March 2009: Beware of TMI . . . we're getting ready to give birth and there's nothing we won't share.

[MKG]

Ok so I'll start it off.

Has anyone else had a huge increase in discharge? It's gone from clear and not too much to thick and white, and copious amounts.

BP seems to have dropped a bit - enough to not be of immediate concern, although still a bit higher than normal. Will check it again in the morning. Thanks for your thoughts.

As for stretch marks - last time I didn't think I had any until I went to the loo at a friend's house with a mirror opposite the loo and saw they were all hiding under my bump and were quite horrific. Luckily only in the same place this time and can't assess how much worse they've got !!

Sorry to hear about all the car trouble and your shopping troubles Slickbird !

Welcome mum2b09

I think of my stretch marks as a badge of honour .

I'm like lizzie I don't love them, but they are a reminder of the amazing thing my body has done. Mine look like a map.

I have tiny little marks too, only about 1in long. My husband calls them warrior marks :-)

Re: I read both Gina Ford and Baby Whisperer when I was pregnant with DD1 and took bits out of both books. Some of the sleep stuff from the Baby Whisperer was fantastic, esp when we were having problems when she was about 3 months old.

I did the same at about 5 months. DD was torturing bus from 3 - 5 months so we did sleep training. I used GF's sleep and eating scheduling later as it seemed to help a lot.

MKG I grew up in Boston - not too far away!

Wheelybug I would find daily BP monitoring really stressful, did your doctor recommend it?

Wheely try not to stress about your BP levels - easier said than done I know - I'm considering going to a local midwife drop-in on Friday to check what mine's doing. My hands are quite swollen too and I have a feeling that I'm going to get high BP in labour again. I'm keeping my fingers x'd for you.

I'm 37 weeks today and finally have all the right elements to go into a hospital bag - nappies, baby clothes, pads, toiletries, toothbrush etc - just need to pack the bag! Then all that needs doing is packing the rest of the house up for the move

BIB - Hope you are ok xxx

Bumblbeee - if you have high BP in labour it gets monitored every 10 mins, so daily monitoring at this late stage is really not that much!

In the birthplan spirit, here is mine for my (hoped-for) home-birth!

PLEASE NOTE: LATEX ALLERGYPreferred place of birth: at home
History of premature birth (first son born at 31w5d).
·History of silent or quick labour (previous labour was 2.5 hours with 13 minute final phase, active contractions for 2 hours)

Birth companion: Lee (husband).
·Lee will stay with me at all times, including during any emergency transfers. If our baby needs medical care that can?t be administered in the hospital room, Lee will go with our baby. If a CS is needed I would prefer to stay awake and to breastfeed as soon as possible.
·Medical professionals should consult Lee if any intervention is necessary and I am unable to answer for myself.
·If my labour is very quick and Lee is unable to reach the hospital, my mother Jeni Eden will stand in.

Positions for labour and birth: squat or all fours.
·Do NOT make me lie on my back as I have internal scarring from PID.
·If you need to monitor the baby please do so while allowing me to either kneel or squat.
·I want our baby to be handed directly to me or to my husband.

Pain relief: Gas and air.
·BAD REACTION to pethidine. Do not offer under any circumstances.
·I will want to be as mobile as possible during my labour.

Interventions: Please avoid unless absolutely necessary
·I scar and bruise extremely easily, causing permanent keloid scarring.
·If an episiotomy is absolutely necessary, please only do so at the moment of imminent birth.

Third stage (post birth)
·Please do not cut the cord until it stops pulsating. We have a family history of jaundice and wish to minimise this as much as possible.
·I?m happy to have an injection to speed up the delivery of the placenta.
·We are happy for Vitamin K to be given to our baby.
·We want our baby to be able to have skin to skin and breastfeed as soon as possible.

Special needs
I am hypoglycaemic and will need a sugary drink after the birth.

Religion of child/husband: Catholic. Religion of mother: Druid.

LATEX ALLERGY and tendency to scar and bruise.

Well I've accomplished things I've been putting off for a while and officially nested.
I washed all the crayon markers off the wall with this magic sponge my sister recommended to me. You just add water and it totally takes the marks off. I am still washing clothes, but will put them away tonight, and will finish the baby's bag tonight. I cleaned the house and because the windows were open all day due to our 60 degree weather everything smells fresh and happy. I hear tomorrow is going to be bad weather and the temp will drop, but today was a taste of spring and I really took advantage of it. I've de-wintered the house a little putting away a lot winter decorations so everything looks brighter and warmer too. So all I need to do is fold the clothes and take out the garbage and I will be ready to have this baby. . . .in a few weeks. If I went into labor tonight it would be such a great thing

bib I hope every went well today.

MKG am at your de-wintering the house - it's snowing here so all my planns to go out with dd this morning are out and I will have to entertain the little darling here instead.

wheely glad you BP is down - mine is always a bit high but has been from eth start so they aren't worried. But with your history it must be so hard not to get anxious about it. Totally agree that looking after/chasing after another little one is enough to send your BP soaring.

Only very faint silver stratch marks here - all under the bump at the moment. Last time I religiously applied my Neal's Yard Mother's Balm but this time the bump only occasionaly gets a slick of moisturiser and it doesn't look much different!

