TWW starting 31.07.22 - Company needed - Thread 2

[TheCakeIsALie18]

Hey everyone. Here is the second thread as we were getting close to the message limit.

Hope you're all doing well ❤️❤️

Ladies! I think I'm approaching go time!

Had contractions for 5 hours last night. I thought they were BH but I had to breathe through them. They weren't painful but I felt like bump was in a vice. Almost like a really intense stitch.

Phoned triage and the midwife said it could be the early stages and to wait it out. She said it's likely to ease or stop over night and then pick up again later today. They eased off by 2am but was woken at 6 but a more intense contraction that felt like painful trapped wind. Had 3 of those so far.

Getting on the ball today and using the breast pump to see if we can move things along. Fingers crossed 🤞🏻 this is it ❤️ xxx

I hope you're all doing well xxx

@TheCakeIsALie18 oh how exciting! i hope it's all going ok! keeping everything crossed for you and sending you all the good zen vibes for a positive labour. you got this!

@eleveneleven11 thank you ❤️❤️ if it is the start it could still be a couple days before it properly kicks off. So just trying to chill and keep the oxytocin high xxx

Oooh good luck @TheCakeIsALie18 ! Hope things are going well and, if it takes a few days to ramp up, you get plenty of breathing time between. Your body knows what it's doing. Sending good vibes your way!

@TheCakeIsALie18 oh how exciting! Sending you positive vibes and energy ❤️❤️❤️..Part of me is hoping Charlie shares my birthday (which is today) but in any case it seems he will be close! It feels so lovely to have shared this journey with you 🥹❤️

Hope everyone else is well @Hannargh @eleveneleven11 @Nypie ?

@Hannargh thank youuu ❤️❤️

@pugsB awww happy birthday! Thank you 🥰 I don't think it will be tonight sadly. I'm having the tightenings again but I anticipate them stopping later tonight again sadly. But we will see.

I'll keep you all posted anyway. It's been so lovely to be on the journey with you all from the very beginning ❤️

Any news from any of you lovelies? Xxx

@TheCakeIsALie18 how exciting how are you going now? So strange to think how close some of you are.

@pugsB hope you had a lovely lovely birthday, howre you doing? Work is stressing me out but otherwise 18+4 will be finding out the gender in a couple of days :)

eagerly awaiting news from @TheCakeIsALie18! :)

everything is good here. i am 28+5 and feeling great. i went for a 4D scan this morning - my mum wanted to be at a scan so figured it would be a fun way to get her involved. it was very cool! quite hard to see baby boy has he had the cord across his face under his nose and also had his leg right up with his foot on his head! but we got some good peeks.

he's also currently breech but was head down a few days ago at my midwife appointment so i think he's quite into switching positions regularly haha x

Welcome to the world Charles Andrew Stuart-Dodd weighing in at 8lb 8oz he came into the world via the sunroof at 20:23 on 15th April.

Thought I'd share my birth story with you. Don't read on if you don't want to hear a slightly traumatic experience.

I was booked in for the sweep at 5pm on Friday... but baby had other plans. Waters went at 9.30am and Contractions started at 6.30pm on Friday. Stayed at home till 11.30pm when they were every 3 minutes and lasting 45 ish seconds. Painful but bearable with TENS and breathing. Got to the hospital... 1cm... sent home to wait more at 1am.
The drive home was horrific. Contractions were every 90s and lasting over a minute in most cases. Managed to stay home in the bath until 2.30am at which point it's not bearable and I'm crying and can't move because the Contractions never actually stopped they were coming every 60 seconds and lasting 90 but without actually finishing each one.

Go back to hospital... in tears and struggling to breathe... 3cm at 3am so they run the pool which I get in. I then spent the next 7 hours in the pool with gas and air. The Contractions were back to back and I was crying with every one of them. There was no rest period and my body and mind were giving up.

At 10am they checked me and I was still 3cm. They decided to take me upstairs to induce as it had now been 24hrs since waters breaking. But I said not until I've had an epidural because the pain wasn't bearable anymore.... they nearly didn't give it to me because I wasn't in active labour even though I had been in intense pain for over 7 hours.

Anyway, epidural went in all good. Then waited from 10am until 6pm for a check... 4cm...

Charlie was super happy in there but I wasn't. I ended up with an infection and they decided that Charlie was on the large side and was sitting on my kidney and bladder causing a blockage.

So because I was getting ill we ended up having an emcs. At 20:23 and Charlie was born weighing 8lbs 8ozs.

All good now. He is absolutely fine, I'm on antibiotics and IV fluids. Xxx

First off massive congratulations @TheCakeIsALie18 on successfully delivering your baby boy! So glad he was he OK during the whole process but that sounds absolutely exhausting for you. You did so well! And especially bearing the amount of pain you must have been in for so long. I hope you can look back and know that you did everything you needed to do. How are you and little one doing now? Hope your recovery is smooth. But so pleased for you that Charlie has arrived! Xx

@TheCakeIsALie18 huge congratulations! sounds like an absolutely heroic effort from you!! well done you should be so proud. he's super cute and i'm so happy he's here and you're both safe 🥰

wishing you a speedy recovery!

