December 2008 Once you pop you can't stop

[Veggiemummy]

surely most of us will go on this one

Hiya girls!!! Oh Effie I can't believe you are going to leave Turnip, Icecube and I on our own!!!
Massive congratulations to all you birthers out there! WG, Reban, Summer, Disenchanted, Nolda, Zoe and Lowrib....phew! Lovely names too (and pleased to see my choices still unclaimed!).

Invisible, your birth story was lovely but Lowrib yours was scary! I agree that when you feel up to it you should try to send a letter detailing your problems.

PD, glad to hear you got the tongue tie sorted. It does seem quite common.

Cat, I second the sleeping panther hold..always was good for DS. Their body weight helps to push the wind out!

So, I was desperate for DC2 not to come on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day but now I WANT IT!!!! I was given two due dates..one of which is today (the other is Monday) so COME ON!!!!!! Just made myself a veggie curry but DH has gone out (admittedly not far!) but that means sex is out! DS was a week late and in theory I could still be waiting on the 12th Jan!!!! Holy cow, I can't carry this medicine ball around that long!

Catch up soon.

PS, guessing Bisou is now a mummy!!!!! I can't believe she'd leave the updates so incomplete without a very good reason!!!

summer...that all sounds a bit stressful and very painful but glad you seem upbeat about it now x

Hi all and congrats to other xmas babies WG summer disenchanted zoe and lowrib .. we were certsinly busy! Sorry i hope i didnot miss anyone out.
I decided to try and do a quick post about my birth whilst Joscelyn is asleep on my lap.

I had a sweep on tues 23rd and the midwife was very positive that it should have the desired effect. I awoke a few times during the night with an occasional strong braxton hicks, but knew labour hadnt started yet, but had a fairly good idea it was imminent. So at 10.45 i phoned my mom to warn her. She said she was just popping to shops and would ring when she got back. In the meantime dp got into the shower to get ready for the walk we had all decided to go on to get things going. At 11am while he was in the shower i had my first contraction, then another at 11.10 then 11.19. Dp got out the shower and i decided we needed my mother here asap. Phoned her and luckily she hadnt gone out so dp drove round and got her straight away. Took five minutes but my the time he got back i was having continuous contractions. So we headed straight for the hospital. We pulled up outside the maternity block at 12noon and all we could here we alarms going off and people coming out of the main doors. Dp grabbed a midwife who said they were evacuating as the fire alarm had been set off. At this point im bent double in tears so the very kindly midwife helped dp half drag me up the stairs (noworking lifts when the alarm was goin off). As they are helping me down the corridor start to feel like pushing and really start to panic. Get into the room and thankfully the instant urge to push calmed down a bit, but the fire alarms are still ringing and there is only limited electricity. They offered me gas and sir but i have never liked the stuff so just carried on with my breathing. A few minutes later i heard someone say the fire engine is here and i think i started to cry! Luckily they must have found the source of the problem because over the next 10 minutes the alarms stopped. By 1pm i felt an overwhleming urge to push, and once i started to push i had to get that head out! She arrived two pushes later at 1.04 as my waters burst, a beautiful little girl, screaming her lungs out!!

In the aftermarth i finally got to speak to the midwife who helped us and it turned out she didnt even work at the hospital, she was a community midwife who was dropping some paperwork off at the hospital and i was really grateful she stayed and delivered Joscelyn.

So that was the craziness and chaos of my birth story. You can imagine how happy i was to get home a few hours later!

photos of baby Aurora... still can't think of a middle name, lol

Wow Reban, think you win the most dramatic birth story so far!

Oli: think I may be staying with you a while crampy pains have stopped as far as I can tell. Sigh. Think it might have been the abby dropping or engaging more, will see if anything else happens overnight.

trace I've been feeling low and weepy too. I was worried it was PND as I had it with DD1 but this is different I think/hope. Are you breastfeeding? I have a suspicion that the hormones involved may be part of it. I find I get very anxious if I know DD2 is due a feed and we're out and about so I don't know where I'm going to feed her - like irrationally anxious - and then by the end of the day I am often (usally) weepy over dinner. I had put it down to dreading the night ahead (!) but it's maybe hormonal and the physical exhaustion of breastfeeding too. Interesting to know you feel similar.

