Right, someone convince me it's not long now...please!

[MidnightinMoscow]

I am 38+3 with DC2. Hoping for a VBAC after an EMCS for DC1 with who I got to 9cm's with.

I have had period cramps for over a week, two lots of plug coming away and last night lots of tight feelings high in my bump. The period like cramps are really painful and often are alongside sharp pains down below.

I have a week to go into labour, otherwise I am booked for a CS. I am so fed up of symptom spotting and being in this 'is it- is it not?' place. I went into labour at 38+4 with DC1.

So someone come along and tell me lie to me that todays the day.

Having read that back, I don't want to scare anyone having an induction. My point was, its possible to have a bad reaction to the propess. I didn't bother reading up about it, if I had I night have realised that I should really have asked for it to be removed far earlier than it was. It says a lot that I spent a lot of time yesterday crying in the loo as it felt so painful, but I've just had a 7 and a half pound baby and my bits feel fine...still, it worked and that's the main thing. I still can't really believe he's here :)

Fuckity great news! Congratulations on the birth of DS - he's here . Sorry the propess was a bit intense, but glad they could take it out. Now enjoy those newborn cuddles

Hi everyone. Very quick update from me as currently in hospital. Had my little girl at 8.15 this morning via emcs after being in labour since sunday night. 8lbs12 tho! The nearly 3 day labour bit was just awful but the cs was amazing and hospital were fab. Congrats fuckity.

Congratulations Fuckity and feekerry! Enjoy those newborn snuggles.

feekerry congratulations, another lovely baby to add to our growing collection. Glad you're feeling OK after EMCS

39+6 here, bits of clear mucus here but no backache, BH, bloody mucus or anything even remotely labour like. 2 more weeks to go here I think. On the plus side, DC2 kicked DD this morning which DD is still finding hilarious two hours later and announcing repeatedly 'baby kick! Silly baby! Hahaha!' to me, which is a huge improvement on her shouting 'no no no' at any mention of a baby at all a few weeks ago. I've been very worried about how she'll take the new arrival and I'm SO relieved that she seems to be ok. Maybe that'll be enough to relax me into labour

If not, we've got tickets for to see Chris Ramsey (comedian) on Thursday night which we're having to borrow a car to get to as ours is still having the head gasket fixed...if ever there was an inconvenient time, that'd be it! And of course, Friday's a full moon - peak time for births!

Congratulations to fuckity and feek.

Keep 'em coming ladies!

(nearly) everybody DID sneeze!

high five dreaming, cs buddies

Don't really know what happened to hubby exactly, he's type 1 diabetic and got low blood sugar, which often happens, but couldn't keep anything down so of course we couldn't raise the sugar levels ourselves.

Congrats Feek! The girls are definitely out numbering the boys on this thread! Sorry you had a long labour but glad all is ok now
I think we'll need a new thread soon to talk about the babies rather than our overdue pregnancies!

Congratulations feek, blinking nightmare tpo end 3 days of labour in EMCS but thank goodness the CS was good and everyone is ok. good weight at 8lb 12!

wow fuckity, 40 min established labour?! You certainly didn't hang about, well done you!!!! pessary sounds grim, but worth it for the 40 min. Sure you don't have time to answer this (so don't worry too much), but how long was the pessary on and the bad pain bit beofre they took it out and you were in established labour?

In fact, why is birth so grim?! All this evolution and neither method truly satisfactory- one hurts too much at the time and can go wrong, one hurts too much afterwards and recovery is too slow (Before anyone jumps down my throat- yes- gross over-simplification I know, and some dont recover that quick from VB etc etc!)

oh yes seemedlike, CS buddies for tomorrow. I really can't quite believe it's happening tomorrow, and we'll go from being a family of 3 to a family of 5... Is it seeming surreal to you!? Especially as I'm first on the (afternoon) list, so i go in for 12pm, and if there aren't loads of emergencies etc I should have my babies by 2pm . Are you morning or afternoon?

Good luck for tomorrow to both Dreaming and Seemed if I was to have another baby I think I'd opt for ECS after the two VB's that I've had! Much calmer!
Looking forward to hearing of 4 new babies tomorrow. Are there any others still waiting?

Yes, good luck Dreaming and Seemed - gosh it felt like we would never all get there in the end!

Sending lots of good luck to both Dreaming and Seemed for tomorrow.

Yes, it's amazing to think that most of us have finally sneezed. I was reading the thread back earlier, we were all very much on edge!

Looking forward to hearing about more arrivals...I am looking at you Fliss btw

Midnight I'm going to go for a very unrespectable 14+ days late again, so don't expect anything for a while.

Cannot believe that it's my EDD tomorrow anyway - tomorrow?! Where's the time gone? I've done such a good job telling everyone I'm due around 14 April that I actually believe it myself.

