Bumpkins & Babies Chat Thread

[florabean1981]

Kte, well done to Chloe on her new words. i love hearing when they come out with some new. harry's new one this week is 'no worry!' and he wanders around the lounge going 'where d' put it?' when he's trying to find a toy he can't find- it cracks me up!

Aimee- I like hearing about Earl's good appetite; so often you hear about toddlers screaming at meal times & refusing foods etc, but with Earl, he always seems so easy going, which is nice to hear about. harry will eat pretty much anything (except Leeks & Chilli con carne) too, which is a relief!

Fraggles- How's J getting on with weaning? Love the latest lot of pics you put on FB of the kids- they're such good looking little boys

Milosmum- great pics of Milo! He looks a lot older since his hair cut i think!

Colsy- sucks with the AF, but i hope you get a nice surprise BFP soon. How's Monty getting on these days?

Chaos- LOL at the chinese babbling, hehe! How's the bump gett8ing on? What's Autumn like with your bump? Does she understand there's a baby in there or anything? I've no idea how much Harry understands yet.

LK- Really hope james feels better soon, poor little thing. Sucks when the LOs are ill

Eala- did you do hypnobirthing last time round? (in case I'm getting you confused with someone else?) how did you find it? Did it help?

Kaites- how's emma doing? is Emma still nursing at all?

Soooo. this crappy weather is doing my head in! Only so many rainy day activites we can do.... my house is now over-run with paintings harry has been doing, and pasta collages & string necklaces, and making up his train sets (which he then trashes again about 5 times a day, lol), etc. I know harry enjoys anything, but I'm getting bored with it blimmin raining everyday!

Got midwife app tomorrow- i think it's the one where i get to hear the heartbeat for the first time? And get all my blood results back I think?

anyways, hope you're all ok though.

 

[colsy]

harry will eat pretty much anything (except Leeks & Chilli con carne) too, which is a relief!

Monty is also a great eater. He had a proper Indian home-made onion bhaji the other day, followed by a really very spicy samosa, and loved them both. (In case anyone's interested the samosas, from Bakewell Farmer's Market, are the second best ones I know. The very best in the world are from a health food store in Buxton. ) Unlike Harry, I think Monty would live off chilli required. He usually does leek as well, if it's chopped small enough for him to manage it. Pasta bake tonight, which is another fave for him. His ABSOLUTE faves though (and a good tell-tale sign for illness if he refuses them) are cooked frozen peas and steamed carrots (cut into sticks please Mummy, not rounds!).

Colsy- sucks with the AF, but i hope you get a nice surprise BFP soon. How's Monty getting on these days?

Ta. Was quite surprised AF showed up, as I really had felt quite sickly for a week or so. I suppose I should have known - sickness doesn't kick in that early usually. Oh well, better luck next time. I had a bit of a moment when I was like 'F-ing stupid body, what's WRONG with me?' but then I had to remind myself that we have only been NTNP for 2 cycles, so it's not exactly a big deal.

Eala- did you do hypnobirthing last time round? (in case I'm getting you confused with someone else?) how did you find it? Did it help?

Sorry, hijacking Eala's Q here, but just wanted to say that I did hypnobirthing with Monty. Loved it and yes it helped. Ask away if you want more info.

Soooo. this crappy weather is doing my head in! Only so many rainy day activites we can do.... my house is now over-run with paintings harry has been doing, and pasta collages & string necklaces, and making up his train sets (which he then trashes again about 5 times a day, lol), etc. I know harry enjoys anything, but I'm getting bored with it blimmin raining everyday!

Seems like Monty is defo in the minority for not enjoying doing craft activities. Everybody's toddler except mine seems to want to paint and colour etc. Each morning after his breakfast cereal he asks for his crayons while I or OH do the toast, but he doesn't want to do any colouring ... oh no, he wants to take all the crayons out the box, chew a couple of them, then put them back in the box! Anybody else?

Does Harry manage to set up his own train set? Is it a wooden type, like Brio? Just thinking in advance for Xmas/b'day and wondering whether this might be a nice thing for his age. (Plus there are lots on ebay, which is always a good thing.)

Monty is defo an outdoor lad. He gets frustrated when it rains, because I tend to keep us house-bound. He doesn't care about getting wet at all, it's me that doesn't want to get rained on and have to clean the house when he gets muddy footprints everywhere. Monday wasn't great cos we had the worst rain in ages, literally from the minute we woke until 6.30pm, and the car was in the garage so we didn't go anywhere at all. He was such a good boy, trying hard to enjoy all the stuff I was doing with him in the house. But you could tell that when we finally went for a walk at 6.30pm he was pretty relieved!

