Hi all

New thread time

Previous thread

Regards

Ali

GOLD!!!

Woo hoo

I'm in the hospital - two lots of prostaglandin down. Feeling a little sore but no contractions at all. Hope I manage to sleep tonight! AHHHHHH I get to meet my baby tomorrow yay!!

SILVER!

Actually feeling human tonight, unbelievable! Abstarini, good luck!!!

bronze!

Crossing fingers for a quick and pain free (as much as possible) labour girls!

Thanks for the water advice crankybee. I'll be downing it like no tomorrow. As for the induction, no ones really told me anything about what happens. I'm seeing a midwife tomorrow and will ask for a membrane sweep and more details regarding this 'tape'. I guess other than that it'll be daily / 2 day monitoring from now onwards. I can't believe how stubborn this child is!

Speshelle, get in there tomorrow and ask questions! But before that...find out via a good pregnancy book or decent website as much as you can about induction!

Good luck Abbi

I am hoping that since we haven't heard from BOXERPUP she has gone into labour or had bub.

Goodluck Abstarini!! Will be thinking of you & can't wait to hear your baby news!!

Sounds like everyone else is hopefully not too far off meeting their bundles of joy - so exciting!! Can't wait to hear more baby news!!

AFM - Jake has been a trooper on the boob & has let me have some solid sleep through the night!! I will be trying to nap when he does this afternoon as I'm tired & have to get up early!!.. Damn visitors..

Will be lurking for more baby news!!

SJ xx

SJ...put the brakes on the visitors if you are tired! It's all about you! You've just given birth!

Wonder how Boxerpup and Abstarini are going?

I woke up this morning worried I wasn't mentally prepared to go into labour...so today is all about getting a few last minute things in order and re-reading my calmbirth notes. I've been running around ignoring the fact that I'm 40+6 and I need to stop trying to be superwoman!

Hey ladies. I'm currently on the ctg monitor. Had my first s&s and it's all looking good. Apparently I'm already 2 cm dilated. Theyve said they're happy to let me go to the end of the week before breaking waters. Hopefully it won't get to that stage.

As for 'burnt' babies, the midwife said all babies go through a dry skin stage. Usually at 1 week old. So what happens is when your baby is born at 42 weeks, that dry skin stage has already commenced in utero. So nothing to be concerned about. Yay!

Edit to deleted weird double post

Thanks for the update Speshelle! And the info on burnt babies! At least we know the answers now! It's great they will let you go a few days longer...how pregnant are you now? I'm going to go to 41+6 before any serious consideration of inducing...

Good luck to the mums-to-be, especially Abstarini , crankybee and Speshelle. I haven't gone back to read the older thread yet, but the others are in my thoughts as well. I really admire how patient and strong you girls are. Will keep an eye out for more wonderful news...

About induction- my advice would be to make sure they don't turn up the syntocinin drip too quickly. It makes for verrrry painful contractions. It forces your cervix to contract strongly when it's not necessarily how it would do it naturally. I coped fine for the first few hours when it was still a lower dosage, but they doubled it every 1/2 hour (which I believe is standard practice) and if I had it my way, it would've been a slower increase rate to allow my body to get used to it. Also, even if you're connected to monitors, try moving around a bit if you can. I found that helped a lot.

Crankybee, we're aiming for the same. If nothing happens by 41+6 we'll have our waters broken (we're currently 41 + 2). Hopefully that will bring on labour without the requirement for the drip. I really hate the idea of being hooked to a pole and being continuously monitored. (ob has dismissed gel - as my cervix is already soft, low and opened)

On another note, I just got back from doing some grocery shopping and have noticed some bleeding. Called the hospital who said its to be expected after a S&S. Crossing fingers it actually means something is moving and going on down there.

As for being mentally prepared, I'm not sure I'm quite there either. In fact I think I've blocked labour from my mind completely. I'm more than happy to stay pregnant forever (if only it were safe for little miss). Let me know after your birth if you believe calm birth classes were worth it. The only birthing material I've really studied was the orgasmic birth dvd. It was awesome though doesn't really give you techniques on how to achieve an orgasm during birth. More focuses on natural birthing. I cried watching all those babies being born :-)

Edit: Enharmonic: Just read your post now. Thanks for the suggestion regarding the drip. I'll definitely keep that in mind if we end up down that road.

