Lemon top 1st to pop then ensued impatient Brood. Who'll be next? Come place your bets and join us on our November thread!

[Ninjacat]

Because you chat sooooo much!!!

ursigurke dd 31st Oct, 37+2
VenusInfers dd 1st Nov, 37+1
Tamlin dd 5th Nov, 36+4
Scarlotti dd 6th Nov, 36+3
Fubble dd 6th Nov, 36+3
Kyte dd 6th Nov, 35+0 (CS)
Helips dd 9th Nov, 36+0
Sleepless dd 9th Nov 36+0
Southernbelle77 dd 14th Nov, 35+2
Tigger dd 14th Nov; 35+ 2
Pavlovtheforgetfulcat dd 18th Nov; 34+5?
Ninjacat edd End Nov (a little secret, as Lissy)
LissyGlitter dd 22 Nov 34+1
longwayaway dd 23 Nov 34+0
Laugs dd 26th Nov; 33+4
skorpion dd 29th Nov; 33+1
raggie dd 30th Nov; 33+0

Should say that all the hospital staff were absolutely fabulous (with the possible exception of the junior doctor who asked whether I was right-handed or left-handed, then inserted my drip in the wrong hand, and then said 'Oh, I'm sorry, I never can tell my left from my right!') I'm very glad we switched hospitals, they were marvellous.

Me:... so if it gets worse, who do I call?
Midwife: Ghostbusters!
Me: ...
Midwife: I'm sorry. I have a wildly inappropriate sense of humour.

I hear you, sister. Maybe we should cut to the chase and just call the baby Egon.

Awww yay another arrival

Huge congrats Tamlin and family. Felix is a lovely name too if that's what you decide on.

Scary all these babies coming now. Making it all a little too real.....

Pav glad to hear all good news on the scan front. Re the pains, I have them a lot this time too but also remember having them with all my others so not sure about the theory, although they do seem more frequent/worse this time. That could just be my mind blocking the bad bits out of the last pregs though

Had yet another night of only about 2hrs sleep. Dd and ds both have coughs/colds so I ended up with dp sleeping on the sofa, dd in bed with me and going into see to ds every half hour or so. I am at the end of my teather! Not to mention that when dd finally did sleep she insisted on having her head practically on top of mine and coughed and sneezed all over me so that's me getting ill again then.

Baby seems to have taken a huge liking to bouncing off of my ribs. It's such a horrible feeling and it hurts too! Was hoping she might move down a bit but like someone else pointed out 2nd + babies tend not to engage so doesn't look like I'll be too successful on that front.

Right I'm off to eat choccie biccies tidy up, house is seriously neglected, not sure I have the energy though!! Hope you all have a good day.

Turtle just read your latest and just wanted to say I hope today is ok and I'm thinking of you x x

Tamlin LOL @ your MW

Hope you're feeling back to normal soon and can get some real rest now you're home.

Just to be nosey, how did you end up getting ambulance in and having a section??

easyeggs Mine always seems to float up and dig into my ribs while I'm asleep lying in bed too. Another bad night here. I'm trying to work this morning but it's just not happening. I can't decide whether to go back to bed and work this evening, but I think I would really regret that later.

Have you read (the kids' picture book) We Are Wearing Out the Naughty Step? Your post reminded me of it: when the mum reaches the end of her tether she eats chocolate cake

Tamlin great to hear you had such a good experience with hospital staff, especially after all you went through last time.

Tamlin congratulations on your little libran

Dp's Birthday today. Just had ice cream for breakfast (cookie dough - B&J)

ooh, thats my all time favourite flavour Ninja hope your dp has a good birthday.

Tamlin Hooray!! Congratulations on his arrival ... and in style too by the sounds of things Well done you - was wondering where you were. Feel like I've been waiting for your news for ages as we were on the other thread together too.

Can I have your mw - she sounds just the ticket!!

Well, well, you go to tesco's and when you come back there's a baby born!!

As mine is a boy too, does that mean he might be here soon too?!
Getting fed up now of tiring out at the slightest of things - went to town yesterday and was literally only there for 1.5 hours and by the time I got back I could have falled asleep standing up!! How ridiculous is that?!

SO tired. I could go to bed and sleep for a week.

I must be the only one looking forward to a few days in hospital - I know I'll be up every two hours to feed the baby, but she will sleep a lot more than a toddler, and I will just get to chill out and cuddle her, I won't even need to get dressed, and I can nap while she is asleep (I am lucky in that I can usually - unless pregnant - sleep anywhere and through anything apart from my own children crying!)

