Pregnancy after Miscarriage Part IX - Knicker Checkers etc

[dan39]

New one! Thought I would make my mark!

I will keep my eyes peeled for those then too and let you know if I spot any, and in which supermarket (I rotate between Tesco/Asda/Sainsbury and when it opens near us later this month am hoping to give Waitrose a try occaisionally too!)

the other option with freezing is to freeze in ice cube trays and then transfer the cubes to plastic bags. think it's then okay to use normal bags as the milk is frozen so won't absorb the plasticiser (please check that as it's been a while). ice cubes are useful as they give you more flexibility over the size of the feed you defrost.

i know what you mean about wanting other people to feed - i found it great to express so that dh could do the 10pm feed so i could sleep!

Hi All!

Lovely to see you all confidently discussing breast-feeding, pads etc - isn't it amazing to be able to think about after the birth rather than just in terms of oh my god we're never going to make it????

I am so stunned still to be at a stage where I'm now chomping at the bit to meet LittleSyd! Terrified about pain/anguish/trauma of birth of course but also excited to finally have an actual real-live baby to hold

Have had a couple of false starts with minor cramping (more like strong period pains than Branston Pickles) and nausea in the middle of the night, but as yet it has tailed off and come to nothing. All suggestions on getting labour started welcome ladies ...

I've decided to do a bit of list tidying so I have graduated both Cornflake and Ash - well done ladies, you are now fully paid up members of the Graduates List

And what a run of boys we've been having eh?

GUSSET PATROL GRADUATES

Cricri - 1st November - GIRL- Elise Vivienne
LackaDAISYcal - 6th November - BOY - Finlay
barbareebaa - 24th November -BOY - William
Jackstini - 10th December ? BOY- Harvey
KD73 - 20th December - BOY - Aidan George
downbutnotout ? 3rd February BOY
dan39 ? 10th February GIRL - Rose
winemakesmummyclever - 17 February - BOY - Isaac Alexander
Bunnyinheadlights - 23 February - GIRL - Carys
Wheelybug - 12th March - GIRL - Lara Florence
TSOM - 17th March - BOY - Seth
Grinningbee ? 4th April ? GIRL ?Amy Florence
Daisy J ? 1st April ? GIRL ? Maya Celine
Scotlass - 17th April - BOY - Nathan James
Swaliswan - 20th April - GIRL
LoobyLou36,- 23rd April GIRL - Matilda Rose
Ladyhelen2 - 2nd May - BOY - Rufus Daniel
Divedaisy - 2nd May - GIRL - Sofiah Rose
Aquababe - 6th May - BOY - Ethan
Youknownothingofthecrunch - 8th May - GIRL - Polly Anwen
Ses - 9th May - BOY - Owen
SparkyMalarky - 10th May - GIRL ? Evie
Cece - 23rd May ? BOY - Tom
Mumface - 19th June - BOY - Connor Ellis
herbaceous - 8 July - BOY - Samuel
Ashleighbeee - 18th August - BOY - James
cornflakegirl - 20th August - BOY

CURRENT CONCEIVED-AIR PASSENGERS

HerNameWasLola - 26th August
blogqueen - 31st August
sydneysuze - 15th September
lal123 - 25th October
alana39 - 30th October
Tamlin - 5th November
scarlotti - 6th November
Tink08 - 24th November
Fairywing - 11th December
Blondieminx - 18th January
HappyBump - 28th January

Newbies feel free to add yourselves (or not - no pressure) whenever you're ready. I always love looking at all the graduates and flicking back through the threads to read their stories - there's always someone who's been through a similar situation to you and it's so comforting to see they have emerged from the miscarriage grief to have a baby

remember me ? Not been in for a while so not said congrats Cornflake and Ash ! Good to see some more graduates.
I see a coupe of you are after freezer bags for expressed milk - I have some which I won't use (never really got on with expressing). Whoever wants them can have thewm - CAT me and I'll post them (or I can CAT as I have it)

As for me - Lara is 6 month on saturday . A few recentish photos on profile. All going fine - she is on solids, almost off the boob, just about sitting, rolling like mad and trying to crawl. Wah ! Where's my bsby gone ? Still doesn't sleep very well though., grrrrrr....

