Anyone due in April 2004 - part 2

[Fennel]

here we are, new thread so we can keep up to date with all the labour pains.

Metrobaby - DP would say that I am not coping!
The plus side is if I am busy and active in the day I do sleep a lot better, which does make me feel more active. It is hard with the dds but I also found it incredibly hard waiting with the first baby who was 1 week late, I think even with all the guilt and general unbearable bounciness of two small needy children it's better than just waiting the first time.

Metrobaby - nice to see you back! I've had sinusitus (due to permanent cold) virtually all the way through my pregnancy so I know what you feel like. I have been using Vicks sinex and sudafed decongestant for a bit of the time (i.e. as needed, and only after 1st trimester). Did look up both these drugs on the internet and found "no recorded birth defects / abnormalities" connected with their use...so have used them because I can't sleep at all with a blocked nose (and no sleep for months on end isn't an option)
But my GP still won't endorse it. So now feeling guilty in case I have harmed my baby, although rational part of me tells me that medical profession are completely paranoid about anything stronger than a paracetemol in pregnancy due to the thalidomide thing.

Thanks Lesley and Fennel for your support on other issue. Feeling more philosophical about dd's behaviour now. Hormones don't help do they!

Reckon Metrobaby is right - lack of subsequent post from Mrs Doolittle suggests that it might all be actions stations with her. Perhaps it will be a busy easter for the April thread! Here's hoping that things will get going for a few more of us during the next couple of days....

Morning everyone. Hope you all got some sleep last night. I take it that the silence from Dot and Mrs Doolittle (among others) means that they are in hospital and hopefully all are safe and well.

Metrobaby and HMC - sorry to hear about the horrid colds & general pregnancy stuffiness. This is one preg symptom that I have escaped but I remember how depressed I felt when I was preg in hay fever season & couldn't take anything. I felt SO MISERABLE all day & then couldn't sleep at night. You are right HMC, you couldn't possibly go for months like that. I bet you get little sympathy as well coz it seem so minor (to people who've put up with it for 3 days WITH drugs!!!). I found it MUCH worse than the sickness, frequent peeing & carpel tunnel syndrome, which are the only preg problems I?ve had. Even the sickness only went on for 12 hours a day, not 24!!!!

Despite your modesty Fennel I?m still impressed by your days out with 2 small kids. I?ve had EXACTLY the same thing with screaming child outside bedroom door, whimpering piteously " I want Mummy" while DH or DSD (aged 17) whispers ? Mummy is sleeping"!!! No she?s not, she?s lying here feeling guilty????????.

HMC ? my 4yo has been brilliantly behaved over the last week. We are so shocked; as she?s usually quite a handful. In a strange way it?s a bit irritating ? it?s like ? oh so you CAN be good when you want to ? why cant you do this the rest of the time!!! Of course the truth is that she?s being good because her big sister is on school hols and Dad is around more (not travelling away from home for obvious reasons). Bet she will go back to being a wee monster for no apparent reason any day now??kids!!!!!!

I?m going to do lots of nesting today so I wish you all a happy and peaceful Easter and hope good things happen for us all soon. Keep posting

hi all

2 days til my due date. am tired and emotional today. Stress of waiting is beginning to show in the Fennel household. can't be arsed with sex pineapple or curry, it clearly hasn't worked for most people on this thread.

Peppergirl isn't it your due date today, any signs?
CP how are you, still around?

Is anyone else constantly refreshing "Active Conversations" to see if there are any birth announcements from Dot or MrsD (or their partners) yet?
Not much to report here. DH has taken DS to a birthday party this afternoon. I have been nesting, like you, Lesley - sorting stuff out etc. HMC, glad you are feeling a bit better about your dd (hang on in there!).

Hi everyone

Just to say that dot went in to be induced Thursday afternoon. They gave her a prostin pessary and within seconds - no kidding - she went from 0 to 60, so to speak, howling in pain and nearly passing out. They wheeled her up to the delivery unit because the baby's heartrate dropped a bit, and she turned into a magnificently stroppy harriden (sp?), yelling that she wanted an epidural and she wanted it NOW. The midwife told her she couldn't have one until she was at least 4cm dilated and in established labour - she described what was currently going on as "mild tightenings", which pissed dot1 off no end! Anyway, thankfully the consultant came in and decreed that she could have an epidural, so once that was in and working (there was a small area untouched, but the top-up sorted that out) the old dot I know and love returned.

