Due May 2024? Part 3

[Sa11yCinnamon]

Just kicking off a new thread, hoping no one else does it at the same time!

@Athena1984 hope all is ok, keep us posted xx

@PeppedUp I did but it was my first baby so not sure if it helps much. I started having contractions on a Monday, around every 10 minutes for most of Monday night. They almost completely stopped on Tuesday or would come for an hour or so then stop, it was quite disheartening and difficult to know if it was definitely labour. Lost my mucus plug on the Tuesday night then they started back regularly on Wednesday and I had the baby on Thursday.
Hope they pick up for you and you have the baby today or tomorrow :)

i was actually gona ask the same question about slings/wraps

with my other two i used this mother care brand which wasn't that great. this time i wanted something softer, there's a brand called koala which seems quite good it's from newborn.
You also have the ergobaby or babybjourn which is on the pricier side.
let me know which one u choose x

@LondonGirl1992 that’s good about your stitches, I’ve been worrying about getting mine out! Did it hurt?

We’ve had a nightmare breastfeeding so have decided it’s not for us as I don’t want to keep being so stressed. We tried bottles last night and it’s a game changer for us. I’ve been expressing to help my milk come in so hoping we can also bottle feed expressed milk.

I have the izmi essential wrap, I've used it at home a couple of times and really like it. Going to try using it outside today although I am a bit nervous, it's hard to know if they are comfortable.

With the izmi you can kind of tuck the fabric over the back of their head so they are supported or the instructions say to tuck a Muslin cloth behind their neck to support their head.

We have the baby bjorn mini (up to 12 months) and whilst we have only tried it on / put baby in to adjust the fit - it seems rubbish, its fiddle to get baby in & then there is no head support (that we can work out) so head is flopping all over the place. So far would not recommend

@Judethepud thank you - thats reassuring and sounds pretty similar to where I’m at. I have a midwife appointment tomorrow so hopefully I can have a sweep and get things moving if they haven’t already done so before then.

Regarding slings, we have a stretchy wrap from Boba, which I think I mainly got because it was on sale but really enjoyed it for newborn skin to skin around home. We also have BabyBjorn and Ergo Baby carriers. Neither really sat well with me but I may just have a terrible core/back. Partner used to use the BabyBjorn one a lot and he used the Ergo Baby recently when the wheels on our pushchair broke (son was 2.5 at the time).

I’ve got the baby bjorn mini, it’s the first time I’ve used a carrier and I really like it so far. She snuggles into me and I love cuddling her whilst wearing it. I haven’t found that her head flops anywhere but to be fair I don’t think I’ve worn it without holding her as well so probably haven’t tested it completely.

I didn’t mention but our BabyBjorn is the full size one that you can use up to toddler age. Our son was 4kg at birth so it didn’t take long for him to meet the weight requirements.

Also, has anyone had to push back against their hospital over induction? I went in for reduced movements last night. Turned out baby was fine (I’m also sure I get a bit paranoid about these things) but they said if it happens again I’ll automatically be induced with the pessary. I just feel like it feels a bit rushed if the baby’s stats look fine and I’m already having early contractions (even though I haven’t felt any for several hours now). I’d rather be monitored or at least have my waters broken before jumping into anything hormonal.

We have had a tough ride with breast feeding too- we ended up in hospital because he had such low blood sugar because he’s too lazy on the boob! He just falls asleep and doesn’t put in the effort to feed bless him!

I now breast feed him and let him feed for half an hour or so and then follow it up with a bottle of expressed breast milk onto him up and make sure he’s getting enough. So far it’s working well for us because we can track what he’s having, we still get to breast feed him and it means my partner can help with the feeding at night too. It was initially disappointing to not be able to exclusively breast feed- but a healthy full baby is most important and all of his milk is still breast milk fundamentally.

Gosh what a journey it’s been the last week- amazing, exhausting, magical and just a whirlwind. I can’t believe how much I can love someone and how wonderful he is!

