Due September 2023 after miscarriage 🌈 (thread 2)

[CaliGirl47]

Hello all. Here is a fresh thread to fill up with lots of chitchat and milestones. So sorry if I’ve missed anyone out or got the EDD wrong. I tried to look back through but there were so many messages 😅 I’m sure I must’ve missed some people out. Many apologies, it wasn’t intentional. Sending hugs to all. 🥰🌈👶🏻🤰🏻

@luna57 September 2nd

@Tinkerbell098 September 9th

@elleh2023 September 13th

@Astar21 September 14th 💛

@Daisy155 September 15th

@RMS0209 September 17th

@Skw11 September 18th

@Hopefulbee September 19th 💗

@Pandalovee September 20th

@pinkpirlie September 22nd

@log51 September 23rd

@kl1999 September 23rd

Caligirl47 September 23rd

@Houseelf90 September 25th 💛

@Littleheart5 September 28th

@Bizzybee900 September 30th

@Passenger87

@00Bubbles00 💗

@poochielagrande

@KellyJean

@Goneaboutthiswrong

@R184 congratulations on your baby boy 9 lbs wow that’s amazing 💙

@Houseelf90 congratulations but that sounded a lot glad you and baby are doing well 💝

How exciting to have so many babies in this thread now! 😍👶🏼🍼

Congratulations ! @ashz

Congratulations 👏🏻 🌈 So pleased you have your baby girl. @Daisy155

Congratulations lovely 💞 🌈 @Goneaboutthiswrong

Wow 9lbs 5oz Way to go mama! So glad you finally have your baby in your arms. 💞💙💜💙 @R184

Thank you for sharing your experience, you did amazing! @Houseelf90 I really hope you and baby are recovering well and getting lots of rest. 💛🩷💛

Congratulations all, really interesting reading your experiences, keep them coming! Curious if anyone refused a sweep? I'm tempted to decline if offered as not in a rush to have baby delivered earlier than neseccary as we are in the middle of a house move (don't ask! 😬) and so could do with the extra time to get organized!

How’s everyone doing?! Hopefully been some more babies! I’m 2 days overdue now. I really don’t want to be medically induced so have already in the last week had acupuncture/reflexology/curry/birth ball/sex/dates/raspberry leaf tea/ curb walking and sideways stairs walking! Am I missing anything haha? Don’t actually have my 40 week appointment until Weds which is 40+4 so hoping there will be have been at least a little bit of progress by then.

@Bizzybee900 youve probably already had your appointment but you always have to consent to a sweep and can absolutely decline.

Hi all, we have our baby Holly 💕 born on weds and we got home on Friday. I was 40+2 and laboured to 7cm at home then to 9cm in midwife led unit/pool but ended up in theatre for ventouse, almost a c section, I just wanted her here so desperately by this point! So so happy to be home now and soaking her up. Finally have our baby 🌈 good luck to everyone still waiting, you're nearly there xxx

@Skw11 congratulations 💕

@Skw11 🎉 congratulations! Hope you are recovering well from that, Holly is such a cute name btw (is on our list)!
Wasn't actually offered a sweep in the end but have another midwife appointment this week so let's see.
Hope everyone still waiting is doing okay!

Congratulations on all the new precious rainbow babies! 🩷🌈🩵

I had my baby girl on Thursday at 41 weeks 🩷 I ended up having the induction pessary as my waters had started to slowly go 24hours before. But it was fine as following that things sped along really quickly and had fully dilated within a few hours.
@Skw11 I also ended up with ventouse in theatre for the final stretch to deliver baby. But I was also glad just to have her here safe and sound 🩷

I've never felt happiness like it and we are in an absolute love bubble. Just trying to adjust to the lack of sleep and breast feeding journey now!

Good luck to those still waiting, not long now 👣

Congratulations @Astar21! The knowledge and excitement that baby will soon be here kind of takes over when you’re wheeled down to theatre doesn’t it! 💕

Congratulations everyone who has already welcomed their little ones. It’s such a special time, I wish you all the very best. ❤️❤️

I’m still waiting. 41 weeks today and scheduled for a sweep tomorrow. Let’s see if it is successful. Feeling ok overall but have been nauseous off and on these last days and can’t make out whether it’s a virus or hormonal…anyone else have anything like this pregnancy labour?

Wishing all the best to everyone else still waiting! 🤗

@HopefulBee fingers crossed your little one makes an appearance soon!! I felt unwell the day I went into labour, nauseous, dizzy etc so fingers crossed it’s a sign for you!

@HopefulBee I hope you're doing okay? I definitely had the nausea in the days leading up to labour! I think it's the hormones getting ready & kicking in.

I hope everyone is doing well 🩷🌈🩵

@Houseelf90 and @Astar21 thanks for your encouraging replies. Still no sign of labour. Had a failed sweep on Wednesday and will have a check up in hospital today to see how baby is doing. Hopefully they’ll miraculously tell us that I’m now dilated enough to do a sweep or even break my waters. Am really not keen on induction which would happen on Tuesday latest. To top it off our boiler broke yesterday so we have no warm water. It’s stressing me out quite a bit - fingers crossed they manage to fix it today.

