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

I've also heard that babies like to face placenta and that'd be why ds was back-2-back. They haven't said anything this time so am assuming placenta is at back and movement is much more

Think placenta is posterior - it was before, anyway. Do they move?

They didn't say that might be a reason for not feeling her, so guess it's as it was...

Yeah, MissNorty - the team are really great. Forget you're down this way...

Should say on your scan report where placenta is....can move AFAIK, but probably not this late.

I work there MrsY....but my baby will enter the world in William Harvey....

Hi all....blimey it's taken me a while to catch up. Glad all our babies are still where they should be. There's something to be said for no action in the sex department at the moment I s'pose !

I've had a couple of days to myself as ds is still going to nursery so have been doing lots of jobs without my little man trailing behind me. I've just made a baked cheesecake and profiteroles for NYE party so am looking forward to my bed. I also did something v.indulgent this afternoon and went to the cinema. I never go anymore so I went to see Australia on my own (dh has to work this week) - it's an epic nearly 3 hours but I did enjoy it even though Nicole Kidman is not someone I rate too much. The leading man is pretty gorgeous and the little boy who plays "Nullah" is a real cutie with these huge brown eyes. It was a bit weird going in there on my own but it was quite busy ( I suspect lots of people still off work). I think I might make it my Tuesday treat for January - there's a few things I quite fancy seeing

On the double buggy front, I was tempted but have also decided on the buggy board/mamas and papas pliko pramette combo(ds's old travel system). I do have a double Mountain Buggy which my sil gave me to use so will probably use that if I needed to go shopping and ds won't walk but ds really doesn't go in his buggy very much now (he is 2.6 months tho' so a little bit older now). He also got a mini micro scooter for xmas but as he has no road sense I'm a bit nervous of me trying to push the buggy with no2 in whilst he whizzes/falls off...we'll have to see with that one.

I've used the grobags since about 15 weeks with ds but tbh I bought 2 x 0.5 (or maybe a 1) tog and then in the winter I put an oil fired 2.5kw radiator in ds's room as it gets really cold in there (and there's no way I'd leave heating on all night)to supplement the warmth. I also only bought the very first size which were up to about 18 months and then the ones up to 3 years (v.long but they soon grow into them) I used the mothercare miracle blanket (swaddling) when he was first born and it was fab as he had a strong reflex action which woke him up a lot. I swear by it and it'll be making it's next outing for no2.

I managed a bit of newborn shopping today. A few new vests,some muslins, nappies etc....those vests are TINY! I also bought a warm all in one which is velvety and very cuddly too. So I'm getting organised finally.

Off to bed now - Dh has gone in the spare room as apparently I snore like a pig (even though every time he disappears on the middle of the night I'm convinced I've been lying there awake) . How does that happen?? I remember telling him to stop snoring last night

MrsY, age is more important and this is something that we will probably find coming up in six months time! They develop for their age not size and the size in itself is not really important. The problem is that because she?s not growing very fast it is indicating that I?m not sustaining her well enough, if things continue like that they will need to take her out because she will be better sustained outside than in and have a better chance.

The reason for a section last time was because Tink was footling, if she had been presenting her head or bum they would have let me continue. They had to Crash me because she was coming fast (2cm to descending in an hour) and had to do a GA because of my drugs, time and the unknown quantity with my back ? any of those on their own would have been an indicator to go for a GA.

If I was you I would drink lots of iced drinks and spend time just lying down, no distractions, eyes closed allowing yourself to feel what is happening in your bump. Placentas can move, Mum was previa all the way to the end with my sister but went to 44 weeks and delivered naturally as it was well out the way.

Chilled, if she got worked up during labour then the adrenalin would have stopped her body working properly then they would have had to change over to a section. An emergency section is any where they start delivering vaginally and then swap over during labour.

Thanks THOM, it?s certainly frustrating! It?s got to the point where I feel disappointed to go home again still pregnant!

