Due September 2005 - Thread 4

[PiccadillyCircus]

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Yes, I hope my baby bump starts growing soon too. My 'food baby' bump is developing quite nicely though . lol

Betsey
Thought C&W was great. My dh is a doctor and I had a choice of there, Kingston, St Helier and Georges and he said he would be happiest with C&W. I was not disappointed at all and my midwife team and those at the hospital were lovely. You will hear negative things said about C&W but probably mostly about the postnatal ward which wasn't the cleanest - but that didn't bother me as I wasn't in there very long at all with either of my babies. Any questions on baby stuff in the Putney area, things to do etc do ask.

Thanks Sallie, it's very reassuring to hear that you had two good experiences at the C&W and that your DH thought it was the best choice. Hopefully I will get to go home quickly too and won't have to experience the post natal ward for very long!

I'm sure I will think of loads of things to ask you over the next few months as I don't know anything about baby stuff in Putney at all at the moment! I won't be starting my ante-natal classes until July which seems ages away.

Kiwifruit, I'm also planning on moving back to NZ but in June as juggling 2 on the flight would probably make me want to jump out! My husband is also British and just wondering how you are going about getting him in on a one way ticket. We've been told he needs a visa (problem for us as we can't give our passports away) or a return ticket. Buying a return and not using it (cost wise) is out of the question for us. Also moving back to Christchurch, at least for the first part.

Franch - all the best with your tests. Know this is a stressful one.
Thanks to all for your kind words xxx
I've decided to get a second opinion on the nuchal neck ratio to help decide on the amnio. Next wednesday I have an appointment with the prof who did the ultrasound checks, cvs & amnio for my last preg. I should have thought of this before!! If their result is very different to the one I got before then I might have an amnio instead of having the triple test. Have decided no matter what that if I have an amnio the purpose will be for us to prepare for any problems in advance. Just to know what to expect and we'll have time to work out how we'll cope. This is a tricky area and just to say that I respect others who have made different decisions with results of antenatal tests Best wishes to all xxx

welcome betsey. Hello and good morning to you all, the sun is shinning I don't feel sick and i have a night off work, life is looking good. Good luck to those of you moving soon. Hope the moves to NZ go ok for those planning to move later, we have friends who emigrated out there about three years ago and I get soooo envious when they send photos of the kids etc. I think some time in the park is called for today!! Speak to you all later.

Wow summer is on the way in sunny London!! I have my first booking visit at the midwife today, not too sure what it will involve as I have had most of the bloods done at the GP.

I can't believe how fast the time is going! I am at the end of 14 weeks now!! Hope everyone else is doing ok xx

Hi Kiwicath. We should organise to catch up in Christchurch, if you're going to be there in December... We were able to get one way flights as DH is now the proud owner of a NZ passport (we lived in NZ for 3 years before coming back here, and started his citizenship application in NZ, finished it here). I wouldn't have thought that NZ residency would be too much of an issue for your husband, as you are married (from memory it was fairly straightforward when we did it - just had to fill out some forms and hand over some cash. You have to have held residency for 2 years (I think) before you can get citizenship if you're married to a NZ citizen). I would contact the NZ consulate in Cairo, or check out www.immigration.govt.nz

HTH

Cheers Kiwifruit. No consul in Cairo I'm afraid although there was talk of one in 2006. Immigration website driving us crazy as all the answers are computerized and when they do decide to write, we are left with more questions than answers. Oh well, will give Mum the mission of finding out what's what. Defo get intouch in December - kid's will be 3 months then !!!!

Thanks milward - haven't heard anything yet so am thinking no news is good news but not sure how quickly these things get processed. Sounds like the 2nd opinion thing is a very good idea - best of luck with that and let us know how you get on - will be thinking of you xxx

Thanks franch - hope everything will be ok for you xxx Don't know why I didn't think of a second opinion sooner - just occured to me as I was watching tv!!
Best wishes to all xxx

Just got back from my first booking appointment, had a scan after all, and everything is fine! Have a lovely picture from scan of beany baby that looks like it's sucking it's thumb!(my dad said "oh all those pictures look like that" so maybe they have a generic photo they give to all new parents hehehe!). Am feeling really happy that everything's ok

Hi - back from the USA - great holiday. Lots of sleep = feeling much better. Bought heaps of maternity clothes - much bigger range over there. Thank God for maternity Gap!
Tummy getting flabby but can feel uterus. Think I can even feel some flutters too!

Nuchal scan went well and midwife lovely. Im with you Betsy on the epidural. Told midwife this in no uncertain terms and she seemed ok with it! I know NCT and a lot of midwives go for the natural approach but I'm no hero! I am only really interested in NCT for social side so may just do midwife classes. Up for a MN london meet though!

