Due December 2024 - thread 2

[CatCaretaker]

Follow on from the first thread here:

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/pregnancy/5032929-due-december-2024?page=40

Hello all! Hoping I can jump on this bandwagon again, I'm 40+2 today and very fed up! Had a sweep today but not dilated at all, have tentatively booked an inductions as baby measuring over 98th centile and hoping for VBAC (last c-section was due to baby being big and breech so never laboured)) Looking forward to chatting with other fed up mums!

@LilyJessie it could well be the start of things... I'd try and get some rest and see how things are in the morning! As I said, I've had it multiple times now but nothings come of it. I also haven't lost my mucus plug or anything alike... so think it's just part of pregnancy. I know at this stage your muscles start to relax getting ready for labour which can cause those pains too (google told me 😂) and no! Two days to go!!

Welcome @VNttc !!
Sorry to hear you're not progressing! I've zero experience of sweeps/induction as this is first baby, but am having a Caesarean in two days time (breech baby)!
Hopefully this sweep yields something!! 🤞🏼

Thank you @Lunamoon23! How are you feeling about your upcoming section?

We tried everything to flip our first but he was very jammed in and comfy!

@VNttc I'm extremely nervous and anxious. I've never had surgery of any kind, so feeling very vulnerable and scared. But, I'm also excited to meet my little boy and like the fact it takes the guess work/unknowns out of the process.
He's been stubbornly breech since 20 weeks, they hoped he'd turn but at my last scan at 36 he was footling breech with his feet in my pelvis, then at my last check at 37 he was still breech. Clearly comfy that way!

Do you know if you're having a boy or girl? X

Yes also so over being pregnant. 37+1 today.
Back pain, waddling, crap sleep.

And now I’ve come out in a rash under my bump which is so painful 😣 going to give GP a call in the morning see if they can prescribe something to clear it up before I go into labour. It’s right where they would make the cut for a c section too… can imagine that would be a difficult recovery if god forbid I needed an emergency section and still had the rash!

Is anyone else snoring at night?

I don't remember doing this with my first but my partner is saying I'm snoring loudly, it's been going on on and off over the last couple of weeks

@Lunamoon23 they often have a reason for being breech if it's been that long as well. Ours was the same! Whereas this baby has been head down since 20 weeks easily! Very different feelings 🤣

I understand how you feel with the c-section, it is nerve wracking but at least you've got an end date for when you can meet little one and set things up for a good recovery!

We've kept it a surprise this time for the sex, we accidentally found out with our last one with having extra scans for an anomaly so we've managed to avoid finding out this time! I'm happy with whatever though, all our old clothes are unisex anyway!

Me. I'm waking myself up and I'm pretty sure I've caught myself snoring before I've fully nodded off if I'm on the sofa etc. Mortified as I've spent 15 years moaning at DH for it 🤣

Yes lol it has got better since my bump dropped but my DH was going to sleep in the spare room for a while 😂 I say it's payback 😁

DH is in the spare room as apparently I’m snoring 😂🙈

I’m awful to sleep next to atm, tossing around like a rotisserie chicken, snoring, up and down for a wee, awake for hours with insomnia etc, so I don’t blame him for moving to the spare room 😂

Yeah I think my partner is going to sleep with our 3yo tonight (no spare and she has a double) because he was really tired this morning

@RedRobyn2021 haha I actually just read this out to DH and laughed, because for weeks he's been saying to me in the mornings 'babe, your snoring last night!!' And I've never been a snorer! I can only assume it's all the extra pressure and weight causing it. He's often nudged me in the night to stir me so I'll stop 😂 we dont have a spare bed, only the sofa and he's a big 6ft4 so he couldn't sleep on that often so he's stuck with me... haha.

Although, these last few days I'm sleeping awful!! I fell asleep last night with DH, about an hour later I just woke dead bolt, wide awake. Was wondering around the house at 3 this morning, managed to dose off but it's the lightest sleep that I wake from constantly for a wee; or a noise, I hadn't properly fallen asleep before 6.45am this morning when I heard the neighbour let they're dog out. I then think I had a couple hours solid sleep. Driving me insane, as I feel exhausted. But I'm worried to nap in the day incase it then makes sleeping at night worse... I'm only two days away from having baby and could really do with getting some decent sleep in. 😟

@Lunamoon23 😂 I've never been a snorer either!

His disrupted sleep can be practice for him for when baby comes haha

I was awake at 3am this morning too and avoid naps for the same reason. I've been dropping my DD off at preschool and then just going home and laying down in bed for 2 hours resting, but not sleeping, watching Gilmore Girls because I'm struggling to concentrate on anything

Are you getting out the house enough?

Try not to worry too much just get as much rest as you can, everyone keeps saying how normal it is for sleep to suffer at the end. My DP always says "you can't bank sleep" which is so true, baby will wake frequently but that's normal and you do get used to it, it's not as scary as everyone makes out. In fact sometimes they sleep better as newborns, my daughter used to do a big stretch of 4/5/6 hours before waking for a feed, that went on until just before turning 3 months when waking became more frequent, then we started co-sleeping which was a total game changer. I worried so much about sleep before I had her, but we've managed fine

@RedRobyn2021 very true, all good training!
I've also woken a couple of times to find myself drooling 😂😂😂 which is also new!! Bizzare! Turned me into a grotesque sleeper haha. Poor husband!

