Due Sept '08: Bring on the babies!

[LittleConnie]

Well that was cutting it a bit fine...

Yes, it was really scary and in a way it's made me quite pleased that I'm having the c-section fairly early as once the baby is out that's a weight off my mind.

What is everyone looking forward to the most when you have your baby? I'm really looking forward to those long feeds where you snuggle up with the baby and she just feeds until she drops off to sleep on your lap.

jearund hope u didnt mind me copy and paste on here as the other thread is full full now so this is the new one...didnt want u to be ignored

"Had my 34 week consultant appt at the hospital today. Lots to tell! First I went through my notes from the last labour with a midwife (she gave me the choice of that or making an appt to go through them slowly another time). It seems that I was right that I was basically ignored - they didn't even mention my requests for pain relief in the notes! But the reason was that DD was in substantial distress (more than I was aware of at the time) and so everyone was focused on her needs and mine took a back seat. I was in for the c-section within an hour, which apparently is very quick, and reflects how eager they were to get her out. So although it's not great that they didn't keep me up to speed, now I know why I feel happier about it - and they definitely did what was best for her and I've never doubted that.

Secondly, it looks like I'll be having a c-section after all. At my 20 week appt the registrar was pushing me towards a VBAC, which I had decided to go for. However the (more experienced) consultant today said the registrar had not taken into account the reason for my previous section when she said that. Apparently if you have a section because of an infection, as I did, the scar doesn't heal as well and you are at substantially greater risk of the scar tearing during labour (the other major cause of this being induction so that's definitely not happening!). She didn't have the stats but suggested something more like 1:50 rather than the usual 1:200. Because of all this, if I go for a VBAC I will be 'low threshold c-section' ie at the first sign of anything going wrong/ labour not progressing I'd have a section. Another factor is that I didn't dilate last time. I thought maybe this was down to the infection but she said that actually you usually find labour speeds up when there's an infection as the body wants to get the baby out. So that raises the chances of failing to progress this time.

All in all she thought the chances of me ending up with a section were high, and said I should book one in but I can pick any time from 38-41 weeks depending on whether I wanted to try for the VBAC anyway. I've booked in for my due date, and have another appt at 38 weeks, but on reflection I'll probably move the c-section to 39 weeks and not try for the VBAC. Recovery is going to be easier from an elective so it's probably better if I do that than risk another emergency one. Incidentally she said the reason it took me ages to recover last time was because of the infection - my friend who had an elective was back to normal weeks before I was!

So looks like Wee Dougie might be coming out through the sun roof like his sister after all! If I go for 39 weeks that's a week less to wait too....."

sass - im looking forward getting my body back! so i can stop moaning!

lollyheart that's awful, so sad and so unfair . I don't know much about strepB but that's obviously got me thinking about it now. Are some people more likely than others to carry it? How do you know? Is the private test some of you have paid for the only thing you can do?

debi - i havent been offered either and not in my 1st pg too.

lollyheart - thats so sad and so . Poor friend.

jearund - if you didnt dilated last time..there maybe a risk that it would happen again so i therefore would chose a elective c-section but i do hope you can go into labour naturally (fingers cross). Was it a scar wound infection that you had?

Debi They dont do the tests on the nhs. I had a swab done at 14 weeks because of a bleed and it came back positive so i will be having antibs im so greatfull that i know i have it because there are no symptoms. you can buy a private test for your mw to do and you send it off im not sure off the website where you can get them from but im sure someone will know. I really hope i havnt scared anyone b step is rare thats why the nhs dont do them i think.

I've just sent you a facebook message lollyheart

trying to tx too but phone being silly!

becaroo I can relate to how you feel roll on due date

Hi lollyheart,

That is ever so sad

I've been toying with the idea of getting the gbs test, but I am definitely going to do it now.

The website address is: www.gbss.org.uk/index.php

Look under testing for companies that do the tests.

Best wishes.
K

Biglips thanks for copying and pasting my post. I hadn't had time to read the new ones before I posted so didn't realise we'd run out of space!

Lollyheart I am so sorry to hear about your friend's baby and I can't help thinking there but for the grace of God as it could so easily have been me last time. I had a negative GBS test at 37 weeks but it later turned out I did have it - I was retested when my waters broke but it takes a few days to grow the cultures and DD was 2 days old by the time they told me it was positive. In the meantime my waters became infected (biglips no it wasn't the scar, it was before that) and I became ill - high temp etc. DD was in distress (very fast heartbeat and lots of peaks and troughs) and so they did the emergency section. But this was 18 hours after my waters broke because I didn't go into labour for several hours. I now know that this is a high risk factor for GBS (long time between waters breaking and delivery). Anyway when DD was born they put her straight onto antibiotics in case she'd caught the infection and it wasn't until 2 days later that they confirmed she hadn't caught it. At the time I didn't realise how serious it all was but I now realise I was very very lucky DD didn't catch it (and also lucky that they gave me the c-section and didn't mess about). My heart goes out to your friend

As for this time, apparently the policy has now changed because the tests are so unreliable and they don't routinely give you antibiotics in labour unless you have tested positive in THIS pregnancy. However if you ask for them no one will refuse you. I would definitely ask if I had a VBAC but now it looks like being an elective c-section it won't be an issue as long as I don't go into labour early (if your waters break then you have to have them as the baby would then be exposed if there was an infection)

Hello new thread - am back from a week in the Cotswolds and can't believe the other thread is full already - will have to go back and catch up...

