Babies due April 2023 thread 3

[ncbn1]

Following on from thread 2..

@OttilieKnackered I barely ate anything from 6 weeks to about 14 weeks with my first, and she turned out just fine despite me only eating toast! She was enormous, over 10lbs! Even though I lost over a stone in the first trimester. So I wouldn't worry about that, the baby will get what it needs.

I'm not sure how to make it feel better though. I hated it last time I could barely leave the house. I'm taking vitamin B6 this time in the hope it will help ease it off a bit as I saw a study where women suffering with nausea had reduced B6 levels.

@Sunnyxo i missed Richard in it, it’s a shame the actor passed away. Wasn’t overly thrilled with the cliff hanger ending either

I am lacking in the symptom department too, they come and go in waves so when they disappear I’m like “wait! Come back” 😂 wishing for nausea 😂😂 the only consistent one is my boobs are massive. The rest are just part timers

@ancienthouse oh that’s quite reassuring. Slightly terrified about losing a stone though. Did you work? Or were you just off sick for weeks?

I am currently working from home mainly
on a laptop so I can book in events and answer emails but I cancelled a zoom meeting cos I just didn’t feel able to speak to someone and potentially retch/throw up on camera.

Not sure if I’m just being dramatic though.

@OttilieKnackered thank you! I think I’ve been very lucky so far although I am struggling to find things I want to eat, I don’t like the thought of eating so many things, especially in the morning but feel bad not eating! Sorry you’ve been feeling so sick x

@Gilm0reGirl thank you! It’s a rollercoaster isn’t it! X

My birth was fine, I think? 🤣 Just really long! 2 paracetamol at home before bed then gas and air in hospital all night long, baby arrived lunch time next day after a little help from suction and a small episiotomy right at the end. From the first 'oooh, is this a contraction?' to baby in my arms was an exhausting 30hours with 2.5hrs of active pushing stage. The most painful bit was that my waters didn't break and baby was almost born with sac in tact, just as MW went to break them manually they exploded everywhere all over the MW face 🤣🙈 but omg that relief at that point was amazing!

How was yours?

@Gilm0reGirl it was really sad he passed. I was hoping the cliff hanger might mean another serious but it's been 6 years already, which is scary to think, I actually can't quite believe it's flown by like that...would be nice to know who the dad is! 😂

Wow sooo much to catch up on but before I read through everything, @AliceinSlumberland just wanted to say a couple things (which may have already been mentioned as haven't read the 4 more more pages yet haha!) -

1. I think totally possible to go to the wedding at 6 weeks pp, especially if breastfeeding as you can just whack out a boob and keep baby in sling as others have said. Easy(?!). DH could take baby during the ceremony. Just make sure the dress is breastfeeding friendly and that you can wear a bra with breast pads as others have said too :) at 6 weeks old babies really just sleep and eat and want to be close so actually it's quite a good time to go to a wedding, if you have a comfy sling!

1. As already said by pp, important if you want to breastfeed not to intro a bottle or dummy too early - this ensures your supply is well established and baby gets enough milk and that they don't get bottle preference! After about 6/8 weeks it's generally considered safer to intro a bottle e.g. of expressed milk and a dummy if you wish, as the breastfeeding relationship is more established so less likely to affect it negatively. Are you planning to do NCT? There's also a brilliant book and course (the course is free and online) by La Leche League I would recommend. The book is called Womanly Art of Breastfeeding. I'm very passionate about breastfeeding, still bf my almost 2 year old, and know quite a bit as am a trained doula so very happy to answer any questions! <3

1. Slings verses carriers - a stretchy sling such as a Freerider is great when they're tiny, and then a more structured carrier such as the Ergobaby is great for when they're a bit bigger :)

@Margo34 30 hours! You champ! I was induced at 37w for various reasons, 12 hours start to finish, forceps 😱 it wasn’t that bad to be honest but I got to full dilation in 6 hours which was really painful. The forceps was probably the best bit as I had a spinal and I remember chatting away to the anaesthetist telling her how amazing it was 😂 I’ll be induced again but I’ve got a few ideas about how I can make it better this time. I feel like last time I was very passive as I was convinced the induction wouldn’t work.

@KilledAnotherPlant really sorry to hear your news. I hope you're OK. Sending love xx

@Wouldloveanother I was induced on the Saturday and gave birth on Tuesday. I had an epidural before I had the drip which I think helped a lot. The pain from the pessary (no drip) was actually way lighter than with the drip and mobile epidural in! I could feel it as soon as the drip went in and every time they turned it up it was a significant ramp up, even with epidural top ups.

@chillichillioil so so happy for you that you got a reassuring scan! Yay, I knew that other sonographer was wrong!

@AliceinSlumberland just one more recomendation which I think @Margo34 said - definitely don't overbuy! We don't need that much really, there is loads that you can get which ends up not being used and easy to grab stuff you do need from Amazon. And re wanting to bf but ensuring baby takes a bottle, if you can hold off on giving one till 4 weeks I've heard that should both help your supply but also means baby almost guaranteed to take a bottle. I've heard of babies taking one from birth and still breastfeeding, and I've heard of it ruining breastfeeding when done too early so I definitely think it depends. But it's important for your supply to breastfeed a lot on demand in the early weeks, as all that feeding will ultimately establish your supply for months to come. And the crucial thing is to pace feed and use slow flow bottle teats when giving bottles. I'm sure you'll figure it out - reading about / doing courses on breastfeeding and the fourth trimester will help a lot!

