December 2011- over halfway there!

[sevendwarves]

Welcome to the new thread ladies!

seven A weak sucking reflex could mean you would need to nurse, then express as baby wouldn't be nursing effectively and the milk needs to be removed in order for you to make more. However, it is possible to get past a weak sucking reflex, general advice is lots of skin to skin, attempting to nurse every time baby is hungry and not introducing bottles while establishing bfing.

There is no reason why you would have the same issues again though, DD1 had a weak sucking reflex, DD2 was born rooting and I felt totally confident about breastfeeding by day 7 with her.

Thanks msbuggy, it just depends whether she's early like DS was or not, I'll just have to wait and see!

oimissus I very rarely go to bed before midnight despite being asleep on the sofa from 10pm

Morning all :) I had a good productive weekend.

I've been nagging asking DP to go through his half of the wardrobe for a clear out for months now without luck but he was off work on Saturday (& nursing a hangover) so I plonked all his clothes in front of him & he went through them while watching telly. He now has a bin bag full for the charity shop, 1 for the dump & I've acquired a couple of over-sized jumpers to see me through the winter :o

Sunday the hypnobirthing lady came over which was very interesting & DP seemed to enjoy it...well he says it was ok; I think he wishes it were a lot cheaper. For anyone interested in trying it (apparently I'm going to have a pain-free birth ) I think I could've done it with the book & cd alone to be honest but there's no way I could have held DP's attention for long enough to do that as you'd have to be really good & put aside times for lessons for it to really work.

kate the pic of your DD looking for her bump made me go awww she is adorable!

By the way Achica are having a Gro company sale...selling 1.0 tog Gro bags, Swaddles & Gro Eggs for anyone who's interested.

Morning honey - do you have a particular book and CD on hypnobirthing, as I'm interested in finding out more?
DH is always complaining about there being nothing on TV, so this could be the solution.

(Am going to go wild on Achica when we get our new house! I keep seeing all these fabulous things, but my hands are tied until we have rooms to dress and colour schemes to work to. I've started to list some of the brands I like. It's a very dangerous site!)

Morning Missus because I'm doing HypnoBirthing - Mongan Method it's the official HypnoBirthing book by Marie Mongan & the Rainbow Relaxation CD that comes with the course...it's a half hour of affirmations & a half our of guided relaxation. It's not supposed to standalone without the course but I think it would be possible; it's very American though.

I've heard good things about Natal Hypnotherapy which is UK based & is supposed to standalone as book & CD. She did say that it's important to watch real hypnobirths (there are lots on youtube) to re-educate your subconcious & not to watch dramatic screaming births on tv, whether it be OBEM or Corrie, so I'd add that to it to. And it won't work if you just read through the book once & hope for the best; you'll have to work at it.

Sounds v interesting. I have heard that hypnobirthing keeps you relaxed (even if not pain free) and am quite interested in anything that can make the process less scary.

On other news.... my previous landlord has come up with £600 worth of deductions that he wants to make from my deposit. And some are ridiculous... £10.00 for a tumbler. WTF??? Does he think the tumblers were crystal? I am so irritated I can't believe what a money making scheme this is!

Morning! Well, just, but hey...

Today I shall be mostly laundering uniforms, marker penning names in them and then taking the kids to get shorn.

Oh yes, school is back tomorrow

I am not the only one happy dancing, by the way, the kids have been jigging about for a couple of days now. They are more than ready to get back to their friends and routines. I am more than ready to get some peace while I can

Anyone else got kids going back this week? msB has the museum emptied so that you and the other home-ed'ers can take over? I think this time of year is great regardless of how you educate, as it means that stuff is back in the groove. I like my groove, it has pit stops in it that provide coffee and relaxation time:)

Hello everyone - what tog of gro bag would be best for our little December wonders, anyone know?

thanks honey I'll look into both of them.
jomouse mamasandpapas winter grobags are 2.5togs, and summer ones are 1.0tog. I have no experience, but layers are good, so maybe a 1.0 gro bag will be fine in winter with a little duvet/blanket(s) - add and remove layers until the temp feels right... (but how do you know?!)

oiMissus did you end up going to the Baby Show? How was it? Is it worth me saving all my shopping for the London one?

jomouse 2.5 are the winter ones, but I also have a couple of 1 togs, as our room is very warm at 24 degrees... if it gets colder I plan on putting a blanket over the top of the lighter ones??

