Due August 2020 Thread 2

[cannotmakemymindup]

Hello ladies new thread here for all of us been chatting on thread 1 due in August with our babies!

Sorry to hear your news, try to stay strong til Tuesday, your baby shower may help you take your mind off things, it will be good to get some support from a few close friends and family too. Take good care of yourself x

I'm so sorry to hear your news @Firstmummytobe, I cant imagine what you are going through. I agree with PPs it will be good to have your family and friends around you.

Stay strong @Firstmummytobe, thinking of you xx

Morning ladies! How we doing? Any craic? How you coping with the heat again?

@JMill13 hey it is so stuffy here today, I’m not enjoying it. Woke up this morning with the realisation I may we’ll have a newborn in 7 weeks
@Firstmummytobe did you enjoy your shower?

@JMill13 I obviously want coping at the weekend when I did my online shop order - it arrived this morning with three boxes of ice lollies luckily the sun is back today so I feel justified!

@Bert2020 I had a similar thought, so bizarre to think that in less time than since lock down started baby will (hopefully!) be here! I’m 31 weeks on Wednesday so onto the single figure countdown - scary stuff!!

@bert2020 ah same. Such a heavy heat day. So dull and grey though, making for a very uncomfortable work day. 7 weeks? Oh jeepers, getting so close! I'm hitting the 10 weeks to go panic 😂

@mable88 hahaha sounds like my weekly shop for the past couple of months. Our sun has decided to hide today, was beautiful yesterday though despite a weather warning for thunderstorms that never appeared.

@JMill13 I had my weekly ctg monitoring today and wearing a face mask in there is just awful especially in this heat, I was sweating 😅 the midwife said my heart rate was high and I said it's because I'm hot and can't breathe in these masks! Luckily I asked and we don't have to wear them in labour although our birth partners do.. so it might be worth looking at a cotton one for them as they'll need it on for hours and the hospital grade ones do feel rather thick!

Anyone starting to feel really uncomfortable now? Baby feels like it's tap dancing on my bladder and I need to pee every 5 minutes, when I go it's one drop 😂 5 minutes later it feels like I've been holding it for 3 hours again!

Great forward planning there @mable88!
@JMill13 time really is flying past now.
@squashie34 mine likes to play football with my bladder when I lay down, I have to go to the toilet what feels like 10 times before I even think to shut my eyes and it’s always a drop too!
Definitely look into the cotton masks, I got some of Etsy for £4.50 and they are so much more comfortable than the hospital ones.
My trust are currently saying masks until you are in active labour (4cm) and in your own room. It’s going to be hell. My first was born when there was snow on the ground and the ward was still so ridiculously hot, I’m dreading August!

@squashie34 oh god yeah I never even thought about masks in the heat. Do the hospital provide them do you reckon?

I'm wondering how mask wearing works for my asthmatics. It's hard enough to breathe being pregnant, worries me that I'll struggle more if I have to wear a mask. My asthma is very well controlled generally wouldn't know I have it but I'm sure there are plenty of people out there with bad asthma. I'm scared of struggling in a mask and the midwives thinking it's my asthma getting worse and then putting me off the Midwifery led birth plan.

Haha babies sure seem to love our bladders. I've been peeing that way since December. Actually thought I had a UTI or something around boxing day (before knowing I was pregnant) because it was so bad. Literally every 20mins to 1 hour, I'm up peeing and its generally a drop despite feeling like I'm fit to burst a dam 😂

@JMill13 they were giving them out at the door today as you walked into the women and children's section so I think this is probably standard practice.

I'm exactly like you and have mild but well controlled asthma- I hate wearing them as I feel like I breathe much shallower and it does make me panic a little bit which must have in turn brought my heart rate up! I'm definitely going to have a look on Etsy at some cotton ones then as they're thinner, might be much better- the hospital ones are awful! Poor midwives having to wear them all day.

@squashie34 I know, I feel sorry for hospital staff and carers having to wear them all day. Every midwife I've spoke to so far absolutely hates them. It's quite hard to make out what people are saying behind them as well like it becomes a bit muffled.