LBB, that?s interesting (about facing the placenta) FiFi has always been seen playing with the cord, one time they couldn?t do the Doppler because she pulled the cord each time they got it lined up. She?s nearly always in birth position so the placenta must be towards the back on the right. I guess that would be right because most of our organs are on the left so it leaves space for the extra organ.

Herb I used to go alone a lot, I sometimes do now and it?s great, especially as a full time Mum. I don?t get much time alone anymore so just having some time out where TBD can look after her for a few hours and I can have a break is brilliant! I used to live in the entertainment quarter in Birmingham so I had two cinemas outside my door, now it?s not so easy but it?s not too bad. Hopefully come summer we will be in enough of a routine that I can start going alone again.

I've just been in bed with Tink for an hour trying to get her to go off to sleep (she's really not well, poor thing) so I may have a few cross posts. I apologise in advance

I can't sleep.
A friend asked me earlier if I was excited and I really didn't know what to say....... That's awful isn't it? I'm more of a mechanic person than an emotional one I suppose and always wait for something to go wrong. I imagine I won't relax until he's here like with ds. I'm also quite scared about giving birth as remember what it was like last time and I didn't even feel him coming out. My friend said for her the worst was the pushing until the birth but that the actual delivery wasdn't as bad as the lead up. I'm also really bad with needles so would rather not have epidural so suppose I'll just have to deal with it. 6 wks is gonna fly by and he'll be here before I know it and what then? I'll cope because I'll have to and thousands do, I'm no different from anyone else, but must be normal to be more apprehensive about the whole thing (?)
Thought washing the babay clothes would help but all I keep thinkins is ds was never this small, was he? and not really thinking about a new baby. I'm thinking maybe it was a mistake deciding on a name so early as we've been refering to him by what will be his name so has kind of taken the whole pregnant thing away a bit, does that make sense? Anyway......Better try to get back to bed

I think your feelings are quite understandable LBB and the closer we get to having the babies I think the more many of us will feel like this. Lots of people say second babies and labours are easier though so I'm relying on that. I worry too that the babe won't be OK (there were slightly worrying stats for Downs at the 18 week blood test but I decided against an amnio). I had a horrible crash CS experience with DS and even though I think I want a VBAC this time I'm scared that it will all end up like last time - I was an emotional mess for the first couple of months but that's normal isn't it after having a baby! I don't want to spend long in hospital - I was in for 6 nights with DS who was in the special care unit for a couple of days. The midwives were lovely but it was very busy and I didn't get as much attention as I would have liked (I am a spoilt brat )

As you will have realised I'm also being a night owl. DH put the heating on continuous by accident yesterday so it's absolutely baking hot and I just had to get out bed to rehydrate and switch it off - now I'm wide awake.

Thanks for the advice on the Grobags which all pretty much sounds very positive. I'll wait until babe is born and then see if anyone feels like buying one for him / her. I don't think the The Mumsnet 10% discount is much really - now that I've seen how expensive they are, I think they have more significant reductions than 10% in their current sale without applying the Mumsnet discount. For me a discount has to be at least 30% to be really getting excited!

It is so good to be on holiday. DH is getting a lot of decorating done and it's forcing me into having a ruthless cull of all the crap we keep in our study and loft room. The study is going to be the nursery and the loft room will now be the study. We are really pushed for storage in our house so it has to be done. Freecycle will be getting a big long list from me later today. Anyone want a bag full of oversized coat hangers or a selection of gardening and cookery books? Somehow I don't think gardening or cookery are going to be a priority for the next year or so!

morning all, gosh you have been busy over the last few days and its taken me ages to catch up.
Anyone made any new years resolutions yet? I want to be like dinky. She always remembers everything and finds the time to comment on everyones personal situation. I have every good intention (I guess most of you do) to comment on various things when I'm reading through all the posts but by the time I get to post my brain has turned to mush and I've forgotten it all. How do you do it dinky?
Anyway, I'm loving some of the name suggestions on here, they really are lovely.
Glad everyone seems ok after various recent scares and that there are no arrivals yet.

