Not yet November but already three babies down! Ooooh oooh nearly there!

[BeckyBendyLegs]

New thread...

Ninja giggling at your hilarious use of emoticons

Koumak - omygosh, just realized we are reaching actual due dates!! Happy EDD - sorry people are jumping the queue

Koumak, was already thinking of you. So no signs except the tingling tongue? (sorry no explanation for that). I know what you mean by missing the bump. I got really used to mine too and can't actually imagine what will soon happen and how my life will be afterwards. But I am getting more painful (not too though) BHs since 10 days every now and then so I suppose I won't go over too much. But as I didn't have a 28 days cycle and also know that the conception date was 2 days later than the calculated date I suppose I will still be pregnant over the weekend.
I suppose the fact that we haven't heard from scarlotti yet means she will have good news next time she logs on.
Did we actually ever hear from Broodzilla? I really wonder how she is doing.

Do you all know how lovely you are? Thank you so much for your kind words and sympathy. I will make the best of it and be glad that it's not an emergency section.

39 wks today. Thought things were on the go last night. Four hours of contractions, 10 mins apart and no sleep. They stopped early hours of this morning and I had a few more after breakfast. I'm now feeling crampy and uncomfortable. DH is at work, I'm not going out of the house on my own today as I'm scared things could start again. Labour ward don't want to see me until I'm more established, but it would have been nice if they could examine me and put my mind at rest. I'm hoping all this hard work is going to end up in labour soon enough. Seeing my MW tomorrow maybe she can tell me what is going on.

Scarlotti Can't wait to hear if things did start for you.

Comma You'll be just fine. The safe arrival of your baby is all that matters. It will all work out for the best Try and keep your chin up.

hi all, having a good day so far, am also wondering how scarlotti is doing, cant believe it is only 9 days til my due date now. have both mothers phoning to check up on me every morning. koumak, there is still time today! you never know, babies are very unpredictable.

fruitpastels wow what a rollercoaster. How are you now..? I wouldn't go anywhere. Take care and stay in watch murder she wrote..it will help.

Koumak keeping my fingers crossed for you.. Happy EDD..Am with you on forceps..petrified of them. I get a heart attack when they bring those silver instruments at my smear test.

Getting dull period pains..are they BHs?? all day, all the time?

Anyway DD just had a 20 min tantrum..full floor action and kicking and non-stop crying..no lunch was eaten. second day in a row..its getting quite tiring. anyone else suffering DCs moods?

Ursi I am the same, longer cycle, so not really expecting anything just yet although it would be nice! Hence why I joined Nov thread not the Oct one! I had no BH with ds at all. With this one I had some, very random ones and didn?t even stop me in what I was doing if you know what I mean. But two nights ago I actually felt two contractions that were actually somewhat painful so taking it as a sign that my body can go into labour naturally even if it is going to be two weeks late? I have hospital appointment next week at 41 weeks, so we will see what they say. Hoping sweep will get things going then. Except I had several of those last time and nothing happened!

Fruitpastels did you not read the bit about the queue?

Trikken do you think so? I just bought some Tesco £1 lasagne for lunch and spent 3 times as much on fresh pineapple. There is nothing I won?t try!

Very excited for Scarlotti as I was with her on TTC thread!

Thank you all for the Good wishes for my stepdad

Just logged on to check on scarlotti no news yet then...

Hmm... am supposed to start my NHS antenatal classes tonight but can't find the info sheet with time & location. I'm also thinking they will not appreciate me showing up sniffling and coughing. Can I be excused?

sleepless Ds2 had his first ever major tantrum yesterday (he took all his clothes off in the garden and demanded to go in the sandpit) It was really cold here too! I ended up carrying him inside and just leaving him on the floor It shocked me actually as I've never had to deal with tantrums.
There is so much going on here at the minute though, so I guess he must be a bit unsettled.

What is is with all those labours starting and then suddenly stopping? I thought once it started properly, like your 10 min contractions over several hours fruitpastels, it means that there will be a baby at the end of it. I agree, they should check you out to tell you where you are.
I'm seeing the midwife on friday, which will be one day before the due date so hopefully she will examine me. I really want to know if there is any kind of labour in sight.
Question: How do pineapple, spicy food.... help? Do you already "need" a ripe cervix or do they actually help preparing things? I thought, they can only start labour if the cervix is ready anyway? Or am I wrong? (in which case I would go to the supermarket right now)

"Pineapple contains the enzyme bromelain which is thought to help to soften the cervix and so bring on labour," I c&p'd this off baby centre. lol,

spicy food, " stimulates the gut and bowel encouraging the uterus to contract."

so if true, could be helpful.

thanks, trikken, so, I should first eat lots of fresh pineapple to soften the cervix and then the spicy food to start contractions. Sounds good to me. I just normally don't have this "problem" that spicy food stimulates my digestive system.

trikken I also read that you need about 8 pineapples' worth of bromelain for it to have any effect. Go for it!

tigger will have fingers (but not legs) crossed for your SD tomorrow. It's major surgery, but also routine in a weird way. I hope it gives him a new lease of life.

