Due October 2009 - Feeling better and feeling baby!

[princessmel]

I have started the new thread

Hi all

thanks for all the gory details about labour (although I'm sure they are potted versions!!) Having never been through it before i am starting to freak out slights (well quite a lot really) as I already have quite a bad needle phobia (oh boy am i looking forward to my 28 week bloods....!)I also have avery bad back which is getting progressively worse as my prognancy progresses. still - am under consultant care and guess they will do whats best for me when it come to it.

thanks very much for the hospital bag advice - hope everyone has a good wekend

mehimcatblob don't worry about having a needle phobia, I'm not good with needles but believe me you will not care in the slightest when you are in labour. They could have hacked my arm off and I wouldn't have cared in the slightest

Grumple alert- Sorry

Oh my back and my legs ache, oh what i'd give to be able to bend down and pick things up off the floor like a normal person. And walking up stairs god i feel so out of breath! There are two flights of stairs to the staff room at work and god what an effort. Where's the stair lift when you need one?

I went to my second and last wedding yesterday. It was lovely and there were two other pregnant friends their. One was 40+4 and the other was 35 weeks. So didn't feel like the only hippo!

I had a small Pimms and felt a little guilty, as a drop of alcohol didn't pass my lips when pregnant with ds. But god it was good. And I'm not one who really enjoys alcohol as a rule, unless to get drunk (I am of the binge drinking generation)

My labour and birth were both rubbish-

Started leaking waters on the Thursday night woke up and thought i had peed my pants, (thought great losing even more dignity in pregnancy) changed and went back to bed to find that i was wet again. Googled leaking waters and put a pad on. called hospital and went in early Friday morning, they checked pad and monitored ds. Midwife told me it was good a thing that ds was coming early (I was 38 weeks) as she thought that he was going to be big for my size( he was 7lb 1oz when born 2 days later)

I was sent home after signing a form agreeing that if i hadn't gone into natural labour by the Sunday (72 hour window because of risk of infection) I would be induced On the Sunday at 1pm. Went home and had a Friday sitting around feeling like i had no bladder control with some industrial pads on!!
Friday night i got period like pains which turned into contractions, Friday morning they were allot closer so went into hospital at 6 a.m. Arrived at hospital for my contractions to slow as ds was supposedly facing the wrong way. Was asked to walk around the hospital to encourage contractions again. Nothing was really happening contractions were mild, i was using a TENs which i just found annoying and by 4pm i was only 4cm so they induced me at 5pm as i was due to induced the next day and had quite a few internal examinations so risk of infection was high.

Was attached to a drip of antibiotics and one for the inductions. Pain was was awful went from 4-8cm in an hour[schock] just had gas an air as i wanted a 'natural' labour, more fool me. By about 8pm i was in sooo much pain and felt really stoned from the GA.
Crying for an epidural they kept putting it off as i was too far gone(9cm), begged for one, stupid bitch of an anaesthetist asked me why i was crying???? So i refused to speak to her. Any way epidural didn't work as i could feel everything still. At Abound 9.15 started to push was so exhausted and just wanted to give up, Ds was eventually born at 9.58pm. I though that the had cut me but i had torn, I had 3 or 4 stitches (which bloody hurt). I could feel my legs, walk about and have a wee after so epidural def didn't work. But it was all worth it seeing ds for the first time.

Said to DP that ds would not ever be having any siblings. Seriously it was just a horrid experience. But here we are! So here's hoping for a lovely 3 hour labour from start to finish! No stitches please!.

Morning everyone!

Oh dear, we're not doing too well with stories of blissful labours!! I'm finding it really interesting hearing all your stories though and we're all having another one so it couldn't have been that bad

Well here's my two birth stories to add to the proceedings.