My Baby Girl, Grace Kerrie is finally here, born on the 12th May at 00:46, weighing in at 4195kgs, 55cms long, and a 36.5cm head circumference. Established labour was only 46 minutes long - after they broke my waters. She was born whilst I was standing up, and I have the most amazing picture of her head coming out

She has had a little bit of trouble with establishing breastfeeding, so I stayed in an extra day. She finally got the hang of it last night, and we are feeding using a nipple shield for my right nipple, as hardly any of my kids have liked that right breast.

She didn't lose over 10% of her birth weight, which was awesome, as I was kind of freaking out about it, as Ella did, and we had to stay a few extra days with her..

I'm just uploading the photos from my camera now.. So will post a few soon.

YAY! Thats fantastic news! Welcome Grace Kerrie!

Congrats Binda on little Grace!

Good luck expectant mummies!!! :-)

Re burnt babies- Lucas was 39+5 at birth & I've definitely noticed peeling dry skin on hands & feet and he wasn't even overcooked. So they definitely shed skin (the cuties).

All well here, he put on 170g this week (we visited the MCHN today) & a really good baby. I love cuddling him!!

Congratulations Binda on the arrival of Grace.

Lachie was 4 weeks early and peeled though not anywhere near as much as my other two who were both born before 40 weeks.

Congrats Binda! Well done

Hi all

Unfortunately I haven't caught up on the previous thread since I went in to be induced on Tuesday last week but a huge congrats on any new arrivals and those going in to be induced (as I see some others also preparing for this!)

Our little girl Ava Elizabeth was born on Wednesday 11th May at 5.04am. We are just thrilled to bits and can't stop staring at her! She was 7lb12 (and a half!), 51cms.

The induction (is that a word?) was no where near as 'bad' as expected and I was lucky to go into labour about 3 hours after the gel was inserted so didn't have to wait until 7am to have my waters broken / drip put in (Ava had already arrived by then!).

As a first time mum I am finding everything a little daunting and scary but loving every moment also....I just want to do everything right but it seems that depends on whichever person you speak to as to what 'right' is!

Having some issues with breastfeeding - Ava is a champion 'sucker' but my nipples are bearing the brunt of her enthusiasm and I have been told to go onto a pump to give them some time to heal and toughen up before trying to go back on the breast.....I am about to give the pump a go at home for the first time so cross fingers!

Anyway, enough from me, I will go and read up on other news from the previous (and this) thread so I can catch up on everything that has happened over the last week.

Good luck to all those still waiting or being induced. Thinking of you and your imminent arrivals!

Suze x

Congratulations to all the new arrivals... little Ava & Grace


I've been lurking, but haven't had time to write, as it's a little hard while bottle feeding Dylan and with my 2YO jumping all over me. I have to constantly fend her off, as she's way too rough with Dylan's little head. She is a bit too affectionate

I have to say though... Wow our group has amazing choice in names... there's not one that I don't love!

Hope all your bubs are treating you well. Dylan is a great sleeper in the day time, but still hasn't mastered sleeping well at night. Grrrr. Off to catch some sleep...

congratulations!! i just wanted to suggest that you get some 'Weleda' breastfeeding creme,really good,all natural and doesnt need to be washed off-i havent had cracked nipples at all this time and suffered last time from a very enthusiastic feeder(this one is too-shes put on 330gm) and get some nipple shields just until your nipples have recovered,its not true that once you start using them you have to keep using them-they save you a lot of pain! good luck with it all.tracy

Congrats to all our new babies! I agree with madmatriarch on the nipple shields - a friend of mine starting using them when she had her baby last week after her nipples were giving her grief and it's helped a lot. Whatever gets you through!

So, here I am 41 weeks today! I feel great this morning and can only put it down to spending yesterday relaxing and reading over my calmbirth notes and finally opening the last birth book I hadn't read - Ina May Gaskin's Guide to Childbirth. What a beautiful book! I spent a long time last night reading all the birth stories in the front and smiling - felt like the world had lifted off my shoulders and I can actually do this! I am not scared of going into labour anymore...anyone who hasn't had their baby yet should get a copy ASAP! Borrow it from the library! Send your DH out to buy you a copy! Just get it!

Am about to go to my 41 week appointment at the hospital but haven't decided if I will go ahead with the Stretch and Sweep yet...will see how I feel when I get there. The baby has dropped a lot more and I feel things will go along OK if I don't. I might save it for 41 weeks 6 days.

Wonder how Boxerpup and Abstarini are going?

UPDATE!

Just got back from my Midwife's appointment and it went really well...she said my cervix is feeling good! She was very excited! She said she could nearly do the S&S today (only half a finger off being able to fit two in) and she could touch the baby's head! She actually did a little dance of excitement once her hand was out! LOL!