Aww he is sooo darn cute @TheCakeIsALie18 congratulations and welcome Charles! P.s you pooor thing that sounds traumatic. Glad he's out and you can start to heal!

Thanks everyone. It was a traumatic birth but I'd still say it was a positive experience. We are still in hospital while I get more IV antibiotics. I feel fine but he damaged my only kidney so I need meds to heal up. We're on the mend though.

I'll keep you all posted. Hoping to be able to leave hospital today, will be later this evening though if we do. Xxx

Wonderful news! Massive congrats to you @TheCakeIsALie18 and your DH. Charlie looks absolutely adorable! I commend you on your strength! phew that must have been hard. I am sorry to hear about your infection and kidney issue. Hope you recover completely soon and get to enjoy time with the baby 💜 💜

@Nypie Nice to hear from you! wow 18+ already time surely does fly!! So so happy to know you will find out the gender soon. You must be excited! Thanks for the wishes and I am doing good. Not actively ttc-ing atm and its just as well since my periods seem unsettled. Enjoying the outdoors this time of the year. I hope your work stress goes away soon and you get come chill time 😊..

Nearly 2 weeks pp. We came home from hospital last Thursday late at night. 6 days after going in... cock up after cock up meant we had to stay in. So stressful. But at least we are home now. Charlie is settling in so well. We've been so lucky and have ended up with a sleepy baby. Making the nights bearable ❤️

If you haven't got one already, I can highly recommend the Joie 2 in 1 swing. God send!

How are you all? Xxx

Hey ladies. How are you all? Sorry I haven't been around! We are just over 5 weeks pp now! Where has the time gone?!

How are the pregnancies going? Xxx

hello @TheCakeIsALie18 ! how is everything going with you? hope you're still being blessed with a sleepy baby? :) can't believe it's been 5 weeks!

pregnancy is going so well thank you - I'm 34 weeks today so starting to wash baby clothes and tick the last few things off our to-buy list now. nursery is looking fab and we had a 'baby party' last weekend with all our loved ones to celebrate. less than 4 weeks left at work and counting!

@eleveneleven11 oh wow you're working right up until 38 weeks?! Well done you. I stopped my day job at 36 weeks and worked my sport massage business up until I went into labour lol. It was hard going but not working full time was a godsend. I needed those few weeks of me time.

All good here thank you. We've just come out of our first fussy phase so back to sleepy baby. I highly recommend the app "The Wonder Weeks" for when baby arrives. It gives you a rough idea of when baby will be fussy due to developmental leaps. Its pretty good. Worth the £5.99 I paid lol. Just don't get caught up in it being gospel. Just a guide!

I'm glad everything is going well for you. I can't wait for your little one to arrive ❤️ I hope the third trimester tiredness isn't too rough for you!

Pics of my little munchkin and his daddy attached ❤️🥰 xxx

@TheCakeIsALie18 yes working up to 38 weeks! i work in digital marketing and I'm predominantly remote with 2 days in the office so I'm hoping the last few weeks at least will be pretty chill but I've got a new team member to onboard so we'll see.. all being well I'll get at least 2 weeks to relax before he comes but who knows haha

noted on the wonder weeks! I've heard really good things about that app from other people too.

ooohhhhh look at them both! charlie is already looking so much more grown up. looks like his daddy too! so so cute :)

Hey everyone, how are you all doing? Getting close now @eleveneleven11! And how is your little one getting on @TheCakeIsALie18

Apologies for the slow reply. My due date was 23rd May (and I was expecting to run over) and it took until 2nd June for our little girl to make an appearance.

Had a bit of a wild labour - birth story ahead.
I started early labour 2am Sunday and it lasted for 5 days before ramping up into what I thought was active labour on Friday morning - after get checked at the MLU I was still only 3cm at 1pm and they confirmed the baby was resting deep into my back/bottom, which was why some of my contractions were hurting that zone. I had a stretch and sweep and went home and found the contractions getting worse. For some reason I assumed it was the baby's position causing them to be more painful, as they weren't happening super frequently or hitting 3 in 10, so assumed I was reaching a point where I was just exhausted and couldn't manage any more. Then I noticed some light pale bleeding around 7:30pm, so I rang up MAU thinking there was a problem and went in for an assessment for 9pm (turns out it was my waters and i had just forgotten how labour works, as after 5 days of pre labour, I assumed it wasn't happening!). During the assessment I could feel my body starting to push, and they confirmed I was actually 9cm and baby was on her way (!). After a very quick labour (too quick to use the pool sadly) she was out before 11pm.

The whole thing was pretty smooth for me - no pain relief, no stitches, just a first degree tear. But following her newborn checks, they identified a respiratory infection (possibly as she passed meconium during the quick labour) but needed to run various tests to confirm, including inserting a cannula for antibiotics every 12 hours and a lumbar puncture to check if the infection had spread elsewhere. It meant we had to stay in hospital for 5 days after the birth, on the postnatal ward, so I was trying to care for her whilst my husband had to go home each evening. I had 5 days of basically zero sleep and maximum stress, which was not fun.

