due in jan on the home stretch now!! on the 1st day of christmas my true love gave to me a baby up in a tree,2 babygros,3 teddy bears,4 waddling mummies and five smelly nappies

[tinkisallreadytositonthetree]

hi ladies thought i would be organised and start a new thread

WHO SAID SHELLING PEAS I am pretty sure i banned that phrase moons ago...

You are right Lenni > i am due a nice uncomplicated HB.

Little confused on the placenta previa, as to who has it, or whether its just general Questions?! I've got a Scan on 30th to check placenta positioning, as at 20 weeks the sonographer couldn't see it?!?! Not worrying too much, from what i've heard its quite common to have a low lying placenta at 20 w (whether mine was or not we'll never know!) as the uterus hasn't stretched properly yet!

givethedog of COURSE positive thinking will help, well it certianly cannot do any harm. I'm half way through my hypnobirthing book, and that certainly encourages positive thinking of ALL sorts!!!

GTDAB - I would be too, some women have all the luck don't they?

My Mum had dreadful labours (36+ hrs) with all of her first 3 (she's got 5 in all). She had over 50 stitches with me so my 12hrs with DD seemed like a doddle to her. Not that the 12hrs established labour tells the full story...

With my Mum's 4th she was induced at 6pm (10days over) and had baby by 7pm. Was home by 10pm that night

And I can't cook souffles either.

Hi treedelivery, gosh we are so lucky to have you on this list.

I have 2 boys aged 6 and 4. This is probably too much detail, but will run it all off as it comes to me anyway:

DS1:
Went into labour 6 hours after a sweep at 6 days overdue. He was back-to-back and labour was long and v painful with v erratic painful contractions which after 26 hours had only got me to 2 cms! Was taken to labour ward and put on drip to speed things up and had continuous monitoring and eventually ARM. Progress still painfully slow (literally) and registrar bullied me into having an epidural 'to try and relax my muscles' and because he was trying to railroad me into a section (had been for a couple of weeks as ds1 had small abdo measurement and had been scanned and dopplered twice a week for previous 4 weeks, fortunately both midwife and consultant thought registrar was a twonk and agreed with me). Epi topped up twice, then ds1s heart rate dipped dramatically and everbody panicked. New registrar brought in with kiwi ventouse all ready to go but 1 push and he was out - shocked everyone! Great apgar, weighed 6lb 8oz and perfectly healthy. Went to family room to recover, had lovely sleep with DH in huge pine double bed and went home 4 hours later.

DS2:
Went into labour naturally 8 days late, but again he was back to back. Fortunately this time had lots of erratic but manageable contractions over the next 48 hrs and then he managed to turn. Went into hospital just an hour and a half before he was born, had ARM again (apparently I seem to have extra tough membranes ). Midwife said, "we won't be seeing this baby for another 3 or 4 hours" then left the room. I immediately felt a huge urge to push (which was a shock as having the epidural first time round I hadn't experienced it before) yelled for her to come back and he was born after 3 pushes like a rocket! Again good apgar and a healthy 7lb 12oz. Home same day.

Two things I can think of with regards to this one being so mobile:

1. Carried much bigger with DS2 (was huge actually). This time I have a much, much smaller compact bump which is tight and resembles a watermelon stuck to my front! Last growth scan (Thurs before last) said she was only on the 10th centile and DS2 was 50th (DS1 was 9th). I actually think my abdo muscles were quite a lot tighter before conceiving this time as I was doing walking for fitness and covering lots of miles every day wearing MBT trainers which help you to walk up tall and also tighten abdominal muscles.

1. Had bad SPD with both boys. After DS2 had a lot of osteopathy treatment to realign my pelvis and maybe this could have affected the way I carry. (I have a problem with my hips and knees anyway as my hips are twisted outwards and knees twist inwards - and yes I do have a funny walk )

Don't know if any of that helps.

Right, will go and try to catch up on the rest of the thread now.

don't know a single person who can!
going to be brave later and look on the c section site. all your messages must sound petrifying to first timers. lets assure them that you forget it the instant baby is born but agree the closer you get the more your other births come back to you. what a cruel twist of fate. think once you are doing it though you don't have a lot of choice other than to go with it. its christmas so if we have all been good girls santa will bring us easy labours
i am booked for c section on the 30th. gave me the choice of then or the 29th. know looking at the calendar the consultant said the only days they wouldn't do electives was christmas day/boxing day/new years. they have told me to expect to be in for 3 days. mum has told me to take 5 if they offer it and enjoy the peace
dad went mental in jo jo maman. have lots of gorgeous cashmere things with feet, polar tec suits and a gro bag that can go in the car seat.
sis and dad singing the grand old duke of york downstairs and ds laughing his head off! ds also did a wee on gd when he changed his nappy in chiswick. to be fair he apparently did warn him saying wee wee grandad!

blimey moose. i had mega short first stage (2/3 hours) but then pushed for nealry 2 hours as ds b2b and shoulder dystocia. surely a chance with your awesome pushing that dc3 could literally fly out!
never shelled a pea. the only kind i buy are frozen. is that wrong?