How is everyone else doing with their lovely little babies/last days of pregnancy?

I am still going strong at 40+6! I did have a sweep on Thurs as she said I was just less than 1cm dilated, but nothing at all has happened since! Still trying all the natural induction techniques. Everything is fine with my blood pressure/heartbeat etc so midwife said we don’t need to discuss induction until my appt at 41+4, just hoping little man will make an appearance before then!

Hello all. So exciting to see these updates.

Congratulations @Skw11 ! 🎉👶🏼💝🎀 Holly is a beautiful name. That was quite high on our list of names as well. 🥰 Hope you and baby are both doing well.

And congratulations to you too @Astar21 🎉👶🏼💝 That little newborn love bubble is something else isn’t it? I find I just want to sit there cuddling my baby all day and doing nothing else. 😂

I gave birth to my baby girl Bethany Grace on the 23.9.23 It still feels so surreal to have her here safely in my arms. 🥹🥰

*apologies for the very long read this turned into😅

I originally was keen to avoid an induction and had hopes of a water birth. However, due to some health complications and multiple personal factors (including anxiety over reduced movements) I decided to opt for an induction. And I just want to say for anyone who feels upset or scared of an induction, it does not have to be a negative experience. My experience this time around was much better than my previous induction labour with DD1. Obviously spontaneous labour is always preferable, but if you find yourself being induced it doesn’t have to be scary. This time around I was very well informed of all of my options and I felt calm, alert, and in control throughout the whole experience. The plan originally was to use dilation rods to dilate cervix enough to break waters. However upon examination my cervix was already too dilated (although it still needed softening and bringing forward) the rods would’ve fell out. So I could either be put on waiting list for waters to be broken which they said could take days as the hospital was very very busy. Or I could accept the pessary to soften and dilate the cervix and bring on contractions. This was at 23:00 Friday night. I was so tired I opted to get a good nights sleep and have the prostin inserted in the morning. (I knew I’d need my strength before everything kicked off) Had the prostin inserted at 5 am Saturday morning(23rd). After that hubby and I did a slow climb up the stairwells doing sideways lunges on the stairs to open up the pelvis. Things slowly started ramping up. By 11 am exam I was 3cm and things were looking good. Midwife reckoned I’d only need one more prostin pessary and wouldn’t need the drip 🎉 She fitted the 2nd pessary and gave a good sweep. After this contractions ramped up some more so hubby fitted the TENS machine and I focused on my breathing. Next exam was due for 17:00 where a different midwife said according to her estimation I was still three cm. I wouldn’t need another pessary but she wanted the contractions to lengthen so she gave me a sweep and told me to carry on as I was. I was gutted to have not progressed more as the contractions were coming regularly at this point every 2 minutes back to back and I was sure my body was making progress. (In hindsight I think she was being a bit stingy and not saying I was 4 cm because they didn’t have enough beds in delivery ward for her to send me down) I had a little wobble and a cry and weighed up whether to lie down and try to sleep or to stay upright to encourage labour to progress. I decided to crack on. Hubby got out my aromatherapy massage oil and was massaging my shoulders which really helped. I was inhaling lavender, jasmine, and clary sage but I felt the clary sage intensified the already intense artificial contractions. So I stopped inhaling the oils. I was kneeling on the floor leaning over my birth ball and rocking side to side and alternating between knees in and knees out (to help baby drop into my pelvis further) as I continued my breathing. I was also squeezing my comb in my hand for acupressure/distraction. During a contraction I felt a slight trickle and called for the midwife to see if it was my waters. I was concerned because I was GBS+ so I knew antibiotics needed to be started straight away and they hadn’t even fitted a cannula yet. I also asked about some pain relief at this point at which they offered me some paracetamol 🤣 She came back and confirmed it was my waters so she wanted to pop me on the monitor after she examined me. It was 21:23 at this point. She examined me and said I was 6cm. This is when everything went super fast. My contractions were coming thick and fast they were very intense so they quickly wheeled me down to delivery suite. I was mooing and groaning and probably gave all the other ladies on the induction ward quite the show 😂 once I was in my labor ward room my midwives advised me I needed to transfer to the labouring bed. It honestly took every bit of strength I had to move myself over onto the bed in between contractions. The poor midwives were trying to fit a cannula into my awkward veins to no avail. They must’ve tried 8 different places between my hands and arms. They were trying to get the antibiotics in as quickly as possible and I was trying to stay still during each contraction which was not easy. Eventually they got the antibiotics in and I was fully dilated enough to try pushing. I was laying on my back at this point which wasn’t what I wanted and I knew gravity wasn’t on my side. I felt like I wasn’t making any progress. So in between contractions I flipped over onto my knees and was leaning over the top of the bed which was brought upright. I knew I had gravity on my side in this position. Although it made it awkward for the midwives to keep baby’s heartbeat on the monitor. They had to literally stand there and hold the monitor against my belly upside down. Which they didn’t complain about. Eventually I felt “the ring of fire” which I’d heard so much about and my instinct was to stop pushing but baby’s heart rate wasn’t recovering as well after the contractions so a doctor came in and started mentioning forceps. (DD1 birth was a long induction labour that ended in forceps and I blacked most of it out. I was keen to be alert and in the room this time around) Well this was enough to get me to push past the ring of fire. I felt her head come out with a pop. She was dangling there upside down and blowing bubbles. The midwives said she was already trying to breath. And on the next contraction the rest of her body came flying out and they passed her up between my legs so I could have a cuddle. The relief was instant and I couldn’t believe I’d actually done it. And I was left with a 2nd degree tear and lots of stitches for the memories. 😅 There are things I wish had gone differently of course. But overall I felt empowered by this experience and am so glad that I can remember it all clearly.