Plus, on the hospital tour, they said I am very likely to get my own room, but even if I don't the bays on the ward are very small, they can fit four women in, but usually only have two.

I dunno, I have never really minded an overnight in hospital, I think I enjoy not having to be "in charge" for once. I bet I end up living in an old people's home the minute I retire!

Plus I WON'T BE PREGNANT ANY MORE!!! :D

I keep getting really painful contractions, and trying to hide them from dd. I don't want her resenting the new baby for hurting her mummy. I keep just claiming that I have a little bit of tummy ache, but not sure how long she will put up with me suddenly keeling over and doing daft breathing for 45 seconds here and there!

Tamlin You just made me cry! Congratulations! So jealous!

lissy you're not the only one looking forward to the hospital bit - I feel exactly the same. Think with me it's down to me being more of the 'one that does' at home and so it's normally Mum that gets asked first before Dad - DH does help, but I'm first port of call.
Am looking forward to no chores, no other dc's and just time to relax after the birth and get to know my new son. I'm hoping for my own room (they charge us here but well worth it imo) and am deliberately only taking enough clothes to wear home!!

Do you have someone nearby that can take your DD for a bit if you're having contractions? Do you feel like these are the start of something or just a trial run?

Oh wow how exciting! Congratulations Tamlin and welcome to the world Little Tamlin too! I love the name Felix if you go with it, and it seems especially sweet given the meaning!

Just spent an hour trying to catch up on everything since I posted yesterday! I talk a lot in real life, but have nothing on some of you guys

Have to wait in today for the midwife. She is coming to me as I am struggling to get anywhere and getting on the bed at the surgery is not happening at all! She said she would call but will come anytime between 9-2! So I'm sitting here waiting! Did quickly clean the toilets earlier as am paranoid about dirty toilets

Has anyone has a blocked ear and pregnant? Asked the pharmacist what I could take but was told I would have to see the doctor. Going to ask the midwife if she can recommend anything as I don't want to have to go to the doctors! Any suggestions from you guys will be good

scarlotti I'm pretty sure they are just yet another trial run. I've been having spates of them over the last few days, I keep getting excited, then they stop. Trying not to get excited now.

ILs would take DD for the slightest excuse (they are retired and live round the corner) but I feel guilty if I send her there too often. Daft I know, but the poor kid is going to have to share me with a sister soon enough, I want to give her some special mummy time.

I want to give ds special mummy time too, but at the moment i just feel grumpy and irritated by everything. plus the house is a mess but i just dont have the energy.

southern I got given antibiotic drops for my ear when it was sore and blocked as I had an infection in the ear canal.

Ds is at nursery until about 2pm and any motivation I had to tidy anything has long gone

Easyeggs, I was scanned and diagnosed as having a footling breech baby on Wednesday. 'Footling' means that instead of the baby's bottom presenting, its feet are coming down first - if the waters break, the feet (and cord) can descend before you're properly dilated. I think the chances of cord prolapse are 15% with a footling breech as opposed to 0.4 with a frank breech baby. Oxygen then gets cut off to the baby, and baby either dies or suffers brain damage. It's also bad when the feet and then the body descends while the shoulders and head get trapped because again, oxygen gets cut off. The docs at my hospital were happy to try and deliver a frank breech vaginally, but nobody was going to do a footling.

I'd been having painful Braxton-Hicks on and off since Tuesday, but on Sunday, I had two long hot baths in a row and couldn't get them to ease. I got out and checked my cervix (and before everyone says EW, I'd just like to say that I've never understood why women are perfectly happy for other people to put various appendages up there, but think it's 'icky' to insert their own fingers). I found that the edges of the cervix just felt like mush, I was at least three fingertips dilated, and I could feel this smooth round thing which was the bag of waters - with an unmistakable foot cheerily pushing down and through. I lay there thinking 'Oh my Christ' for a minute, checked again just to be certain - more cheery foot pushing back - called for my husband, and then lay down with my hips propped up on a pillow waiting for the ambulance to arrive and praying as sincerely and incoherently as I ever have that my waters didn't break. The paramedics kept trying to get me to sit up as they didn't think it was good for a pregnant woman to be flat on her back, and I just kept trying to shove the pillow higher under my hips as I was pretty sure that anything which would encourage this kid to descend further into my pelvis was a Bad, Bad Idea.

In hindsight, though, I can laugh remembering the expression on the face of the poor doc who admitted me. She did a quick scan while the midwife was attaching monitors to me to confirm the presentation, then did the internal, and she just got this extraordinary look on her face - and I remember thinking, yep, that's the look of somebody who's just felt a cheery foot flexing back at them. Little rotter.

