h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I hope it all goes well and is the peaceful experience you have planned. Being overdue is no fun, I was well over with both of mine and I just got fed up!

I have a tip. Use the time to make and freeze some sandwiches. Then when your days all blur into one, you can get out a pack in the morning and lunch will be all ready for when the baby has a nap.

Hey Coely

Nice of you to pop by!
?

Yup, I've got to the stage where I've well and truly had enough of being pregnant now. In the nicest possible way of course.

It feels like my life is being lived on TV with everyone stopping me in the street (they never bothered to speak to me before I was pregnant!) and asking why I haven't had the babe yet. Cos that really helps the fed up feelings...

Good idea about the sandwiches! I think I'll get on the case and cook a huge vat of dahl and freeze that in meal size portions.

The dahl vat sounds ideal! It'll give you something to do while you are waiting. Once you've had the first week or so of people around to help you'll find you never have time to make lunch and yet you'll be so hungry. Go easy on the spices or garlic if you're intending to breast feed.

I remember I went swimming with friends when I was 41 weeks and one asked me when I was due. When I said how much I'd gone over she looked horrified, like she thought I might just suddenly give birth in the deep end. She wouldn't believe that the doctor had given me the all clear. It was wonderful exercise and the delightful feeling of being without the weight was lovely. Until I'd lumber up the steps to get out and acquired the feeling of being like a large elephant again.

You're having a water birth aren't you?

Being in water whilst *heavily* pregnant is just heavenly.
I've been going to aqua natal classes but had to stop recently due to conflicting appointments and a very painful pelvis.

I was unsure about having a water birth until I stepped into the swimming pool for the first time (I hadn't been swimming for years) and immediately felt the release from gravity. I booked a birth pool the same day.

It's very nice to have a hot tub in my front room, that's for sure! As we only have a tiny boiler, the Man and I decided to rent a pool that has a heater and filtration system so that once it's set up we can just leave it until it's time to change the water (every 1-2 weeks) rather than rush to fill it up when I go into labour.
I was a birth in March where the mum-to-be had decided on using an inflatable pool and filling it when she went into labour. The scene that greeted me when I arrived was of mum-to-be naked (apart from long socks...) crawling around on the floor and her mum running backwards and forwards trying to fill the pool with kettles and saucepans full of hot water.
Needless to say, the pool didn't get filled up enough and mum-to-be only hopped in and straight out again.

I always say the best bit about having my youngest, Moonlight, was the deep bath they ran for me afterwards. The midwives in the hospital had designed it themselves I think, for use before or after birth. I'm not sure if they used it as a brithing pool, I've a feeling there was another room for that. It was about twice the size of a normal bath, a bit deeper and had a ledge to sit on. It was so nice to be submerged in warm water I didn't want to get out and they kept knocking on the door to make sure I hadn't passed out.

It was either the bath that was the best bit, or the hot buttered toast they gave me when I got out of it. The nurses had all been making a big fuss of my baby and said she was so alert and interested. I'm sure that was because of the extra 2 weeks cooking time.

Are you sure you're going to be able to give the hot tub back?

It's funny how people seem to start panicking when a pregnancy goes over 40 weeks seeing how normal pregnancy ranges from 37-42 weeks.

The extra 2 weeks baking time that Moonlight had was obviously what her recipe required!

Hummmm, giving the hot tub back.
As the deposit was £100, the Man and I are wondering that if we decided to keep it would we have to pay any more??

It's worth a try! Is there a bit of space somewhere or would you leave it in the living room for visitors to enjoy?

With my first I was induced after +10, for no reason I could see, after the event. It was horrible. So the next time I fibbed a bit about my dates, adding 2 days, so that if they wanted to do the same thing, *I'd* know it was really +12 and not +10. My due date came and went and then at my 41 week check they said I would be allowed to go 12 days over (ie secretly +14) because of the history. I gave birth naturally on what they thought was +11 but I knew was +13. to them.

You're a bit more in charge than I was, so I'm sure the baby will appear when it's ready. You'll know. While you wait, why not use the spare time to make a banner:
"Yes it's late/No I haven't had it yet"

I could put the pool in the conservatory... then I could have my front room back!

The medical profession are far too eager to induce as far as I can tell. , especially as normal human gestation is between 37-42 weeks.
Some women have been asked about induction when they are only 39 weeks!

I have to admit to being deeply afraid of the medicalisation of childbirth. I was at a friend's birth in January - she was induced (supposedly because of pre-eclampsia, but the evidence for that was scanty at best) and it was horrendous. She managed brilliantly with no pharmacological pain relief, but with no thanks to the midwives who were flittering about telling us that she wouldn't be able to cope with the pain (it hurts more when you're induced with oxytocin apparently, due to the contractions being full on right from the start with no chance to get used to them), muttering about epidurals and giving her an (unnecessary) epidural.


Good for you for trusting your body and fibbing about your dates!

I think making a banner to hang around my neck and on the front door (even the postie asks "haven't you had it yet then?") is a good idea. Now I just have to find some motivation!

"..then I could have my front room back!"
Don't you know how much *stuff* a baby needs? Chairs, mats, toys, empty cardboard boxes and so on. You won't see the floor in your front room again for several years!

Found your motivation yet? I don't really remember noticing, but you're supposed to get a burst of energy the day before the birth. So just when you feel up to making that banner, perhaps you won't need it anymore.

I like the idea of you referring to your bump as . By this time next week you'll have had it! I remember the day I brought Sunshine home and the health visitor told me she would visit the next day. I was so scared about being left in complete charge of such a tiny scrap and absolutely convinced that I was going to have broken the baby by the time she came. Being pregnant seemed so much easier than being a mum.