pregnant in aberdeen

[Sillyness]

hi, i'm moving to aberdeen in august and am 8weeks pregnant. anyone else about who is preggers too?

medee! I'm far too vain to be seen without make up on national tv! I do like watching that prog though, although I've been avoiding any birth progs lately! Damn snow is back in force, bet they'll have to reschedule the nearly new sale again. I was going to go to the antenatal breastfeeding class today but changed my mind when I looked out the window. I have managed a grand total of 2 of the 5 classes, because I thought I could go when I finished work - then it snowed non stop. Am expecting to get told off!

How are you feeling? Any sign of anything happening yet?

I know what you mean, having watched the last OBEM before I was pregnant, I'm not sure I can watch it now!

I've just checked on their Yahoo Group and no mention of it being cancelled, but I'll check again later. I don't think I would go if it is the same tomorrow as today - I tried to go to work today and turned back.

I know, I can't believe how quickly the snow has come down. There were a whole 2 days when the pavements were safe enough for me to venture out unaided, then it started again!

I am ok thanks, not sure if I am having signs or not. Feel a bit weird every now and then, and some other stuff far too TMI to mention! Was convinced I was going to be really overdue, now not so sure...

No sign of the NCT sale being off, and it starts in 30 minutes so probably safe bet if anyone was going. I'm too cosy indoors though.

Hello, been quiet for a while.

Congrats Sapphire... not an xmas baby after all! Hope you and DD are well.

Thanks for your congrats Medee, how are u getting on?

My DD is doing better now. Her jaundice has cleared and she has put on some weight. Hope the rest of you are well x x

Congrats to all you new mums. Hope that you are all doing well. What a wonderful christmas it will be!

you're welcome, karen. Glad to hear your DD is coming along well. I'm fine, now at 28 weeks and starting to get a big bump (well, it seems big to me!)

Maybe in the New Year when the new mums are more settled we can arrange another meet-up, a daytime one to get more people along.

Thanks folks :)
OMG what a week it has been, we had to go back into hosp because DD had lost too much weight. I hate that place! They had me on a 3 hourly rota of b'feeding, then formula, then expressing bm. They were supposed to help me by giving the bottles so I could express, but every time I buzzed them someone different turned up and it didn't end up happening. So by the time I sterilised all the breast pump equipment and changed nappies etc, I had a grand total of half an hour between feeds and had to listen to all the other screaming babies on the ward while their mums were snoring their heads off! :o I look like the walking dead and DH doesn't look too hot either lol! I must say the experience on the labour ward was a much better one and the mw was lovely... A word of advice to those planning on b'feeding - if your baby isn't really feeding properly, don't feel bad about having to give them formula. It's far better to not let them starve, and if you end up in hospital the docs will make you give them formula anyway to help them gain weight. I'm still trying to persevere with b'feeding, but I totally understand why people give up doing it. Sorry folks, just had to let that rant out!
It would be lovely to meet up in the new year with the new babies. I will have to train mine on how to behave in public first lol!

Oh my God..... I could have written that myself Sapphire word for word. The midwives on the labour ward were brilliant, but I got so sick and tired of buzzing when they told me to and a different person turning up and not knowing what was going on. I also was b'feeding/formula/expressing and then time to start again....... I was so frustrated in the end I just sat there and howled for about 3 hours! Luckily I had my own room at that point as she was under the lights.

NEVER want to go back there.....next baby better be a 6 hour and out jobbie!

Can't wait to meet the new bubbas and see the expenading bumps in the New year. :)

jeez, sorry you two have had a rough time of getting the feeding established. To my complete lay-persons ears, all that mixed feeding sounds counter-productive, especially without the right support. Could NCT's breastfeeding people help? I have just had the latest newsletter through so could post the details.

Look forward to seeing the new additions sometime in the New Year.

Thanks Medee, but I have had so much conflicting advice that I did not want to talk to the NCT people as i guessed it was just another different opinion. It does make it harder once u introduce formula, ut noe mauch you can do when they are in the hosp and will not let u out til they have put on weight and tell u to give them formula. Esentially if u say no, you are starving the bubba!

Look forwasrd to a meet up too. Will be nice to get out! Been in the flat for the best part of a month, with just one small outing every day or two!

