Last week or two of pregnancy

[squidkid]

Just a place for advice/suggestions or a place to chat for those of us in the last couple weeks of pregnancy. I am on a brilliant antenatal thread but my due date is the first there and I don't want to bore them all with nonsense about braxton hicks and how to fill my days when lots of them are still at work... and I think they would prefer their babies to stay inside for now! I'm not quite at the "get it out of me" stage yet... but I'm definitely at the "if you came now you'd be very welcome" stage.... :)

I am 38+5 today and this is first baby. I know most first babies come late, so I've been trying to tell myself I'll be late throughout the pregnancy, but now I'm term it's hard not to be excited. In the last three or four days I've had long periods of continuous mild period-like pain, and some painful tightenings (sometimes very close together, but then they stop). Are these imminent signs, do these mean nothing... I don't really know. I haven't had a show.

Baby has been engaged since 34 weeks (uncomfortable!) I'm pretty sure his/her back is on the left side at the front (all the kicks are upper right hand side) which I think is ideal. I'm a little obsessive about keeping baby in a good position - I spend time on all fours, make sure I get plenty of walking/standing, sit on a gym ball when I'm on the computer, sleep on my side, I don't lie back on the sofa. I'm probably overthinking this.

I am doing pretty ok for late pregnancy - still walking at least a few miles a day, or swimming, or walking into town every day. I actually did a charity night hike last night! (Boyfriend carried maternity notes in his backpack through the woods - it was a bit stupid really!) I am slow, but I thought I'd be a lot heavier and more immobile by this stage to be honest. I stopped work a while back - a very busy, stressful, physically and emotionally demanding job - so I've had a lot of time to relax, nest, exercise, see almost all my friends, sort my flat out. Everything is neat and sorted and stocked and ready.

I'm grateful that I've had a troublefree pregnancy and hoping the birth will go fine too. Feeling positive and relaxed about it, just impatient!

How are other people doing? Staying busy, getting anxious, waiting, over-analysing every tiny sign!? Any suggestions for good things to do in the last week or two? Please no one tell me to 'get lots of sleep' as this is the one thing I am completely incapable of at the moment - up every 30-60 mins through the night...

Hi ladies! Joining thread for the first time, bringing and for everyone.. I'm joining a little early as I'm only 37+3 although ds was a week early and I'm having BH aplenty so never know when it might happen (wishful thinking).

Just read some amazing homebirth stories - congratulations and hat off to you ladies! :)

General self-indulgent moan: knackered today as spent half the night in labour ward due to baby girl deciding not to be her usual wriggly self yesterday evening - worried a bit, couldn't sleep and eventually phoned labour ward at 4am who told me to come in for monitoring and told me off for not having gone sooner. All was okay thankfully but spent an hour on the monitor then got home around 6am - just time to drop off to sleep before ds woke up!

Hubby has major career exam less than 2 weeks after baby is due so he is having to work / study 24/7, which means I am on 24/7 ds care not to mention the usual cooking / housework. Would be nice to be able to rest a bit but no relatives nearby to help out so not an option unfortunately. Nervous about getting ds off to a neighbour and retrieving hubby from work in time when I do go into labour - my labour with ds was 12 hours and started instantly on waters breaking, so a little fearful of it all happening too quickly and having no-one to help. Oh well, will figure something out...

Thanks for the moan :) Hope you're all doing well and healthy babies pop out soon x

that all sounds hard mummy2benji. how far away is your dh when at work? have you got a home/hospital/mlu birth booked?

Polly, just popping back to say as ever I am so impressed with your attitude and general outlook and have all my fingers crossed you go into labour naturally in the next couple of days. I do know several people who did at 42 or 42+1 - my sister in law went into spontaneous labour on the way to the hospital for her induction at 42+0 - had a 4 hour labour! I started this thread what feels like years ago and though I only went a few days overdue I have to say I found it the hardest part of the entire pregnancy. Am thinking of you all.

Orenishii I feel like being really sarky and saying - oh yeah, we had the baby couple of weeks ago, just didn't get around to telling you. - oh god, I have had to hold my tongue to stop myself from saying this so often! Keep getting texts from my parents: "we are off to (insert country here) for a few days, please text if baby arrives". Like I might just forget? FFS . Like you I am ignoring until I can be more polite but how much do I want to stick something on FB or somewhere similarly public along the lines of "every person who asks if we have had it yet gets themselves automatically removed from the list of people we notify when we do actually have it!"

weezl74, another hoping for homebirth in pool here - it's a Birthpool in a Box Pro. Feel like it is slightly inferior as it took approx 30 mins to fully inflate and will take about 3 hours to fill as the crappy tank runs out of hot water when the pool is half full, and will need to be left for a couple of hours to heat another tankload! I am crossing my fingers that as this is a first labour it will not be speedy and DH will have plenty of time to get the pool inflated and filled. Our place is small so there's nowhere we can keep an inflated pool at the ready just in case.