Its good you checked, sounds like there could have been a lot of problems if you hadnt. Id never know what i was looking for down there, have no idea what the cervix should be like.

Same here- I'm very keen on knowing my own body, but it wouldn't even occur to me to check my own cervix! It would probably be useful to know actually.

I'm so impressed Tamlin at how with it you were to check it all out etc! I think I'd be panicking too much to even think about that!

I've just seen midwife. Not that she could check too much because of the pain, but heard heartbeat and all fine and bp and urine all fine too. She wasn't able to get me an appt with a diff consultant, so still seeing the mean one next Thursday, but she said that if she can't do a sweep then she will have to book me in for a section and if she can then she will then book me in for an induction a couple of days later, so with any luck I'm not going to have to wait too much longer.

Tamlin's baby, another boy
Brings to us all, so much joy
Congratulations - we are so glad
For you, your family, for what you've had
We're all here for you when you need us
And we'll be better than those old Ghostbusters!

Many congrats Tamlin lovely, lovely news

Ohhhh more babies!

Argh, just realised it is exactly a month till my due date! We should all start popping pretty much daily from now on!

Tamlin Wow! Firstly congratulations on your lovely little boy. Secondly amazingly impressed with your sang froid on feeling his foot!! Sounds like you had great care, and I love your MWs sense of humour. Ghostbusters indeed! Must be great to be back home again. I'm joining the 'Felix' fanclub too, great name.

Longway thanks for the link to the Swine Flu article, great to get some serious and knowledgeable info. I forgot to ask my midwife about the jabs at the last appt, and as I'm due in less than a fortnight I think I'd better call the surgery and make sure I'm seen next week.

Wooks Sorry about your mysterious infection diagnosis. How are you actually feeling at the mo?

Koumak at planning to work past your EDD! I thought I was doing well to keep going until 35 weeks, you must have loads of energy. Glad that all is going to plan for you at the moment.

Scarlotti I'm with you on the tiredness thing. Any extended bit of walking around or standing up and I need a good hours nap. It does work though, if you can take one.

Anyone else have their baby's head NOT engage until really late in their 1st pregnancy? I'm 38+4 and he's still only 'fixed'. Midwife has told me to sit backwards on dining chairs and crawl around on all fours etc to get him in optimal position and encourage him to decend. Which is fine, but constantly flexing my pelvis forward is giving me my first backache of pregnancy. After months of yoga and watching my posture, it's a bit of an arse to have to deliberately sit 'wrongly'..

Tamlin LOL at your midwife, that's fantastic

EasyEggs mines taken a fancy to bouncing off ribs too. Ouchie.

Ninja happy birthday to your DP I want ice cream... Mmm...

Scarlotti was in town yesterday too, was crazily busy, wasn't it?

lissy I hope the contractions ease off a little, bless you trying to hold it together for your DD. I feel like that with DP sometimes, he honestly looks like he's going to cry every time I have so much as a headache... And I am kinda looking forward to being in the hospital too, much as I hate them, will be nice to have some time just with baby before I'm surrounded by everyone wanting to hold him!! Plus the professionals in case I need them!

Becky applauds

I want ice cream but can't walk to the shop. Am in absolute agony today. I really will be glad when this is over That's so horrible but true!!!

Tamlin I am in awe, I am a calm person in a crisis but I'm not sure I could have held it together as well as you did upon feeling the cheery little foot. Having said that though, guess survival instinct kicks in. Bet the docs face was priceless!
Has never occurred to me to check my own cervix - not eww to me, so will be giving it a go later ... although can barely bend around enough to wipe after a wee so not sure I'll bend around enough

Do we have a postnatal thread set up yet?

Oh Tamlin I am laughing so hard here at your post !!!!

I can just imagine it now, although not sure I should lol.

Well done you that's all I can say. And if I could get into a decent enough position when I go into possible labour I'd be doing the same. Not likely seeing as I can barely move though.

Tamlin - Big congratulations on the arrival of your son and on staying so calm in what must have been sheer panic! Glad all has went well for you. And Felix is a great name, I love it!

BBL - Another excellent poem, your best yet I think!

Who else did we think was missing??

Tamlin! What a birth story, goodness me you showed some presence of mind! Felix is my one of my brother's names, it's a lovely name, so add me to the fan club.

Congratulations!!!

We are all duveted down here, ds so ill and hot this am that doc agreed to see him at once, diagnosed poss swine flu, offered Tamiflu for him and Relenza for me but we turned down, hopefully not too rash. This swine flu thing- how on earth do you know whether it is or not? The doc said they have no way to really tell. Ds dozing all morning. At least now I am so worried about him I can forget about everything else!!