March 2016 babies! The (hopefully) graduation thread!

[hayleycookie]

We reached 999 posts without making a new thread - woops!

Park your bums and continue the newborn chitter, and due date whinges

X post with trinpy! With DD my contractions came on quite quickly, my main problem was not dilating as she was back to back so had a long first stage (almost 48 hours). This time round it seems like my body is doing much more of the prep and less of the contracting. Hoping it means when things kick off and the pain is unbearable that it will be quicker as with DD I went in after 24 hours of labouring at home, with contractions 3 mins apart and bloody painful and was told I was only 1cm dilated! DD wasn't born for another 24 hours and that was after they gave up and put me on syntocin drip when I'd been in labour for 40+ hours

The only reason I can think for you having a longer stop/start labour this time trinpy is positioning perhaps? Could baby be back to back?

Beautiful picture ffaux. Be aware that milk can come in slower when you have had interventions like inductions, so may take time to establish breastfeeding but you can do it! Arianwen is a lovely name

Just popping in quickly.
Faux- she is gorgeous. Well done you and I love the name Arianwen

Also big congrats to mad and maybe.

Hopefully catch up more later.

Congratulations mad and maybe well done on your marathon maybe!!

Faux she's gorgeous and I'm another one that thinks Arianwen is a lovely name!

Good luck with today's inductions, Q sorry that yours might be delayed, hopefully they'll get you in later.

Congratulations to the new arrivals! Ffuax she is beautiful and those eyes, so wide and alert! Breastfeeding can be stressful, my ds got it quickly but Evie hasn't so I think every baby is different because although I have a big age gap between the two I can't see what I did differently this time. Take all the support the hospital can give you and be kind to yourself if as you are trying to get it established.

Dobby what did the health visitor say about Eddy's skin? Evie was very peely when she was born and now she seems to be shedding skin everywhere like a snake! I'm using olive oil and hoping it's helping.

Can I ask those of you with girls how much you need to clean when you do a nappy change. I should have asked my midwife but didn't, but I'm guessing you don't delve too deeply in all the crevices? It was much easier with a boy because everything was just out there!

Good luck to those waiting for labour or being induced.

Gorgeous picture and name ffaux - it really suits her.

Oh marmite that sounds exhausting. Hopefully with all this prep work first you'll whizz through active labour this time round!

Baby definitely isn't back to back. He's been stuck in the same 'perfect' position in there since I was about 26 weeks. Head fully engaged, etc. My mum is convinced that this all means I will have a super fast labour because all the dilation/effacement will be happening now, but I managed a diy check this morning and its all feeling exactly the same as when I last checked 2 weeks ago . No idea what he's doing in there.

ffaux she is absolutely gorgeous! Congratulations

Thanks all, not sure if it's too long and could be confusing (especially to Americans lol) but Ari could be a good nn. It's a super old Welsh name and only about 10 babies a year are given that name apparently

Yes had so many interventions marmite, I know if didn't help :(

Purple I've been delving in deep into crevices as worried about infections around her vagina, she sure doesn't like it though!!

Congratulations ffaux! Sorry to hear you're having problems. Arianwen is a gorgeous name, I have friends with a little arianwen and it doesn't seem to have caused any problems with pronunciation (though I know you're in the U.S. so Welsh might be a bit less well known over there).

I have a question eg formula feeding.

I have ordered a perfect prep machine today.

But until today I have been making fresh bottles each time during the day but when we go out and overnight what we do is measure the powder into little pots. Sterilise the bottles, boil the water and let it cool and measure the water into the bottles. Then over night we just mix the powder into them. Just realised as the water is cool by then we are not sterilising the powder. !
Just rang oh panicking as I'm so scared she'll get ill now so have just ordered the perfect prep and won't be doing it again but how do you ladies make bottles when out?

Eg say I make the bottles etc at 10pm at night. I use a bottle at 4am I'm mixing the powder into cold boiled water which I've just realised is so stupid of me :(

Time firstly, don't panic. I made virtually all of DS1s bottles that way and I do it that way for Jacob when out and about. The guidelines are always changing though. It used to be fine to do it that way, but now they say you should sterilise the powder with hot water and make each bottle fresh. The Perfect Prep will do this for you in seconds so is by far the easiest way to do it. The guidelines also suggest having a flask of hot water for when out and about (although I would question if this would keep it hot enough), so you could do this at night too.

purple with my DD at first we didn't clean too much in the crevices as were nervous I guess but then one day I had a look and there was lots of crap (literally) stuck in everywhere! I felt so guilty! So yes, you do need to spread things open and clean in all the crevices...

Contractions have started but irregular, prob every 10-15 mins at the moment. Bit concerned as pain mostly in back and have a sore tailbone, so I'm pretty sure she's back to back. At least I know/suspect this time so will spend as much time on all fours as possible to get baby to turn. DP is coming home at lunch and hoping things kick off this afternoon. Currently watching pride and prejudice which is a film I've watched about a million times so enjoy it but don't need to concentrate. Contractions definitely manageable at the moment so think its very early days.

trinpy hope things have sped up a bit for you now.