He was keen to get the paddling pool out this morn, but it was a bit chilly, so he was very excited when he discovered his wheelbarrow was full of rainwater. Cue lots of uncontrolled splashing and whooping

Fabric and tassels have just arrived from eBay ready for me to get making fancy-dress costumes for our village carnival float ... That's me sorted for the next few evenings then ...

 

[florabean1981]

No, it';s a Little Tikes plastic train set- he can't manage to clip the bits together himself yet, but he loves pushing the train & carriages around the track, then taking it all to pieces, then asking me to redo it all... again, and again, lol! He's mostly into cars & ramps at the moment, but the trains are a 2nd best!

With the hypnobirthing- when did you start using it? Right from the word go, or only when the pain really kicked in? I'm defo thinking of a TENS machine to help while at home this time, and maybe water as a pain relief option, but to actually give birth in. 9dunno why, but the thought at this point in time isnt so appealing!) I really, really want to avoid an epidural this time round because of how bad my back is & I'm scared another epi, will affect it even more.... But G&A just didnt cut it for me, so defo need some alternatives!!!!

harry loves Indian food, but for some reason, just burst out crying every time we've done chilli, even when it's been super mild???!!! Pasta (home made, with tomoato, honey & balsamic sauce of my own concoction) is his absolute fave, along with a good old sunday roast! some days he's a total meat-a-holic and other days he justs wants veg-veg-veg.

 

[colsy]

With the hypnobirthing- when did you start using it? Right from the word go, or only when the pain really kicked in? I'm defo thinking of a TENS machine to help while at home this time, and maybe water as a pain relief option, but to actually give birth in. 9dunno why, but the thought at this point in time isnt so appealing!) I really, really want to avoid an epidural this time round because of how bad my back is & I'm scared another epi, will affect it even more.... But G&A just didnt cut it for me, so defo need some alternatives!!!!

When did I start? In all honesty, from the day I started reading the book. Which was when I was about 5 or 6 months pg. HB is a long-term holistic approach, not a quick-fix painkiller - which is why it's not necessarily for everyone. You need to WANT to do it, but you can't really decide that without reading or learning about it first. I won't lie to you and tell you that my labour was painless. It was very painful towards the end (but then painful for me might not be so for everyone else - I do know I have quite a low pain threshold), and TBH I asked for an epidural in the end. I didn't get it, which I am now SOOOO pleased about, but at the time I wanted one.

However, what HB did for me was see me through the first stage of labour to the point that I barely knew I was labouring. I DID know, which is why I was using every HB and yoga-birth technique I knew, but it didn't hurt.

To give you an idea of what HB did for me, this is what happened: I spoke to the midwife a couple of times on the phone in the night, and both times she told me to go back to bed and phone a few hours later. I did, but I knew stuff was happening. OH then realised stuff was happening when he timed contractions and they were very long and very close together. All this time I was in hardly any pain but I was doing my HB and yoga-birth practice to maintain the pain-free state. Eventually the midwife said 'you may as well come in, but I can't guarantee I won't send you home'. Cut a long story short, I HB/yoga all the way to the birth centre, by which time actually it was hurting quite a bit, but mainly because I couldn't move properly in the car. Midwife said 'You're too calm, you're not in enough pain, I have a feeling we'll be sending you home'. She checked me ... 'Goodness me, Colsy, are you a hypnobirthing lady by any chance?' Honestly, that's her exact words. So I said yes, and she said 'Right, I can tell. You are the calmest patient I've ever had. And you won't believe me but you're over 8cm dilated'.

So that's what HB did for me. Sadly it didn't quite go to plan after that because there was meconium in my waters, which meant they had do an ambulance transfer to the hosp which then everything slowed down because I obviously wasn't so calm then, and then subsequent ventouse. But I can honestly say if there hadn't been meconium in my waters I think I would have birthed about three hours sooner, and all because of HB/yoga-birthing.

And if there's a next time - absolutely, no doubt about it, I'll use it again.

Sorry, short essay there, meant to be working. But HTH anyway!

 

[Kte]

Colsy: CHloe has a Brio set although its kind of a cheat as its actually one that they used to have in the ELC stores, same board layout etc. It was in really good condition and was being sold at a market stall so we scooped it up. Makes putting away the track much easier asn its all glued together on a board. She has some smaller Thomas track that you can take anywhere that is just a little circle and that gets destroyed quite often if its out.