Have been knocked for six by this bug... VERY sore throat. Just about managing to get through by dint of gargling with tcp and soluble paracetamol.

Lowrib definitely complain if you feel up to it. Maybe write a letter now, and then review and send at a later date - give yourself some closure but kind of 'park' the experience until some time has passed. I know from DD1's birth that making the complaint to the PALS was the first step towards getting over what had been done to me. I am very on your behalf - but congratulations to you too!

Disenchanted Aurora is sooooo cute!!!

Just a quickie with some MORE good news....

Kimberley had her baby boy at 3 am this morning. She says "labour was really long and ended up needing ems. c-section. I think we've decided to name him Judah Michael".

Congrats to Kim and her DH!!!

Off to bed now as can't keep eyes open.

Reban crazy birth story, better get that midwife a box of choccies. Amazing the difference a midwife can make I wish Lowrib had one like her.

Is it just me or do all these anti wind baby holds sound more like kungfu moves, or yoga positions.

Wow - congratulations to Kim. Hope the ECS wasn't too stressful.
Reban That is a story that will feel less terrifying in time and you'll enjoy recounting it to Joscelyn!
Effie Sorry everything has settled down for you..although it is nice to have an end of the road buddy!
I had some really uncomfortable BH last night and started getting excited but I think I knew that they weren't the real deal.
Got some friends coming round today (I keep thinking that if I plan stuff it is BOUND to happen!)

Hi everyone, hope you all had a lovely xmas. I haven't had chance to catch up but congratulations to the new mums

We're doing ok, apart from the nighttimes. It seems we get one good night & then 2 bad ones! Oh well, I think I deliberately forgot about the sleepless nights from last time!

Off to have a read & see what I've missed

hi to you all from hospital. dh has set me up on his hand held thingie so I can surf etc while we wait to see if the first lot of prostaglandin works.
mws are lovely, let me escape for a walk after some monitoring and the chocolate donut that came with lunch was suprisingly yummy!
just getting some twinges at the moment but hopefully won't be tooo much longer before I can meet this baby.

Message withdrawn

Good luck icecube

Congrat to Kimberley glad to hear of safe arrival and love the name Judah would have liked that name for ds2. Hope you are feeling better you must be a trooper I always think going through long labour and then having a emcs is the really the worst of both worlds but you got through it so welldone you.

Off to pick up mum soon but just to let you know we still don't have a middle name as have lost MIL she is somewhere on Taiwan and can't contact but his first name is Jordan. Will one day put a photo up. I know he shares his name with a rather busty celeb but it is quite a well known boys name back home and in the US. It was actually dhs fav pick (michael Jordan was his boyhood hero) and seeing as he was such an amazing birth partner I thought we should go with that one out of respect for him.

Congratulations to majormoo, kutilputil, reban, summerlightening, disenchanted, nolda, waitinggirl, lowrib and kimberley

Thanks for all the birth stories, its great reading, especially now I can really appreciate what it?s all about. I am for lowrib and for reban ? well done to you both for those experiences!

And good luck to icecube, my fingers are crossed that it works for you.

I think I?ve caught up now, won?t even try to comment on everything that?s been discussed in my absence though! I will start work on my birth story and post that soon, and will try to keep up to date more regularly.

Love to all of you, and the bumps and the babies x

Congrats to all of the births over the festive period - they have been coming thick and fast ! Thanks for the birth stories, they are great to read (even if some are a bit scary !).

IceCube good luck missus !

Veggie Jordan is a lovely name for a boy

Verso if you don't mind me asking, what was different about how you felt when you had PND ? I have been weepy a lot since having DS and I thought it had subsided but the last 2 days I have been bad (had DS 25 days ago). Previously most of my tears were happy tears as just felt so in love with the wee man. However he seems to have hit a growth spurt and is feeding a lot more (sometimes just an hour between feeds and he stays on for up to an hour) so am exhausted and feeling really low as can't get anything done and feel like feed is all that I do. Last night I barely slept and today we had a 4 hour feed/screamathon which has left me feeling like I am rubbish at this and struggling to cope . I can tell from DP's face that he is worried about me which just makes it worse . any help much appreciated.
Also DS hasn't had a dirty nappy for almost 24 hours - is that normal or could the screaming be down to constipation ?...

