'Older Mums' buddies thread!

[Meerkat]

Now I have to go onto umpteen websites where I've registered for baby information - I'm still getting emails that say "You are 32 weeks pregnant" !!

Love it!! You'll be getting those for a while yet. Must seem very odd.

Vicky - Yes please send me a pic, they sound cool with your uggs but I'd love to see!!

 

[maybebaby3]

hi i'm 31. just got my , due may 15th, and would like 2 join you girls on the journey!

 

[Meerkat]

maybebaby3 - Hi and welcome! Congratulations on your !!

 

[soon2b6]

Hi maybebaby3, wecome and congratulations.

 

[Meerkat]

Hey Soonie, how's little Holly?

 

[Marleysgirl]

Remember that I had a 1 in 5 chance of baby having Downs?

I am delighted to say that the tests show that he is completely clear of this and similar chromosome problems!

 

[ellie]

Hey all :wave: not been around much lately .....
Wow I can't believe Andrew, he is amazing!!! What a little trouper! Amazing eyes too! It was such good luck that you were in that study and got the extra monitoring, and now here he is! Really well done! Do you know when he will be able to go home?
:wave: to everyone else .... can't wait to see these dungarees

Feeling a bit unsure about everything at the moment. Got upset at the midwife appiontment last week when I said I don't feel movement some days and they (there was a student in there as well, and a different midwife again -dont think I've seen the same one twice) freaked out saying i MUST go in if ever I don't ... thing is my LO does have some quiet days, at the moment there aren't any days where I feel nothing at all but it can be quiet for many hours, and I just feel like I am not sure I can justify going in there several times a week! I have started getting my doppler out nearly every day again and all always sounds fine, he/she usually starts wiggling when I prod them with it , and I've noticed that when I'm awake in the night (usually around 5am at the moment) there's a load of prodding and wiggling going on, so maybe they're nocturnal ?!?
when she measured my fundal height it was also 'on the bottom line', she said that was fine but now i'm worried about whether everything is growing okay ... I guess they'll check that out if there isn't an improvement by next time? i also had +1 glucose in my urine, and they said that needs monitoring as it could mean gestational diabetes, but all i've read says that it can be common in pregnancy and doesnt necessary mean anything or that it needs treatment (or that there's any evidence that treating it has any effect on the outcome for mother or baby). Sigh ... this trimester seems even more fraught with concerns than the 1st!
Sorry guys ... just feeling a bit tired and out of control with it all. Also my neighbours are p'ing me off today. And we've got a friend staying with us (indefinitely!!!) while he looks for a house in the area - when he said his wife and daughter weren't coming to join him until 21st November I had visions of him helping with the delivery!!! Eek!
Hope everyone else is in a better mood than me!

 

[ellie]

Oh and great news about the results Marleysgirl, I knew he'd be absolutely fine

 

[Marleysgirl]

Hi Ellie, it sounds like you need an energy hug

I have to say, Andrew was a nocturnal wriggler - always about 3 in the morning!

As regards not feeling movements for a while, well my research midwife suggested that before I panic and phone Triage, I should have an ice-cold drink (or an ice-lolly), wait 20 minutes, and then see if that made baby move. Which is kinda what I did on my last day, he didn't, and so we went in. A heartbeat monitor wouldn't have helped, as his heartbeat was still strong when I was admitted, but he wasn't moving much and as it my bloodflow that had the problem, it wouldn't have affected his heartbeat for another 24hrs or so.

 

[ellie]

Aaaw thanks hon! Feel better already!

my mw suggested cold water or splashing water on my belly, sayign that it will move away from it, but I seem to have a stubborn LO who doesn't move on demand but when they want to, as the bath or shower doesn't usually work, and the drink doesn't always! .... I think maybe my plan will be that if I haven't felt anything for a while, I'll try the cold drink, and if nothing I will have to get into the mindset of ringing the ward, even though I feel silly doing it. When I went in at 26 weeks they said the blood flow and everything was just fine, and everyone (except the sonographer) made out that I was overreacting, maybe that's put me off ...
It's wierd too, and I'm not sure whether it's 'because I'm older' and used to just getting on with everything I have to, or because it's part of my 'family story' that you just get on with things and don't make a fuss (I didnt even tell my parents when I had a miscarriage until a day or two later, because it was xmas day and I felt I couldnt spoil their xmas - sounds silly now I know), and worrying is just 'being silly'. I know it sounds crap, as what's really more important (no contest, of course), but with my work I feel like I have so little time left to do everything that I feel bad taking time out and cancelling things to go to the hospital. I really need to get over this ... it would help if my LO wasn't so lazy!

 

[ellie]

Did he wake you up? I don't think that mine wakes me up, I seem to wake up needing to move around / use the loo, so maybe? its just when I try to get back to sleep afterwards that I notice the poking!

 

[polaris]

Hey everyone - my brain is like a sieve today so sorry in advance for forgetting everything!!