Crayon wise, Chloe is much better, she still chews them after a bit of colouring but I put them straigt away if she does. She likes to try and drw on the carpet now though Have you tried that Aqua doodle stuff with him?

Have fun with the carnival float making

Flora: I technically - (almost) had a water birth with Chloe and don't worry, the water doesn't seem to get too icky, you just don't notice it at all. My main prob would be if the pool was booked out so I never got my hopes up and it was a bonus when I got there, (plus the pool was a new, barely used pool which I think helped) so maybe the hypnobirthing would help in that situation too? You'd be calm enough to not be bothered as such? Maybe Colsy can help on that one. Up until the point I went to theater I was just on G&A and I'm sure the pool helped. Although the hospital did have a bath you could labour in but just get out of when you were ready. I didn't want this as my eldest sister had used that and I knew it was old and that made it seem extra icky!

 

[Eala]

Very quick reply here coz I'm on my phone and waiting for the hairdresser to arrive

Flora, I did do hypnobirthing with Roo. I agree with everything Colsy has said . I'd forgotten that Monty was ventouse, Colsy, so was Roo! I had meconium in my waters too. For me, hypnobirthing was fab for about 80% of my labour. When I was at home, I did have a TENS machine on, but that was so that by the time I wanted it (in the car) it'd be working well. I didn't turn it up from base level til I was in the car and not able to move about.

Due to complications, I did end up with an epidural. Mainly because I was put on syntocinon and Roo was back to back. I was being permanently monitored because her heart rate was dropping repeatedly, and with all that going on, I lost my calm. What I do remember though was that I still tried to breathe her out (as much as I could with a ventouse delivery). They were telling me to push and I didn't know how (skipped those antenatal classes!). So I just did the birthing breathing and that seemed to work! The doctor was very surprised at how easily she was born (one breath was the head, 2nd was the body). I think it's because I was relaxing rather than tensing and pushing. That's my theory anyway

I forget when I started doing it... 26 weeks comes to my mind as when I started the classes. I know some people just do it themselves with just the book and cd, but I liked the idea of a class. It was useful as I got added things like a one-on-one fear release session and stuff like that. I don't think the classes are strictly necessary, it's just personal preference

If nothing else, I felt that hypnobirthing helped me stay (mostly) calm for the majority of the time. I'd recommend it for sure, no matter what kind of birth you are planning. I still sometimes fall asleep to the rainbow relaxation

 

[aimee-lou]

Thanks for hypno-birthing info ladies. It's definitely something I'd be interested in for next time if we get that chance. I did quite well really considering - 9lb 6 on only gas and air while I laboured in the birthing pool then pushed on my knees with nothing!! Still quite proud of that lol - but there's no way I could be considered 'calm' at any point I think. By the time Earl was born I'd been in labour nigh on 2 days, was exhausted, in huge amounts of pain (that could not be described in words lol) and I was just relieved to be having him at (by the time we got him) 5 days overdue and very very big! lol

I think maybe now that there's a little less of an unknown element about labour - I know what to expect, how long to allow for it to take, when to leave home, what to take with me, how many baths to run! lol - I may be able to focus a bit more on the actual birth and afterwards. Earl was so calm that he didn't cry when he was born, his heartbeat didn't change once, and he fell asleep 10 mins later and didn't wake up for nearly 5 hours lol. Me on the other hand shattered the windows with my screams and was heard to say 'I can't do this any more' on about 20 occasions lol.

Anyway - that's enough of that. The pregnant ladies will be getting flashbacks lol.

 

[colsy]

Awww, reliving the birth is one of my fave pastimes. I love it when people ask me about it. Is that just me?! Now, I dunno if the HypnoBirthing was to answer for this, but apparently I only really shouted/screamed/swore once, and that was when the obs stuck the ventouse in ... the story goes (I don't remember this bit) that I shouted 'What the f--- do you think you're doing to me?!'

So yeah, everything hurt, but I was calm throughout, and that I think is really what HB is about. Because if your mind is calm, your body can at least attempt to be calm. And if you're relaxed, your pain will start to flow away. (And if you think that all sounds a bit hippy, there is a sound endocrinological basis for it all - put very very basically, the less adrenaline you have kicking about, the less it hurts.)