With number 1 (dd) got out of bed about 7.30am at 40+3, and my waters broke. Stood in the bathroom for a bit thinking, surely I haven't wet myself There didn't seem to be enough for it to be my waters and I wasn't having any contractions. Decided not to wake dh up until I was sure so went downstairs and did a crossword! Contractions started about half an hour later and were pretty full on, woke dh up then insisted on having a shower as had been told that I MUST stay at home as long as possible in early labour and was meant to be squatting over chairs and having baths/showers. I'd been in the shower about three minutes and was doubled over with the pain could barely stand up, by this time my contractions were about 3mins apart so rang the hospital and was reluctantly told to come in. Got there and eventually someone sauntered in to examine me, warned me that as it was my first and I'd only been having contractions for 2 hrs I probably wouldn't be that far along, so I think they got a shock when I was already 8cm dilated. They also wanted to monitor the baby as my waters were straw coloured (merconium in them) which could be a sign of distress (I was later told that it's also very normal for overdue babies) anyway monitored and baby was fine but still had to lie on my back for the rest of the time for continual monitoring. I reached 10cm fairly quickly, then my contractions completely slowed to almost nothing, which was a relief tbh. Was told that this was fairly common in the transition stage, but eventually they gave me the drip to start them up again, I wasn't getting the urge to push either so eventually just had to push anyway to get things going. After 4/5hrs of pushing dd had got stuck and was going nowhere, she was right near the end but just would not budge, the ventouse wasn't working in my room so they transfered me to theatre, they made me sign all the consent for a cesarean as they said if the ventouse didn't work then they'd do a cs straight away, they also gave me a spinal, which felt wonderful after being in so much pain, unfortunaltely couldn't feel anything so it was hard to push fotunately ventouse worked and she was out pretty quickly. They gave her to me briefly then wisked her off to the trolley to have the doctor check her over, we realised that we didn't know what she was so asked the doctor who delivered her who said 'soory I didn't look!' so they shouted over from the trolley that she was a girl which was a big shock as we were convinced we were having a boy

Well I'm sick of typing so will leave it there and come back later to share bore you to death with my birth number 2 story

MeHimCatBlob....dont worry about the labour, everyone is different, you wont have time to worry about it anyway when the time comes, and will forget everything after. As for needles, i need to either be held down (not joking) or i swear & sing while getting them....the fear is so bad. But they could of stuck my whole body with them during and after for all i cared...trust me....dont worry about it, its a waste of you time. And remember...the drugs make everything ok LOL.....

My back is broke. Its getting so bad that im always feeling sick & now have stopped eating again. My DH told me that its pissing him off!!! Like to see him dealing with it, and trying to walk up stairs leaves me so out of breath that i have to sit down lol...that chairlift idea sounds like a good one!

On a happy note.....i have booked my holiday for next August. My fiend owns a working ranch in Billings Montana, and people go there to work for their holidays. Ive been so many times before i was married, and only ever went to see him for a days visit when i lived in Canada. So 2 of my girlfriends are going with me for a week, and the men are staying behind to look after the kids. I cant wait, and the thought of being out in the mountains on horseback everyday, well, its heaven. Roll on next August!!!

Hope everyone else is feeling good....really we are on countdown now, just wish there was a fast forward button!!

xxx

Morning all,
Hope the PELVIC FLOORs are still being done!
Haven't been on for ages as have had a grumpy week. MIL and FIL were here last week and drove me bonkers, had the worst constipation of my life, and am having alot of stretching pain so generally miserable! To top it off, I'm now feeling a bit head coldy.

My birth story with DD. I will start off by saying that I was absolutely fine, and it was DH that struggled with the sleep deprivation and this time I'll be sending him off for naps.

Had BH for weeks, had a show, when about 40+1 started with contractions on the saturday (40+3) which kept going from 20mins apart to 5 mins apart and then back again. Phoned hosp at about 1am as I couldn't sleep and was getting a bit panicky (will add here that everything seemed worse at night) they told me to stay at home til I couldn't cope with the pain any more, take some paracetamol and try and sleep (ha ha) but I ended up going in at about 3am coz I just needed some reassurance. Was examined and monitored at admission and told that I was 1-2cm dilated and they would send me home but there was a dip in dd's heartrate so they wanted to keep me in for more monitoring. As I wasn't officially "in labour" and it wasn't visiting hours DH would have to go home and I would be moved to the maternity ward. I told them that if he was going, I was going with him! At that, they decided I could stay in the delivery suite, til they needed it for someone else, and by that time it was ok for DH to stay with me.

