Is that bag packed?

Congratulations bama2U on the birth of your grandson. Isn't it good when a plan works? Hope it goes as smoothly for the other 2 expectant grans.

Congratulations bama2U on the birth of your grandson. Isn't it good when a plan works? Hope it goes as smoothly for the other 2 expectant grans.

Sorry about that - laptop hiccup again - I know you didn't have 2 gs's!

Congratulations bama2u on the safe arrival of your grandson

Congratulations bama2u and best wishes to you and your family on the safe arrival of your GS. Glad things all went to plan. I think gracesmum, Faye and myself are all grans in waiting this month/early December.

Congratulations to recent Grannies. But before anybody asks - NO NEWS YET. I went up yesterday for lunch and we did a spot of shopping in Selfridges as it is youngest's 30th next week and I needed a pressie. So lots of walking, lots of stairs and crab-walking, but no joy! Then I stayed over and babysat so that DD and SIL could go out for (yes) a curry - brisk walk to the restaurant and back - nothing doing. The Law of sod says that of course nothing is going to happen when Granny is in residence so I came home again. Lovely to have time with littlest fella though, he loves reading "gooks" on my lap and can say "knee p(l)ease" and make himself understood without any probs!
Ah well, it might be the wee sma' hours after all. All I can say for certain is that DD is very FED UP.

Just missed your post gracesmum I can understand DD being fed up, my DD is already fed up and has two weeks to go (at least). Hope you get some good news soon and all goes to plan, I bet now that you've come home things will start happening .

Congratulations bama2 on the safe arrival of your grandson. What a special time!!

I had word yesterday that my daughter is in hospital again, but this time with contractions. The doctor has given her tablets to stop the labour as she is not due until early December and was due to have a cesarean on the 25th November. Then my sister phoned yesterday afternoon and said that my mother is having severe headaches (Mum has cancer of the eosophagus) and she is taking her to the hospital.

My mother is three hours drive away and my daughter five hours. It's a six hours of driving between their homes. So whatever, I am in for a long drive and feel tired just thinking of it.

My daughter's MIL is taking next week off to help out. So I am going to spend the next few days with my mother and I am anxious to get there, then I will take it as it comes I guess.

Oh Faye - we are truly the "sandwich generation" aren't we? You can't be everywhere at the same time, but it is so hard to decide what to do.
In Feb 2010 when eldest DD was about 6 months preg, middle DD was knocked off her bike by a car at the Elephant and Castle on Monday, Tuesday - dog was diagnosed with an eye disease which I was told was incurable, Wed - DH was taken into Royal Free Hospital for IV antbiotics for "mystery" infection, Thursday eldest DD rang to say she was being sent to Selly Oak hospital with a suspected DVT and on the Friday I was due to take a school exchange trip to Germany - no substitute possible!
It all sorted out, middle DD not injured, kennels happy to administer eye drops, DH "safe" in hospital and not DVT just pregnancy-related swelling. But I lost a lot of sleep that week and it precipitated my decision to retire,
You sound as if your porblems are more real and I sned you every good wish and much strength to cope. With all that driving - keep safe!

Congratulations bama worth all the waiting, good luck to all the grans in waiting.

Congratulations bama2U
Thinking of you Faye sometimes we need to be made of elastic, hope all is well

Lovely news, bama2u. Hope you are already having lots of cuddles.

I was present at three of my grandchildren's births and it was far worse than having my own babies, but wonderful to be able to hold the baby within minutes of the birth.
Both my girls are too old to have children but now I have my grand-daughters to worry about. My last great-grand-daughter stopped growing at 32 weeks and we were all very worried - her mum has coeliac disease and it very slim. Sophie was born by C-section at 36 weeks, weighing a perfectly healthy 5 lbs and had doubled her birth weight by four months old.

