We will brook no argument for a boring, uneventful, blooming pregnancy; followed by a perfectly-timed pain-free sneeze birth; vol 5

[ScreamIfYouWantToMeetSanta]

Hi No Brookers! I do hope this has worked and is in the right place...

I've added a few extra sofas so we have plenty of space for all the Rat Smackers who will be joining us soon. There's also a nice long table filled with mince pies, yule logs, gingerbread snowmen and xmas puds! Plus some non-alcoholic mulled wine. I've strategically positioned a few clean glittery vom buckets under the table, just in case it's still a bit too early for xmas munchies for some people!

As you were...

yup 4 weeks I think. Poss 5. 20 weeks scan on valentaines day (aaahhh!).
Happy snoozes to you and your dd, hope she stays asleep for you.

Hope everyone had a good night's sleep, especially Dream's dd and everyone else in the house. And at Hawthers' Towers.

What a shame your mw didn't do the heartbeat Ninja. It seems to just vary from area to area, or even mw to mw. At my 16 week appt a trainee mw found the heartbeat (after a very long time!) and that's even with the anterior placenta, which must make it harder? But then I guess given the trouble she had, maybe they don't like to worry you if they can't find it?

Hope everyone has a nice weekend planned

morning biscuits how was your ds last night? Was he dry again?
I think it really does vary, and prob from mw to mw as well as area to area. But my squirming windy feeling has been back in the evenings so I'm thinking it is the baby. It was weird when it disappeared though, I guess maybe the baby turned around and faced in a different direction maybe? It felt like it went completely! But it was definite and prolonged last night so I'm fairly sure now [wildly happy emoticon]
Looks like dp will be out at work/ seeing a friend/ at a badminton tournament this weekend and then he's away Monday and Tuesday for work. Not really sure what to do with ds? Looks very cold outside!

Pomme, such a lovely bump! :) Also like the angle of the photo!

Ninja, that's rubbish about not hearing the heartbeat. I wonder if it depends a lot on both policy in a certain area, and about the equipment the midwife has available? Like Biscuits, I was lucky in that she listened to the heartbeat (though I was nearer 18 weeks at that point, due to when my appointment fell), and that she managed to hear it despite the anterior placenta - and could also hear lots of movements as it escaped from the doppler.

Thanks for the thoughts on sizes scarlet, Biscuits and Dream. Will definitely keep an eye out for the weights, and will get maybe a few newborn and quite a bit 0-3 months to begin with, and then presuming the LO fits into newborn, get more of those soon after their arrival! :) The scan measurements show it has slightly shorter than average legs (very much like me), but I suppose they might even out. I'm hoping the LO will be quite small, as I am.. but I don't want to jinx it by buying tonnes of newborn bits before the day!

Hope everyone has lovely weekends planned? After being awoken by two 'starving' cats, I'm off to do the ironing...

Ooo, new thread needed soon!

Yep - dry again last night Ninja . I know there will be accidents but lets hope they are few and far between!

And I know what you mean about what to do for the weekend Ninja - DH is having this morning off but then working this afternoon and tomorrow so I also am thinking of ways to entertain DS in the freezing cold!

oooh - hospital bag additions I'd forgotten - as mentioned by Pomme - nursing bras possibly - although sometimes difficult to get right size until after milk has come in etc but I'll be taking my ones from last time in case they fit. I didn't have any until i left hospital last time.

And a dressing gown - I bought a cheap thin one from Primark in a large size that just went round me while pg so was decent when no longer pg.

musical - according to scans my one has small legs too! DD1 is pretty much all legs and was from the first growth scan so it's a bit of a change.

I just added towel, chocolates and cotton wool to my labour bag. Seems to already be hard to shut - oops!

I have ordered a storksak Olivia (double the budget I set myself and will need some quick obeying to counteract it!) which I will be taking in too I think. Or would I be better using my old changing bag?? Can't decide...

Plans for this weekend include painting nursery, getting cot up, working out double buggy and introducing dd1 to her rabbit awake/asleep clock! All starting to get a bit real over here...

Hope dream got some sleep last night and yay for biscuits ds again!

obeying = ebay - ing!

Looking forward to hearing how your dd gets on with the awake / asleep clock Pomme. I'm thinking of introducing something similar for my dd when we put her in her bed. I think our girls are a similar age - mine is 2.3 yrs

Yay for Biscuits' DS staying dry again last night!

V jealous of Pomme's perfectly proportioned neat and tidy bump!

Boo to no heartbeat at Ninja's mw appt. Glad you're having more movement again now though :)

I know I'm a little late with this, but I've finally been compiling a hospital list based on all your really helpful posts below (trying to get it done before we leave this thread!). As a clueless newbie may I please ask a few dumb questions?

