Pregnancy's Best Kept Secrets

jules-2005

I didn't know before my first was born (3 weeks early) that a forceps birth could fail or a ventouse. DS1 was eventually born after they had a second go with the ventouse with about 25 panicing midwives/doctors/consultants present in the room - and all done hours after my one and only shot of pethidine so was extremely painful

My new best friend would be a huge bottle of gaviscon

Mastitus is a nasty secret I wasn't pre-warned about. I thought my boobs were on fire and about to explode they were so swollen combined with awful flu and the shivers and whilst I'm on the boob subject how painful a breast pump is when you first start using it

The huge clots like slabs of liver that slide out of you with no warning after birth.

The afterpains. With my 2nd they were bad but with my 3rd they were unbearable

Oh and nearly forgot about the stitches being so tight down there that I couldn't sit, stand or lay down so I ended up precariously perched with the scissors in one hand and trying to feel with the other to cut one out. The relief was instant.

across

becoming addicted to gaviscon!! swigging it every five minutes to keep the heartburn at bay great big bottles every week!!! the kids now smell like aniseed!!!!!:D

loracan1

The biggest myth about breastfeeding;

"It won't hurt if they're latched on properly..."

Yes, yes it does. There I was, struggling to keep him on for more than 3 minutes at a time, being told that if he didn't feed longer or have a bottle his blood sugar would become low...When weighed he'd put on about 7 ounces in a week. I was prepared for this the second time round and took to the feeding straightaway.

That having a television in the delivery room probably isn't that good an idea when you're writhing in agony and the midwife and your boyfriend are chatting about Bobby Charlton's hairdo.

The pain in your pelvis you get from about the sixth month onwards that makes you feel as if your whole body is going to split.

That new babies make all sorts of funny snuffly noises with their breathing. And you don't have to ring the midwife emergency number to be told that.


Mind you, I thought it was all worth it for the tea and toast after!

Christmasshopper

Your first wee after the birth just goes on and on and on like that scene from the Austin Powers movie where he wees in the fountain.:whistle:

Christmasshopper

ailuro2 wrote:

anyone mention the 'show' yet?

it's the mucus plug that comes away when you're in labour.

The midwife checks how far dilated you are (this is at home to make sure you're actually in labour and not pretending, lol!!) then she says you might see a bit of a show when you wipe yourself after you go for a wee.

Yuk!! it's a big slimey bogie looking thing, and you've to look at it while still getting over the shock of just how far the midwife has to go to check how far dilated you are!

It happened to me during labour when the doctor gave me an internal examination. My husband whispered to me, "I think you've just given birth to a jellyfish".:eek:

irchy_mum

Christmasshopper wrote:

Your first wee after the birth just goes on and on and on :

And if you don't stand up it really burns!!! (we are talking 'wee' on those stitches!-OUCH)

Jo x:A

looby75

Becles wrote:

LOL - I'd forgotton that one! Both times my waters went seconds before delivery. With my second baby, the crack was so loud my Mam thought someone had been shot :rotfl:

I was so lucky there,

First time round they had to break my waters in hospital, second time they broke when I was on the loo, so both times no mess.

Now it's a totally unmistakeable sensation and even without the evidence of a puddle round your ankles you know when it's happened, but 2 mw's at the hospital still asked me if I was sure that my waters had broken because they did the strip test and it wasn't showing up as amniotic fluid. I described the sensation and it was suggested I might have weed myself a bit!!!!! A BIT, it was like Niagara falls down there.:eek:

Anyway my sil was my birthing partner and she was teasing me about not knowing what I was doing, she made me laugh and a mini Niagara falls happened in line with the strip test. The mw never asked again if I was sure my waters had broken LOL

OOOOOH best kept secret #...err lost count lol

Baby no 2 doesn't always arrive quicker than baby no 1.

#1 active labour 1.30 am (ish) to 5.34 am
#2 active labour 12.30 am (ish) to 8.58 am

looby75

ailuro2 wrote:

I didn't scream or swear, but I heard this wierd low pitched gutteral moaning sound and realised it was me. Ooops!!

I was told off by the mw for "growling"

I told her to shut up and leave me alone LOL

across

missing lying on your belly!
feeling like a patchwork quilt inside and out for a few days postbirth!
scared to eat weetabix the day after your first birth /trying not to create bowel movement even though midwife keeps nagging have youve been yet!
believing that lovely quiet baby will stay quiet forever!
thinking the baby is bleeding to death when it vomits the brown yucky stuff up on its first night to clear out its system!
wondering how it is ever going to come out when its your first birth and not even realising how far on you are until its too late!
wishing it was back in your belly when it needs feeding at all hours!!
have fun!!!!!:rotfl:

loobyloose

no one mentions the bleeding going on and on and on, then you pass out, they wake you by pumping you with fluids in your arms then your surrounded by loads of docs flapping only to wheeled into theatre with sweet dreams with a huge shot of ketamine. Then the catheter eww... then go on to have an allergic reaction to all the concoctions of drugs they give you

also the 7months of injecting everyday as well as the anti-d injection after the birth. Also having to have IV anti-biotics whilst in labour too.