Reban that is a story worthy of the papers1 Well done you for delivering when all was so mad around you. What a lovely midwife!

Veggie love the name! Let us know when the mil comes up with the middle name.

I had a pedicure today - lovely (the lady even put my socks back on after my polish had dried!) followed by a nice pizza and ice cream at Pizza Express.

hi. just a quick one and will post a full birth story later. Samantha Jo Alana was born yesterday at 6.47pm. After a very quick labour the midwife would not let me have an epidural (no time) so just had gas and air. We both came home today much to my relief as could not cope with another sleepless ight on the ward. Samantha is feeding well and slept from 1am till 8am.
Good luck to all those still to pop!

Congratulations to Simmo and good luck to IceCube

nowt happening here...

Wow congratulations to all the new mums Reban SL DPB Nolda WG ZJ Lowrib Kimberley Simmo !!!!

Good luck Ice

I'm still waiting, due date was yesterday. . . .

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mibbles and Cat - I had PND with dd1 and as you know have been on anti-depressants for this pregnancy and am still on them. I think the difference between baby blues and PND is partly about how much it dominates you. Being weepy is normal but is it all you do? Can you look forward to things? Do you find any enjoyment in anything? Do you feel anxious about your babies safety/ health? Do you have irrational thoughts that you can't talk yourself out of? DO you have any feelings of hurting yourself or the baby? How is your appetite? I know that sounds dramatic but these are things to look out for. When I was ill last time I was imagining all sorts of horrific scenarios but could not tell myself they weren't real. I was so scared of stupid accidents that I avoided things, eg, scared i'd fall downstairs carrying Lucy so would stay upstairs all day, scared a car would mount a pavement and kill her so wouldn't go out at all.I didn't want to see any friends because I didn't have the energy to put on a fake front or to show how I was really feeling, so I stopped answering the phone/ door and cut myself off.
Have you met your HVs yet? They should do a PND assessment scale on you to see how you are doing, but if they've not then do get in touch with them or your GP because these things are much better treated if picked up sooner.I was not picked up till Lu was 8 months so took a long time to recover.If i'd admitted it sooner and gone on meds sooner I'd have been much better. Anyway, that was not supposed to be about me - hope you are both feeling alright - but please get help or at least talk to others about how you feel. I've been wondering the same about myself as I'm very weepy and anxious, especially this time of day when I'm fearing the night ahead, but I have CPN support in place already so there is a safety net there for me. PLease don't just suffer alone.

Damn...just lost my post...
Was a congrats to Simmo and a good luck to Ice.

Also, Mibbes..I was very emotional after DS was born. Cried for days and felt very raw and emotional. But, saying that, Trace is right.....if you feel really crap then ask for some help...no one is going to say you have failed or can't cope. I think that people often play down just how exhausting, emotionally draining and what a damn bloody shock to the system having a baby is. You have all that anticipation and then you have a major trauma in the shape of birth and then have to hit the ground running. AND you are expected to do it all with a big smile, buckets of maternal love and a sense of humour....do me a favour!
Hope you feel better in the morning x

I'm having BF issues! Can anyone help?!!!
Basically Phoebe has been feeding 2 hourly ish day and night since birth, which is pretty tiring, but she's now started to go only 1 or 1 1/2 hours between feeds. One of my nips is sore and it's starting to really hurt when she feeds on that side. I've got some Lansinoh which helps a bit. When she feeds it's only for 5 or maybe 10minutes, but she's always sick after it as well so she seems to be getting plenty. If I try to get her to feed for longer she is just sick more dramatically!
Is it unrealistic to expect her to go longer bewteen feeds (she's 17 days old). And should I keep feeding from the sore side?
any tips gratefully accepted!