All those online for NZ timezone!

[buzzybee]

Hi all. Used to be a regular on MN when I lived in London but since moving back to NZ have found it harder to make the connections due to all the brits being asleep when us down under are online! So if anyone is keen to start a thread for those of us in this predicament please reply! My DD has just turned 5 and started school last week (scary). Have just found out I'm expecting number 2 - due roughly Xmas day...

Excellent outing despite the wind! It was lovely to see you both looking well.

The weather can only get better!

Yes, thanks mums for lovely meet up. I enjoyed myself and DS1 was thrilled with the zoo. I have now come down with a tummy bug. Have phoned my midwife but don't think its anything to worry about. But what a drag.

Glad you guys enjoyed your meet-up, even if the weather wasn't all it could be...

Anyway, went to drs yesterday, bp was 170/100 so admitted to hospital for 24 hrs monitoring, bp gradually came down, baby's heartbeat fine, another growth scan, all fine (8lb 10oz latest estimate!), have now been given induction date of next Thur (1st Nov) as they are worried about bp going up sgain. It's only 3 days before my due date but I would still prefer to go into labour naturally.

So any going-into-labour-naturally vibes you can send my way very welcome!

They did a sweep before I was discharged from hospital a couple of hours ago, I am having some v full on Braxton Hicks but no "proper" contractions.

oooh Anna its all happening isn't it.
We've just been having this discussion on the Due in Dec thread. Raspberry Leaf Tea, curries, long walks (probably not for you!) and pineapple have all been mentioned.
Last time I went into labour on my due date and had been quite active right up to the end pottering around the house - sorry hard to know what to suggest in your situation but definitely sending you loads of positive vibes.

As for me, have been given an appointment to see my favourite consultant next Monday (sigh) regarding the excess amniotic fluid situation. I guess I should give her another chance but will really scream if she even mentions Down Syndrome...

[Shells, apparently she isn't leaving until some time in Nov. I guess that means that if I end up under consultant care it won't be with her. When's your appointment again?]

And remember to text me next Thur Anna - I'll be desperate to hear how you're getting on!!

BTW, got the Ezibuy Xmas catalogue in the post today - I suspect a few friends and family will be getting bits and bobs out of it!

Thanks for the positive vibes. Hope your appointment with consultant-from-hell isn't too traumatic!

Still hoping I'll go into labour naturally. Might have lots of v hot curries this w/end! I have read some OK stories about induction on here but have also heard some horror stories - I suppose each case is different and there's no way of knowing how it will go.

On the plus side, everyone in the hospital was really lovely and it's nice in a way to have been there for 24 hours as I feel I know my way around there now. I had a huge room for two with only me in, with fab views over the city centre. The midwives were especially fab - very helpful and chatty.

Right, off to bounce on the exercise ball as that may help kick things off (apparently)

I will text if there are any developments!

Oooh, Anna, very exciting! Am sending labour vibes......

Hope your bug is better, shells!

Good luck for appointments buzzy and shells. I'm going to send "sensible consultant" vibes too, but these are quite hard to get hold of as you can imagine....

Hi guys! I hope you don't mind me gatecrashing to ask a question?

My dh is in NZ with our dc and is having trouble finding similar nappies to the ones we use in the UK - pull-ups size 5 (she weighs 15kg I think) but not potty training ones.

Any ideas? What do you all use? and where do you buy them?

I'm off to bed now but will check back tomorrow!

Thanks,
Tigs.

(P.S. also posting on the other current NZ thread)

Hmm, I don't know about the nappies.

I haven't seen them - but then, haven't been looking for them either. (Have just little DD2 in nappies).

The best I can suggest is to phone a really big supermarket (eg here in Wellington he might try Thorndon New World) and ask.

Hope they're all having a good time!

Supermarket - New World or Woolworths are the biggest chains. I would think Huggies Pull-ups would be your best bet. I used them for night-times with my DD.
I think there is also a new "walkers" range from either Huggies or Treasures which are more absorbent than pull-ups but designed to be ripped off while they are standing up IYSWIM. They generally have pictures on the front showing what they look like.
Generally nappies here are graded by weight rather than age - but may be different for pull-ups (sorry my DD has been out of them over a year now).
I'll try and remember to look next time I'm in the supermarket!