Oh yes, didn't want my birth stories to frighten anyone. I actually look back on both of them fondly and even though I know it was painful with DS1 I can't actually remember the pain.

I really enjoyed DS2s labour, kept mobile and upright for most of it, pain was perfectly manageable - doddle really. That's why I thought this one would be a sinch (sp?)

tree forgot to say I will be 38 weeks this Saturday. Due on 3rd Jan.

Hello - sorry had tea time and poo everywhere type parenting fiasco. Yum! Find 4 year old poo smeared various locations makes me vomit - yak!

Am real life proper midwife! Sorry! Always have to apologise as realise we are often source of much anger and frustration!

lenniEd - think best help for optimum positioning prior to labour is an active pelvis. So up and down stairs, crawling, swaying on ball etc. Has to be done with an open pelvis - no time to sit like a nun if you see what I mean.
Practice squatting - feet flat on floor, bum nearly on ground, weight forward. You might need support going up and down but once get hang should be able to maintain it for a while.
Not sitting with knees higher than pelvis - like on couch.
In labour - activity! The contractions will do the work if they have to, and finally pushing, but mobility does give the baby more options and encourage the process. Like turning a bottle of champagne whilst twisting the cork.
Its a bugger however that posterior positions often take ages to get into laboour, ages in labour, are painful and the uterus finds them a struggle to contract on - hence many of us end up with epidural for pain relief and coping. Then we're imobile and working against it. You can see how we end up on drips to give contractions extra umph to do work our immobile bodies can't.

Happily for 2nd timers, the whole process is easier as the cork finds the champagne bottle neck a bit wider and more flexible! Occasionally a bony pelvis shape wil just encourage a posterior position through it's shape. With your first delivery I'd expect the head to be anterior at delivery with alot less intervention and need for worry. It may not need to rotate or may do so in labour but either way your body and baby should find the process much quicker, which usually translates to easier.
Hope this helps but do ask if not!!!

GivetheDog - are you opening your bowls? Sorry! But I have pelvic pain until I do, then it just resolves! Its bizarre! You could have co-codamol, of a variety of strengths? I wear a support tubi grip day and night, and a big octopus belt at work, shopping etc. I hear ya! It's awful!

Gin - Well!! You have a history! But they all had endings that responded to management so I guess midwife can take heart from that!! Do you know the oncall team?

Moose - hmmm. I'd suspect the reason yuor bubs is enjoying an active life style is that you have er, a very, er, accomodating pelvis! How very dare I! But actually you can be 4ft 10 and have a lovely birthing pelvis and be 5ft 10 and built like the proverbial [me] and have a pelvis with bony bit sticking out in all the worng places.

This has allowed your body to delivery quickly once the cervix has responded to oxcytocin you release in active labour. The babies havn't needed 'steering' through the pelvis.

This might explain why this bubs has no need to het her head in, and even if she does it doesn't become 'wedged' by the bony pelvis. She can just float off for a wander.
You can have abbs of steel but the pelvic floor will still not be holding her 'in' like with a first, so it still apllies.

Whats the plan with you then?

'Cos you know Moose, they could maybe look into turning her cephalic/catching her cephalic - then breaking your waters and then out she pops like a shelled pea. I've never even seen a pea being shelled which probably makes me incompetent!

They Could probably very easily turn her cephalic but she's wander off again - so thats why I thought rupture of membranes following it to catch her while she's there.

'Unstable lie' I would term you. Transverse is bloody uncomfortable isn't it? Was at about 30 weeks and didn't get on with it at all!

Tree.

Makes sense, have always had what others term good childbearing hips, even when I was a skinny 7 and half stone! Plus the (for want of a better word) deformity of my hips mean they twist outwards making for a wider berth so to speak.

Interesting idea about turning her and then rupturing membranes, will definitely be bringing that up with the consultant on Thursday.

We are currently running short of time however, as apparently they don't like to try turning them after 38 weeks and due to the whole hospital thing with DS2 last week, I missed my original consultant appointment which would have been at 36 + 5.

'Unstable lie' sounds about right. She never seems to be in the same place for long. Even when they discovered her position on the assessment unit she had switched her head to the opposite side between the unit and the scanning dept (took all of 5 minutes!).

Another question, if I may monopolise you for a bit longer? She seems to get an awful lot of hiccups, often for quite sustained periods. She also always gets them if I lie on my right side in bed. I have read that this can be a sign of cord compression or a knot in the cord and was worried that this may well be possible with all her acrobatics. Am I just being paranoid? They did check the blood flow at my last scan just under 2 weeks ago and said it was fine, but they literally only did it for a couple of seconds whereas with DS1 they used to check it for quite a while.

