Pregnant runners' club

Caramel - In spite of all my other pregnancy health problems my little chappie was head down at 32 weeks..... then he turned breech at 33 weeks!! Although I ended up with a c-section it was nothing to do with position - he actually turned himself back down a few days before he was delivered (34 weeks).
If you have a very wriggly baby they can keep turning up and down right up to birth. I believe that breech vaginal deliveries ARE possible, but generally not recommended.
One of my friends had her baby turned via manipulation at 37 weeks, and the little wotsit turned herself back the next day! I guess it's luck of the draw. If you are very small build and the baby doesn't turn by 35 weeks, there is less chance that it will simply because there won't be any room for him to manoeuver. Otherwise there is every chance, but keep sitting on swiss ball, sitting forward with elbows on your knees, that sort of thing.

Hegs x

thanks girls! i'm only 26 weeks at the moment, so just about 6 months. plenty of time for him to turn (as the doctors said on saturday - 'you'll probably have a REALLY uncomfortable week in a few weeks time when he turns around!'. oh joy!). it's just he was in this position for the 20 week scan as well (although he did flip over onto his back at one point then , but quickly flipped back again), so the sonographer commented that it seemed as though he liked it in this position, which made me wonder whether he might just stick this way.

no point worrying about it though. i'm being a good girl and sitting on my swiss ball (even got rid of the office chair and sitting on one all day at my desk now!). you can only really do so much, i guess!

when i went for my last midwife's appt, she wrote in my notes that he was cephalic, but i'm pretty sure he wasn't. this is the same midwife who can't spell, didn't know what a nuchal scan was, and couldn't answer my questions on how far apart movements are supposed to be to 'count' (ie i can feel 10 movements in 30 seconds, so i assume that doesn't count as my 10 movements for the day, but she couldn't be more specific!). so i don't have oodles of faith in her!

the little blighter is kicking away like MAD at the moment. my poor poor bladder!

Sorry for being dim, but what's "cephalic"?

Cephalic means "head down".
You all know my view on midwives so I won't repeat it ;o)

The whole 10 movements thing is a real bone of contention too - my baby moved non-stop, therefore I was told that if I noticed a significant reduction in movement I should perhaps consider raising it with the midwife / GP. But for some people they experience very little movement, therefore if "normal" is 3 movements a day, then 1 or none would be cause for concern versus someone like me who would experience perhaps 50 movements a day going down to 10 or 15....

The whole thing is so individual - it's no wonder we all worry about every little thing.

I went to see the midwife at 34 weeks and she couldn't find my baby's head!!! And a friend of mine had a doppler and the midwife said she couldn't hear the baby's heartbeat at 24 weeks, but 'not to woory about that'!!! I'm sure there are some great midwives too, my friend is one of them..

Oh, about breastfeeding, I think it is lovely to do, Liesje is still fully breastfed, but I wasn't breastfed and had my first course of antibiotics at 29 and am rarely ill, so please don't ever feel guilty if you stuggle with it or decide to bottlefeed. I have a friend in Holland with 4 boys. She decided not to breastfeed the third as the other two were still very little. He was diagnosed with asthma and she thought it was because she hadn't breastfed him. So she breastfed the fourth, juggling life with four little children,sore nipples, thrush and then found out he also has asthma and he was in hospital with bronchiolitis too!!!

Liesje turned at 34-35 weeks, whilst I was having dinner. It was a bit like the Alien film when it happened. She then stayed breech and I chose to have the caesarian, just think a vaginal delivery is quite risky for a breech baby, but that is my personal view.. Better go and pack my bag now, yes jetting about quite a bit, Liesje has so far been to Holland three times, France, Belgium and North Wales!! She's a great little traveller luckily, not bothered at all by being on a plane! My little sister is due in about 10 days, so we'll be off to Holland again soon to see her!

wow, it's all such a minefield, isn't it?

i really hope the little chap decides to turn and stay turned, but there's not much i can do about it if he doesn't! i know for a fact that they don't do vaginal breech deliveries in my area because people have been whisked in for c-sections when they've gone into labour and the midwives have realised the baby is breech. i'm not sure what they do if you refuse to give your consent for a c-section, though, but i guess if it got to that stage, you probably wouldn't force the issue!

