November 2010 - From Flump to Bump!

[hmmSleep]

This is the new discussion thread .
Stats thread here

i got my appletiser too mumcha - have finished the mango/mandarin/apple one already! Dread to think how much they sell for, given that we've got £1 off vouchers! Were we meant to give feedback?

Congratulations on all the scans - so nice to feel like we are at the stage where the only news seems to be good news on here - hope it continues! I've got my scan a week today, can't wait to see bump again, and hopefully to find out the sex!! Feels a bit freaky though, partly i feel as if i've only been pregnant for a very short while, yet there is the reality that in a week we're at the half way point!!

Jealous of all the talks of bumps though, saw a photo of someone i know this week who isn't due until a month after me, and her bump is massive, and i looked at hmmmm 's photos to see what your dress was like, and your bump is big too! really looks like a bump - my still looks like a flabby belly although my sister was like this with her first, she barely showed at 5 months and then by 6 months she blew up like a balloon...so guess i'm not likely to have a proper bump for a few weeks yet!

Felt first movement on Sunday, had my hand on tummy and felt a sudden movement, like it was trying to kick my hand away! haven't had anything as strong since, just a sort of wriggling sensation now and then, but i think it's spending most of it's time asleep....hope thats a sign of being a good sleeper when it's born!! DP was already a softie, but he's ridiculously soft in an adorable way now, not only is he still stroking and kissing my tummy all the time, but he's now taken to talking to it since we read something saying that bump can now hear deep voices

bah. i didn't get picked for the appletiser thing

My 20 week scan is in 2 weeks time, can't wait! Then I've got a fetal cardiac scan another couple of weeks after that.

Not much to say really, I'm feeling fairly normal again nowadays, appetite definitely back, have put on 8lbs now, and definitely got a bump. Have felt the occasional movement, but very faint, and not enough to know for sure it's the baby and not just wind or something. I was definitely feeling them by now the first time round.

Just trying to make the most of this easy bit and enjoy time while it's just me DP and DD

It's nice to hear all of the good news. I've got a big scan on Monday where they check the heart out too. Maybe I'll see if lazybaby is actually doing anything because I'm sure it's asleep all of the time.
Do you get the glucose test as standard in the UK? I can't say that it sounds like much fun, but it's in a good cause.

I'm blowing up like a balloon - a week ago there was practically nothing there!

In-laws have arrived with DH's old crib and christening gown, both in very good condition. MIL has also said that my mother told her she would be coming over to help me before the birth. Arrggh, how do I stop this idea? I'll need her help later, but I'm intending to work until a week or so before my due date.

Arrggh indeed! Just tell her not to! It's afterwards you might need some help, not before when you want to enjoy the last precious moments of peace and quiet!

hi looopy i dont no if we are meant to give feed back cant remember lol,tho the juice is nice if its dear i wont be buying it lol.

mumcha i looked on the tescos website today, appletiser is £2.40 and peartiser is £2.19, they don't stock the fruitiser ones. So suppose with £1 off, not too bad, but bearing in mind Tescos do their own version of appletiser for £1.40 , and Schloer are all under £2, seems rather pricy in comparison!!

Re feedback, i've had an email since my earlier posting with a link to give the feedback to.

I have some Schloer update thing on my FB and they said til July its on offer for £1 in ASDA, I really need to get DP down there and stock up for me

Oh Loooopy your scan next Friday also?
Mine is at 11am next Friday tho I bet they will be running late like last time.
Just hope baby will let us see what its hiding, I dont like being kept in the dark haha
Baby is super active these days tho it always seems to be really low down, like right now its giving me some kicks.
Will have to take a bump photo Monday when I am 20weeks, half way point, cant believe its here already

i am doing osme ante-natal pilates ... taking me a while to get used to low impact workout but I am enjoying it all the same. Still doing slow jogs aswell though will stop once it starts to feel uncomfortable.

i just actually saw my very low tummy move!! my bump isnt that big either though it seems to have grown over the past 3 days!

Congrats on the good scans and on ur little girl addicted

Just wanted to share, laying on the sofa and DD and I just saw my bump move and she finally got to feel it kick, shes as excited as Christmas morning

Snap! Rinny and Loooopy, I've got my scan next Friday too (in the afternoon). I'm only getting in from a business trip at lunch time though so DH is joking he might have to go in my place if the plane's delayed Is anyone else's DH/P putting on alarming amounts of weight at the moment?

We met our independent midwife yesterday, she was really interested in this 'birth plan' stuff (it's not common over here) and was quite positively surprised I'd given it any thought at all! We've got some classes booked now for the practical side of childbirth and preparation for the newborn. Feeling a little bit calmer about it all now!

I also had a quick chat with a potential nanny this morning. It's crazy here, you need to book months in advance for a nanny or creche, are any of you already thinking about this kind of thing?

I do have one very silly question and am a bit too embarrassed to ask my midwife - obviously asking a bunch of strangers on the internet is a much better idea Anyway - is Veet OK to use while pg? As its coming up to holiday season (and for Aquagym) I need a bit of a tidy-up down there and don't particularly want to shave or shell out for a wax.

