Due August 2011, third and final trimester here we come!!!!

[KLou111]

Oooooo ladies, an exciting time for us all either already here or speedily arriving.
Can't believe how quick it's all going.

Bubbas will be here in no time!!!!

wishwales congratulations, and welcome to the world baby Morgan! Hope you're all doing well. :)

I have my 4D scan tomorrow, I'm very excited!

winterlover personally no. breastfeeding might take a while to establish and skin to skin and patience are the best things to get it established. It's a demand and supply situation, if you are topping up, you are preventing your breasts creating enough and it can become a vicous cycle. babies all lose weight initially too-that's fine, normal-the first few days it's "only" getting colustrum (vital, but not calorific) (speaking as a health visitors daughter here!)

Thanks daisy its my first and my heads so confused with everything you should/shouldnt get etc We have a Tescos and Babies'r'us at the end of our road so im trying not to stress too much :)

having those shops at the end of the road i wouldn't bother to get the ready made milk in, as you can get it quite easily if you do get desperate for it?
i'm probably not going to get any formula in because i know if i have it i get too tempted to just give that instead and would like to bf longer this time

Thankyou, think once again im over thinking things!! Thats that sorted then, il leave bottles etc till after baby is here :)

Winter I was advised to get some formula just in case (already have bottles for expressing after a few weeks) but if you have a shop that close, I would leave it TBH and see how you get on. I don't want to formula feed and like Fir said, the temptation may be high!

Question for you, have been invited to an evening do at DH's cousins wedding on 27th August back in the Midlands. Due 11th August, but if over would be very close. Told DH we should say no, and he agrees (a 3.5 hour journey from Wales with a newborn???) We do really want to go to it (obviously without baby) but don't think it's practical, esp if I am breastfeeding, and it may be a lot to put on the grandparents babysitting that early lol! We're missing another wedding on the 13th too which is a shame. What do you reckon??

KLou il maybe decide on the milk nearer the time :)

Im not saying yes to anything throughout August for that reason, either baby coming early or late.. As you said its a long journey with a newborn.

Winterlover I wouldn't bother either, as long as you or DH know what to get if you do need it then it doesn't sound like you have far to go!

RugbyWidow DS1 was due on 21st August but arrived just after midnight on 2nd Sept. I was quite pleased because I thought that if I was overdue I may as well go into September so I know where you are coming from! As a teacher however, apart from those first few years where summer borns MAY be more tired and physically immature, I know that when it actually comes down to academic achievement that there are so many other factors at play that have a much bigger impact in my experience. Some of the brightest pupils I have taught have been summer born. I have a friend who was born on 1st Sept who hated her birthday as she kept saying she could leave school a year earlier if she'd been born a few hours sooner! I have the opposite with DS2 who is an early August birthday, and will have the same again with DC3 but I'm much less concerned about it than I was a few years ago.

KLou Take That concert was fantastic! Such a brilliant show, have a very sore throat today from constant singing, wonder if 'baby' is suitably conditioned to like them now? Hope so! I would think that you will have to refuse that wedding invitation as it's possible that baby could be just days old. We went to a very local one when DS1 was a week old, lovely to get out but only 5 minutes down the road. It was in a marquee and was nice to sit outside and chat to friends for an hour but was far too noisy inside. We refused a couple of invitations to university friends' weddings that were within 2 weeks of my due date as they were more than an hour away and we just didn't know what would be happening. Good thing really as I was giving birth to DS1 as they were dancing the evening away at one of them!!!

Klou Another thing that has just occurred to me is that you don't know how you will feel that soon after the birth either - I couldn't sit comfortably due to my stitches for at least a week after DS1's birth so I certainly couldn't have sat in the car for over 3 hours. Not pleasant to think about I know, sorry, hopefully it won't be a concern for you though.

I did think that littlemiss, I am not comfortable as it is in the car for long with a bump, never mind any issues down there :) DH is going back for a couple of days at the end of June, and I don't want to go, so my parents are coming here while he is gone, and I'm not planning to go anywhere (or, I wasn't planning to go anywhere) until mid September at least.
Glad the concert was fab, can't wait!!

wishwales Huge congrats :D Hope you get your mummy cuddles very soon x
winter I breastfed all 3 of mine, and am planning to bf this baby too, but on each occasion I had formula in the house 'just in case'.
I never used it, it was just nice to have a safety net...

I posted a couple photos of Morgan on my profile. Enjoy :)

wishwales they are lovely pictures :)

wishwales hope you get some cuddles soon, and congratulations. She sounds like she's getting on well. Much love to you x

KLou my brother's getting married on 27th August, (I'm due 17th) and we've said (pretty much) no, we're not going. It's a 3hr drive, in the middle of nowhere - even if we got there, anywhere we can stay is 40 miles away - and I just can't commit to it. I'm absolutely gutted, but these things happen. If she comes early I've said we'll reconsider, but that I will not travel unless she's more than 14 days old, and then I'll have to see about it (what if I have to have a CS, or have crazy amounts of stitches, or she's not feeding well, and you can't have a newborn in a car seat for more than 2 hours so we'd have to stay over somewhere on the way which we can't afford, etc, etc) my mum keeps telling me that it doesn't matter and she'll babysit and there'll be loads of people there to help with the baby, but tbh I don't want her to and I don't want her taking over!
On that note, the 2 hour thing about car seats- does that count if you have a lie flat car seat, does anyone know?
Re sleeping, there's no room for DH in the bed anymore with all my pillows and cushions arranged so I'm in a nest (the cat takes up any spare room anyway :) ) but I'm finding it harder and harder to get proper sleep. As I guess I will for the next 3 years anyway, ha!
Hope you're all ok out there :)

