January Baby Bears 2017 ~ 48 Momma Bears: 21 Blue, 17 Pink

[Sunshine Star]

Slammer- I just thought if I took paracetamol it might help me sleep and get some energy for a couple of hours. Yes paracetamol has been recommended and safe to take in early labour and in general to help pain throughout pregnancy. To be honest I've not really taken it often, only to ease cramp pains in legs a couple of times, but it is ok the safe list.

I did not know that it would prolong labour! Thanks for that information! I will definitely reconsider using it-and look up more research surrounding it, but was just desperate to sleep last night.

Ally-sorry to hear about the tongue tie, hope the procedure goes ok.

 

[slammerkin]

Getting some rest whenever you can is important sunshine! I hope once things really get going you're well-rested. I took some Tylenol earlier on in pregnancy when I was getting nearly daily headaches. I was just curious to learn about the different recommendations in various countries/regions.

I weed-whacked down below for hopefully the last time before labor today. Would like to be fairly tidy down there during bleeding/recovery.

 

[Midnight_Fairy]

I have taken paracetomol with all 3 of mine and had no labour over 2hrs even my first. So not sure on that one. I would rather start with paracetamol and rest then have to have an EPI. I take paracetamol most nights atm to help me sleep xx

 

[Literati_Love]

Chi - that is some great progress! Yay!

Sunshine - sorry things fizzled out! It sounds like your body is getting very close. Maybe you'll have the baby on your due date!

Ally - best of luck with the tongue tie removal procedure! I hope he recovers quickly and it helps a lot!

 

[Midnight_Fairy]

Hope it goes ok ally xx

 

[Sunshine Star]

Slammer-Weed-whacked 😂 Haha! I got waxed a couple of weeks ago! I've not been able to see what's going on down there for a while 😬 But like to stay tidy so just got the therapist to remove everything! 🙈 Hoping I don't go too long or I'll need to go again! It has been twice as painful during pregnancy!!

 

[Angel5000]

I was dreaming this morning that I was in labor. It was very weird because in the dream I was having contractions, and they were mildly painful, I remember feeling them and I remember breathing through them. I was not fully knocked out either because I was very aware of my DH laying up against me with his arm over my chest/belly (which was not very comfortable both in the dream or in real life). Typically if I feel pain in a dream, I wake up and have that pain but today I woke up and no contractions or pain or anything - and DH was right where he was in my dream (and was snoring in RL just like he was snoring in my dream - rather annoying really that dream DH was snoring and sleeping through my labor! ) was so upset when I woke up and found that I wasn't actually having any pains!

So, it's day 2 of the official Mat leave. It's really weird because I've been off for 2 weeks already (thanks to the holidays) but it's only now that it feels "weird". I'm very emotional. Yesterday and today everything si making me cry (and I've only been up a couple hours so far today). Throughout the whole pregnancy I've had very little mood swings or emotional issues but right now I'm crying at everything.

The week after Xmas I was having so many contractions so often, so close, and now nothing so that it feels like my body just gave up. I told DH yesterday that I don't think she's ever coming out and I'm going to just be huge and miserable forever. And, while I have said it before jokingly, the problem is that now that is really how I feel.

She's also moving less - still moves but they are very subtle and so I don't notice it as often and so I feel like I'm not pregnant, just fat. And now I'm not working so that isn't helping.

Sorry, I'm having a rough morning.



Literati - I was enjoying the time off while it was xmas break. Now that it's officially mat leave and yet I Have no baby, I'm feeling like I'm wasting valuable time I could be with my LO. I'm going to try to get my head out of the emotional dump it's in today and maybe do some house cleaning or play some video games or something to help me enjoy this more. Unfortunately almost everything for baby is ready - since I Had the last 2 weeks off anyway and I really thought she was likely coming during that week after xmas. I still have to sort out the nursery a little bit since when mom was visiting during xmas that was our only spare room so we had to rearrange a little to fit the air mattress in there for her. lol But that won't take long and baby won't be actually STAYING in that room right away. Her bassinet's in our room for now.


Sunshine - I've had a ton of people messaging me yesterday too asking if baby had come yet. Apparently since I didn't go back to work this week it felt like the whole school was messaging me!

As for the paracetamol - I was told in our labor class that any kind of pain killer could prolong labor, BUT they were referring to stronger pain killers. I don't know that tylonel would make a huge difference. I actually took some Tylonel PM last night because I was in so much hip pain I wasn't going to sleep. My doctor hasn't said anything about not taking it - in fact she's the one who told me to take the Tylonel PM to get some sleep.


Ally - Aww, poor baby boy! A friend of mine was telling me her daughter had a double tongue tie (her daughter is about 9 mo old right now), but they only caught one at a time so she had to have the procedure done twice. It was awful for mom, but baby did just fine. I'm sure our LO will do great! I don't know much about it, Is there much of a recovery for the procedure or is it pretty easy fix?

 

[newbie2013]

Slammer - your description made me laugh! That had been my plan for new years day... As it was, the nurse only got halfway through when my waters broke... No idea what it looks like down there, but I'm sure it isn't pretty!

