Nesting, C Section & week 39 update

I have never been the sort of person who keeps a tidy house. My mother had a fridge magnet that declared:

 

and I’ve always remembered it… plus I like to live in a home that feels lived in rather than like a show-home. However for the last couple of weeks I have been obsessed with having a sort/tidy/clean of the whole house! It’s most unlike me but I've actually quite enjoyed it! I’ve tackled more or less every area of our house, and the amount of black bin bags we’ve gone through is pretty high! Sam even joined in and got rid of a load of clothes too (I’ve yet to tackle my shoe collection but however!) But I figured it’s way better to do all this before we move, and before I'm having to take it easy after a C-Section! The bathroom has been cleaned from top to bottom (including all the grouting) as has the kitchen and the whole place has been hoovered thoroughly!

I’ve also stocked the freezer up with dinners (so far 6 main meals, like curries, bolognese etc, and 3 cakes!) so that when neither of us feel like cooking when I'm home from hospital and sleep deprived we can just bung them in the microwave and make rice or something else easy to go with them! None of this is normal behaviour for me, so it is definitely the ‘nesting’ instinct taking over! Most bizarre, and I honestly didn't think it would happen until it did!

If you read my post on choosing a C-section a few weeks ago then the outcome is that it was finally agreed by a consultant. Even if one agrees then another one has to it turns out, but it would be far too convenient for them to do that on the same day, so we managed to get another appointment a week later, which resulted in another week of worry and strain… The consultant that day didn't turn up to work however, but we met with a wonderful doctor who listened (again) to all my concerns, was upset that the NHS counselling service still hadn't given me an appointment (been waiting since march!) and said that he would ‘nip up to the labour ward and find an obstetrician’ for me. Fifteen minutes later (we made awkward small talk with the medical student who sat in on our appointment) he was back, but on his own. I genuinely thought it was an outright no, but it turns out the lady who he spoke to agreed it after looking at my notes and had signed off. He ran me through how the operation works, highlighted the risks (which I could quote back to him verbatim by this point, statistics and all) and we signed the consent form! Obviously at some point after the baby arrives I'll write about my experience, but as you can imagine we were both so relieved and the date is in the diary!

Briefly, the only new symptoms I have experienced since my week 37 update is some extreme acid reflux, some slightly stronger braxton hicks type pains in week 38 and then in the final week, the absolute swelling of my feet, lower legs, arms and hands. I have tattoos on both feet and they look warped at the moment! I look elephantine! I can’t get my wedding rings off and can only wear about 2 pairs of shoes that I own. 

It’s pretty uncomfortable and I’ve been attempting to rest and put my feet up but I also didn't want to waste my last few days of ‘freedom’ sat on my bum, and have various lunch/tea dates with friends which has been lovely! My piddling/sleeping cycle has got worse and I really not getting much sleep at all because my cold means I cant breathe through my nose during the night, so I get a gunky mouth and a bunged up nose, paired with the fact that it’s getting warmer, night times are no fun at the moment! Lets hope the baby sleeps through and I can get some sleep (wishful thinking haha!)

My next post will be post-baby, so see you on the other side!

Birth plan, part 1

 

I don't really know where to start with a ‘birth plan’. I spoke to my midwife about it at last weeks appointment, and she said that basically it can be as detailed or as simple as you want it to be, but that of course sometimes things just don’t go to plan, so always keep an open mind. As an aside, I really like this midwife, my first few appointments were all with someone different and one of them was quite possibly the most unhelpful person I've met, after looking at my notes a few weeks ago she had managed to write down my height wrong, and a few other anomalies had crept in too.

Anyway, I digress, I explained to the MW that I didn't really know where to start with thinking about the birth, and in actual fact I had quite a lot of anxiety about it, amongst other things. She said it needs to cover three main areas, which can be as detailed or as simple as you want them to be.

• What is important to you (who do you want with you, where do you want to do it? )
• What you feel are priorities (including pain relief/coping techniques, do you want your baby cleaned before being given to you etc)
• How you want things to happen after the birth (breastfeeding or formula, vitamin K injection or not…)

So I am right at the beginning stages of the process, and so far all I know is that a) Sam will be with me and not my mother/anyone else, BUT that if things go on for a while and he needs a break, but that b) a friend who lives not far from the hospital and had her baby there a few years ago will be on hand for support if possible, which is good to know. In the true spirit of my ever growing procrastination, I actually made a full and detailed list of what to pack in my hospital bag instead of getting any further with the birth plan, but i’ve started thinking about it and have 13 weeks left anyway, so expect another post on the subject further down the line!

Tools and things you may find helpful:

The NHS Birth plan webpage, you can fill out online and print it for your records

The NHS 'how to write a birth plan video’ which you can watch here

The Tell me a good birth story website (Steph found this website really useful before she had D, and recommended it to me)

Bountys advice on writing a birth plan

And the Netmums take on it

and just for the sake of argument, here is an article that I found about why ‘birth plans are worse than useless’ (the 899 comments on the article don’t agree!)

 

If you are a mum already, how closely did your experience resemble your birth plan, if you had one? Any tips?