@PeppedUp I had a bit of an induction drama, my baby really needed to come out because she’d just stopped moving completely and I didn’t want hormonal induction either. Just stand firm and ask them if baby must come out now why can you not have a section and what’s the risks of leaving things. I was in very early labour but not progressing fast enough and the risk of still birth was too high for me to be happy so I opted for section.

@LondonGirl1992 sounds like you have a brilliant set up with feeding now, well done! I’m hoping to be able to express enough to feed her but at the moment we’re just formula. I’m pumping whilst she feeds to stimulate my supply, my electric pump comes tomorrow so hopefully I’ll get more out with that. I’m getting about 20-30ml a time from each breast at the moment.

Yep!

Sweep on Weds at 3pm, contractions from 8pm on and off in slower and faster blocks until Friday evening around 6pm when they suddenly came every three minutes and my daughter was rather abruptly born at 7pm!

47 hours in total.

Son's birth was a very similar story but only 36 hours so my second took far longer!

@TheBirdintheCave sorry to hear you also had a long labour. How painful were the early contractions? Mine are so bearable that I’ve started to wonder if they are Braxton Hicks.

Thanks @SarahB88 - I’m happy to have one under the right circumstances but I just felt like they were trying to rush it given baby was well on the machine and I’m only 40+1. I trust the machine more than my instincts around reduced movements because I’m really paranoid and think I overreact.

For anyone else interested in pushing back at the hospital I found this website useful:
https://birthrights.org.uk/factsheets/consenting-to-treatment/

Hey all, congrats on your new babies and thinking of those of you that are still pregnant!

I'm a first time mum, 39+5 today and despite a sweep yesterday, no signs of labour yet! Just wondering if anyone could advise on how they manage people around this time!

I'm a very insular and private person, and not a very good texter! But the past few days have been inundated with messages of 'any news?' 'Havnt heard from you for a few hours, what's happening?' Which is lovely, but alot!

Also just wondering what you all did about visitors in the first 2 weeks? We and DP would limit visitors/visiting times at the very beginning, especially as he is only getting this amount of time off work, so it is precious time. Also our family would be travelling to visit and don't really want overnight guests. Don't know how or when to navigate people's expectations or just play it by ear.

Think I'm probably worrying over nothing or possibly redirecting my labour worries 😂 I'm a total people pleaser and don't wanna hurt anyones feelings, especially as we are so lucky to have people who care.

Lots of love guys x x x

@PeppedUp Same! Totally fine until about 30 minutes before she was born when the pain ramped up a notch. It's one of the reasons they wanted to send us home. The midwife noted 'But you're fine between contractions.' 🙄

@Nelliepledge I’m starting to get messages like that and it’s driving me up the wall. I’m not even opening them at this stage. I was deliberately vague about the due date for that reason and still they’re coming!

I’m not planning for visitors in the first couple of weeks at least and maybe longer depending on how I feel. I feel like I need time to physically recover and let my hormones settle, plus I don’t want baby to catch anything, especially with whooping cough doing the rounds. My FIL is staying with us though so it’ll be nice to have some support at the same time.

@TheBirdintheCave I would be much more content with my drawn out early labour if it means the painful part is quick! I had issues with the midwives not believing I was in enough pain last time until they checked me and saw I was fully dilated so I’m hoping for similar this time even if the early part has been a bit different to last time.

@Nelliepledge I just ignored messages like that and replied after baby arrived.

I’ve finally given in that baby is too small for all her clothes and had to order some onesies in a smaller size! After losing 9.8% of her birth weight and dropping to 6lb11 we got good news yesterday that she’s put on 100g ☺️ we’ve cracked it with the bottle feeding and she’s even sleeping on her own for 2-3 hours at a time during the night…once she finally goes down, that’s a whole other story!

Hope those of you who are in early labour get to meet your babies soon!

@PeppedUp , I'm in a similar position to you, I went for reduced movements on Tuesday (39+5) but of course, some minutes after I was put on the CTG the baby started moving like mad... Nevertheless, it seems it counts as a reduced movements episode and once you get 3 of them they become really pushy (and in my hospital that means that I might not be able to give birth in the MLU).
I find it quite unreasonable, considering that everything was fine in the scan and the CTG!