Huggies Pull-ups would be fine - I'll let him know. Many thanks

Anna, I'm really excited for you. Will await news. Lots of good vibes being sent your way. My consultants appt was pretty disappointing, but she didn't actually insist that I do anything I wasn't happy with. Not yet anyway. Did keep going on about big babies and CSections even though my baby is looking completely average so that felt a bit alarmist and unnecessary. And then seemed shocked that I didn't definitely want epidural. What a strange woman. Very out of touch with what most women want their births to be I'd say.

On another note, I've been getting questions from DS1 about where babies come from, inevitably. Do any of you kiwis know when they tackle all this stuff in school here? Not that I feel like I want to leave it all to school, but I"m wondering if it will chime in with what he's learning at all. He's in year 1.

thanks for the good wishes Shells. Am excited too but a bit about induction so we are trying everything we can think of to try to start labour, or at least make conditions a bit more favourable if I am induced. Trying not to stress about it though as no doubt that will just make things worse. Had a lovely vindaloo last night, hasn't sent me into labour but it was very tasty!

Shells maybe he'll ask the teacher?! As far as I remember this is not part of the primary school curriculum at all. Or at least not until Year 6 at least...sorry! My DD seems to think all babies are in their mummy's tummy all the time and that pregnancy just means they start growing for some reason until they need to come out because there's no room left. I'm happy to leave her thinking that!

Anna - had very weird Braxton Hicks all last night. Not painful as such, but definite tightening and associated breathlessness regularly for many hours. Must be in sympathy for you!!

Can you send those Braxton Hicks up to Auckland and while you're about it make them into proper contractions? I never thought I would be wishing labour would start but I just really want it to come before Thursday to avoi8d induction. It's not even that I'm fed up with being pg - I'm a bit uncomfortable but not that bad - I've just read too many horror induction stories. MN can be bad that way!

(Have read some alright stories too, just being a worrier!)

I'm feeling relieved today. After tossing and turning for 2 nights over the prospect of seeing THAT consultant again, I rang my MW and asked if she could go to the hospital on Monday and get me an appointment with someone else (and cancel the current one). She readily agreed - and as a back up I'm going to ring the private offices of my preferred consultant and pencil in a booking directly as a fall-back just in case I can't get him through the hospital.

Unfortunately, made myself worry more by doing more research on the web (know what you mean Anna!) and discovered that there may be some connection betweem polyhydramnios and Down Syndrome, and also that it is sometimes recommended to have an amnio to drain the excess fluid and relieve the pressure.

Given how conservative I know the consultant in question is, I became convinced that she would (a) put pressure on me then and there to have the amnio, and (b) start going on about the DS risk again - two things I'd like to avoid!!!!

So anyway the long and short of it is that I will not be having an appointment at the hospital tomorrow - maybe later in the week?

Anna - do you think you'd prefer a CS to induction? Is an elective CS an option they'd consider if you don't go into labour naturally before thur? I only ask because given a choice I think I'd prefer the elective CS. If you're the same, it can't hurt to ask?

I don't know about elective c/s, no one has even mengtioned it. I know my LMC is very against them but it's not even like she's in sole care of me now as I'm sort of under hospital specialists now. Tbh, I didn't really have my wits about me to ask them much as they (4 doctors) just sort of swept into my room while I was in for monitoring, prodded my stomach about a bit and said, Oh, we'll induce you in a week. They were nice enough but I felt they were telling me stuff rather than discussing options with me and as I didn't know I'd be seeing them I hadn't really prepared myself to ask questions.

Anyway, I just saw a friend who has had 3 inductions and all her experiences were pretty good, so she's put my mind at rest a bit. I think I will be annoyed if I'm induced and then end up with an emergency c/s but that's a risk I have to take. Everyne (i.e. all the doctors) seems very keen on me trying it the "natural" way first. Auckland hosp has a 30% c/s rate though so who knows what will happen. I'm going to try toi enjoy the last few days and not worry too much.

