Due November 09 - 10 days left, who will be next?

[longwayaway]

Last chance for a Scorpio, after this weekend they'll all be Sagittarians!

oh congratulations girls! Welcome James and Rosa!

Is it only 3 left then? Its all happen so quickly!

I am thinking of joining Facebook just to look at all your babies! Would it be really sad if i actually didnt do my profile though?Just purely joint to peek at you bubbas (and all of you of course)?

im sure that'd be fine koumak

Congrats to laugs and raggie on your beautiful babies! Good luck to everyone else!

Morning Ladies! Lovely day in Oxfordshire.

Well, went to see mw in the morning and cervix not ready yet, but getting there. She could just about get a fiddle with the membranes. Had to book me in for an induction for next Friday at the Horton (they don't do them in Chippy), but said it is just a formality to keep them happy and I can refuse it. Just need to go in on Thursday to be examined.

I'll have another sweep on Tuesday, so there's always hope that we won't get that far. It's a bugger, cause I've been having bits of the show since yesterday afternoon and couldn't sleep last night feeling crampy and like something was about to happen. Obviously am carrying a bit of an idle baby.

I'll go out to town now for some shopping and a tea, maybe the walking about will get things moving. May also have to call on dh's services after all - mw said what's put it there will help get it out

I hope you are all enjoying Sunday, either with your newly bigger families or anticipating the last couple of arrivals.

Congrats Laugs and raggie!

Come on babies

laugs in my post baby haze I totally missed your announcement of James' arrival.

Congratulations!!

Thinking of you sass, grace and skorpion.

Afternoon all.

Well, somethings are a bit different - but it sounds exactly the same as Skorpion! Had crampy feelings in myback all night and more discharge (sorry, hate that word) than usual, but nothing mucusy like a plug. BUT it does have a trace of blood in it. Is that bad? Should I worry?

Overall feeling much more tender in the cervical department - and a little more miserable mentally as the discomfort is growing. Surely that can only be good!?

BUT!!! The child has changed positions! It's either back on the right now or fully posterior. OH NO!!!! Cheeky little sh*t! Should I start all the hands and knees business or is it not worth it?

skorpion - also booked for sweep on Tues and induction Friday. Is there a chance you would refuse the induction?

sassmonkey they can shift round even in labour so worth hands and knees lark!!! Toby didn't shift round though... he was born sunny side up.

sass blood in your discharge is a good sign at this stage. Hope it's the start of something

claire How mean they are waking you up! Are you still going home today? Feeding is a bit hit and miss here. 'On demand' just doesn't seem to be much at all, so I am trying to make him feed more. I've got the BF specialist coming out tomorrow, but I think the problem is that he's so tired and not interested. Hopefully he'll wake up properly soon and we'll get on track.

sass I definitely don't want to be induced and will refuse it for Friday. I can always say that I'm not 42 weeks yet (that's on Sunday). An induction for me would mean bye-bye to the birthing centre I want to deliver in.

But I am really hoping it won't come to that. Just had a bath with clary sage oil and will also try massaging it to the bump. I also feel very uncomfortable now, my coccyx is getting a battering (it clicks horribly when I get out of bed) and am developing the grumps from hell.

The bloody show is a constant, I'm taking it to be a good sign.

Sorry to hear that your bean's moved - mine is a bit back to back and the mw said today that it'll take a contraction to move her, but I lean on my ball as well, anything is worth a try in my book. Just don't sleep on your back. I find it impossible to sleep on my back anyway.

Good point skorpion, I forgot that induction would rule out birthing centre and water, which is what I want as well. Ohhhh, come on babies, do something on your own first!!

I'm going to try massaging the oil in as well - hips are really hurting and I'm really grumpy too! I didn't realise that might be par for the course.

Sounds like you are definitely on the right track.

I'm working on getting the Bean back in place - if it can move once, it can do it again!

Thanks for the reassurance about the blood, laugs, I won't worry. I hope James starts perking up and feeding like a champ!

I would try to move the baby into position if at all poss - the fact that Rosa had turned back to back was what caused my long and therefore painful labour - for various reasons which I won't go into here just yet! It was all totally worth it and is becoming a hazy memory now anyway though so don't worry too much!

And as BBL was saying they totally CAN move during a contraction, so fingers crossed everything will be fine!

Go sass and skorpion - they sound like promising signs!

laugs we got home on Thursday but the community midwife who visited on fri and sat changed the feeding plan from what the hospital had suggested. We're on 3hr feeding which is a struggle during the night, I'm in such a deep sleep that my alarm hardly wakes me, and also doing 'switch feeding' moving sides every 5 mins.