All the talk about deliveries/sections has somehow made it seem real and I'm now starting to panic. Last time I was adamant I wanted a CS under spinal block so DH could be there but looking back, it was really quite traumatic as there were so many arguments as to whether I could have a spinal due to my spinal fusion. They did it in the end but it was horrible having the anaest (drugs man) hovering over me trying to plonk a gas mask on me just in case it didn't work. That made me panic and they wouldn't let my DH be there while they set up the spinal and didn't seem to understand that if he'd been there, he could have calmed me. The worst thing was afterwards as it took about 6 hours to get proper feeling back in my legs (apparently it should have returned much sooner) and also, for around 4 months after I had a large numb area on my thigh which I couldn't feel. Am starting to wonder if its sensible to muck around with an already mucked up back and just ask for a GA? (only problem with that is DH can't be there which I'd feel guilty about as he so loved seeing DD born and am worried about him not bonding with DS if he doesn't see him born). Sorry, rambling. It just suddenly seems real all of a sudden doesn't it!
Hope everyone has a fabulous NYE and new year. We are going to have a nice night in and watch the new 24 movie I bought DH for xmas with a mint chocolate orange and an early night. How sad are we!

Thanx pluto, glad I'm not the only one that's a bit scared about it. Goodluck witrh your rearranging and sort out, don't envy that!

Hi MoS It does seem more and more real with every passing day doesn't it? That's a shame your dh can't be at the birth sure there won't be any bonding issues.

I'm going to bed at about 8/9 tonight. My downstairs neighbours I think had people round last night and there wqs lots of really loud shouting til way gone midnight, bit annoyed about it as she always tells me when I've been walking heavy so pretty pissed off they were shouting their heads off till all hours! Then woke at 2:30 to pee and had lots of silly thoughts, dp's working nights so I txt him to tell him I was up and what I was thinking, he said I was being silly (not the most supportive) he got in at 6 this morning and I was hoping he might stay up and give me an hour as didn't really sleep at all, faded in and out for a bit but not real sleep. He annoys me because he asks if I want him to get up when it's pretty obvious I do, but if I say yes, I'm out of order coz he's been working all night and when I say no and have the ump all day, I'm still out of order because he asked.

Morning all.

LBB and Pluto - what you're feeling is entirely natural and normal. Its normal to be scared about the birth - and all the changes it brings, particularly if you had a scary experience with your last birth (as you both did ) - just keep telling yourselves that this is a different baby, will be a different birth and given all you've learnt, you're also a different person now. Its what I keep telling myself (along with various other birthing affirmations) and actually believe it now. Most impressed at your uber-nesting Pluto! LBB - looks like the dreaded pregnancy insomnia has hit big time - maybe when you cant sleep in the night, just go lie on the sofa with the room dark and a nice scented candle on and listen (guess through headphones) to some soft peaceful music - will rejuvenate you to some extent. Things always seem so much worse when you're sleep deprived. And I agree it is so hard when you're in a flat and your neighbours are noisy - consideration has to work both ways. Hopefully they've now got their noisy party out the way for quite some time to come now.

TBM - am so sorry you wont get to try for the VBAC which you so wanted, but you're absolutely right - what is safest for you and Fifi must come first, and knowing what is going to happen this time round (as opposed to what happened with Tink) will hopefully mean that you wont go through the same birth trauma you did with Tink. I hope poor little Tink is on the mend soon - she must love having you at granny and granddad's as nothing is as lovely as a mummy cuddle when you're feeling poorly.

MOS - which will make you feel more comfortable about the birth process: having your DH there with you (in which case, explain to the doctor/anaethetist in advance that if you go for the spinal tap again, you will need DH to be there to calm you down - if they cant do that, then its probably not the option for you) or the GA route. If you go the GA route, can DH observe from outside the op room and have skin to skin bonding with baby as soon as DS is out and cleaned up (and while you're in recovery)? Am sure the bonding will be there between your DH and DS regardless of whether or not DH is actually in the room when DS emerges - it amazed me how quickly and deeply my DH bonded with our DS after the birth when it took me quite some time to bond.

