Pregnancy after Miscarriage Part IX - Knicker Checkers etc

[dan39]

New one! Thought I would make my mark!

Hello all

Glad to hear everyone seems to be doing well, and some lovely positive scan news.

Been trying to finish off a little potential work this end but have now decided that I'll give it a few more days then all it quits as my head is in neither work space or prepare for baby space properly, and am starting to fret!
Two ladies on my ante-natal thread have had their babies (at 35+1 and 36+2) so the reality of this is starting to sink in ... and the reality of actually giving birth
Feeling ok in myself though so that's nice and have even managed 2 full night's sleep - long may that continue!!

Sorry Rosa x-posted with you earlier - had started a post and got called away and so didn't see yours before I posted. Glad the scan went well. From talking to others on these boards it seems it's really common to get bleeding in early pg, particularly around the time your period would have been due. The consensus seemed to be that browny blood = stuff that's not needed anymore so not to worry but any fresh red blood should be checked out immediately. Sorry if TMI! Oh and I am due middle of January so will be sticking around for a while yet

Alana glad to hear the baby is lying the right way for you.

Quick question for those who are nearer the delivery date than me... when did your consultant/midwife talk to you about a birth plan?

Blondie my mw only wanted to talk birth plan yesterday at 36 weeks plus. Worth thinking about whenever you like, but I think that they don't really allocate the time until then because if you go into labour earlier you are likely to have less choice (birthing centres generally only take you from term i.e. 37 weeks), more monitoring etc, and any plan is more likely to be torn up.

FWIW my birth plan was to go to the birthing unit, see what happens and stay in for 1 night so there is no risk of DS2 throwing a strop and insisting I do everything for him with DH not allowed to even hand him a drink which is the usual state of affairs when we're both here. How's that for detail?

we worry about them not staying in at the beginning and then worry about them not coming out near the end.........

My birth plan is pretty much "see how it goes"

Personally I'm asking for the 'go to sleep and be handed my baby when I wake up' option ... thought it might be worth a try

Have the mw today so will speak to her about it, but I suspect it will just be a few bullet points along the lines of:
I want him delivered on to my chest and for him to try and latch on asap
I want the injection for the placenta
I want the crowning bit to be done slowly so I don't tear (this is a hindsight one from DS)

To be honest, I think if they have too much to read through you might not get any of it. A few bullet points should be doable.

Thanks ladies. Loved the detail there Alana hehe! I'd love to go to a birthing centre but was told at my booking in appt that as they've classified me as high risk I have to have the baby in hospital, hey ho. Have you been for a tour there yet?

I want to talk about birth plans sooner rather than later as I have a number of complications...Apparently I have an oddly placed cervix so am wondering if that will affect my chances of normal delivery. Also crappy low blood pressure that they've been monitoring. Plus the thyroid problem that led me to have consultant-led care in the first place. Oh and the baby is lying breech. Apart from that, it's all fine....

Scarlotti that was my plan, to do some bullet points for them. But before I do that I want to know how they intend to manage me!

Lal yep you're sooo right there!

to everyone, hope you're all ok

Hello ladies, it's HerNameWasLola here, but I'm in disguise, hope you like it! I've been meaning to log on and post my birth story for ages, for any of you who remember me! Our little girl arrives safe and sound 2 days after her due date, on 28th August. I can't believe she is already 6 weeks, the time has flown by. Despite the sleep deprivation and the fact that she appears to have somewhat destroyed my body, I love her to bits. To all of you in the early days, going through that hideous time, YOU WILL GET THERE - it will feel like a lifetime, but once they're here you won't be able to imagine life without them. I'll never forget the babies we lost, especially our little boy, but if it wasn't for him we wouldn't have had Thalia, so we will forever be grateful to him for giving us her. Here's my birth story:

I went for a sweep on Thursday 27th at 40+1 and was told I was 3cm dilated already. Niggly pains from then onwards, progressing to "proper" contractions by about 2330. They were about 5 mins apart and lasting anything up to 45 secs pretty much straight away. Phoned the hospital at about midnight and was told to go away as they were very busy...! Went in just after 1am anyway and discovered when I got there I was 7cm (told them I was in labour!!)
In the pool & on g&a til about 3.30ish then conned into getting out to be examined and told I should stay out of the water and off the g&a to help me push more efficiently...

Thalia Grace was born at 0519 weighing in at a whopping 8lbs 9oz (ouch!) The mw was optimistic that I "only" had a 1st or possibly a 2nd degree tear, but turned out it was a 3A so I had to go off to theatre for a spinal to be stitched up. Typical - no pain relief for the birth, then half a ton afterwards.

