Feb 2011 - The home stretch! Let's see more of those babies :-)

[WanderingInAWinterWonderland]

A shiny new thread for a shiny new year.

linz for baby, I've put in same as ledkr, but also have bibs (I'll be ffing), muslin cloths, some sneaky baby wipes (for when midwife isn't looking ) Haven't even started on mine yet!!

Decided to have lazy day with girls today, well I tidied up, still picking up bits of Christmas paper, ribbon, cellotape etc. Then decided to watch Up, girls have seen it before but I hadn't, well knew beginning was sad, Mr Wiggles and my mum had warned me!! but was not prepared for the level of sadness, I thought the beginning of Finding Nemo was sad!!

Yeah it's pretty annoying ledkr my DH has been tying my shoelaces for me for ages. It also takes a couple of minutes to get out of bed.

I have a suggestion re. inlaws and other relatives visiting for everyone. I have an aunt who I am quite close to who has told me that she's coming to visit as soon as the baby is born. I have no idea how long she would want to stay, but my guess would be for at least one night. She could also bring her DH and two DC, potentially. Me and DH were discussing it and we decided that it might be better to wait until the birth and then tell her not to come, rather than tell her now. We thought it might be easier for her to take it that way, especially if I have a difficult birth (and I could always exaggerate how difficult it was if that keeps her away).

I have lots of other relatives who are bound to show up but I'm not sure if they would stay the night, whereas I think my aunt might even want to stay as long as a week.

God zero dont get me started on my favourite subject.think aunt an her dh and kids will be way too much for a week,how about one night abit later like i am doing.
wigglesI forgot to say bibs and muslins-so dont think you're so clever-.
It is bloody snowing here grrrrr only just got rid of the stuff.

Wow! Congrats to Jack & Gina - makes me soooo excited to read about the new arrivals! I'm busy sorting my labour bag too as we speak. I've just had to put off visiting rellys too. My dsil and her daughter wanted to visit at the end of Jan for a week (I'm due 8 Feb) this would mean they were staying in the babies room etc and I have just rang dmil and said it just really isn't a good time to be entertaining visitors especially as my niece is a very hyper and loud (but lovely|) 4 year old! Hope I haven't offended but I have to do right by me.

congratulations Gina (even though we haven´t ´met´)! hope you have your babe home very soon.

Loving listening in on you all going through similar things.. hospital bag i haven´t even thought about it. Last time I took a decent sized sports bag and barely touched a thing. This time I am taking 1 outfit for baby, 2 spare jammies for me, toiletry bag and snacks/water and ipod. That´s it! It seems different here (am ex-uk) because the hospital provides all nappies, wipes, maternity towels and gowns for baby. So I trucked up last time with all this stuff I didn´t need to use.

re inlaws i think i am quite lucky, ours live quite close but last time they all piled into the hospital on the first day but then didn´t really bother us, waited for us to go to them when we were ready a week or two later. MIL can´t actually leave the house unless anyone goes to get here so that´s that problem solved [evil]

My parents live in the UK and mum was threatening to come and stay for a month which was freaking me out but i did get brave enough to put her off. I think. But then it would be just like her to turn up anyway, so we´ll see what happens. Thing is she is due for an op mid jan so I don´t think she should prob fly til end of feb earliest and I hope she´ll have the sense to wait til she is 100% before coming as I really won´t need her resting up here while i have a newborn

Just wanted to add-in my own hospital bag i have also got;some decent painkillers and tiny bottle of champagne-wooo!

They'll definitely come at some point, it's just a question of when. Glad to hear that my fundal height doesn't necessarily mean that I'm about to see the baby.

Who's going to be next...?

suzym, I'm planning on using a TENs machine, I've booked one from here after a MNer recommended it. It's cheaper than Boots and you don't have to arrange an extension after 4 weeks if you still need it.

I am still convinced I will be late, DD was 11 days late so I think I will have this baby around the end of February.

Is anyone else's baby getting the hiccups? Mine is driving me nuts, it goes on for ages and makes me feel really sick.

Funny enough eaurouge haven't had the baby hiccups yet, remember it being maddening with dds but none so far, although think this monkey has now settled with the head at top of my ribs on right hand side and almost lying diagonally

Can't believe you have snow ledkr, was a bit of a panic we might get some more later in the week and after the no water fiasco is the last thing people want to see.

Dds are still off school until next week so hopefully this week we are doing some fun stuff (well fun for them!!) Mr Wiggles has had a horribe run of things at work for the past few days - Christmas and New Year = an upturn in suicides, road traffic accidents etc, so hoping to nip out with him a few times over the next few days, lunch, cinema etc.

us too wiggles,taking dd to cinema tomorrow and kunch as is last day,he was meant to have 4 days off now but has court on Wed-really annoying.
Im in Chelt and do you remember the floods 2 yrs ago?We had no water for 2-3 weeks.Had to get water from bowsers and drinking water distributed by police which of course meant i was on my own,worked in a childrens home so was coping with it there too,altho we had portaloos which was a real treat,must admit i was a wimp and hated being unable to shower or wash hair,drove up to Birmingham to shower at a mates,and do some washing.Id hate to go thru that again.