As for your resolution, am very flattered! I try my best to remember everyone (though is a struggle with pregnancy brain!) as hate for anyone to feel excluded - dont know how I manage it though... My New Year's resolution is to get my teeth sorted out in 2009 - not fun, but needs to be done I guess...

Herbgarden - the dessers sound delicious! If you have any left over (which I doubt), can you send them to me? Am so envious of you getting to go to the cinema! I agree that Hugh Jackman is lovely (embarrasing admission - in addition to having a crush on a 17 year old vampire from Twilight, I also have a crush on Wolverine from x-men; damn pregnancy hormones ) so 3 hours of watching him would be no trouble at all. I think its a lovely idea going to the cinema through January when you get the time to - really nice to do something for yourself and have some peaceful time before no 2 arrives (am I right in thinking you're a scheduled 2 Feb arrival too?). Am looking forward to being on mat leave with the baby and going to mother and baby screenings occasionally (theres a new cinema opened up in Kensal Rise, 20 minutes walk from me, which does baby screenings and the Everyman in Hampstead which is brilliant and about 40 minutes walk away which I used to go to with DS).

Have a great new year's eve everyone. Will be having a nice dinner and glass of wine at home with DH tonight and then watching a dvd I think and then (weather permitting) going for our traditional new years day family walk on hampstead heath the following morning - I love it when London is all silent and only a few people with dogs or small children are up and about on new years day. Feels like you have the place all to yourself.

Morning all.

Hope everyone is ok. THOM, these things can only get us in trouble! Step away from the husband

Penultimate day of work here for me, not much left to do so spending the day shredding paperwork which is no longer needed and buying paint for the baby's room. DH did a cracking job of sorting out boxes yesterday, now we have to tackle the shed.

Hope everyone is ok, will check back in later.

Morning! All quiet here today, thank goodness.

Yes MS you would have thought I'd already learned my lesson really, wouldn't you?!

Have washed all baby clothes and now have a washing machine full of nappies and reusable wipes. Blankets and sheets next. I think yesterday's shenanigans have given me a kick up the bum as far as getting stuff ready is concerned!

Morning all, and Happy New Year. Don't think I will be awake for it - all I want to do is SLEEEEEEEEP.

Me too Swampster. Have definitely reached the being awake at night and ready to sleep during the day time stage of pregnancy - shame still have a month of work left to get through...

P.s. My lovely MIL gave me a slow-cooker for xmas. Anyone got any top recipe suggestions for slow cooker meals (preferably not involving beef - any other form of meat or veg is fine)? Am going to try it out tomorrow with a butterbean soup... cant wait. DH is going to make some raisin bread for breakfast tomorrow with the bread maker I got him this afternoon - that is if he can stop DS eating all the raisins...

Ooooooooooh! Slow-cooked lamb Greek-style - don't know how exactly, I imagine the usual herby suspects found in Greek food - soooooo tender it falls off the bone mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!

That sounds delicious. Will get investigating online for slow cooked greek lamb recipes...

Hi Eveyone,

Hope your all ok today?
THOM - Glad everything settled down for you yesterday.

Ive been packing up the flat & cleaning all morning - The kitchen is the worst bit - I hate wrapping up all the plates & glasses etc... But too much packing and bending has resulted in horrible lower back ache

Think im going to go for a nice swim later, take a bit of weight off it for a while.

Its NYE and im excited about staying in with some Bucks Fizz & a takeaway - Quite sad...I know!

Glad things calmed down THOM..... half expected to come on here today and find you'd had the first fab feb baby!

wrt to the double buggy, dd was/is a good walker and i also carried a sling out and about with me so i could alternate who was in the buggy whenever she or i got tired. double buggy wasn't really practical in galway as alot of the shops are quite small and cramped, i had enough trouble draggging a single around, there would have been no point going into town at all with a double! it's even worse here as most of the time i'm out i'm in small towns with small town shops.... i rarely bring a buggy for ds as it is, although back issues have forced me to do it more often recently.

