Due September 2022 (Thread 7!)

[HaresHoping]

Hiya everyone,

Just starting a new thread for when we need it as thread 6 is almost full! ☺️

@Butterflytulip that's what I am thinking I have a child with additional needs so would be handy to have a date that I can work to.. i just honestly don't think I can deal with another horrific one.. I thought it would be 39 weeks I bet it feels weird having the date you will meet your baby lol xx

@Butterflytulip had my midwife app and she was amazing she has referred me for a follow up consultant app as she was unhappy with the way it was carried out in April and also referred me to a higher up midwife whom will be my advocate to put a solid plan in place I will have a couple of options for example if I go into spontaneous labour like I have done with my boys then I will have a epidural straight away and if I don't have a spontaneous labour then they will bring me in just before 39 weeks and do a sweep if nothing happens it will be an elective c section... they think she is head down I will believe that when I see it everytime they say that by touch I see on the scan she is breech with her foot in her mouth lol I feel so much better now she also said that with my second labour I should of been moved for an emergency C-section but obviously that didn't happen.. she really understood my feelings about it all especially with my son having additional needs and me needing some sort of date... i just need to wait for the other midwife to call me and sort things out xx

@Sweetbabydust1989 I'm so glad to hear your appointment went well. You don't have to take the sweep, you can just have the c section booked. Totally up to you and I'm sure at your next appt that can be discussed with your consultant. Hope you feel better about it all now 😊

I agree with this, I think it's weird they measure bumps/babies as if they should all be the same, regardless of the parents' sizes.

I also got told to go to GP for iron tablets after my 28 week appointment, the midwife pre-warned me it would likely happen as she said it happens to 9/10 people at this stage.

So after getting very cocky that this child will behave and stay utterly put till induced, I had another bout of contractions from 4-7am today. Definitely the real deal and not BH. Very frustrating as I am eating well, not over exercising, growing as I should and basically doing everything right on paper. I think it could be related to dehydration as I have pounded 2 bottles of water, and the stomach cramps stopped, and now its just a bit of a sore back, but no rythym to it anymore. In LA it is 30-35 celcius most day right now, and I drink a decent amount of water, but overnight I do forget as I am always bloody up peeing, and I don't want to run the AC, as it is so expensive, but maybe i'll have to just pay it. I have my covid booster in an hour as I'm eligible here for a 2nd one and there is a massive wave ongoing, so a bit scared that I won't know what is a side effect or not, but at least the pains have stopped for now. Either way, I think this was the motivation I needed to actually pack a damn hospital bag just in case. I have a doctors checkup next week, and an ultrasound (32 weeks), so hopefully if things are opening up early they will see it.

Is anyone else in the boat of being on their own with no family nearby for if they go into labour in the middle of the night? Friends have offered to take our DD if needed, but I can't imagine calling them at 2am, and I genuinely have no idea what to do if that happens. My last labour was about 12 hours from waters breaking to birth so i'm very aware that this time could be half that or less. My MIL was planning to come down at 37 weeks for a few days, but we have no idea when this child will arrive. How long is a piece of string!?

@Belle2210 awww yes we are in the same situation! I'm looking forward to my 32 week scan now to hopefully get a decision on a section or not, then I feel like I can start to mentally prepare myself either way!
A few friends have recommended a local lady who does some hypnobirthing classes but I don't think there's much point in me investing if I'm having a c section, so I'll reassess after the scan.
Yes surely the dads dna has an effect on the size of the baby! So strange that they say it doesn't??
Aww @madeleine85 that sounds scary with the possible contractions!! Hope you're ok and they stay away for now x

I think I dropped out of these threads for several months - whoops. (Though mine's now probably going to be a August baby, though my due date is still in September, as they don't want me going past 37 weeks.)

It seems I make very tiny babies, DD was born below the 0.2th percentile (in my notes, she's officially referred to as a 0th percentile baby). And this one is currently on the 3rd. I have growth scans every two weeks, so I'm just hoping baby can keep growing on that line at least. I'm not too worried because DD is absolutely fine health-wise (and while still in the small side, no longer down the bottom of all the percentiles!) So the likelihood is that this baby will be the same.

@Goodgoodthings I had an EMCS with DD and wanted to try for a VBAC this time round but it's now not an option (unless I go into spontaneous labour before 37 weeks I suppose) as I don't want to be induced. I think I did have (ridiculous) feelings of wanting to get it "right" this time round. I've been telling myself the benefits of an EMCS though - I'll know when it is so can plan everything, which is particularly useful as they want me to give birth in another hospital about 90 minutes away, as the local one doesn't have a NICU. This is standard in my area for any baby born before 37 weeks, or estimated to be small, just in case they do need support. Also, unlike with DD, I won't have been awake for 36 hours straight when this one arrives! I very much hope, anyway!

