Nov 2011 - Feathering our nests and buying baby vests

[PamSco]

Taking liberties again as there are only 5 posts to go on old thread. Hope everyone is well this morning!

snoozle makes me laugh about people who get bitchy and angry at peoples posts on here! These are those who have nothing better to do in their lives! Surely! You can always stick with us, we'll be nice!

Ik is dh gonna be back in time for B-Day???

Hope those with bad back and sleeplessness are feeling a little better.

My hospital bag is not yet packed, though I did buy some maternity pads the other day! Small steps!!! lol

Had mw on sat, and though baby is not back to back, she is apparently side ways on, so been told to spend lots of time on my birth ball to get her moving! Had a different mw again, and she was utterly useless! She really hurt me when prodding around to feel baby, and my pg friend also had appointment with her and said the same thing.

DH was really mad about her as I asked her about a flu jab and if I should have one... she said...

"in 2008/09 1 pg lady in wales died of flu, in 2009/10 10 pg ladies died as a result of having the flu jab!" - attributing it to allergic reactions to the vaccine!

This really surprised us and DH asked if she had the leaflet so we could read it... eventually she went and got one out of her car... turns out no pg ladies died as a result of the jab! Talk about bad advise! Have been on the NHS website now, which recommends all pg ladies have the jab!

On a related note, I've had a cold since thursday, so having a sick/working from home day today!

afternoon ladies,

stace that sounds like scaremongering to me.

kelly i don't get how they can make something compulsory, your paying them to do a service, it's not work.

sorry for the lack of messages today i think my brain has melted from the heat. i'm in pain today though, did too much yesterday and my back really hurts now.

Hello all. Dont know if you remember me but I was here at the begining.. Have been awol as struggling with working, dd starting school, ds being poorly and studying..

I am pleased to say I am as of today on ML, DD has settled really well, ds still ill but dr is now taking it seriously and I have finished my diploma.

So can I come back?

I have under 5 weeks to go and baby is not only breach but also back to back and all mw can determine is limbs.. not good but still time yet...

also as per flu jab. I never had it with dd or ds and it was never offered, I think the issue now is actually swine flu which the jab incorporates. However after talking to my mw they dont recomend it at this time as there are very few cases of swine flu around. If these pick up then they will (as they did last year) offer it to all pregnant women but as the risks of swine flu are lower than the risks of giving the jab (which contains mercury I believe) then they dont offer it at this time!! hope that makes sence

Hi everyone,

So pleased to read good news from the girls - warms the cockles to think they are both doing so well.

Cali can't believe the tales from your house guest!

voodoo I hope you're feeling better now you have some proper pain relief.

Snoozle I am one of four girls and DH also has 3 sisters and I do worry about what on earth I'll do with a little boy (we don't know the sex but everyone thinks its a boy for some reason - including the waitress at the wedding I was at last weekend!) but I won't go onto any other boards to vocalise this! I do have 4 nephews so have had some practise with boys I suppose!

Stace no hospital bag here either but I also ordered some maternity pads yesterday with a big Boots order so maybe when they arrive I will start assembling things!

I finally started bashing the credit card and have ordered the Babyjogger city mini, bassinet and footmuff; cotbed from John Lewis and mattress from Boots and some other bits from JL like sleepsuits, bibs, cot sheets changing mat etc. I bought a little grobag swaddle thing which I love the look of, hope baby likes it so I can buy more of them. I still need blankets, a warm snowsuit sort of thing to dress them in outdoors and some things for me like maternity nightie, breastfeeding bra etc.

Please can I also ask advice on bottles and steriliser, I feel overwhelmed by choice. I do hope to breastfeed but think I should get some bottles in case I have problems and I will also want bottles eventually for expressing milk for DH to feed. Any advice on which brand to buy? And I would like an electric steriliser rather than microwave (as I don't have one!) but it looks as though most of them are brand specific, only fitting a particular brand of bottle so need to bear this in mind too. Any thoughts gratefully received as I spent hours online yesterday and gave up without buying anything!

Finally, had to also comment on the ridiculous size of my feet and ankles! I can not believe how hot it has been, I had to spend almost all weekend indoors with feet up (great excuse while DH was busy painting!). Should be feeling much cooler tomorrow in London thank heavens.