i didn't have a buggy board for dd but the buggy we have is fairly sturdy so once ds got too heavy to sling (he was the same weight as dd at 6 months!) i used to let her stand on the back of the buggy when she got tired on long walks.... and i often walked over a mile to the swimming pool with them or half a mile up the road to toddler group every week.

am in a limbo cleaning wise.... need to mop the floors but it's only a week or so til some of the kittens go to new homes so am wondering if it's worth bothering til they've gone (for the record i usually mop floors regularly but my back makes it such a monumental task that once every 2 weeks seems to be my limit atm )

my nesting urges are rebelling at the thought of not getting stuck into scrubbing the place down though.... have done so much washing i've run out of places to put it and have a huge basket full of wet clothes waiting to be hung up!

KT, i can't believe you're moving house while 7 months pregnant.... that's bloody brave woman! good luck with the packing, it'll all come together in the end... the kitchen is always the worst so once you get that out of the way it won't be too bad.

Hi all

Looks like I missed the flurry of panic yesterday but so glad that all is well with you THOM, Mrsy, TBM and anyone else who had a scare. Looks like we'll get to 2009 with all the babies where they should be.

I'm going out to celebrate New Year tonight, though don't much feel like it at the moment, it's so cold outside. I am going to a party with my NCT group so we'll have seven one year olds (and three pregnant women) - so not sure how much partying will actually go on.... the idea is to get all the babies to sleep before 8.30 and then the grown ups can all have a civilised dinner and a glass of bubbly - but you just know it's not going to turn out like that! We did it last year when all the babes were about 10 months old and it was chaos.

HoM glad your still with us and babs is staying put, thought you were going to beat tbm to it there for a while

chilled and dinky yep 15mins away with me driving but bet it would be less by ambulance, i suppose they would have that time at hopsital to get ready anyway? thanks for the advice, its reassuring.

mrsy I can only imagine what its like for you at the mo, my girl moves so much and every time its like a reasssurance isnt it, people will prefer you to be cautious anyway not wasting time its natural to be worried.

lbb Awww thanks glad you like my excited posts! Although i never had a mc i was really scared that i would, dont know why? i did spend the first 12 weeks on edge about it because people scare the shit out of you dont they, dont eat this, dont do that! but started to feel excited after the scan and saw her moving.

Hope you managed to get back to sleep ok, and hope you will get a better nights sleep tonight,ithink we will all be getting these natural anxieties as it gets closer to babies arriving

WHAT IS EVERYONE DOING TONIGHT? Im out for a meal and drinks(non alcoholic wine!) in my new dress

Glad all babies are still where they should be on the eve of 2009! I was debating a bit of hows yer father now that I'm well into 3rd tri but you have well and truly put me off HOM!!!

Everyone sounds like they will be having lovely evenings. DH is on lates tonights and earlies tomorrow so I will be spending it on my own with DS tucked up in bed and me reading new cook books before falling asleep at 10.30 - saddo!

Dinky - Chicken cacciatore is lovely in the slow cooker (Anthony Worral Thompson version). Only got the recipe recently and have had it loads, goes down well with the whole family - Super cheap too. There is also a hungarian pork dish and a lamb morrocan casserole in the recipe section of MN which I have used and both V nice.

Happy New Year everyone xxxx

Spottyshoes - I actually quite fancy a quiet night in and to be asleep before 10.30..... DS was up at 4am this morning so doubt I'll last till midnight!

Hmm - that chicken cacciatore sounds great too, thanks Spotty! Will look it up online.

Calico - every time we used to meet with our NCT friends it was chaos like that! Hope you have fun among all the chaos - and get a nice lie in tomorrow morning!

The sorting is going.......well, I haven't killed him, yet.

But I did just notice he was driving away to the Tip with a box of DD's books and our family picnic blanket in the car, so I did have to intervene.

I am about to paint the baby's chest of drawers.

DD went to play at a friends this morning, which then turned into going swimming with them this afternoon, and then into a New Year Sleepover so I am suddenly able to GO OUT!

However, I think we'll stay in. I am making sticky ribs, chips and dips, DH has lots of beer in the fridge and he has offered to paint my toenails for me