Regarding the pessary, my knowledge is that you can always refuse an induction, even though that might be difficult or unpleasant if your hospital are so pushy. But in a sense, noone can force you to have it...
It's a really bad policy because, for example, I'll think it very carefully to go in for reduced movements again, if I know I'm losing birth options by doing it...

Hopefully we won't need it and babies will be very wriggly and come out on the own very soon! 🙏💕

How are you finding the babies sleeping pattern? We seem to have a VERY lazy baby- he just wakes for feeds and sleeps all day essentially. He tends to wake around 5 and be a lot more active during the evening but he doesn’t ever cry/fuss and just seems very happy to eat and sleep. I’m not moaning about it of course but I do worry sometimes that he is just constantly asleep! 🤣 I think we always need to worry about something as mums.

I feel like my hormones have stabilised now and I can feel the weird pregnancy cravings and aversions have gone too. I also braved weighing myself- 1 stone 10 off since giving birth, isn’t that just mad!

Absolutely no sleep pattern here 🤣 she point blank refuses to go in her Moses basket so have spent the last 2 weeks holding her most of the night. Breastfeeding is hard work but we have managed to establish it, latching is sometimes an issue but it’s still early days really. Next week is going to hit me hard, paternity leave ends and other 2 kids are on half term so home with 3 on my own for the first time.

@LondonGirl1992 we’re in the same boat as you! I had to look up today that it was ok that she was sleeping so much 😂 she’s great during the day, we had an extremely fussy evening. My friend came over to see her during the fuss and it was perfect timing actually because she had some great tips around the feeding and we seem a little more on track with that. After having a great day yesterday she seemed to be starving again today so our schedules been adjusted a bit. My pump arrived and I’m getting a good amount of milk so topping up her formula feeds with breast milk now too ☺️

@Nina7 I feel exactly the same. I don’t 100% trust my instincts as I’m overly cautious but now I’ve realised that could mean I get pressure heaped on me for an induction. I’ve started taking notes now about movements so I feel a bit more confident about when they occurred rather than just relying on memory.

I’m heading into my fourth day of contractions today. Physically they’re mild and irregular so I’m okay in that regard, but psychologically they’re making me feel really impatient and grumpy. I don’t like to admit it but I’m feeling irritated at my baby and am hoping that disappears once he’s here.

I saw the midwife this morning, baby still not engaged enough for a sweep and I’m booked for induction a week today, which will be term +10. Actually feeling a lot better than I thought I would, we’re both really healthy and that’s the most important thing. But obviously if I go spontaneously in the next week that would be GREAT.

@PeppedUp im positive those feelings of irritation will go when you have him in your arms, but they’re totally understandable now!

Hi everyone, I haven't been on the thread for a while, but now 40 weeks exactly and wanted to check in! So lovely to hear news of new arrivals, congratulations everyone 👏

I'm feeling uncomfortable and achey, but actually in no rush at all for birth 😅 This is my third and I've had two uncomplicated, unmedicated vaginal births, so at the start I was really looking forward to a home birth this time, but now I'm here, I just don't feel ready for it. Even straightforward & positive births are still a lot of work!!! Anybody else in this position, or is everyone else desperate to get them out by any means necessary???

Congratulations to those that have had their babies lately. All feelings are valid @PeppedUp! @Edgeofthesea this is my first and I really hoped I would have at least a couple of weeks of mat leave before the baby arrived. Now that I have had that time I wouldn't mind if they made an appearance, especially as we had stronger contractions one night this week and really thought it was happening. My husband is very ready, he just wants to meet baby and stop working for a bit 😅we both agree that despite a little restlessness at the uncertainty we want baby to come when they're ready though. It's a good lesson in patience and being out of control!
I hope those that are really fed up and uncomfortable are finding ways to cope and hopeful in the knowledge that it won't be too long now for any of us!