• Please explain nappy sizes to me! Do they start at 0? Or 'newborn'? Or 1? What do numbers like 1/2/3 correlate to? A particular size (like a 12 for an adult) or does it indicate weeks/months old?

• Do I have to wash everything that might touch the baby's skin before packing? So blanket, hat, mittens etc?

• Do babies need any sort of cream/oil for their skin? Does it dry out after being in the amni fluid for so long?

• I was thinking I should add nail clippers to the list, because babies are born with long nails right? Or does the hospital take care of that?

• Should I add a barrier cream as well, or is that like wipes (i.e. not for newborns)?

• Does anyone really use talcum powder anymore? Or is that just an alternative to barrier cream?

• Should I bring a flannel/sponge in case I need to wash the baby before I leave hospital? Or do the nurses take care of that?

• Can I assume maternity pads are the same as normal sanitary pads? Can I just get a pack of big overnight sanitary pads to wear?

Okay that's all the stupid questions for now, I'm sure I'll have more when I actually start pulling the bag together! Clearly mobility is going to be an ongoing issue for me, so I've decided the next time I'm mobile enough to leave the house and shop I'm going to head straight to mothercare and blitz all the little things I need. I'm terrified of having to leave it all to DH at the very end...!

Oooh excellent questions Scream!!

Right:

Nappies - sizes start at 1 normally. I don't know quite what they call sizes for prem / v small babies? The sizes cover a weight range and the ranges overlap a little bit normally. I can't remember the sizes off the top of my head but I seem to recall they don't stay in size 1 for very long at all and as Dream said even a size 2 might be ok. Most brands have a 'Baby' or 'Newborn' range that comes in sizes 1, 2 and 3.

Washing clothes etc: I did wash everything before DS wore it. Their skin is so delicate and sometimes new clothes still have chemicals etc in them so I would wash everything that touches their skin. I don't bother with DS now he's a lot more hardy but for a newborn I would. You're supposed to use non-bio washing powder too.

Cream / oil for skin - not generally, no. Their skin smells delicious too :) We used a teeny bit of shampoo to wash DS's hair but no other soaps of creams or anything (except sudocrem - see later). They have some white stuff on their skin that stops it from drying out in the amnio - forget what it's called but I'm sure someone clever will be along who can remember.

Nail clippers: Might be useful. I don't think DS's nails were that long when he was born - I don't recall cutting them in hospital and we were there for a week. I doubt the mws / nurses would do anything like that. You'd probably be OK doing them once you're home but maybe make sure DH knows where they are in case they are long when born and you nee to do them before coming home? To be fair they are very soft nails. so as long as you had some scratch mittens that would probably stop them from scratching themselves sufficiently. Also on the topic of scratch mittens I could never get DS to keep them on and found sleepsuits with cuffs that turned over at the end (sort of inbuilt scratch mittens) to be better. Mothercare sleepsuits I think had them that worked quite well (but I found them too tight on the sleepsuits from Next)

Barrier cream: Do you mean like sudocrem? I have never used a general barrier cream as a matter of course on DS I would just put something on when it looked a bit red. We had a teeny pot of sudocrem from a bounty pack that we took for DS. He did have a teeny red sore patch too while we were in hospital so we used it on that. Since he's been a bit older we discovered Metanium which just clears up soreness in a flash. You literally need the tiniest amount and it works like magic. I'm assuming Metanium can be used from birth but I'd never heard of it when DS was born. It doesn't smell as nice as Sudocrem but by jove it works.

Talcum podwer: I've never used it on DS

Sponge / flannel - I can't remember taking a sponge for DS but we definitely bathed him before we came home. The nurses / mws did the first bath with us so we knew what to do and we were in for a week so bathed him a few times. But I don't recall having our own towels there? Or sponge? I'm sure you could bath a newborn without a sponge though at a push as you just really run water over them?. I'll ask DH if he can remember what we did. Come to think of it I can't actually remember how to bath a newborn...

Maternity pads: They are NOT the same as sanitary pads. Maternity pads are thicker (although a it of padding down there ain't necessarily a bad thing!) and smoother on top. Lots of sanitary towels have these layers a bit like netting on the top and if you've had any stitches etc they can catch so I think maternity towels, although a bit grim and they feel massive, are better (imo) And you'll need a lot. Often at the start people change them every few hours and I've even seen some people on here say they've worn two at a time (although I never had to do that).

Will ask DH about the bathing thing while we have lunch.

Gosh I've just read some of that back - sorry for the typos and the vast swathes bits where it doesn't make sense - hope you can make a bit of sense out of it :)

Ooooo thanks Biscuits!! That's really helpful! As you can tell from the questions I have no real idea what I'm doing! I was wondering where talcum powder fits into the changing nappies process (I vaguely remember using it years ago when my little sis was a baby) but I assume times have moved on from then! Also I hadn't realised that barrier creams are only for an actual problem rather than for every nappy change - so thank you!!