Boompi - do Gap in the UK do maternity wear? or just in the USA?

just in the USA Although there is a shop on ebay that sells it new, only you won't get the chance to try stuff on. So Boompi - are the sizes generous?

Boompi and Betsy I don't want to be the voice of doom but do look into the risks of epidurals - I ended up with one with DD (induced) and was in acute pain for several days afterwards, unable to sit up or stand (which made the first days of being a mum kind of hard) - had to have 3 more needles in my spine before it got sorted, and after the 2nd there was talk of my being left permanently horizontal. This is rare and others will sing the praises of epidurals (it certainly made the syntocinon-induced contractions less scary), but I also found being strapped to a monitor very restrictive and in the end I couldn't feel my body telling me when to push and consequently tore a lot.

Just one person's experience and I totally respect your choices but just a thought to look into the alternatives - personally I'll be avoiding epidurals at all costs this time round, and I'm certainly no hero

I decided to have an epidural for my third (had one for dd1 - wonderful, had a cs for dd2). When I was in labour my labour helper & m/w said that it was now the last moment for an epidural if I wanted one. Couldn't believe it as I felt fine!! - so didn't have one & everything went well for the birth. Had to have an epidural afterwards though for a pph when the placenta didn't come out whole - an awful experience - the anesthetist couldn't get the epidural sited & the pph was just loads. Luckily she got it going & everything was sorted out. Good luck with your epidural decisions - I'd say see what happens at the time.

Hope everyone had a good weekend. I can tell how many people have been there done that and worn the sick stained t shirt with pride, whay are we all talking about pain relife at this early stage? I left it all to the last minute last time round, won't make that mistake again. I have hear loads of horor stories re epidurals but these are outweighed by the positive ones. I had an absolubtly horrendous labour with my first from Monday 7am till the Wednesday at 2.32 am. I eventually agreed to an epidural at Tuesday tea time and managed to get some sleep, by following the patterns on the monitor i was hooked up to i new exactly when to push and delivered my beatuful little girl without internvention. I did have a few problems with my back for about two weeks after but put that down to an existing spinal problem. DH was off work with me and helped tremendousley. I have decided to go with gas and air this time but if it all gets too much i shall skip the pethedine and get an epidural. I hated the pethedine because i lost control with it and that freaked me out a little.

i agree that a wait and see approach is good - to a point. After having worked on a labour ward for six months (and speaking to friends who have delivered in past years) I feel many are fed the idea that completely natural is the best for mum amd baby and are shocked by the reality of labour. By the time they want analgesia they are told its too late for an epidural and are given pethidine - something I dont want. I am going to see how it progresses but my birth plan will very firmly include my desire for an epidural before its too late if need be. My mum had three (in the 70's) with no prob too and is very encouraging of them too!

Re Gap maternity - I got exactly the same sizes as fitted me in Gap UK before. I guess if my butt grows at the rate of my belly I would have to go up a size! I love Gap trousers normally so find them just right now.

Very jet lagged though!

Very excited as have told work I will be taking 5 -6 weeks annual leave from 10th May, then will have 11 weeks maternity leave, all things being ok at the next scan on 9th May. So essentially only got about 7ish weeks to go, and I'm off for 2 of those!
Hurrah!

Good for you! I am doing the same - taking annual leave and tacking it on the front of my maternity leave. So I only have around 11 weeks which is manageable though they are going to be a hard 11 weeks.

Hiya all
Ive got my booking appointment tomorrow and the scan will be taken which im really looking forward to.
I have seen epidural's being mentioned, and I have to say that for me, having an epidural was the best thing. I only had it a year ago, my ds has just turned one, and I havent had any sort of side effects from it at all.

I had an epidural the first time round with ds as it was a long-ish labour (20 hours). With dd I didn't get time (3 hours from start to finish). My epidural experience was great - it worked a treat and I didn't tear when pushing him out.

would agree with milwards 'wait and see' - you never know if you will have a really quick labour and not have any time for pain relief, or whether you will want everything going.
As I have opted for a home birth I assume that it would only be gas and air available, but as I have been very lucky and had such fast and easy labours for ds1 and 2 I haven't used anything before. Hoping that this one follows the same pattern, or the midwife and dh could be in trouble!

Hello everyone .

Have now moved house and it is so much large than our old one. I'm sure we will manage to fill it up soon though .

Went to see the midwife today and heard small one's heartbeat which was nice. Am going to hospital tomorrow to have my blood tests - DH and I need to make up our minds tonight about whether to have the triple test or not. I am thinking probably not.

Am generally feeling less sick although still very tired. Internet not yet connected at home so will be popping into library from time to time.

On the subject of pain relief I used TENS machine (not sure how usefyl it was really), gas and air and had diamorphine (our hospital uses that rather than pethidine). Diamorphine good although made me a bit sick.