Due in June 15 - The competition for first baby is on!!

[katzguk]

Crisp and clean new thread....can't you just smell that new baby aroma!!

Morning Uki and Megi!

I'm about to go to work (that means switch off my laptop and boot up the work laptop, ahhhh the commute). Off this afternoon to my breastfeeding workshop.

Gwen, I feel the same, minus the puking I'm glad to say. When will it ever end?

Megi, glad you've stopped working, hope you're feeling okay.

Uki, great news about the baby being engaged, my mum thinks my bump has moved down (and measured a bit small last week), so waiting to see if the midwives can check me out this week to see what's what.

As well as swollen ankles my hands have started swelling in the evening as well, so I want to get my bp checked again. It was fine last week although a little higher than it has been.

Right, better go and check in with my boss! Take care all.

Morning Uki and Megi, thought I'd check in early this morning. Gweny, you were up late last night!

Uki, I'm 3/5 engaged too. I think that might be why I am feeling more uncomfortable in the pelvic area. Are you noticing the difference too?

I do know what you all mean about being fed up of being like this, I am having one of those days today too. I am getting sick of wearing my maternity clothes, none of which fit me now (they don't cover my stomach), my stretch marks are spreading rapidly over my belly and I'm generally exhausted. DS was up at 5.30 this morning, so I'm sure this has contributed to my bad mood....hopefully I'll perk up a bit after a nap, and remember to be grateful to get this far!

Megi, good for you for finishing work. I'm the same as you - DS was 10 days early so I'm (probably wrongly) expecting this one to come early too.

Trib, have you stopped coming up to Leeds now then?

Gweny, yuck to being sick at this stage, it really isn't what you need. Have they given you a rough idea as to when the kitchen will be finished?

morning,

thought i'd also check in early.had a bad nights sleep last night and was up about 6 times to use the loo.the bh's seem to have stopped but it was agony getting out of bed this morning.
mrs w-the pain in my pelvic area was unbearable.dont know about you but mine seems to make clicking noises too.at my doc's last week he also said the baby is 3/5 engaged so it probably has got something to do with it.i really didnt think i'd be able to get up this morning which was scary,but once i am up,im fine!

trib-i certainly dont envy you still going to work.when are you going on your mat leave? all that travelling-i dont miss it one bit.

hi uki,gweny and megi-still hanging on then?
3 weeks is scary isnt it? i only realised yesterday that ive now less than 3 weeks to go!!!

I forgot to mention I am 3/5 engaged as well! I have had some sharp stabbing pains in my pelvis which the midwife said was the baby's head pushing down!

hello all - finding it difficult to get on the net now!

glad to see others aren't sleeping and feeling a bit fed up that's exactly what I was going to post and say. I'm 'only' 35 weeks but feeling v big and heavy and wondering how I'm going to do the next few weeks!!!!!!

btw anyone with a child already having more tantrums etc. My Dd seems v unsettled and having massive tantrums with me only - she knows something is up and doesn't like it!!

MrsWednesday,
Been keeping an eye on you, Sorry to hear you feeling down today.. I think i would to if i was woken at 5.30 this morning. (god what have i let myself in for lol to late now)Hope you have your feet up now and relaxing.
Thinking of you,

Morning everybody!
RH my DD is a bit clingier and "tantrumy", I guess they can feel their kingdom are about to end! Poor things! I'm trying to be patient, but must say don't have much left....

Mr.W, Megi, Uki, very {envy} of your baby's being engaged. I know people say it doesn't mean anything especifically, but it ought to be better than a completely non-engaged baby!

Megi good for you to finish work, it did look like you needed a break.

Trib, your commute does sound bad! From one laptop to the other?!?! Hope your baby is on it's way down!

Charley, is your appt today? Good luck! Let us know how it all goes!

Regarding induction.... it is because of the diabetes. But is not the size that they are concerned. He doesn't seem to be to big. It is the small percentage of stillbirths associated with diabetes that is worrying us. Apparently, some women with diabetes just have their placenta quit at some point, and as far as I know is hard to predict. They have been monitoring me with doppler and CGT, and so far everything looks fine. So really it shoul be 90% OK to keep him in longer.... I am just not sure how much risk I am willing to take IYSWIM.... At this point I am tempted to take no risk whatsoever. But really, really dreading the induction if baby is not engaged at all! I did reflexology and ate lots of pineapple yesterday, plan to spend the whole day walking tomorrow and will have a sweep (if possible) on thursday. So keep your finger crossed for me that my cervix decide to "soften"....

