Fantastic, fabulous 40+ Mums-to-be! Part 3

[eagleray]

We've run out of space so here's a new thread so we can support each other and talk about the trials, tribulations and utter joy at being pregnant at 40+

All new members welcome

Chummy - they whhhattt??! At least you are getting new results sharpish. Will hold breath a bit longer.

Freckler - big welcome, and love stories of love-children (our family name for lovely surprises). You are v brave to offer real midwife advice. Hope we can offer reassurance and totally uninformed but well meant support in return

Talking of advice....can we put up a copy of that ghastly Guardian article about horrid scientists who say even one coffee a day can lower baby's bwt in snug an then deface it and throw darts? Childish but satisfying I noted with satisfaction same (vg) journalist once write a great piece showing you could prove almost any health theory with "science"....

yessss scarecrow thoroughly obnoxious it was

AFM woke at weekend feeling quite human and now realise how ghastly I have felt for so long. What a relief. Now a few weeks to enjoy it before sleeplessness begins...
31 wks, with 4.5 wks of work to go. Now slingshot tights at feet in hope I can catch a toe an wriggle them up. Do you think Kate will ever have to do this? Am dangerously addicted to Malteasers and rapidly heading for 3st wt gain by birth. Dis this last time and lost it eventually, but was much more (well at least a bit) toned before I began. How are you meant to get exercise if you work long hours, have a toddler and have a semi-permanent cold (and are at heart a bit lazy)??

Evening all. Hi, Knicky I'm another who has finally jacked in the work thing for a bit - technically on holiday (teacher) until Mat Leave starts next week but it feels COMPLETELY different. Bliss. DS is at horrible childminder Weds and Thurs for another three weeks and at my mum's on Fridays so weird empty space looms... I have wildly overcompensated by planning to do everything in the world in the next two days but suspect that there will be a bit of daydreaming going on... If not, expect the bedraggled remains of the Wooster to shamble along in a day or two. Bit of a descent into neurosis scare the other day - virtually no movements from the normally extremely volatile bump so finally phoned the day unit who were, as ever, fab and said Come On Down in true old skool fashion. After a couple of anxious minutes where mw couldn't hear heartbeat, she said " I wonder if she.?."and shifted the monitor up a foot few inches and all was ok other than baby has gone transverse which, mw told me, means a CS rather than the induction planned for 21/3. She did say it may well alter and movements are back to their comedy height so hopefully the baby is just toying with her ancient parent. Probably not for the last time...

Just in case, how long would I have to be in hosp, since am already shitting it about leaving DS overnight with a 'normal' delivery.

Meant to add, DD is loving book "Za-Za's Baby Brother" by Lucy Cousins. It's really caught her imagination or something. Maybe just her, or age (2y 2mo nearly), but recommend a look for siblings of similar age.

to MrsW: wow you are close, though hope you see sense and enjoy some rest. Glad LO dancing around you again. Take care x

Hello chummy, freckle and all.

Mrs Wooster and Knicky you are so close! The final countdown! Love the planned relaxation. It never quite works out as in ones fantasies as there's always something to do IME but it is a huge relief. Knicky really pleased to think of you getting some r&r at last. Mrs Wooster aka methuselah if your dc is anything like you it's going to be comedy gold - as far as this is possible given the exhaustion. Glad your scare turned out to be nothing. Re ELCS I don't know only had emce but I hear recovery from ELCS is much quicker.

Knicky need to scroll back and read your last post

Trashy tv and reflexology Knicky - sounds divoooon! I remember someone talking about lying on the sofa eating chocolate cake when preggers - it never happened for me - are you getting some Choco cake in? Xxx

Fleckers, how dare MW say that 42 is old to have a baby ? The grads thread proves this is nonsense. Welcome and enjoy this pg.

cyclecamper You put me to shame...spent an hour or so in the spare room and admitted defeat yesterday!

Freckler The midwives here ask my date of birth twenty times every appointment, as though they can't quite believe it!! Maybe we're just all old enough not to actually care what they think! I'm 45, with a 14 year old DD from previous marriage, and DH has a DS of 18 and a DD of 16 from prev marriage...

Welcome!!!

Chummy Any news? We'd about given up when I found out was pg!

Scarecrow passes darts... Is like all the articles in the Daily Mail my father swears are true...grrr!

Oh, Scarecrow, hope you are feeling better! I know, I feel like I have had a bug for months! Just so so tired all the time! I'm sure Kate has flunkies to pull her tights up her perfectly toned body! I'm struggling to put weight on (not good) because of damn diabetic diet!

MrsWooster Glad you are finally on Maternity Leave! I've been planning ambitious house rearranging, and as yet, done absolutely none of it!