Hang in there mamas your babies will be here soon. I know how hard the last stretch is mentally. Every single day I was getting more and more fed up. But it really is the home stretch now. 🙏 Make the most of the last few days feeling those kicks inside your belly. Treat yourself to a pedicure, go to the cinema, do nice face masks for yourself.

I already miss those one on one kicks from inside my belly.

Now it’s just the cracked nipples and sleepless nights to contend with 😆

Congratulations @CaliGirl47 and thanks so much for this update! Definitely makes me feel a bit more positive about potential induction!

Congratulations @CaliGirl47 I’m glad you had a positive experience! A lovely name for your little girl too 💕

Hope everyone’s OK and there are some more babies in the group! I’m 41+5 tomorrow so have been booked in for an outpatient induction in the morning where I have the pessary and go home for 24 hours and see what happens - fingers crossed! Still kind of hoping it might kick off tonight naturally though!

@log51 good luck for tonight/tomorrow!! Can’t wait to hear your baby news 🥰

Our baby girl has finally arrived 😍
Unfortunately she turned into breech position during labour so the whole thing ended in a C-section in theater, not ideal, but I know there's not much I/anyone could have done different, just one of those unlucky things! Am recovering now and just thrilled she is here, she is perfect ❤️

Congratulations to @CaliGirl47 and @Astar21!
Hope everyone waiting doesn't have to long now! Thank you all for your invaluable support on this thread during this pregnancy, it has made a world of difference to me!

Congratulations @Bizzybee900 do pleased your little girl is here safe, that’s the main thing!

I'm currently up feeding Henry who didn’t get the memo about going longer between feeds as they get older, he usually goes 3-3.5 hours but the last 3 feeds have all been less than 2 hours between 😴😴

Huge congratulations @CaliGirl47 and @Bizzybee900 ! You both did amazing to bring your babies into this world. It is such a joy to finally hold them isn’t it?

Our baby girl Livia was also finally born on 30 September. I had a hospital appointment the day before to check how baby is doing and try another membrane sweep and they said I was already 4cm. So we agreed with the midwives to break my waters the next morning to get things started (last baby I dilated to 6cm without contractions, also 12 days over, so seems my body needs a bit of help kicking things off). The next day we headed to the hospital, had my waters broken at 9:35, first contraction at 10:40 and baby born on the water at 12:53. All went very fast, even caught the midwife by surprise as I pushed for 10 mins and she was out - didn’t even have time to get a second nurse in. But luckily she is well and a happy baby. Now trying to get used to life with a newborn and toddler 🤪. Sleep is definitely hard to come by.

good luck to those waiting! You can do this! ❤️🤗

Hello all! Baby George Milo was born 6 October at 1.30am at a whopping 10 lb 1 oz after pretty intense induction process (as I was 41+5)! Pessary went in at 10am, was cramping by about 1 then contractions started at 5.30pm only 3 mins apart!

Got to hospital and was 3cm dilated and about 90 mins later I was 9! So wasn’t really time for any pain relief and just managed on gas and air, with tens machine and a couple of codeine. Pushed for over 2 hours and he was a little bit stuck but second midwife came in and put me on the birthing stool and he came out with one push - it was the biggest relief ever! Had a second degree tear but think that’s quite lucky given his huge size!! Feeling all ok now.

Wishing everyone luck for these precious first few days!

@CaliGirl47 @Bizzybee900 @log51 congratulations girls! ❤️
It's so lovely to read everyone's birth stories & hear that all the precious babies are now here with us 🌈🥹

How is everyone doing in their newborn baby bubbles?

Congratulations to you all on your newest little arrivals - makes me so so happy! 💗💙

Our baby boy Louie was born 5/10/23 via Emergency C Section. Finally discharged and allowed home today. He’s doing so well and surprisingly I’m feeling much better than I anticipated I would. Still coming to terms with the events and experience I had at the hospital, but extremely grateful that all of the staff in charge of my care were second to none.

Starting my breastfeeding journey also, so feeling all sorts of ways at the moment! Any tips and tricks that can be shared would be massively welcomed.

Sending lots of love and best wishes to you all 💗🌈💙 xxxx