Have a good day everyone!!

P.S.: Katz, how are you doing???

Katz, thanks for letting me know.

Mrs Wed and Uki, glad to hear your babies are moving towards the exit sign .

Gweny, sorry you are still being sick at this stage. Late pgy is bad enough without that added stress. Your class sound lovely though.

Mrs Wed, lol at your clothes not fitting. Mine are the same. I don?t get it. I?m only 5 foot tall and a fairly small build. How do normal sized people still fit into their maternity clothes and I don?t?

I?ve been getting loads of stabbing pains and started getting BH?s last night. Told my DH when he came to bed. Unfortunately for him, I fell asleep after about an hour, leaving him to worry and not sleep on both of our behalfs . Poor love. I?ve not had BH?s before and they were really weird. I thought early contractions came for about 30 seconds, went away, came back for another 30 seconds etc etc. These were almost continuous for an hour, but sort of came in waves, growing in strength, then fading again. Is this what proper contractions feel like as well? I thought that you judged when to go into hospital by the intervals, but I didn?t seem to have any.

Hello all,
Gosh this thread is busy. We are all just waiting impatiently now aren't we...
Lua - I am sorry you are having all this stress and I will keep my fingers crossed for your cervix to soften up etc. If it is any consolation I went from not engaged at one appt to 4/5 at the next (a week ago now). My midwife also says that many second timers do not engage until labour starts. I looked through my diary from last time too and a week before dd arrived I was 2/5 engaged. Not sure what this says really apart from there seems to be little correlation between engaging and labour....Not sure this helps either. Sorry. Keep us posted and I will try to come up with something a little more constructive.....
Megi - How are you now. It is really positive that things are happening. It can't be long now really. Glad you have given up work too. If the hospital are relaxed about the size I wouldn't worry as they will see more pregnant ladies than your doc so have more experience etc.
Bero - How is Samuel today and how are you?
Lynny - Hope all OK with you too.
McMud - Happy Birthday!!!
Trib - I am still swollen too. Isn't it a pain. Very sensible to get it double checked though. Hope 'work' is OK. What is happening there now?
Red - My dd is playing up too. Very clingy and wanting to be carried etc. We have stepped up the big sister talk to try and get her used to the idea so I guess it is inevitable. Poor thing. I do feel bad for her. Her world is about to be tuned around although she is getting a bit spoilt so it will be good for her really. She has just hit her 'MINE MINE MINE NOOOOOOOOO' stage and not settled for her lunchtime nap today at all so that is fun....
She made us laugh yesterday as DH and I went to check on her before bed and she was completely starkers lying asleep in the cot. She had taken off her grobag, PJ's and nappy. She looked so sweet though. She has suddenly got really smart though doing lots she couldn't before just when I am lacking the energy to keep up with her. DH and I were putting the shopping away and suddenly she was calling Daddy - biscuit and handing him a brand new packet that she had managed to open (I struggle with that) having taken one out. We could hardly tell her off as we were both in the room with her at the time so she kept her Cream cracker and went off to eat it in the front room. V funny.
Well I am very tired today. Exhaustion hit me like a wall yesterday at 6pm while trying to eat my dinner and I don't think I have caught up. I too am getting those sharp pains low in the pelvis and still having lots of BH which make it hard to sleep all that well. We are all going through it aren't we. I really hope this baby comes early too. Not this week as we are out for a meal on Thurs and have our Spring Ball on Friday and DH is on a course that he really wants to complete but next Sunday or Monday would be just right. I wasn't ready for dd until her due date but this one can come any time really. I noticed I only packed my bags for dd the day before my due date (everything was on the spare bed ready) as I was so convinced that she would arrive on time to complete my textbook pregnancy. This time I am even considering sex to get things going, something that just does not appeal at the moment as the babies head feels so low I am sure it will be uncomfortable..
Right enough rambling. Keep well all.
Charley - How did your appt go?? Hope all is well and there is no more talk of inductions or c/s.
Uwila - How are you today?