Worked out a plan with her as to what will happen if I get to next Monday and haven't gone into labour (that would make me 41+6) and have worked out the following...would love your feedback on this .

* Acupuncture tomorrow with my Doula.
*Stretch and sweep Thursday, Friday and Saturday with Midwife.
*Arrive at hospital Monday night for tape-on-cervix.
*If nothing happened by Tuesday morning ask for 12 hours off and re-try Tuesday night. I won't be able to go home but that's OK...my trade off was being able to leave the room and go for walks up to an hour.

I really don't want to be induced but am not sure how I feel about refusing it come 42 weeks. What do you all think?

Congratulations to the families of all the new arrivals.

Sean Michael decided to join us on Sunday 15th at 2:25am. Weighing 3.52kg. I will post my birth story a little later.

Congrats Tigster and SM80!! Wishing you guys easy recoveries!

Crankybee: Your plan looks good to me. Where are you getting the acupuncture? I'm contemplating it but starting to wonder if its too late (to find someone, book and actually get it done before baby arrives). As for going over 42 weeks, I saw my Ob today who said she would like to induce me on Monday (42+2) instead of Friday (41+6). She said with daily monitoring it shouldn't be a problem. Having said that though, the midwife I consulted yesterday said still birth rates increase the longer birth is delayed after 10 -14 days of the EDD. So its really up to you and your docs. (remembering this is why daily monitoring is important)

AFM: I had further CTG monitoring and another S&S this morning. Sheebies those things are soo uncomfortable! On the upside the midwife did say she could easily fit in two fingers to stretch the cervix and sweep the membranes. I'm getting a bit of back pain and aches down there but nothing that resembles a contraction (yet).

On another note, its my husbands 30th birthday next Wednesday. We booked to have a birthday dinner with 20 people on the date, expecting to bring a 3 week old baby. If things continue as they are bubs will only be 2 days old! I said to my husband its likely he'll have to go without me :-( funny how things turn out!

Anyway hope everyone out there is enjoying their day!

Hi All.

On Saturday 14th at 4:50pm, I finally gave birth to my beautiful baby boy - Riley Adam. 9 pounds 11 ounces. 55 cm long. Absolutely perfect.

Just got home a couple of hours ago. When I get some sleep (so need sleep) I will write up the whole story.

Just wanted to drop quick message. I haven't even read the thread yet. I now understand "tired".

Congratulations Boxerpup on the birth of Riley. Thought that might be what you were doing as you have been MIA

Congratulations on the arrival of Grace, Ava, Sean & Riley!! Can't wait to see photos and hear about their arrivals!!

Not long now until everyone should be holding their babies in their arms instead of in their belly!! Will lurk for more arrivals!!

Only a short one, will try come back later for personals!

SJ xx

Yay Boxerpup! Finally the pain and discomfort is over!

Sorry Tigster I missed the post about Sean. Congratulations

Hi all.

Just a quick post to let you all know that Oliver Hamilton was born yesterday 16th May at 2:36pm. Weighing 3.6kg and measuring 51.5cm.

My birth story is quite horrendous and I will return to provide details when I get a chance. Right now I am recovering from a complicated Caesar but I wanted to let you guys know about my beautiful little man. I am so in love

congratulations ladies!!-sorry, typing one-handed, baby on the boob!

Congratulations Abstarini on the arrival of Oliver.. Sorry to hear about the complicated c-section, rest up and enjoy ur man - can't wait to hear ur story & see pics!!

SJ xx

Congratulations Abbi on the arrival of Oliver. Great name - DS2 is Oliver.

Congrats to our two newest mums! Looking forward to seeing some pics!

Speshelle, I am getting my acupuncture done by my Doula here in Sydney (she does it for a living as well as the Doula gig). I don't think you'd have trouble finding someone to do it but not sure if it would help at this stage - all the evidence points to it be most effective when you start it at 36 weeks. I wouldn't want you to waste your money! I'm not sure it's doing me in any good but in for a penny, in for a pound!

I have been told the same thing about the risks increasing after 42 weeks but there is so much info out there it's hard to know what to believe. I really struggled last night with wondering what to do but have decided there's something to be said for a mix of following my intuition and modern science! I am happy to be induced Monday but I will take it slow (as per what I wrote the other day). If they want me to stay in hospital on Tuesday I would do that even though I would rather come home as long as they let me try the tape for one more night. I can always watch Season 5 of The Wire on my laptop! I am trying not to fixate on being induced because there's nothing I can do about it anyway. I will just have to see if my body kicks off all on its own!

