We will have a calm and worry-free pregnancy with lots of jumping beans and bouncing babies and will BROOK NO ARGUMENT on that (Part 7)

[TooImmatureTurtleDoves]

yeah, the midnight eclipse. Not convinced biscuits

I am such a horrible miserable person today...

I'm hoping we haven't heard from Pomme because the sweep has worked so well, she has gone into instantaneous labour and is currently awaiting tea and toast while enjoying newborn snuggles.

Meanwhile the MWs are all clustered around saying 'No, I've never seen anyone actually sneeze a baby out either...'

Not convinced on the pattern Dream? Or not convinced I'm not stalking you?

Does anyone know what time Pomme was having the sweep? trying not to get over excited like I did yesterday so stop encouraging me Biscuits

20% of everything although I am still messing about as there are a lot of things I fancy on mothercare! Apparently it works if u copy and paste :s

Dream we are all entitled to our grotty days, hope the scan cheers you up :)
Do u want a prepared now? Can u tell I am successful in sales!
Biscuits it is about time we had a sneeze birth, just to check our brooking is working!
Scream it is a staff discount code that was shared on a fbook group I am on.

Argh! Overthinking the baby clothes thing! (I have WAY too much time on my hands )

Can the experienced Mums please give me a heads up. Roughly how many newborn size sleepsuits, and how many 0-3 mth sleepsuits should I be buying in advance? DH is loathe to buy any newborn stuff at all in case we don't need it but I've overruled him on the grounds that I don't want him leaving my bedside the entire time I'm in hospital! So I'm trying to buy minimal newborn stuff and focus on a few more 0-3 items. How much is minimal/enough though?

Also, can someone please tell me the difference between a sleepsuit, vest and bodysuit? I assume a sleepsuit is what the baby wears most of the time, and a vest goes underneath the sleepsuit if it's cold (or in lieu of the sleepsuit if it's hot). Where does a 'bodysuit' fit into all this!?! Is it underwear or outerwear? Is it standalone or does it need cardigans etc?

I feel like I should record this post somewhere because I'm pretty sure these are the kinds of questions which I'll look back on in a year's time and just laugh!

Any appt news yet? Pomme? Too? Biscuits? Dream? Plus anyone my silly baby brain has missed out!

I don't really know much about clothes Scream but I will be telling family that if they want to buy some clothes then don't get newborn. I'm just going to get a few bits in that size as when my nephew was born last year he came out too big to fit in that size so DSIL ended up giving away all the clothes in that size to other mums on the ward.

Bodysuit and is the shortsleeve, legless things, with poppers by the nappy it is a vest for underneath everything else.

Sleep suit/baby gro have long sleeves, poppers up the front and enclose the leg and foot.

Cardigan for over the top if cold, then pramsuit if outside/blankets.

They wear an extra layer to you, so if your wearing a t shirt then they wear bodysuit + sleepsuit.

There hands and feet are always cold so you check their temp by feeling their back and chest for accuracy.

Don't bother with scratch mitts or booties, they fall off!

You will need a few hats too.

I have three sleepsuits in 'Early baby' up to 7.8lbs and three newborn up 11lbs in my bag. 0-3 will be huuge! Don't buy much as there will be lots of gifts.
The most I would buy is 6 of each type! I do have 0-3 but don't expect to use it for a couple of months. If you think logically there is not much chance you will have a 11lber at birth so newborn would be fine!

I think you need to think about family genetics. My nephew was less than 11lb when born but both sides of the family have multiple 6' plus people and he came out long. He is still really tall/long (when do they have a height instead of length?) and at 6 months was in 9-12 month clothes. If you don't have lots of tall people in the family then it is less likely that they will come out long. My scan said that Spud has long legs so looks like mine is going the same way...

Come on, Pomme, sneeze that baby out!

MW due in 5 mins, which means she will be at least another half hour. I have been virtuously tidying for her but have stalled. I need to go wipe down the kitchen work surfaces. It is a hideous day so the dog will come back from his walk soaked and muddy and then want to jump all over me and MW and carpet. I find it really hard crouching to dry him with a towel at the moment - plus his towel is caked in mud so I'd better find one that will actually take the mud off and not put more on.

Thanks for the advice Jen and Purple. This LO has been spot on the average size at all scans so far, so I'm hoping for an average size newborn at the end! Will heed Purple's advice about not buying more than 6 of anything in advance. Now that I'm not having a baby shower I just think that most family gifts won't show up until a few days after the birth, so it's important we have enough clothes! Plus DH's family are big on buying clothes in sizes 6mths plus for newborns, on the basis that the baby will probably have too many newborn clothes and it's better to get them something they'll grow into. This theory only works if SOMEONE buys the newborn clothes though!

Next dumb question - is it worth buying a mattress protector for the bedside crib/pram carrycot? I had assumed that most new parents might take a while to get the hang of nappies and therefore protecting the first mattress is necessary. However so far all I can find online are mattress protectors for fullsize cots. Is that because no one bothers with protecting the crib/moses basket/bedside cot?

Thanks for your patience!!

Hi all no such luck on sneezing! Forgot phone when we went to park is all. Cervix soft but still posterior and closed. Apparently closed cervix very unusual when you've had one already - grr. She also reckons baby will be bigger than dd (7 7) which is something else to look forward too

Induction here I come

Hope the sweep moves things along Pomme before that induction. Is that next Friday?