Jonah - My BH seem to last a long time too. They are odd aren't they and do make you ache.
I was expecting my contractions to start slowly 15-20 mins apart and then to go to the hospital when they were five mins apart etc like they tell you but mine started off five mins apart.... I just went to the hospital when they were longer in length.
Can anyone remember if you time the contractions from the beginning of one to the beginning of the next or the end of one to the beginning of the next? I think last time we did them from beginning to beginning but I am not sure. There was a definate break though. HTH and take care.

Bubb - Sorry you are in pain too. Take care.
I am sure I have missed other important things too so sorry.....

Hi everyone

Wasn't sure I would be able to catch up today, but I have. Last night you all posted madly and I have only glossed over the main bits.

Katz, how are the contractions???

Lua, I'm sorry to hear you will be induced or have a CS that you don't want I was adamant I didn't want one last time too, although I obviously wasn't going to object if it was an emergency. HOw else can you juicy up that cervix ready to deliver I wonder?! Have you got a birthing ball? Some gentle bounces on that might help too. I'll keep my fingers crossed that you have a safe delivery, whatever happens.

Megi, glad to hear you stopped work - finally!!!

Sweetheart, so good to see you. I'm thrilled to hear you are at the 12 week mark and are being monitored regularly. Will keep on praying things go well for you too. xx

Pink, keep going, those exams will soon be a distant memory, try your best! Spoken like a true Mum , "Just do your best" !!

Apologies to all you insomniacs, but I slept like a log last night, really deep sleep. We are staying at MIL's, so maybe, not cooking, having an extra pair of hands to help with dd and being away from the 'building site' were just what I needed!!

I feel like this baby's head is pretty far down now too, constant need to wee and a feeling of 'weight' in the pelvic region. I'll find out at my 36 week check on Thursday.

I'm one of the weirdo's who loves being pregnant and am sort of getting to the point where I think I'm going to miss it when it's all over. Obviously, I wont miss the total body invasion but, it's been a good journey, all in all. Plus, I'll miss all our chat's. Even though I hope we give it a good go on the 'post-natal' threads too, something tells me it will be a bit more sporadic when newborns are about!!

Time for tea

Happy Birthday McMudda

LUMMOX

Looks like I'm destined to be another May Junie.

Midwife has just left - my waters broke this morning and junior now fully engaged.

Apparently this means I'm likely to go into labour quite soon, and if not will have to be induced by the weekend.

LUMMOX

Hope everyone else is well.

Number of potentially early babies is gtting scary. Can an internet thread have made my baby come more quickly?

Lummox!!!! How exciting.

Have you got any contractions yet?

Minnie1, thank you for your nice words. I really shouldn't moan because this pregnancy has been straightforward for the most part and I generally do feel quite good...it's the lack of sleep that's made me grumpy. Had a bit of a nap though and I'm feeling loads better. How are you doing?

Redheadmum, my DS is definitely behaving differently, more clingy around me. They must be able to sense something happening.

Jonah, I wonder whether it's because we're not that tall that we're having problems with clothes - I reckon our bumps can only grow outwards rather than upwards...hence the bare stomach. Not a good look when it's covered with stretchmarks From what I can remember, contractions were more painful, more 'period pain' type cramps than BHs. I wonder whether your baby is dropping and engaging? I'm getting a lot too and they are starting to get quite uncomfortable now. They get worse when I need a wee too.

Lua, got my fingers crossed for your cervix!

Cooperoo, your DD sounds very clever. It's such a fun age I think - for me, the baby will seem quite dull in comparison.

Happy birthday McMudda .

Hope the exams went well Pink (you're probably in your last one now)

lummox - thats what i did with DD,waters broke, was induced two days later, i would recommend getting as much sleep as possible now!!

I was expecting to be early too but DD had arrived a week ago!! so now 38 weeks and still waiting

Have tried to sleep but am a bit over-excited (merging into panic!).

Don't think have had any contractions yet, but the cramps are getting stronger - nothing really painful so far though.

Katz - do you mind me asking why you were induced after two days with DD. Midwife said that they would probably wait for 4.

hospital policy here is to induce after 48 hours,i was lucky they left me until the next morning so 56 hours. Some places will induce after 24 hours, the longer they leave you the more liekly you are to go into labour but also there is an increased risk of infection. but i was told that in my own environment the risk of infection was really low, and to ring if i got hot.

The excitment died off after a day, and i slept really well both nights.