As for aromatherapy, my doula suggested putting a few drops of oil (eg lavender) in a bowl of hot water so it can infuse the room. I guess burning a lavender scented candle might have the same effect too? Have been told not to put the oil in the birthpool water in case I decide I don't like it and am them pretty much stuck with it.

Wow to birth stories from Bloobies and whenhens, and congrats to milk, you were one of the very first people I "met" on MN, way back in part 1 of the Due in October thread, and I remember you had a few early pregnancy wobbles, and I'm so very glad it has all worked out and you have your baby son! Come and update us on the October thread when you have time, we love all the birth stories and would love to hear yours!

39+5 (again) today, and very up and down. Had a day of full on tears and meltdown on Monday but great fun yesterday with DH painting the bump (photos on profile if anyone wants a giggle). Seeing MW tomorrow to stave off talk of induction, wish me luck...

YompingJo hahahah totally love the "you will be crossed off the list!" Haha! I'm not even due for another 6 days and this morning I have had Mum calling (we spoke YESTERDAY), FIL texting, Mil FB messaging...for christ's sake, y'all never called me this much pre-pregnancy!

I am determined to keep myself in a stress free zone. Landlady wants to install a new bath, which means a day of work with the water off. No idea when she wants to do this - whenever her handy man can fit the work in. I am determined to stay flexible i.e. it doesn't necessarily mean no homebirth - if I go into labour while he is here, he can finish up quickly or put in a temp solution and just turn the water back on!

Polly, you're a trooper and like you say, you've given it as far as you are comfortable going, and that's the most important thing! Whether you go to be induced on Thursday or hold out another few days...it's been on your terms and I think we've all been so impressed and inspired by your reserve...you have had to make these decisions on your own, and for that you are an absolute star!

yompingjo my remembering of physics is appalling but wouldn't 1 kettle of boiling water raise roughly 3 times its volume of cold water to roughly blood temp?

unless this is a muppetty idea, getting a couple of spare rapid boil kettles might be a quicker solution to getting a lovely warm birthpool. :)

thanks for the idea about the lavender in was water. are any smells associated with pain relief or ate they mote relaxants /get
things moving?

hope you are all ok and not too fed up!

Weezl, impressed at your physics knowledge, and yes, probably worth a go if everything starts moving too fast for our pathetic little boiler to keep up!

Think lavender and ylang ylang are good for relaxing - not sure any oils are associated with pain relief as such, but if they relax you, the theory is that the sensation of pain will register less, so gotta be worth a go! This blog has some good info too

:) large kidded pans of water on the hob , plastic jug of water in the micro and don't forget your pressure cooker!

my friend's boiler broke mid home waterbirth, and we even got her hubby putting casserole dishes of water into the oven!

thanks for the blog linkie. will peruse now....

ooh geranium oil applied directly in perineum massage!

must persuade dh. he is well up for the massage (impressive gusto) just not sure what he'll say about adding the geranium component. teehee

I've just spent the last half hour looking for a thread in which we talk about evening primrose oil and how to use it as a pessary - with much laughter about capsules in knickers...and I can't find it!

Does anyone know how much/how often/just how??

Orenishii, I am using 1000-1500mg daily in pessary/capsule form. Mine has combined Vitamin E but only cos that's what asda had on special offer. Still, I'll have a well-moisturised lady garden, if nowt else :)

Sorry forgot to say, I originally was pricking them with a pin and inserting them, but then it went everywhere and dribbled back up my arm, so I switched to just inserting them. I thought the capsule casing might re emerge, but after 10 days I can safely say they aren't.

I have wondered tho if I will give birth to a baby and a neat little pile of capsules.

I just had MW appointment. I am 3/5ths engaged. Also the heart was doing rhythmic accelerations, does anyone know what that means?

Thanks weezl74! I am in a weird place because while I'm sure all these things help but not bring on birth especially - my landlady has a handy man ripping out our bath on Friday and I am due on tuesday! I don't want to scupper our HB plans, I don't want to start before Friday...arrraaaggghhh, why now, landlady!

But if we say no, we might never get it done, and it needs doing. Waaah. Breathe, breathe.

So someone else said they also massaged it into their vagina and felt it helped with tearing so maybe I'll take one, massage one in, and insert one...daily. I only have the 1300 mg.

Oooooooooh 3/5! What week are you at? Sounds like it's all happening at the right pace! So exciting. No idea what rhythmic accelerations are...googling doesn't seem to throw anything obvious up!

