due Dec 08-the one were we are so brain dead we can't think of a thread title.

[Veggiemummy]

hey there will this be the last one do you think

Veggie we have bought the maxicosi and the isofix base - both of our cars are 3 door so it will save having to lean into the back and fiddle with the seatbelt. The base looks easy enough to fix so we can move it between the cars when we have to. We are defintiely first time paranoid parents-to-be and found that the added safety was reassuring.

lowrib we have gone for the iCandy Apple - prams are very confusing ! Reasons we picked it - it looks good, it has a carrycot from birth that you can buy a safety mattress for (£10) and use as a travel cot, the pushchair bit can face either direction, it has loads of room for shopping underneath and it handles brilliantly.

traceface & penny99 welcome to the thread !

Beans me too - 15 days....well 14.5 wey hey ! ooh and minus MW appts and an anti-D appt - woohhhooooooo !!!!

OMG I swear my baby is trying to burst out ! I have been getting really painful movements all weekend and am currently tryingto stifle my yelps and it boots me to bits ! am really hoping it is trying to turn, so far has been transverse then breech (I suspect he is transverse again now).

Oh and am feeling a bit as I spotted my first stretchmarks at the weekend - eeekk ! Despite liberally applying all manner of creams and oils twcie a day since week 5 they appear to be starting already, am I the first ?

just to give an alternative view point on the car seats - I hated our 0-9m one as it was sooooo heavy and DS looked really squashed in it long before he grew out of it.

I never managed to lug it more than a few steps, and didn't master clipping it on and off the buggy. And we rarely got it out of the car and into the flat without DS waking up anyway - which made you think you might as well have just lifted him out in the first place.

So anyway this time we are abandoning the early stage completely and going for a 0-4y seat for the new baby right from the start - Having said that, I know some people swing their babies in and out of the car all day long in car seats so maybe I'm super feeble!

Ouch mibbles! Think I remember someone had stretch marks a while back.....I don't have any new ones yet Didn't get any on my bump last time so fingers crossed and breasts have just grown to fill the empty stretch mark covered sack from last time so not added any yet though with a little while left and then milk to come in I expect a few more!

Oh GOD
Was so proud as just had some soup for lunch. then came back to the office and someone has bought cakes, so I've had 3 pieces. I feel so sick now!

PS mibbes - no stretch marks as yet, but sure they'll come soon - despite me splashing out on Clarins oil - why did I bother??!

I would not even know if I had new stretch marks, I cannot see the bottom side of my bump (where the major damage was inflicted last time). I thought I had done OK last time until about two days AFTER having DD when suddenly I could see my the bottom of my tummy and the top of my thighs and I was devastated .

I will seriously consider a tummy tuck after I have finsiehd having babies. Apparantly they cut away alot of the excess skin and so rid you of many of the marks.

My side-car cot just arrived

mibbes poor you with the stretch marks. I have acquired a couple on my bump but I had loads from puberty already so it's not too much of a shock for me. Also I have not been putting on lotions or creams just a bit of moisturiser when I remember so it's probably my own fault! It sucks that you've been so dedicated and still got some. Hopefully they'll fade after the baby is born.

About buggies: we are getting the Bugaboo Bee. I know lots of people don't like Bugaboos but for us it looks the best because we don't drive and wanted something small for public transport but which we could also fix a car-seat to for when we have to visit the parents and in-laws and we'll be relying on cabs etc as no public transport is available.

I have a question about inductions. I saw my GP for my 34 week ante-natal check today and she was a bit that the sonographer and midwife had brought my due date forward a week after my growth scan at 27 weeks. She said 'it makes me uncomfortable because if the baby doesn't come, they are going to induce you and give you a c-section'. When i queried this, she said that if I am induced I will be given syntocin (sp?) which makes the labour very painful and means you have to have an epidural which means you will be on your back for the labour which makes a c-section much more likely.

My question is, is this true? Do you HAVE to have an epidural if you have an induction and does an induction mean you have no chance of an active labour?

Thanks, I know I might be worrying over nothing as I may go in to labour myself but just wondered if anyone knows....

