Due Fab Feb 2009: crossed fingers (and legs) we'll get through another thread without welcoming any early arrivals!

[MarkStretch]

Welcome.

Please feel free to add yourself to the list.

TinkerBellesMum - DC3 (girl), due: 01.02.09 (not expected to get far into December) (age 27, Birmingham)
Laidbackinengland - DC4, due: 23.01.09 (age 34, North Devon)
Nkweto - DC2, due: 30.01.09 (age 35, West London)
Mamagoose - DC3, due: 31.01.09 (age 32, Spain)
Questionkid - DC1, due: 03.02.09 (age 33, Wallington, Surrey)
PinkTulips - DC3, due; 04.02.09 (age 24, Roscommon, Ireland)
MsLucy - DC2 (a boy), due: 4/2/09 (CS a few days early)(age 38, North London)
Swampster - DC3, (a boy), due: 06.02.09 (age 40 , London)
Rosieposey - DC4, (a boy) due: 06.02.09 (age 36,Swindon,Wiltshire)
MarkStretch - DC2, (a boy) due: 07.02.09 (age 29, Norwich)
onwardandoutward - DC2, due: 07.02.09 (age 35 South West)
LittleMissNorty - DC2, due: 08.02.09 (age 40 in a couple of weeks, Kent).
KT1983 - DC1, due: 09.02.09 (age 25, London)
KazzaL - DC2 (suprise flavour), due 10.02.09 (age 35, Cirencester, Gloucs)
herbgarden - DC2, due: 11.02.09 (CS 02.02.09) (age 38, Berkshire)
TheHouseofMirth - DC2, (a boy) due: 12.02.09 (age 38, Wimbledon)
Littlesez ? DC1 (a girl) due: 15.02.09 (age 28, Manchester)
America - DC2, (a boy) due: 16.02.09 (age 32, London)
Rachrox - DC4, (a boy) due: 18.02.09 (age 28, Cheltenham)
Catstar - DC2, (a boy) due: 18.02.09 (age 36, Chessington)
Dinkystinky - DC2, (a boy) due: 19.02.09 (age 32, London)
Pluto DC2 (gender unknown), due 19.02.09 (Age 38, Kent)
DizzyBrummie - DC2, due: 20.02.09 (age 36, Berkshire)
Calico1 - DC2 due: 21.02.09 (age 40, West Herts)
mrsy - DC1, (a girl) due: 22.02.09 (age 24, Maidstone, Kent
Scubagroover - DC1 (a boy), due: 22.02.09 (age 31, London/ Kent)
Winemakesmummyclever - DC2 (a boy), due: 23.02.09. (age 35, Manchester) expecting cs @ 39 weeks.
Spottyshoes - DC2, due: 24.02.09 (age 28)
Lardybump - DC2, due: 24.02.09 (age 34)
Chilledmama - DC2 (a girl), due: 25.02.09 (age 32, Southsea)
Cocodrillo - DC3, due 26.02.09 (age 34 at the mo, London) expecting a CS at 38-39 weeks.
mumoverseas - DC4 (a boy), due: 28.02.09 (CS 2 to 3 weeks early) (age almost 41 Arabia/Crawley West Sussex)

Hospital Bag - yes - Thats a thought, think il start shopping for night shirts & other bits n bobs this weekend.

Not too sure what I really need to be packin , but il skip the Champagne like my book says!
Maybe just a bottle of Vodka instead, could work well as pain relief??

Lol i always end up with the most silly bag full of stuff that i never used ... will try and be a bit more sensible this time although as its an elective cs might need different types of stuff for wounds ect. Not going to bother with champers either as all i can think id fancy is a nice cup of tea or better still hot choclate!

Morning all. TBM - best of luck at the growth scan today; I have a gut feeling that Fifi will make an appearance in the next 2 weeks for some reason (no idea why!), but really hope all goes well at hospital today and you get some answers to your questions when you see the senior midwife.

Spotty - do you think you might have bruised your muscles (so when baby moves around, it feels quite painful)? If so, totally recommend arnica - really speeds up the healing process (also v good for after birth). We use it on the numerous bruises and blackeyes DS gives himself and I use it when I bump into things and bruise myself (fairly frequently in my current klutzlike state). You can get it from boots in cream or pill form. Hope you feel better soon.