And (at the risk of being a bit TMI) has anyone started perineal massaging yet? My friend told me I need to but... [eww squeamish]

Back from 2 weeks in France and just managed to read all of your news/posts to catch up. Too many personals for me to cope with but would like to say (esp being PG1) how much reassurance/support and happiness I'm getting from the sharing of our pregnancy experiences .

Great to hear about some of your scans already, mine is on 29th and I'm definitely counting down the days.

those who can see bump movements - I think I have a layer of fat in the way.

Fenouille - no perineal massage here - I'm not even sure what it is !

Shopping hope you had a great holiday even if most of France seems to be under a rain cloud at the moment (seriously, it's mid-June and I'm still wearing a coat to work)

And I really agree with you about the reassurance of this thread, you're all great

OK, I googled perineal massage (I was a bit worried about what I might find). Seems like I've got a few weeks more to get over my squeamishness...

Fenouille - you're not supposed to start perineal massage til about 36 weeks I think. Certainly not now anyway! By then you won't be able to reach of course..

I saw a thread on here the other day about something called the epi-no - google that looks scary!

Hi Privet thanks! My friend was VERY definite about it I'm done googling anything 'epi' related though

... OK, I couldn't resist. It wasn't as bad as I thought it might be but the pictures here are a bit

Night night everyone, sleep tight, don't let the bugs bite.

Fenouille - I Veet-ed last week (took DS swimming).

I tried to find this out in my last pregnancy, and no-one on MN had read that you shouldn't.

Also Googled and read the instructions on the packaging: nothing.

So it would appear it's fine!

Happy Fathers Day, everyone.

Are any of you first timers giving cards from the Bump?

Good morning! Half way, thank goodness for that although I´m not really looking forward to the beached whale phase.
PrivetDancer thanks, yes I think that I will want help after the birth.

One of my books had something about perineal message I´m not convinced.

Regarding creches, yes you have to register really early here too. I think we got our names down for the creche at work at about week 5! It has a really good reputation and the children always look like they are enjoying themselves. There is lots of pressure on childcare here and at the some time plenty of people who like to criticise any woman who goes back to work - Bavaria has a lot of the "children, church, kitchen" attitude.

Fenouille, I didn't do perineal massage in previous pregnancies (cs first time so no need), with ds I didn't tear of need an episiotomy (well, mot on the outside anyway, won't go into the state of my vagina internally, eek), I think it's more down to luck than anything. Although I guess anythimg that might just help!

Hope you enjoyed France shoppingstar.

I did do some perineal massage but it was fairly half hearted and you really can't reach by then, but I had some fancy zita west oil so I thought I might a well use it. Don't know if it helped but I didn't tear or anything and dd was 8lb 12.
Not quite sure what that says about me

Booboo Thanks! I'll veet away then

Thanks for your advice hmm and Privet, I guess it will be a case of "I'll do it if I can still reach" then And try not to think about it generally!

Cardi it was the same in HH. My male colleagues (married, with highly educated wives) were all shockingly rude and unpleasant (behind her back, natch) towards a female colleague who came back to work after giving birth. One of my friends asked her if she wasn't bothered by their attitudes and she said she had enough to deal with the GPs than to bother about what her colleagues were saying Germany can be so enlightened and then you have these weird attitudes from people you wouldn't expect.

Your work crèche sounds lovely though. Our work offers priority places in some of the local crèches, but since we live in the town we have priority anyway (and if we wanted a place we should have put our names down about 18 months ago). We'll probably go with a childminder for the fist few years as the crèches here are a lot less flexible.

Hello, everyone! Hope you are all well! I am fine... went to the theatre last night to see the Hobbit and came over really dizzy and felt sick so had to leave for about 10 mins - missed the battle scene :-(

Felt much better after getting some air though! Think it may have been down to the heat in the theatre and sitting down for too long!

Been feeling more movement this weekend. Still haven't felt any proper kicks or anything but can definitely feel baby moving around DP is still wishing he could feel too... he's quite it wouldn't kick this morning, it is Father's Day afterall! lol

This perineal massage sounds a bit weird. I had to have an episiotomy last time so I'll probably rip again anyway!

Fenouille yeah, I put bumpling on a nursery waiting list on Fri (in UK). Was a bit horrified I hadn't remembered to do it earlier, but apparently it's ok, they'll have spaces from next Sept, which is when I may want it. The other nursery near us has closed its waiting list, though.

(Rest of message may be TMI.)

On the perineal massage: a friend and I wondered about this and so did an informal survey of everyone we know who's had a baby lately and whom we felt we could ask. Maybe 30 friends. Not remotely scientifically valid, but it didn't seem like massaging helped. Some who'd done it tore v badly, others who didn't tear hadn't even heard of it. So I'd want to see a proper study proving it works before I'd bother.

What seemed to matter was speed of final delivery - tears happened where baby whooshed out at the end. Or if baby had an arm in a funny position. Skill of midwife probably crucial in controlling last pushes.