Found you

No stretch marks here so far, didn't get any with DS so here's hoping. I've managed not to iron my bump this time as well (cunning plan: stop ironing).

Car seats: we got a cheapy first stage seat as we use it very rarely, then a maxi-cosi second stage as it would be used for longer. DS had grown out of the first seat by about 8 months.

pixsix: induction can make labour more painful, so some hospitals will automatically offer you an induction (my sister had one with her first, induced as overdue). It doesn't mean you will have a CS or that you won't have an active birth because you have to agree to everything they do, whether it's being induced in the first place (you can ask to be monitored instead), what pain relief you want and so on. If you're concerned, ask in teh Childbirth section about writing your birth plan - there are some great experts on there .

offer you an epidural

oha nd you can alsoo ask for a mobile epidural (check if your hospital offers them) which means you can still move about

Hey Everyone!

Welcome Traceface and Penny99!!

mibbes no stretch marks at the moment, but I figure they're coming. I've had DH check for me since I can't see under the bump!

As for buggies, we were totally confused about what to get. We didn't recognize any brand names except for Graco since we moved from the US. But we finally decided on getting a Silver Cross 3D Pram. We picked it because it did all of the things we wanted it to do and it looked sturdy and we had heard good things about them.

We are still looking at car seats. We wanted to get something that would last a while so we don't have to buy another one in a few months. We've been looking at the Britax First Class Si Ultra. Thought it looked good since it has an insert for newborns that can be removed when they are larger and it reclines!

We also did a little splurging this weekend for the baby. We made a trip to IKEA and bought a lamp and some other odds and bits. Now if we can ever decide on a paint color!!

Also got to go to the big baby show at Earl's Court this weekend. It was a bit overwhelming! Did any of you ladies get to go?

Pixsix - as Effie said you might be OK with an induction. However, my own experience and subsequent research is that your chances of needing other interventions are MUCH higher after an induction, especially if they use Syntocin.

This is for several reasons. First, the early parts of induction are only a bit painful but can take hours and even days if your body is not ready. By the point that you are in established labour you are have a high chance of being utterly exhasuted which will reduce your efficiency at pushing etc.

Second, most hosptials will insist on constant fetal monitoring after an induction. This means you are hooked up to lots of machines and your movemnt is very restricted. You won't be able to have a bath or do anything to help you relax.

Third, synotcin causes HORRIBLE contractions. Very, very few women manage a synotcin induced labour without an epidural. I really thought I would manage it but I just could not. So then you get the epdirual and in my case it meant I could not feel to push and ended up needing forceps and a big episiotomy (which in turn led to a heamorrage).

All in all I would do anything to avoid an induction again and if I have to have one I will really try and refuse syntocin.

Crikey. Think I'm better just burying my head in the sand. Figure that the baby's going to come out in the end! All this syntocin sounds terrifying!

ok - here's my penny's worth, from someone who hasn't had a baby yet and so whose experience is obviously limited. BUT, i have had both a spontaneous miscarriage (it happened on its own - natural, no interventions) and an induced miscarriage with misopristol (after my cervix wouldn't open during the d&c and with a couple of what i presume were prostaglandin tablets (sp?))...

the spontaneous miscarriage (which in my head i liken to a natural birth) started slowly, built up over a period of hours and then was absolutely hideous for 2 contractions, and then it was over. done.

the induced miscarriage (which i presume is similar to an induced birth) went from 0 (can't feel anything, nothing going on) to 60 (ohmigod, what the f**k is happening to me, can't move my legs, where am i, feel sick, think i'm going to pass out, ow ow ow, give me all the drugs NOW) in about 20 seconds. i had no time to build up my resistance to the pain, no time to get used to it, which is what i understand happens in a more natural birth, and the pain was excruciating for a very long time. the main thing was: i was scared. i just didn't know how long it was going to last, or how more painful it was going to be, or whether i was going to be able to cope.

don't forget: the important thing about pain is our perception of it - in the first case, it felt like period pains getting v v bad, but over a period of hours, the second was terrifying because of the speed.

sorry, that all sounded gruesome, but just thought i'd chip in.

pixsix you can ask to be monitored daily if you go over your due date. With ds he was a week late when the midwife started talking about inductions. I said I didn't want to be induced and she said that I could go 14 days over the due date but would have to go to the hospital each day for the baby to be monitored etc.