Phew. All typed out.

Oh and welcome back Bump. Jealous of the mat leave. I have all of October left in work!

snoozle that's the other thing I meant to say earlier. I had a meltdown crisis at the idea of having a boy - and he is a boy. I grew up with 2 sisters - a fair bit younger than me. I do have a bro but I have never lived with him as I'm 21 years older and was off to uni. All my cousins are female.

My rabbit was born a boy but seemed to turn into a girl, though I did have a boy cat - but he always smelled of perfume.

The idea of bringing up a boy put the fear big style into me. I don't blame or criticise anyone for worrying about anything least of all a concern that they won't know what the "right thing to do is". I've spoken quite openly with mum's at work and asked about their experience of boys v girls. Now I know the personality of the loved one will over ride any assumptions but I found talking about it helpwed calm me down and get perspective.

Yay bump enjoy your mat leave - I'm jealous too. My boss had a bitch that I sloped off early last wednesday 30 mins early - how very dare I! I said next time I'd just vomit on my workstation if that made me more committed in his eyes. 3 weeks to go.

I have a boy and a girl and can say that each have their fantastic points and challenging points. I am so lucky to have one of each and wouldn't change either of them for the world....

voodoo glad you have some better painkillers

cali Oh no! That is rather high

caz fantastic and 8 days to go!

kelly good that baby has turned, but chiro sounds a bit stressful!

Stace how scary that she doesn?t have the right facts

cep feel better soon!

Welcome back bumpsnow

In regards to flu jabs...there was a good thread on the Pregnancy board. The mercury is no longer in the jabs and the jab is highly recommended for all pregnant ladies, as well as those that have delivered within the past 6 weeks. The risk is not only death, but it?s about how seriously ill you can become and even fall into comas. Thread here

mash yay for shopping!

Hi all, had some sleep, induced by the codeine I think! Still in agony though. Can only take 4 tablets in 24 hours so I am limiting them. Therefore am not quite getting on top of the pain. I do keep getting some bump related discomfort which I think is probably feeling worse due to the pain of my back. Had a horrid moment where I thought she was turning around the wrong way again, just by the feelings I was getting. I said a little prayer! 35 weeks tomorrow, supposedly 3 weeks til mat leave but I can't see me making it to be honest. Especially not if the back stays the same.

Welcome back bump!

voodoo glad to hear you are getting some relief - hope it continues.

kelly great news that baby has turned! I haven't felt my baby turn ever but he was transverse at a scan at 30 weeks and turned sometime since then and 32 weeks. I still get flutterings by my pelvis (hands I assume) and bigger kicks up by my ribs. I'm not concerned if he's back to back. A natural labour should pretty much mean he assumes the best birth position during labour. I hope your IM turns out OK and all goes well.

I too was concerned about mercury in the flu jab but have been reassured that it no longer has any in it.
What swung it for me was that the baby is born with a couple of months of immunity too - the idea of a newborn catching flu just isn't worth thinking about, especially as there are predictions of a pretty bad season this year - Australia has had it bad apparently and that's always a good indictaion of the UK. As our babies are due just as the bad weather and flu normally hits...

The NHS website recommends that any pregnant lady gets it, whatever their stage of pregnancy. I also remember the horrific story of a couple of ladies last year who died from swine flu after being admitted to hospital and their babies were born by c-section post-mortem but sadly didn't survive.

Cali unless there is protein in your urine or other signs of pre eclampsia, blood pressure alone is not a huge concern and could be stress. If they are still bothered and you feel you are fine, ask for a 24 hour monitor to take home with you (as per NICE guidelines). And btw, I'd tell your housemate to leave! You really don't need the stress. If that's not possible, get your DP/DH to deal with it - he is your support person/gatekeeper.

Don't forget ladies that it is perfectly normal to see an increase in blood pressure as your body gears up for labour. That by itself is pretty normal (unless it is stupid readings, like through the roof). It's when it is accompanied by protein, unusual swelling, flashing lights, headaches and generally feeling unwell that it can be trouble.