Just flicking through I see a postnatal thread has started - will come and find it !

ooh and good luck Suze !

ooh and Lola !

Hi Wheely - 6 months already!! Glad she's doing so well.

I'd be grateful of any spare bags you have, but don't have CAT so can you CAT me if I don't have it? If not then I'll give you my email. Thanks

Hi Scarlotti - I have tried to CAT you but you're set to not receive them. If you don't mind putting your email on here then I'll email you !

Hi Wheely, think I've set it to receive CAT messages now, would you mind giving it another go?
Thanks

I've bought bags for milk in mothercare before - think they were Avent ones. Not sure why you couldn't just use normal strong freezer bags, I think it's just that the proper ones have marks to show how much etc. but if you've expressed into a bottle you could see and write that on the bag anyway.

Blondie agree with Cornflake and Scarlotti it might be worth waiting a bit if you can. I never had the chance to use any of the milk I expressed with DS1 as he refused a bottle point blank until the week before I went back to work. DS2 started to have 1 bottle of expressed milk as his last feed in the evening from about 5 weeks, then after a while moved this one onto formula in the vain hope it would help him sleep longer. It did mean that when I stopped BF (actually he just decided at 6 months he wasn't going to do it anymore, and has been a stroppy little bugger ever since ) he took to formula in bottles with no problem.

Found the nice slim Tommee Tippee breast pads at last, none of the local chemists stock and have been on a mission as I remember horrible small thick soggy ones before I found the TT ones!

Hiya Wheely, awh what beautiful smiling girls!

Suze oh well done for tidying up the list. Ummm, apparently going for long walks is supposed to help. And apparently there's something in ahem man juice which softens the cervix in readiness so you could try that! Moving swiftly on, is bouncing up and down on the spot in M&S also worth a go, apparently they give you a load of stuff if you go into labour in one of their stores?! If nothing else it might be worth it for the looks you'd get from other shoppers Anyway good luck over the next few days, hope LittleSyd arrives safely and doesn't cause you too much pain on the way out....Will be thinking of you!

Goodness, I hope the newbies do feel comfortable to add themselves to the list, I'm almost the last one! I think some of the others I conceieved at about the same time as are over on the 4 weeks and bricking it lounge instead but I've always found the advice of KC's who are a bit further on than me so reassuring so stuck with this one!

PS cornflake thank you for the ice-cube tray tip, ingenious!

Sorry Alana, crossed posts! As Scarlotti said TT stuff is on offer in Tesco at the mo, if there is a store that delivers to you might be worth a look?

Thanks for sharing your experiences, hmm well if mini-Blondie is as stubborn as it's mother then we could be in for a fun time.... I am hoping that if I introduce a bottle early the bubba will be happy to take both but if it doesn't work out, then we will come up with a plan B!

Tbh there are signs this baby is doing things its own way already - currently lying acrossways. Plenty of time yet for him/her to turn though and am doing chiropractor cat stretch excercises most nights so Suze you're not the only KC waving her butt in the air of an evening have also got one of those gym ball thingies and they're supposed to help....

CAT sent Scarlotti ! Hope you get it.

Oh help am feeling quite anxious and

Had a midwife appt this am - Me and LittleSyd are 39.3 today. She measured me at 34 cms (that's LESS than I was last week) and said I need to go for a growth scan next Tues which is my due date. I'm worried now that either the placenta is becoming inefficient or that my baby has stopped growing.

She did also say that as LS is now only 2/5 palpable the smaller measurements could be because she's really engaged, also thinks back-to-back again (sigh) and this could be causing my smaller bump but I of course am a bit worried. I am tall (5 feet 10) with a long body so quite a bit of room in there.

