Due Sept 08 - the Final Waddle - part one

[blimey]

we ran out of space! feels just like my womb!

Good Morning, everyone...
good? hmmm that's to be debated, i think.

Happy EDD to me. ((i just hope DH gets rid of that massive chip that's settled on his shoulders)) otherwise, i'll be "celebrating" alone. but hey, i guess that just means more mango & cream sorbet for me, eh?

anyways, yesterday was chock full of mild bh's. and they were very strong through the night, i was tossing and turning like mad, dh didnt come to bed until somewhere int he 5am hour (its going to be a great day, i can tell...we have things to do, i'll not have any help with ds, or the housework, and he'll want to sleep for most of the day... :::sigh::

not exactly how i imagined my EDD to be, really.
BUT enough of me feeling sorry for myself and starting the day with such negativity!
so from here, its all "positive-go"!

ahhhh!!

how's everyone else???

oh, one more thing....

it's not really my place to make the announcement and i dont want to spoil it for her...

but earlier i have visited one of our missing mums facebook...
and it's happened!

we'll have the announcement soon i hope!

Morning all

I am going to have to check facebook immediately now. Happy due date munkimom, imo & izzy

Thanks for the posts guys.

I slept quite well. It helps that the head is no longer engaged as I only woke once for a wee.

Expecting lots of announcements on here today

Have a lovely weekend girls x

Morning ladies
Thanks for the update ninja ponymum you and your new little girl are looking gorgeous!
splish sorry to hear p is continuing to be an arse. Sounds like you made an excellent decision to hire a doula, at least you know you'll have uninterrupted support from her
And leonie so glad you're feeling more positive about the birth
Well carrieon it seems we're continuing to be on parallel paths... I too am booked for appt and potential sweep on 29th, day after EDD. And I too am hoping not to need it! The last appt was fantastic as it was the first one actually at the birth centre. It's still so new that they're never very busy, and I had a whole hour 1-on-1 with the loveliest midwife ever. The shooting nerve leg pains are getting harder to deal with - it happened yesterday halfway across a pedestrian crossing as the lights were changing and I was frozen to the spot!

Where are those birth announcements? We'll have a rush of them soon...

morning all
ooh munkimom i had to go on facebook so I know too now!!! Hope we get the full story soon.
Another sleepless night for me...

I had a sleepless night too - when DD came in at 7.30 (I normally have to DRAG her out of bed at 8.00 grrrrr). I asked DH to get up with her (for once). He did but reluctantly saying 'I'm tired too, (didn't stop him snoring all night) so I got up at 8.30 so he can go back to bed and stop complaining so I've now got DD for the rest of the mroning.

Who's the facebook one? I've not got many as friends . I'll have to wait!

Ninja - you have her as a friend! I don't have many as friends either but spotted that we both have her as a 'friend in common.'

Morning ladies

leonieD great news re: your second opninion...shows how important they are!

foxy Thanks for the tips - you are a little saucebox arent you???

Decided I am not doing the sex thing, or the curry thing, or the nipple tweaking thing anymore....got an ante natal appointment at the the hospital on monday and am going to wait til then to see what they say.

The midwife said they may do a "sweep" - I know that a few of you have had one...can I ask if they made any difference? i.e. do you think its helped you go into labour?? Dont really want one if its just going to make me more uncomfortable.

Sorry to hear some of you are suffering too The bh can be REALLY strong at times and the cramps arent pleasant either. Sleeping is more or less impossible for me at the moment so resting on the sofa lots and watching bargain hunt

Off to the park with ds today - maybe a walk will do me good.

Have a good weekend ladies x

becaroo I had a sweep on Thursday. Not at all painful. A bit odd feeling someone rummage around in there but was fine. That said, not sure it was a proper sweep because she said that I wasn't really effaced enough. Am having another one on Tuesday.

