Back in the Zoo for new adventures with old friends

[CaptainNemo]

Come on over animals, I think we'll be very comfy here

buddha due date is 26th and we come home on 27th. To be honest I am dreading announcement of my friend's baby more (due 1 week before I was). However, I have done a fair bit of googling about Traditional Chinese Medicine and everything I have read links in with what my acupuncturist told me. In addition the advice for people in my situation is to relax, make time for yourself and not to overanalyze and worry too much - ahem, sounds familiar !! So, I am now is a super-positive frame of mind. Dwelling and moping will get me nowhere, I need to enjoy my holiday, relax, spend QT with my boys and follow (some) of the advice I've been given re food. Hopefully by the time I come back I'll be fighting fit, super-chilled and ready to get up the duff ! From next weekend our shagathon begins - good timing being on holiday - although unless I have a timely egg this cycle I'm unlikely to ov before I get back.
Loads of luck for next weekend mrs xx

Murray I shall do a little egg dance for you in the style of "mama do the hump" I can see why the birth announcement would be harder so don't beat yourself up if it hits hard. Relax, have a fab time you deserve a good break

Was going to read up and check in but I needs a cuddle apparently then housework then playgroup. Will attempt to check back if in still awake at 11:30 :) hope you're all well x

I think I'm up to date now, looks like a few ((( ))) hugs are in order. murray I wish I understood more about acupuncture but have no experience, I once saw a homeopath at uni but fell out with the method when she told me I couldn't take Canistan (sp) for an uncomfortable case of you know what my sil is giving acupuncture a go too, suppose anything's worth a try :)

buddha I totally get the toothpaste thing! Had it with I!

marbles what's this Angus cactus? I used lots of B6 to regulate/lengthen my cycle after my infection last May, is it similar?

Nemo I am also carrying a biggun but haven't managed to squeeze anything out so ignorantly optimistic for vbac. Didn't see you at Peppa pig world! Did you have fun? :)

Hello to all, will post more when iPad is charged up, off to do my natal hypnotherapy cd now :) scan on wed, consultant on fri to discuss vbac.... Fingers crossed :)

Well it's happened of the three of us ttc at work we have a winner (unfortunately not me) it couldn't happen to a nicer person and although this is only her 3rd month of ttc and I've been coaching her from the start I'm only a massive little bit as she's getting married week Saturday and then her new dh us away for 7 months so it is such good timing for them. I did have a little tear and a big sigh but hugely happy and hope this is the start of a run of three!

Hello animals

Sorry to be AWOL, was going to say just haven't had the energy to post, but how crap does that sound?!?

DD is being "challenging", plus am v tired and stressed about various things - work, money, mortgage, baby, blah blah blah... The biggest one, obviously, is the baby. And it seems that "biggest" is the operative word.... I'll try to keep it brief. Having been told by the hospital that my blood glucose levels were fine, the mw said there was sugar in my urine. Finally got a GP appt who said my levels WEREN'T fine, they were too high. Also told me that I could be looking at having a 10-11lb baby. Gulp. Was away on a hen weekend last weekend With a friend who's a gp so she suggested I borrow her blood glucose monitor and do some random finger prick tests and a couple of fasting ones just to see. So I did. And they were ALL abnormally high.... Finally spoke to consultant about it yesterday. He said sugar in urine doesn't matter as hospital test is definitive, said gp is wrong that levels are too high, and that if all levels were high using my friend's machine then the machine prob isn't working properly! But don't feel all tht reassured tbh.... Have a scan tomorrow aft and then the consultant knows I want to book a clinic appt with him to discuss the birth.
Having been v ante an elcs now I'm not so sure.... I think I was, and am, more traumatised by T's birth than I realised. I am quite simply terrified by the prospect of delivering an even bigger baby with no pain relief and tearing again. Am also pretty worried about the effect such a big baby would have on my pelvic floor and level of continence, and am well aware I could end up needing surgery in that regard in years to come if this LO does more damage... So actually an elcs, preferably at 38 weeks, doesn't sound so bad, but I have no idea what the consultant will say about it.... Aaargghhhh!!

Was intending to catch up with everyone now, but think I need to go to bed. Sorry. I'll try to come back tomorrow, when hopefully I'll post something less self centred. Scan is at 4pm tomorrow... Wish me luck!!