I threw up last night. I am so glad I am on this thread or I would have got myself into a state. At least I know that it has happened to others and a good slug of Gaviscon made me feel better. But then I was up with dd (nasty cough) so felt very sorry for myself (dh did offer but I was up anyway - and any excuse for a middle of the night snuggle with her!)

DD has been carrying around the pack of newborn nappuies I bought for my hospital bag all morning and pointing to the baby on teh packet and saying "baba" - very cute! But she has no idea how her wee life will change after the 23rd March

Latest bump picture up - with my face this time! Gawd I look tired. Am 35 weeks in the photo. Friend took it on Monday after dog walk, hence disheveled (sp?) look.

xxx

Laumiere - you're a druid?? Gosh what does that entail?

laumiere - impressive birth plan! Just so you know, if the mother has to have a general anaesthetic to have a csection like I did last time (the epidural didn't work) then the partner gets booted out of theatre! Don't know if you can insist on them staying - neither dp or I were in any fit state to argue at the time. I asked my midwife why this happens and she said it's because it can be quite traumatic for the partner to see the mother unconscious with a tube down her throat while the section is being carried out.

Gosh I really hope this post doesn't stress anyone out. It wasn't too bad really

Hi all - thanks for your thoughts everyone. Didn't sleep very well (was doing ok then dd woke up and then I couldn't get back to sleep). BP was still up this morning so rang DAU who said to go in and they took my BP 3 times and it was fine. The only issue was then that there is protein in my urine - arrggh. They have sent it off to the lab to see how much/ whether its caused by something else. I'm back tomorrow - which I was anyway as have growth scan and consultant - then they will check everything again. If BP is ok and protein is no worse they will give me protein sticks to check my wee at home. I am not going to use my home monitor today and discuss whether I should or not with the doctor tomorrow.

Am beginning to see that aromatherapy oiled fueled natural birth disappearing over the horizon. Part of me thinks it will be a relief if they say they will c-sec me early with no choice (although would like to get another week or 2 down the line) as I think I'm just going to worry for the next 4 weeks. Although I think I will feel sad at never experiencing vaginal birth but at the end of the day, a year ago we didn't think we'd have a second child and that's whats most important.

Anyway, enough about me - I bore myself . BIB - hope all went ok yesterday.

Wheely--try not to worry too much. Drink tons of water today. Whenever my protein has been high the nurse just tells me to drink more water and it's fine the next visit.

Boobz - How nice to have a face to a name! And a bump.

I'm rubbish at downloading photos and stuff like that, but I might try and give it a shot. Mind, I'm not too keen on my moon-face double chin appearing! I'm quite neat everywhere else, but I am noticing it in my face. Don't care too much tho, know it will all go with the breastfeeding. (I hope)

Wheely Am glad you got yourself checked out and are being looked after. Always better to be safe than sorry. I am 38 weeks on sat and my last appt was last week, but my MW can't see me next week, which means my next appt is two days before my EDD. I'm not too sure how I feel about that. I mean, can eclampsia (or pre) not come on quickly? Although fairplay, I have no history of it, but you can never rule it out. I may get my MW friend to check me over next week for peace of mind.

Blimey - 5 foot icicles in Aviemore!! Impail ye not!!

If there's any chance I'll be knocked out DH will be outside for sure, he's phobic of G As.

Druidry: essentially is a belief in the connected and innate energy of all things (Awen). No gods as such but a Druid respects all life and tries to only leave positive imprints. When a Druid dies they believe their energy goes back to the earth and returns as part of other things, like a tree or a person (not whole reincarnation). You follow the prompts that the world gives you to follow the path that the awen sets you (people who have difficult lives may be fighting the path they should take). There is more, but that's the basic idea. Birth-wise it means I am very much DNR, baby not so much.

Glad all the last minute complications seem to be going okay. Good luck to everyone still waiting to hear results.

I feel so utterly fed up. Just spent about half an hour crying because of the car. We live quite rurally and it makes our life incredibly difficult without one - when DD gets here I have no idea what we will do. I'm feeling really pathetic and useless as well, because there's nothing I can do to help.

Nice to see you Boobz!

I have no photos of my bump - but for a short time only I have posted one of me with dd bump when in hospital in labour! I've kept it small so you can't see how knackered I look (it was day 3 of labour!)

If anyone wants to see a c-section one I can post it - no real gory bits - honest!

Hi everyone. Just thought of something we should all have either at the hospital or at home. Wet wipes (for ourselves). I don't know about anyone else, but I've been a little sore down there and regular toilet paper is like sandpaper. So today I used some of ds1's toddler wipes and AHHH so much better. I just thought that after stitches and such it would be better to have.

Carry an as your were.

Great pics Boobz and Meep - I must get one of me. I have a very unflattering one of me from last weekend but I look like a blob when I really am only carrying out front - honest !!

Thanks for the drinking lots of water tip MKG. I don't drink enough which probably doesn't help so I will action that immediately !! Good tip re the wipes - for those in the UK I got some in Boots which are 'feminine wipes' or something which have something else in them (witch hazel maybe) which may be useful !

Law - sorry to hear you're feeling down. I sort of know how you feel. At hte moment DH isn't driving following his illness and if I end up having a c-sec obviously I won't be able to drive either for a bit and that really stresses me out. Having said that, we live in a 'burb of London so would be able to manage quite easily without a car so its not so bad.

I can imagine feeling desperate though if we lived rurally.