My IM had pre-eclampsia with one of her pg and she said it wasn't just about the individual symptoms, she just felt dreadful and knew something was wrong.

hi all!
feeling slightly rubbish at mo.....have had slight tender bruised feeling above belly button last couple of days but nothing that i was particularly worried about really, then leant over drivers seat in car this morn to get my bag off passenger seat and felt like i pulled a muscle right up stomach (like someone pulling apart inside!). now got a sore, burning kinda pain running in a line up from belly button. have tried massage and resting and its def better when not moving around but its a bit niggly. its not horrendous pain or anything but not great....anyone else had experience of this? i googled (i know i know! major mistake!) and sounds like could be abdominal muscles separating but this isnt often associated with any pain so to speak, so not sure. baby all moving as normal, and this doesnt seem to make it worse even when hard kicks to that area, it feels more like the outer skin being pulled? off home to see if a warm bath helps! will try and catch up on last few pages when i get a comfy position at home!

Just and Alicat your experience with your sons sounds a bit like mine with my daughter - I went all out to avoid the gender stereotyping, but really it was pointless because she is a girly girl through and through. She won't wear jeans, as they 'aren't pretty', she loves sparkly things and butterflies, and she enjoys playing hairdressers. But, since she was 3 years old, she has been telling me she wants to be an airline pilot when she grows up, so thankfully we seem to have done ok demolishing gender linked career stereotypes! That is probably why it stung me so much to have people attacking me and accusing me of gender stereotyping, because I really don't think I do. I should revive the thread and say 'but I only wnt a girl, coz my little princess has so many tiaras and tutus, innit, and I wnt 2 hand them down 2 tha nu baby' that would really open the floodgates......But I think its her girlyness that got me thinking about the possibility of having a very boy-ish boy, and how I would deal with that. I mean, you can say what you want about stereotyping, but little boys play with their willies a lot, and you don't tend to get little girls doing that! So there is one difference right from the start.....

Voodoo glad you are getting some relief from the painkillers, even getting a bit of sleep will help you I'm sure.

Stace are you getting up at 6am then for the big match at the weekend? (I thought I remembered you saying in a previous post that you're a rugby fan, hope I've got the right person). Think I'll probably have to get up myself, as DH will no doubt be roaring at the TV so loudly that we'll all be awake anyway. Got to do my bit to cheer on the men in green......Oh, and what on earth was your midwife doing, talking out of her arse about the flu jab like that? Sure it has been on the news recently about how keen they are for pregnant women to have the flu jab because we fall into a high risk category - I must have seen that reported on the BBC alone at least three times last week!

Mrs I've had protein-urea every single time I've been for check-ups, my feet and hands are swollen (although that may as well have been heat this weekend), and I'm glad she sent me to the hospital for monitoring - pre-eclampsia is not one of the things I've got the mental stamina to self-monitor. The biggest reason my MW was worried was that I'm normally around 115/75, so that sudden hike warranted investigation.

All is OK now though - my BP is back down to a good level, and they've booked me in for regular checks up until induction. I'm on bed rest now until then - but I'll probably make it sofa rest, so I don't go starkers!

Kate No idea, but it sounds painful :(

Hello Team November!

Welcome back Bump!

Cali, your houseguest sounds a nightmare and you don't have the money to give her do you?! Make her earn it, hasn't she got something she can sell on ebay?

We have another houseguest but he's lovely, today he's varnished the floor upstairs, and now he and DP are working on the kitchen innards. We haven't had a kitchen for weeks and yesterday I actually got to cook us all ready meals in the oven - tres exciting. Still tons to do but I feel quite chilled out about it at the moment. It's nice seeing things improve. We pulled the carpet up upstairs, then realised we couldn't afford the one we wanted to replace it with fancy carpet + special underlay + fitting = mega money. So it's been sanded & varnished by us instead for a fraction of the price now! Now we have to move everything upstairs in order to paint and fit the new floor downstairs and still lots of fiddly kitchen bits to do. Still 2 weeks of work left for me then I'm on 2 weeks of pottering here till giblet is due :)

Went to first NCT class on Sunday, it was the breastfeeding one which was quite a giggly class to meet other people at. They were a nice group, tho I can't imagine being best buddies with them yet, we've got the next session on Saturday to bond a bit more! DP was hungover and had to leave to throw up then go and lie in the car for the last part which was quite funny. Will have to make sure he doesn't do that again this weekend :)