Nemo goodness me your getting the run around about this baby. No- one can surely raise any eyebrows about an elcs?? at the end of the day you're the one who's got to deliver! Good luck today x

Af arrived Wednesday

Decided to take a 5 minute break from work umm... about an hour ago... and have been googling photos of c section scars. Dear lord.....!! Did you guys who had sections have stitching, gluing or stapling afterwards?

Buddha and at af for you. I don't know why, but I am just positive this is going to work out for you, you WILL have a second baby, I can feel it in my waters! Sorry that's not much help.

You too Murray Try not to get too hung up on what your acupuncturist has said (easy for me to say, I know) He sounds very similar to the first 2 people I saw. The second kept going on about how I needed to wait (and wait and wait and wait...) before ttc because I needed to "heal my uterus" and how my body wasn't ready and blah blah blah. To be honest it made me feel awful, like my body was failing somehow. And in the end it was like the sun coming out (god that sounds cheesy) when it suddenly struck me one day, that my uterus didn't need to 'heal' - all that it had gone through was to deliver a baby at 17 weeks, I hadn't injured myself! Saying to myself "do you know what, I'm fine" was somehow extremely empowering. She also had A LOT to say about what I ate and how/when I exercised, in fact pretty much all areas of my life. The best thing she ever did was to go away on an extended holiday and recommend I start seeing her friend while she was away. I'm still seeing the friend over 3 years later and I haven't looked back! Maybe you'd do better with someone with a more positive approach? Seeing someone who appeared to have more faith in me and my ability to have a baby somehow made me have more faith in myself, and that may be just what you need right now - I'm no expert but I suspect it would do you far more god than avoiding ice cream and shellfish! Ok, rant over

PS Murray I can so remember dreading the birth annoucements.... but in the end, I found that I was dreading them so much that when they came it was almost a relief because I could move on, and I didn't have to dread them any more. The anticipation of them had been hanging over me for so long, it was a relief to get past that. Don't know if that makes any sense... Somehow I've always had more of a problem with pg women than with new babies. Once they'd had their babies I wasa some how less jealous of them. I had wanted to be pg like they were. Once they had the baby I almost lost interest (though obv it was still hard, but they were avoidable!), I didn't want A baby or their baby, I wanted MY baby, and that wasn't what they'd got. Does that make any sense?!

nemo your situation sounds so much like mine! What weight did they tell you baby was at scan today? I was talking to a woman who pushed for an induction at 38 weeks as her first was big (8lb 13) and she said it was great! Had epidural, slept for 6 hours then woke and pushed. I'm going to discuss it with my consultant tomorrow morning. Depends on hospital opinions on induction after CSection

Buddha sorry about AF :(

Kat it does sound similar doesn't it? Especially as T & I were exactly the same weight iirc - 8lb 9oz. Seeing as you're ahead of me maybe I should wait and see what weight yours comes out at this time and go from there?! Though I guess that would only work if yours is a boy - though maybe that's more likely as s/he is so big?

My scan isn't til 4pm but I'll post later and let you know what weight they think he is atm. I'm hoping they'll also give me a projected weight for term today. Why did you end up with an emcs with I? Did she get stuck or was it something else? Sorry, I can't remember. One of the main things I'm worried about is that as T was pretty quick and second babies are often significantly quicker than first, my chances of an epidural are pretty minimal....

Just had a quick look for info on induction after c-sec for you. It's quite an old thread, but wondered if this might be relevant (in the sense that fore warned is fore armed before you see your consultant, not in the sense that it tells you what you want to hear unfortunately):

Vbacqueen1:
The World Health organisation classes full term as any where between 37-42 weeks so officially, you're not even overdue till you get to 42+1.
Statistically, the risk of uterine rupture is tiny if you wait to go into labour naturally. But if you factor in a chemical induction, the risk increases a LOT. You've also more risk of having another CS or assisted delivery (forceps/ventouse) if you're induced too.
If you can bear to wait and your baby is well, you'd be doing both of you a favour by waiting it out!
If you DO decide to go ahead with induction, there's a school of thought that says IV syntocinon is less risky than the pessary - if your uterus becomes hyperstimulated and/or your baby shows signs of distress, the drip can be turned down/off immediately. Once you've had the pessary, the outcome is unpredictable and you can't remove it once it's done its job - you just have to wait it out.