We came home on Wednesday and she's now finished her antibiotics and we are just focused on getting her into a good cycle of feeding, sleeping and engaging with us that we couldn't manage in the hospital (and breastfeeding has also been a different story trying to get set up, but we are hopefully where we need to be for that now).

In any case, long story short, baby finally arrived! And we are so happy to finally have her home (and start catching up on some sleep!). We've called her Rosenwyn.

@Hannargh congratulations on the safe arrival of your little girl!

Wow you went through the mill! But I'm glad it all happened swiftly when she was ready to make her appearance.

Our little man was 8 weeks yesterday! I don't know where the time has gone and I just realised I never shared my birth story! So here it is, sorry it's a long one...

My waters broke at 9am on Friday 14th April. I was fuming because I had a lunch date planned lol. Phoned the hospital and they said to come in at 5pm to get checked and to enjoy my lunch lol. So I had a 3 course pub lunch 🙈

Went back in at 5pm they checked the waters and told me to go home and wait for contractions to start and if they didn't I'd be induced at 9.30 on the Saturday morning. Contractions started at 7pm and they were straight away coming every minute and lasting over a minute. Not unbearably strong but I needed to breathe through them. My waters had been leaking all day but twice that evening they gushed everywhere. Made a right mess of my livingroom floor....twice! Held out until 11pm when I decided I needed some pain relief.
Got to the hospital, they checked me and said I was only 1cm... told me to go home even though it takes an hour drive each way... made it home and I sat in the bath and cried until 2am. The Contractions were still every minute and lasting nearly 90 seconds each. I barely had time to relax between them. Went back to hospital and they checked me again... 3cm... I got gas and air and the pool. Was great!

Sat in that pool breathing the pain away for 7hours... they checked me again at 9am... still 3cm... so they took me to be induced. I said I wanted an epidural because I needed rest and they were ramping up my contractions with the drip until I had it. It took them 4 attempts to get the tube in and they broke one of them in my back because apparently my back muscles were too strong lol. Worst pain... worse than the contractions lol.

Once it was in they fitted a catheter and I laid on that bed for 10 hours. After 6 hours they said that my temp was rising and my urine output was low. They reckoned baby was sitting on my only kidney causing a blockage. They left me another 4hrs and checked cervix again... 4cm... consultant came in and said I had an infection now and they needed to take me to theatre for an emergency c section... yay. So baby was born via the sunroof on Saturday 15th at 8.08pm... he was absolutely fine and I had sepsis lol.

I had IV antibiotics and fluids for nearly 3days.

I'll shorten the next bit... we should have gone home on the Monday but I asked for Charlie to be checked for Jaundice on the Sunday. They refused and said they didn't need to. Low and behold after several blood tests for little man he had jaundice... the fucked about and cocked up more time than I care to remember, he had blood taken from his feet, his hands, and his wrists 15 times... we finally went home after all the fuck ups on the Thursday after 6 days in that hell hole.

Aftercare was also shit and they told me not to bother breastfeeding. I'm glad I was stubborn though and got some support from la leche league. Little man is now a boob expert ❤️ I hope your breastfeeding journey is going well now you're all home.

Xxx

@Hannargh wow you are a trooper! huge congratulations on the safe arrival of your little girl. so happy for you 🥰 such a shame you had so much stress post-birth but glad you are home now and able to settle into your new way of life.

i'm 37 weeks on tuesday and next week is my last week at work. my baby is currently back to back so interesting to hear your birth story. i'm hoping i can turn him before i go into labour but we'll see. spending lots of time on my birth ball and keeping my hips tilted! i really hope he moves as it'll lessen my anxiety going into this madness so much.

@TheCakeIsALie18 thanks for sharing your birth story! sounds like you had a rough time as well, sorry that you didn't feel well cared for during and after your birth ☹️ that is such a shame and definitely a fear of mine. you just want to be surrounded by support when you go through something like that and be listened to and it scares me that this might not be the case!

Hey everyone! It's been a while but thought I'd check in! How are you all and how old are your little ones now? Charlie will be 16 weeks tomorrow! Where has the time gone?!

I miss chatting to you all. Xxx

@TheCakeIsALie18 hello lovely!

totally forgot to update this thread with all that has happened! i gave birth to oscar on july 1st, 3 days early 🥰 he's 5 weeks old tomorrow and thriving. he's put on lots of weight, sleeps and feeds really well and is really chilled. although i think he is going through a developmental leap at the minute because he has been super fussy and sensitive the last few days!

labour was awful haha wow i don't want to do that again anytime soon🥲 i laboured for 29 hours and eventually had a suction cup delivery and an episiotomy. stayed in hospital for a few days after with bladder retention. of course things could have been a lot worse but isn't it insane what our bodies (and minds) have to go through to get these babies into the world!

struggled really bad with the baby blues in the first 2 weeks of having him - just cried constantly and struggled with the thought of the huge life adjustment. pretty much in the swing of things now though and loving it 🥰

charlie is gorgeous, i can't believe he is 16 weeks! time really has flown. i remember us all announcing our pregnancies and now the babies are here. wild! xx