Anyway, to cut a very long labour slightly shorter, the baby's heartrate kept dipping regularly, and dot wasn't dilating or contracting regularly, so - about two hours after dot predicted it - they finally said they'd section her, and that's what happened. As I gave her a general knowledge quiz to take her mind off things (name the president of Italy; name the two types of Muslims in Iraq, etc, etc) they yanked out baby Dylan Jack, 8lbs and 7oz at five to one Friday morning.

She was totally morphined out yesterday, but is much more her old self today. We're both desperate to have her home but the hospital are saying she'll be very lucky to be home Monday and it's more likely to be Tuesday. There's no telly in her room (she's paying £25 a night for the privilege of having an en suite, but I think there should be a discount for the lack of entertainment) and she's going through the same awful feelings of isolation I remember so well from my time (it was like history repeating itself, cos i had to have a section too, for the same reasons).

Read ds "Za-za has a baby brother" for the nth time today, and at the page where Za-za plays with and cuddles the baby, he gave it a couple of violent pushes - just to get a reaction, I think. We're both quite nervous about how he's going to be, but I guess we just mustn't take any nonsense.

Anyway, hope that covers it. Very good luck to all the rest of you, and dot will be posting within minutes of returning home, I should think.

Oops, realise I shouldn't have given ds2's name there. My mind is a bit unfocused...

Thanks for posting, Juno . Tell Dot we are all thinking of her. Hope the homecoming is all you would wish!

well done , dot1 , sounds v interesting time !
glad to hear that all are well in the end !
noting happening here , lots more Bh's getting stronger , but that about it

Many congratulations Dot and Juno and welcome baby Dylan. Sorry you had such a horrid time Dot but glad you were brave enough to demand the pain relief you needed.Hope you get home soon & look forward to hearing from you.

Great news Dot, wishing you a speedy recovery and looking forward to hearing from you.

Any news from Mrs D ?

No progress here, due date has come and gone and not even a twinge. DS (aged 2) keeps slapping my belly and shouting "come out baby" into my belly button - i reckon the baby is just too petrified to make a move. Sex, pinapple and curry clearly havent worked so shall drag myself up some hills today to see if exercise does the trick.

hope everyone is well and doing their best to enjoy the "holiday"

Congraluations dot1. Glad everything went well in the end and that little Dylan is here now safe and sound Hope the lack of entertainment (and net access) at the hosiptal isn't driving you insane - not to mention the hospital food.

Actually that reminds me to remember to pack lots of snacks in my hospital bag. I can remember after dd's birth how ravenously hungry I suddenly was but had to wait 3 hrs for food - and I thought the portions were on the small side.

Thanks girls for all the sympathies with my cold. I am still suffering with a blocked nose, sore throat etc so have decided to go and get some decongestant (thanks HMC for the tip), as I am well and truely fed up of not having a decent nights sleep - i know there will be plenty of those enough once the baby appears.

I hope MrsD is OK its been a few days since she last posted. I wonder if she is in with a section?

A week to go for me. I'm getting well and truely fed up already - like most of us I suspect.

mteroboy - sos to hear on the old front , know how u feel , have been doen for 2 weeks now , would not mind , but dh is responsible , will have to demand more chocolate me thinks

lots of tightenings , but no pain here , so either i am v lucky or miles away !

not too sure about being induced now , sounds a bit scarey !

sorry , cold not old

congratulations Dot, Juno and Dylan. Always good to hear of stroppy harridan behaviour!

hope you get out of hospital soon.

I am a hormonal wreck this weekend. due date tomorrow and not a twinge. so I just keep crying for no reason, and grumbling like mad at anything. People keep asking stupid things like "are you going away anywhere for Easter?" or "have you got any plans for this week?" Duh!