I'm with Karen I'm afraid, fed up of listening to people now! Thanks for the offer though Medee. DD just will not latch without a nipple shield - I have had at least 10 different midwives insisting they can make her do it but none have actually been successful. She will sometimes latch with a shield if she feels like it, but has only had about 4 proper feeds in 2 weeks. TBH she is mostly on expressed bm anyway (I bought a super duper 200 quid pump), and the formula top ups mean she won't starve again. They think when she gets a bit bigger and less impatient she may latch more, but we'll always need shields. I've been stuck in too, all this bloody expressing etc means we're lucky to get out the house before 3pm lol! Happy New Year to everyone, hope you have a great evening. I was looking forward to a small glass of champers but I'm on antibiotics so can't even do that - booo! :o

Hi girls,

Hope everyone had a lovely Christmas - especially those of you who had your 1st one. It was fab this year now that DD knows a bit more about what was happening - although she was shaking when we took her downstairs on Christmas morning when we told her Santa had been, she thought he was still there! Bless! She had a great time ripping open her presents and it was one of the first years that I had to be reminded that I had presents to open too!

Glad to hear you're both doing fine Karen and Sapphire, despite the lack of getting out! I don't think I had ever visited Tesco as much or ever have again, since those first few weeks after DD was born. It was a nice comfortable place to practise my 'getting out and about' skills! Granted, mosts of those visits were after 3pm!

Sorry to hear about your problems with feeding, but glad you're both doing what work best for you now. I'd agree with the inconsistency with advice in the hospital, it's a shame that 2.5yrs on it's still the same. I struggled with every single feed when I was in (4 days) and when you have a newborn who wants fed all the time, that's a lot of feeds! I eventually managed to feed DD using nipple shields, thanks to one really good midwife, but the lactation consultant in hospital was concerned about me using them and so were all the other midwives that looked after us. It's horrible when you've never had a baby before and you're relying on all the experts to advise you on what's best, but no-one tells you the same thing twice in a row! Luckily I kept going with the shields and eventually managed to feed DD by myself after about 3/4wks of constantly trying to latch her on after every feed - so you're probably right when you say that when your DD's a bit older Sapphire she might latch on better. Luckily, my DD fed well with the shields so never lost over the 10% of birthweight that they worry about.

Phew, that was a big old vent! Sorry! Looking back now, I beat myself up way too much over not being able to feed and that's mostly all I remember about the early days - I guess it's all still there, just bubbling under the surface.

So my advice is be nice to yourselves, or else! (Feel free to hit me back with my own advice when if it comes to it!)

I've got an appointment with a consultant midwife at the hospital this Fri to look over my notes from DD's birth. I'm half looking forward to it and half worrying about what I'll remember that was forgotten for a reason!

I'm off, have bored you all for long enough! I hope you all enjoy your New Year celebrations whatever form they take, I'll be cracking open the Shloer and slumping in from of Jools Holland soon! Then most likely will be heading for bed! Look forward to seeing you all soon.

Hello LNT... it is reassuring to know that you felt the same about the advice!

I think you are right about beating yourself up over it. I can't help thinking that my little girl would have not survived in the 'wild' lol.

I also feel that my body let ne/her down a bit having such a long labour. I feel like I want to have another one just to see if I can do better lol.

Still she is here and that is the main thing :)

Hope u all had a good New year x

Hi Karen! Happy New Year! I managed to stay up until 12.30am before giving up and going to bed - not that I fell asleep for a while, bump was up for a New Year's party! What did you get up to?

It's weird that you say that about surviving in the wild, that used to go round and round in my head too. I eventually thought that we probably would have be fine, as there wouldn't have been so much interfering from HCPs if we were in the middle of the woods and we'd have been left to get on with it! I'm not going to test that approach though, will probably just go to hospital! I was laughing at you saying that you want to have another one to see if you can do better! Do you want me to report back on how much easier the 2nd time is before you jump in??

How are you finding things in general? Am I right in thinking your DP will be at home a fair bit just now?

Hi LNT,

Yeah report back on 2nd birth lol. I think it would have been easier with Lizzie if she did not have a squashed chord. It meant that they were doing so many internal exams and trying to get blood from her head and putting monitors on her head whilst I was only slightly dilated, that it caused me the most pain. It was slow anyway tho. I had a epidural after 24 hours cos I could not stand another round of foetal pokings and proddings. The contractions were a breeze in comparison!!!!

I think u are right about the wild... we would have been outside, so she would not have got jaundice and therefore they would never have insisted that I give her some formula, which would not have made breastfeeding harder!

DP has been off for 6 weeks, cos some idiot drove into his van and it has been in the garage...plus xmas/baby and all the snow etc.

We are enjoying our time off even tho we are not doing much and trying to get our wedding sorted. In-laws are being a pain, cos they can't come when we want to do it. Don't wnat us to do it without them.... but it is the only time we will have off pretty much all year. So i am a bit annoyed. Don't even care if they come, just want me him and DD there really!