Sorry I've been off for a while... We came home on Monday and have been getting used to each other since. He's been doing really well with feeding and I'm happy to say, so have I. I was worried about it because I knew that was something my mum has no idea about since she bottle fed us. I'm extremely grateful it has been going well so far. I'd love some sleep, though!

I know someone gave birth - was it Ali? Sorry I can't remember - extremely bad memory and I've been catching up over a few reads. Congrats to you and I hope all is going well.

I'm so sorry for those of you with start-stop labour. You must be so frustrated! Looking forward to hearing some more news soon.

I'll check in again. Haven't figured out the photo thing yet...

 

[slammerkin]

Sunshine you're a brave woman. I've never been waxed and I'm sure it would be super painful at this stage! I had to use a mirror and do some contorting, lol. And just used an electric shaver, so it's not totally smooth, just cleaned up, hehe.

Angel - sorry you're having an emotional time. Baby will probably be here very soon!

newbie - I was just wondering about you and hoping you'd post soon to let us know how you were! Glad baby is feeding so well. That's always a relief! So funny they were shaving you and had to stop. I think they only do a bit of shaving here for c-sections - just the top bit close to where the incision would be. For regular birth I'm pretty sure they leave things alone. I didn't take a look at things down there for a couple weeks after having DD. I was too scared. I knew it was swollen and couldn't bring myself to look, lol.

 

[Midnight_Fairy]

I dont think anything other than horomones will speed up or slow down labour personally. Xx

 

[Midnight_Fairy]

Hormones*

 

[Anababe]

Sorry to all having stop/start labours. Its really so frustrating!

I've never known paracetamol slowing down labour... I take it most days for pain.

I'm having a lot of what I would class as real contractions tonight, def more crampy/uncomfortable than Braxton Hicks, but there just doesn't seem to be enough regularity to them. they might come every 10 mins for an hour or so then ease off then back again. Im bouncing on my ball and trying to stay active but no real progress as of yet.. hoping they are real and they pick up soon.

I went to see my friends new baby today, hes only 5 days old, wow I forgot how tiny newborns are.. has just made me want to meet baby even more now!

39 weeks today was hoping she would be here by weekend but cant see that happening!

 

[Literati_Love]

Newbie - thanks for checking in! Glad feeding is going well. I am getting all the new babies mixed up. Good thing we have the first page for reference!

Angel - that is understandable that you don't want to 'waste' maternity leave before baby arrives. I know your doctor wrote you off early. Could you have not used some sick days before taking your official maternity leave? Thankfully I am taking 2 weeks of holidays before my maternity leave starts as well, so I won't feel it is being wasted until those 2 weeks are up! Unfortunately, it is technically unpaid holidays so will make things a little squishy for us financially but I felt it was worth it to spend that extra time with baby later on! I'm sorry all those contractions have stopped. I'm sure they'll start back up again soon. It is disappointing when your body doesn't cooperate the way you want!


Ana - sorry the contractions aren't getting more regular yet. You could still have the baby by the weekend, though! Good luck! I understand getting more eager to meet your baby after seeing a newborn! My cousin had her baby TODAY and as soon as I heard that I got super emotional and excited for this baby to arrive! I felt jealous even though she actually had the baby a day overdue so not like she went early!

AFM - so, found out all my super crampy BH the past few days have done absolutely nothing. Got my GBS swab today so got her to do check my cervix. Baby is not quite fully engaged but 'very low.' Cervix is 25% effaced but completely closed. It's not like I expected to go this early as am only 37 weeks and I didn't have dd1 until her due date, but feels a bit disappointing that there's almost no progress at all! Then again, she told me that she has told someone before that she did NOT think she'd go in the next week, and she ended up giving birth that night! So of course you never know. Part of me is slightly relieved because I do want to finish work up, pack my hospital bag, get those car seat bases installed and do my pre-reg papers before she arrives!

 

[pompeyvix]

Sorry many of you are having stop / start labours. It must be infuriating as well as incredibly tiring. I was lucky with Anabella in that I had no pains at all before labour stated and then labored quickly and incredibly painfully. Unfortunately I ended up with a c section

I've heard of people taking paracetomol in early labour but wondered if it would actually do anything pain wise? It's such a mild painkiller, I couldn't imagine it doing much?

Ally - I hope the tongue tie snip will help out with breastfeeding and make it less painful. I had awful trouble breastfeeding Anabella and ended up expressing for 6 months!

newbie - glad everything is well and baby is feeding great

Angel - everything you wrote re you mat leave rings true with me too. I have been off work since the 15th December, but only struggling more now the busy Christmas period is over. Although today was nice, we went for a walk along the beach and to a soft play.

 

[Midnight_Fairy]

Paracetamol worked for me. I didnt even have contractions with Jade! Was surreal.. x

 

[vrogers]

Ally- I'm sure it will go well but I can understand the worry! Let us know how it goes!

