Anyone due in April - part 3

[Debbiethemum]

Hope nobody minds me starting a new thread, but the old one was taking forever to load.

Who is still waiting? It's just that the thread has been very quiet of late.

I am having this baby, the day afer tomorrow (c-section), when are the rest of you due. Sorry I can't remember

morning ladies !

i'm still here too. have had more pineapple but no sex due to huge MIL based arguement lastnight with DH. the upshot is that against my better judgement she's due to arrive this afternoon and will probably stay until this baby decides to arrive. Not hugely happy about this as in my current mental state its unlikely i will remain on my best behaviour for the duration. Still, at least DS adores her and will be kept entertained.

Lesley, Fennel - what can i say other than you have my full sympathy - neither of you sound like you have particularly supportive or rational in-laws. People are indeed strange and none of it is your fault.

MrsD - you sound really blissed out - can't wait - really want some action now !

am seriously uncomfortable and bloated after a large pineapple! Ugh.

So is anyone still on good terms with their dh/dp? My midwife started muttering about induction and dp looked very hopeful at the possibility I could go and be induced soonish if I insisted. But I bit his head off at the idea - still hoping it won't come to that and also hoping to be patient enough to just hold out indefinitely for a "natural" start to labour.

emmagee, if its any comfort my blood pressure shot up 2 weeks ago and then dropped back to normal at last weeks check so perhaps your BP wont stay elevated.

Dont want to get your hopes up but i read it could be a sign of labour about to start and is also quite normal in late pregnancy. Taking it easy and ensuring you keep your endomorphins high with sufficient daily doses of chocolate is about all you can do

Dolbear - todays the day isn't it ? good luck if you're out there !

Fennel - what about having a sweep if you are desperate? (however as you know i have zero experience of this). i was asking Gp yesterday ( she has two kids under 5yo & is quite non doctor like). She said she would take sweep if offered coz then you can just go home and get on with it & if it doesn't work you've not lost anything (except the discomfort of having it done of course). At least you don't have to stay in hosp & be monitored, as you do with gel or breaking the waters.

Peppergirl, glad to hear that there is a scientific reason for eating chocolate...coz I've just scoffed the other half of 4yo's Easter egg while she watches CBeebies...........

Ladies, you are sounding desperate now. Or maybe I am just jolly - dd is sleeping peacefully in the centre of my bed next door!
Lesley76, I don't know if tips is the word but I would definately offer more memoirs of my experience but I am not sure how much people really want to know. You can contact me via another talker if you would prefer. But then you may already be in labour?
I can't believe that this time last week I was pregnant and afraid to hope that the twinges I was feeling may be the signs of imminent birth!
I CAN BEND NOW!!!! Hoorayyy!!!
My milk came in yesterdayand today I have boobs like melons, so despite the pain (Ouch that sucking reflex!!) I let her feed and feed and feed this morning. That was 7am and she is still asleep, only stirring slightly as I take with me as I move about the house. This truly is a blissful time. I was VERY oedematous following the birth (I can't belive it was four days ago) and that is all going now. I can't stop going to the toilet and my 'undrecarraige' with it's 2nd degree tear feels like it is getting a chance to heal nicely now (I refused stitches). suddenly my hands look like my hands now and not butchers hands.
Anyway, all the best to all of you. The best advice I can give to those first-timers like me is that you have no ide what is coming but honestly, it will all be worth it in the end!!!!!

Oh and you can ask me about sweeps too. I had two!!

Oh go on then..............you know you are desperate to spill the beans............we want all the gruesome details

And no I'm NOT in labour ( can't you tell????)

I'm off to take 4yo to nursery then go shopping. So i expect to come back & have all my questions answered. After all, its not like you have anything better to do with your time than sit at the computer satisfying my curiosity...........

yes do spill all the gory details Mrs D!