PS in case you want it, the thread that post came from is here

nemo thank you, I came across that same thread today too. I was lucky enough to have a long chat with my mum's friend who is a midwife now lecturing on midwifery, lots of great advice and I am now against induction. I was emergency c sec possibly because her head tilted at last minute, I'm not 100% sure to be honest, hopefully consultant will have my notes tomorrow?? Mum's friend recommended rcog.org.uk for info, it's used by midwives and consultants themselves but 'mummy friendly' too apparently :) off to check it now.... Hope scan went well?

I'll have a look at that website too Kat, thanks. I have to say from everything I've read, induction post C/S sounds like a really bad idea. I guess at least things are becoming a little clearer for you... good luck with the consultant tomorrow, let us know how you get on.

Not much news from here, appt was fine. Baby still massive! Got some good 4D shots, consultant wrote on the scan report "A well grown if very grumpy looking baby!" Cheeky fecker He was right though, the bay did look EXTREMELY grumpy! Ah well, he should get on well with his big sister in that case, who is being a total nightmare. Friends had warned me she'd start pushing the boundaries once we got close to my due date. They weren't wrong...

So anyway, baby's head is still on the 75th centile, tummy still off the scale... estimated weight at 32+2 is 5lb which I guess would lead to 9lb at term but I VERY much doubt that. In fact I would go so far as to say there's no way I believe it. I pointed out to the consultant that T was on the 50th centile for all her scans and came out on the 91st so on that basis this one will be at least 10lb.... urgh. Ouch.

I now have a clinic appt with him on 9th May to discuss the eviction (and have told DH that he WILL be there too on pain of death/divorce/castration etc etc etc) so hopefully that's when a decision will be made... I'll be 35+1 then so still time to get my head around whatever the decision ends up being...

My other niggle is regarding our doula. We have provisionally booked her again, though we haven't signed anything or paid a deposit, but now I don't know what to do. If I have an elcs I don't want to pay £600 for her to hold my hand but equally at this stage I don't know what's going to happen. I don't really want to call her til I've made a decision because I'm pretty sure she'll give me a hard time about contemplating having a c-s and will really talk up the risks of a c-s to the baby... I know there are risks, but childbirth is risky by it's nature, and I don't want to listen to that sort of talk from someone who I know has their own agenda... Any advice ladies? Am thnking I'll talk to my sister about it tomorrow then maybe email her? Though I'm not sure what I'll say....I do seem to manage to make my life complicated don't I?

Promise to be back on here for some less self centred posting soon Love to all.

Consultant was away, waited an hour and saw a 'stand in' was pushy about her explaining my notes from I's birth and she was confident vbac could still be possible but scheduled another scan for 2 weeks time (36weeks) I've also been sent home with a blood glucose test machine so far levels are normal but my finger is sore :( baby is 4/5 engaged or 4/5 palpable I'm not sure as dr had a strong accent and I was embarrassed to ask her to repeat and she didn't write it down, she said 'you're unusually 4/5 so it's well down in there' ???

Nemo will they keep scanning you now as they are with me? I'd personally let the Doula go but then I'm not a fan of the idea of having anyone other than DH there, a bit shy . A friend of mine had ECS after a previous birth like yours and was very pleased with the control and outcome, it's tricky right!? Speaking from experience of emergency CSection though, recovery is pants!! That said I'm risking it again.

Nemo Any decisions made? Can't help re doula how late can you leave it before booking/cancelling? Although Kat had a bad recovery post emergency cs everyone is different as I seemed to recover quite well although I think my motivation was if i didn't get up and walk ASAP I couldn't get to scbu to see E! I had a couple of infections but nothing I couldn't cope with. But in saying that I didn't have a toddler to cope with either so no useful info there for you I'm afraid

Where IS everybody?!?!?!?! Have I killed the thread?!?!

No news here yet, seeing consultant on 9th so guess that'll be D Day so far as a decision is concerned... Have basically convinced myself that in all liklihood I'm in for a 10lb-er with a v quick labour and therefore no pain relief so at the moment I'm hoping for an ELCS at 38 weeks, but we'll see...

