anyone having/had a baby at russells hall, dudley?

[MummyToToby]

hi i'm due july 7th with my first and just wondered if anyone else had got any experiences of giving birth here or if anyone is going to be having their baby there like me.

Hi MTT, too right its too hot, my ankles resemble an elephants and am starting to waddle good and proper!
Was bit dissapointed at antenatal class, it was stuff I already knew and they made us get on our knees (on a rock hard floor and now they are bruised) to imitate what contractions feel like eh? WTF??
Dont do the tour until week3 so I'll make sure I found out about the fans and pillows for you!
I've not heard about if your over your due date you cant have a waterbirth? So will ask them next week the reasons for you not being able to have one cuz I think if your waters break there may be a problem? Not too sure though! Will do a list of Q's to ask at end of next week as they stay over for a bit should you need to talk to them.

Diddle, hope to hear some news of you and your baba soon chick! How exciting!

not a sausage happening here ladies. i'm 40+4 today and baby is staying put i think. i've got a date for induction, 20th June, a week tomorrow.
just want it here now.
Apparently you can have a waterbirth if you go over your dates but not if you're induced. but i will try and argue that one i think.

Hi girls, am hoping that by now Diddle has had baba? If not your being induced today and will have baby very very soon! I'll check out the June thread to see if there is any news!

Have you booked in for the tour yet MTT? Am doing it this Thursday so have written my list of questions ready, am really hoping we get to see the birthing pool as if there is somebody in it we cant go in.

Midwife shocked me last week by measuring me and saying we are in for a bigger than average baby, could be 1 9-10lb'er, am in shock at the moment. There goes my fantasy of popping out a 6lb'er.

hey, MTT here, changed name cos someone else had a similar one and was causing a bit of confusion!tried to book tour but nonw available til OCTOBER! guessing that might be a tad late so let me know how it goes BHM. my MW gill thinks mines a 6-7 lber, but i'm taking this with a pinch of salt. know loadsa people who have been told they were having "big" babies and only had 7-8lbers. you never BHM MW cud have it all wrong! BHM think you could ask how popular birthing pool is? don't wanna get my hopes up if its unlikely i'll get to use it. wonder if diddle ended up getting induced. it'd be a shame if she couldn't have her waterbirth. do you know why your not allowed them if your induced? don't see what difference it makes!! weighed myself today - total weight gain, 1.5 stone

oh also could you ask how long the pool takes to fill? still wondering about that seive question i asked a while back, but you don't have to ask that if you don't want

Hi ya Bamboozle! From what I gather the birthing pool is very popular and it all depends on wether its free on the day you go in! the midwife who takes the class had 2 waterbirths and said they are fab! Hopefully get a look at it tonight! Shame you cant get in on the tour? I'll give you a good report tomorrow. I'll ask the question about the sieve too no problem, I'm sure I've heard they get it out quicker than you can see it if you do a poo but its just the tought of it floating around isnt it?
I dont think we're having a 9-10lber either as I've only put on 1.5 stone on, and she did say that I could have more fatty tissues between top of my belly and the baby, also could be carrying lot of water, there are loads of reasons why she measure me bigger than average. I bet its about 5lb now lol.
How many weeks you got left? I got 3 weeks left at work and 6.5 weeks till due, cant wait now!
Have left DH painting the nursery today in a fresh lemon colour, will be so nice to see it when I get home tonight just hope DH dont get it everywhere else aswell as the walls cuz he's the most clumsiest bloke I've ever met and having mad visions of him doing something daft!

Bamboozle, tour went well, place very clean and modern! Birthing pool looks good, but not as big as I imagined and has handles to grip onto and I did notice a jug next to it on the floor which I reckon they use to scoop out the floaters if needed. Couldnt bring myself to ask about the seive in front of the others and we left early as DH was very bored and tbh it was stuff I knew they were discussing. There aren't any fans so take your own as its mega hot. The pillows weren't the crinkly stuff you were talking about so you'll be ok!

How long you got left? No news from Diddle yet then?

well you'll never guess but i was probably there last night when you were. had to go in cos my waters broke..going to be induced later today cos they said to go home and if labour hadn't started 18 hours after the waters went i might get an infection. looks like you're the only one left with any hope of a water birth BHM. come on .. do it for us!! i can't bear all 3 of us missing out! and you'll never guess this either .. i just took my last exam .. hopsital weren't pleased about that i can tell you!!

Ohmygod! What time did this happen? Are you due yet? Am praying you'll have a positive birth experience hun! How you feeling now? Keep me updated and sorry you wont be getting your waterbirth. I'm sure you'll be fine, they are really nice there and make you feel at ease (if thats possible)! Good luck and just think your baby will soon be here you lucky lucky girl!