BF was something of a nightmare right from the start, Thalia just wouldn't/couldn't latch on. We took her to a cranial osteopath when she was 6 days old and she was like a different baby afterwards, honestly it was amazing. We're now getting by on a mixture of bf with nipple shields (not ideal but necessary for her to be able to latch on), expressing and feeding EBM from a bottle and the odd top of of formula as she's a hungry little thing.

She's changed our lives, and I've never been happier (or more exhausted ). Sorry haven't been keeping up with the thread, but thought I'd seize the chance to post while she's sleeping. Will now go and search for news of Ash Syd et al... Love to all xx

Congratulations Lola Syd had said she'd seen news of you on another thread. Thalia is a beautiful name and glad to hear you've both doing well. Don't spend too long looking for news, try to get some sleep

Aaaah Lola congratulations, Thalia is a gorgeous name. Hope you're recovering well and thanks for the tip on the cranial osteopath!

Lola/Nemo wonderful news, so glad all is going well for you now. Have already told my osteopath that she'll be seeing my boy once he's arrived
Great to hear from you - enjoy Thalia xx

Hi all. Had good news at mw appointment yesterday - blood pressure down again, so now OK to go to midwife unit and have a waterbirth if I want one. Still getting weekly bp checks, but fingers crossed! Scary to think that I've only got a couple of weeks to go - don't feel at all organised. But got the essential car seat adapters today - so ready to go!!

Congratulations Lola.

Looks like it really will be me and you Rosa!

If it helps any, I had spotting early on with sprout and then 2 days of proper bleeding, and the bleed could be seen on the scan at 6 weeks. Everything settled and he wasa full term healthy baby.

I have my dating scan on Weds. Sometimes feel really confident (all this lard can't JUST be pies can it?) and sometimes tempted to prepare myself for the worst. Old habits die hard!!

Anyway, sprout is a great help in taking my mind off things. Somehow for me it's been emotionally easier this time cos I don't actually have any thinking time.

lal glad to hear you're all sorted now

maHobbit I think the trick is definitely to keep your brain occupied so you can't think through all eventualities (or at least limit the amount of time dwelling on them!)

Doing ok here, been quite poorly over the weekend with some virus and chronic earache. On the mend now though with 3.5 weeks left to go, although I have a sneaky feeling he might turn up earlier than planned!

Think there's a few of us on the home stretch now ... alana, lal and tamlin if my memory serves me correctly (a rarity these days mind!)

Had a bit of a wake up call yesterday - thought I'd had the start of a show in the morning and realised just how much we still have to do. OK- in my preg brain it seemed like a lot!!! SO finally got round to sorting out a t shirt to give birth in, washed a load of baby clothes that had been in the loft and got DP to get the cot from his Mums. He was starting to put it together when he realised a) the screws have all gone AWOL and b) he's brought a mixture of cot and DDs first bed.... THank goodness DD2 will be in a moses basket for a while!

Going to go get a baby bath this pm - we were planning on just using the ordinary bath, but I've just remembered what a bad back that gave me with DD1. By the time we get to the shops I'll have persuaded myself that a top and tail bowl is another necessity...

lal glad to hear you have the basket, we found the day that DS1 came home from hospital that our lovely gliding crib had instructions and screws missing. I know it should have been up already, but DH had planned to do the morning after I ended up in hospital a few days early. Luckily had a carry cot for the pushchair for first few days.

Scarlotti sorry to hear you've been ill, bizarrely I've been the only one in the house to escape nasty virus that even kept DH off work (almost unheard of) and DS2 was almost ill enough to cancel his birthday party yesterday. Luckily maximum doses of calpol just about got him through. Have mixed feelings about whether I should feel guilty as he's probably now infected his best friends, or not as he picked it up at school so they'll probably get it anyway.

Had terrible aching low down in pelvis yesterday and started to get quite hopeful something might happen. Now gone and although I feel more comfortable I have really had enough (and feeling guilty about that as well after all the worry trying to get through the first 4 months intact!).

Really need to stop thinking the baby might arrive early (2.5 weeks to go now).

alana have convinced myself that this one will be early (3.5 weeks to go for me) - stupid as I'll be really fed up if I go full term or over. Keep thinking I've got preparation signs going on but I think it's probably just a tummy bug

lal sitting here looking at the list I made last week and realising how little has been ticked off.

Ds is 4 on Nov 11th and we've arranged a party for the 15th - must get on and order the bits for that otherwise it will be another thing on the list that doesn't get done ... beats cleaning the fridge though eh?!