We then spent ages being monitored/in bath/walking. She was back to back so I wasn't dilating properly. They let me home on the sunday evening and I was at home 8hrs I think, can't remember what I did. Went in again and this time was allowed to stay in delivery room. Was in and out of the bath for most of the day, had tens machine, ended up having waters broken at 11pm tues to check for merconium (none), then inducement drip as was only 6cm. Had to go onto G&A with the "bastard" drip then I have no recollection of time till 5am weds apart from the occasional loo trip, when I was off the bed so the contractions were no where near as bad and the G&A wasn't making me fuzzy. At 5am MW said she wanted to get DR to see me. DR came and suggested C-S. They told me even if by some miracle I became fully dilated right then, I prob wouldn't be able to push her out coz I was so tired.

So in came the anaesthetist who told me off for having acrylic nails, so he couldn't use the bloodox thing. I pointed out I had toes aswell as fingers! I was changed into a gown and wheeled into theatre, climbed onto table and yelled at the anethetist as he was trying to get me to curl up to put spinal in while I was having a contraction - MW set him straight! Anyway, spinal in the relief was amazing, no contrations hurrah! DH came in and sat by my head, and everything was very relaxed, soon enough she was out and we were told she was a girl, taken by mw for a quick clean and wrap and then given to DH who held her next to me while they put me back together. It seemed like no time at all, and was all a bit surreal, she didn't feel like mine, I remember looking at her (I thought she would be a boy) and thinking, you don't look like either of us, you could be anyones. DH confirms he saw her being pulled out! Then I was moved back onto the bed and wheeled back to my delivery room and we stayed in there with a mw doing obs and we had our first feed. After a few hours I was moved to postnatal ward and stayed for 4 days to get feeding established and to recover.

As I said at the beginning, although it was a bit mammouth, and ended in a c-section, which terrified me before hand, at the time I felt very calm and had good mws who explained things and I felt I could say no to things which helped me keep control.

My DH has just been tested for swine flu at work, I think he just has a really bad cough, but if he does have it........I'll kill him!! LOL

Gosh, this is all quite alarming! {covers eyes}.

To be honest, I'm completely worn-down with the level of negativity I'm getting from all and sundry regarding my birth plan (currently home waterbirth if at all possible). Not from DH (very supportive) or family (who are mostly ambivalent), but particulary from anyone who has had a baby or knows someone who recently had a baby.

If I hear "You wait; birthing a baby is the worst / most painful / highly terrifying thing you'll ever go through" or "I / my baby would have definitely died if I wasn't in hospital" or "homebirth - for your first baby, isn't that really reckless?" one more time, I think I may well ostrasize myself from polite society.

I'm somewhat dismayed at the level of medical intervention you've all had during your past birth experiences, not that I'm IN ANY WAY suggesting that they were frivoulous nor reckless, but my hopes of a natural home birth seem to be rather fantastical to say the least .

Hi Calypso,

I totally sympathise. I'm also hoping for a home water birth although I'm trying to keep an open mind in case I need to be transfered. I've also had some really negative responses recently and have spoken to a lot of people who have needed interventions and I was starting to think my birth plan just wasn't a possibility. Luckily I've been going to a yoga class and have met quite a few people there who have had straight forward home births and a couple from work also had a home birth recently which makes me feel a bit more positive. They have all said that you have to be prepared for it to be difficult at times and not have too rosy a picture so you don't panic when it gets tough (I think some people have a very idealised image of a totally painfree, relaxed home birth although I don't know how - certainly not my image of birth) and have coping strategies very clear in your head and rehearsed if possible as you can't think of them during labour so they need to happen kind of automatically (I have been doing breathing exercises to try to make sure I carry on with slow deep breaths, trying some 'relaxation images' and have told DP how he can help me to relax, back massage etc).

They have also all said that it helps if you have a good midwife you trust (which luckily I do and the local community midwives are very supportive of home births) but that the most important thing is you need to believe you can have a good home birth and that you can use the breathing etc to cope with the pain (as well as G+A or pethadine and the pool) but be open to the situation changing.