P.S. What exams you just taken? Whats it got to do with them anyway - its your life hun! At least it was your last one! Phew! I'm all flustered after reading your post ha!

hi everyone. toby jack was born safely at 5:10am yesterday morning (24th june) at 38 weeks. he weighed 7lb 4.5oz - and he's very long!one babygrow already doesn't fit him! was induced at 5:30pm on friday afternoon, started getting back ache at about 10 o clock, went on the monitor at 10:30 and was checked - 1cm dilated. At about 2:30 was 2cm then at about 4:15 felt the urge to push. mw was adamant i couldn't possibly be ready and thought i needed a poo so there i was thinking i was trying to push out a very awkward and large poo, when suddenly a head appears - was in fact my lovely ds! he was born face up in about 6 pushes and my godmother (birthing partner) got to see his little eyes open for the first time. was in so much disbelief he wasn't a poo i had to feel for his head. after the birth i was so overwhelmed and shocked i was speechless for one of the 1st times in my life. still on a complete high and feel like a 5 year old who stops to tell anyone who will listen about his new bike!hope your ok diddle-isn't RHH lovely. my midwife helen was great. there was an oldish trainee midwife who had a go at me for switching from breast to bottle-if they had helped me for more than 2 minutes in showing me how to do it properly i might not have. going to try again at home where im more relaxed cos i will be really disapointed if he doesn't take to it. bit worried cos he doesn't seem to be eating very much though but i suppose it'll take a few days for him to settle into a pattern. xx

Oh wow congratulations Bamboozle and welcome Toby Jack to the world!! Thats fantastic news, glad you and baby are well and seems like you had a positive experience then? All happened rather quickly? Was it as bad as you'd imagined and what pain relief did you go for in the end? He's a good weight and its probably good that you didnt go full term eh as he'd been a good 8-9lb'er lol! Bit concerneing that they didnt help you out with BF? They told me they are keen to get all mothers up and running and being a first time you need help dont ya? How long were you in there for?
Ah I'm so happy for you, enjoy every moment hun and keep in touch as we should meet up soon when I get my lo out! Roll on 6 weeks!

Come on Diddle whats happening with you chick? Not hear from you yet? Hope your ok!

bamboozleslover - wow, we may have crossed paths while we were there. Little Joshua Graeme, was born Friday 12.28pm. I don't remember anyone coming in that day with waters already broken though.

Big Hot mama - i do remember someone coming for a look round but didn't pay much attention, maybe it was you.

The pillows were very crinkly while i was there, for 5 days. horrible things.

So glad to be at home.

diddle - i went in friday at about 4ish. i take it you were in the obsetric unit like me, not the mideife-led unit if you were induced? i was in room 8. i didn't go through triage as when i came in they had plenty of rooms, so i was induced in the delivery room itself. then cos i said i wanted to go home after the 6 hours if possible they didn't move me out of it afterwards either. i actually stayed 11 hours, cos the paeditrician didn't come round til the afternoon.

BHM - the midwife who delivered toby tried to help me bf, but her shift ended about 1-2 hours after i had him and then i was left to my own devices. missed my own midwife coming the day after due to having to rush up merry hill and replace a broken steriliser on sunday can you believe. so then i'd had to express my milk and use a bottle as i couldn't have him not eating anything. the midwife has told me now he probably won't latch on as he is used to the bottle so i am continuing to express and top up with formula, but also trying him on thebreast now and again as she says sometimes they become interested if you introduce it gradually. having a bath together usually helps i find and also he only likes the football hold for some reason. boobies feeling VERY hard and lumpy today - very painful! putting hot flannels on them in the bath seems to help and sort of massaging in little circles.

just coped with the pain by breathing until about 2:30ish and also a warm bath and the birthing ball. they examined me and i was 2 almost 3 cm and they decided to break my waters and the pain started to get a bit stronger so i had gas & air til about 4:30. at this point i had my feeling i needed to poo moment at which they said i could not be ready to push so got a bed pan. i started to feel like i was not in control, really sick and too dependant on the gas & air so i had to sit up and i stopped having it. but then i felt i couldn't cope with the pain and started getting really panicky which obviously didn't help, so they suggested pethidine which i had. only problem was as i was trying to get my "poo" out they then realised i had been right all along and had needed to push - they could see the head. so the pethidine had been a complete waste of time as it takes 20 minutes to kick in and toby was born 40 minutes after they had given it me. they told me to use the gas & air when i was pushing but i found it too difficult trying to relax and breathe it in slowly and deeply and concentrate on pushing, so i decided to just get it over and done with and push without it.

Hi girls am so so envious of you both having your little bundles of joy at home with you. I've got another 6 weeks to wait yet and 2 weeks left at work.

Diddle, I was there walking around RHH with a big bunch of people on Thursday night doing a tour? It was so hot in there, only girls I recall seeing was a girl in a wheelchair with socks on and a girl by the entrance with her tens machine on. Not sure if any of those 2 were you? But how mad that you and Bamboozle were there at same time? Sounds like you had a long hard time of it and I would have gone for C/S as another pessary may not have worked? How are you feeling now? Was it how you'd iomagined? I suppose your just so happy to have your baby healthy and with you at home now! Are you BF'ing?
As I know its hard to BF when you've had C/S?

