Due September thread 10 - On the downhill slope...

[Kiwifruit]

Here's the new thread ladies - may it be as chatty as the last 9!!

Difficult to describe what it feels like however the bump is visibly lower than before, my boobs no lunger rest on the top of it.

Redhelen - I know you're trying to be positive, but there is no way my body is getting the sleep it needs!! Tried to go shopping to do a bit of stuff on my list for hols and gave up half way through - feeling light headed, clammy and sick. Almost had a panic attack in John Lewis, but calmed myself down and came home. Try lavendar oil etc everynight. Pinning hopes on homeopath on Weds. Feel like going to bed now but have to pick kids up from school and walk the dog. Luckily a friend (the one I cried over this morning!!) has invited us all for tea, so at least I don't have that to worry about and clear up!
I must stop feeling sorry for myself and get back to being positive - maybe tomorrow

Andif, i find if i haven't rested during the day then i'm overtired and can't get to sleep. I now have a doze at lunch time and then when i get in about 4:30ish, i now get off to sleep fine, but am woken nearly every hour to go to the loo. Even after a little rest though i feel much more awake and better prepared to face the rest of the world

Im sorry you feel so terrible today Andif. Low mood is as common during pregnancy as after - hardly surprising given the combination of exhaustion, anxiety and hormones! There is always a lot of pressure to seem blooming and earth mother-like but hey we are human! Just look after yourself and let your GP know how you feel. He/she should be able to help. I feel shattered today too and I dont have two boys to look after!

No news on blood results yet - ANC understaffed today so no-one to access computer

andif I hope your feeling better soon, I'm sorry I hopw my comments didn't make you feel worse- I do know exactly how you feel - sleep is a big nasty gremlin for me too, and had a Monday just like yours last week!. Your not anaemic are you? - I was feeling dizzy, breahless and very anxious before I started on the iron tablets? Now I'm just plain knackered which must be an improvement!!!! Being a man in my next life!

andif - not enough sleep & rest is difficult. I'm sometimes so tired when I have to get up I could just crawl under the duvet. Not being able to get comfortable or move in my sleep due to huge bump, bad back & leg probs mean that I wake up lots - that's not including going to the loo 2/3 times - ahhh.
Have you tried just to say that's ok if you don't sleep - even if you will be very tired. Sort of just go with it. I did this when my dds never slept when they were babies - not fighting it just going with it. Helped me get through that dificult time. best wishes xxx

Andif - you have my greatest sympathy, as I too have been feeling pretty rubbish lately due to being so knackered. I can't sleep, despite being exhausted, and keep waking up at 6am unable to get back to sleep. Have felt like a zombie for the past few days! Have tried everything, aromatherapy, exercise, relaxation... only thing that seems to help is the natal hypnotherapy CD which sends me to sleep but only for the 40mins it's on! Maybe now the weather is cooling off a bit it might help tho.

morning all.....

last night at antenatal we did about second stage of labour and the possible complications that can arise. she showed us a ventouse and a pair of forceps..........the worst one for me really is the catheter.....i'm not really that bothered by the other two (yet!) but the thought of being catheterised makes me feel ill.

we got home and dp gave me this wonderful loving but forlorn look and said 'i'm sorry, i really wish i could go through that for you. it seems so unfair that to get that wonderful bundle out of you, you have to go through all that'

way to make a hormonal pregnant even more emotional.

phew - just managed to catch up on all the chat - very pleased to be in such a sociable month, just wish i had a chance to post more often! Moshchops, your d/p's comment nearly had me in tears too.
Andif, really feel for you with the lack of sleep - its the one thing that can really send me doolally, can't add any more advice than everyone else has already posted - just sending you a big hug.
All is good for me at the momen, just off to the m/w for a quick check this morning no reason to think there'll be any problems. Baby seems to be doing star jumps in my belly, or attempting to break out through the skin! Reassuring that he's got that much energy but it alarming and painful at times!

moschops - the sight of the forceps and ventouse scared me as well! I suppose though that if you need them by that time you won't care what they look like, you'll just want that baby out of there
Hope you are enjoying the classes.

Morning all, Nice and cool here in birmingham this morning but still feels a bit humid.

Sleep deprevation is horrid you have my sympathy.