What's happening with everyone else? Are you back from h

.... Genius iPhone app.... Grrr.....

Are you back from holiday Murray? Hope you had a good time in spite of everything? Frazzle I know you're back, am so jealous of your fb photos, it looks amazing!!! Hope it did you good. Come and let us all know!!

Better go, sounds like DH just got back and me and DD still slobbing in bed... Oops.... xx

Ps Have been meaning to ask, those who have had a c-s, how long did you have to stay in hospital for afterwards? If that's the way things go I'd like to be out before the bank holiday weekend when all the decent doctors will be taking time off

Nemo I think it's 2 days in hospital but not sure. It was a bit different for me as I had a spinal puncture they kept me in as long as Ewan was in scbu so we were in 10 days altogether !

Buddha thanks. I've specifically requested no spinal puncture and no scbu so we should be fine

Hello!!

Just a quick one to say I'm here!

Hope Alls well in the zoo

Hello ladies !

Back from holiday - had a lovely time. Due date has passed now so am ready to move onwards and upwards . Another AWOL egg for me I'm afraid but am trying to not let it get me down. Acupuncturist has stressed that it is really important not to get stressed, depressed or anxious so it is a new and improved me

I have quickly read through posts - no time to respond properly. Just wanted to say so sorry AF arrived Buddha - TTC sucks when it takes ages .
Nemo It is officially 3 days that you have to stay in after CS here is Scotland, however that was day3 as opposed to 3 full days. I had E on the Weds and day 3 was Fri so got out at lunchtime - does that make sense...? Anyway, don't fret about CS, it can be a quick recovery - I was up and about the same day as op and was able to walk over a mile within 5 days. I am sure that my quick recovery is partly down to the fact that I didn't progress far in labour so it was almost like an elective CS in that I did not have hours of labour prior to op - the people I know who had slow recoveries tend to have had a hard stint of labour beforehand. My SIL has had 1 EMCS and 2 electives - she said elective is WAY better and discharged herself from hospital after 1 night for both ECS. Also I took homeopathic arnica which I am sure helped, so start taking that soon... just in case ! Best get off as tonight is a BD night and I am exhausted so need to save my last scrap of energy for the deed

Murray are you nice and tanned? So very but not about the missing egg has anyone explained why this happens? I'm glad you've got the due date under your belt now, just the birth announcements of your colleagues and then it's plain sailing I still think you are one very strong woman you know
My friend from work with her recent bfp got married last Saturday contacted me at 5.40 am on her wedding morning as she was bleeding poor girl was distraught ( as was I to be honest) she just had one bleed no pain and nothing since she's 6.6 wks today and her gp has refused to send her for a scan as its too early????? stupid idiot doctor! she's off to the Maldives on Thursday so she's going to camp down the hospital to see if she can get a reassurance scan. We have no where in Hereford to do it privately either not a great start to married life under all this stress

Hello Buddha ! Lovely to hear from you. Your poor friend . It is quite common to bleed a wee bit early on so hopefully she is fine - I had a few small bleeds with E and a tiny one with Pg2. 7 weeks should be far on enough to see a HB so they should be able to give her reassurance with a scan. How is she supposed to enjoy her honeymoon otherwise !

News from here is that the egg may have arrived - not 100% as went on a hen night on Sat night and got spectacularly drunk so no point taking temp on Sunday as would have been sky high even if pre-ov but all the other signs suggested I had maybe ov'd... then on Monday borderline temp so was and assumed body had failed and was having a pointless anovulatory cycle but then this morning a lovely high 'proper' post ov temp so am just hoping the next couple of days confirm it and then I can start symptom spotting in earnest !

Buddha are you back to the fun part ?....

Marbles where are you in cycle, sorry lost track.

Kat how are glucose levels ? Hope things move quickly for you, promising that baby engaged already !

Nemo any update for us mrs - how you feeling ? What you doing about doula ? Surely you can just put her on hold until your appt on 9th then contact her either way once you know whether you are going to have a c-section or not. You worry too much about things . She is providing a service that you may not need, it is a business transaction so you only pay if you decide you need her - YOUR decision, nothing to do with her. xx

Hope everyone else is ok xx