Due Fab Feb 2009: the Curry and Cake Club

[onwardandupward]

Here is our new thread!

haven't caught up but 24 weeks today

The spinal cord and the nerves are contained in a sac of cerebrospinal fluid. The space around this sac is the epidural space. Spinal anesthesia involves the injection of numbing medicine directly into the fluid sac. Epidurals involve the injection into the space outside the sac (epidural space). Spinals and epidurals have the same effect (i.e. numbs a large region of the body) because they both involve numbing of the nerves as they branch off the spinal cord. Since the spinal injection is more "direct", the effect is immediate. Spinals are usually the first choice of anesthetic for women who are not in labor but need a Cesarean delivery. Epidural anesthesia takes a little longer to establish desired affect.

I had an epidural during my labour with ds which was topped up for a crash cs. Unfortunately, it wasn't a great success and I ended up having to have IV diamorphine (as well as the usual "lovely" paracetamol suppositories).

Talk to your consultant about your options as early as possible. Also, ask to see a consultant anaesthetist. They will be able to give you a more informed opinion about what is best for you - they are the ones who will be performing such procedures anyway. And, dare I say it, they often take a more holistic view than surgeons (ooooh, controversial ).

Ergh I was due to go and meet a client this morning but have just cancelled- feel a bit funny.

Does anyone feel like this? Sometimes my heart booms away, quite fast, in the mornings and I feel dizzy. Don't think it's anxiety as I'm not feeling anxious, wondering if it is just increased blood volume and all that?

Calico and THOM - congrats on your scans and congrats on another little boy THOM. He will absolutely adore and idolise his big brother and, as the sonographer said to me, you will be the queen of your house for ever more and the most loved mummy ever...

Herbgarden - Artex is a real bugger to get rid of. DH's mum had it in her house and it took her days to chip it off and then she got a plasterer (fortunately her brother) in to redo the plaster - took him a couple of days (ceiling too low to plasterboard and skim). If you have high ceilings, get a plasterer in to skim over it - much less hassle in the long run!

Re Braxton hicks - have been getting them from around 14 weeks. Not painful though - just tightening and loosenings. Dont think Squiglet is a huge fan of them though - he always gives me a massive kicking after them. If they're really uncomfortable MamaGoose try drinking more water (dehydration can apparently make them more pronounced) or having a bath if they're in the evenings - may slacken them off a bit. Hope your braxton hicks were ok and nothing to worry about TBM.

Huge sympathies to the bad back brigade (there seem to be an awful lot of bad backs on this thread) - make sure you dont overdo things (that includes you routemarcher Markstretch!). Markstretch - take it easy if you're getting dizzy/pounding heart (may be your body's way of saying you are overdoing things). I get heart poundings too occasionally (we're creating LOTS of extra blood in pregnancy and heart is working overtime) - generally when I've been overdoing things.

Thanks to everyone for the preschool picking advice. We have a wonderful nanny who looks after DS (has looked after him since 6 months old) who we picked on the same lines (how she was with him rather than us) so more than happy to apply that instinct again when it comes to pre-school selection.

Gosh! wine really does make mummy clever? Are you a medical sort, wmmc?

I've had two epidurals for emergency CSs and,in my vasty experience, while it is a bit scary having to be totally still when you don't know when the next contraction is coming, anaesthetists are THE most sympatico, cerebral, empathetic and just plain beautiful people in the whole world - I think it is a requirement to do the job.

Looking forward to having an elective this time round.

MS - can you see your doc soon? It could be blood pressure that makes you feel weirdy and it probably is nothing to worry about. But always worth getting checked out.

Dinky you've made me cry!

dinky - thanks for advice about water. Will try that as they are v bad in evening so that might explain it! They do stop if I lie down too.

I've just taken my BP and it's 120/75 which is ok isn't it? Seems pretty good for me.

Think it might be just the general 'up out of bed and rushing to school' thing...

I second that about anaesthetists. I sure I actually fell in love with mine when I was giving birth to dd.

Although, that may have been one of the side effects of the diamorphine.

I do remember saying to him 'so THIS is why people take heroin' as the lovely stuff filled my veins....

Baby? What? Mine? Who? Ahhhhhhhh......

Sorry THOM - didnt mean to make you cry!

MS - your bp is fine. Try to take your time getting up from sitting/lying down and stop rushing about quite so much. Probably just doing a bit too much all at the same time. You know, just generally being a full time mother, wife, worker, and part time cook and bottle-washer. Slow down woman!

swampster - lol! Was an ITU nurse so have some knowledge (know nowt about midwifery type stuff though) Agree with anaesthetists being lovely - so lovely that I married one! Best thing I ever got on the NHS

Oh look, MS, wmmc has nicked our anaesthetist!

I had a few more last night, but didn't go in. It's difficult to know what to do. I've been told to get them checked out but I was happy they were just BH, so do I get them checked out because it's what I'm supposed to do or leave it because I'm not worried? On the other hand I did miss that I was in labour the last two times so maybe this is as much for me as for them.

MarkStretch is it palpitations? They're supposed to be quite common in pregnancy, I haven't had them this time but I got them a lot before. Usually you should feel fine when they've passed.

The other person that will give good advice for your back is an obstetric physio. Mine's spoken to me about the best position for birth and how to protect my back (just in case they "allow" me my VBAC). I've had two unrelated physios now that have told me the same things about my last birth. My problem is PGP that doesn't go away between babies.

Just had my scan. We are having another little boy! Absolutely over the moon but stunned as we were both convinced the baby would be a girl!