Yesterday afternoon I had some period-like pains and a bit of a show which continued through the night. I feel pretty good today and am going to keep active and happy even if it ****ing kills me!
[quote]

I also have to laugh about plans going out the window because this baby is still cooking. Every day my DH show up to work they look surprised to see him and he has paid a considerable amount of non-refundable money to go on a course this Friday! He booked it months ago and completely forgot about my due date! Knowing our luck I will be in labour then! Oh well...

A huge welcome to Oliver and Riley! Two more boys to add to the brood!

Abs sorry to hear the birth didn't go to plan. Hope your recovery is quick and easy.

Crankybee: Thanks for the info regarding the acupuncture. I think I'll pass at this late stage. Hopefully it works for you sooner than later. Just like you I've started getting regular menstrual cramps and finally my mucus plug is falling away! YAY! I'm crossing fingers that tonight is the night (especially as the midwife I trust is working tonight, hehe).

I'd love to hear your tips on how to turn these mild cramps into full blown contractions. I'm getting close to begging for labour!

Oh and I wanted to note I made the mistake of noting that I was 2cm dilated on FB. Now I'm really getting all the calls and hassling! My fault completely! d'oh

Rookie mistake . Good luck sending labour vibes your way

Awww, Speshelle! You didn't, did you!? LOL! Good luck with that! I wouldn't even tell people my DUE DATE! No-one knows about my secret S&S sessions coming up except for my DH and the midwife! Oh, and EB!

You and I are in the same pre-labour boat...more of the same for me today. Come on baby!!!! Are you in Sydney? Where are you having your baby at?

LOL, I know! I was so incredibly stupid. Everyone was asking questions and I wanted to reassure them that yes, something was happening, just very slowly! What I don't get is that the people calling daily are the ones who had their babies 10 days - 2 weeks late themselves! They should know better!

Crankybee: I'm from Melbourne and having my baby at the Werribee Mercy. Feel free to add me on FB (also goes for anyone else here) http://www.facebook.com/speshelle.

Unfortunately I don't have any further news to share. Plug is still falling away - its really gross but I cant help but look at it, LOL.

Anyway off I go to bounce on my gym ball. Laters guys

Spesh you need that fierce teacher face I have! Not even my own MOTHER would ask me if anything was happening!

It's good when the world is scared of you! LOL! Jokes...jokes...kind of...

Good luck plug looker! Check in with you tomorrow!

Hi Everyone

Sorry I havent been around at all - too busy delivering and spending time with my gorgeous little girl .

That's right - Miriam Joy was born at 4.35pm on Friday the 13th May, weighing in at 3.6kg. Quick story is that my waters broke on Friday morning at about 8. I called and went to the hospital for monitoring and my obs happened to be there delivering twins. So she checked me out and I was 2cm dilated. Decided then and there to go on the drip and have bub who came later that day. Looking back, labour was easy, but at the time......

Will come back later and catch up on everything - we are having quite a few probs with feeding and Miriam has lost some weight, so I need to breastfeed, top up with expressed breast milk and formula and then express what ever is left for the next 3 hourly feed - lots to do and not much sleep. We are home though, which is good - much easier to get into a better rhythm.

Hope all is well for everyone

Kath and Miriam

YAY for another girl! Congratulations Kath! Oh how I wish my waters would break at 2cm dilated!

You said you were put straight on the drip. Were you under continuous monitoring? (ie bed ridden) or did you have the ability to move around / shower? I really want to have an active birth, but I'm scared being induced will result in staying in bed (as the hospital we're going to confirms we'll be hooked up and monitored throughout).

Best wishes with establishing breastfeeding. Theres a parenting group for May babies now. You might want to visit that as there seems to be lots of breastfeeding tips there.

Hi ladies!

BIG congratulations on all the new arrivals!!!

My goodness I have just finished reading the last few threads. I have missed so much since the last time I was here. Long story short, our house renovations got to a very bad point end of March, making the house unliveable for my then 17mo DD so the two of us moved out at a moment's notice. One day noone was able to work on the house, the next day their other jobs freed up and we just had to run with it or wait for ages again. We were without kitchen, dining, living, half the house was fully gutted. I've often thought over the last couple of months that we must be insane to be putting ourselves through this at the same time when expecting a newborn. But hopefully we'll be able to look back on it all soon and enjoy our wonderful new space. But so much is still unfinished. I still don't have a cooktop and our sink is in the laundry. Kitchen should be finished soon though. We're doing the majority of the work ourselves so it's taking a while. Our one luxurious purchase was a steam oven. Cannot wait to start using it!! We've been living off the frozen meals I cooked back when and my mum has been a real champion, taking time off work to look after DD and make sure we all eat well

We moved back home 5 days before our new baby was born. So it was (still is) all very hectic. He had nowhere to sleep until the day before he was born. DD is still in her cot, although nearly ready for the big bed, and she never had a bassinet. So MIL went and bought a bassinet and we've been sharing the room with our new addition since coming home from the hospital.