Thank you.
I know it's probably an over protective thing but I was just sitting thinking about it and it hit me.
Perfect prep coming tomorrow so can use that day and night. I'll try the flask when out but if not I guess I'll just continue how I'm going.
Also you can use the perfect prep with Dr Browns bottles can't you?
I feel really let down by the tommee tippee bottles. They seem rubbish does anyone else think that?

Marmite.
Good luck! Sounds promising

Thanks Ffaux and Marmite I did have a bit of a delve earlier so will keep doing that. Another place I forgot was under her armpits! I did this with ds too and remember taking him to be weighed and being horrified at the gunk under there when he stretched up

Time I've been making all Evie's bottles with cool boiled water it was the way we did them for ds when he moved onto formula so we just did the same. I'll have to do it the proper way now otherwise I'll panic. I don't see how it's practical at night though or going out. I think for going out I'll just have to do it the other way and take my water with me. E isn't really in a set routine yet with milk so it's tricky to know when to have the bottle ready as well.

Oh I didn't mean to make anyone panic.
I think it's a bit like the foods we should avoid in pregnancy. Too much scare mongering some times.
Can you get a perfect prep? It'll be easy overnight and in the day to as when she wants a feed its done in minutes for her.
Calais is unpredictable to. Yesterday at 5:30am she took 3oz then just an oz at 8:30 then wanted more by 10. I'm just going with it

Sweep done and I don't feel any different. She did say I had a high pain threshold and she got a really good go at it! Cervix still quite far back but she said it was soft, and has written in my notes that I'm 2cm dilated, so hopefully that's a good sign. Booked in for a second sweep on Sunday and an induction next Thursday, which hopefully I won't need. Would bouncing on my ball help the sweep do its thing do we think?

time if she was going to get ill it would happen very quickly, so don't feel bad, you've done no damage. My manager used to compare it to an adult getting food posioning, the body just wants to get the bad stuff out asap. You'll have the perfect prep machien soon so you won't need to worry. For ten year the nursery I worked in used to make up bottles for the following morning as part of the close down routine, with hot water and flashed cooled them in the sink before refrigerating them until needed. The same process was repeated for the pm bottles just before lunches started.

ffaux she's beautiful. It can take ages to pee after having a cathiter in. After my c-section with dd it took almost 10 hours to go after it was removed. This time had one thanks to spinal for stiches and it took 3 attempts to get over the 200ml of urine they wanted before they'd remove my iv, just didn't feel the urge so couldn't let go enough, but I wanted iv out so kept trying before I was ready.

purple Eddy's just like a snake too! Will report back what the health visitor says.

trinpy I'm the same - had pain that just grew and grew until I had a baby last time. And of course this time I recognise the pain, they were definitely contractions yesterday but baby obv didn't fancy it.....! Grrr

Time don't worry I'm an age old panicker! I'm a lot calmer about a lot of things so far this time round but I still get the overwhelming waves of anxiety being responsible for this little bundle.

Suz after my sweep I felt no different so went to Sainsburys to stock up on food. I kind of hoped my waters would break there because I thought they might give me free food Anyway about two hours later I started getting really strong bh which then tailed off in the evening. Then I woke up at 4am the next day feeling a bit achey, by 5.30am was contracting every 3mins but thought I was fine then by 6.30 in the car zooming to hospital with the urge to push. She was born at 6.59am about 5 mins after getting to the birth centre. So I sending sweep working vibes to you too. Oh I did also get on the birthing ball that night as well, assume it helped.

Dobby thank you! I'm hoping this current layer of peel is the last. A load came off her face onto my black top last night-looked like I had dandruff!

Yay purple that's what I wanted to hear! Funnily enough I had the same idea and am just heading to waitrose

suz I felt no different after sweep but got my show a day and a half later, who knows if sweep helped but I have read it can take up to 48 hours to have an effect.

Contractions every 5-7 mins now but still bearable. Less in my back so hoping I've managed to turn baby - I re read juju sundins chapter on back to back labour this morning and she said to try all fours, leaning forward etc as early as possible in labour to maximise chances baby will turn as harder to turn them when they are fully engaged. Fingers crossed. Expecting a long while to go yet but things are progressing, yay! DP blowing up birthing pool now, midwife on call said to ring in once I feel I need them and they'll be round. Trying to stay positive and vaguely relaxed at the moment, one contraction at a time...

Seems to be lots of activity today! Fingers crossed you get your induction Q I can imagine how frustrating it would be
Ffaux she is gorgeous and I also love the name!
I've been at the hospital this morning- had a small gush of liquid this morning, followed by trickles for the next couple of hours. Rang for advice and got told to come in as it sounded like my waters going. Got there and turned out baby's heart rate was high so they monitored me for a couple of hours until it got down to a level the Dr was happy with. Got examined and my waters haven't gone So no idea about the liquid, but I keep getting little gushes of it now and again- is it likely to just be discharge? Apologies for the gross info, but just wondered if anyone else had had this When my waters went last time it was in one go and there was no mistaking it so got no idea what to expect this time around!

Missed marmite's post as I was typing mine! Sounds very positive and exciting- thinking good birth thoughts for you!