I was also completely confused by the nappies I've seen in shops which say "newborn" and the posts below referring to sizes 1/2 etc. So thank you for clearing that up! Makes perfect sense now!

At the moment my hospital list is so stupidly long I think I'd need a couple of massive suitcases to bring it all in! So I will be going through and cutting things out or moving them to the "extra" bag at home. Your answers will definitely help with that, thanks!

On a separate note the wonderful Purple sent me a great recommendation for an iCandy stockist a few days ago, and I've now spoken to them and they have SUCH good prices!! My parents are happy with the price quoted and I think I'll be ordering my pram this weekend!! Soooooooooo excited!! DH and I have also agreed to go for the Cosatto Hogarth cotbed after all (copying Dream and her excellent recommendation) so we might be ordering that shortly as well (if we can figure out where to store it... ). This is by far the best entertainment for a housebound person!! Much more fun than watching endless TV

I wore two mat pads at once to begin with - the MW got my clothes ready for me while I was in the shower and she put them in my pants. They were hospital provision ones without wings, though. I didn't get blood on my pyjamas but I did get it on the floor when I got out of the shower. Will be more careful this time and put tissues or something next to the shower ready to stem the flow with until I can get my knickers on. I might not get a private room this time and I won't be able to wipe the floor post-CS, and I don't suppose I can send DH in to a shared women's bathroom to do it for me!

I like the suggestion of taking the baby's toiletries in a change bag. My small suitcase was stuffed to the gills by the time I'd put in clothes for both of us, nappies, cotton wool, wipes, maternity pads, breast pads, my toilet bag, a dark towel and so on. I'll be in for 3 or 4 days for sure this time, so I'll need more clothes, as will Bean.

Seconding the suggestion of taking a change of clothes for DH - my MIL had to bring him in some clothes, although I suppose we were in the unusual situation where he was allowed to stay with me. They gave us a family room and set up a camp bed for him. I would say a clean T-shirt and boxers at least, and a toothbrush.

Take water - the hospital will give you little titchy paper cups and a jug of warmish water. Take some water in a decent-sized bottle, but not so big that you can't handle it one-handed easily.

Hawthers, both your boys are gorgeous!

Hello everyone!
I have just bought a packet of sleepsuits in early baby, I will also have a packet of new born. I am not going to go larger as DD was 7lb 1 &1/2 oz and was in new born for a loong time.

Apparently there has been a correlation on talcum powder use on bits and ovarian type cancers, this is possibly due to ladies putting it down there to 'freshen up' anyway I have never used it. (Clogs skin anyway)

You don't need any type of soap for them as it is drying and usually they aren't bathed for awhile so the natural oils they are born with can sink in.

Don't forget deodorant for you and DP/H in your kit.

Also don't forget to buy waterproof sheets for your bed, in case your waters break in bed, this obviously needs to be done 35 weeks I would have said.

Little my BP has been all over the place, it was when it was 160/92 they started to worry and I had to go the big hospital to be checked over. 160/90 being the baseline for them to get their knickers in a twist. I was fluctuating below this and very near and they weren't too worried although I have to have extra appointments purely to keep an eye on my BP now.

Pleased to be able to help Scream and point some business in their way :)

Almost time for a new thread...

scream, bathing a newborn we used cotton wool at first. You'll definitely be using cotton wool for her face. Just take a big bag into hospital, you generally just need loads of cotton wool for nappy changing and bathing! We bathed DD on delviery suite before we even went to the ward, with cotton wool and water to clean her up a bit after her cuddles etc, so at maybe 4 or 5 hours old, then got her dressed for the first time in her first white sleepsuit. Which was 0-3 and enormous, swamped her... Luckily we got bought smaller ones very quickly by my parents.

Talcum powder is also linked to various lung conditions as apparently they can inhale it. It is not recommended to be used at all now. I have heard you can buy liquid talc, but I've never seen the point.

No creams/oils on the skin. If anything, they recommend organic vegetable oil- makes them very greasy, but best for dry skin.

I didn't and still don't regularly use a barrier cream. I do put it on at night as DD wears her nappy for 12 hours then, but then only if she gets any red areas. My cream of choice is Bepanthen. Metanium is good if they get nappy rash (DD never has) but it doesn't half stain anything and everything it touches!!! Think it can be used from newborn biscuits.

I didn't take nail clippers or clip DD's nails in the 4 days we were in hospital. The mw's would so not have done it for me either! I also used the pull over cuffs on the baby gros, but I quickly couldn't as she was finger sucking by 6-7 weeks old anyway. In fact, I still have one packet of unopened scratch mittens- I think I gave them away...not seen them for ages (or packed them away, probably never to be found again!)