On the plus side they said that although it was tough at times they have all said it was a fantastic experience and they found it easier for them than a hospital birth.

I don't know whether that helps but I am just focusing on making sure I am as prepared as possible so I have the best chance of a home birth but trying not to stress about the possibility of going to hospital if I have to (not totally succeeding but getting there). Fingers crossed we all get the births we want.

Calypso - please do not be put off but other people's negativity. I had my first baby at a birth centre and I had the same thing. "What if something goes wrong - it is reckless not to be in a hospital" etc. etc. and lots of raised eyebrows that I wasn't panicking and fearing for my life at the mear thought of the pain of the whole thing. I am so pleased I didn't listen to any of them. I had a straightforward, natural birth and I am hoping for the same again this time. I did a hypnobirthing course when I was pg with DS, not that I went fully into a hypnotic state or anything, I just used the relaxation techniques and looked at the whole process of labour etc. as exciting because I was going to meet my baby and convinced myself it was all a totally natural process etc etc. Don't get me wrong, things could have gone in another direction, I was lucky that everything went fine for me and if it hadn't I would have been transferred to the hospital which I knew was a possibilty but wanted to try for the whole birth centre experience. Plus, I absolutely hate hospitals so was more frightened of having to go in to hospital than I was about giving birth. Also, I went to 10cm relatively quickly but then everything slowed down and I had no urge to push at all so just had to start pushing as and when the midwife said. If I had been in hospital I am sure they would have intervened but the midwife (who was wonderful and with me the whole time) let me keep going to wait and see what happened. DS's heartbeat never waverered etc so she was not overly worried.
I am hoping for as good a dlivery this time! pretty please!!

Go for what you want and don't be put off by horror stories - of course they happen - and my sister has experienced very medical births both times due to complications she's had so everyone had a different story but go with the birth that you want and if doesn't happen then so be it.

Thanks for that littleblessing - it's great to hear these stories. I really feel that not being afraid and being confident you will cope with whatever happens must make labour/birth so much easier. Everything is so much harder if you feel tense and scared but as a first-timer it's hard not to worry I won't manage.

Just popping on quickly on to say thanks for the birth stories, I'm also a bit apprehensive (hence the hypnobirthing). Did a spectacular slide/fall at 4am this morning so under total bed rest orders today and v bored! I now know I can almost do the splits though. Have temporarily binned the tv-sick of swine flu coverage.(We went tv free for lent last yr and ended up lasting 3 months!) A neighbour, however has taken to knocking the door each day to give me updates on the latest swine flu media panic advice along with the trouble he's having with his waterworks...

My 2 nieces are tickled pink by the 4d scan dvd-the 4 yr old keeps shouting "open your eyes" and "I can kick like that, see!" at the baby on tv.

Still don't have details of antenatal classes-mw keeps forgetting to give me the no at my appts and every time I ring up to get no and book, I'm told someone will call me back with details but they don't. Too late for NCT so I might just get a few DVDs from amazon and book a private tour of labour ward, will ask at my anti-d appt on Friday.

HC hope your dd1 had a lovely birthday

Hi everyone, I've not been around for a week or two as we've just put our house on the market, so I've been busy tidying! I've been keeping up to date with you all though.

I'm planning a home birth this time round. I had a very quick labour last time; dd was born just over an hour after we arrived at the hospital, and that included a wait to be seen!

I woke in the morning (39+4) with period type aches every 15 mins and kept needing the loo. I'd been out for a spicy pizza the night before, so wasn't sure if my tummy was just a bit upset, but when the aches got closer together I decided to call the hospital to ask what they thought as they didn't feel like contractions at all (or what I'd been told they'd feel like), but all the midwife told me was that I'd KNOW when I was in labour. So that didn't help at all! It was only when I had some light bleeding that I became worried that labour had started, so called DH home from work. I wasn't really in any pain (no worse than usual period pains), so did some ironing while I waited for him, but once he arrived home things moved up a gear and I put the TENS machine on and we got ready to go to the hospital.

