Anyone due December/January?

[joolee]

Hi just joined Mumsnet and couldn't find a thread for Dec/Jan babies. Anyone due around this time?

There's a November/December thread, I know...

Hi Joolee. There is a Nov/Dec babies thread and a january thread, but the January thread at least has been a bit quiet lately!

I'm due early Jan. Starting to panic that i won't be organised in time (I'm self-employed - have lots of work. Baby stuff isn't a problem as I have an 18month old). Also v fat.

When are you due?

the january thread is here .

Thanks for the January link lucy123. I am due 30 December but as first one will prob be early Jan. Feeling quite awkward myself now trying to get to grips with moving bump first before rest of body moves

The good thing about Jan babies is that everyone slows down anyway for Xmas ??!!

The Jan thread has been very quiet indeed! I'm due 6 Jan but my dp keeps telling me that it is going to be 15 December. I think this is because his mother is coming to stay on 29 December and he'd like us to get things sorted long before then. Also I've been having lots of Braxton HIcks and he thinks that means I'll have a very early baby but judging by my reading of mumsnet that has nothing to do with it. Joolee, do you have any special plans for NYE, if you are due on 30th? - I mean, do you have specially flexible festivities planned?

Joolee, welcome. I actually properly belong on this thread, as I am due Dec 25, but am thinking I will give birth in early January. This is my second, and I am extremely uncomfortable and tired all the time. I also seem to be getting a bit depressed, which comes as a bit of a surprise to me, since I've been fairly upbeat since approx. week 16. It's just the fatigue is really getting to me, I think. Also, DD is throwing tantrums lately, and I don't have the energy to deal. I'm looking forward to having another little one though now, and can't wait to see what she looks like. We know she's a girl. Do you know what you're having?

Hi everyone. Thanks for the warm welcome. We didn't want to know the sex of this one but after all the debate going on about it I sometimes wish we had asked !

I have been having a lot of BH too lately - interesting to see if that will mean an early one...I didn't think they were going to be so uncomfortable. An old man with a walking stick overtook me down the street yesterday!

Actually made plans to meet up with another couple for NYE - that's how confident I am of a Jan baby

Sorry to hear you're feeling down tinyfeet. The tiredness is VERY wearing and I totally understand - and I don't even have any other kids around.

Joolee, it is more exciting probably not knowing what you'll be having. Feeling a bit better now and am sleeping well this week. What is BH?

Sorry BH - Braxton Hicks

Arghhhh, I feel sooooo fat and clumsy! Everything seems such an effort these days.

I've been told the Braxton Hicks don't mean the birth will be sooner, but the optimistic interpretation is that it might be easier (I've heard contradictions of that too unfortunately). I like to think that my uterus is getting into training and will be really strong and efficient come the big day (I like fairytales too ).
What provokes your BH, Jaylee? I get them when: I walk; I climb the stairs; I turn over at night; I touch my nipples; and sometimes for no reason at all that I can detect.

Do you think we should scrap the January thread and just go on with Dec/Jan one?

I really hope strong BHs means an easier labour! The thing is my uterus just contracts until it my whole belly is hard and then takes forever to relax again?? I thought it would only last seconds. Guess everyone is different - or could it just be flatulence

There doesn't seem to be a particular time/activity that starts it off. They've started when I was walking/after dinner/before bedtime. I will pay more attention in future in case there is a pattern...

I don't mind moving to the Jan thread but feel a bit of a phoney as due date in Dec

I am due 17 Feb and my BH have been strong for a long time now (over a month) and are quite uncomfortable. They also last for a long time. Really hope it means an easier labour but somehow doubt it!!! Can't remember them being so uncomfortable with ds.

I'm glad you both agree that they (BH) are really long! the books I have say they last 30seconds-1 min and I was very worried at first when I had them for 15-20 minutes. I rang the emergency midwifery service and they said you can't have contractions that long but I was probably having lots of shorter contractions one after the other. Anyway, it seems to be ok and fairly normal. Mine are getting uncomfortable now too, LucyB. Have you found anything that helps? I've been practising deep-breathing but it doesn't seem to do anything except frighten dp (which is quite good, he has taken to getting me a drink and being very helpful around the house ).

Yes! It has had the same effect on my DH too! He sees the discomfort I am going through and has been soooo helpful around the house

They say that BH is a good opportunity to practise what you're going to do during the real thing - so breathing, rocking hips, leaning forwards or panicking then

Is anyone taking raspberry leaf tea or trying to shift baby for that 'optimal fetal positioning' thing yet? Or have I been reading too much on the Internet?

Hi everyone!
I am due Jan 10th, first baby! WHat is "optimal fetal positioning" getting the baby head down??

Hi Sincy1, welcome to the thread.

