tactics to put you off Please don't be put off though. Do everything you can to get your hb, you won't regret it

I cannot believe how difficult some of you are findng trying to get a hb. I just went along to a routine appointment one day mentioned I'd like one and they said ok. Maybe it's because I live in a very small town? Do you all live in big busy cities??

It's rediculous how much antenatal/postnatal care varies from place to place and it makes me so angry.

Oh and good to see they have your bloods back ok star Another great example of their wonderful care.

Phoned mw earlier to see if I could get my 28w blood results, no answer so rang docs. Apparently I do have low hb, 9.4, which explains why I can barely move and haven't left the house for 2 days. There is a prescription in the post so fingers crossed I'll be feeling "normal" soon. Can't believe how awful it can make you feel. Just going upstairs leaves me completely breathless. Not great with having other 3 dc's to look after!!

becaroo i am putting Palmer's Cocoa butter on my bump. I used Body shop stuff the last time but since nestle now owns them, I won't buy.

I got the cocoa butter stuff reduced in Asda's. I leapt at it tbh because i know how lush it is.

Itching is a sign of stretchmarks in the making, i understand.

starlight - sorry to hear about the NHS being so crap with you.

I had to phone both lots of midwives today to figure out who I was supposed to see when (I'd noticed my '36 week' appt was at 34 weeks). Thankfully, they were quite happy using Typetalk, they finally have all my blood results so we agree on my blood type, and I have normal glucose and hb (12.2), and they adjusted my appointments.
Because everything is normal, I can combine my two appts with the community midwives into one at 33 weeks, but to call back if anything changes.

I think Squirmy's just had a growth spurt - my bump is even larger than it was on the weekend, and I was exhausted for 4 days but today back to a modicum of energy. Sadly my pile of papers from work has arrived so I'll have to do some work soon...

I have been using both kiskidee to no avail....been lathering it on about 6 times a day

(Didnt know nestle owned the body shop...)

oh dear. sorry [dad]

N. bought it shortly before anita roddick died. I wonder how much of the sale was her idea vs. company decision, iykwim.

becaroo are you from nottingham then????? I am having this one at nottingham city hospital same place I had ds it was great and they have a hotel for dp to stay in.

Hi guys
Sorry I cant chat. It seems to be more hectic here now I have finished work . Look at the time and I need to put ds to boboos. xx

you know what? I feel like skiving off the rest of the week. school closes on fri anyway.

Bogie, I live about 8 miles from nottingham in a small village you wont have heard of!

Hotel? That sounds fab!

wow, this thread is moving at the speed of light.

ah well,went to see my midwife for a normal checkup and ive got sugar in my blood and protein in my urine..again! so gotta eat more fruit as ive noticed ive been eating sugary things lately so no more sugary stuff till i give birth ...and gotta keep an eye on the urine as i did have a water infection at the first trimester but was all cleared after taking antibio.

oooh and very surprising of all!!.....my BP was 140/75..i was ...thats the lowest ever as its usually 130/90 or 130/80...and even when i wasnt pg it was 130/90 which is normal for me (i do suffer from high BP).....how come it gone lower and lower???

Becaroo - I'm getting an itchy bump too, but I think it's maybe my bra rubbing - I'm getting a bit of a rash on the right (first painful ribs on the right, now rash on the right, v odd).

I thought it was L'Oreal who'd bought Bodyshop, or do Nestle own them too? It's amazing how the big companies go about buying up all the small companies that start out with ethical ideas, like Seeds of Change and Rachel's Dairy.

My update on the list disappeared , and now the edit function has mysteriously disappeared on my computer, so can't re-do it.
So if someone's feeling kind,please can you add me as a surprise, and hospital probably Kings or St Thomas's.

Still not sure what to go for - checked out Birthchoice, and those 2 look best. I'm also trying to think of which would be easier to get to for any appointments and if the worst happened and the baby had to stay in and I had to travel to see it like before. It was bad enough going on a 20-30 minute bus trip 4 times a day with stitches, all my alternative hospitals are further away

L'Oreal is owned by nestle.