Question on swaddling.... I have some swaddle blankets... will these be warm enough in December, or would I need to put a blanket over the top too??

Lala the one in Manchester was tiny n a bit poop... but I'd imagine the London one will be better??

jomouse you'll want 2.5 tog grobags for December, I think they're the equivalent of a sheet and 2 blankets. It's really handy to have a couple of blankets as well though.

oimissus they recommend not using duvets until they're a year old.

Haven't gone through threads yet but I am back! Had a great week!

Yep, agree with Kristy. The mcr show was a bit small. There wasn't the opportunity to see everything under one roof to compare everything as hoped. For example, there were only 2 cloth nappy suppliers. There were some benefits, but I'm glad my tickets were free. I'd have been very disappointed if I'd paid.
To get free tickets, I'd look at the exhibitor list for the London show and look at their websites - some of them may be offering free tickets.

have just looked up the natal hypnotherapy CD (I think something overly american may wind me up rather than relax... I bet the natal one is American too... didn't check that!) Anyway, the reviews were excellent. So I ordered the birth CD and accompanying CD of music, and threw in a birthing ball for good measure. Am looking forward to receiving the ball, I'm finding my sofa more and more uncomfortable and need something more upright so this should help. I could have bought a book telling me how to use the ball, but I expect it will have a brief guide included, and anything else I can probably find online.

I used the Natal Hypno CDs, the voice is American but not a very strong accent. I'm using my ball for somewhere to sit when the DDs are in the bath or playing out at the front!

Kri5ty given the london one is end october - I guess I am less inclined to wait for it now that the machester one was a bit blah

Realisation: If I give birth in 11 weeks it will be considered full term. 11 weeks. That's practically tomorrow. Maybe I should just bite the bullet now and order the pram...

I'll go to the London show if I get free tickets, and I'm not feeling massively crap (during the Mancs one I got knee cramp?!? and felt like poo..which made it seem more poo than it was, although it was rather poo anyhoo).

Best thing about the show was it made me feel pregnant finally, like OiMissus, I'm a bit about how quickly it's creeped up!

We were looking at baby record books today, some are a bit blah (and Yank-afied, all the pages about baby showers etc) but we've found one we both like, can anyone recommend one?

Kiddiecare have a sale on, so our car seat is down from £159, to £89...all the way to £74. Woohoo!

OiMissus Good idea buying the ball...the the first thing she asked on Sunday was if I had one. Apparently they're the best for giving plenty of space in your pelvis to avoid breech presentation which sounds good to me! I went to get the tesco one on Saturday & it turns out it is antiburst, so no clue why they say it's not suitable during pregnancy but it's apparently (according to the side of the box) too small at 65cm for anyone over 5'6" so I'm ordering a 75cm online instead.

11 weeks!!! There is no way I can have everything ready in 11 weeks...eek!

11 weeks???? No no no you must be mistaken, sticks head firmly back in the sand.

In that time I need to sort out Christmas, everything necessary for bump, finish my mahoosive (work) project.....plus a million other things

Sorry to hear from all the baby show people that it wasn't worth it!

Urrgh I am at home again today - after not being able to walk terribly well on Friday thanks to my hips being rubbish and working from home as a result. Took it easy on all your advice for fear of SPD.

Attempted to go into work this morning - hips still hurting but could walk slowly (and was planning to take a taxi from waterloo to the city - I usually walk) but then a woman got on at twickenham and sat down next to me - cup of coffee, eating a chicken & mushroom slice, and shrouded in that sour smell you get if you leave your wet washing in the machine too long. Someone else standing up had really strong perfume on and my head started spinning and all of a sudden I just knew - I was going to be sick, or pass out, or both. I leant back and breathed through my mouth but only made it to clapham junction - when the doors opened I leapt to my feet, bolted off the train and was nearly sick on the platform Never in my life have I been so thankful for the indifference of London commuters - no one gave me a second glance so I sat in the fresh air for half an hour, called in sick and took the next train straight home again. Fell into bed and slept for 4 hours - after a full night's sleep last night!

I have had NO morning sickness all the way through and full of energy up to this point so I don't know what's wrong with me - guess it might be the "slump" someone else was talking about on the pg board but I'm worried that at 28 weeks, work will either think I'm taking the piss or ask me to take mat leave early...

So, another wasted day, wasted weekend (just slept the whole weekend basically) and friday and monday at home - not impressed with myself at all.

At least the baby is doing cossack kicks in my belly so hopefully that means nothing wrong in that department...