I meant benefits of an ELCS, not EMCS!

@110APiccadilly ah I'm the same! It's nice to have this thread though I still don't know many people who are pregnant at the same time in "real life" so appreciate the chat here.

I remember you saying about your emcs last time, thanks for making me feel less alone on the weird thoughts! I had my VBAC consultation yesterday and the consultant didn't even really discuss benefits of VBAC after looking at my notes thankfully, it felt nice to be validated in that sense. My last labour ended in an episiotomy and attempted assisted delivery before I had to have the csection. I'm relieved to know that hopefully my recovery will be a bit more straight forward this time going down the elcs route! And as you say knowing the date etc will be great. Hope you're feeling good about knowing the date!

My little girl was 9lbs 7oz at 40+4 but never predicted "big". For those who were feeling a bit nervous about the birth I'd really recommend reading/listening to positive birth stories on Instagram or podcasts. If you read the less positive stories try to remember that every birth really is different, it's a huge thing that our bodies are doing but your body was absolutely designed to do this - and when things don't go to plan there are amazing people on hand to help you who have seen a lot.

I am doing such a terrible job of keeping up but it seems like there's loads going on for lots of us! @madeleine85 how are you doing now? That must have been scary. Hope the contractions have stopped now? Trying to cope in that heat can't be helping, bless you 😔

When it comes to baby size my bump measured way off the charts 😂 so I have no idea what's going on. I knew it would though because my bmi is really high. It's a stupid way to track things. Looking forward to having a growth scan soon.

I'm a bit fed up tbh. Had a busy week of travelling for work which has aggravated my PGP (self diagnosed but pretty sure I have it or dodgy hips and back at the least anyway) and I came home yesterday so excited to finally spend time with my DH after he has been super busy with work for weeks and we've barely seen each other... only to discover last night he's got covid. First time for our household so I'm both sad that I can't spend time with him and scared about catching it in the third trimester. Ugh. Seems to be everywhere again. Has anyone else had it in the third tri? I'm triple jabbed so hoping this helps 🤞🏻

Hope everyone is doing ok this weekend. Shit is getting real now isn't it! As a FTM I'm freaking out slightly about the birth too, trying to focus on antenatal class advice and positive birth stories. I found Yorkshire Midwives on Call on the BBC quite comforting to watch, while it still looked like hard work it wasn't the horror stories you often hear about.

@HaresHoping aww sorry you're feeling fed up! I had covid last week, kindly given to me by my OH, and thankfully I was fine. I know it's different for everyone, but I thought it was hayfever at first, until he tested positive (he had been away and a few of his friends also tested positive so that's why I'm saying he gave it to me 🤣). Anyway my test came up
as positive right away. I've never had it before and felt nervous about it, but I would describe it for me as a head cold. I know some people feel more unwell when they get it but hopefully you'll be ok if you do get it. In a weird way I enjoyed having a few days off work and relaxing at home!

@Redapple21 that has made me feel so much calmer, thank you! Though sorry you had to get it 😫 I think looking at the NHS website scared me a bit as there's lots of frightening things on there but I guess that's to try and encourage people to get vaccinated. I'm sure the jabs will do their job and keep it mild if I do get it🤞🏻how long did you have it for do you think?

@HaresHoping it's normal to freak out about birth! I don't know who wouldn't tbh! If it makes you feel better, I had a brilliant birth - I did a hypnobirthing class. I watched videos of women giving birth (do NOT watch one born every minute!!) and reassured myself every day that I could do it! There are such brilliant Instagram resources these days advocating for lovely calm births and posting videos etc to watch which show you it's not like tv/movies at all. Also, I'd recommend the positive birth book by milli hill :)

@legaltigger I agree there are some excellent resources on Instagram. I've found a couple about breastfeeding that have made me feel positive about trying it again. I wanted to give it a go with DD but we hit some complications and it didn't work.

All this contributed towards my PND as I was beating myself up for not delivering get vaginally. She was breech and 5 weeks early, the consultant suggested it wasn't in either of our bests interests to go naturally and I did agree.

I'm finding things a bit of a slog at the moment. I'm trying my best to live a GD friendly life, changing my food etc. I'm also having some behaviour troubles with DD at bedtime as it has really dawned on her that she is going to have to share me soon!

I'm booked in for a 4D scan later this morning and we are taking DD with us. I'm hoping this will help us with the behaviour! She is normally such a sweet and lovely girl so it's been a real shock to me when she has been not so nice.