As Tues is a consultant appt they may want to sweep and or induce if they are worried about my baby's size

And there was me foolishly thinking that I'd got past the worrying stage!!!!!

So I guess I'd better start planning a romantic weekend with MrSyd to try and get things happening naturally before any interventions from Tues?????

Oh Suze you are having a hard time of it. First you're right, if LittleSyd is now well engaged it would cause the fundal height to fall, and anyway the margin of error is +/- 2cm so add that to the change caused by the head moving down and you've got a completely innocent reason for some of the difference.

I'm 5'10" too and have had quite a bit of variation in fundal height (currently back to just about what's expected, but over 3 pgs have been too big / too small at various times and produced largeish babies even when measuring less than number of weeks with DS2 - he was 9'3").

Not sure how helpful any of that is, but measuring small is not necessarily an indication of the baby's size. I know you won't be able to just stop worrying, but try to keep in mind that at least you're now at term so even if it impacts on getting the birth you had planned, LittleSyd is ready to come out and meet you

Suze sorry to hear you're going through worry. I'd second what alana has said, my mw gave be a +/- 3cm for margin of error and it's certainly not a foolproof method. 2/5 engaged is also nearly halfway and if you think of the depth of a baby's head then that also accounts for different measurements.
For the back to back, get on all fours and wiggle about to try and turn the baby. I'd also see if you can do something vigorous (walking, housework etc.) as that's been known to bring things on.
As alana says though, littlesyd is now full term so worst case scenario is that she comes next week and not quite according to your initial plans. Nature likes to throw most of our best laid plans awry if she can!

Quick post, just wanted to try and give suze some positive vibes.

Firstly second Alana about getting on all fours as much as you can to try to turn baby, bouncing on exercise ball or leaning over it i found most comfy.

Secondly, they didn't even do fundal measurements on me through my whole pg as they can be so unreliable. As I was such a worrier I did my own and they were always smaller than dates. I was completely paranoid about my size so in the end the mw sent me for a growth scan about 37wks only to be told we were on the 91st centile and he was actually going to be a big baby . Sometimes the measurements aren't wrong, the measurer is. DS was 8lbs 3ozs

Thirdly if your baby is well engaged which it sounds as if is the case this will definately affect the measurement.

I take it your still feeling movements and the fetal heart beat was all right so try not stress too much - the MW would've got you in sooner if she was really worried I reckon.

Now long walks, hot curry, hot sex and plenty of bouncing on the ball for you my girl - this baby is coming soon

Thanks everyone! It really does help to read your messages of support - and lovely to see you dropping back in Scotlass!

OK, update from Raunch Boudoir Sydney Towers.

Hot sex - check (MrSyd very happy thank you)
Enormous pineapple consumption - check
Gym ball actually decreasing in size due to over-use - check
Expensive French restaurant meal booked tonight to tempt fate re waters going in public etc - check
Evening Primrose supplements - check
Long walks - check (DogSyd also very happy)
Raspberry leaf tea - start tomorrow as midwife told me to stay away from that until EDD
Trip to M&S (does Simply Food count?) also poss for tomorrow...

So far nada except backache, periody feeling and the usual Branston Pickles.

Come on LittleSyd!!!! You can do it!

Suze glad to see the humour is still strong

DD came early after a day's vigorous cleaning and DS came after my bending over to pick up the post off the mat.

Maybe some vigorous stretching and bending? Any old aerobic dvd's you have that you could get out?!!

Won't be long now I'm sure

Just popping in to say - Scarlotti - I haven't posted the bags yet. Sorry. Can't do tomorrow either but will do on tues !

Sydney - in my first pregnancy I measured bang on for dates on FH and my dd1 had IUGR and was born 4 lbs 9 oz. With L I was bang on too, or a bit over and she was 7lbs 1 oz - 25th centile. So was not an accurate measure of size in my case and to be honest, I don't think ever is.

Wheely no rush, whenever you can manage would be wonderful

hello ladies!