Glad you're not seeing the dodgy consultant, extra stress like that is never needed.

buzzy, that is great news about avoiding the consultant. very wise i think. i too have been reading away all weekend and am quite stunned at some of the things she told me. in particular she kept going on and on about episiotomies and couldn't understand why i was reluctant to sign up there and then. everything i read says that episiotomies are not good for incontinence problems (which i have) which she knows about. sigh.
anna - i agree, can't hurt to ask about the elective CS. at least you will know what your options are. i also think you could challenge them as to why the induction needs to be on thursday and why can't you wait a bit longer if you feel thats right. as long as your blood pressure is being monitored i don't see why it should be an issue.

It's quite hard for me to know how serious the high bp thing is.

I've been on medication for high bp for about 5 years (young to have it, diagnosed at 31). I've been on (different) medication for it all through through the pg. It's stayed fairly stable throughout but I was advised to go on bedrest as much as poss from abuot 33 wks to reduce risk of pre-eclampsia ( which I was v high risk for). My levels of protein in urine (sign of PE) did go a bit crazy at one point but have calmed down now. 5 doctors (my LMC and 4 at hosp) have now advised me not to go beyond due date, which is next Sunday, so Thursday is only 3 days early really.

The risk may not be that high, they could just be being overcautious. It's so hard to know as it's all new to me - first baby.

I think I'm getting my head round the whole induction idea now, I was pretty scared at first. Is hard to know for sure but I think I'll go with it. I feel it's a bit different from just opposing induction because of being overdue. Who knows really what's best...not me! Just hope it all goes well abd is over reasonably quickly

Good for you. You sound very sorted about it. Is your dh a good advocate? I think its always a massive plus if he and/or your MW are really on your side and making sure all the right decisions are being made. I found this very hard when giving birth in the UK as no consistent midwife and dh very shy and found it hard to speak up for me and I was not really in a good position to be fighting my corner either! Not that anything went horribly wrong, but its good to have support that isn't completely medically motivated just to balance things out. Anyway, things might still happen before Thursday.... So exciting.

DH is pretty assertive, should be good at speaking up for me, though don't know if the hospital enviroment will throw him a bit. Am thinking of writing all the preferred do's and don'ts (i.e. birth plan) on a huge bit of paper in big black pen, for him to refer to and be absolutely sure of what I want. I really don't think I could be doing this without him (well, i wouldn't be in this situation at all without him I guess ). When I was in hosp last week they did a sweep to try to start things off and I was much tenser during it because he wasn't there - found the process quite uncomfortable. And it had no effect at all!

I think that marker-pen-birth-plan is a great idea!

Hello gals. Sorry but this post is not a very happy one. Anna, I don't want to upset you at the moment so please don't feel you have read/respond.

I had a follow up consultation today at the hospital and the consultant is pretty sure the reason I have excess amniotic fluid is a blockage in the bowel. She also thinks she can see a heart defect which wasn't picked up at the earlier scans. These are apparently clsssic signs of Down's Syndrome.

As I'm now 32 weeks I decided to have the amnio today - partly to confirm the diagnosis so that I can be absolutely sure what to expect, and partly to drain off some of the fluid to make me more comfortable.

I'm feeling reasonably philosophical about the Down's Syndorome diagnosis given that I have known after all for a while that there was a risk. TBH I'm more scared about the heart/bowel issues.

In the end I did see THAT consultant because they insisted I needed to go in today and there was no-one else available, and she was true to form (took ages doing the scan and not saying a word). Luckily my lovely MW came with me though.

I have read a number of threads written by Mums with children who have DS and they have warmed my heart. I know DD's life (and mine) will be richer for having this beautiful baby girl. However I'm also an single Mum and know too that we will face challenges ahead.

Apparently I should go back to the hospital in about 2 weeks and they will drain more fluid as that is likely to be an ongoing problem. They still want me to have a natural labour and to go full term etc. But I will also see a paedeatric surgeon before she's born to get a better idea of what to expect.

I will get definitive results from the amnio on Wed or Thur but it seems pretty certain already.

Buzzybee, [[[[[[[[[[[[[[[hugs]]]]]]]]]]]]]

So sorry to hear this. Don't worry about stressing me or anynbody else out, just look after yourself and your girls. Get lots of rest. I thnk you're very brave to have made the decision about the amnio so quickly. Thinking of you, will post again soon