@MamaOh I'm a big fan of safe cosleeping, it got me through the fourth trimester, the four month sleep regression, everything 😅we did it from day 2 even while in hospital, it just felt natural and really helped with breastfeeding and actually getting some sleep. Another good book on this is Sweet Sleep :)

@Wouldloveanother I had an on-paper quite traumatic birth, four days of labour - mostly at home, and hypbonithing plus tens machine plus birth pool helped a LOT - but in the end transferred to hospital and had an epidural as was just exhausted and my progress stalling, Idid end up birthing vaginally - instrumental birth and had a tear and lost a lot of blood which wasn't good, but ultimately I knew a lot about birth and was pretty informed and empowered so I think that made a difference in how well I processed it. I only felt pushed into decisions a couple of times. I even tried to birth in an upright position with the epidural 😅we also had about a week in hospital after as they were worried we both had an infection but it meant I got a lot of support with breastfeeding (I had to ask though, constantly ringing the bell etc) and I actually remember this week fondly now. I'm definitely going to try for a home birth again this time :) Oh and re the next to me crib - have a look at Next2Me Forever - it's great as a lot bigger so lasts longer and turns into a toddler bed! x

@Wouldloveanother also can really relate to the relief of the spinal! It was like that for me when the epidural kicked in... I definitely needed it at that point after about 3 days hardly any sleep and I just conked out as soon as it kicked in... the relief! That's great your induction went relatively well and it worked quickly :)
Also re symptoms/ cravings - I'm very similar to you still! All the cold sweet stuff or all the stodgy salty stuff please!

@Wouldloveanother omg I was pregnant for practically a whole month longer than you 😱 I asked for a spinal but they said no you're doing fine and it'll be over soon 😔 12 hours would have been the dream! My sisters and mother all had 6hr or less for their births so I was all a bit cocky like yep that'll be me too! But nope.

Oh forgot about the gas and air - that helped too! I'm weirdly looking forward to birth again, I just hope it's not as long and I'm able to get to the end without an epidural and everything goes ok - healthy mum and baby etc!

@Margo34 can relate to being set up for a shorter labour - my mum had me within 9 hours, at home, no tears etc - I was her first baby and so I also naively also thought this would be me! 😅

@OttilieKnackered I did work but I worked from home on the worst days and I had a very understanding boss. Commuting on public transport was awful so I changed my hours to avoid rush hour if I could.

I was a bit overweight anyway so losing a stone was fine. It also meant all the weight I put on later in the pregnancy was just the baby/placenta etc so it was less of a body change for me.

@Skylark1990 did you buy or rent the tens machine? I didn't get one last time but I wish I had. My labour was verrry slow and by the 4th day with no sleep and constant contractions (DD was back to back) I was struggling. I swore I wouldn't get an epidural but yeah the relief was amazing!! I also tried to push on all fours because I got them to turn the epidural off for that stage but it ended up being an obstructed labour because of baby's size and position so ended in a c section when her heartbeat started to drop.

@ancienthouse our labours sound similar - I'm sorry yours ended in emergency c section, that must have been quite scary 😥yes I was the same, 4 days with basically no sleep was very hard. I rented the tens machine alongside the birth pool from a website called Gentle Births www.gentlebirthsbirthingpoolhire.co.uk/ - you can just hire the Tens, you dont have to get the pool too. I would so recommend one, it really helped over the first few days while I was in that early/latent stage of labour. As soon as I was 4 cm I got into the pool and also used gas and air then when I stalled at 7cm for a few hours, we tried loads of stuff but eventually went into hospital and had the epidural. Definitely what I needed at that point but I was glad to have done the time at home too! And the hypnobirthing breathing exercises helped hugely. My DD was also in an awkward position, hence the longer labour. Positioning is so important! I was gutted as I'd been quite careful with how I'd sat for weeks in the hopes it would help her position but maybe it was just the shape of my pelvis. I think first births tend to be more likely to be longer etc - hopefully our bodies are a bit more stretched out now!

@Skylark1990 and @ancienthouse 4 days of labour, you troopers! And I thought mine was long at 30hrs!!

@Skylark1990 thank you that's so helpful. I went into hospital quite early because I was really overdue but I should have stayed at home longer, it would have been more relaxing. This time I'll stay at home as long as I possibly can! I'd love a home birth but I think I'd be too worried to have a VBAC at home.
It's funny isn't it, I did hypnobirthing and all the bouncing babies stuff to try to help with position and in the end it didn't really do anything. but at least I know I tried!

@ancienthouse I stayed at home for as long as possible to the extent my DH was like right that's it we're going in now! I was 41+1 and all my NCT friends had horrendous labours (I was last) where they'd gone in too early and were labouring alone because of COVID rules and not being enough dilated by that point for partners to stay so I was very aware of staying home as long as possible.

@ancienthouse oh yes the bouncing babies and spinning babies stuff! I'd forgotten all of that! Baby was back2back until a few days before labour started, turned thankfully! My DH found it hilarious watching me try all the sling babies positions 🤣

*spinning babies, not sling babies

Gosh all this labour chat is making me nervous

My toddler is having a tantrum day today I'm.hiding in the biscuit cupboard 🫣

@ancienthouse @Margo34 yep I did all the spinning babies stuff too! Sometimes I think maybe I focused on it too much and somehow manifested it to happen that she was in an awkward position! I was also last with my NCT crew, thankfully they didn't go into a lot of detail with their labours till after mine had been. It's not helpful as a first timer to hear difficult stories is it! Something we should probably be mindful of I guess 😬

But equally so much can be done to help have a positive birth experience, there is a lot in our power and I think knowing about the process of birth, learning coping techniques, and understanding what to expect can really help a lot - to help us prepare for the inevitable wild cards! And I know of so, so many women who had wonderful , positive birth experiences first time! And second, third time etc.