Anyway! Our little baby was born on 3 May. He was born at 39.4 weeks, 55cm long, 4.7kg (or 10lb 6oz), 38cm head. I expected him to be very chubby like DD was, but he is just very long and slim. He is all muscle Absolutely perfect. 2w1d today and a very calm baby. He looks a lot like DD when he cries his hungry red faced cry.

He's feeding really well, and mostly sleeps well. Has given us a few difficult nights, but will mostly settle back to sleep quickly after night feeds. He has a bit of reflux happening. Just very mild, as in a bit of milk (around up to 1-2 tablespoons) will come out of his mouth if I lie him down. And he's so calm about it all. I'm very lucky he doesn't cry much as I get very distressed when he's crying. So we're making sure he gets thoroughly burped (I badly need a back massage), and keep him upright for 20 mins or so after a feed, cot slightly raised at one end, etc... I've started giving him dummy to keep milk from coming up but half the time he's not interested. He's getting a fair bit of tummy time, too. He loves sleeping on his tummy! I'm always paranoid about it, but he just loves it and sleeps so much better than on his back, so during the day when I can keep my eye on him all the time, I let him have one or two day sleeps on his tummy. He's got a very strong neck already though and can turn head from side to side whilst asleep, so I shouldn't be so worried.

And I'm still getting the hang of changing a boy's nappy. I use a face washer to cover his bits, but he's still managed to get me a few times, and a number of times he's wet his clothes either just as I open his nappy or just as I'm about to close it. And he's sprayed me with explosive #2 a couple of times too... So much washing to do all the time. My little girl was much easier than this!

Good luck to all those still waiting to have babies

Crankybee, I went to 42 weeks with DD and was induced. I wish I had researched induction as much as you have. I would have given DD a bit longer to cook. I just went with my then doctor's advice who said it would all be over in 2 hours, and when you've waited as long as 42 weeks, that sounded very good. But whichever way you decide to go, I hope it goes very smoothly for you DD had red peeling skin, but it all sorted itself out within a few weeks and I didn't even put anything on it.

Abstarini, congratulations on Oliver! I'm very sorry to hear labour didn't go well. I hope you have people around who can help you out and that you recover quickly.

Anyway, best get going. I can hear bub starting to wake up.

K&S-hoping41 - Congratulations The 3 hourly feeding + topping up and then expressing is very difficult. I had to do the same. 20 mins each breast, then top up, settle baby, then express. Doesn't leave much time for sleep or anything else really...

Congratulations on the arrival of robin and Miriam.

Kath I had to do the 3 hour feeding bottle express with DS1 as I didn't get milk for two weeksHope you are getting some rest too

Congratulations to those of you who have had your overdue babies!

My own arrived last night at 40+5, delivered via emergency c-section (I can relate, Abstarini - an all-round absolutely horrible day). Despite that, our little boy Toby is just wonderful! A champion feeder and very alert, not to mention gorgeous!

Good luck to those still waiting, and I hope it all ends soon for you guys!

A quick one to let you know I'm having my waters broken tomorrow morning! Went for monitoring today and baby was very slow to react and move. Ob wasnt super concerned but asked me to come in for 6 hourly monitoring tonight just in case. Wish me luck ladies!

Michelle, good luck! You will be right though-even with the drip in you can have a really active birth. My best friend in Melbourne moved around the entire time-she had the monitoring on the baby's scalp as the straps around her were really annoying. Can't wait to hear how it goes!

Congrats to the new Mummas on their beautiful bundles of joy. (I've lost track so won't individually name as I don't want to miss anyone.)

Speshelle- good luck!!! Very exciting that it's all going to happen soon. (When you go in for monitoring again, pack your bag just in case. I was supposed to go in just for monitoring and had to stay instead. Was totally unprepared for that.)

MummyHayles, thanks for updating the list. I love seeing where everyone's at in our group and the new birthdays. I don't know how you look after the list and a newborn- brilliant job!!!

totally agree with Enharmonic. MummyHayles, you're doing awesome keeping the list up to date!