Contractions...

I know that every body is different, but how do you know if you're having actual contractions ? Of course at some point I'll be like "oh yeah, baby's coming 100%", but I don't want to be ready to bear down while still at home.

I've felt low grade (2-4 pain) period cramps throughout the day, since yesterday. I do randomly get one that's worse (4-6 pain), but the lower grade ones are more common. Happens every now and again, maybe twice an hour. They have been along my lower belly and sometimes lower back.

I'm definitely dropped. Belly is soft along the top (feels weird 😅). Lightning crotch is starting and baby's head is applying some pressure. Midwife said I was 3cm on Thursday. However, no sign of my water breaking except a small dribble yesterday, and that really could have just been pee.

41+1... so just waiting. Could this be it ? 😮‍💨🙏

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I had no idea, it was my first baby and it felt like ovulation pain. It was happening every 10 minutes or so. I called the midwives and they said it was probably braxton hicks but keep an eye. By the evening it was every 3 minutes and I went into be observed. Still the pain was intense ovulation pain, nothing too crazy. They said I was 2cm dilated at 9.30pm and wouldn't be having my baby for a few days. Yet 4.05am he was born.

You sound similar to me in the cramping feeling and I just went with my gut and im glad I did. The hospital is an hour away. If you think it would bring you peace of mind to go in and be checked, do it x

At first, I didn't know. I started to have contractions while I was sleeping, and they were 15 minutes apart. I could even take naps between the contractions. I thought I needed to go to the bathroom.
What made me realize it was to take a shower, because if it were a normal cramp, it would go away, but it didn't. When I arrived at the hospital, I was 6cm dilated

I didn't know I was having contractions with my second for ages 😆

All my contractions with my first were in my back and absolutely horrendous. So when I had some mild twinges across my stomach with my youngest I wasn't sure they were the real deal until they really ramped up.

in our community

So f*cking stressed

This week has just been an absolute shitshow. I had a doctors appointment because I’m worried about my health (headaches daily, migraines weekly, unexplained muscle strains and pains and I’m bruising extremely frequently without any injury) and the doctor giggled throughout my whole appointment and said she doesn’t think anything is wrong but they’ll test my bloods in a months time!! I was literally in tears when she poked at my ribs to assess the pain I have in them, I told her it’s interfering in my daily life, I don’t have the energy to workout anymore which I used to do daily, I’m wearing sunglasses inside for the headaches… how the hell can they just brush this off. And if all that isn’t bad enough UC closed my claim and haven’t paid me this month because I couldn’t get on my account to accept commitments from last month even though I called them in MARCH and explained that I wasn’t receiving their log in codes on my phone number so I can’t access my account. My partner had surgery on his leg in April and had to have a month off which has resulted in our pay being significantly cut so we were relying on this UC money. I asked them to refute the closure of the claim and I was basically told it was my fault because the commitments had been there for a month and it doesn’t matter that I told someone I couldn’t access my account.

It feels like everyone I speak to for help screws me over or just treats me like a joke and I’m so fed up of it. Doctors, GP receptionist, DWP employees, all of them I’ve ever spoke to have been nothing but rude. It took a lot for me to get the courage to go to the doctor after which a bad experience when I was pregnant with my boys and to just be giggled at the whole time and told nothings wrong when I know myself this is not how I should feel has just blown my top.

Just needed a big fat rant, fed up of some of this adulting crap 😂

Does anyone know how palliative care works?

Do you get overnight carers?
What exactly is the story support you can get? How would I know if someone needs palliative care?

Bleeding

How long do we bleed for after a c section? This is my second elective one and I’m bleeding heavy, period pains etc, I’m only day 4 but I don’t remember bleeding this long with my first, only a day.

Would you go?

This weekend is a friend’s kid’s birthday party. We have planned to go, but I’m iffy. This friend is a woman I’ve only hung out with twice, once in a group setting and once alone. When alone, she talked a lot, which I didn’t mind, but she acted uninterested when I tried to talk. That last time was in March. It’s now mid-June and we have barely talked since our last hang out. My kids have never met her kid, but they’re excited for the party and that’s the only reason I’ve decided to go. However, I texted her earlier this week to catch up and she read it with no response. I’m a little irritated, tbh. You invite us to your kid’s party, but make no effort to establish a friendship in between getting together. Would you still go to the party?

Pregnancy symptom names

I’m 35 weeks and I feel like my water is boutta break when I pee from the weird pain in my pelvis when I pee. I look it up to make sure it’s normal and Google tells me I have lightening crotch… bitch… ik damn well yall didn’t name ts lightening crotch… I didn’t have this my last pregnancy as my daughter was smaller because I couldn’t keep food down for most of pregnancy. So I look it up and that’s what Google has to say? It couldn’t be something a lil more flattering?! Pelvic pressure pain (ppp)? Pelvic dysfunction? Anything. Like don’t do me like that. Now I’m tryna explain to my fiancé that it’s not my puss being on fire or dangerous it’s just the pressure difference from releasing pee…

Due in 3 weeks, which name?!

Her middle name will be Alison. We had made our decision on Lily, but now we’re second thinking! 🤦🏼‍♀️ which one do you prefer?