At least your able to express some of your milk Bamboozle so its not gone to waste, he may latch on and prefer breast to bottle. I cant wait to have a bash and see what it feels like! I really want to try to bf but know its gonna be hard when the milk comes through and gets very painful! Cant believe you coped with the pain with just G&A, you must feel really proud of yourself? There's hope for us all then! Did you think it was as bad as you'd thought?

Cant believe I'm next in line to have baby!

no it was way better than i'd thought although i hadn't been scared of the birth as such i had sort of just taken the view that i'd cross that bridge when i came to it. breastfeeding is wonderful. the only downside is that you can't leave them with anyone, which is why i have decided to express as well. how are you feeding your lo diddle? anyway really happy cos i got into my jeans yesterday!!woo hooooooo

Cant believe you got into your jeans already? Lucky girl! I cant my feet into my shoes at the moment so its fli flop city all the way for me. cant wait to be able to go shopping for normal clothes and a nice pair of shoes after the birth. All I've bought lately is baby stuff and more baby stuff. Need some retail therapy me thinks!

Hope to hear from ya both soon and get an update on how its going. Bet your both too busy to post nowadays..5 weeks and counting for me now

yeah only got 2lbs to go. can't get into anything but jeans though yet - guess they aren't as stretchy as denim!!guess even though i've almost lost the weight i haven't lost the flabby belly. thing is i find exercise way too exerting!! anyway toby's murmuring so best go get him xx

BigHotmama - probably didn't see me then, I was more than likely scoffing my tea when you came round, plus i was at the very end of the hgh risk side, can't say i remember a big group looking round.
I am doing ok, tummy is very sore from the CS. Tried BF but i was getting very sore, and cracked nipples, Josh wasn't latching on very easily and so making then even sore by keep coming off and on again. I decided that it was best for him and me (after i had a hormonal, crying moment) that i tried him on a bottle. well he loved it, and gulped down a good 3 ounces and then slept for 9 hours. he must have worn himself out trying to get enough milk from me. We are all much happier now and he is so much more settled.
Its lovely being a mommy, and feels very very surreal, i don't think its hit me properly yet. everytime i look at him and see his cute little face looking at me, i start to cry. I feel so lucky.
I'm not even going to depress myself by trying me jeans on, i'm in joggers and maternity tops at the moment, very comfy.
Belly is slowing going down now. can't believe it has been a week today since JOsh popped out, its amazing.

i can't believe it either. a week ago i was waiting in the hospital to go home it seems so logn ago. this week has gone so quickly!

Awwww you both sound so loved up and happy! Cant wait for my turn! Glad your both doing ok, and baby's are happy. Diddle, sounds like your baba is well content with his bottle, and it must be so hard when you get sore crazcked nipples, thats the part I'm dreading. Bamboo, you shouldnt be thinking of excersing yet anyway chick - that 2lb will be gone in no time!
I'm counting down now, am 35 weeks today and feeling like a hippo.

So then, what are the odds of me having a boy with you both having boys? Everyone at work says boy but all my family reckon a girl - I really dont mind as long as comes out healthy. Oh have you seen the shop in Bullring called Pumpkin Patch? It has fab baby clothes - both girls and boys stuff is adorbaly and not pricey either!

bighotmama - have seen that shop, pumpkin patch, theres one in merryhill now too.
I miss being pregnant an dhaving my bump, you make the most of feeling baby kick so close to you.

i can't believe i was ever pregnant and he was ever inside of me. yeah that pumpkin patch shop has been at merry hill for ages. i think i depleted their stock lol!!

Really? Thats great news! Where's the shop in Merry Hill? Never knew it existed till I saw it advertised at the baby show this year.
The heat is killing me at the moment and my ankles have been swollen for few weeks now. Dont get me wrong I'm loving being pregnant but am just so excited to meet my little one, sometimes feels like I've been pg for ever and at times I feel its gone so quickly! Did any of you use a Tens machine? Am thinking of hiring one next week but would be good to get other opinions.

Hows baby Toby and Joshua doing?

BHM - I used a tens machine it was very good at distracting me and taking my mind off the few contractions that i did get. it eased the back ache too. I would recommend one. we bought ours online wish i had got to use it more really. Only had quite mild contractions although they felt shockingly painful at the time.

Little Josh is doing well, slept 9 hours last night, i am amazed!!

i'm glad joshua sleeps for such lnog stretches too. toby often sleeps from 12 til 7 when i wake him, but would happily sleep longer. when i tell people they don't seem to believe me! the only thing is when i told my midwife she said i should wake him up after 5 hours cos he won't be getting enough milk, but when i do this he is so sleepy he hardly has anything. she also suggested the dreamfeed thing but again he hardly has anything. how much milk does joshua have at each feed diddle and how many bottles a day?

BHM - pumpkin patch is a few shops up from next on the ground floor.