My lady friends threw a baby shower this weekend which was fantastic, so nice to spend the afternoon with just girls. I'd asked them to take it easy on presents as noones rich and I don't want to put them off doing it again for the next person, anyway, they arranged to all buy different books so we have a whole baby library now which is just lovely and I can tell the Auntie SoandSo got you this :) There was also lots of lovely food, and funny games, my face was merged with secret crushes - Nicolas CAge, Jason Statham, Jo Swash and then some internet program converted it to a baby face for each and I had to guess which baby was mine and DPs. V funny.

Anyway, I'm rambling, if you've read this far well done! Baby update - it's head down bum at the top of my bump, feet embedded in ribs. Acid indigestion is my main complaint, if I veer anything past vertical I get the burn.. Drop baby! I'm looking forward to the waddle and the weak bladder instead!

Hope your weeks go well, not long now :)

I wish I could tell what this baby is doing! Have a sore bump now as well as the bad back. Have only had one codeine but have just had tea so think I might attempt another. Have got some Ben and jerrys AND some haagen daaz in the freezer so no matter what I should be ok! OH keeps looking at me like he's expecting a baby to drop out any second....

bump welcome back.

smiling that sounds lovely, am glad you had a lovely time.

voodoo hope the codeine works, and/or the baby engages soon and lightens the pain.

mashpot glad i'm not the only one topping up the credit card for all the baby spending!!!

Merlion thanks for the flu jab thread, have booked mine now, though have to wait untill 19th for it!

kate I've had a similar sort of pain for a couple of weeks now, at the top of my bump, feels sore and tender like a burnign stretching. I expect to see a rash or something when I look down, but of course there's nothing there. mw said it's just belly stretching! Then they never seem that bothered by any pain or anything I have!

snoozle this mw was just absolutely dim! No other words for her! Yes it is me who's the big rugby fan... to be honest we watch everysport going in our house from motor racing to darts! Tricky this weekend though, because I'm having a girls weekend away in a cottage in the cotswolds for a friends birthday. (Friends all really fretting that waters will break at some point in the weekend!) But not sure if they are all as big rugby fans as me! (Must point out I am English though, despite living in Wales and having a Welsh hubby!)

Laughing voodoo at your OH expecting baby to drop! Everytime I make a slight noise or in take of breath as I get thumped in the you know where my dh gets a look of panic across his face and says "you stay put baby... you're not ready yet!!"

Cold is starting to feel a little better this evening, had a lovely mid afternoon nap and watched Singin in the rain in bed at 3pm!! Will go back into the office tomorrow though! :(

Oh and hello again bump [waves]

catching up properly, now im wedged on sofa with cushion under bump having eaten far too much pasta!
snoozle how awful when you just wanted some reassurance about a personal worry to get a load of judgmental people commenting. theres having an opinion and putting it across in a sensitive way and then theres those who dont give a monkeys and are just spiteful!
voodoo sorry youve had a bad time of it! crack out the icecream....youve earnt it!
stace i had the flu jab on sat, and other than a slightly bruised arm have had no ill effects (in the short term) from it.....mw and drs surgery were all for it in any stage of pregnancy and i did a bit of reading up too and decided to go ahead. at the end of the day its your choice but the whole 'someone died' story....jeez what a thing to say....hardly leaves you to make your own decision does it!!!
waves to bump...welcome back!
cali your houseguest sounds like a mare.....i think youve been very patient!
mash...im also hoping to breastfeed but have got some bottles anyway. went for the dr browns ones as had quite a few people recommend, theyre the ones that reduce colic etc as theres some kind of vacuum in them or something?! (www.drbrowns.co.uk/index.php)
pam next time you should vomit on his shoes and see if he comments then

hello all
I am in renovating hell at the moment - the bedrooms are being painted and all the furniture is everywhere. Me and DH slept in the double bed in DD rooms with her on a little mattress on the floor - all windows and door wide open and her night light on - total nightmare for me and we have got used to our big bed and kept elbowing each other in the head.