I have heard newborns tend to sleep a lot, so that is reassuring. Tbh. I do manage quite well with lack of sleep/broken sleep. I think it'll be hubby that struggles more with that. But he's got a nice chunk of time off when baby is here so it's not a worry really until he's back to work. He's a mechanical engineer so, his job is quite mentally and physically demanding, but, we'll create a new routine and figure it out, it's all a learning curve!

I've heard great things about co sleeping, however we don't have an overly big bed. So that always worries me. Did you find with breastfeeding it was ok to allow baby to sleep for long stretches? Did you have to wake and pump inbetween those 5-6 hours? X

Oh really do they? I guess the nicer side of them being breech is I haven't had to experience the rib kicks 😂

I keep trying to mantra myself into 'it's only an hour and then it's over' in regard to the actual Caesarean itself. Although I know the recovery will be tough, once I'm home in my own setting I think I'll manage that quite well. I detest hospitals (childhood trauma) so, just being in hospital itself is a challenge for me. But, one night, then I can be in my own bed.
We've got everything set up and lots of help on hand should we need it. My family has been great. First baby my side of the family so lots of people wanting to be hands on and help, which is a bonus.

And aww that's a lovely surprise for you both. I definitely think it's add something extra special to it all. Unfortunately I'm far too impatient and had to know 😂😂 although I had a strong sense the minute I saw my positive test it was a boy and I wasn't wrong!

Girls I have been listening to Philippa Perry's book today "The book you wish your parents had read" mainly to deal with some challenging toddler behaviour 🫣😵‍💫 and there's a whole section on pregnancy, birth and post partum that I wasn't expecting. I found it really reassuring, worth a listen! Part four - Laying a foundation 1 & 2

If you have Spotify you can listen to the audiobook for free) x

@Lunamoon23 that's funny, my partner is a mechanical engineer too

Well what I did when she was around 4 months was I joined a co-sleeping page on Facebook and there was some great advice on there about safe co-sleeping. I got a space saver cot from Asda and we side carred it to our bed and then pushed the mattresses together, filled in the gap on the outer side with a piece of upholstery foam.

This way I could shimmy in and out of her cot easily to feed her back to sleep, but also we had our own mattress space, I would still sleep in the C curl. I'm actually going to.do the same thing this time but from the beginning instead to try to save my sanity, we had a few weeks between 3-4 months where she was waking hourly and it was not pleasant

I was told by my midwife that once she was back to birth weight it was ok not to wake her every 4 hours, but it's a personal choice whatever you feel comfortable with. Waking is preventative of SIDS and it's important to feed at night if you're bf because that's when your prolactin is highest, which is important to your supply. I guess I thought she was waking frequently after that initial big sleep so I didn't worry too much at the time.

We also co-slept with a side-car cot (it's just stayed in our room since too) so we'll be co-sleeping from the beginning. So much better to do it when you're prepared rather than start out of necessity and not entirely know the safest way to do it.

Our feeding journey was a bit pants last time and I ended up pumping loads so hopefully can avoid that this time!

@RedRobyn2021 aww really, how funny!

And thank you, all really good tips. We've got the tutti cozee next to me crib set up, and the sides come down but it does have an edge that prevents baby rolling out of you rolling into. We will see how we get on with that and maybe change it out as time goes by. I'll look into that group on Facebook too.
X

Hello, has anyone been trying to express colostrum? I've just started yesterday at 3u weeks, and nothing at all yesterday or today. Has anyone any tips or tricks?

Hi @CatCaretaker
always warm up the breast, have a shower or bath.. massage and then try squeezing with your forefinger and thumb in a c shape. Some great YouTube vids out there.
I always found bouncing on the yoga ball and collecting worked for me.

im over a week in with baby and wanted to check in with you all! Good luck @Lunamoon23 with the C-section! Excited for you!

also - th e snoring convo - so funny my dh tells me I snore so much while pregnant! He snores alllll the time so I just ignore his complaints 😂😂

@Twinkletwinklelil yes, doing all that. Did it take a while to get going for you? Was there anything that you were - in retrospect - doing incorrectly?

I was trying all week last week, 38 weeks + and I literally got the smallest most insignificant amount, it didn't matter what I tried, bath... shower, hot water bottle, warm flannel, relaxed, watched YouTube videos, etc etc I just couldn't get enough to warrant it being worthwhile I was getting beads at best. After a week of trying I gave up... as my boobs became quite sore.
Sorry can't offer any helpful advice but just wanted to reassure you, you're not alone. My midwife said it's a relatively new thing and if you can't get any, baby will get it when breastfeeding at birth so not to stress about it, if that helps. Xxx

@MaybeBaby2024 sorry for the late reply... did you manage to get hold of you GP regarding the rash? My friend has this towards the end of her pregnancy, and it was due to the stretching skin, it just caused irritation. Sadly she had it until she birthed baby and then it went. Could possibly try sudocrem? Will act as a barrier so your clothes aren't rubbing against it irritating it further and will help calm the rash too.
I had a phase last week where I was extremely itchy at nighttime on my bump and inner thighs, but no rash ever developed and it passed after two days. I put it down to hormones.

@Twinkletwinklelil how are you enjoying your newborn bubble? Sorry, I can't remember, did you have a c section?? But thank you for the well wishes!! Feeling a mixture of excitement and fear currently! Me and DH have been talking baby stuff all day which is exciting!! Such a learning curve for us both as first time parents but so excited to navigate it together!

Also ladies, anyone who's had the spinal anaesthetic... any tips?? Does it really hurt? So scared about that part 😬 the thought of it makes my toes curl.