Just been over to the childbirth threads (starting to worry myself now) and seen lal's waters broke last night so hopefully some more news soon!

Hi all Mahobbit ooh hope all goes wonderfully at the scan tomorrow, looking forward to hearing all about it. If you tummy is growing the baby must be too, that's a very good sign.

Scarlotti awh no poor you being poorly there are lots of nasty bugs around at the moment, hope you're keeping dosed up on vitamins etc to help support your system eh? Can't believe how quickly the time is going! How's the list coming on today? If it's any consolation not much has been ticked off mine recently either, have started to feel very tired of an evening all of a sudden which is annoying (like, need to be in bed by 9pm tired). Hoping to go and look at prams/pushchairs/buggies over the wekeend though which is nice

Alana Were your other DC's early? Wonder if you've got that inkling for a reason - is your bag all packed etc?

I've got my maternity meeting with HR today to formalise dates and figures etc. I can't believe how quickly the time is going now. I'm hoping to pack up the Friday before Christmas week so that means about 9 weeks left at work... eeek!

Ooh, exciting news about lal

Get to hand over the last piece of work I'm doing tomorrow so can finally shut off that part of my brain!
Earache has now become manageable but still have the dicky tum so wondering now if it's the infamous clearing out mechanism. That would be just my luck as I finally ditch all work and am on maternity mentally too!

Good louck for your scan mahobbit blondie hope the chat with HR went well

Hello, Im wondering if may join this thread please? I found out today that Im expecting. Since june I have had 2mc, one right after the other, and straight away again Im PG. Am very nervous as its very early days but line looks nice and strong. Going to hold for about 2 weeks before going to the doctors.

Very exciting but very scary all at the same time...

Hi ladyemmalou welcome to the thread and congratulations. The early weeks are hideous and I was very glad of the support I found here (and all the encouraging stories of people actually having babies ).

Know what you mean Scarlotti, I know I should just be enjoying having the school day to myself instead of wishing the baby here, but it would be so much easier to be able to unstrap all the extra weight and put it in a moses basket! Literally had a physical battle to get DS2 dressed today, as he wanted to go to school in his PJs, and I'm sure I have pulled about 10 muscles as a result.

Blondie 9 weeks will fly by. Good luck with the pushchair hunt, even with some experience I have found that the most difficult decision to make this time (months of indecision before ending up with the same one I had for DS1 6 years ago which did not impress DH).

Thanks Alana well I will report back when we've chosen! So, is your hospital bag all packed and ready to go?

scarlotti hope your tummy settles soon, peppermint tea is always soothing to rough tummies so that might be worth a go? Hope you get a couple of days to enjoy being on proper mat leave at least before the big day

Ladyemmalou congratulations, and welcome . Sending you sticky bean vibes and I hope your stay on this thread is a long and happy one. There are a couple of other ladies at the beginning on here too so I'm sure they'll be really pleased to have you along as well . There is a list as to where people are but we tend to only update it either when there's a birth or as and when you feel ready/comfortable/confident to add yourself to it.

Has anyone seen Tamlin or Ciara about? Just wondered how they're getting on these days.

Oh, before I go... BARGAIN ALERT

Free £30 pampers hamper if you sign up to Pampers/Tesco baby clubs via this link

Yes I've been packed for a few weeks now Blondie. And I am amazed by just how much time I am wasting on MN instead of doing anything remotely useful. I do have 3 pots of different food on the go ready to freeze some though, so I suppose that counts as nesting .

Lola so nice to hear your story. What a lovely name. DS1 had very similar latching problems, he never succeeded (except for a couple of times with a shield) and I ended up expressing what I could for a few months and mix feeding (which was miserable as I felt such a failure). So well done you for succeeding in the face of it! I know how awful it can be when they just won't do what seems to come so naturally to everyone else.

It was only when ds2 came along and latched on within 5 minutes of being born that I realised it really wasn't my fault! I had blamed myself for so long and now here I was finding the whole thing effortless, having not done half of what I did to get ds1 to feed.

Ladyemmalou welcome I hope you have a long stay. Wishing you sticky thoughts

alana lal tamlin and scarlotti! You're all so huge and uncomfortable and I'm sympathetic but ridiculously excited for you all as well. Make sure you bookmark the Postnatal thread and join us on there when you can (baring in mind it gets about one post a month )

scarlotti so much of my journey was spent chatting to you when you were in your early days and I was in my final days, and now here we are in your last bit!

I'm getting all emotional

I'll be back!

Crunch? Can't see the full name but it must be with that number of grins