Once at the hospital they sent me to get a urine sample. I had 2 contractions whilst on the loo and that's when my waters broke. So I didn't collect any urine, but I did collect a tube full of waters and lots of blood, which I gave to my husband to show the midwife! It was only then that the contractions became unpleasant, all the pain was in my bum, like I needed a BIG poo! Midwife examined me and I was fully dilated so they whisked me up to the delivery suite with strict instructions not to push in the lift. They put me on a monitor as they were worried about dd's heart rate, and then they left me as all the midwives were busy and told me to push if I wanted to.

I needed to push, dd was ready to come out there and then, but I was too scared to do anything without a midwife there, so I did everything I could to hold her in, which didn't please dd at all! A midwife became free and suddenly went into a bit of a panic, said the baby needed to come out now and called for help. I ended up having an episiotomy and forceps delivery without even trying to push. I didn't really care at the time, I was just grateful that it was a quick and relatively pain free birth (only used TENS and dd was born 7 hours after the first twinge). It was only a few weeks later that I felt a bit cross about it; if I'd had a midwife from the start I doubt I'd have needed forceps. Apart from that it was a very positive experience.

Both midwives I've seen so far have recommended I have a home birth this time, so I'm going to give it a go - at least I should have a midwife this time (assuming they get here in time!).

Don't worry Calypso, I feel just as apprehensive about this birth as I'm trying for a VBAC and its still very unknown to me. I reckon you can't be too prepared, that way you can be confident in your decisions. IME there is always plenty of time for hospital transfers etc if things don't go to plan. You actually have better care with a homebirth as you have a midwife with you all the time rather than one popping in and out of a hosp room so I'd ignore any "reckless" comments. FWIW I think I'd have had a natural birth if I'd had a homebirth, but we'll never know.

One thing I will say, is that if the baby is back to back you will have a harder/longer labour and I will be doing anything I can to make sure this doesn't happen again.

I'll also say, although it sounds bad on paper, I really was fine, people visiting us in hosp were asking if it was DH who gave birth. The adrenaline, endorphins and of course the drugs get you through! Its the next two weeks that are hell on a stick

smallone here you have to have two m/w for a homebirth, so much more care than you gt in hospital when they pop in and out. That's why i intially wanted one when pregnant with ds plus the local hospital isn't great. Think i will go to the same hospital that i had ds in even though its bit of a drive. Think a home birth would be too traumatic for ds.

Morning all, sorry if all this birth chat is stressing some of the first timers out. I know quite a few people near me who have had successful home births for first babies recently, and I do think that when you're in hospital they are probably a bit too keen to intervene at the first hint of trouble, I really believe that if they hadn't insisted on monitoring me and allowed me to be upright I would have avoided the ventouse first time round, but we'll never know.

I think the best way to go into it is by being very flexible and not get too hung up on the 'perfect' birth, by all means write a birth plan and think about what you would like to happen but don't think you have failed in any way if it doesn't follow the plan. At the end of the day even with all the various problems that happened for us along the way we all successfully brought our children into this world, and that is the most important thing

Well I have a bit more of a positive story for dc2's birth!