I think the good thing is that because she'd done the internal exam I at least knew I could ignore all the twinges - she thinks I might be more 'receptive' on Tuesday. I'm a lot more relaxed now about when the baby is coming. So I think worth doing

Found her - I was looking for updates. How exciting, can't wait for another birth story!

I am with leonie, I don't want anyone searching around my pudenda. I don't even want VE during labour. I have stated that I don't want them just to have them because 'policy' says one should be done every 4 hrs.

I will stick to a bit of sex and breastfeeding (dd still bf 2 or 3 times a day) to do any kind of stimulation. I am not really a believer that you can hurry labour up by more than a few hrs tbh. (my own unqualified opinion) But I find that being pg this time has made me v. v. horny!

In fact, I don't even want one at my 6 wk appt. I will take it for granted that everything returned to normal, thank you.

I want to sleep a lot now. the weather is great and dh has promised to look after dd today.

foxy thanks for your advice and phone number yest- I have just posted agin on the other thread.

I hadn't put in my plan (as I didn't write one) that I didn't want examined and I was only checked once while I was in labour and that was just as I was thinking I might want to start pushing. The midwife when I first went in to the hosp said that she wasn't going to bother examining me unless I wanted her to so I said no don't bother. Then when she did she said something like "it would probably be a good idea to examine you if that's ok with you"
I didn't get looked at down there at the 6 week check last time either so hopefully won't this time either.

I think it depends on what works for you. I respond well to information - I can't deal with the "is this it" BH/ Backaches/ Cramps of the past five weeks - being told that I was NOT about to imminently go into labour has been a real help in me just letting go and enjoying these last few days/ weeks before the babe arrives. I know that when I'm in labour I'll want the same updates because I respond well to 'knowing' how far I've come/ got to go. But everyone's different.

just answered your other post, deb

Morning guys, happy Due date to me, munkimum and imo!

I had a sweep this morning, Im 2cm dialated, but cervix was still quite firm, she could feel Bobs head though!!
Am having some cramping now, and Ds and I are just going for a walk into town, try and keep things going. Mw is coming back on Monday Am to do another if this one doesn't work.

Had some tragic happenings here last night, one of our neighbours hung himself, we heard ambulances and police turn up, and his wife was in the street screaming

They are (were) a really nice couple, they have one little girl of 7, such a sweetheart, I can't stop thinking about her Luckilly she was at her nans last night, so not there while all this was happening.

Anyway, maybe there will be some more announcements today and tommorrow to cheer me up eh?

Have a great day girls! xx

oh my god. that's awful. there have been some nasty happenings over the past week or so haven't there. here's hoping you can keep your labour going izzy

Izzy how awful about your neighbour.

Carrieon well I wasn't going to say, but it is Sarah Penelope xx xx. DH and I debated names for some time and came to the conclusion that everyone needs (1) a first name that can take them anywhere with dignity, (2) a middle name taken from literature so that if they choose to be a writer / actor / fashion designer, then they have a slightly more flamboyant name to call on if they wish! We debated between either Shakespeare or classical Greek lit, and chose Penelope (wife of Odysseus) as we liked the character: clever, confident woman who used her brain to fend off her many suitors while waiting for her DH to return from his odyssey! We also included my maiden name as a second middle name to give a few more options, and because Penelope does NOT go with DH's surname which starts with P and would therefore sound like a cartoon character! (Though we do have a long standing tease with Grandad that the siblings will be Persephone, Peregrine and Percival, and that they will all grow up to be university professors like their dad and grandad. He finds this highly amusing .)

Hello All,
Long time no post but I've kept pretty much in touch with the posts and I want to start with a massive congratulations to all the new mommies, I have so enjoyed reading all your birth stories.
Today is also my EDD and not a twinge apart from the usual BH.
Went out for a curry with the girls last night, drank pineapple juice, ate pineapple fritter, drove home via the long road with the speed bumps and jumped DH whent I got in.
Nothing, da, da, zip!