Ladies!Ladies!
Hello atlast. Your inclinations were indeed true.
My last post was Thursday evening when I exclaimed that I felt different! It was true and Friday night was an uncomfortable night and I was restless. At about 3am I experienced what I felt was a trickling when I rolled over and I found myself making numerous trips to the toilet.
In the morning I phoned my midwife saying that I think my waters had broken but I wasn't sure. I was afraid of another false alarm and looking stupid!! Anyway she told me she would be around later to check and suggested I went for a walk with the dog.
It was almost 3 pm when she had finished all her previous visits and finally got to me. I was slightly embarrassed because everything had gone quiet and there was no further evidence that my waters had gone!!! But she thought she would check anyway.
Initially it looked like they hadn't gone - until baby moved it's head!!! And the hind waters rushed out in a gush. It appeared that baby's head had been corking things all day!!
Unfortunately, there was also evidence of muconium so my plans of the waterbirth were suddenly sabotaged.
As it happened, I was admitted to the hospital where it was confirmed that I needed an induction because my waters had broken 12 hours previously and the presence of muconium meant that we had to get on without delay.
And so things progressed very quickly. At 7pm I was chatting conversationally through contractions as the syntoconin was commenced, an hour and a half later I was panicking at the strength of the contractions that I could no longer control and the epidural which I had previously dismissed suddenly became a hideous reality. I hate needles!!!
To cut a very long experience short, I was 5cm dilated at 11pm and fully dilated at 12.15am. Following an hour in which the epidural was topped up and I was allowed to rest, I started pushing at 1.15am and baby popped out at 2.10am Saturday 10th April!
To be very honest it was an experience that I can not do justice to here as I am sure every mother feels the same. I have finally understood that until it happens to you it is impossible to understand or even imagine.
I am home now (obviously) and I believe both of us are still in shock.
So hopefully, next time I post I shall seem a little more coherent!
Already we are looking forward to the arrival of my Mother who is 1. Horrified that I have been allowed home so soon
2. Feels I ought to supplement colostrum with water, so baby isn't hungry while waiting for my milk to come in (my boobs are a little sore)
3. Does not believe in demand feeding.
Infact holds opinions at odds with everything I have been led to understand so far. Help!!
Anyway, til next time
Good luck dolbear and everyone else waiting for babies!!

Mrs Doneitprettydamnwell, congratulations! Post on the birth thread pronto!

Smile sweetly at your mother (if possible) and don't take any notice...

mi
xxxxxxxxxx

MI is right, Mrs Doneitprettydamnwell
You're right about it being an experience you can't do justice to - you sound pretty coherent though! Orla is a lovely name - is it Irish?
Hope things with your mum go ok...

That's fantastic!!! - Congratulations to both Dot and to Mrs Dolittle. Two new babies - hurrah...

I hope Dot manages to live with the monotony of life in hospital until she is discharged, and Mrs Doolittle - sympathies re your mother. They are nearly all like that (want you to put baby to sleep on its stomach, wrap it in multiple layers of thick woolly blankets etc and everything else that went out with the ark! - but they mean well)

Brilliant news Mrs D!

you don't say how big Orla was? if she "popped" out I'm guessing not huge?

did your mother breastfeed?

It sounds as though epidurals are often the only sensible option after being induced. I'd certainly expect one at that point even though am not their biggest fan normallly.

Can't wait to join you all with new little babies. I have never known such a slow boring bank holiday weekend as this one....

Hello! And CONGRATULATIONS Mrs D - fab news!!!!

Well, I'm home - on day 2 post section - which would be because I was stroppy again (surely not?!). Soooooooo glad to be home, but in complete shock at it all and have been in floods of tears today and yesterday (I'm hoping just baby blues...). Dylan is completely gorgeous - tons of dark hair and very awake and active (although too active last night - wanted feeding every 1 1/2 hours...!). He's feeding really really well - I'm so impressed with how talented he is..! To be honest it's the best bit about it all - I love breastfeeding! And I really wasn't sure whether I could/wanted to do it - now I just sit there all blissed out while he feeds - to be honest I can't wait for the next time to feed him..!

Anyway, I'll stop wittering - thanks for all your support ladies - especially over the last few weeks - I'm SO glad it's all over for me - and I know if I can do it then we all can - can you believe, me, Mrs I-don't-like-internals having to have them put a clip on baby's head (his heart rate kept dropping) about 4 times - he kept moving and the clip kept falling off... Fortunately by then the epidural had kicked in - DEMAND THOSE DRUGS!!!

Keeping all fingers crossed for you Fennel, Dolbear, Lesley, Metrobaby, HMC and everyone else..!

It's Sunday afternoon and I am grabbing a few minutes to post while dd is asleep. Sorry I missed it before but Big Congratulations to you Dot and Dylan . Like you, I can't believe the bliss. I can't stop staring at her!!
Thank you so much everybody for all your kind messages, it was lovely to log on and see all your lovely comments .
Orla weighed in at 7lb 10oz, by the way - plenty of fat stores, they tell me!
Hopefully its not too long for everybody else waiting for their bundles of joy!! - Hewlettsdaughter, Fennel, Handlemecarefully and Lesley76!
Just a note for the sake of reality, I am also thinking nervously I need to go to the loo for a number two! Uhmmmmm!!!!

Goodluck to you too Metrobaby !!!

Hi there, good to hear from you both! Bet you're glad you're home now, Dot (make sure DP does all the running around for a while though!). Being in floods of tears sounds pretty normal for post-birth - at least it sounds like you've got the feeding sorted out. How is DS1? And MrsD, how has your dog taken to the new arrival?!