Fab Feb 2009: the bumps are a-jumping, the mums are a-grumping - roll on the new year

[dinkystinkyclaus]

A sparkling new thread in time for christmas

No, still here. Laptop went peculiar! I'm not quite 34 weeks and would very much prefer not to have a baby now. My gut feeling is that it's OK. They do hurt but not that much. However, having said, that I did arrive at hospital 9cm dilated when I was having DS because I was waiting for the contrations to really hurt!

Think I'll try the bath and see if that helps. Will keep you posted!

good luck. hope they ease down a bit.

like i said, BHs are often related to dehydration so gulp down a fair bit of water too.

OMG HoM You ok? slowed down or are you a howling beast as we all sit here typing?

I bought growbags for ds but didn't use them, I was so paranoid about over heating as he was august baby, that I ponly used sheets.
Have washed them again now and do plan to use them this time.....

PP How did you manage last time without a double pushchair? I only ask as there is 18m gap between these 2 and we have bought one (rather my dad did) have we wasted £200?

Goodluck HoM Sure it'll be fine.

Pink - most impressed at your managing without a double buggy with an 18 month age gap. Was your DD an avid walker?

We'll have nearly 3 year age gap so going the buggy board route for DS eventually (will be slinging/baby bjorning DS2 and popping DS1 in buggy to start off with and using DS's old pram when DH around to deal with DS)

HOM !! I hope you aren't in labour - I put the tens machine in the post to you this afternoon ! If you are good luck lady !

I have had a very productive day. DH and I resealed the bath and painted the bathroom floor ( me on my hands and knees not looking too elegant and not 'making use' of the child free time in the same way as you HOM )

PP/Dinky/LBB, I have been training DS3 on the buggy board for the last month which he loves now (he is 21 months) so hoping to use sling/buggy board , pram/buggy board combos as often as possible. DS2 (age 4) is a trooper on his scooter - although yesterday got tired and I had to carry it over the pushchair and push him and DS3 up the steep hill to my house. Last night I was in pain !!

THOM, sex can spark off strong BH, try changing what you?re doing ? sit if you?re standing, walk, lie down etc ? or having something to eat or drink should settle them down. Write down the timings, if it?s BH it will be all over the place and sometimes just writing them down can stop it.

Littlesez, it stands for Intra-Uterine Growth Restriction (used to be Retardation), it?s the term given to babies who aren?t growing well enough, it doesn?t explain why though and it?s one of the main causes of stillbirth (which is why they take them out ASAP if they don?t keep moving). I usually say and have said it in this group that you can?t rely too much on measurements but mine have been taken either weekly or fortnightly since 16 weeks so we know they?re fairly accurate.

HoM- hang in there girl!!! Slightly about you getting action though...can't seem to persuade my DH

Littlesez-First labours/births statistically take longer and because things take ages to happen, that also counts for things going squiffy. Community MWs are so experienced at dealing with everything themselves that they can spot the early signs of almost everything...You siad you are 15 mins away from hospital...is that in your car?? If so, it will only be 5 mins if you are transferred as it is automatically done by Blue Light...whterh you need it or not . The other thing you should know is that although lots of women are told they have had/are having an emergency c-section...the vast majority are simply unplanned c-sections and emergencies at all! My SIL had a true emergemcy c-section and believe me there was no hanging around at all. From things going pete tong, her DS1 was out in 5 mins.
Grobags are fab...if your LO likes them they can become the most usful thing in your life. We could take DS anywhere to sleep as long as we had a grobag with us as he was used to sleeping in it. They come in 3 different tog weights upto max of 2.5 tog. If your LO really feels the cold, you can layer them up. You can get gro-bags which are suitable for use with 5 point harness so can be used in car seats and pushchairs. Oh yes...every few months kiddicare have them on sale. I think I've only ever bought one at full price and that was because I needed a 0.5 tog suitable for car seat.

Crucial lack of not emergencies

LittleSez - what Chilledmama says about transferring in is spot on. One of my friends had a home birth for her first - which was fine - but unfortunately she haemorraged afterwards. She was bluelighted to the hospital within 5 minutes and put on drip and blood transfusion within 20 minutes (.i.e. pretty much instantaneously) and all was well.

Laidback - wow, am in awe at your DIY skills! And your heavy boy pushing skills too!!

We had great hopes for DS1 and his scooter which he finally got at xmas after asking for one for months - sadly he's too terrified to go near it now after falling off it on xmas day. Ho hum...

chilled, I think the thing is that people forget there are three types of section.

Elective which is planned
Emergency which is unplanned and decided on during labour but you have time to talk about why we want to do this (TBRAINS everyone!)
Crash which is "OMG GET HER IN THEATRE NOW!" (what TBRAINS?)

It sounds like it's a Crash your SIL had, same as me. I was 2cm, put onto the drip to stop/slow labour and steroids, they came back to check on me in an hour and I was not only fully dilated but delivering a foot! Within 15 minutes they had a theatre ready for me, me ready for theatre (three consent forms, nails cleaned, jewellery removed, drip taken down etc) under GA and Tink out.

I had a crash section as well last time and it was not nice. Hence the calm, elective this time......

Isn't it funny how we all respond differently, for me another section - how ever planned and calm - is the worst thing that can happen but for others it's the best option after an emergency/ crash section before.