Well at 40+14 I was FINALLY induced, after several sweeps, sex, curry, pineapple, long walks etc... he was not going anywhere! I was getting quite desperate at this point, I never expected to go that far over as EVERYONE had said that second babies come earlier. I wasn't bothered at all about being induced I just wanted him out!! Anyway... got to the hospital and had to have a side room as none of the early labour rooms were available. They decided to give me a very low dose of the gel pessary as I am Asthmatic and apparently it can cause a reaction. I was 2cm dialated already so they debated whether to just break my waters but they thought giving me the gel would be a bit more gentle. I could feel it working straight away (it was a tingling sensation) these 'tingles' started to turn into contractions and after about an hour I was pretty sure it had worked and I was definately in labour. Shortly after they came and moved me to a proper early labour room, I was telling them that it was hardly worth it as I would be going down to labour ward soon based on my previous experience. Had a chat with the midwife who decided that as I could still talk through the contractions I probably wasn't in 'established' labour yet so they left me to it, got my husband to go and get them a few minutes later as I wanted some gas and air, MW came back and said I wasn't allowed until I was over 4cm dialated so I insisted she examine me, she did and I was 6cm. So got taken straight down to labour ward, had been bouncing on a birthing ball all the time so far so continued to do so, they examined me when I got there and I was 8cm but they were concerned as the baby was lying oblique (which is diagonally I think!) they had a bit of discussion about this but decided that it was ok and they would let me carry on as I was, although the mw did inform me it would be alot harder to push him out than normal (which is not really what you want to hear!) got back onto the birthing ball and my waters broke (nice!)immediately had the urge to push, which never happened with dc1. I was a bit annoyed because Strictly come dancing was just starting and I was going to miss it , pushed for about an hour, which is quite a long time for a second baby, but eventually he came out, delivered by a student midwife all 10lb6 of him! Dh announced he was a boy and got to cut the cord, I didn't need any stitches although I had torn. I had a bath then went home! Only bad thing was that for a few weeks after I got a funny feeling in my stomach whenever the music to strictly come dancing came on

Hey....well my MW is back & i got my test results back, ive got Group B Strep....i need to get the anti's to get rid of it, as this one is bad & she is not only afraid of what it could do to the baby after birth, but she is also afraid i might go into prem labour, she said the signs are all there for it to happen. But i cant get the med's for it until Friday as my we are still waiting for my DH tests to come back for swineflu & i need to find that out first. And ive also got Sciatica....its so hard trying to walk my DS his 5 minutes walk to school every morning. Im flat out on my back watching tv, and will wait till my DH comes home from work, get the car, and find a very big chocolate cake to eat!

Hi everyone.

Thanks for all the birth stories! As a first timer it's good to know what sort of thing to expect. I know that some of your experiences are a bit but I'm taking encouragement from the fact that they all resulted in a healthy birth. I'm going to try not to go in with too many expectations or any kind of notions of a 'good' or 'bad' birth.

Calypso - one of my friends gave birth at home in a birthing pool and said it was absolutely fine. Stick to your guns if that's what you want.

littlepea - sorry to hear about your Group B Strep. I had the test done as well when I saw the GP but haven't had the results. I had sciatica briefly about a week ago - so painful! I actually found a combination of movement and sitting down helped. Hope you feel better soon and that your DH's results don't show swine flu.

Blimey littlepea-that doesn't sound so good. Hope the swine flu is -ive and the tablets get rid of your Strep B.

Am 30 weeks today and the hormones must be really kicking in as DH just annoys me and I keep crying. PIL are going away for 2 weeks the day after the baby is due so that means we can't count on them to look after the girls when labour starts. At least mum and dad are here. When I said it was bad timing thinking they may not see the baby for 2 weeks FIL said they can't arrange their life around me and what do the hospital know about when a baby is due. Also that I told them a different due date. They are also away on my 40th which is 8th October which I know shouldn't bother me but it does. DH said he can't afford to buy anything but if I want a party we would have to have it at our house but I can't cope with this a week after my boy is born (if he isn't late of course) as no cleaning or washing gets done and clearing up would still need to be done afterwards. Also can't deal with lots of people coming to the house so soon after the birth. Was hoping to have a small party at PIL like my BIL did. Will have to speak to my mum and see if she will do some nibbles. Probably a good thing the PIL are going away so I can get used to my boy before they start taking over and interfering.

So, my moans today are the above, cring fits, being annoyed at DH over everything he does, needing the loo suddenly but weeing before I even get there then after doing a wee on the toilet, standing up only to find there is another pint coming out and heartburn.

Sorry about the me, me , me and some of you are far worse worries but needed to offload without crying.

Big wave to all!

HC
x

30 weeks!

Sorry to hear you`ve got Group B Strep littlepea72.At least you know now and they can give you the anti-b.