Was panicking about movement, until MW said have an anterior placenta....
At least your hospital seem to be on to it straight away!

You are getting pretty close!!!

somewhere That's why I want an ELCS! They've told me they would give me an EMCS 'when they decide' (don't fancy that as have had 3 friends left for 3 days while they 'decided')....

I can do the lying on the sofa, but is more bloody oatcakes than chocolate cake. I wouldn't mind normally, but now am craving cake!!!

Just had a MW from the Opptimum project ring me...study they are doing of women who have had preterm births (less than 34 weeks). They are piloting a scheme to tects levels of fibronectin before birth (if you have a lot, you have a tendency to give birth preterm), and they will give progesterone to slow things down... that's all I know for the moment, am meeting MW when I go for scan on 6 March....

Hello all. Just introducing myself as a not-far-off-pensionable-age 44 year old mother to be and was recommended this link. Am pregnant with my 5th (my others are 11, 10, 8 and 5). Am 14 weeks (miscarried a twin 3 weeks ago but touch wood this one is kicking and causing me non-stop nausea!) Looking forward to chatting to you all. x

Waves to LottieH. You're not the oldest, think that's either me or Mrs Wooster... I'll be 46 by the time LO arrives!

You're going to be busy! Look forward to chatting xxx

Oh good! When are you both due Badmiss & MrsWooster?

Hi, I am being induced on 21 March (officially due on 31/3/13) and am 46 since January so take the withered laurels for most aged, I think. Hurrah.

Lovely time of year for a birthday - my eldest's bd was born on 20 March - think it's the first day of spring isn't it. Hope all goes well anyway. You must be getting v excited. Is it your first or have you older ones too? x

Mrs Wooster You win, not 46 till June! But we must be of a fantastic vintage, it was obviously a fantastic year

LottieH I'm officially due 24 July, but doubt I will go that long (DD arrived at 31 weeks!)

Am still at work, almost crying (want to, sort of am) with missing DD today (long week), feel sick and dizzy with hunger. Sorry had to share that with somebody.

More cheerfully, a happy hello to Lottie (lovely name... adds to list). FIVE??? Flipping heck, I will not complain ever again. How wonderful though. If I'd started sooner that was how many I wanted.

MrsW congrats on the laurel. Though given your (all our) state, that should be a blooming one, surely?

Was I the only one who wanted to shout at Radio 4 today (World at One) when some pillock went on about selfish women waiting til they were 40 to try and have kids and how they had it all coming to them if they couldn't conceive. We need a corner of shame in the snug and we can string up the radio beside that article on coffee drinking :)

Right, better return to work and self-pity.... And you lot can post some more to entertain me on the train home later x

Chummy, in case you are out there, would love to hear news. Thinking of you x

Hiya lot tie FIVE OMG.

So many newbies I can't keep up. Will get
My head round u if u keep posting so please keep posting.

Cycle - great that you have rest now and steady work later.

Wooster You are the thread elder.

Scarecrow corner of shame sounds great. Crying at work less so - if it's turned into a bad work culture because
Of external pressures that's is a sign it could be a good time
To quit - a lot of job satisfaction reflects the health of the organisation your in. Gritting teeth and waiting till it passes Will usually cost you like staying in bad relationship. But maybe your just tired from
Pg - maybe its not external.

Talking of which my dp loving his job. Loving it. Raving about it. And coincidentally the company is no 1 in uk and in healthy growth.

Xxx

No 1 in it's category - it ain't Tesco! Which isn't doing so well anyway even tho vast.

Badmiss I hope this optimum project comes through and the progesterone works. It would be great if you could get nearer to term. Hope your relaxing xxx

Ps scarecrow it's not scientific my theory about organisations - just my current anecdotal hobby horse. Have such anxieties about work and trying to work out why - having read a book on psychodynamic workplace coaching I think the anxieties in the organisation can determine individual experience.

Ok chatting to myself - must shut up now.

Thanks for your message scarecrow............ GP had emergency yesterday,therefore STILL no news! LOL! Will hear today now!

I don't 'feel pg' :(
My Ov showed + on sunday (dilema!?!? ) therefore DTD to cover ourselves!
Boobs still sore. GP told me that sometimes the LH surge shows in OV tests when HGC is still absent. Boobs still sore but that's it! Abdo discomfort stopped. Instinct is telling me that it was an early pg that I couldn't hold onto. Hormones setted. DH not ducking anymore!! :) ... if we failed, we can start the count down to AF again!

Scarecrow : RADIO 4 is now banned from our household! judging judging judging....bad radio 4!

