December 2011 - Bring on the 2nd trimester

[jomouse]

Lets get with the glow :)

Oimissus I got some good advice on cloth nappies from aethelfleda on this thread & read up on them online; on dedicated nappy sites & also on cloth nappy threads on here.

I found it quite overwhelming to start with but once you dive in it's pretty addictive & some of them are super cute. I bought a selection (motherease, little lambs, fluffles...supercute but will give a HUGE bottom & some prefolds) as it seems a lot can depend on the size & shape of your LO. Definitely worth checking ebay for deals as lots of people buy them but don't use them.

kri5ty Who's stopping you from having a homebirth? I let DP have an opinion but only because he knew it was my body, my choice & as he always says no one does more research than me before forming an opinion so I knew he'd come around to my way of thinking

Bluebell your home from home unit sounds lush! Why can't all areas have such good facilities?

That homebirth site is brilliant. I'm pretty much convinced now.
When I started reading, it seemed like everyone was using hypnotherapy techniques as well - which sound nice - but it's not really me - I'm far too practical and organised and controlling and... but, then I read more "normal" experiences. Everyone says that from the moment they got in the pool, the pain decreased by half - it can't be a bad thing!! Ah we'll see.
I'll check ebay for nappy samples - and I think there's a nappy woman nearby, so I'll contact her nearer the time and see what she has to say.

hiya everyone - great fun to read what everyone has been up to, and all the good scan news!
Do we have a mainly boys or mainly girls thread, or are we about equal do we think?

I have been emptying DP's paypal account on ebay got some great bargains, my best being a Mamas and Papas Pliko Pramette for £36.00!!! It has hardly been used, you would not know it was second hand, not a mark on it (and I think they are around the £300 mark new!)
I know not everyones cup of tea, but I love car boot sales and have picked a few bits up there too, including £130 worth of moses basket and stand for £20 and a fisher price kick and play bouncer for £10! Not to mention the bag full of sleep suits from next, mothercare and debenhams for £4.50!
I love a good bargain!
I learnt my lesson with DD last time around, I spent a fortune on stuff that was hardly used/wore. I figure if it can go in the wash / be dettol'ed then its fine.
oooh its so exciting!

WRT birth plans, I dont really have one, just go with the flow and see what happens. I would prefer no pain relief other than gas and air (all I had with DD) as I think you recover a bit faster (and the thought of a catheter terrifies me) but if I feel I need some, I wont be saying no!
Oh, but I would like midwife to pop baby straight onto my chest for skin to skin and a feed (again if possiable, fingers crossed)

Sorry for the long post, just getting excited now!

Can't remember which book I read it in but I've heard of water being described as "natures epidural" which sounds far too good to be true . Each to their own I say but it's exactly because I am OCD practical, organised & controlling that I want to go down the hypnobirthing route. The fact that "normal" women have homebirths too was more convincing for DP though so maybe that's the way to approach it with your DH.

itsy i like the idea of direct contact straight away and a feed. Sounds so harmonious!
I am getting very excited now. Just been reading all about homebirths, reading everyone's posts, getting everyone's happy scan stories, hearing about shopping (very exciting indeed)... and my babycentre "22 weeks pregnant" email has just arrived. Hurrah!

honey sorry - I wasn't meaning to sound like such an ignorant pleb with the "normal" reference. I'm going to look into hypnobirthing because it sounds like the mum is more in control, - it's just a new idea to me, and something I know nothing about.

OiMissus - I was lucky that this happened when i had my daughter, and it was so so lovely and calming. When the cord was cut, we just snuggled up on the bed and she suckled away for about an hour before all the weighing and stuff was done and I had a nice shower. Really hoping to repeat the experience :)

OiMissus don't be sorry...I think most people would think about it the same way. The whole hypnobirthing thing sounded pretty far-fetched to me when I first heard of it. But I'm super-controlling so the idea of being in control of my own pain relief sounded brilliant to me. And when I watched some real hypnobirths on youtube I was converted, DP too...he can't stand it when I cry so the calmer the birth the better!

Just joined Emma's diary - you get a free pack ( :) ) and there's lots of competitions.
Will look into hypnobirthing over the weekend. there's a lot to think about, isn't there? But I'm suire the more informed we are, the better choices we make, and maybe, hopefully, the easier the birth/nicer the birth experience. :)

Back from our scan...we're having another healthy baby girl! I am so very happy, I love raising girls. She'll be called Miranda (and has already been shortened to 'Baby Mi' by DD1!). The sonographer asked DP if he has a shed!

Birth plans...well, I don't write a detailed on, but as I do have a few 'alternative' requirements I laminate a sheet of my most important bullet points and refuse to let anyone near me until they've read it. This will be home birth number 2 for us (DD1 was a transfer in). I'll be hypnobirthing again, (painless birth with DD2!) we'll be having a pool - pools are incredible, we'll be lotus birthing again and I'm not to be touched by midwives except in an emergency. The last one is weird I know, but I have PTSD from DD1's birth and have flashbacks and panic attacks if midwives touch me.

Going to make DP a cuppa now, he's supervising a HUGE gang of children playing at the front of the house!

Forgot to say - I thought hypnobirthing was a load of rubbish, but a friend loaned me the CDs so I tried it. Painless birth, laughing and kissing DP all the way through.

I am a control freak. And when stressed/tired I get grouchy and DH has to steer clear. It terrifies me that during the birth I'll go into sensitive mode and he'll feel pushed out. Will have to look into hypnobirthing if it means I'll be snogging his face off kissing him all the way through - that's a much better scenario!

whoops p.s. msbuggy forgot to say, Congratulations! How very rude of me. That's fab news. Miranda is lovely.

