Fab Feb Thread: 22 on show........33 to go.......!!!!

[spottyshoes]

Ooo I feel all important now.

KT What kind of pain is it? I asked my midwife about my stitches with dd and she said they were fine but if it was a kind of dragging ache, then make sure you're doing your pelvic floor exercises. As soon as I pulled my muscles up I felt a million times better

MS I've not heard from spottyshoes for a few days. She updated her fb status on Sunday evening though so still at home then I guess. Hope she's doing ok and I'll let you all know as soon as I hear from her.

And the babies are still coming thick and fast!! Congratulations all

Congrats on all the new babies - some fab names!

Glad you had a happy birthday Swampster - tis my turn on thurs

Day 11 today. Feeling great from the section point of view. Abi has regained her birth weight and is feeding well the only issue we have is she has her night and day around the wrong way and so I am not getting alot of sleep!

I am considering co sleeping - does anyone do this? Any tips?

Mamagoose sorry to hear you?re having problems. I hope it?s swiftly sorted and you can get back to your baby very quickly.

Congratulations Pluto, , KazzaL, America, JenniferTurkington and Astarte. More great names. I love Magnus but DH not in agreement? and

QK sorry things are not great for you ATM. It?s a huge thing becoming a mum and nothing can prepare you for it. It?s a bit like going to another country ? you can read lots of guide books before you go but when you get there nothing is quite how you expected it. And that?s if everything is going well! The choking thing is very scary and unfortunately you?ll never learn to relax about stuff like that, but it does get easier. On the feeding front I am not a member of the breast feeding Nazi but I am passionate about new mums getting the support they need, if they want it. I just wanted to ask you what is making you think your baby is not satisfied by you milk? This may of course be the case, stranger things have happened but just because a baby is unsettled, or glugs down lots of formula after a breast feed does not necessarily mean there is a problem with your milk. The other thing I wanted to add is that in my experience it most midwives and heath visitors know less about breast feeding that you would believe and can give advice which undermines rather than supports your efforts so I would thoroughly recommend seeing a dedicated breast feeding counsellor, either an NHS one or someone form La Leche League or NCT. In the meantime I cannot recommend Kellymom highly enough to d you might especially find this page useful www.kellymom.com/babyconcerns/fussy-evening.html.

Neerly3 are you in fact me? I too have been having pains each afternoon and today mine also kicked off in the morning. Also saw about 6 drops of pink tinged clear fluid (bit of a water leak, perhaps?) but since then nothing momentous has happened. Seeing Midwife tomorrow, if I?m ?favourable? should I let her do a sweep? Is it really horrible? Had one booked the day I went onto labour with DS1 and swear to this day I only went into labour then because I really hated the idea of a sweep soooo much. My plan tomorrow is to ask to book in a section for next week. I?ve heard nothing good about induction and as they were previously prepared to let me decide between a CB and CS I hope that there will not be a problem. Though frankly as I am at the top of the list amongst regular posters I think Baby FC should do the decent thing and just come out now. Cannot believe I am more overdue in my second pregnancy than my first!

McDreamy c-sleeping is fab, espcially if you are breast feeding. You might find this advice useful. I got rid ofmy pillows when DS was small though actually uou'll find you naturally adopt a position where you curl round DD anyway so it should stop her moving up the bed under them. I used to sleep in a cardigan and then wrap the duvet roudn my waist and then DS was in his own grobag or blanket.

Sorry for marathon post!

Evening everyone.

Lots of stitches talk - sorry I can't offer any advice on the undercarriage stitches since I've not experienced those.

Congrats on the new arrivals.

Sorry dinky that DS seems to be under the weather again...poor little thing seems to have been through the mill in the past few weeks.