Have started to have really vivid dreams but forget them within a couple of hours of waking up which is really odd. Popping down to Barmouth for a couple of days so won't be posting for a while.

Look after yourselves and try to see the positive side we will all soon have beatifull little babies to cuddle and then the sleep deprivation will just get worse!!!!

Morning!

Had my MW appointment yesterday - she started making concerned noises about my blood pressure, which has been pretty much the same all along (120/80), and she is the only MW who has said anything about it. Now am starting to stress about it, which is undoubtedly doing me more harm than good!!

Baby has started moving a lot more lately - have started to feel it in the middle of the night - seems to be especially active after my 1am loo visit - must have more room after I've emptied my bladder! Can't say that I've been able to identify any body parts poking out yet though.

Boompi - have you seen the following thread about turning breech babies? There's links to other sites about things you can do to encourage them to turn... breech baby

Andif - hope you managed to get some rest last night now that it is a bit cooler.
Moschops - you made me cry with your DP's comments and thinking about what we MIGHT have to go through - very scary
Mummyhill - have fun in Barmouth...ahhhh...memories of a teenage adventure holiday there and almost drowning myself whilst attempting to canoe - what fun !
Now, here comes the moan...feel free to fast forward to the next post...
Feeling very run down and tired even though I am managing to sleep through most nights when DD doesn't wake up for a bit of a winge, for which I should be grateful after hearing from most of you having to get up to go to the loo or not being able to sleep at all. So don't really know why I'm so lethargic.
DH has gone away with work again and my mum who I can usually count on for a bit of help with DD when DH is away is also away. Really struggling with work at the moment. My manager keeps passing me half done projects that I'm supposed to figure out and I feel stupid asking questions when I'm not sure whether I haven't already been given the information and my pg brain has forgotten it . On top of all this my sinuses have gone bezerk again and I can't breath...oh and did I mention the MS that has returned?? Really can't wait for the next 9.5 weeks to pass!
OK, hormonal (or should that be horMOANal) induced moan over...sorry.
On a nice note, I spotted our neighbours out the back have had their new edition to the family sometime over the weekend. They will probably be getting a restraining order for me round about now as I have spent most of yesterday evening watching them from DD's window. It's their first baby and she seems so tiny.., made me cry again - see hormones abound!

Morning morning.

Kiwifruit: Why is she agitating about your blood pressure, for god's sake?? 120/80 is bang optimal, by any standard, isn't it?? It's also (from what I've read) normal for your blood pressure to increase slightly as your body prepares for labour - so presumably that'll give her something else to have a fit about.

I can't say that I can distinguish body parts either. The midwife is coming this evening, so I might ask if she can tell which way it's facing at the moment, just to give me a clue. Thus far I've only managed to distinguish the back (when she pointed it out) and how far up my chest my uterus has currently risen (frighteningly high... where are my lungs??)

Have been utterly wiped out the last couple of days and virtually incapable of speech. Nothing to do with lack of sleep, since I'm snoozing like the proverbial log.

Btw - has anyone looked at the 'How clean was your hospital?' thread on here?? It's horrifying. Some of the stories sound like they've come from the Crimea.

RZ - I thought it was fairly close to normal. Was always, without fail 120/70 before I got pg, but has been pretty steady for each visit.

Have seen the thread about the dirty hospitals, and have to say that it terrifies me! Am going to add Dettox and disposable gloves to my hospital bag list, but think it's appalling that I should have to think about doing that in this country! Must say that most public toilets in London are cleaner than any of the hospital ones that I've been into (have always been very impressed with the state of the public toilets in London - some of the cleanest public loos I've seen!). Hopefully the press coverage that they have been getting in the last few days will cause them to pull their socks up before we get there...

Has anyone bought a change bag yet? Which one did you buy? SIL wants to buy me one, but I don't know which one to get! Any recomendations gratefully received!