Are cotton ones as safe? I keep seeing all sorts of clothing websites selling them now but wasn't sure if they are actually good at being protective.

@JMill13 you add filters to increase the protection.

I’m based in Scotland, does anyone know if the masks in hospitals are being enforced here? I’m sorry but to ask a woman in labour to wear a mask is completely horrific & I definitely won’t be wearing one! I work in healthcare & basically live in them during the winter with flu season & they are horrendous they are hot, sweaty & claustrophobic when worn for short periods of time, let alone in labour where you are trying to focus on your breathing! My DP also has breathing anxiety so he will never agree to wear one during birth, so I’m not sure if this is going to be a problem? Hopefully by August this will be a thing of the past!

@newmama29 (not in Scotland but need to know about NI) so I'm definitely going to ask at my next midwife appointment to see what they say. Don't think it seems right that if the person in labour doesn't have to wear one why does the partner when generally 90% of the time the birthing partner will be coming from the same household anyway. Masks from what I can tell are only mandatory here on public transport but not sure about hospitals etc.

@JMill13 I know! It’s all getting a bit ridiculous IMO. I’m in the process of sorting out my birth plan for my next midwife appointment in 4 weeks time so I will discuss this with her then. I can’t see it being a rule that is enforced!

From reading around what my midwife said, I think birth partners 'wearing' them will extend to when the midwife or other medical staff are in the room only- she sort of alluded to when you are only in the rooms together no one will know. I think it's wrong- we all know that breathing is the key to managing anxiety and anxiety is the devil of delaying labour so I can see this panicking a lot of women.

Hey guys! Sorry if TMI but I think I may have just lost my mucus plug!? I'm a bit worried. I had an episode of bleeding around week 27 and I'm now week 33 and I just had a very small string of blood on my tissue. I'm monitoring it for now as it was so small and I can feel baby kicking normally I've had no other complications. Anyone else had anything similar so early?

@Beau2020 I think I lost some of my mucus plug yesterday! It was stringy and like egg white consistency but off white/yellowy colours. Googling images I could tell it wasn't the whole mucus plug as it wasn't that much. The plug itself seems quite big.

I mentioned it to my midwife today at the hospital and she said that it's common for you to lose bits of it about now, but to ensure it's clear/not have any blood in as that can be a sign labour could be coming in the next couple of weeks- therefore, I would just give them a call so they can check it. Don't worry though, The blood tinge in it is normal as that's why it's often called a 'bloody show' but it may just mean that your body is beginning some of the signs that labour could be soon. I just would get it checked seeing as you've had episodes of bleeding too.

@squashie34 oh really!! That's good to know I'm not the only one then! Ahh okay that's interesting to know, I'll definitely give the midwife a call just to make sure but I'm trying not to panic just yet 🙈😂 it's all becoming very real now

@Beau2020 yes call the midwife but no please don't panic as the mucus plug is a natural part of labour, and if they get you in to examine at least that will give you some assurance instead of worrying about it?

I know what you mean, I had a dull lower back ache Friday and Saturday and then when I lost that bit of plug I had a huge panic, not that anything was 'wrong' as such, but that realistically we could you into labour anytime now really is little ones decide! It's really real!

Do let us know what the midwife says x

@Beau2020 should have added I'm also 33 weeks so same time! I think our due dates may be close if I remember rightly?

@Firstmummytobe Hope you enjoyed your baby shower. Good luck for tomorrow, I'll be thinking of you.

@squashie34 yes im exactly 33 weeks too!

Although I'm monthly growth scans as there is some confusion around my due date (they have a feeling she could be 2 weeks ahead) but like you say they will be here when they are ready!

Hey ladies! Hope you're all ok, been thinking of you all on the thread. Was finally given the go ahead to shield from work at last so i finish on Friday.. no more wearing masks all day! Think it's now time to enjoy my pregnancy and do things i want to do.