Right DP wants a coffee, im gonna get an ice cream then I think it may be bed time for me.. soooooo tired at the min

Lovely pictures, wishwales, she looks like a good size :o

aww wishwales morgan is lovely, she does look a good size

klou i would probably have to say a no to the wedding in your position too, its just not that realistic as you dont know how things will be, likely to have a veryy young baby then considering it is common to go a bit overdue. it is a shame but especially with the travelling it seems unrealistic, if it was in same town you could just nip down there if you felt up to it

Congratulations WishWales, she'd lovely We need a births thread now ladies!

I called my midwife today to ask what else supplement wise I can take with the iron (for instance, other iron top-ups) but she apparently won't be in until next week, so I ended up talking to the duty doctor instead. Apparently she's put on my medical notes that 'I can't be bothered to take my iron tablets' even though that is not what I had said to her at my appointment at all.

I'm starting to get the impression that my local surgery just doesn't like young mothers, as both my doctor and my midwife seem to be talking to me about the social services in some way and I'm feeling like no matter what I do they'll still want to threaten me passive-aggressively. I'm trying at my best the majority of the time (I have my lazy moments, as does everyone) on the limited energy and funds that I have.

Anyway, the advise the duty doctor gave me was to take 3x Ferrous Sulphate + Spatone + Orange Juice every day. I'm going into town on Sunday so I'll pick up the orange jucie and spatone.

I'm grateful for everyone's advice and support and I will try to improve my iron levels as fast as I can. LO is moving a lot and perfectly healthy so at least that can put some of my mind at rest.

WinterLover Don't worry about eating a whole pack of Jaffa Cakes. I've been there, done that, and I'm sure we aren't the only ones treating ourselves at the moment!

wishwales Many congratulations on your gorgeous baby girl. Morgan looks very healthy and I hope you get to hold her lots soon! :)

yukana my first Mw with dd1 made it clear she thought I was too young and was really unprofessional from day 1 (I was 26 but pre baby I looked quite young)
Basically after she kept mishearing me and assuming things that she made big mistakes on I complained at 28 weeks to the Mw team mgr and started to see a different one at my not quite so local childrens centre. The ones there are brilliant and are used to taking extra time etc. I'm seeing the same one this time and I'm far happier, more than worth the extra travel (is this an option?)
Wishwales Morgan is beautiful- we have a very similar due date and it's amazing to see how big she is! Well done!
khlou I would be in the no camp too I'm afraid as you'll probably be glad of the rest/ not traveling.

Thanks Littlemiss, you've made me feel a lot lot better about the birthday thing - esp as you're a teacher and have children of your own children born around that time!

Klou, I can totally appreciate how hard it is to make that decision. I'm due 21 Aug and have been invited to a uni friend's wedding 3.5 hrs away on 24 sept- don't even know if they're inviting children. I think we'll be saying no either way but still not sure. Also have a girlfriend's hen in Oct but don't know what to do about it - can't think I'll want to leave the baby much at 1 month old! Has anyone else done this? Bad timing I think and it's miles away, so I can't just pop down the road. Don't think it'll make me very popular though.

Morgan's beautiful wishwales! Congrats again!

30 weeks today, 30 weeks today dum de dum de dum

Hi all.

wishing - she is teeny tiny, do they have any idea yet when you'll be able to have a squidge?

klou - tbh I wouldn't go to the wedding, I remember from having DS, my mum came down for 2 days at 2 weeks which was manageable as they stayed elsewhere, XMIL was at 2 weeks as well straight after for a week - and well to put it bluntly DP has been told we are to have NO house guests until at least a month old. thankfully new MIL is much more understanding. so even without the travel it's very tiring. don't expect too much of yourself in the first few weeks - normal birth or not.

also ref the feeding - I was always told if you plan to feed then don't get formula - we had the bottles etc, and XH would have run to tesco quickly for a tin of formula, you could always get a couple of those ready cartons if you wanted to, but I think if you want to feed then feed, and tbh, in hospital they should give you some formula if you're struggling, whilst your DP/H can go and get some more from the shop. I haven't brought any and don't intend to so fingers crossed the baby takes to my boobs. :o

we're waiting here clydie's wardrobe is rapidly growing though. mainly just need to get some nappies now. oh and i guess pack my bag.

ruby a v v old school friend's hen weekend's in october so bubs would be about 6 weeks if on time. have declined and explained but did say i'd go for the day if I was able. we'll go to the wedding in november as it's local, but didn't want to leave the baby for 2 or 3 full nights so young. besides don't think the milk supply would like it.

yukana if you feel like they are treating you rudely because of being young maybe should complain. not sure who you are supposed to complain to in these cases?? but it is out of order if they are being like that.
mrsV cant believe they would treat you like that at 26!!! lol, ridiculous
i've had some comments from midwifes, scanners etc about having mine quite young and close together, but not really in a rude way or anything like that, just as chitchat so i dont mind that