MSE Pregnancy Club 25

savageHK

On the engaged vs not - no, baby doesn't have to engage until labour actually starts but it can engage weeks in advance. I've been at least 3/5 engaged at least 4 weeks now (!) with no sign of labour (and apparently babies can de-engage too if they want, although mine seems happy there). Second babies often don't engage until labour starts. If you were in labour and not engaged they would worry but you can be engaged without labour being nearby!

They tell if you're engaged or not by feeling for the head. They do that anyway when you're not engaged (which is how they know it's free) but when it begins to engage (in my case at least) they really do start rummaging quite hard in your pelvic area (between your hips) to decide how far engaged you are.

As for the plug, if it all comes out at once it can be huge and pretty gross apparently. On the other hand bits of it can come away for a while, in which case I expect that it will be more like 'normal' discharge in volumne but it discharge will be slightly coloured and a bit gross looking? Aida care to shed any light? Still waiting for mine, I certainly haven't had any plug that I've noticed

Although with the night-time weeing I'd never notice if it came out at night!

savageHK

Rups32 wrote: »

electric ones better then?

Less hard work, but I think if you get a 'bad' electric one it could be painful for your nipples where a manual one you probably have more control over the level of suction??

Rups32

i def have more discharge and only recently have seen it whitish type. i dont know. i havent noticed anything 'weird' if you know what i mean. oh well if its gone then i am sure something else will show up. scary stuff.;)

the nct woman said to be careful of hand pumps as your hand could just get tired pressing. also now i have seen the twin ones and just the single ones, some called mini pumps. bloody hell. cant they just make it easy to choose? lol

bamama, my appointment is at 2.05 but i never get seen on time. seems like it will be the same time as yours. i end up rushing there and then waiting ages and ages. stupid gps.

Bamama

We'll have to compare notes Friday evening lol

martafdz

I bought the same one savage has. I read that manual pumps can be tiring because you are constantly pressing manually. I read that other electric pumps can hurt if you have sensitive nipples because they do only one speed. The Medela Swing has two speeds, one to stimulate the nipple softly until it starts leaking, then you change it to the other one, for pumping out. It is pricey, but you could keep the boxing and all the packaging, so you might be able to sell it again on eBay if it is almost new. Or buy second hand from eBay if you are ok with sterilizing it yourself before use.

EDIT: there is a small medela mini electric version that sells for about £50 new. Apparently very noisy but portable. I do not know if it has the soft setting for stimulating milk production first.

I also think C, L, F means Ceph, Long, Free.

I think I have slept most of the day today with small naps here and there.

LittleMoog

Evening ladies

Rups, spotting/light bleeding is also called the (bloody) show. It normally means your cervix is starting to dilate and is caused by small blood vessels rupturing. Did you not cover this at NCT? It's a classic sign of labour, our teacher went through it with us?

I had light bleeding this morning, and heavier after my sweep. Cervix thinned to 1cm and approx.1-2cm dilated so MW was able to do a good sweep. It was. more vigorous than I was expecting! :eek: I started to lose my plug a few hours after the sweep, looks like a giant bloody snot (sorry tmi!) and there was loads of it! I don't think you could miss it if it came all at once, though some peoples come out in small amounts over several days.

Been crampy on and off all afternoon, so hopefully something will kick off later

got-it-spend-it

Rups32 wrote: »

i was free then savage. who knows what i am now? how can they tell? well i will be 36 weeks tomorrow so when i go and see doc on friday hopefully he can tell? i will ask as i normally get sent home after the same old routiney things. so if baby is engaged, then does that mean labour is coming shortly?

My first was engaged from about 34 weeks but I still had to be induced at 40+13. First babies tend to engage earlier and are more likely to stay engaged, but it doesn't mean that labour is imminent.

I had a Medela Mini last time and expressed almost everyday from six weeks till six months. It was great and I'll use it this time too. It is very rare to not have milk, Rups, something like only 2% of women have this. Most problems come with getting a good latch/keeping up with demand.

I'm getting so many BHs at the moment- feels like they are pretty constant. I'm hoping this is a good sign.

LittleMoog- [STRIKE]do you have any update for us nosey pregnant ladies [/STRIKE]:rotfl:? Ignore me, we cross-posted . How exciting though, all sounds good!

martafdz

By the way, Rups, I cannot remember if it was ikkle who posted these two links, which I found very useful and informative with regard to breastfeeding, milk supply, pumping, etc:

http://blog.nurturedchild.ca/index.php/2010/12/10/baby-led-bottle-feeding/
http://kellymom.com/

Rups32

thanks so much for the advise ladies. def helps to come on here and ask. the next question was about the mini medela and that was covered above, so thank you.

Littlemoog weirdly we havent covered that in nct and this week is our last class. how weird. i must email her and ask. but then she has covered so much. one week, she asked us what we had learnt the week before and we all were blank. lol.

learnt lots today. def saw a mini medela on amazon and with the new family thing hopefully can get a discount. will a single one suffice as they are cheaper?

yes bamama, we should swap notes. i can alread predict that as soon as i go in, it will be bp check, he will ask me if all is ok, and then he will ask me to lie down and he will check heart rate and then wee. that is it. this time will ask about babys position etc. cant remember whether he measured me the time before, as midwife def did. so that is it. oh he might discuss my blood test results that i gave last week.

morocha

i have the Medela swing too, it will be worth it at the end. With DD i had a manual Avent one, i could not for the life of me get much milk and it made my nipples sore.I felt a bit like a cow.
Talking about cows, i have had enough today and decided to clean all the rooms, so i took all the boxes from every room to the front room, if that did not get him started in being tidy i dont know what would do it. It worked ! He sorted out most of his clothes by now, have like 8 bags to give away and still there are clothes in bed that he needs to sort out. Having his mum and nana at home definetely helped, i bet he did not like them seeing all these boxes in the lovely front room.
I am separating, things are getting worse and worse between him and me, and i have decided i have had enough, if he does not care i am pregnant and does not look after me, prefers to be selfish then so be it. He still wants to live here, i told him the deal, i cry on and off but in the long run i think is the best desition i ever made.