Mrs Wooster & Bad MissM: Woo Hoo..... you have given me faith!
Chatting on another board, we agreed that older mums in London seem to be socially acceptable however outside of london, we are frowned upon! Moved to the country 5 years ago and attitudes do appear to be very different! Hey ho... broad shoulders, I can take it!

Somewherebecomingrain............ still chatting away?? :) Love the name... may I ask how your developed this jaunty little title? How many weeks are you?

Freckle... are you still here??

LottieH ... Hello :)

I'm another relative newbie. Did some posting last week than got caught in the AIBU vortex. As an opinionated madam it's been such fun.

MrsW I'm due on 15/3/13. My son was born 15/3/11. Tis a lovely time of year to be spawning. The longer days and (marginally) better weather go some way to mitigating the sleep deprivation. And who knows - we might get something resembling a summer this year!

Chummy am still keeping my fingers crossed luv.

Somewhere I concur about workplace culture. I work for a trade union so I deal with lots of different employers and workplaces. It's incredible how much of an impact this has on employees, it can be quite serious in terms of stress/depression. Sometimes it really doesn't take much to tip the balance either. I wish I could nab some of the good managers I've dealt with and parade them around as an example. Your book sounds interesting.

My news is that we we're moving house. Our final cut off date was Friday 15th Feb but the buyer has been truly horrendous and completely inconsiderate. So we've extended til next Wed or they will be waiting til the end of April (and I'll be sewing bits of placenta into the curtains and cackling dementedly ).

I've also got to go and see a specialist because I'm measuring just over 2 weeks ahead. Don't know if they'll scan me. Anyone else had this? I'm trying not to worry or that and the move will tip me over!

Hello - finally sticking my head round the door of the mum-to-be snug! Sorry for such a long absence - missed you all! It is so hard to post things these days but 24 day old DD has kindly granted me a few minutes while she snoozes on the sofa...

I can see there's an awful lot of newbies - huge welcome to you all, and congratulations!

I think I wrote a few miserable posts in the early days after birth when we were in the grip of feeding/weight loss hell. Pleased to say that yesterday Baby Eagle finally reached her birthweight, although there is now some suspicion over her original birthweight! I had iv fluids during labour and it is thought that this can increase birthweight significantly. Granted, she did have feeding problems and a lot of weight loss in the days afterwards, but I now suspect that she weighed more than her natural weight and so the weightloss was interpreted as much more alarming than it actually was. Maybe I am barmy, but quite a lot of the HCPs have been a bit about her recorded birthweight too. The other strange thing is that although she is only at her birthweight, she is substantially bigger and has a massive head that nearly goes off the percentile chart and makes me wince when I think about the birth

So, we are still on a mixed feeding regime, but I now have the strength and confidence to start reducing the formula and let the BF increase bit by bit.

I am not in any pain any more (first two weeks were fairly shit) and although the sleep deprivation is a daily occurrence, we are managing to get out and about a reasonable amount, in car, by pram etc.

While I'm here, I thought I would share with you some of my baby-related purchases etc that have been really useful...

Changing mat - cheap as chips, neutral and tasteful - I bought two of these and they arrived in the post next day!

Smartphone app - Total Baby: recommended to me by someone else, this has been invaluable, especially with a complicated mixed feeding regime. I use it to record nappy changes and feeds and can always see how long it's been since she was last fed, plus can also see how many hours of BF/volume of formula she's had in each 24 hour period.

Cheeky wipes - bit expensive initially, but it's been brilliant. Very easy to get baby's bum clean, and much kinder to skin than disposable wipes.

Gro bag - this is a bit of an obvious one, but DD spends a lot of time kicking off blankets and trying to remove her legs from babygros, then screaming because she's cold. Luckily, I had bought a second hand one off Ebay while pregnant and stuck her in it a couple of nights ago - huge improvement in sleeping habits!

kellymom.com/ - hugely useful website. Has everything you would ever want to know about breastfeeding!

Special hello to Scarecrow, Somewhere, BadMissM, MrsWooster, Knicky, CycleCamper and BBD, who I have spent many hours with in the virtual snug, scoffing tea and cake! I can see that quite a few of you are getting close to due date - so exciting!

And good luck to Chummy - fingers crossed for good news later

Hope to catch up with you all again soon xx

Hi chairman wow the book is called 'working below the surface' or something. It's a touch exhausting - everything about work has multiple Freudian layers - so I've only read a couple of chapters but even the general gist of it is a bit of an eye opener.

Anyways back to being PG - sort of feeling ok which almost worries me.

Chummy yes keep going and if need there's a wonderful TTC thread for the over 40s if you want to check it out (obvs stay on here too) but still crossing fingers for you

Xxx