Luckily I resisted all those urges to buy pink babygros

Swampy, let's wrestle her. WMMC- Is he lovely and kind and sweet and understanding and patient? Does he give you lovely drugs?

And to think I married a lowly 'not quite a paramedic only an ambulance technician'.

Useful for BP measurements, RUBBISH for morphine....

TBM- how far along are you now? And I do get palpitations occasionally but they do go and don't make me dizzy. Hmm.

Congrats America! Another boy!

Congrats America! Wow - this thread is boytastic!! Hope all has calmed down at work now for you and at home - is your DH back now?

lol even if he was a paramedic you wouldn't get morphine though, so console yourself with he's not withholding it from you! I trained on the voluntary ambulances and we have some paramedics working with us, I think they find it frustrating when they're on our ambulances rather than NHS ones as to how little they're allowed to do - probably especially when they're running 999 calls!

I'm 24 weeks on Sunday. I've been talking to another MNer who has two boys to match my two girls (IYSWIM) and saying I'm so glad to get to 24 weeks It's good to have someone who understands the milestones and doesn't think I'm mad hehe.

The getting up too quick feeling is common in pregnancy too, take it slowly and (daft tip but it works) when you're in that feeling clench and release your bum muscles until it goes. It pushes the blood up your body a bit. Baby aspirin can help if it comes too often, not that I'm recommending a pregnant woman who hasn't got a prescription to go out and buy some.

agree with swampster, wine really does make mummy clever, might go and knock back a few glasses to see if it improves my spelling and general intelligence. Oh bugger, I can't, I live in a sodding dry country!aaaaaghhh!
wish I knew what 'flavour' my bump is. Everyone else seems to know what they are having!

Morning all, not been on here for ages...lost the thread for a while.

News on the boy thread...Im having a little girl!! Soooo excited, We went to Mothercare world on saturday and found it extremely hard not to buy everything girly in sight!

Question for you all - I am coming up to 23 weeks on Monday. Is that 5 months? Does pregnancy work in 4 week months?
Also, when does the 3rd trimester start?

Hope your all well and avoiding the colds and flu's going around, unfortunatly i got struck on Wednesday
Happy Weekend all XX

Congrats on your little girl bump KT - lovely news. Sorry you're suffering from the flu though - hope you feel better soon (especially as is supposed to be a nice weekend for once).

I am useless at remembering which week is in which trimester (just about managing to remember which week of pregnancy am in) so hopefully one of the more informed mums will be along shortly.

Congrats KT1983 on your girl news!

And thanks Dinky, everything is getting back to normal. I've been travelling quite a bit for work so tired as usual but at least DH has been running the show at home.

Going out with some girl friends tonight for a good rant so I'm feeling a lot more positive now.

KT1983 - PG doens't work in 4 week months otherwise we would be pg for 10 months!! 40 weeks is usually just over 9 calendar months though. I think 2nd trimester started at 13 weeks, so I would imagine that 3rd starts at 26 weeks, so we have a couple of weeks to go yet. Congrats on the pink one - I want one of those this time, but DH was very firm about us not finding out at our scan last week

Got a physio appt in 10 mins - finally managed to get one with someone as the physio I saw last time I was pg has just buggered off on an 18 mth sabbatical. Was very good and found my sacro-illiac belt this morning although after wearing it all morning, I seem to be in more pain than usual - perhaps I have done it up a bit tight

DS now has a chest infection following on from his 10 day diarrhoea bout - after he kept waking up last night, we gave him pretty much a does of every med in the cabinet and he slept through - I tihnk I am destined not to sleep for the next 5 years or so.

Afternoon all ! Congrats on the girl and boy news ....I'm now so tempted to find out !.....Must restrain myself as I'm hopeless at keeping it to myself and neither dh nor my mum wanted to know.

I get heart palpitations just from doing a walk up and down the stairs. I end up having to sit down and get my breath back - makes me feel about 90. I also get dizzy/heart racing episodes....I think as everyone else says it is just a pregnancy thing as I had it before and am not usually so unfit ( I seem to have everything this time!)..

My anaesthetist when I had DS was GORGEOUS. I'd had a whole day waiting for him to arrive (waters had broken nearly 2 and a half days before so they were waiting to induce me and I wanted an epidural for that)- I waited in the delivery suite from 8am to 7pm for and anaesthetist to arrive listening to the cries of pain joy coming from adjacent rooms. By the time the guy got to me I was well past it and not in the best of moods. DH said he's never seen my face light up so fast. I was topped up with a spinal block for my emergency cs as they couldn't numb me - I had a different anaesthetist for that who was not quite as gorgeous in looks but the most patient and sweet guy you could meet. Let's hope he's still on the staff second time around (can't remember if I've mentioned that I've been booked in for second CS on 2nd Feb...)

Thanks for the artex ceiling advice. General consensus seems to be plaster over it.

Been to B & Q this morning and bought a load of laminate to put in our dining room to cover up the 60's black floor tiles. Got everything we need to do the job so DH is going to be delighted when I tell him what I have in store for him on Sunday - I think I'll break it to him gently. Funnily enough DS has just drawn on the temporary carpet we put over it when we moved in so - oops- it'll have to go now !

Congrats to all those joining me in the Boy's club and to you KT1983 on your pink bundle. I think DH was a bit sad ours wasn't until he remembered how much cheaper it will be to have another boy and then he cheered up immediately!

Herbgarden, my DH has the lovely job of crowbarring 25m of skirting board off our bedroom walls this weekend in readiness for the plasterer coming next week. I still haven't actually told him...