Just got back from my appointment, my cervix is super soft but NO dilation change and baby still low and head down. She even tried to "open" the cervix up a bit and couldn't. Since my doctor doesn't like people to go too far past due dates we went ahead and scheduled an induction! It's for Monday the 9th at midnight. I was so against it at first but going too far over makes me anxious and my doctor said I would most likely go a ways over. Ah I'm nervous and it hasn't all set in!

 

[greats]

Yes this stop and go labor sucks! I did some moves from the spinning babies website last night to see if maybe baby is in a weird position, but it didn't do anything to jumpstart labor again. I'm just going to take labor with a grain of salt and let my body do its thing... she has to come out eventually so lol

I'll catch up in a few!

 

[Angel5000]

(sorry in advance for the long update)
Just came from my appointment. After talking to doctor she suggested that I consider going back onto my anti-depressant that I was taking prior to pregnancy. She said the one that I was on before is safe for pregnancy, and especially fine now that I'm less than 2 weeks away from delivery, and is 100% safe for BF. She doesn't usually push meds, in fact she told me it was perfectly okay with her if I didn't want to do it. But, I have SADD and struggle significantly in the winter here (when I lived in Texas I was fine but since moving back to Washington, I do not handle winter well at all), and based on our conversation regarding sleep, and the amount of crying I've been doing in the last few days, she's concerned, particularly about postpartum. I've been really great emotionally all pregnancy but now it's getting to a point where it would be worth looking into because the meds take a few weeks to kick in, if I'm already on it now it'll be better if I end up in a bad place post-birth. And, knowing my own past mental stability, I suspect I'll need it, at least through the winter. I usually do really well in summer/spring/fall but a northern winter is very bad for me. Prior to TTC I had actually used herbal remedies (St. Johns Wart with other stuff) and those were sufficient and worked well, but those are dangerous for pregnancy and dangerous for BF, so it's actually safer for me to be on the sertraline instead of the St. Johns Wart until I'm done BF.

She's having me start half pills on the lowest dose until after baby comes, so it'll just start to build up. I'm okay with that. I know my limitations emotionally and mentally and I know that I need to be emotionally stable to care for my baby.


In positive news: she said that the nausea I'm having, plus the extreme emotional stuff is a sign I'm close to labor. She offered to do a check and "stir the pot a little" (Membrane sweep is what I think she was doing, lol). I agreed because I was curious as to how my cervix looked. I'm 50% effaced and she said my cervix is 3cm dilated on the outside and 1.5cm on the inside. I didn't realize you could be two different dilations, but whatever. She said it looks good. And told me to drink lots of red raspberry leaf tea to help things along (I love having an actual doctor who still encourages herbal and natural solutions!). I told her I'm already drinking 2-3 cups a day and said she thinks it's working and to keep it up

She does NOT induce patients unless they are way overdue, she's not a fan of inducing unless there's a strong medical need, so theoretically I could go to 41+3 before she'd induce but she suspects I won't need it.


Literati - I did end up using sick days for this week that I'm off early. I can't move the mat leave dates once they are set with HR because of the way we use it with my FMLA and the contract they have with my sub, so in order to go out earlier than my preset dates I had to use sick leave anyway. I hate to do that because I Have very limited sick leave and since Mat Leave is unpaid it means I will actually OWE my job money every month for my insurance premiums (they'll pay their end of our insurance because of FMLA requirements, but I have to pay about $300 a month for me and DH, and it'll be more one baby comes and while I'm on FMLA leave I keep my insurance but get no $ which means I owe the school for those premiums). They were going to use my sick leave to pay those but I won't have enough days now. I'll just have to sacrifice most of my first check when I do go back to work to pay the 3 months of back owed premiums. I'm REALLY lucky that I have short term disability which will pay out 3 months for maternity leave. It's only 60% of my original pay but will be enough to keep us afloat.

Sorry that you are still completely closed cervix. That sucks. At least effacement as started, that's one positive thing right? And that could change really quickly. Maybe by your next appointment you'll have started to make more progress!


Pompey - I'm glad I'm not the only one! I feel silly because everyone keeps telling me how nice it must be and I'm like "No its not!"

Vrogers -oh that sucks that you haven't even really started to dilate! Hopefully you LO comes before you have to get induced, but I could see why it would be good to schedule that so that you don't go too far over. I am scared about going very far over too!

 

[Midnight_Fairy]

Vrogers- woahbthey induce early. Uk and states are different. They are bit more nature led in europe?

I have mw tomorrow. Not sure if she will offer sweep...going to say no to sweep..and induction..im desperate but also trust my body.

Angel big hugs...i am on my deprssion meds too. I am having placenta tabdms and hope that alo helps.
Night all xx

 

[Angel5000]

Midnight - Thanks. I'm glad i'm not the only one. I was feeling awful when she was suggesting it, I was feeling like I was somehow a failure. I know that is not true, it's just that I struggle with being on antidepressants when I controlled it so well for so long without meds when I lived in Texas. It's 100% related to the amount of sunlight that we get here though, and the inability to use my St Johns Wart. I always knew there was a chance I'd end up back on them after baby came, and the logical part of me says I'd rather be stable than not.