It's going well in that Ethan is definitely putting on weight but can still be a bit hit & miss. Yesterday we had three feeds where he only fed for 5mins. Today he has fed for at least half an hour for three feeds three hours apart and then fed after an hour and a half for another half an hour.

I guess we're both still learning.

Still need to post my birth story on postnatal but I'm so many pages behind on the other thread that it'll take me an hour to catch up! Hopefully in the next day or two I'll have some time.

The nicest thing I can think of to sign off with is I hope everyone has a great night's sleep x

I know, I'm feeling too tired to brave the postnatal thread as well. There's a lot of catching up to do, I think I'll wait for you guys if that's ok. Claire yesterday James was feeding for probably less than a minute at a time , but they sent me home anyway as they didn't seem too concerned. Luckily, he finally got the hang of longer feeds by last night and has been having feeds of about 30 min each, but they're really far apart as he only wants to sleep. I hope they don't make me set my alarm to wake him.

skorpion and sass I had to be induced in the end, which was really annoying as I was already in labour, with regular, strong contractions that I (and the midwife) really thought were making progress, but unfortunately they weren't and I was not dilating and James was still high up. But the induction wasn't as bad as I expected. It did mean I couldn't use the birthing pool, which I had really wanted to, but I still managed an active labour (even attached to a drip!), used the birthing ball, and spent barely any time on the bed. I had low lighting, my cds on, a relaxed atmosphere and the midwife was pretty much hands off for as long as she could be: despite it being far from ideal, it was in many ways exactly the labour I'd hoped for. I'm suppose I'm just trying to say even if it looks like induction is on the cards don't worry about it too much!

Having said that, Friday is ages away, so I'm sure neither of you have anything to worry about. And with both my pregnancies I didn't get the bloody discharge until the day I went into labour, so on that account you should both be very close!

I am home from hospital. Alfred Zukie Fox is asleep in my arms. Arrived 7.30am Friday, a whole lifetime ago.

All a bit of a blur at moment, will tell birth story at a later date.

Laugs and Raggie congratulations

Hold in there you last three. It will happen!

Congrats to all the babies I've missed! Apologies for not naming everyone but I think I've missed some posts somewhere.

Claire and Laugs they suggest not letting them go longer than 3 hours between feeds (start of one to the start of the next) for the first two weeks to establish feeding and get your milk production up. It is hard, especially at night, but well worth it as then by week 3 a pattern emerges and they then feed well enough to take more in during the day.

Hope all you ladies still waiting have a comfortable night

Ninja x-posts - congratulations!!!

ninja congrats and OMG what a big baby!! Lovely names you've chosen.

Will post the arrivals list just now as not sure when I'll be on tmrw. Hope it's correct!

arrivals

Lemontop: Isaac 30th Sept
Broodzilla: Lukas 7th Oct
Tamlin: Arthur 18th Oct
Nigella Tufnell: BOY 30th Oct
Fruitpastels: Cruz 31st Oct
Helips: Amelia Florence 1st Nov
Koumak: Olivia 2nd Nov
Homeinthesun: Kyla Nicole 2nd Nov
Preggok8: Joseph 3rd Nov
Ursigurke: Paula 4th Nov
Kyte: Alexander 6th Nov
Maman2Tom: Dan 7th Nov
Barnowl: Bluebell 7th Nov
Scarlotti: Ioan Scott 8th Nov
Wook: Hedy Lois Joy 9th Nov
ErikaMaye: Bryn George Jonathan 11th Nov
Tigger: Henry Peter 11th Nov
Pinkmich: Grace Poppy 11th Nov
Comma2: Esme 12th Nov
Sleepless: Charlotte 13th Nov
Roomac: Olivia 13th Nov
Eeyore: BOY 13th Nov
Beckybendylegs: Toby Henry 14th Nov
Trikken: Annabelle Faora 14th Nov
Southernbelle: Leah Charlotte 15th
Lissyglitter: Emmeline 16th Nov
Weston: Lexi June 16th Nov
TOK: Anya 16th Nov
Wizzywoo: Daniel Phillip 16th Nov
Venusinfers: James 16th Nov
Tabbykat: Esme 17th Nov
Belgianbun: GIRL 17th Nov
Misssese: Pearl Edie 18th Nov
Easyeggs: Charlotte Victoria Louise 19th Nov
Beepbeep: Martha Lucy 19th Nov
Pootletheflump: GIRL 19th Nov
Tasjasamuminsa: Johandre 19th Nov
Stormfly: BOY 21st Nov
Hobnob: Isla 22nd Nov
Katster: Sam Thomas 24th Nov
Longwayaway: Maeve Rosalind 25th Nov
Pavlov: Reuben, 28th Nov
Claired21: Ethan Andrew, 29th Nov
Raggie: Rosa, 3rd Dec?
Laugs: James, 4th Dec
Ninja: Alfred Zukie Fox, 4th Dec

Good morning.