Definitely just look at the weights on the nappies. As the size 2's went to 6lb or something, I couldn't imagine having a baby smaller than that, but could imagine having a bigger one- as bump was 96th centile, so I went for size 2. TBH when I bought them I hadn't actually realised there was a smaller size, but looked at the weight range and thought, 'ah, thats what I need!'

I was told after my third degree tear I absolutely must not wear sanitary pads. Not breathable, increased chance of stitches sticking or becoming infected, use maternity pads (thank god I'd brought some too). Which were cheaper than Always anyway (Boots own brand, the massive thick ones) and my goodness was I glad of the padding (before my friend lent me her rubber ring to sit on )

Poor little DD is boiling hot- 38.7 after Calpol, irritable, not eating, not drinking hardly anything, grotty.... She never does well with immunisations. DH has gone walking in the dark, in the Dales with 2 friends who were all met up with (wives and children included) and went for a pub lunch and walk in the Lakes today (very minor, but did get the City Mini up a proper hill not intended for a non-offroader buggy as I insisted on DD going in it not the backpack to ensure the poor child could nap. I had no idea she was going to get so much worse when we set off to meet these friends btw, I'm not that mean). However, it gave the blokes the opportunity to concoct this ridiculous plan of walking up Whernside in the dark, then going for curry.... So now I have the not-sleeping, ill, hot, baby by myself. Sigh.

Knew you'd be useful on the bp side purple

Oh, and I had been told everyone over-packs, and can't find anything etc. I had one small gym-bag sized bag, and just thought it's just a case of sending DH home if we're in longer etc, no big deal. It was fine. The mw was impressed at our lack of multiple bags and lack of general 'stuff'

Anyway, thought I'd see if DD would settle. Surprise surprise she won't, but as she's so peaky I'd best go and cuddle etc....

Hi, I came back from my sisters with 3 big bags of newborn and 0-3 clothes today. Lots of them are next, h&m, Disney etc. There were 13 pairs of scratch mitts! I will probably need to get 1 pack of basic sleep suits and then I am sorted for the early days.

aw all this talk of hospital bags and babygrows is bringing back memories! It's far too early for me to be going through the boxes in the garage but we have loads of sleepsuits and vests and scratchmits from what I remember although if this one is born end of June it may not need both (if we get a nice warm summer).
Lovely curry is in the oven, dp is reading ds far too many bedtime stories and all I can hear are giggles coming out of his room.
I'm off to put the samosas on, laters!

Little - Yes, similar as dd is nearly 22 months. Well this am with the rabbit clock she didn't wake us up till five past 7 which is only the second time she's woken up past seven in the past two weeks. So either massive coincidence or she got it - we'll see!

Dream - so sorry to her both you and she are suffering again. This too will pass?!

Someone told me talc was bad too so never got it but it seems the generation previous was obsessed with it as dm and mil bought me about 7 bottles of it between them! Think I binned them in the end.

I wanted to wait a week before bathing dd as per midwives advice but got bullied into it on day 3 or 4 by dh and mil. This time it may be something I irrationally dig my heels in about!

Hi all, I had an awful night last night! About 3.30 I was woken up by severe pain in my lower belly. So painful it hurt to move and my stomach was so hard it almost hurt to touch. I think it was a bout of ibs as I have been suffering a lot more in this pregnancy and as I get bigger there is less space for the bloating so it gets more painful. This went on and off for about and hour and a half then it eased. Very scary:( feeling a bit washed out and a bit of cramping this morning but much milder.
Sorry to hear DD is suffering again dream hopefully this will pass quickly.

Wants, you poor thing! I would have been petrified. When are you next seeing the MW? It might be an idea to tell her about it in case she can do something to help. Hope you feel better this morning.

Pomme, your DD is a star not waking you up until after 7! Hope this is a sign of good things to come.

Dream, how is your DD this morning? Brooking hard for improvement!

Wants that's horrible . The way you've described it, it sounds very similar to how I often wake up in the night. It hurts sometimes to even sit up in bed because of it. I know this might sound a bit odd, but mine seems to ease off if I let out a bit of wind . It's strange because I wouldn't describe it as a trapped wind feeling at all, it's much more painful and feels like muscular or ligament pain to me but it definitely seems to help. As Too said though, it might be a good idea to mention it to the midwife if it's worrying you.

Nice one pomme's DD, fingers crossed it's the clock and it's the start of later mornings for all of you. Lovely bump pic by the way.

TMI information alert. I have a leaky left boob! Is it normal to be leaking this early? I'm 26+2. It's only a little bit and is very sticky so I'm pretty sure it's colostrum. (What else could it be anyway?!) I cannot remember for the life of me whether I had it pre-birth with DS.

I confess to having, well slightly crusty nips scarlet. I am 25 + something. I remember having it last time but can't remember when it started.