Am feeling a bit tired and teary at the moment. I find it really hard to go back to sleep between feeds. This morning, the poor thing had such horrible wind after feeding at 4.30am that she couldn't go off again was screaming and screaming and eventually woke DS up . DH was then p**d off as he was trying to get DS to go back off to sleep at 5.30am.....I'm fed up with trying to keep everyone happy and asleep whilst I'm up and awake and keeping DD quiet whilst I'm knackered. DH at least gets to go to sleep at 10.45 and the worst case scenario is a wake up call at 5.30ish -the man has no stamina. Sorry I'm ranting/moaning !!......

Anyway, my lovely mum arrived with DS from nursery this afternoon and helped me put them all to bed.

Hello to everyone else and hope some more babies arrive soon....maybe I'll feel better tomorrow

Herbgarden - sleep deprivation will do that to you every time.... Hopefully things will settle down shortly - in the meantime, while DS is at nursery, make sure you get your day time naps in while DD sleeps and hopefully life will feel abit better.

Neerly - I'm co-sleeping with DS2 at the moment until my milk supply is established; DH has gone to sleep in the spare room for a couple of weeks. Its a good way to get sleep in between feeds in the first few weeks and during the day I'm making sure that DS2 gets sleeps in his cot/carrycot too so he's used to sleeping in those too. I did this too with DS1 until he was around 4 weeks old and then things started settling down sleep and feeding wise. THOM is right - wearing a dressing gown/cardy over your top half will keep you warm and then keeping the duvet on your lower half will ensure that your little one doesnt overheat - however I've never tried co-sleeping with DH in bed too so not sure how that works...

Hi everyone and welcome to the world all those new babies! Congratulations!

Not had time to catch up properly with DD around but hope generally things going well for everyone.

Herbgarden - hope you manage to get some quality sleep tonight. No wonder you are teary with such a juggling act. Nice to have your mum to help a bit.

Family is a bit of a sore subject to me today. After saying she would be my child care provider for DD during labour/birth etc, my darling sister has now backed down and said she can only do it if it happens in the late evening/during the night as she has been rota'd to work during the day for the whole of this week (a restaurant). She had originally said they would be flexible and arrange cover for her at short notice - she has admitted she doesn't want to lose out on the money. So, with my due date tomorrow and my mum saying she can only help if it happens on Weds, Fri or Sun, I'm feeling a bit fed up and trying to make alternative arrangements. Not what I need right now.

THOM - I had a sweep today from my midwife. It was absolutely fine - a little bit uncomfortable because my cervix is still posterior (but soft apparently) and closed. I was slightly disappointed to hear this, but she did say the baby's head is VERY low and she thinks won't take much to push him out . We'll have to see about that .

Finding it hard to find things to do with DD at the moment as don't want to go too far from home or anything that involves carrying her!! Maybe another trip to Wisley tomorrow.....

Anyway, let's see if the sweep does anything tonight.

Hi everyone,

Thanks for the info about the stitches - Il try some tea tree perhaps.
My CMW is coming round tomorrow. I feel a bit odd asking him to check ( just being a bloke I guess!) I know I shouldnt as I left all my dignity at the hospital doors on Friday

Pinkspottywellies The pain is hard to describe - it hurts to sit down in same position for too long & just bruised & swollen I think?

Oh & my milk has come in today - Oh my god!!
I went to bed with 'normal' me size boobs - Ive woken up with a pair that rival Jordans

I see from Facebook that Winemakesmummyclever had her little boy, Isaac Alexander, today - congratulations WMMC!

KT the pain eased as soon as I lifted my pelvic floor muscles so if it was that it would improve. Ask the mw to have a look when you see her. Have you got a valley cushion or anything to sit on? (You can hire them from the NCT.)