Congrats ms buggy on Baby Mi! Your DD2's birth sounds amazing. Did you just use the hypnobirthing cds then? We're planning on doing the course but it's quite expensive.

at your laminated bullet points - I was planning on doing that!

And, I don't think it sounds weird not want midwives to touch you; they're basically strangers...lovely though the ones I've met are...I'm not a touchy-feely sort. I'm not even comfortable hugging anyone but DP & my very best friends. Haven't broached the subject of internal exams with my midwives yet; I figure a firm no thank you will suffice when the time comes

Woohoo msbuggy - how exciting!
I'm also in the hypnobirthing camp. Hoping to stay at home until reasonably dilated with all the comforts of home, so HB seemed like good option - people also say time flies when you're in that relaxed state and I'm so impatient that I don't know if I'd do very well for 12 hours with nothing much happening.
Once I'm at the hospital I think it will be a different matter and I will be asking for epi asap...
I would rather be in control and calm - although I don't know how realistic thats going to be - rather than a total stresshead. I have never experienced severe pain (never been to hospital, had broken bones or food poisoning or anything) so I just don't know how I'm going to cope with it.
Its going to be "interesting" for sure, I'm actually looking forward to testing out the limits of my body - that probably sounds hopelessly naive!

Congratulations msbuggy, baby Miranda sounds lovely.

I've still got no idea about girls names, I'm not sure whether I should be trying harder or just to wait until after the scan in case it's a James instead.

msbuggy congratulations!!

Has anyone else lost their appetite recently?
I've always been a sporadic eater; first trimester I was craving everything and eating 2000cals a day really easily but now I'm struggling to remember that breakfast & lunch exist.
I've fallen back into bad habits (which I wanted to break when PFB arrived, as I don't want to be a BAD EXAMPLE) and I don't know what else I can do to eat more (DH makes me keep a food diary, so he can 'force' me to have another meal if he doesn't think I'm eating enough, MW isn't too concerned about it as I'm still gaining weight)..should I be worried about it?

MIL has snaffeled us a 2nd-hand cot & moses basket & she said she'd buy the mattresses (yay! money saving relatives), she's also knitting a really nice pram blanket atm.

Congratulations msbuggy!

I had a very detailed birthplan with DS1 - which stayed in the hospital bag as his delivery was pretty quick! Didn't bother with DS2. We are planning a homebirth this time around with our lovely lovely midwife, who will also come in to the hospital if we choose (domino care I think its called). But I delivered both times at Raigmore in Inverness before, and had fantastic experiences, so I have no problem with midwives touching me.

I did Hypnobirthing with DS1, but tbh it all went out the window as I didn't really get contractions - just a wave of pain that built and built and 3 hours later there he was! With DS2 I did have contractions and found my mantra of 'one less to go.. one less to go' really helped - I felt calm and in control the whole time. Well - apart from when DH tried to take the gas and air away as he thought I was having too much and I growled at him causing much hilarity!

We have all the boys stuff still, so won't be buying anything apart from 'treat' new clothes. As not a lot of our contempories are having 3rds, we are on the receiving end of all their cast-offs which is fabulous! I got a jane pram for free! Wow! (Will take my friend out for a lovely lunch methinks)

Hope all you ladies have a lovely day.

We're planning to go through the baby clothes this morning! We probably will need to buy a few bits as the DDs are spring and summer babies.

jo I love your attitude to labour, it really is an amazing adventure. I'd say that losing control is actually pretty important, labour needs to be out of your head and in your body imo, but you can lose control in a calm way! I've found that any thinking can get in the way of the actual doing. Ina May Gaskin talks about 'letting your monkey do it', which sums it up for me. I think the best thing about hypnobirthing is that (for me) it got my concious mind out of the way to a calm and happy place to let my body get on with giving birth!

I dont think I did hypnobirthing with DD but I td myself it's going to hurt, baby's coming out one way and each contraction is a step closer to having my bundle of joy. Birthplan was take it as it cones calmly and without pain relief - had gas and air after 8hrs without she was born 2hrs later. Hope to do the same this time as my experience was wonderful last time.

When should I start washing baby clothes?

Have fun going through the clothes msbuggy, I've been going through ours slowly for the last week and finished yesterday. We're going shopping the day after the scan so i wanted to be organised. It turns out we have so many plain White sleepsuits we don't need any newborn clothes even for a girl. I think we'll probably replace some anyway though as we didn't have much money when we had DS so a lot of it was supermarket stuff, it'll be nice to replace some with mothercare and John Lewis.

darcies I reckon it'll be about another month before we have the nursery all set up with the furniture built. I'll probably start washing things as soon as I can put them in drawers in the nursery ready.

Meant to say I ordered some maternity tops from new look last night, they have some really cheap in the sale.

seven dye them!

We finished going through, we were very sensible when putting them away from DD2 and charity shopped everything that was tatty or we didn't like so we have almost enough ad it is everything we really like! Just need to buy some more newborn tops and hope like mad that this one is (finally!) a normal weight newborn rather than tiny so I don't have to grab prem sized stuff again!

Congrats on baby Mi mrsbuggy :)
honey I am high risk, so as much as I would love a home birth I couldn't... I need to be in a hospital... early epidural has already been decided by my consultant and the possibility of a cs, I was expecting that decision, so I have come to face not being able to have a homebirth... now I'm trying to convince my friend to have one lol

kri5ty sorry to here that :( I really feel for you...I'm staying positive & trying to ignore my currently low-lying placenta it will move up because the possibility of an epi & cs scares the heck out of me