i'm sure there are lots of excellent midwives. i've just not had that much luck because my midwife is off on long term sick and i've seen a whole string of 'replacement' midwives, none of whom have been particularly inspiring. on the last two occasions, i've seen the same one, and she's nice enough but really not very convincing as a midwife!

on the subject of breastfeeding - my mum did give it a go, but she gave up after about 3 weeks or so and i was then formula fed. i had terrible skin trouble and a very bad stomach as a baby and child, and when i was about 10, they diagnosed me with a milk intolerance, so there's a chance that formula feeding was not the best option for me. but i still grew fine and am healthy enough now, so no long term damage. i am a bit paranoid about formula for that reason, though, because i had both asthma and excema as a child, and still get wheezy if i have too much milk. my caramel macchiatos are made with soya milk ;-). hopefully, our little one will not inherit my 'intolerant' disposition! i'm steering clear of the peanuts, as they advise, and am seriously thinking of cutting out all dairy when i do breastfeed (at the moment, i have a mix of goats and soya milk at home, and only have cows milk when out and about).

I feel so queasy. How did you get through it? Am much worse than last time. Can barely bring myself to eat anything. What did you guys eat? Have gone off fruit and salad, veg tasted grim last too, tea and coffee. Mashed potato is good, just had some of that cold. Feel horrific, nearly threw up in the pool this morning, not sure will be making it there very often when I feel like this. I am quite small so aware need to keep eating but really struggling as have gone off all things I usually love. Hard to eat healthily too when fruit and veg taste horrid!

((Mitchie Moo))
Can't really help I'm afraid as I also had horrendous morning sickness (well, all day sickness) but lived on fruit - mainly melon. I did find that Orange Lucozade was brilliant too, and still drink it even now I'm no longer preggers!

I will disappear on just fruit, but fruit tastes so grim its off the menu for now anyway. Most artificially sweet stuff is pretty yuk too. Looks like plain mash, plain rice etc may work. Hard to know when bring food into work what will work. Have eaten or rather tried everything have brought in except banana which the thought of makes me feel sick. So not sure what I eat for the rest of the day now. Just four hours to go at least till I can go home and crawl into bed!

((Mitchie Moo)) - poor you. Little & often might help. Crackers sometimes helped me, ginger nut biscuits also.

Caramel - my little boy has both excema and asthma and he was exclusively breastfed so in some ways it must be luck of the draw. What I will say though is that his first hospital admission took place the week after I stopped breastfeeding him at 18 months so I am sure that the breastfeeding provided him with extra immunity (doctors are always interested when they hear this).

mitchie moo - sorry to hear you feel so grim. don't worry about eating healthily when you feel rubbish - just eat whatever you can stomach. try eating little and often - so just a few dry crackers, some dried apricots (i found dried fruit REALLY good, and also crystallised ginger, but not everyone likes that), whatever you can handle. don't worry about eating proper meals - just eat what you can. and don't forget, unless you are being very very sick and can't keep down water, there's no risk to your baby from you feeling or being sick. your baby will steal everything it needs from you and you will feel rubbish - but it will be fine!

and - it's not much consolation, but feeling sick is a very good sign!

sianh - sorry to hear your little lad has excema and asthma. i'm sure it is the luck of the draw. i wasn't very bad with excema or asthma as a child - it was more an annoyance factor, really. but i was also very allergic to cats and dogs, wheat (had to be hospitalised on several occasions) and fairly bad with dairy and eggs as well. interestingly, i'm just about fine now (we even have 4 cats!) - although not wonderful with dairy still. i do worry about whether little one will also be intolerant of things, but you can't do anything to prevent it completely.

and you do at least know that you gave your little chap the best start in life by breastfeeding him for as long as you did.

my stomach and skin problems started as soon as i went onto formula, according to my mum. i don't think at the time that anyone would have linked the two things - and i don't think soya formula would have been around in those days anyway (not that it's necessarily much better apparently for an allergic-y child).

have just had a bit of a disastrous run. well, the weather's lovely and it was nice to be out but i had to turn around and head back after about 1.5 miles due to really really bad stitch. i think my running days are now numbered :-(((

Caramel - Sorry to hear that your run didn't go well - you've done really well - just see how it goes.