KT - that baby sounds like she was ready to come! Getting your hospital bag ready is a lovely thing - make sure to pack some treats for you to eat (for either during the birth or afterwards) and lots of fluids (water, sports drinks, ribena - with straws - you wont know what you will feel like until the day). Other top tips are several outfits for baby (they are very vommy), lots of nappies and cotton wool, muslins, lanisoh or other cream (if breastfeeding), pillow (in a distinctive pillowcase), comfy pyjamas/night shirt, towel, nice toiletries for that first shower, flip flops (to wear around the ward and when you go into the shower), ENORMOUS pants (black if poss), maternity pads, ear plugs (if they work for you) and couple of breast pads. Oh, and if you're anything like me, you'll look around 5 months pregnant when you go home (surprised me how long it took for my uterus to contract back to normal), so your nicest comfiest going home maternity outfit you can find.

Oh - and if you're going to be in for a while, check out the nearest food outlets and their menus so you can get loved ones/visitors to bring in takeaway edible food for you as I found hospital food to be [bleurgh emoticon]

Ohhh, yes, Hot chocolate & a load of goodies to munch on!

Takeaway - what a great idea
Thanks for the list Dinkystinky - im going to make a list of all that stuff on there, its difficult not knowing.
Plus side, that I only live a short distance from the hospital, so if needs be, I can send DP home for anything im missing.

So do we reckon about 35 weeks to get hospital bag ready?

Dinky- you should write a book for pg women...'Make labour easier - pack the right things'

Don't forget a plastic jug (or something similar) to pour warm water while relieving your bladder. Urine can be v acidic and nippy over stiches/tears/grazes.

Hi all
Glad you all enjoyed your meet up and curry last week.
Good luck today TBM with the scan. Can't see the facebook piccies so can't comment but I'm sure they're lovely....

Had a great weekend away with old friends and no kids - went to bed late and got up late and had nice things cooked for us- only amusing thing was that the bed was really high (a very old building with lovely old furniture) and given that I am pretty short with large bump, getting myself in there was amusing to say the least...I had to hoik myself up from the end and sort of roll on. DH pissing himself laughing.

Only 10 working days to go (over 4 weeks) for me for Mat leave - I cannot wait and second the tiredness thing. I feel exhausted at the moment and increasingly uncomfortable.

A question for you all....this is going to sound girly and air heady but bear with me....one of my treats to myself is that I get my nails done every 3 weeks....and have gel put over the top of my own nails which are set with a UV lamp thingy (some of you may know what I mean?) - so they aren't false nails and the gel is clear over my own nails. Do you know if I need to have them taken off for my c-section? I'm going to post on the childbirth section but was just talking to the nail lady the other day and she thinks they have to be soaked off......YOu usually have to take your nail varnish off for an op - something to do with seeing the colour of your nail beds but not sure about this particular case.....any comments from you wise ladies welcomed !

See you later !

Wow Rosie, that picture of bub is so clear! Bless those chubby little cheeks.
You looked lovely in wedding dress too.

Congrates to your friend KT, glad they're both doing well.

Oh God, hospital bags. I took loads of stuff last time and didn't use any of it!! Will downsize this time.
My hospital had nappies and sanitary pads, cotton wool and baby wipes. Their towels and blankets were a bit rough though.
Agree about the food and drink. Take lots of sandwiches/biscuits for before, during and after, they didn't even give me a slice of toast!

How funny LBB - my hospital wouldnt provide any of that stuff! Strange how it varies from hospital to hospital...

Herbgarden - glad you had a good weekend. Sorry, no idea re your question but am sure one of the ladies on here will be able to answer it.

dinky, they showed me to the store room and told me to help myself. Shelves upon shelves of stuff. Didn't need to buy nappies for weeks! Wel a few days. Didn't expect to go through so many

blimey nice hospital LBB.....not sure they'd do that where I'm going although I couldn't fault my care there.

See, my care was s**t, so suppose they had to make up for it somehow!

ah well then you see you can't have it all ways can you !!.....

No you can't. I'm seeing m/w in 5 weeks and gonna ask her to put in my notes that I want to be out of that hell-hole asap, as long as we're both ok, I'm coming home on the same day, where there'll be 2 of them. Maybe I should think that through a bit more

I know in a very skewed way although I found my 3/4 day stay in hospital last time quite a lonely and emotional experience (particularly when first baby an' all and I didn't really want DH hanging round all day - so we agreed he'd be at work and then come after hours so we could save up his pat leave) this time I know it will be all systems go when I get out and I'm therefore looking forward to a few days of just me and baby in hospital without the demands of a 2 year old and DH who can't seem to understand that me being around does not mean that I'm physically capable !!....c-section won't be great but, don't have much choice.