One thing that seemed clear, tho, was that a tear, even a bad one, has a faster recovery than a cut. That's something I'd read before and it was certainly the experience reported by these mothers. Probably because the cut goes thru muscle layers. But in practice you don't necessarily get a choice, eg cos I had a ventouse with DS, and they always do a cut with that.

My cut was painful for a long time, like weeks and weeks, probably because I had a bad time after the birth with DS in NICU and got all swollen and wasn't able to rest. On the other hand, I didn't get any... stretching effects. Don't know whether the cut helped reduce that. It seemed like cos the final delivery was v quick, my muscles actually tightened through the trauma, oddly. I couldn't wee for about 28 hours after the birth, which apparently is not uncommon. All that recovered just fine.

So this time I won't be bothering with the massage (which really freaked me out last time), and won't be worrying about it either. One of those lap of the gods things.

Anyone else with, err, perineal experiences??

wow lots to catch up on, i shall read back properly in a mo, just marking my place on the thread!

re perineal massage, with ds1 i had to have an episiotomy, was determined not to with ds2 so i (or rather dp! did the massaging for me) not sure if it helped as i still tore, but the midwife said that was because of his shoulders. anyway it needed stitching and the hospital were busy so they left it for 4 hours! by which time i was all swollen and bruised down there, obviously! and it was so so painful, even with the maximum dose of local and gas and air! honestly it was worse than the birth which i managed just fine with gas and air! they got one of their 'top' people to come and sew me up as i had an unusual tear and because it was all swollen. they did apologise for leaving it so long and said that was why it hurt so much. so if you do need stitched INSIST they do it asap and with local and lots of gas and air!

with ds3 i had a teeny tear that didnt need stitching

and ds4 didnt tear at all! he was 10lb 13oz and i am sure it is because i had a water birth with him, esp as his birth was very quick.

hoping not to tear this time.

ONE TOP TIP, DO NOT I REPEAT DO NOT GET A MIRROR AND LOOK AT YOURSELF DOWN BELOW IN THE FIRST FEW DAYS/WEEKS AFTER HAVING A BABY! i did with ds1 worst thing i ever did. but rest assured it all went back to normal and after four babies, even huge ones like mine all is fine, just make sure you do LOTS of pelvic floor exercises! they will help healing after the birth.

other tips are pour water on yourself when weeing after the birth, lean back on the loo and pour warm water, then it wont sting when you wee!

also it is important to keep yourself clean and dry, esp if you have stitches, so change pads regularly and pat yourself gently! until dry or you can use a hairdryer on a cool setting to dry yourself, i know sounds crazy but you may be tender and not want to pat with a towel etc.

another tip, for first poo after baby, press against your perinium with a clean,dry pad, it will help and you will feel less like you are going to split in two (again!) and make sure you dont get constipated. btw you may not poo for a few days after you have a baby, the midwife WILL ask if you have pooed, they need to know that all is back to normal

tears def heal better than an episiotomy, from my experience and not all tears need stitching, you midwife will have a look and let you know

right anything else? dont want to freak all you lovely ladies out, but as you were talking perinium i thought i would let you know my experinces and give some tips that have helped tell me to shut up if you want

lovely to hear about all the scans, good luck to those with scans in the next few weeks, mine is on the 7th july, so not long.

am 17 and a half weeks now, not really feeling baby move, and dont have a bump yet, but if its anything like my other pregnancies i will pop out in the next few weeks

i saw the midwife at 16wks and all was fine, so now dont see her till i am 25wks.

umm tbh i dont actually feel pregnant as such, i mean i KNOW i am, but no bump, sickness has finally eased off and i am so busy with the other 4 that i just kind of forget until someone asks me about it sure all that will change in the next few weeks as i get a bump and start feeling baby move etc

but it is SO nice not to feel sick

only heard about p. massage last week from by beautician.. she said few of her friends have done this and no tears but was also recommending using some oil. I looked up a few but some say can trigger contractions so only use at 36 wks. I am wondering if there is something we should be using now?

Bit freaked out that u are all on top of the creche thing, i am not totally sure how long i will take off work but will be at least 6mths. I guess i should get my a$$ in gear and start researching my options. so seems so far away!!

Oh goodness, what have I started? at mad and umf (but thanks for sharing ) I only have one friend I would feel comfortable discussing this with in RL (and she's the one whose fault this is really) but having just checked my ante-natal class topics p. massage comes up in the first one. I'll keep you all informed... ("oh good oh" I can hear you all saying ) Said friend also told me that Weleda do a 'perineal oil', but I don't know what's in it or if anyone in this thread has any interest/use for this information

tiany Sorry, didn't intend to freak anyone out. I'll be heading back to work after my statutory mat leave is up (4 months including 1 month holiday left over from this year) so I knew I wouldn't have time after the birth to get it sorted. FWIW the lady I met yesterday did say it was relatively early to get it sorted - all my friends have been telling me horror stories about finding child care which is why I've got a wriggle on with it. Actually, I think I need new RL friends

harmony how unpleasant Hope you're feeling all better now?