nickelbabe's live birth saga part 3. There HAS to be a birth in this one!

[nickelbabe]

Just getting it ready....

Noone post until it's full, right!!

I was walking in circles round the kitchen as the contractions peaked, then on the ball in between. I couldn't stay still.

Pascha - that's the thing - what's better, staying at home and relaxing while waiting for someone to come out, or rushing to the hospital in a panic?
at least at home, you've got a bath and something to distract you, and if the baby starts to come ,you're not stressing that it'll be born on a road somewhere!

Wish I knew about mn when I was having mine. This is such a brilliant record to look back on. Dd4 was 2 when I joined (nearly 11 now). Can't remember much about my labours.

Stay put Nickel. They will send someone if you tell them that is what you're doing.

i don't think i can stay still either.
i want to go back to bed, i think.

My community midwife came out to see me. and sent me to hospital. Does the MW have to come from the hospital?

Glad things are moving!

Tell them you can't walk without having a contraction and unless they want the baby delivered without any assistance they'd better come out. Don't be too logical or they'll think that your not in full blown labour.

Has Mr Nickel gone to church yet? I think he needs to be with you.

I would stay at home as long as possible.

Is your DH back from church?

Call your DH now, he would rather be with you i'm sure.

Ooo nickel - exciting stuff! have you got everything ready, plastic sheeting out etc.? Kettle on, lots of towels, all that kind of thing?

I hope they do send someone out for you but they may not given your overdueness. Is your DH prepared for all eventualities? is he home yet?

Is your friend staying with you? Do you have someone else around while DH is out? Is it at all possible for DH to re-arrange things for next week?

Sounds like things are ramping up nicely but Medway aren't geared up for women who have audacity to make their own informed decisions... You've been amazing at managing them so far, but I'm just thinking it might be a good time to delegate talking to them to a 3rd party who can start on the cracked record...

"Nickel seems to be in labour. Contractions are every x minutes. As she has booked a HB and is not in labour she will not be keeping the appointment for monitoring this pm. Please send a MW."

Etc, etc, etc.

Your body's done a lovely job of getting lots of the hard work out he way - I could be completely wrong but my gut feel is that things are going to progress quite a lot over he next couple of hours. Jut make sure you've got someone there to pass you drinks, mop your brow and call ghost-busters at the appropriate time! (and if they can fit in tinkling on the ivories, so much the better :o)

My Guess is boy, 8lb1oz, born at 8.26pm tonight.

Call your DH.

Good Luck.

that's the problem, isn't it! I do overthink things generally, so all of this process (as you can probably tell from the thread!) I am thinking about logically.
Even just then, I was in the bed going "ow, this really hurts, shall i turn over? yes, it does hurt. breathe. ow my back hurts too. should i get the tens machine? slack jaw slack jaw"

I can't do action without thinking.
Maybe that's why when they're trying to work out if you're ready, they hold you on the phone, so they can hear from your voice when the contractions are happening.
My MW friend says that she can normally tell from a woman when they're ready to go, just by how she sounds. she works in a high-volume hospital so she must have heard all sorts.

If you feel as if you can't stay still then you sound as if things are moving I didn't know what to do with myself with second baby - constantly up and down

And is NOW in labour

Arghhh!

I promise you Nickel, at some stage today you will do action without thinking :o

have you got a ball to bounce around on? It does help and its better than turning in bed.

i think they're closer than 5 minutes now.
I just counted one that lasted 45 seconds (maybe I was lookign at my watch but losing time while i was counting - didn't help that I've got a watch that i'm looking at, a clock in my left ear ticking, and a clock in my riht ear chiming the hour!
(we have far too many clocks - there's one in every room!)
I counted from when it started up to when the back ache came in.

. Go nickel! Woo hoo, this is it them, good luck, I'm very excited for you. [snuggly newborns are ace emoticon]

So excited for you

Alouisee

And yes - get the TENS machine on! The sooner it starts the more effective it is (plus i found it was something to focus on that distracted my conscious brain quite nicely from the fact that this really was it...)

nickel I can strongly recommend lying in semi-foetal position on your left side as a good way to reduce the discomfort (and apparently help reduce the risk of tearing, according to the MW who cleaned me up).

You need to have someone with you. You really really do - things could kick off quite quickly now.