Having said that, it does depend on your hospital's policy so you would have to check with the midwife.

The points effie, arti & waitinggirl have made about being induced are good ones. You just have to balance up what you want vs what the hospital says you should have.

Hello

Haven't posted for months as my hyperemesis got worse. But have finally stopped throwing up - hurrah! On up side work have been brilliant and I don't have to go back before birth. Was just trying to catch up - and saw pixisx's post about induction. I know it can be hideous - but really isn't always. I had to be induced last time and got myself in such a state about how awful it was going to be in advance. In reality was fine - hospital was v short staffed so they didn't want to hurry me too much (although this caused problems in 2nd stage!) so I got 24 hours to see if the gels would work and combination of them and spending hours walking up and down stairs in hospital seemed to do the trick (pressure from baby's head helps too apparently).

In the end quite peaceful birth - and only needed gas and air. This time am trying acupuncture from 36 weeks as supposed to help get your body ready and make it more likely that baby born round about due date. Am pondering homebirth so especially keen that she's not late.

On pushchairs can only second Veggie's advice to put some thought into it. Last time for some reason I really didn't care very much and DH was dead keen (think it was talk of pram "chassis") so I pretty much let him choose. As a result we had to buy another pushchair for DS and will now need to get something different for the two of them. .. Like Indith am going to try pram and sling to start off with and see how we get on. Can't get my head round having to cope with baby and a toddler....

I think different areas depend for induction, I went to 42 weeks with ds but had no extra monitoring, a normal pregnancy is classed between 37 and 42 weeks anyway. After 42 weeks you would need to really know your own mind, be sure of yourself and would need monitoring. I think most places tend to offer induction at 40+10, mine did but were happy to go to 40+14.

Induction can restric you in labour so the best thing to do is to be prepared and know the different options available. I would say read the Ina May Gaskin Guide to Childbirth, she may be in to natural childbirth in a big way but I found the section on induction to be very informative as it includes good descriptions of the various effects and risks of the different induction drugs available. You don't always end up flat on your back with induction, the first thing they try is a pessary which, if it works, leaves you perfectly free to move around. Even if you have a drip most hospitals have fancy beds that go in various positions so you can be more upright yet still on the bed and able to be linked up to monitors. You can of course request intermittent monitoring rather than being hooked up to a machine.

thanks for those 2 positive posts on inductions, lal and Indith - the problem is that it can be something that you don't get much choice in with some hospitals. Plus I've spoken to friends who said they were so desperate by that stage to get their baby out, that they would have tried anything!

I'm sure it's not ideal, but if it does have to happen, I really don't want to be even more scared than I already will be, IYKWIM! I'm going to try to just go with it and understand all my options and take the course of action that I think will be best for the baby and best for me.

High lal, glad you've stopped throwing up! Nice to see a good induction story too

Meant to clarify on my post, I went to 42 weeks but was not induced and had a homebirth.

I know a few inductions and augmentations (where they give you drugs if you are not progressing quickly enough) and all but one were ok and resulted in intervention free births. The one that didn't ended in a section due to undiagnosed breech so doesn't count as breech and induction really do not mix.

Oh gosh yes desperation to get baby out means you'll agree to anything! I was actually booked in for induction for the evening of the day ds arrived, I had been dreading it, induction and having to give birth in the hospital terrified me more than anything but oddly when I went to bed the night before I was perfectly relaxed about it, I'd gone to 40+14 and, not having read as much on the subject as I have now, was happy that induction was best at that stage so was all ready to get up in the morning, enjoy my last day, pack a bag and go in. Of course I then woke up a short while later, threw up all over the flat and had ds

I didn't have an induction but my best friend did with her second and she said it was fairly similar to her natural birth except it was more painful quicker.

With her first she had fairly painless contractions to start with and the pain built up as it went on. With her induction the contractions were very painful right from the start.

My ontractions were very painful, and had no gaps between them right from the start, so I guess natural doesn't always mean a gentle build up.

Bye all - heading off for the night now.
x