Oh @TurquoiseDreamCatcher that all sounds really tough. The 4D scan is such a good idea to help her to feel involved and part of things! I hope it goes really well. It seems like you're doing brilliantly with the GD stuff but it must be a slog having to switch stuff around. I'm visualising an amazing post birth carb feast for you, you'll certainly deserve it!

@legaltigger that is really helpful to know! Thank you ❤️ I'll have a look at that book too. I've heard one born every minute is def one to avoid! I'm doing an active birth class which includes hypnobirthing type stuff and I think that will help too. I'm not usually into that kind of stuff but I feel like I want to tap into it all as a positive mindset will really make the difference I think!

100% agree on avoiding things like 1 born every minute! I wanted to add that even though my last birth didn't go to plan in the end, my labour until 10cm (when things turned in my situation) was so peaceful and positive because of the hypnobirthing I did and I think the affirmations really helped me stay calm in the run up too.

From my experience, I just wish I didn't completely reject the idea that I was going to have anything other than a positive birth 😂 as I was clueless about csection/episiotomy recovery, and spent so much time focusing on "positive, natural" birth that mine felt negative and unnatural in comparison for a long time.

Language around birth can be so odd and I think it's important to consider, failure to progress, assisted delivery, natural labour etc. After having my daughter people would often comment on my lucky "sunroof" delivery and I literally wanted to scream. Avoiding those people this time around!

@HaresHoping yeah a lot of it was proper cringey especially when my husband had to read scripts to me in class and I just laughed in his face hahaha. I took what I needed and left the wishywashy stuff.

@HaresHoping Ah yes try not to Google, honestly I was fine. The baby was so active too which kept my mind at ease. I'd say I felt like I had a cold for around 4 days. But honestly it was fine, so even if you do catch it, try not to panic x

Thanks everyone, the contractions stopped after about 3 hours this time and 2 bottles of water. Second time this pregnancy, last one was caused by dairy intolerance reaction (I crave ice cream even though I know I shouldn’t!). Back to normal except my lower back is sore, which took a few days to go the last time too. Almost reassuring that I know what they are this pregnancy and what to try to stop them. Mucus plug still in, waters unbroken and no bleeding, so hope the doctor this week agrees we’re still all safe In there another few weeks. My inner cheapness are running the AC has been overruled by my husband 😂 until the middle of August.

I had the Covid booster (Moderna) yesterday and only got a sore arm. Very pleasantly surprised. We had Covid 2+ years ago now and horrible reactions to the J&J and Pfizer, so maybe my base immunity was gone which is honestly scary, and I’m very glad there’s a chance that this baby comes with antibodies for a few months, and maybe i avoid Covid (though at this point I feel overdue). Hope everyone that’s caught it recently is feeling ok now. Next up, whooping cough one next weekend, but I’ve learned my lesson, as I got the needle in my left arm yesterday, so of course couldn’t sleep on it last night and that’s the safe pregnancy side 🤦‍♀️. I’ll never learn!

I'm terrible with sleeping on my left. I can't breathe through my nose very well when I sleep on my left for some reason and I also have a historical injury to my left shoulder (fell out of the loft a couple of years ago) so don't find it comfortable at all so I'm mostly on my right side 😬 with dd though my ribs hurt so much that I could only tolerate laying on my back and we were ok so trying not to feel too bad !

Thank you @Redapple21 you've really reassured me ❤️

That is really good to know @Goodgoodthings! Yes I agree it's a good idea to have a well rounded expectation and try to educate ourselves on all possible outcomes so we're prepared whatever happens.

@legaltigger that sounds funny 😂 I was the one in antenatal class last week that laughed during a breathing exercise. It's always me! I can't help myself.

@TurquoiseDreamCatcher that's brilliant news 🥳 fingers crossed baby is nicely tucked away and now you know that AC will be worth every penny 😉 everything is so expensive at the minute though isn't it!

Sorry @TurquoiseDreamCatcher I tagged you instead of @madeleine85 🤦🏻‍♀️ I find this app so hard to use haha

Oh and @legaltigger and @madeleine85 Tommys have updated their guidance about sleeping to say that either side is probably ok. The left hand side thing was only based on a few studies and actually it seems like they were just erring on the side of caution. I sleep on both sides as I have to toss and turn throughout the night with hip pain anyway and this reassured me.

You can read more here www.tommys.org/pregnancy-information/im-pregnant/sleep-side/sleep-side-pregnancy-campaign

@legaltigger i slept on my back the whole last pregnancy till she came at 34.5 weeks. No judgement here!!

@HaresHoping that is so useful to know!! I was a right side or back sleeper pre pregnancy, so this gives me a little literal wiggle room 😂. Thank you!