Congratulations ninja!! Love the names.

Thanks, laugs, that's encouraging. I'm hoping it will not take this long. And I'm very glad that your labour went well for you, despite the induction. Do you think that your plan of accepting whatever happened was the secret? I hope so.

Good to hear the new babies are starting to get the hang of feeding. It must be a skill to be learned like any other, I guess.

Clary sage last night had a definite effect in allowing me to have a really good sleep. It's supposed to be relaxing and even the baby slept quietly, which is different from few nights before that when she was fidgeting. In fact, I'm still a bit sleepy now.

The show continues and I hope my stupid thick cervix is doing its thing as well so will have some better news at the mw appointment tomorrow.

Wow, claire, that list is impressive. Babies spanning four months!

Congratulations, Laugs and ninja! I hope I'll soon read your birth stories on the postnatal thread.
This one is really about to be finished, kind of sad but luckily we'll be all together again.
skorpion, the show is definitely a good sign! Hope everything will happen according to your plan.
I didn't need induction but couldn't go to my lovely birth centre and was in the normal labour ward where they monitored the babies heartrate. But I had still an active labour, first on the birthing ball and then for the pushing I was leaning over the upright bedhead which was very "comfortable"

Morning all.

Congrats Ninja! Well done and great names.

I agree, thank you laugs for the reassurance that induction doesn't have to be everything you don't want.

My parents have left for Leeds to visit other family as the much awaited baby is still in situ! That was my idea so it's okay with me - means they get more time with it whenever it does show up.

I had quite strong BHs last night, but irregular and all has settled this morning. I I did some hands and knees work in the night whenever I was awake and felt the baby awake as well. I propped myself up in imaginitive ways - anything that I thought would bring its back around to my front. So aam a little weary this morning. Not sure what the effect has been yet, I'm letting the babe lie in today. :-)

I think the clary sage slowed things in a relaxing way as well, rather than kicking anything off.

Is grace09 still a lady in waiting?

Woohoo! I just had a show! I am surprised by how excited I am by it. The bizarre thing - in a fit of desperation (don't laugh, girls, I trust you understand desperation) I was doing nipple stimulation in front of the TV. Had a painful BH and then a show! I wonder what will happen next...

sass - impressed that you got the tweaking to work. Hope this starts it all off! Are you also sitting backwards on chairs leaning forwards over the backrest? Not very well-explained, sorry, need more sleep. Alastair likes to be up for a three-hour stint in the night of feeding, burping and pooing which would be ok if there wasn't the school run to do a couple of hours later! Sending good labour vibes your way...

Conrgatulations Ninja and welcome to baby Alfred! You know that you are stuck with me for life now that our sons are born on the same day? I will be wanting details of his first birthday, day at school, night on the town...

sass Ooh - that sounds very exciting! (it's gross isn't it?). Get nipple twiddling skorpion!

ursi that was the same position I gave birth in - on my knees, leaning over the headboard on the bed. It was much better than last time when I was on my back, so I'm glad I bothered when, at the time, moving into that position seemed like the world's greatest challenge (they'd just examined me on my back) and took the work of 2 midwives, DH and myself to heave me over!

scarlotti thanks for the BF advice. I've seen the local BF specialist/ advisor today and she was really reassuring. James hasn't been weighed yet since birth, so the proof will be in the pudding, but she seemed to think we were doing ok. Last night he fed from 3.30am until 6.30am, not exactly non-stop but probably for an hour and a half in total. I didn't mind as I was so happy he was feeding.

skorpion I do kind of think the no-plan plan helped. Or it's certainly helping now that I am replaying the birth in my mind. That and, for some bizarre reason, as I started having contractions, I began imagining myself climbing a hill to the peak of the contraction (not a mountain, I had to correct DH ), then walking back down it as it eased off. This seemed to really help me, as I could recognise the most painful point and then everything on the way 'back down' was so much easier. Even when it all became quite intense I was still going through each contraction saying to myself "climb it, climb it, climb it" then "back down, back down". It did help.