With DS I didnt know I was in labour and just thought I had BH but felt really sick and thougt I caught a tummy bug so went to hospital for that,I was 38+3.Turned out I was already 3cms so they put me on delivery suite.As they kept monitioring me I was lying down most of the time and although contractions had increased in pain I didnt dialte much more so they broke my waters. Which helped me dialate quickly and soon they told me to start pushing even though I didn`t feel that urge to.
DS kept coming down but slipping back in so after 45 mins of pushing I had an eposotimy (sp?) but then his HB stated to drop and 2 more doctors and 2 more mw came in telling to push and he finally came out.Had massive head no wonder he kept being stuck.Had loads of stiches with just G&A for pain relieve which felt just surreal.I thought that was the worst part being stitched up.

With DD I started having contractions around 1pm at 38+2 and knew this time I was in labour.Dp dropped DS off at his parents in afternoon and when he got back went into hospital around 4pm.Went into midwife led unite.Was already 4/1/2 cms so could stay in.I kept very mobile this time and bouncing on ball and wealking round the room.Tried pool but it slowed down contractions so got out again.Dp had a snooze on beanbag for a whileand around 6am next day she decided to break my water as I was only 5cms dialatee
.After that dialated again quickly to 10 cms
and got in the pool soon felt the urge to push and with 3 pushes saw a head and I definitely felt ring
of fire and just thought fuck this hurts like hell why didn`t I get epidural,but you just have to push through it and she was out.
Only needed 2 stithces but dd scratched me both sides and that hurt like hell for about 3 weeks.DDs birth was better and you just have to let your body do what it wants.MW was nicer too and she left me too it whereas with DS she was constantly in my face.I reccomend having it a MW led unit or centre as they much more relaxed.

Try to keep as mobile as possible the
worst thing is lying down specially for pushing.Water birth was great too even though I only went in for the last stage.I was shocked to feel sick first time as never heard you felt that during labour too but you can.

littlepea sorry to hear about the Strep-b, at least it has been diagnosed now though, it can be pretty well managed if the midwives are aware you have it.

HC sorry to hear you're a bit stressed, my mil went to Peru a few days after my ds due date (I got the same line about not putting her life on hold if I insist on keeping having babies ), I think she was expecting him to come on time! As he was 2 weeks late she missed it which she was actually quite upset about! (and she had to spend a fortune on phone calls from Peru, HA!). This time she's not even bothered to ask my due date, but hasn't booked any holidays either!

RE. Water births my sister has had 4 water births at home and she insists that if I ever decide to use the pool not to get in before 6cm dialated as it can really slow the contractions. I've always toyed with the idea of a water birth but when it comes down to it and I'm actually in labour I really just can't be arsed with getting in the pool, maybe I will this time!

HC i am going to say something and i am risking you never speaking to me again....but your inlaws sound like real assholes . From day 1 they have made you feel bad. This is going to be something they wont get back, and it is going to be a real loss. I wouldnt even show them a photo of when your DS is born, just tell them that its their own bloody fault & had they wanted to see him they should of been there. I think now is the time to stop including them & trying to bend over backwards for them....your to nice a person for the way you are being treated. What does your DH say, or is he like mine, nothing they do is wrong....but you are for complaining??? I wish i was there to give you a big hug.

Twinkle, glad your MIL has pulled her head down from her ass this time, i cant believe she said about her not putting her live on hold for you having babies! MIL's...who would have them! Mine is just over powering with always wanting my DS, but hell im i glad she is coming over to help when DD is born.

Chin up everyone....it wont be long & then at least we will have something to hold for all this trouble we have been having....and i hope HC & Twinkle are still talking to me!!! xxxx

littlepea, sorry you have group b strep , but glad they have found it

HC my MIL has booked a holiday straight after i have baby , but as we never see her anyway i'm not to fussed, she has only just started coming round once a week again after having a huge strop about us having another baby, DH always dissapears when she visit's as he still does not forgive her, and as predicted she is starting to take over already, hope you feel better soon HC x
well have almost finished my hospital bag now and it all seems very real, BH getting stronger in the evenings too
big wave to everyone and hope your all well x

sorry read that back and it's confusing
we never really see her but when a new baby arrives and when she is back from holidays she will never be away, until the new baby stage wers off then she tails off her visits