MrsWednesday,
I am fine tired and a small bit sick when i eat but not complaining YET. My sister has found she is pregnant to (she has a 7 month old as well !) so were in about the same stage, But she is ok with it a bit shocked but this will be the last for her (4 in total) She'll have her hands full but i'll be on maternity at the same time so that will help.
Cant wait for the bump to arrive

Afternoon all...
No time to read the thread I'm afraid, so just a quick bulletin from the Samuel front. His bilirubin levels have gone down , so he hasn't had to go on the UV bed again, but will be observed in case they go up again. Not sure when we'll be out, but I'm feeling more hopeful. The main thing now is feeding... Because of his jaundice he's very tired and sleepy, and it takes forever to feed him. He's supposed to be getting 70-80g per feed (about 2 1/2 oz, I think) and it really takes an hour and more to get him up to that, from a mixture of breast milk, expressed breast milk and newborn formula (from little bottles they give me at the hospital). Hardly slept last night because he was just too tired to take the breast much, despite us both trying for ages, so after feeding and topping-up I went and pumped for about an hour (but was very pleased with myself to have got 50 and 60g out respectively!) Anyway, this morning he had his first proper exclusively-breastmilk meal and this afternoon, despite being completely zonked out, he sucked determinedly at the breast for ages. I'm determined to keep at the bf-ing, although in many ways it would be simpler to give just formula now, because I don't want him to 'forget' how to suckle or lose the taste for breastmilk. And despite the lack of sleep it's also really lovely to be able to be together with him so intensively , as he's on the babies' ward and not in my rom with me. I'm hoping that as things develop (today is my first day of having real calm and my own space in the private hospital room) my milk production will increase and I'll be able to stop the formula.
From my very brief glance at the thread I've seen that things are moving for more of you! Ooooh, how exciting - all the best lummox! And happy birthday to McMudda!

Afternoon all

Lummox - how exciting - fingers crossed all goes well when they start! My waters went first with no contractions with ds and I was told that my hospital would induce after 24 hrs...but as Katz says it's purely down to your hospital's policies...luckily for me my contractions started as I was leaving the hospital (about 12 hrs after waters first started going...mine kind of pathetically dribbled out, no big gush for me!) Ooooh I'm getting very excited for you now!

Charley - how did it go today?

Pink - fantastic that your exams are now over - time to rest abit methinks

McMudda - happy birthday

Bero - hope Samuel gets to see his first home very very soon. Jaundice is very common in newborns...ds had it (mildly) when he was born and I had to put him infront of the window for a couple of hours a day to help it clear...was all gone within the first week I think.

Lynny - glad you are at home again. Lee's a real star, and anytime you get fed up of him I'm sure you can loan him out to any of us on here!

Ds has also changed in behaviour too recently...although not clingy as such just more 'mummy, mummy' orientated, but I think some of that is due to the fact that I'm around more since going on leave...before I was gone 7 til 7 mon-wed so often didn't see him on work days until I came home.

Right off to have a cuppa and a large slice of mum's latest cake recipe (I just love being a guinea pig!) before I pick ds up from mil's

Bero - crossed posts there - so glad his levels are improving - hopefully he's be out in a day or so

BTW - I've just posted the birth story on Birth Announcements, for anyone who's interested

Wow, Lummox, everything crossed for you! This thread is starting to feel like the 'pregnancy desk' in my old office - a series of women who had that desk got pregnant one after the other, this thread seems to be bringing out the babies early!

Berolina, many congratulations and I hope Samuel is home soon, it must be so draining having him stay in hospital when all you want to do is bring him home. My mum works on a paediatric clinic and I gather jaundice is so common, so I hope you're not too stressed and that you're enjoying these first days (as much as anyone can with no sleep, sore nipples etc).

Hope everyone else is well. Just grabbing a quick cup of tea before picking ds up from nursery. Have achieved zero this afternoon. I work for dh's business so I will be pretty much doing bits and pieces until I drop, but our financial year end is 31 May so I'm hoping that I can ease off about a week after that and have a week or so to prepare myself... wish these babies were a bit more predictable about when they are going to put in an appearance as it would make my life alot easier. MIL is coming down to help out and she is on the phone all the time asking when we want her, and I just want to say, hang on, I'll ask the baby when it's planning to come out so that you can put it in your diary...