Thanks guys. Finding it very hard to work at all. Will buy some crackers on the way home. Not actually sick just very nauseous. Was like this last time, but not as bad. So fingers crossed for thursday.

Sorry way behind - been a bit busy!
Just wanted to add a note on breast feeding. I agree with the general views that you need to do what is best and what works for you.

I started Sadie on the breast and we got off to a great start. I was lucky and although frantic the MW's were very helpful in getting her to latch on correctly (avoiding sore nipples etc).

As my husband and I were switching roles at 4 months (me back to work him at home with Sadie) I was very mindful that she got used to formula and bottles too. Also I wanted DH to be involved, so a few feeds were formula. The formula feed helped her sleep through too as you could see what she was taking in.

I know some women express when back at work and I have upmost respect for them. I felt that balancing a demanding job, returing to work etc it was too much for me.

I wanted Sadie to feed until a few weeks before I went back, but being the independantly little thing she is she made her own mind up. At 2.5 - 3 months she would not feed from me anymore. All she wanted as the bottle.

I was devastated, felt like I had failed and was not doing the best for her. The HV made me feel like a failure too. After a lot of misery, I realised, Sadie was happy & I had some independance back so stopped punishing myself. Running was a lot more comfortable too!

I agree that breast is a great start for your baby, but any amount you achieve is should be regarded as a success. Sadie is a very healthy little girl, who is very rarely ill despite all the play group coughs and sneezes.

Couldn't agree more with everything on here re: breastfeeding. I breastfed exclusively for 6 weeks, half and half for another 6 weeks and then formula from 12 weeks and my little chap is the picture of health!
I have listed my reasons before, so won't do it again, but never once did the HV or MW suggest half and half (breast & formula) and yet I know that it can work really well (in the end my milk just dried up so I had to swap to fulltime formula).

One of my friends was so desperate to breastfeed because of pressure from the HV that her little girl almost got ill from it - it turned out that she had a poor milk supply (she is extremely petite) so her baby didn't gain any weight, was listless and dehydrated and yet no one gave her any good advice. In fact they were suggesting that her baby was suffering from some unexplainable disease - as soon as she introduced formula she put on weight, improved in developmental stuff and they both came on leaps and bounds. It was an incredibly stressful time for her and her partner as a result and completely unnecessary. It was thanks to the pediatrician that they got sorted with a different feeding regime. There can be a very blinkered view on what is "best".

Hi, I have a quick question about pediatricians. I know it's not necessarily the place, but Hegs mentioned one and I'm wondering what you can do in this country (I'm french and before having a baby I had never to see a doctor in the UK) to see a pediatrician?
Hegs, did your friend pay to see a specialist, or can we/must we have a referral from the GP? I think my GP is useless so I want to get ready if I ever feel I need to take Liya to a pediatrician.
Thanks and sorry about daft question!

Correct me if I am wrong, but even to see a specialist privately (i.e. pay)you generally need a referal letter from your GP.

I have private health and would presume that the process is the same regardless of the specialism.

mum2liya

yes - you would have to get a referral from a GP to see a paediatrician, even if you went privately.

if you are serious about being unhappy with your GP, you have the right to change GPs or surgeries - although that's not much good where I live, because the surgery I'm registered with is the ONLY one in the area which is still taking on patients, so I couldn't transfer to another one even if I wanted to! fortunately, they seem to be OK at our surgery - at least, one of the GPs is very nice. the other is as old as the ark and very difficult to understand (he's Chinese), although he does seem to be quite sweet - from what I've managed to fathom out when he talks to me!

Yes - referral is needed as the others say already.
Because my baby (and in fact my friend's baby too) needed to be in Neonatal Intensive Care straight after birth, they were registered with a pediatrician from birth which was handy (for her, I, fortunately, haven't needed to get my little chappie seen since then).
And you should absolutely make sure you have a GP you have faith in - I feel really strongly about this - it's what we pay our taxes for!

Hegs x