My older daughter had four children by the conventional route, but her fifth was breech, although the birth was easy and they came home the same afternoon. We thought the sixth would be the same, but the baby became distressed when the waters broke and his head descended and trapped the cord, cutting off his oxygen supply. He was delivered by emergency C-section, which is much more risky than an elective operation, and his mum was very ill indeed, having lost a great deal of blood.
Instead of being home the same day, she was in hospital for a week, and I had the job of looking after a 14-month old who could not understand why Mummy had not come home. I remember singing 'Hush Little Baby' about thirty times, walking round the bedroom to try to get her to sleep. My poor SIL had been warned to expect the worst for both mother and baby and spent most of his time at the hospital.

I do get a bit fed up when I hear women saying smugly that they had a totally natural birth, with no pain relief. My ex-BIL used to tell my sister that women in Africa just went to the edge of the field, delivered their baby and went back to work. Yes, and a lot of them died!

It seems that our pelvises have not developed at the same rate as our brains!

It's all part of the never-ending evolutionary 'race', isn't it, greatnan? Overall I think we're 'winning' because the global human population is growing. There will always be some women who find childbirth easy but for most of us our physiology (and walking on two legs when we've evolved from four-legged walking) is not helpful! I found Elaine Morgan's book The Descent of the Child absolutely fascinating on this subject. I can't recommend it highly enough. I think all young women should read it as part of their education.

Thinking of you Faye hope mum feels better soon and your daughter can hang on a bit longer.

I have a beautiful new granddaughter, she was born by C-section yesterday 12th November at 1.08pm. She was three and a half weeks early and weighed 7lbs 2ozs. How very tiny and sweet she is and very gorgeous, but not small for being early.

I got caught and Plan A had to become Plan B, well I thought she might be early but not quite this early. I found out that my daughter was going into theatre as I had started the drive to visit my mother, (who was okay and able to leave the hospital today). I didn't hear anything for nearly three hours as I was out of mobile phone range. I was worried and imaging the worst wondering what was going on most of the time I was driving. My daughter finally got through and let me know it all went well.

Waiting a day to see my granddaughter was torture and I feel terrible for grandmothers that have to wait longer. I then drove for six hours today to get here and could barely wait to see this precious little bundle. She is just lovely and I feel very proud and happy.

Faye wonderful news! Congratulations to all..... glad you drove 'safely'. Looking forward to hearing what she is to be named.

Congratulations Faye - to you and all concerned.

Lovely news Faye and a really good weight too! Take care

Congratulations Faye What lovely news

Congrats Faye...to you and all your family. Its so wonderful when we get the 'all clear'. She sounds a jolly good weight! Best wishes to you XX

That's such wonderful news Faye. Congratulations to you all and a big welcome to your little grandaughter

Congratulations Faye.

Thrilled to announce that littlest fella has a litttle brother and future partner in crime! Toby Alexander James arrived late last night after taking 36 hours to make up his mind about it. Mother and baby (7lb7oz) are well although I haven't seen them yet. DD won't be out of hospital until tomorrow, daytime visiting is restricted to partners and LF was going out with the nanny they have on Mondays. Much as I would have loved to stay, I felt they will need their own space, SIL can have an early night once LF is in bed and it all kick off tomorrow! Hope to be able to go up later this week with DH for a flying visit. In the end it wasn't a blue light dash - DD had started intermittent contractions on Saturday and rang to give me a heads-up, so I drove up late afternoon but by the time Sunday morning came she was still there having bounced away most of the night on her ball! Contractions continued throughout Sunday while I took littlest fella to the swings and then we all went to Botanic Gardens (D wired up to her TENS machine!) and she finally went into hospital about 7.30 last night.
One thing unsettled me though and I wonder how many share this - I was really distressed to see my daughter in so much pain - although coping wonderfully - and the mums' instinct to take the pain away was very hard to resist. I had never thought of this before - I can't believe this is unusual, but how have others coped with this?

Sorry Faye I meant to start with congratulations to you! The worrying is the worst thing isn't it - our imaginations can really run away! I see there is a thread on worrying so must have a look to seek reassurance that I am not abnormal(!) However, a very good size of baby and I am so happy for you that things have resolved themselves. Can you relax and take a breath yet? I wish you much joy with your new grand-daughter - do we have a name yet?