I haven't had many baby hiccups, just felt it once a few weeks ago and didn't like it!

Today she is doing some rather strange movements and it hurts! She's been stretching through the front of my bump and kicking (or punching, don't know which way she is) my spine! Then occasionally it feels like she's going to jump through my cervix. Sooo uncomfortable!

Re TENS - I hired one last time and found it very useful - but I could have saved myself the money becuase they have them at the hospital so maybe check first if you are thinking of hiring one!

I used one in the hospital (one of theirs) in early labour and they let me borrow it when they sent me home for a while. I didn't like it TBH, I felt like someone was pelting me in the back with stones and it wasn't helping! I think I'm one on my own though because they seem to help everyone else!

I need to namechange back to normal! I no longer want to be in a Winter Wonderland - roll on summer!

mine has hiccupped since really early on,coiuld feel that before kicks,i think it means they drink the amniotic fluid a lot,will be interesting to see if she likes her milk,dd1 would only drink 2 oz at a time which was a pain as she only went for about 2 hrs she still never finishes her drinks.

I don't remember feeling them with DD. She used to have them constantly when she was born though!

This little one hiccups all the time! At least 3 or 4 times a day, I find it very cute and like that it reassures me tha the head is still down!
Thanks for the TENS link rouge I will have a look and maybe sort that out when after my hospital tour on Saturday. Has anybody else been for their hospital tour/ labour classes yet? Im a little nervous that there might be videos, eeek

All this talk of in laws and visitors is worrying me, as we havent even thought about that yet! Although, my mam wants me to ring her as soon as I go into labour and this makes me cringe a little bit (the thought of her waltzing into the delivery suite with snacks and drinks!) Is anyone else having this problem?

Suzy - with dd1 we rang my mum when I went into labour, the labour was quite long and by that evening she was beside herself, she made my dad drive her down to the hospital. The hospital I use doesn't let any visitors at all into delivery suite so she just sat outside for an hour until the midwife took pity on her, gave her a cup of tea and told her it would be all right. All whilst keeping her on the right side of the locked door . She went home, dd1 was born at 11pm and Mum breezed into maternity ward at 10am with balloons, champagne (for herself!!), on the way down to hospital she had also acquired a speeding ticket

Have people whose first baby this is gone out and bought a pram? I've been sick in bed with a disgusting cold for two weeks and can't face Oxford Street or indeed any other shop...thinking of just getting one that my friend has which seems decent and not too pricey or too cheap, but feel guilty at not going out and coming to grips with the market!

re. hiccups i had loads with ds but not really noticed any with this lo yet. Last week I had some pretty painful BHs and after my mw commenting on my bump having dropped and worries re. leaking I went off to get monitored but all fine. They did give me some sachets for UTI just in case and not had anything since. phew.

suzym - when i had ds my parents lived nearby and pitched up at the hospital about 20mins after we got back to the room from the delivery suite. Have to say my head was spinning a bit so dh will be under strict instruction not to advise ANYONE that baby has been born until we are safely back in the room and I have had a chance to shower and change.

We don´t actually have our pram here yet but we are borrowing SILs bugaboo again. I swear she should have asked everyone who has used that to give her some money towards it and she´d have made her money back and more by now! It is still going strong after 7 years and at least 6 children!!

lostfromoz i was going to say i wouldn´t worry about getting embroiled in which buggy to buy, if your friend can recommend one and you are happy just go for it. There are so many out there and they all have pluses and minuses but really as long as it has wheels and keeps your baby dry and cosy it is doing its job!

Thanks roundthehouses...I think you're probably right. Maybe I'll wait till the end of the week and see if I get a big burst of shopping energy! For some reason I have a weird fear though of the baby arriving and us not having one.

This little one has loads of hiccups and gets active when I drink coffee or eat chocolate.

Speaking of stats - has anyone seen or heard from the Professor lately? She was always so good at that. Maybe she's been away for Christmas.

I have a new car seat and sling but need to get the frame for the car seat to be able to slot it in. Why don't you check out stuff on the internet before you go out lostinoz?

lostfromoz a recommendation from a friend is a very good start - esp if you have similar lifestyles. I am addicted to buying prams and have got a small collection in the garage now but find no one is "perfect" they all do different things well but noone has yet managed to get all the positives into one contraption! Kiddicare is quite good online although I prefer to get mine from our fab local independent shop as customer service is fab if things ever go wrong (and IME they do!).

Have now got some slippers for my hospital bag and 3 cartons of Ribena Slow progress!

lostfromoz I am soooo jealous- when I was pg with DD the Most Important Thing for DH was the pushchair- we went in every fecking shop in the COUNTRY (we were living in Slovenia, it's about the size of Wales) and tried out every pram. I couldn't give a fig about which one but for DH it was crucial.

For some reasons the hiccups really annoy me, that's totally unreasonable, isn't it!

ledkr when you said you'd be packing proper painkillers you made me think- are the afterbirth pains worse with 2nd babies? I never felt anything with DD but there was another woman on the ward who'd just had her 4th and she was in agony. Do I need to be prepared??