SS - so sorry to hear that you are still going through the mill. You'd think after all us knickercheckers have been through the least we could expect is a straighforward birth!

Scary to see myself nearing the top of the list! Still can't believe we've made it this far! I've been really lucky so far (touch wood!) with nothing too exciting to report - apart from slightly high blood pressure and funny measurements all the time! Two weeks left at work, starting to find it pretty hard going - almost asleep by 3.30 and then having to deal with DD5 until Daddy gets home.

This will have been done to death - but what are/did all you ladies put in your labour bag - so far I've just got a pair of jammies and some big sanitary towels (weird that they are ones which have been lurking in cupboard after last mc - now being put to a happy use!)

tc allxx

Suze very impressed by the amount of energy you must still have. If I can still be bothered to cut up a pineapple the day before my due date I will be very pleased. Hope the waters don't go in the restaurant until after you've had pudding

lal good to hear from you again and that all is well. How many weeks are you now then if you're nearing mat leave? I can imagine how tired you are - I've had an enforced early leaving from work and am finding the extra time to rest and get ready has been a real silver lining to a bit of a shitty situation.

Here's a list from my ante-natal thread - it's very comprehensive!!

dh's Bag:
1 nightdress
1 bf sleep bra
pack of kotex nightime pads (these are cheap & great)
couple of pairs big cheap cotton knickers
2 cereal bars
2 newborn vests & sleepsuits
1 pack disposable nappies
camera
1 ringsling

My Bag:
2 dark bf nightdresses (and there are spares at home)
2 bf sleep bras
breastpads
9 pairs big cotton knickers (more at home)
1 pack kotex nightime pads (more at home)
Surgical tape (to put kotex pads over my cs scar to stop rubbing)
Washbag
Arnica tablets
Multivit tablets
Separate washbag with only a pad, knickers, anti bac wipes for the loo and antibac handwash
Hairbrush with mirror
Lipstick (for visitors / photos - vain I know but I look really pale anyway, let alone after giving birth)
Flipflops for the shower (very messy places...)
Slippers (crocs in my case)
Dark dressing gown
2 large dark towels (more at home)
Tuck box (with healthy, full of fibre snacks)
Eye mask and earplugs for daytime naps
1 pack bodyform nightime pads (more at home)
2 books
bible
puzzles magazine & pen
pad of paper (if I think of something I need when dh isn't there, baby brain makes me forgetful)
cd player & cds (not worth someone stealing)
alarm clock (won't make me popular but ds missed night feeds because staff wouldn't wake me, and he got dehydrated)
straws
feeding pillow
handbag hook (to hang pillow on)

Baby's Bag
5 changes of clothes
2 hats
5 pairs socks (to use as scratch mitts, they stay on better)
Wrap sling
pack of nappies
pack of sensitive wipes (for nightime changes - cs means I won't be able to get water easily)
cotton wool pads for daytime changes
nappy bags

Am not sure how you're supposed to store all that at the hospital tbh, and if you're planning a 6hr birth to home I'm not sure you'd use it all!!

Just checking in - hi all Suze excellent report from Sydney Towers over the weekend! Sounds like you've made several members of the family very happy this weekend and LittleSyd must just be cosy in there and will come out when good and ready I guess! I like the idea of booking an expensive lovely meal but second Alana I hope you get to enjoy your pudding before anything starts! What about booking in some pampering over the coming week - a nice pregnancy massage to ease your back etc? Will be thinking of you!

Hope everyone else and bumps are all well. We went to a family wedding over the weekend so had lots of people coming up to have a look at the bump so that was nice!

Lal there was a thread a while back on packing hospital bags, a tip I remember is to pack a smaller bag of stuff for the baby (couple of babygros and nappies as apparently the hospital don't give you nappies) and also to pack a smaller bag of stuff for your partner e.g. snacks. Keeping the stuff separate makes it easier to find what you need. Oh and the yummy mummy survivial guide says glucose tablets and heartburn tablets are well worth packing!