Really don't want to wait til 2012 just for them!

Anyway.. moaning over... we had a good New year but just stayed in. What did everyone else get up to?

Anyone up for a meet soon?

definitely, Karen. Why don't you and Sapphire tell us what suits you best, and we can work from there?

I can work round any time. The afternoon would be best as it does take a long time to get out the house!

Wow Karen, you're back to organising your wedding? It was bad enough trying to sort ours out when I just had us to concentrate on! It's a shame about your in-laws, but it's a nightmare trying to please everyone. I'd hope if you arranged it to suit yourselves (which is what your wedding is about after all!) then they would just get on with it. We bent over backwards to try and suit everyone at our wedding and it just caused a lot of unnecessary stress, it's the only part of the whole thing I'd go back and change if I could!

Hi medee! Hope things are good with you and bump. How was your last Christmas as two?

For meet-ups, I can manage Friday afternoons, or at the weekend. I'll be more free after 28th Jan which is my last day of work - woo hoo! Just hoping I'll get some chance to rest, and not cutting it too fine!

very peaceful, LNT. The calm before the storm!

Is SaorAlba around - we start our NCT antenatal classes a week tomorrow - eek!

Wow, lots of posts to catch up on! Hope everyone had a lovely xmas and new year :)
I don't think my bf probs were made worse by other people, DD is just a pain in the arse! Her latest trick is to latch on but not drink and just let it dribble all over her face and me, think she just uses me as a dummy lol!

Sounds like you had a terrible labour Karen, I was lucky. When we went to the hosp I was already fully dilated so only allowed G and A, but gave up on it cos I didn't like it I spent nearly 5 hours pushing and it was so boring!I had rubbish contractions and by the end didn't have any - I avoided intervention by about 5 mins and had to push contraction-less at the end(couldn't think of another word?!) I think the staff thought I was some kind of freak, as I was the talk of the ward

Anyhow, enough of that tmi! I agree with Karen that afternoons are better, I'm still in pyjamas til well past 12!

Good luck with your classes medee, hope they're useful. I only made it to 2 out of 5 of my NHS ones, which turned out to not be useful after all. The first one was common sense, and the second was about early labour and made me think I would be in labour for ages. When I rang the hosp to tell them I was coming in they told me they would prob send me home as I wasn't making enough fuss. They got a big shock when they examined me Two of the ones I didn't go to were about drug options and coping with labour, turns out I didn't need those either lol!

Wow Sapphire, that sounds like a good labour, up to the pushing point. I never made it to 10cms. They got me to push at 9cms and they strechted my cervix from there as they wanted her out. I was 5 mins away from c section. Once I started pushing she was out in 5 mins cos of the forcepts.

I know what u mean about being talk of the ward! I had at least 5 people in the room most the time (student midwives and docs) the midwife from the first shift made a joke that she would seeme later when she left her shift and was coming back in 12 hours.... she was shocked that I was still there when she did get back on shift!!!

Wedding is booked for May in Edinburgh... just both sets of folks, bubba and us! Simple!

Ooh, not long til the wedding then - how exciting! I think the simple way is the best, you'll have a lovely day :)

Research would be useful (if not already researched) as to the success or not of pregnancy in varied Britannia places. E.g. potential and already ?bun-in-the-oven-mothers? need to know whether their ?tum-tummy-tum-baby? (another colloquially expressed as to a ?pregnant mother?) has chance to be born of a son or daughter successfully between John a Groats or Lands End?

What's all that about? ^^ Posted in the wrong place do you think?

Aww, I'm glad you've both updated us with your birth stories, I love reading them! And you both did so well. I wrote mine out (well, what I could remember through the gas & air induced haze!) about a month or so after the birth and I read it quite often. Even now, there are little things I've forgotten, so I'm glad I did it. I wish I could better remember the minutes right after DD was born though, I couldn't even remember those moments about 10mins later. Adrenalin has a lot to answer for!

You've almost written mine Sapphire! The hating gas & air, being fully dilated on arrival at the hospital, pushing for 5hrs! Except I did end up with forceps after not quite managing to push DD out myself, she kept slipping back and I just couldn't push anymore. I didn't really have the urge to push that I've always heard about so was sort of pushing by myself the whole time - which is one of the things I'm hoping to discuss tomorrow at the hospital. It'll be interesting(??) to see what it's like next time around.

Exciting about your classes Medee! You looking forward to it? How many do you have?

Whereabout in Edinburgh are you getting married Karen?