It's one of my pet peeves - the way that the medical profession will put the frighteners on you when it suits them and yet fail utterly to take into account other risks which are just as important. (Rant coming up.) For example, when I mentioned home birth to my GP and midwife, the response I got was not entirely positive (untried pelvis, supposedly 'high risk' due to antiphospholipid wotsits, what happens if placenta retained, blah blah blah). However, with regard to the same antiphospholipid antibody syndrome, has anyone said to me that I should continue taking the anticoagulants after the birth?? I'm also supposed to be at higher risk of pre-eclampsia and premature birth and should - according to the RCOG website - be receiving regular monitoring and platelet testing. Have I hell. I was dispatched by my consultant at week 11 with the words 'This one looks like it will stick'. Now this is all fine by me: I don't want regular monitoring and if I felt funny or my blood pressure went up, I would seek medical assistance - but the prescription of anticoagulants post partum is more serious: the biggest single cause of maternal death in this country is apparently some kind of thrombolitic event (i.e. a clot) - and dying just after giving birth really isn't on my agenda. I'm going back to the GP next week to ask for six more weeks of heparin post partum and if there's any argument on the subject, then I will get a second opinion. What annoys me, though, is that doctors / midwives often don't waste time in suggesting that one is at risk when it seems right to them - but if you don't agree with their care plan, then you're irresponsible.

Ok. I'll shut up now. It's safe to come out again.

Re: the cleanliness of hospitals. I think it's absolutely appalling that one should have to think about packaging Dettox when going into a hospital in this country. Finding a ward dirty is bad enough - but the stories about blood splatters, clots in the bath and being left - unwashed - in soiled sheets...?? Where's Infection Control all this time? When I was in Watford General overnight last summer (second miscarriage) the room was very clean, as was the ensuite bathroom. The only thing the nurse grumped about was that someone had left an (unused) pack of hospital-issue sanitary towels open in the cupboard - so she threw away the top ones which had spilled onto the shelf. This was the gynae ward, though, and I was given a room to myself - so I've no idea what the delivery rooms or shared bathrooms are like. My father-in-law was in Wycombe General shortly before he died of cancer and the bathrooms there were in a revolting state. When he complained to the nurses, they suggested he make a formal complaint because they had no authority over the cleaners. When patients are in an immune-compromised position like that, you might as well just be knocking them over the head.

My experience of hospital cleanliness was quite good. The only problem came from the shared bathroom (one bathroom per two delivery rooms) and that was due to the mucky pup in the room next door who obviously had been dragged up in the gutter and left it in a terrible state every time she (frequently) went in there...yes she was in labour but so was I and I didn't want to see bits of her insides on the floor everytime I went to the loo. Sorry to be graphic. The midwives kept apologising every time I mentioned it and went to clean it up - a job that I was sure should have been an auxilliary's. My mum (ex midwife and health visitor) harps on that the problem is that a lot of nursing assistants think that this sort of cleaning job is below them. She would love to see a return of the old strict matron on every ward to send the fear of god into every nurse/midwife/auxilliary.

We went on the hospital tour of the labour and postnatal wards last night - seemed clean enough although we didn't see the bathrooms.

Boompi, my little one's breech too. The mw keeps trying to convince me that she's flipping round all the time, but she's always in exactly the same position when I have a scan (i.e. for the last three scans I've had) so I'm not convinced. I guess we've still go a bit of time for them to turn round though.

Visiting the labout ward last night brought it home to me very forcibly that I am actually having a baby in approximately 9 weeks and it's too late to back out now. Now feeling very, very nervous.

Hello everyone - was about to say good morning when I realised it is now afternoon .

DH has gone to Amsterdam with work (only for one night) but it feels odd to know I won't see him until tomorrow evening. Hopefully DS will sleep peacefully.

Andif, I hope you've been able to get some more sleep. I find that when I fall asleep during the day, my night sleep is worse, so I'm trying really hard not too (although woke up yesterday after an hour's sleep lying on the floor in our office/garden room - at home, not at work which would have been very ).

Went to mums and toddlers with DS this morning and there was another pregnant person there. She seriously looked less than 20 weeks pregnant (ie in that "is she, isn't she" stage) and then she said she's due 6 days after me . I felt very large. People might have said to me that I don't look pregnant from the back, but she didn't look pregnant from the back or the side.

I had forceps and a catheter with DS, and although the thought of both was and still is horrible, actually having them was OK. Would prefer not to this time, but what will be will be.