Right, paperwork to do. Night-night all xx

 

[florabean1981]

thanks for all the info there- it certainly sounds like something I need to look into; i'm due a good book shop online anyway, so a hypnobirthing one could be treat Did you get your partners to join in too & help? I've already told hubby to start researching back rubs for labour, lol- coz last time, I just made him hold my hand because \i was so scared & then yelled at him because i told him the midwife hated me, lol! I didnt swear or scream, but man did I moo like a cow through the contractions!!!! when they finally gave me an epi, i pretty much started saying i wanted to marry the anethitist (jesus, I cannot spell today!) lady, then hubby fell asleep for 2 hours, while i continmued to shake & puke my way towards the pushing stage. I also had a ventouse coz harry's heart rate dropped & was monitored pretty much continuously throughout, without ever being told why? I keep meaning to see if it's possible to get hold of my labour & birth notes, coz all I remember reading was harry's apgar scores & what pain relief I had- everything else is a blur & every now n then, hubby says stuff I came out with, that makes me cringe, like me telling him that I'm just a big a baby myself and that epople like me shouldnt be allowed to have kids! and also that my midwife was conspiring against me because she was anti epidural (she wasn't at all, but at the time, i obviously believed she was!), and that coz of how much i was puking, i said it'd be quicker for me to puke the baby out than push it out!!! I do remember when the new (lovely) midwife said she could see the head, my hubby for some reason decided it'd be appropriate to ask if the baby was ginger, and me whacking him one, and I also remember me telling the consultant I was not going to have a c-section, so the ventouse better work! He must've thought i was crazy! Other than the pain & having to have intervention, it wasn;t a bad labour, i was just a total wuss at dealing with the pain, so i wanna be a lot more prepared this time round, and be more open to alternatives, instead of being a stubborn, grumpy moo!

 

[MilosMommy7]

kte - yeah he ended up taking a 3 hour nap today!

flora - he does look older with his hair cut. i missed his long hair. but i'm gonna let it grow out again this winter. i wonder how long it'll get

 

[Eala]

Flora - I told my anaesthetist (sp?!) that he was the best in the whole wide world, and that even though one of my best friends is an anaesthetist, he's not my favourite any more etc etc.

I also said to DH (well, I thought it was to DH) that the registrar I'd seen was a snooty, stuck-up cow who needed someone to knock her off her high horse... Apparently the midwife and the anaesthetist were stood the other side of the bed wetting themselves

Roo's heartrate was dropping too, turned out it was due to cord compression. The cord was actually right up the side of her head, so every contraction was squeezing it Apparently I was really lucky that it hadn't prolapsed, when they discovered it I pretty much had a hand up there holding it in place til they figured out what they were doing. Thank goodness for the epi is all that I can say!

 

[colsy]

thanks for all the info there- it certainly sounds like something I need to look into; i'm due a good book shop online anyway, so a hypnobirthing one could be treat Did you get your partners to join in too & help?

Yes, OH joined in. Ideally, HB always involves your birth partner, whether that's your OH or a doula or the MW or whoever. The main thing is to make sure that the people in the room are supportive of what you're doing, even if they're not actually 'doing' the hypno stuff themselves. HB can be quite powerful, but equally a MW who dismisses the idea of HB as 'nonsense' can be just as powerful, so having both you and your OH as ambassadors for the technique can help quite a lot. I was fortunate to do much of my labour at a birth centre that promotes complementary medicine, but once I was transferred I was also fortunate to have a MW at the hosp who believed in the whole idea of HB. Having to 'battle' against a medicalised establishment would have made it all much harder. (And would have been a pain in the bum for the people involved with me, cos they would have wanted to knock me out by the end of it - I don't suffer fools too gladly, as some of you on here may have realised .)

The standard book is Marie Mongan's 'HypnoBirthing: The Mongan Method' ISBN 978-0757302664. It's a US book, which can be a bit grating at times, but get past the irritations and you'll find it easy to read and understand. There's usually a few copies on eBay - that's where I got mine.

I didn't do classes, but I know an independent MW who runs them round here and I think I may do them if we're lucky to have a next time.