Apparently the optimal position is head down, with baby facing your back. I found quite a few sites on this by doing a search for 'optimal fetal positioning'. THe head presents better than if the baby is facing upwards towards your tummy, so labour is shorter and also the baby's spine doesn't scrape against yours so less pain. The idea is that in the weeks before you're due (I think fwom week 34?) you can encourage the baby into the best position by spending a lot of time on your hands and knees (!) or leaning forward rather than backward. This is proving rather tricky! I'm aiming just to avoid slouching at the moment. (DP seems to think hands-and-knees positions are for sex, which isn't always the message I want to give out... )

NB the opt fetal pos thing was invented by some midwives and has been tested statistically but it doesn't seem to be seen as 'obligatory' by doctors. I don't think we should all feel obliged to start scrubbing the kitchen floor, but apparently there are clever things to do with beanbags and sitting backwards on dining chairs that can help you lean forward rather than backwards.

Hi, thought I'd come and join you all here! Although I'm due at the end oj January so it might actually be a February baby. Never mind! Hope everybody is OK. I'm having real problems sleeping, or at least staying asleep, which is making me even more irritable and tired than normal. I'm starting to get quite awkward and have to negotiate walking between parked cars carefully! I'm also starting to worry about how everything will 'spring' back- I thought I'd escaped the stretch marks but have discovered what I think are some on my vastly inflated chest. They're sort of raised, streaky and pinky-red, is this what they are? And will they go away? Really can't see my stomach ever being flat again either...

Hi there

Re opt fet pos, we have been told in antenatal classes that if the baby is back to back then during labour it has to turn round to the opt fet pos anyway which prolongs labour. Don't know if this is true but I am going to try to get it in the right position just in case!

Have been sleeping on my left side for a while but with DH sleeping on the rightside I sometimes have the same problems as marsup...

Also started drinking raspberry leaf tea but not sure why...

and more painful, backache labour

Hayls, I was wondering about the stretch marks too. How do they appear initially? I have an enormous belly and can't spot anything that would obviously be a stretchmark on it. I've also developed breasts (not enormous, but it's still a first for me!) and I'm getting pinkish spots and what looks like inflamed patches on them - could that be stretchmarks? Awkwardness too! Oh I'm glad you mentioned that one! I fell over in the street the other day, sprained my ankle and scraped my knee like a 5-yr old.

Re raspberry-leaf tea: I've bought some now but the women in the health-food shop said not to take it until 37 weeks because it can really have a strong effect in some cases - but on another mumsnet discussion I saw some women take it for the last 2 months. Does anyone know when to start?

Hi everyone.

(In case you missed it, I am the reincarnation of lucy123. I got fed up with having such an obvious name).

Also starting to feel uncomfortable (due 12th Jan). And getting all hormonal again (weepiness, tiredness etc) having spent most of this pregnancy having to remind myself I'm pregnant!

Marsup - you would know if you had strech marks! Initially they look like red raw wide scratches accross your skin. Women with darker skin are apparently less likely to get them, but more likely to get a linea negra. I have a tiger-like stripey tum, and when I gave birth to dd all the Spanish midwives drew in their breath sharply at the sight of them! Apparently we strech-mark prone pale women are also more likely to bleed more and have more sore nipples, but I did alright.

Saying that, I guess you could have tiny ones. Mine were more inverted than inflamed tho.

But why does anyone want to get the baby into optimal birthing position already? I was under the impression that the baby moved into position quite close to the birth. Maybe should get some raspberry tea anyway.

Tinyfeet - I didn't know you were nearly due too! (see what happens when we artificially divide the threads up into Jan, feb etc.! )

I like the new name, Senora! and it sounds as though you have good news for me about the stretch marks too - you're right, I don't have very white skin (Eurasian) and I have a very strong linea negra. Hayls, are you fair-skinned? maybe you too can escape stretch-marks?

As for the opt. fetal positioning: apparently some babies don't cooperate and get into the right position. Mine was but he seems to have moved, in fact he is moving so much I think he is exploring different possibilities before it is too late.

Thanks for asking, MArsup, I'm actually very fair skinned- strange as I have dark hair but also got loads of freckles and can't stay out in the sun without turning very pink. I haven't got any marks on my bump- well none I can see from my position- but then it isn't absolutely huge (yet?) but am now convinced that's what is on my chest It's a small price to pay, anyway! Can i be really ignorant and ask what linea negra is?
Don't know much about OFP either- should I?

Aha! you must have fair skin, Hayls, despite your hair colour. THe linea negra is a line of dark pigmentation that appears during pregnancy and then (apparently!) disappears afterwards. It normally runs from the navel down to the pubis, but mine goes up as well so I look like a watermelon that is about to split in half. My book says blondes don't get them.

about OFP; I'll try a link here:
site on optimal fetal positioning

But I must admit I still can't tell which bit is a head and which bit is a bottom so I'm not the best example to follow!