Can't remember my hospital being unclean at all and I was in and out for three weeks before the birth, so plenty of time to observe. Definitely don't feel that taking my own Dettol is necessary.

My blood pressure was most recently 120/60, which is about the same as it has been throughout the pregnancy. Last time, by 28 weeks it had gone up from something like 120/70 to about 135/80 and from 34 weeks was always at least over 90 (with the the highest being something like 165/105). I don't think being over 80 is cause for concern, but if it keeps going up then you would get watched more carefully.

As far as position goes, I am pretty sure this one is head down (although more oblique than straight). With DS he didn't settle until about 35 weeks, being in every position he could think of until then. When he decided to get settled, there was an almighty movement asif he was doing a somersault (which he probably was )

I am still in somewhat denial that I am having another baby in the next two months. Hoping that once I stop work (Friday) and start nesting it might feel a bit more real.

Kiwifruit on the topic of change bags - Id get a ruck sack - realy stuffable with all your need, can easily be put on back when you need an extra pair of hands-man freindly too - so no need for him to be shy of nipping off to change baby!! Hauck do some good ones.Good luck turning those breech babies - mine is currently head down - but back to back (which is no good apparently) and needs to turn too! dh has bought me a birthing ball (£4 ish in Argos) and complains if I dont use it for at least an hour a day! Apparently these balls encourage baby out of its comforty position and into correct position??!! Blood pressures very confusing mine is always a little low 110/50 - any one understand what it all means?? Just built the crib looks fantastic -all ready for that first baby puck!!!

Now i am worrying that my bp is too low as it has averaged 110/60 throughout and was warned that it was a little on the low side.

Kiwifruit re changing bags, I had a rucksack type last time and could never find anything in it. My best friend had a samsonite one which looked a bit like a vanitycase/weekend bag and it was lovely as it had seperate compartments in it and everytime we opened it we could lay our hands on stuff straight away. So i think i shall break the bank and get one of those.

I am taking in my own supply of sanitising gel 99p a bottle in supersave last time round don't think it is much more expensive now as well as some dettox etc as i am getting really worried about some of the things I have been reading recently.

I agree bring back old fashioned matrons.

For future reference - I used to carry round dettox and sanitising gel in my changing bag as well as some baby change facilities leave a lot to be desired. The best ones i have found are usually in mothercare.

Waffle over.

Jessysmummy - I am a nurse and while it's not officially our job to clean toilets, frequently the domestics will refuse if it's "body fluids" so we always end up doing the worst of it. Not officially the 'auxilliary's' job either, purely the domestics! But you can never find them when you need them!

Kiwifruit - I wouldn't worry about your blood pressure, sounds OK to me. Re: the change bag, I bought an OiOi one, which has lots of pockets, a wipe-clean little bag inside, a small change mat and a bottle warmer thingie. I got it on e-bay for about £40 but I think they are more in the shops.

Just back from having a scan, and the placenta has moved and is now at the top, which is a relief. Baby is head down, normal size and jiggling aplenty, which is good

I really admire those people on here who are still able to work, as I know there's no way I'd even be able to think about going to work and behaving normally haha. It's enough hassle to go for a half an hour walk and sort the flat out every day, never mind be professional and responsible and all the rest of it!

At its lowest, my blood pressure hit 95/45 - which made doing anything other than lying down rather problematic. Now it's back up to 110/60-something, I'm much more capable. I don't know why people would be told low blood pressure is a problem - generally it's perceived to be a good thing, particularly in pregnancy. The last time I saw the consultant, he was quite cheerful about mine (I did stop driving for a while though...)

Feeling much better today. Was hopping around house for an hour or 2 in the night with cramp and heartburn (found deep heat to massage into calves which did the trick!), but slept well either side of this, so not too bad. Much more energy today as so much cooler - already done supermarket, washing and had architect around to discuss house plans (pie in the sky, but nice to dream!!) Now off to put final coat of paint on chest of drawers for baby room.
On the changing bag front, think they're a bit of a waste of money and personally think a big roomy bag that you can use for other stuff is just as good - as I said before, I got a nice Orla Kiely one for a bargain on ebay.
Jessysmummy - LOL at horMOANal - think we're all a bit of that!!!
Redhelen - you didn't make me feel worse, don't worry!