The sun and warmth has made it up here finally! Had a lovely walk this morning, and will be off to have a DD-free swim this afternoon, and yoga tonight. I was hoping to do a marathon (final) browse in town tomorrow but I think I'll be too knackered! If this doesn't all get baby to start dropping, I don't know what will. I'm sure it was lower when I finished work 2 weeks ago, but all this sitting around waiting for chicken pox and rain to go away has totally scuppered things.

FP keep upright and near that phone!

tigger tantrums are not what you need at all! Hope all goes well with the surgery tomorrow.

Ursigurke there are lots of things to try, but the generally held opinion is that they will at best only hasten a labour that was imminent anyway. They didn't start labour for me last time (and believe me, I tried it all!) So far I have heard:

Stimulate contractions:
orgasm
Raspberry leaf tea
curry / mild laxative
nipple stimulation (really works but boring to sustain it for long periods!)
membrane sweeps
pressing acupressure points (also work but will only give you BH if you're not ready to go)

Cervix ripening/relaxation:
semen (orally or vaginally )
hot baths with an alcoholic drink
long walks
sitting tilted forwards on a ball/on a backwards-facing chair
scrubbing a floor

By all accounts I think active and upright is the mantra. So difficult when all you want to do is crash out and nap!

hobnob, thanks for the info. I agree, it will probably only help if you are ready anyway. But some things might be nice to try like a hot bath with an alcoholic drink. I will forget about the floor scrubbing though

Koumak Wouldn't it be wonderful if all babies arrived on their EDD. It would save us all this worry

Ursi You would think they would check me out. Hoping MW will help things along when I see her tomorrow

I don't feel too bad after such a busy night. I've got period type pains and my back hurts, the BH's have eased. My feet and ankles are swollen today though. I do feel chilled out about everything, so thinking this could be a long warm up to the finish line.

Tigger all the best for your SD tomorrow.

Sleepless Sounds like your body is gearing up to things. I've felt like this on/off for 2 weeks now. Last night was the 2nd false alarm I've had.

Hello all

Am still here ... and still ruddy pregnant

Contractions started last night about 7 ish, got up to 15 mins by about 8. When we rang the hospital for the second time around 10 ish they were averaging about 6 mins apart. Told to go in, which we did. Everything slowed down and we were eventually sent home around 1am. Was offered an internal so accepted that (usi it's down to risk of infection that they don't do them a lot) and my cervix is soft but still fairly long.
Midwife reckons that baby should arrive in the next 24 hours or so - am praying that she's right but this is the second non-start I've had now.
Apparently 3rd babies can be quite stop start
Anyway, mu Mum is still going to travel up today so she'll be here to help out later. Will feel very guilty though if nothing happens for a good few days as she's travelling 5 hours to get here.

Got some decent sleep last night though, midwife sent me home with some relaxant type pills so I could sleep through any contractions - best block of sleep I've had in months!!!

As for things to help - I haven't been bothering with anything this time. Am convinced that it only helps in that it allows you to feel as though there's an element of control. Am being shown good and proper that he's only going to come when good and ready!!

Will be heading out for a brisk walk soon.

Happy DD Koumak !! Can't believe we actually have arrived at due dates already

Fruit all sounding very positive. Fingers crossed everything gets moving along again today for you

Pav WOW you're officially wonderwoman well done for doing so much, but please now go and put your feet up. You won't have any energy to give birth at this rate lol!

Tigger I hope everything goes well for your SD. I'm sure he will feel so much better after, I can imagine what a worry that must be though x

Comma so sorry to hear your LO is causing such hassle for you! Glad you're feeling a bit better about the section now though. At least the end is in sight x

Scarlotti Don't you know it's rude to keep so many pregnant hormonal ladies waiting around for news I hope you're sitting snuggled up with a gorgeous little bubba by now

Nothing much happening here. Had lots of BH for last 2 days some were getting quite uncomfy verging on mildly painful and I was getting hopeful for a minute that something might be happening but alas, nothing. Oh well 20days until edd, not long now

X-posts Scarlottie, sorry!!

Grrr how annoying that it's all stopped but good that things are looking very hopeful for having an arrival fairly imminently

Have my fingers crossed for you x x

Hugs to you, scarlotti Baby is getting ready!
And for those pills...how come if thy have stuff like that they are not given out routinely to all pregnant ladies?? Hmpf.

Come to talk about cx, the scan-tech yesterday started laughing when she saw mine and said that hopefully it wasn't really that long. Feel like my cx didn't get enough respect there...

Fruit yes, sounds very good! We have the same EDD, so will have vicarious birth experience through you now!

Easy and Koumak oooh! Happy DD!!

Meh, another night of no sleep. I had to send DD off to the pictures, with the tickets we had bought for me and DP to give to the ILs as DP had to work and I had to sleep. Tomorrow will be the "magic" point at which DD was born for me, so I will start getting REALLY annoyed if the baby doesn't come!

scarlotti Good luck anyway, sounds like you will have your baby within a few days at least. Must be very frustrating though.

For what it's worth, I was told by the midwife I saw on Thursday that Braxton-Hicks can feel like the real thing, and be regular in their timing too. They tend to be longer in their duration than early labour pains (sixty seconds rather than twenty or thirty), and your bump will go hard and tight across the top.

You only want to hit alert stations if

a) the contractions aren't just tight or painful in the front, but are wrapping around your back or going down your thighs

and

b) you've tried lying down for an hour or taking a hot bath, and they're still coming on.