Lesley, I guess I must come across as very inconsistent, I want this baby out but also want it naturally if possible. I sort of feel that sweeps, inductions etc are not necessary til at least 41 weeks and probably 42 weeks, after all that is a perfectly natural gestation period. (if a little tedious while waiting).

actually if it weren't for the hassles of childcare and DP getting a bit tired of me being so stroppy, I would be OK waiting, I think. It is tedious but on days like today, house to myself, noone making demands on me, it's not tooooo bad.

also, didn't need sweep or induction with dd1 or dd2. so I know dd3 will come someday...

BUT am never ever going to eat a whole pineapple in one go again. Have learnt one thing today, while neither works, sex is far preferable to pineapple.

Hi everyone - I'm still here too. I didn't have a chance to check this thread yesterday but I wanted to wish DebbieTheMum all the best for her section today.

HMC - I'm due on exactly the same day as you ! I went for a checkup today and was told baby's head is 3/5ths engaged so the midwife said that things could be happening very soon. She reckons the baby's head getting engaged was a result of the painful BH I was having last Sunday night. I've got my hopes up now.

Emmagee - I had high blood pressure the week before - it had stayed consistently low during the pg, but then suddenly doubled. I had to go to the hospital the next day to be monitored for a bit, but by that time - and even now, my BP had returned to normal. DH reckons it could have been due to my Mum being over that day and sending my BP soaring - I think he has a point there !

Fennel - I've been mardy with my DH for weeks now and especially during these last weeks as he seems to have conviently forgotten that I am pg. Yesterday he told 2 people that I was only 8.5 months gone. Errr - hello - I am about ready now. Also he still can't understand why I get so tired all the time and restricted in things that I do. Honestly sometimes I feel like giving him a good clunk on the head.

Toots - hi - how are you doing ?? I've been meaning to ask you how are getting along. Is this your 3rd ?

Lesley and Fennel - much sympathies with the inlaws and parents. Maybe they will be more interested once the baby is here.

I forgot to ask Dolbear too how your cold was ? Are you over it now ??

Metrobaby, my baby's head has been 2/5 engaged at the last 2 check-ups, which is further than 3/5 isn't it? (I still get confused there) - so why is my midwife muttering about induction and going off the homebirth scheme?

Am used to useless and irritating in-laws and parents, was only ranting so lesley and others didn't feel too alone in that! Sometimes it seems as though everyone has useful parents around but there's lots of us who don't.

maybe I am being unfair to my dp (who is incapable of understanding constant tiredness, he's far better with a fit healthy partner which I usually am) - just had to email him at work to ask where we keep the vacuum cleaner, it's so long since I last used it

A stretch and sweep is dead wierd!! Basically.
It's a bit odd having a VE, I thought, and I hadn't had one of those until about three weeks ago.
With the first one my cervix although dilated was well back (apparently) and still thick. However with a little effort the midwife was able to push her fingers through the cervix. Now the wierd bit is that you can feel her inside you - a bit like tickling, you know when your baby is moving right down at the bottom? Your cervix doesn't have any pain sensors so you don't feel any pain, as such but you can feel sensation. If I am honest, the worst bit was feeling her knuckles pressing into my bottom so she could reach my cervix. Oh I should mention that my MW also asked me to clench my hands together and place them underneath my bottom to lift me up - which makes sense. The sweep bit involved the MW 'sweeping' her fingers from side to side trying to detach the membranes from around the mouth of the cervix and encourage activity (does that make sense?). However, the greatest effort on my part involved trying to hold my position on my clenched fists with my bum in the air!!! Nothing came of this sweep - I guess Orla just wasn't ready to come. She had made up her mind she wanted to come at Easter!!
The second sweep was different for a number of reasons. Firstly, I was showing positive signs of labour, I thought my waters had broken. My cervix although still only 2cm dilated was 'fully effaced', so it had thinned out completely and come forward in my vagina. As a consequence it was relatively easy for the MW to insert her fingers past the cervix, so no knuckles digging into ones bottom!!! But, I also seemed to be a lot more sensitive inside and I felt alot more sensation. I say sensation because that is what is was like for me, but apparently it can be painful for some women, we are all different. We know that! It was at this point that my MW disturbed the baby and she moved her head. The hind waters had broken, hence the trickling the night before, but the head of the baby had been acting like a cork as I was up and about all day (trying to induce labour). It was at this point we realised tat my waters had therefore gone 13 hours before and this was further complicated by the suspicion that there was muconium in it too.
So I have to say, things changed pretty rapidly from a frustrating morning of late pregnancy again - have or haven't they gone? are they are they not contractions? And endless pacing about the house, to a mild state of panic i.e. OMG This is IT!!!!
Needless to say a few phonecalls later we had changed plan and hospitals and were driving in for an induction, despite all my hopes that we weren't. I had NO IDEA what lay ahead of me.