Ellie - sorry you are having a bit of a worrying time. But it is better safe than sorry as the midwife says, so don't ever let anyone make you feel like you are over-reacting. Look at marleysgirl and baby Andrew - if she hadn't been getting the extra monitoring then things could have been different. So it's always worth getting things checked out. Hopefully baby will be wriggling away from now on and not worrying you so much!!

Marleysgirl - great news on the chromosomal testing. Just shows that a high risk doesn't necessarily mean there will be a problem.

Maybebaby - congratulations on your pregnancy and welcome!

Hope everyone else is doing well.

 

[Marleysgirl]

Did he wake you up? I don't think that mine wakes me up, I seem to wake up needing to move around / use the loo, so maybe? its just when I try to get back to sleep afterwards that I notice the poking!

It wasn't Andrew that woke me up in the middle of the night, it was all those trips to the toilet! That's something I don't miss now that I've had him, I only have to wake once in the night to express.

 

[ellie]

that's much better!!! at the moment i'm only waking up once for the loo, but i find it really hard to get back off to sleep once i'm awake. hoping i'll get better at that once lo arrives
we've decided that lo will probably be a Scorpio, given the stubbornness and doing what they want! (apologies if any of you are scorpios )
how are you doing polaris?
oh and :wave: hi to those joining us and congrats!

 

[Marleysgirl]

that's much better!!! at the moment i'm only waking up once for the loo, but i find it really hard to get back off to sleep once i'm awake. hoping i'll get better at that once lo arrives
we've decided that lo will probably be a Scorpio, given the stubbornness and doing what they want! (apologies if any of you are scorpios )

Yes, I figure that waking to express (and waking to pee before then) was merely giving me practice for waking to feed my baby! I would wander the hospital ward, bleary-eyed, at 3am looking for a breast pump - was I the only person who bothered returning them after use? Anyway, the midwives would look and ask me if I was okay, and I was just grateful (she says shamefacedly) that I only had to express, I didn't have a crying baby demanding my attention too.

Scorpios .... yes, well .... DH is a Scorpio. And Andrew was meant to be one. That would have been a fun time for me - and for them, would have been interesting to see whether Taurean stubbornness is stronger! Now of course I need to learn about the Leo character.

 

[polaris]

that's much better!!! at the moment i'm only waking up once for the loo, but i find it really hard to get back off to sleep once i'm awake. hoping i'll get better at that once lo arrives
we've decided that lo will probably be a Scorpio, given the stubbornness and doing what they want! (apologies if any of you are scorpios )
how are you doing polaris?
oh and :wave: hi to those joining us and congrats!

I'm doing well, hoping to hear today or tomorrow as to whether I have a job at the end of the month, so please keep your fingers crossed for me! I'm starting to feel much more tired again though over the past week, particularly after lunch, generally all I want to do is lie down on the office floor and have a nap, LOL! I actually had to do that one of the days, I pulled the cushions off the armchairs and closed the door and lay down for 20 minutes, LOL!!

 

[Marleysgirl]

That's "power napping" P, and nothing to do with pregnancy Will keep fingers crossed for you.

 

[Meerkat]

Remember that I had a 1 in 5 chance of baby having Downs?

I am delighted to say that the tests show that he is completely clear of this and similar chromosome problems!

Marleysgirl ~ Thats fab news hon, it just goes to show doesn't it x
PS Good idea about the cold drinks/lollies - I shall remember that.

Ellie ~ Mine moves around after I've been to the loo in the night too. I reckon it's because there's suddenly lots of space to stretch and kick about after the wee has gone

Pol - Fingers crossed for you!


I'm trying to decide whether to buy a manual or electric breast pump as I keep hearing mixed reviews. I've been over to breastfeeding threads to see what they say and its mixed. What do you ladies reckon?

 

[_Vicky_]

WHOOP WHOOP - just got back from the scan and all is fabulous both had all there bits in the right place and they did all the anomaly bits there and then too so that was a bonus.

AND we found out - ITS TWO BOYS hehehehehehehehe double blue bump for us - wow

 

[Marleysgirl]

I'm trying to decide whether to buy a manual or electric breast pump as I keep hearing mixed reviews. I've been over to breastfeeding threads to see what they say and its mixed. What do you ladies reckon?

Depends on (1) how often you expect to use it and (2) your budget. General consensus is that powered is better than manual; and dual-pump better than single if you are going to express frequently & in quantity.

I used an electric double-pump at the hospital for 10 days, but I'm too poor (awwww!) to afford £50/month to rent one, and I'm on a never-ending waiting list for a loan pump from SCBU. So I'm currently using an Avent hand-pump six times a day and, actually, I'm not finding it too hard to hand pump the small amount I produce (70ml/time). I've got a Medela Mini powered pump coming from eBay in the next few days.

The SCBU nurses and other b/f friends are surprised to see that I'm getting on so well with the hand-pump.