MrsY Glad you're feeling better. x I sometimes find a good walk helps me too (normally because ds falls asleep!)
And it's Luke's first name..........just feels a bit wrong, getting him registered tomoz before I actually do change it!!!! It's ok, went to my dad's today and all his neighbours popped in to see him, so hearing other people say it helped a bit.
Kaz congratulations, hope you're both well
KT I was cut last time for a forcep delivery and was very uncomfortable, I had to hold my hand onto my fanjo whenever I wanted to stand up or sit down so the pressure change wasn't so sudden! I found salt baths helped loads, which is going against what everyone else is saying and was told to do pelvic floor to get blood circulating to help the healing (I did not do that).
america congratulations
herb sorry you had a rough night. and at dh.
catstar Sorry you've been let down with childcare. It's a huge worry isn't it, what to do with the lo when you go into labour. Was the 2nd reason I went for induction.
Hope you get something sorted...
Congrats to WMMC

OMG, things are starting to come back to be about the birth, I think I remember mw saying she was pulling/turning my cervix round? Is that right or am I making that up?

Think my waters are leaking. They are clear with a pink tinge so now sign of meconium. Don't have to do amything yet, do I? Don't want to go anywhere near hospital until absolutley necessary...

thom I don't know when waters went with ds1 and obviously with induction.......are waters supossed to be pink?
Personally, if it was me, I might call labour ward, tell them what's happening and say I'd rather stay at home.......were your last lot pink?

Don't know, they broke well into labour last time. I'e googled it and it seems pink's OK but I'm just not sure what the leaky water protocol is generally as I know it's unusual for them to go before contractions start. I'll post on the childbirth thread and see if anyone can tell me.

From what I can gather, water's can go well before cons start, think they leave you for 24 hours? And would then step in because of possibility of infection? Don't get in the bath or anything either.
Goodluck!!!

Good luck, thom!

any tips on induction, ladies??
feel a bit ignored

THOM-pink colour is normal...so is colourless. As long as no meconium! Probably best to let hospital know that you think you're leaking...gives them a chance to get things ready for you or they may ask you to go to get checked/send out CMW to check you.
Keep us up to date with your progress

KT- Even without stiches the undercarriage usually takes a few days to recover. After DS (I had grazes but no cuts), i had to build up the distance I walked each day. I was really surprised by how heavy everything felt...like everything was about to fall out!

THOM-NICE guidelines state upto 96 hours from waters breaking to going in for induction but each PCT has their own set of protocols. Most are between 48-72 hours. Mine went before cxns last time but only by a few hours.

Ranirani-what do you mean?? Do you mean self help induction or different clinical/medicalised inductions??

oh, thanks God, chilledmama,
I mean proper medical induction

rani I was induced this time. I wasn't ignoring you, well suppose I was because you said you're not keen on pain. Being induced brings contractions on stronger, quicker and more intense than when it happens naturally, and tbh, I might go for sweep first and see what happens there, it'll just feel a bit uncomfortable.
When I went in they tried to break waters first at 10am and it was quite unpleasant so I went straight on G&A, they couldn't do it so they inserted some gel at about 11. Was put on monitor every hour for 20 mins to check baby was ok.
The gel didn't do anything so was sent for lots of walks and spent most of day climbing stairs, mw got quite irrate if she saw me sitting down! They tried ARM again about 3pm but still couldn't do it. The next lot of gel went in at 5 contractions started straight away but was warned they may be false ones so had to go for another walk. At 6, it was clear it was real thing and were coming every 4 mins for 50 secs. Waters broke at 8pm, I got urge to push at 11:30 but was told not to as was only 4cm and I'd just bruise and swell. Contractions got longer and were very intense. I had epidural at about 11:30 but it didn't take effect. I started pushing at around 12:25v am and he was born at 12:38am.

That's pretty much what happened with us. They also had to move my cervix round at some point too, but I spent all day on the gas so it's a bit blurry in places.....

i'm seeing my Mf tomorrow ( I will 40+5) and firts baby too; so they will be booking me for induction. As I have heard sweep is way too uncomfortable or evenpainful, I would rather say no to sweep

you see, lbb, I was told by my MW if they put you on a drip with syntocin( sp??) you can request epidural beforehand.
Thats what i am hoping for....
I just can't take pain at all

I would really recommend a sweep first.