Fennel my DH is the same! He is used to me being fit and healthy too. I don't know why your midwife is being so down - I thought the head getting engaged was a good sign that things were moving. It would be a shame not to go ahead with the home birth. Are you all prepared for it ?

I forgot to say about the high BP they only expressed concern with it I was told as it could indicate pre-eclampsia but if that was the case your urine would show protein. Mine didn't so I was OK.

Both my parents and inlaws drive me nuts too. The worse thing is that they come with the intention of trying to help but all they succeed in doing is winding me up or trying to intefer with 'well meaning advice'. I know I shouldn't complain but there have been times when I seriously want to run away

Am feeling fine today - if a little weary. Have just plonked 2 year old in front of telly as he was using me as a climbing frmae when he wasn't falling over and wailing in the garden - he seems to be going through a supremely clumsy stage and falls over thin air - poor child, his face is covered in bruises! Also he seems to be missing his big sister's company, not surprisingly.

I was worried about pre-eclampsia, but when MW found BP was realy high she made me do a urine sample and said it was fine - I think that perhaps 4 days of Grandparents - albeit very helpful supportive ones had worn me out.

Just been sent this by DH, very funny babies

Hello! Blimey - a whole new thread..! I also feel homeless now ds2 is here - not that I've had any chance at all to log on - he flipping eats for England..!!

Still thinking about you all though - can't wait for all the April babies to be born - I think we should start an April babies thread, or I'll miss everyone!

ds1 is coping admirably - better than we thought - he's not overly affectionate towards ds2, but every now and then will come and have a look and a bit of a stroke of his head or something - very sweet!

Had a great night last night - Dylan only woke up at 2am and 5am for feeds!! I'm sure we'll pay for it tonight with half hourly feeds or something...

Anyway, yes, do get stroppy re: pain relief and coming home if you need to - I can't recommend it enough! At least it gives me something to chuckle about when I get labour 'flashbacks'...

GOOD LUCK EVERYONE!!!

oops - that last message was from me (dot!) not her (Juno!) - should have checked the password details...!

Mrs D - thanks for info about sweeps. Doesn't sound as bad as i thought. Of course today i have no intention of asking for this but ask me again this time next week............

Fennel - don't understand why MW is hassling you about changing your home birth plans. If you've had two babies already surely you know what its all about?????? You stick to your guns girl

Bless you Metrobaby. This will be my second.
I think relationships enter a whole new dimension once a woman goes overdue, in which time in particular means something very different to you or dh/dp. My dp thought I'd flipped my lid, when he referred to me as a week overdue. 'It's ten f*ing days. Ten. Not a week. TEN DAYS' I seem to remember was my purple faced reply.

Hi all, had no access to PC today as builders were round finishing off a few things. Had midwife appointment this afternoon, head still 3/5 engaged (2/5 'palpable'. When I got back I sat on the patio and watched the builders work - felt like Lady Muck! Sorry to hear about your BP, Emmagee - the fact that your urine sample was fine rules out pre-eclampsia though, doesn't it?
Fennel - is there a 'deadline' round your way by when they like to induce? Can't see why your MW should be muttering about induction otherwise. Agree with Lesley - if you don't want to be induced yet, stick to your guns!
Good to hear from the rest of you - sounds like breastfeeding's really working for Dot and MrsD - well done you (and your babies!). I had quite a lot of trouble establishing breastfeeding with ds, am hoping things will be easier this time round...

Don't know how that winky face got there...
Toots