And the same again tonight...But tomorrow everything will be done and we can put stuff back and restore harmony again....
Admire your chilled attitude smiling - with long work days (last few!!!) - I just want to be comfy at home but not quite there yet. By the way, I think the varnished floors sound lovely. I am so used to wooden floors now that I find carpet a bit weird. But I do like big soft massive rugs to soften the whole thing up.

kate don't know much about it but does sound like abdominal muscle separation - my chiropractor mentioned that last time. I heard it was pretty painful actually!

cali - hope you can manage the bp and relax.

voodoo - I don't know what this baby is doing either. I think I may have had feet up high today but how do you really know? My bump is so tight now, its painful to really feel around.

oh smiling - I also had a puking hungover DH this weekend. My friends 40th which was great and I survived until 12 in my heels then came home. He was out until 5 and we had so much stuff to do on sunday, moving furniture and meeting people for brunch but he was wrecked and really crap. I could have been more cross but I have been there myself :( just not for a long time.

mash I've used the tommee tippee bottles and got on well with them. I've used both the tommee tippee electric steriliser and mothercare own brand electric steriliser and bits fitted ok but designs change all the time so you do need to try your bottles in whichever one you choose.

PS if you do decide to use a bottle alongside breastfeeding my tip would be use it every day - had a nightmare with DD where she had bottle of expressed breast milk every night from 2-13 weeks then I missed a few nights when DH was ill and that was that - I stopped bf at 12 months and had to spoon feed her milk for next couple of months til we managed to get her to drink it through a straw!

My word. i read each post, think there is somethign I want to say, and by the time I get to the end, I have forgotten everything. Baby brain not helping. Today I nearly reversed into someone instead of driving forwards in a car park. To be honest, I think its more insomnia and stress brain than "baby" brain per se! Oh my, for some decent sleep.
Had a bit of a scarey evening of slightly more serious feeling braxton hicks. Got myself a bit nervous about it so have left DP to do ALL the chores tonight (not that thats that rare to be honest). Poor man has put DS to bed, done teh washing up, put the bins out, swept the drive and still hasnt sat down. Again. Not that unusual. tired out. Me, not him. Though I imagine hime as well.
Voodoo, sorry about the pain. You're just going to have to give up on trying to do stuff like work though, and stop stressing about it. I hope it improves.
Bottles - I cant advise because after the first few days where the midwives rode rough shod over me and we couldnt get DS breastfeeding, he then never took a bottle. And we tried lots of brands. Went straight from breast feeding to sippy cup, which he was already used to taking water from. But I have to say, I have never used a microwave so much in my life as since DS was born. Or a tumble drier.
God, there was so much else for commenting on. All gone.

Just that is exactly like me, I know I had thoughts on lots of posts above, now I can't remember what they were. Must have been vitally important, and enlightening. Unfortunately I can't blame baby brain. Although I can blame sleep deprivation, given I'm up expressing for an hour at 1 and then again at 4.
Hospital bags Come on now girls get packing, I'm so excited about the forthcoming deluge of births! Can't wait to read all about it. Those bubs are just about done I reckon! Caz my lovely good luck for meeting Xander. So close now!!! Just over a week? Wonderful.
Bottles Nope never got DS to take one, after all this expressing, if Willow manages to BF I vow to never even attempt to get her to take one this time. Anything that means I can trash our steriliser sooner rather than later.
Chip How is the feeding going? Are you doing top ups? Or is the expressing to maintain your supply. We've got all that ahead of us - starting at one hourly bolus feeds from Thursday and working from there. Chip how are the first few days at home? I'm guessing it must be nerve wracking, and odd, and wonderful too? I confess I'll really miss the mws and camaraderie of the other mums. I think I've become institutionalised.
Today was Willow's first jab - because of her small size and lung/heart issues she's getting the RSV one all through the winter. It needs to be given each month over flu season and costs £200 a shot - which I'm guessing is why I'd never heard of it before as it's rationed on the NHS. She was v brave - I wasn't. I'm just hoping she isn't feeling too awful because of it. They're also trying to lower her high flow oxygen from 4litres to 3 today. She was more beepy because of it but is as plucky as ever so I'm hoping it goes okay. I spent a lovely afternoon of cuddles to help cheer her up after the jab and kissing and sniffing her head. Love her more and more and more.