Yes, good luck everyone :) It's definately easier to be positive once you're on the other side.
Dreaming, The pessary was put in at 11, I had to have all sorts of traces done which was tedious to say the least, but from about 1 or 2 I suppose I was aware that I was getting some tightenings but tbh I thought they were no more painful or productive than the ones I'd been having for weeks.
When they put the pesaary in, they tell you that you have 24 hours before they try something else so I was quite upset at the thought of an overnight stay and such a slow process. It was also then that an obviously ill informed midwife told me that as I had been induced, the birth unit was no longer an option and it had to be the CLU when the time came to move me. Gutted wasn;t the word and I started to get down, around the time I started to get very close contractions. I was put ont eh trace an hour earlier than scheduled, which showed big contractions happening every minute or so with very lttle gap, but since I was breathing through them and not screaming I had to insist I was examined rather than left another hour as she'd planned. This was around 5.30, I was 4cms and the pessary was whipped out. Instant relief. But I then asked for a birth ball to loll about on and ended up takign it to the loo with me, and then finding it very difficult to move from my spot on the floor. It was then they got a bit of a move on to move me to the MLU, and getting in the wheelchair seemed an impossible task with the contractions coming so close. But we made it (past many people pacing the corridor was it was tea time and I was wheeled straight past the dining room ) I then proceeded to strip and tell them to hurry to fill the pool. Got in, pretty much said 'Oh god, I'm going to poo!' and then pushed him out. I don't think anyone had appreciated how close I was, and tbh when the professionals doubt you, you start to doubt yoursef.
As far as the propess was concerned, I think I was very unfortunate. But I do intend to write to the head of midwifery to suggest that the possible side effects are actually quite unpleasant, and should be outlined in order that full informed consent can be given. I had no idea. As soon as it was put in, considering it is literally paper thin and the size of a tablet, I felt something was very wrong. Not to give tmi, but it honestly crossed my mind that she'd put it in teh wrong place completely and put it in my uretha, the pain was that bad. It hurt to pee and I felt I had no control over it, I sat down and just went. Horrible, awful feeling. And I felt I couldn;t sit down, and was swelling up. Compare that to how I feel now, 24 hours after having a 7.9lb baby with a small graze. I feel absolutely normal down below, so much so that I can't quite believe it. No stinging, no discomfort, no swelling and peeing like a trouper(!)but the very fact that the pessary had made me so uncomfortable made me feel something would be very very wrong after the birth.

Gosh, what a story fuckity, and the pessary sounds terrible- 6.5 hours of agony and feeling that bad with pain there plus the contractions must have been soul destroying and hard to deal with. I am now even more relieved I don't have to go through induction (though your actual birth sounds wonderful- 3 pushes, you amazing lady!) though I'm bricking it a bit about tomorrow

fliss, maybe a due date baby for you... you never know. 14th April sounds like a good date btw for a birthday, or maybe you should hang on just a few more days and go for the 19th April- my EDD

Thinking of all those having their newborn snuggles and nights of feeding and waking hell to you all

Dreaming good luck for tomorrow - will be thinking of you having twice the snuggles with your two .

Seemed also good luck to you for tomorrow - glad your DH is stable again. This time tomorrow you'll be cuddling your baby!!

Fuckity wow, sounds like you go into the pool just in time . I hyperstimulated with a pessary and twas grim...thank god they could take the propess out! And it's great you feel so good just a day later

Hardcheese I'm assuming that radio silence means you're too busy cuddling your baby to post!

Big waves to everyone else. DD is asleep on me but has conveniently allowed me plenty of space for the laptop - don't even have to do one-handed typing!

Oh and Fliss happy EDD for tomorrow. You're very wise to have given out the 14th April - I tried doing that, but on my last day at work I got rumbled and 3 people got my real EDD out of me . And it's good to be prepared for the long haul but just wanted to remind you that DD showed up just two days after my EDD

Just popping in to see if there is any more arrivals...

Nothing from me.

nope. I do have a chest infection though, so that's nice.

PS love the seasonal name, Fliss

Hi everyone - sorry for silence but am one of the non-technological kind who doesn't own a smartphone, so was incommunicado until I got home just now!

Our gorgeous little boy is lying beside me in his Moses basket, and is so entrancingly cute I keep taking ten minutes to type a sentence because of breaking off to marvel at how beautiful and bonny he is! He was born at 42+1 via ELCS on Tuesday morning (unhelpfully, after an evening and night of very painful but non-progressing contractions). The actual section was an unexpectedly jolly - and incredibly fast! - experience, after all the uncertainty and pain. A BPP on Monday had shown very low amiotic fluid, which ended up being the clincher in the decision. He is eight and a half pounds, and cute as the proverbial button even when wailing at 4 am, and we both fell in love immediately.

My only woe is that breastfeeding isn't working at all, but am still hoping that my milk will come in properly - attempts to express colostrum failed, and he's been taking formula - and things will change for the better.

Congratulations to feekerry and fuckity - and cruciflisspaps, will be crossing fingers for you. Now I'm going back to staring at my baby like a madwoman.

Hi everyone - sorry for silence but am one of the non-technological kind who doesn't own a smartphone, so was incommunicado until I got home just now!

Our gorgeous little boy is lying beside me in his Moses basket, and is so entrancingly cute I keep taking ten minutes to type a sentence because of breaking off to marvel at how beautiful and bonny he is! He was born at 42+1 via ELCS on Tuesday morning (unhelpfully, after an evening and night of very painful but non-progressing contractions). The actual section was an unexpectedly jolly - and incredibly fast! - experience, after all the uncertainty and pain. A BPP on Monday had shown very low amiotic fluid, which ended up being the clincher in the decision. He is eight and a half pounds, and cute as the proverbial button even when wailing at 4 am, and we both fell in love immediately.

My only woe is that breastfeeding isn't working at all, but am still hoping that my milk will come in properly - attempts to express colostrum failed, and he's been taking formula - and things will change for the better.

Congratulations to feekerry and fuckity - and cruciflisspaps, will be crossing fingers for you. Now I'm going back to staring at my baby like a madwoman.

Congratulations hardcheese - great news!

HardCheese Massive congratulations! Enjoy staring at your gorgeous boy

Keep on trying with the BF if that's what you want to do - remember it can take 3 days for milk to come in with a vaginal delivery and it might take a bit longer with a CS or a birth with a retained placenta (something to do with hormones and the placenta detaching) - expressing generally produces much smaller amounts of colostrum or milk than actually having the baby latched on anyway so whilst it seems a woeful amount, you can often get more in if baby is latched on but you can't see that! You'll only produce a few ml until the milk comes in anyway, so don't feel downhearted.