Thank you for satisfying my curiosity ponymum! Loving the name and the reason

Izzy that's so sad about your neighbour

I had another sleepless night due to snot. If it was something baby related I could almost bear it, but the problem is full sinuses when i lie down, and a mouth like sandpaper after a few hours of being asleep, so dry its actually painful. Not being able to use menthol things is a right pain. I'm going to have to be naughty and have another Beechams hot lemon, coz I can't take it any more. I am SO bunged up. I know everyone has colds at the mo, so I don't want to bother the doctor, but I just can't shift the catarrh.

Dd has been really whingy again and just screamed herself to sleep, so that's really wearing me out too. Thankfully dh took her to her swimming lesson this morning, and will be back from football before she's up from her nap. I have plans for them this afternoon...involving asda and clarks . I have plans for me involving a grande cappuccino

Off to do a bit of facebook stalking to cheer me up in the mean time

Hello ladies, I am finally out of hospital, and guess what - I HAVE A BABY!! [GRIN]

So, not only did my pregnancy go on for ever, but quite frankly, so did my labour! I was unfortunate enough to have a very long 'latent' phase which was 20 hours of very painful contractions, followed by another 10 hours of the 'real' thing. I was lucky enough to go to a brand spanking new MLU that was on level 7 of my hospital, so when I finally threw in the towel after 24hrs I just got wheeled downstairs for an epidural and there was no messing about with ambulance transfers etc.

The epidural was the best decision I made that day, there was no way I could've gone on without it - I had two lots of Meptid (first lot brilliant, second lot not so effective), G&A (crap), water pool (lovely but if drugs weren't cutting it then a bit of warm water wasn't going to either!!) and finally the epidural. The anethetist did a good job but one of the midwives was useless at organising herself so my top-ups were far too late and I went through full blown contractions a couple of times, but when the MWs swapped I got a brilliant one and she was bang on time with the top ups and even got it so that when it came to push I could not only feel my legs, but I could also feel enough to know when and how to push, it was a brilliant experience.

Elizabeth had the cord round her neck twice and had decided to poo in her waters as well, so we had to stay in hospital for some observations, and I also had some bladder issues to sort out. The next day the Paediatrician spotted that she was slightly jaundiced so that is ultimately what kept us in hospital for 4 days as she had to stay in a light box and also had a lumbar puncture (horrendous), continuous monitoring and a three day course of antibiotics.

God, I have rambled! Anyway, to anyone who is really worried that they might 'crumble' and beg for an epidural - don't feel bad about it. I had such negative feelings towards it, but that was when I was naeve to the pains of labour! I have had no serious adverse effects from it at all even though I have had back problems since I was 12. The only issue was my bladder, and that is only because I wasn't given a catheter earlier so it filled and overstretched, although I don't blame the MW for it as it clearly really surprised her how much was in there, and in any case, it was easily rectified.

I can also see that Hopefully hasn't posted for a couple of days - I really do hope that congratulations are in order because she was seriously overdue and it really ain't that fun!

carrieon it may have been suggested before, but when I had sinus problems I did get some relief from those Vicks inhaler sticks that you put up your nostril, and also from dabbing some Vicks vaporub under my nostrils at bed time. The GP said both were fine to use. Also nothing wrong with home made "lem sip": crush two paracetamol tabs in a mug, mix with honey and fresh lemon juice, add hot water and drink away (but obviously watch your paracetamol intake from any other sources).

Glad you like the name - I am so happy with it and it seems to suit her already, the clever little minx. Example of her character: "Wah wah Mummy I am so desperately hungry!!" (10 mins after last giant feed ). Mummy puts her on breast. Lasts about 30 secs before dribbling off with a crafty little smile that says "Oh perhaps I am not so hungry after all. But now that I am here, I think I'll just rest my head on the lovely mummy pillow and snuggle in here for the rest of the day thanks, thereby preventing you from moving / eating / sleeping until I deem it appropriate." but just so cute !