 

[Kte]

I like thinking about it too Colsy I think it's a huge thing to go through and it's nice to be able to talk about it. There are lots of pregnant ladies here at work at the moment, first timer'ers so I keep stum about certain things, I think in that instance it's not nice to reveal too much about when things don't go to plan; I just say,to them, have a plan but be open minded to change, then your less stressed if thing's don't go to plan. My colleague and I seem to talk about our experiences now and then and her youngest is 12. My one tip for anyone, even those already been through it, no matter what happens - do not let the MW stick her finger up your bum!!! I am still suffering with that one

Ooo that reminds me, I wonder if the graduate's wife has had her baby, I am assuming so - they came to register yesterday about 2pm and she was having contractions 10mins apart, they were a little worried they might miss the ceremony! He did make it in the end at the ceremony was at 4.30, I think it's a good way sometimes, to just keep going, I was so distracted by visiting Nij's dad in hospital etc it made the few days of early labour a bit easier to deal with in a way.

 

[littlekitten8]

Hi girls. Quick fly by visit from me im afraid. James is much better now and went back to nursery tomorrow. I'm now on a night tonight in Salisbury to help out cos someone went off sick. So back home for a few hours to shower, pack a bag and eat. Luckily its a sleeping night so after I've set up the feed and done the midnight meds I can sleep.

 

[florabean1981]

LK- glad James is feeling better, but wow, you seem to do a lot of nights!!! i dont know how you do it, working so many hours, looking after James, and managing nights- you're a superwoman!!!

Thanks for all the info Colsy (and Eala & Kte). I'm thinking midwife led unit (which is only 4 miles from my house) this time round, and most likely using the water birth suite there if I can, however the hospital where i had harry now has 2 waterbirth suites too. Still unsure about actually giving birth in the water itself, but knowing me, once i'm plonked in there, i'll refuse to move anyway, lol! :doh: Hubby's words were 'you do whatever you feel you need to do, so long as whatever you're doing, i don't get a clear view of the action end!' he's such a bloke.

My midwife app went well; bloods all came back normal, not even anaemic this time round (woohoo!), pee was normal, BP normal (well, normal for me, which is low for everyone else, lol), and me & harry were able to hear the baby's heartbeat. harry was totally fascinated by it, then lifted his own t-shirt up & kept pointing to his belly saying 'in der' at the midwife. (i've been pointing at my belly saying 'baby in there' to him so he can start to understand a little bit- not sure if he does, but i figure it's worth a try!). But yeah, 20 week scan is on 22nd aug, then next midwife app on 1st sept, so hopefully everything will stay nice and normal & boring

Have any of you been to any posh events while pregnant? I need to find a pretty evening wear style dress (not a long one!) to wear to my best friends' (their twins) 30th birthdays at the end of august, but they're having a proper grown up style posh party, with food & everything, lol, and I'm pretty sure all my nice dresses will be too small by then.... the only pretty, posh, maternity dresses in my price range that I've found so far are on asos.com but not sure yet.... it's hard enough choosing a dress at the best of times, especially considering i'm very much a jeans & t-shirt kinda girl!

 

[colsy]

Have any of you been to any posh events while pregnant? I need to find a pretty evening wear style dress (not a long one!) to wear to my best friends' (their twins) 30th birthdays at the end of august, but they're having a proper grown up style posh party, with food & everything, lol, and I'm pretty sure all my nice dresses will be too small by then.... the only pretty, posh, maternity dresses in my price range that I've found so far are on asos.com but not sure yet.... it's hard enough choosing a dress at the best of times, especially considering i'm very much a jeans & t-shirt kinda girl!

Yep, I went to a wedding and a black-tie do whilst preg with Monty. I wore a beautiful Blooming Marvellous dress that I paid a fiver for on eBay. It had been worn once before I bought it - would have cost almost 100 quid in the shops, so I think I did quite well! It looked fab. Only prob was none of my posh shoes fitted very well, so I had to wear flat sandals, but hey ho - these things are allowed when you're pg

 

[Fraggles]

Flora it may be worth checking out the sales/outlet sections on m&ps and asos. I got some stunning outfits from mamas and papas. Agree on the shoes they never seem to fit when pregnant.

 

[MilosMommy7]

flora - yay for a good chek up

 

[florabean1981]

kte, i only just noticed your comment, 'never let the MW stick her finger up your bum!!!!!!!' i dont think i've laughed so much in ages!!!!!!

 

[Chaos]

So .. we took Missy to Build-a-Bear today to say goodbye to her dummies. We choose a bear (Well, Hello Kitty lol) and had her put all 4 inside, put 2 in the paws so she could still feel them and had her put a heart in. She had a bit of a grizzle but nothing too bad. Pics on FB for those interested

She's had a little bit of a whine tonight but has gone quiet and to sleep after 15 mins. Will see how she is when she wakes up in the night looking for it lol. Wish me luck!!!