We had a great holiday and dd particularly liked the Cotswold Farm Park. Fortunately it wasn't too hot so I didn't get too exhausted hauling my enormous bump around.

While we were walking around on Friday I suddenly felt some pain in my pelvis and since then have had lots of aches and twinges particularly around the pubic bone - think it was the baby dropping as I have definitely developed a bit of a waddle and am sure the bump is lower.

Looking forward to meeting some of you in London on Weds!

Exciting news - one of my friends has just had a positive pregnancy test. 4 weeks and 1 day! I've told her she'll have to join the Due in April thread! I remember those early days.....exciting but scary!

Jearund Just to tell you that I am sorry things are not happening the way you wanted.
But I agree with you, in your situation I would go for an elective C-section too.

Well, that is what I have done. In my case this time there were not going to be able to induce me if I was overdue because of the emmergency C-section I had with my ds (he was 12 days overdue). If I wait this time it could be too dangerous for the baby girl and me, so I decided early on to go for the safe option: the elective.

Our babies are going to look perfect, without bruises and it is going to be very fast (positive points)AND SUN ROOFS ARE VERY IN FASHION

Pitufina- I am just passed caerphilly about 20 mins from cardiff, I am having the LO in the royal glamorgan.

Lolly heart- I am so sorry for you and your friend.

I too have never been offered the test and dont really know alot about it, it is so worrying that we could carry it and not know.

Lolly - sorry about your friend, that's so awful

I've just got back from holidaying in north wales with dd. Stayed with friends who have lots of animals so she had a fab time.

I have terrible indigestion now, burping hugely all the time. Also rib pain is horrendous still - I have a physio appointment in 2 weeks, hope that helps. And bladder feels like it's being squeezed constantly.

Also suddenly seem huge - 4/5 weeks ago people didn't realise I was pg, now people see me after a few days and tell me I look even bigger - maybe it was all the country air making baby have a growth spurt.

Today i haven't noticed much movement despite me poking about, so have been worrying a bit - hopefully it'll perk up when I go to bed in a moment.

Haven't had a chance to catch up with old thread but I see from the list on this thread Jenbot had her baby too - hope everything is OK & congratulations

hello new thread!

lollyheart,
after reading your post i demanded a b strep test. lets see when they schedule one in for me.

Jearund, at least there is a bit of relief in knowing what's going to happen, or at least that's how I felt once the decision was made. It's nice to be able to prepare mentally and feel ready for it.

Jearund Sassafrass I am about to print the birth plan for the elective C-section, otherwise I will forget. I didn't have the chance to have very much skin to skin contact with my ds durig the emergency C-section and I just want to make sure that they know I want to hold this baby and try to BF ASAP this time.

Jearund I am having mine at 38.3 weeks. The consultant said it was to avoid a natural birth that could not progress.

jennyL - the community midwives are lovely aren't they. And great news on the scan. You're all set!! When do you finish work?

I have 2 more weeks, then a week on hols with my folks in Wales, then another 2 weeks, then maternity leave. I can't wait. And am already hopelessly distracted at work (e.g. posting here!!!).

I have my home visit from my homebirth team booked for early September, and at the moment the house is still a building site. Our kitchen work is only just getting going again, so we currently have no back wall on the kitchen downstairs, and no ceiling, floor etc. Whilst the living room is crammed with fridge-freezer, plus unplumbed in washing machine and dishwasher, not to mention the entire new flat pack kitchen units awaiting fitting. And the nearest water supply is still on the 3rd floor bathroom. So I just hope things have improved by the time my midwife comes to deliver the homebirth pack etc!!

My dp is now back from his Africa trip, bringing to an end my week as a single parent! Hurrah. Gosh it's so much easier looking after the two girls (and the kitchen chaos) with an extra pair of hands.

I definitely feel like the baby has dropped down in the last week, as I had been having terrible indigestion, and that's more or less gone, plus I can feel the baby when I'm walking. But it needs to stay PUT till the building work is finished!!!

Kasha - congrats on getting Felix home, what an absolute cutie.

Lolly-I'm so sorry for your news. I hope that your friend will be okay. It's really good that you put that post up. Really made me think and I'm definitely going to request a group B strep test now, just to be sure. I'm actually kind of shocked that they don't routinely test for it here. I'm originally from the states and the test is mandatory for all pregnant women-whether they are scheduled for a c/s or not. I hope that you are holding up alright!!

Morning all

Another busy day at the breastfeeding cafe followed by aqua natal and lunch at the baths.

Gosh guys, I am really really really scared about the delivery. I kept waking up last night thinking about it. I dont know if I am strong enough to go thru it.
I dont want an epidural as i could not push properly with ds and this lead to a traumatic assisted birth. However, i am remembering the pain clearly now. Injections and gas make me sick and I cant cope with this. Anti- sickness medication makes my head fuzzy and I will feel out of control. A massive part of me just wants a c sec, but they wont give me one. .

Gosh lolly Ive just caught up. I am so sorry to hear about your friend.

Potxola, would you share your birthplan? I haven't written one for the c-section. The only thing I've been able to think about is wanting skin to skin contact. I didn't get that at all the first time around. I thought I'd tell the midwife on friday when I do the pre-op assessment and I've instructed dh to remind them as well. But I'd love to read your plan if you wouldn't mind.