I know a couple of people who went to these sort of "respite" homes for new mothers - sounds very old fashioned but also really nice and peaceful and no-one descends on you then til you get home.....

That does sound a bit old fashioned. I like getting the initial visits out the way whether it be at home or hospital. Had my family at hospital within half an hour of ds's birth and friends and extended family round the house in the first 3 days. In fact my first visitor at home came 0 minutes after we'd been back the day after he was born.
Get it all out of the way and the sooner I could get into some sort of new normal life.

I've not worked out how to play it with DS yet...He's quite a sensitive thing - he'll be 2 and a half by then (aren't they all) and I'm worried that if he comes in to the hospital and I'm with new baby and then he has to go home again with Daddy/Granny then he might be really upset. I wondered whether it might be better for him to have a little "holiday" with Granny for a couple of days and then come with Daddy to the hospital to pick me up with new baby so that I am then actually coming home with him and baby rather than us staying behind. It's so difficult isn't it but anyone else got the ideal answer when you know you'll be in for longer than a few hours?!....I'm getting myself in a bit of a pickle about it - probably me being a bit sentimental too about ds and I spending our last few weeks together just the two of us until no 2 arrives ....

Hi ladies, I'm a regular lurker but am a bit worried about something so thought i would post for any advice.
I had a 4d scan on Saturday which was fantastic but the sonographer mentioned how far down my baby's head was - I am 27+5 and can see for myself that my tummy has dropped down - is this normal at 27+5?
Hope everyone is ok today

Hi pinkbabybump I really wouldn't worry to much. Mne has been right down in my pelvis since at least 22 weeks. Head down doesn't mean engaged. When's your next appointment with the midwife? She'll mark off any findings in your notes and you can voice your concerns too.
Ds1 was fully engaged at 33 weeks, but then bobbed back out again.

Don't know herb is difficult isn't it? Sure you'll think of something

Thanks LBB, feel bit re-assured now as wasn't sure if it meant engaged or not. I have my 28 week check later this week so will speak to MW then

Goodluck, sure it's all fine. If you are concerned and can't wait til the end of the week, you could alwys phone the labour or m/w and get looked at sooner, but it'll all be ok.

lbb -can't remember on here who has one dc already so no doubt someone wise will contribute a few words !!

Happy Monday everyone. Hope everyone's well.

Herbgarden, I'm also panicking about DS1. He's a bit older at 3.5 but is still very attached to me and he seems to be getting worse as this pregnancy progresses. We have never spent more than 6 hours apart and he won't let anyone else put him to bed. Looks like I'm in for a C-section which'll mean a minimum 48 hours stay if I'm lucky. He's actually fascinated by the idea of me having my tummy cut open but he gets really upset at the prospect of not being allowed in the operating theatre so I haven't been able to even broach the subject that I won't be home for a couple of days. Sometimes it's best to kind of spring things on him a bit, he's a very thoughtful child and given the chance he can brood and work himsself up rather than getting used to an idea. I feel awful for him and feel like whatever we do it will be very painful for all of us. If your DS is used to staying at his grandmother's then I think that's probably a really good idea. Then when you get out you'll be able to welcome him home without multiple separations.

I know LBB it makes him look like he has a mahoosive forehead as well doesnt it lol ... its just to do with the angle though as we had a couple of profile ones and you could really really see his button nose, cheeks and forehead wasnt quite so monumental

Im dreading being away from DH and DC's after my c section and as its booked for a Friday i am hoping i am going to be out by Monday ( and that they really need the beds ) it all depends on the babies blood sugar levels and mine i suppose. Its not quite so bad as those of you who have little ones at home i know but i really struggled being away from my girls whilst i was on honeymoon and came and picked them up a day early from my mums i know its only a a weekend and i will see them every day but i cant wait to get out as will be encouraged to rest up and they know i wont be capable of much after the op anyway.

Id prefer all the visits to be at the hospital tbh so that when i get home i really can just bed down with DH, the girls and lo - DH and i will get a week to ourselves then the girls are on half term the following week. Gosh it really doesnt seem that long now ... 67 days! not that im counting or anything lol

I'm having a c-section so will at least know the date of the big day in advance.

DS will be staying the night with a friend, then DH can look after him.

The idea is to make it into a treat/adventure rather than a chore.

I'm lucky in that he isn't very clingy and would much rather be hanging out with his friends than he would with me!