For many reasons I've decided not to argue with them - doesn't mean I'm happy though!

Hi all -

TBM glad to hear all is okay with Fifi. It seems odd that she's doing well 'cos she's small, but I guess age (and therefore organ function) is more important than size? Is that right? Did the crash section happen because she was breech? If Tink's head was there, would they have let you deliver naturally?

HoHoHo hope the bath helped and all has calmed down. It's all go on this thread, int' it?

PP Love Maya, such a pretty name.

Pluto We go to Maidstone - I was really impressed with the maternity wards last night. Clean, quiet and calm (everything I didn't think it would be!) I was thinking I'd rather go for Pembury if I knew in advance I won't get my home birth, but everything was so nice yesterday and today, and all the staff were lovely, so will go to Maidstone. Plus we are two minutes away, so will def go there in an emergency.

Littlesez my midwife has been fab and really supports the home birth plan, although I was impressed by Maidstone last night the big factors for us are the flexibility/comfort of being in our own home, and the one-to-one care we'll get. Even last night (when I was relatively calm) I was left alone and felt quite vulnerable. Not sure how I'd cope by myself during labour. I also think john can be more involved at home...

However - I'm not sure I'm gonna get my home birth. At the DAU today they said that they are confident she is okay as they both saw her move on the scan and 'heard' her move during the trace, so even though I can't feel anything, they think she's fine. Only issue is if I continue not to feel movements, I won't know if she actually does stop moving if there is a problem.

They said something about her 'only being 32 weeks, and two young to deliver now...' which makes me think that there's a 'but we'll see what happens' missing from the end of the sentence. They also said they are going to do a growth scan in two weeks, however, she's bang on the 50th centile so there is no indication of growth issues, so I think that they are going to do a balancing act between making sure she's big enough to deliver and not missing a warning sign if I continue to not feel her move...

Cue lots of monitoring over the next few weeks, and lots of keeping fingers crossed. It's hard because I know that as of lunch time today, she is fine and was wriggling around, but not having the reassurance of feeling anything is odd, and a bit scary. I don't want to miss anything, but I also don't want to waste their time and resources if all is okay.

Sorry for the ramble, but my thoughts are a bit all over the place...

Yes she had a crash section...and an elective (kind of) with DS2. Won't go into the details but elective was definatley right decision for her 2nd time around except that hospital wanted her to have VBAC...got herself in a complete tizz and lo and behold couldn't labour properly...finely she made her decision and everything went really smoothly and was a good option for her.
A high proportion of HBs do end up transferring but that's mainly due to NHS timings for lack of progress being based on their shift rotation rather than a womans body...what do you mean get off my soap box???
If you plan to have a HB then even saying the words reduces your chances of requiring intervention. Less likely to be given drip, less likely to have epidural, less likely to be continuously monitored, significantly less likely to end up with a c-section!!!!!!!

MrsY - sounds like you are being monitored very closely - so hopefully that will put your mind at rest a little. Will keep my fingers crossed that everything is - and stays - ok with you and the little one.

Panic over! It all seems to have finally stopped. I was pretty certain it wasn't labour but it did start to make me wonder.

Won't be letting DH near me again anytime in the foreseeable future...

It's made me realise my head's not quite in the right place yet for the birth. I guess I've had less than 2 weeks to think about natural labour as opposed to the 7 months of assuming it'd be a section.

TBM I've always had sympathy for you but I now have renewed and increased repect. It must be utterly crappy to have spent all this time in an "is it or isn't" limbo.

MrsY of course your mind is all over the place. Hope everything stays ok. I for one complain like mad when he moves around alot and then go into a blind panic when he gives me a break. Like dinky says, it sounds like you're being monitored very closely so should all be fine. I have no reassuring words for you, but wouldn't worry about wasting their time, if you're concerned, you're concerned.

Just re-read some bit on here (scanned this page again) and littlesez I have to say reading your messages is really making me smile, I can just imagine your excitment, it's so nice. My pg with ds followed 2 mc so didn't allow myself to get too excited at start and then went through whole thing on edge of my seat about it. Didn't fully relax until he was about 5 months old! And this time, I haven't really got time to think about it too much day to day, i is so nice to read your messages (and everyone elses obviously)

Glad it's all calmed down HoM Scary stuff hey?

MrsY - is your placenta anterior? Mine was with DD and I was up and down to DAU (at Maidstone) all the time and they were great with me. This time, the placenta is posterior and the difference in what I can feel is huge....even though kicks have now turned into stretching and elbowing where there isn't enough room.

The midwifery team at Maidstone got Team of the Year last month.....

Does anterior mean at the front? Ds's was like that and this one must be at back as the difference in movement is amazing!

Glad things have calmed down HOM

Yes LBB....most have placenta lying behind the baby - posterior, but if your placenta is at the front, you feel less movement.....I'm amazed how different it is as well

hohohohom - after the prexmas bonk that left me feeling very swollen down below have too sworn off sex until after Squiglet's arrival. Now that DH is getting a new car to play with am sure he wont mind too much

I think my placenta is posterior this time too as can feel all movements up front and down in cervix but not much when Squiglet is facing inwards (though feel the bump reverberating when Squiglet gets hiccups so know some form of movement is going on).