Oh, I am just being pathetic, its all just too much for me now. I just want to be able to go to 40+ weeks before I deliver regardless of how. We really are not ready for her to come out yet. All the baby stuff is in bags and boxes in what should have been her bedroom by now and I can't even get into the room to sort out what I need. Our bedroom is half woodchip, half stripped bare plaster, DS2 has totally reverted to being a clingy toddler complete with baby speak constant 'no's' and full scale tantrums, I am beyond exhausted and feeling really low and then there is Christmas as well.

Sorry for the whinge, think I need some chocolate! (Have had home made winter veg soup for tea so feel justified in indulging myself.)

Hey no bring on the questions! it's nice to be usefull!! I hate outing myself as I don't want people to feel they can't rant and rave if their midwife has pissed them off!!

If that happens just tell me to go away for a posting or ten

Am hospital body, on delivery suite at moment. But have beem in clinic for years on end so am very used to hearing and helping work through previous births, and planning the next. Am getting more up to speed with current labour ward management - but that is nearly always in the NICE guidelines anyway.

Your pelvis is a u bend shape, so there is an element of passing the bend bit then away you go. By the time the head passes the u bend it is practically visable - so in a first timer this passing bit is usually done with lots of pushing, down, round and out. In 2nd timers and on we often don't have to 'give it welly' early, and often not till u bend point. We have to push round the corner and out. Please let it be true for me this time! That bit when the body screams 'out' is called transitional stage and we all generally go loony. I love looking after women in that bit - completely wild and natural.

I'd imagine with yours it's a combination of there being no difficult navigation with your pelvis [good shape] and a uterus and cervix that just gets out of the way and responds to oxcytocin easily. This often results in niggle, niggle, niggle, bam - baby. As opposed to labour, labour, labour, push, push, push - baby.
Make sense?

Moose - have a box of chocloates. There can be no greater luxury.

Most cord entanglements are atually made early on when they are smaller. The length between placenta and tummy means that to get their whole self through a loop of it they usually have to be small. I completley understand your concern though. If there was enough entanglement to cause reduced flow this would be apparent on the dopplers, which can take ages if the cord is tricky and floating, and can take 10 seconds if they get clear contact. Even when cord is entangled, around the neck or arm etc, it's just something the labouring baby is designed to cope with. The CTG in labour has a very familiar pattern often, and a healthy baby simply deals with it.

generally if a baby has a problem with it's position when your asleep etc, it will move and clear off - they are in fluid and so don't have to settle on the right if you do. They will often get very active - trying to rearrange themselves - which wakes us up and so assists them . It an amazing relationship.

Ask all your questions away - I'm in the business and I thought I had caught a birth defect off the telly when I was 34 weeks with dd1! Was about someone or other in India with some defect or other and I was convinced I had a baby with the same problem. Had to ring and tell a consultant at work just to be laughed at to make me get a hold of myself! He did offer to scan me though bless him [through the tears of laughter ]

Thanks Tree, its very reassuring having you around.

doggywholike pud - no more likely than anyone else to have meconium.
The worry with it is - the meconium has passed becasue the baby has relaxed it's smooth muscle at some stage. This may have been in response to stress.

So - no meconium, then lots of thick fresh stuff [yum] may mean recent or current stress and may influence management of a hb. It's also a nightmare to clear from the airways if it reaces them and can cause trouble.
But quick deliveries can encourage a baby to pass meconium, so a mw may have to crack on a manage it without attempting a move to hospital as baby will be out by time ambulance arrives! Where labour is this quick and nature is in it's grove things are generally cool.

old looking meconium, discoloured amniontic fluid - might be from an event who knows when, or the result of an overdue or mature baby. Can't expect them to just store it up for ever! In this case, at home when delivery is expected shortly anyway - the MW may feel reassured that she can handle it and nothing is to be gained by moving to hospital.

Oh- you lot all talk way too much! can't catch up with any of this... brain has completely left the body now!
35 weeks, brought mat leave early due to heart problems, on leave now YAY!

Might actually manage to keep up with the thread for a while....

DD (2.10) has gone from angel child to monster overnight- I think she is starting to understand some of the changes that will happen once DS arrives She is very wearing at the moment, but I just keep trying to reassure her that we still love her etc.

moosemama sorry to hear about the pneumonia thats about the only fact I've retained... and we now have treedelivery who is a midwife?

eachpeach am impressed at chilli, was all I could do to manage a pan of vegetable soup for tea tonight!

Heart problems? Nothing serious is it? Hope you are ok?

Madam has switched position again, currently got feet wedged against my left hip and is pushing head really hard up into my right rib - ow! ow! ow! Having to sit bolt upright just to breathe!

EachPeach - that would be me. Midwife and 35 weeks pregnant with dd2.