Thanks Orenishi. I am only 38 + 1 but I tend to go a bit earlier than dates.

That's so gutting about the bathroom! What pants timing. If it is any help, there is a lot of evidence to suggest that women (along with all female mammals) do have an instinctive sense of not birthing if the environment is wrong. Plus also maternal tiredness, dehydration and anxiety all have a tocolytic (labour-suppressing) effect. So my hunch would be that your body would wait.

My DS2 got diagnosed with asthma today, but for a bit it was query whooping cough, so even tho I'm beyond the 38 week window I went for the jab anyway. Have any of you lot gone for it?

sorry me again, Orenishii, do you have a pool, or were you hoping on the bath for some comfort? I am sure it would be no big faff to wollop the water back on, but if you were depending on the bath that could be a bit of a bummer.

weezl74 thanks for the sympathy! Dh works 45 min - an hour away depending on traffic. I have a hospital birth planned but midwife-led. Hospital is only 15 min drive away (5-10 min in middle of the night). I am feeling more positive today and hopeful that ds can be safely delivered to neighbour, dh retrieved from work quickly, and baby born in hospital! Here's hoping, anyway...

I had my whooping cough (and flu) jab last week (37+4 now). WC arm was quite sore after! Glad I had it though. Glad your ds2 didn't have WC but sorry about the asthma - hope it is just mild. How old is he?

orenishii - I tried a perineal massage oil / gel with ds and not sure if it did a lot, but it does feel like you're doing something to prevent damage down there at least!

x

Mummy2Benji I am sure you will get there on time :)

Thanks, yes I'm pretty sure the asthma is mild, the GP didn't admit him.The other good thing is that his older brother gets it too (DS1 is 3 and a half, and DS 2 is 2 and a half) so he has seen his brother take ventolin via a spacer for yonks, so is less scared of the new procedure!

Hello all! Can I join?? Hoping not quite 2 weeks to go, I am 39+ 3 today and not really feeling anything new ! Bit periodyheavy today but wondering if is my imagination!!!

Got my WC jab last Tuesday so actually hoping bubs doesn't come before wknd anyhow so as can have 10 days to allow antibody production to transfer to baby, that's what I read last week anyhow.

Hoping to keep up with this post for any hints and tips!

Huffle 35, 39+3 DC1

Hello, can I join? I'm actually only 36 weeks but this is my third and my lot are early babies!
I feel terrible even feeling this fed up already! I definitely have the 'angry pregnant lady' badge.
I just want everyone to leave me alone! Sadly no one seems to be getting that vibe from me.
I should realistically do some more sorting before I give birth and cook some freezer meals but I just want to eat toast, nap and watch tv in peace!
My DC know something is up and aren't sleeping and my eldest is currently having a bedtime meltdown only a toddler knows how.
DH is working late and not being overly helpful and we are now due to move house when I will potentially have 3 week old baby!
Stressed up to my eyeballs and this baby decided to have a practice run at the weekend but luckily decided that actually he was snug where he was. Which is great but that was rather stressful!
Sorry big old rant! I'm not always this grumpy I promise :)

hello huffle and seabuckthorn :)

what kind of births do you have planned, all going well?

Hello weezl74 Just gas and air this time I hope! Natural 3rd stage and then tea and toast aka the 4th stage!
How are you doing?

ooh well done :) seabuckthorn i seem to manage with g and a until transition and then i get it in my head i need pethidine!

hoping to be able to stay at home as that's where both my sons were born.

this time I've booked a doula, never had one before :) she thinks we are interesting as we are 'unusual clients'

tell me more about natural 3rd stage? I've not read much.

I did my second with just gas and air... not so much by choice, I seem to remember demanding an epidural to only be told the midwife could see the head!
Natural 3rd stage is where they don't give you the injection that makes you deliver the placenta quite quickly. I think they give up to an hour to do it naturally. My body took a long time to recover from my first, I was drugged up to my eyeballs and it seems they took a long time to get out my system.
Interested to hear about your doula and why you are unusual! I think if DH would agree I would have a doula too!
Do you know what you are having? I'm having my 3rd boy!

ooh 3rd boy here too!

well, when we interviewed doulas, quite a few said that typically most clients have come from a very strong non-medival low /minimal intervention model. often panting more of a hypnobirthing, method and also seeing a much more ?spiritual/mystical (not sure of right word) approach to childbirth. then there is a rising % of clients who sadly have felt let down by nos midwifery and essentially want an advocate for their choices.

i respect both of these positions, but dh and i are both much more medical and endlessly read medical journals before deciding stuff if we can.

in south Wales where i live dh and i are therefore an unusual category.

sorry for such a mahooosive answer!

*scuse terrible typos!