Scream we never bought much newborn stuff, or indeed much of anything as we didn't know if DS was going to be a boy or a girl. I think last time we bought like a newborn 'set' from Mothercare, with a few sleepsuits etc in it. This time I've got a few vests, a few bodysuits and a few sleepsuits.

It's not quite the same but the principle applies I suppose that we didn't have much at all, and then while I was in hospital and DH was having to come home each night he just nipped into the 24 hour Tescos and got some 'boy' sleepsuits. But the same thing would have applied if we had needed more in any particular size. Or if we new girl stuff this time.

If you live near a 24 hour clothing selling supermarket, you'll never be without clothes for long! Granted they won't be Dior but they'll do at short notice. And also, you could always ask any visitors to nip in and pick up something specific for you?

Oh and Scream I totally get not wanting DH to leave your side while in hospital, DH was the same with me last time. He came all day every day, but still got sent home in the evening, when he did all his errands and clothing shopping, and all the phone calls etc!

Well my birth ball arrived today. I'm 5'4 so got the 65cm one as that is supposed to do up to 5'8 but when I sit on it my knees are higher than my hips! I can't seem to inflate it any more, it's got a bit of bounce to it when I test it with my hand but I'm guessing they shouldn't be inflated to rock hard as that would be uncomfortable to sit on?

Eeek I've ordered 65 too and I'm 5'6"! That seemed to be the biggest size you could get

next size up

Jen mine had to be 80% inflated and then left for 24 hrs and then inflated to full? Mine is pretty hard and stretched surprisingly far.

Pomme at least you are soft! How about you stick some evening primrose caps up there to see if it helps?

Scream the cotbed mattress has a removable washable cover and my moses this time is a bit horrible and plasticky! You can have the sheet on and then lay a muslin under the baby's head to catch sick and then just change the muslin.

I have bought the cheapest white sleep suits from Tesco btw, not spending out on them at all! I will buy more once baby is here if I need to. :)

I've never had a mattress cover for the crib, pram or cot. We got one for his bed when he moved up but that was starting to think in prep for potty training.

To be honest, we never had much leaky nappy-ness as a baby - I mean obviously the odd madly explosive poo etc, but not much over night or anything. I just never looked for covers for the cot or crib (and the crib and pram mattresses were only about £20 each so if the worst came to the worst, I could replace them). And then like Purple, our cot mattress has a removable washable cover.

We also did the trick of putting a muslin or folded up flat sheet under ds's head to catch sick etc. much easier to just change that in the middle of the night

Might try that purple. Biscuits - induction is Monday so not long to wait really I just thought with number two sweep might work and I could avoid the drip!

As both times we've found out the sex I've bought lots of clothes in advance ;) a few in newborn - dd at 7 7 was best in newborn size for about 3 weeks then 0-3 months was best.

O and we always had a mattress protector for the cot more for vomit reasons than poo ones though.

scream my dd was bang on 50th centile at birth so totally 'average' but quite long. She fitted her 'up to 7.8lb' babygros for about 2 weeks then her toes were at the end. My dh is 6'4" though (but I'm 5'4.5) . She was in 'newborn' til about 10 weeks, 12 weeks, then 0-3. She still wears a lot of 9-12 at 17 months as she's tall ish but not a chunky child iykwim. In fact the only 9+12 she's grown out if is some trousers as too short and babygros for same reason.

Scan good, twin one is smaller at estimated 3lb15 and twin two estimated 4lb2. Got ranitidine for my reflux. Lovely to see them :-)

Must race, back later x

Good point Biscuits! I was thinking that hospital visiting hours (for partners) are longer than baby shop opening hours, so DH wouldn't be able to get anything. In reality of course I'd forgotton all about 24 hr supermarkets doing baby clothes!

Purple you are the most amazing baby shopping fairy! You've just saved me approx £65 at mothercare, thank you very much! (DH is torn between being grateful, and generally resenting the fact that we have to spend any money at all! Hee hee - such a scrooge!)

Jen and Biscuits my gym ball was the same as Purple's - I had to give it a day to stretch out a bit before inflating it to full size. Hopefully yours will be fine in the end!

Pomme sorry to hear about the closed cervix, but we've got 3 full days of No Brooking to go before your induction so don't give up hope!

Thanks to everyone for the advice re protecting the bedside cot mattress. Sounds like there's no real need for a protector sheet, so I'll just try the muslin trick as recommended! Thanks!

Excellent scan news Dream! Good work growing your boys, those are great weights!

Thanks for the baby clothes advice as well, that's reassuring. Also, I'm super of your ranitidine!

Great for excellent scan, Dream - sounds like good growth for both. Hope the ranitidine works miracles.

Pomme, maybe the examination will kickstart your cervix anyway, even if was closed. I had a show about 4 hours after my sweep and then cx started a couple of hours after that (not that they got me any further than 1cm, but it was a start!).

Well, turns out the MW thought it was Monday she was seeing me! Grr. Still, Monday will do. She did offer to come out now, but I didn't call to chase her til just after 5 so I felt it would be too mean when she was clearly just about to head home. However, I spoke to my boss in the meantime and he advised me to just stay off now - hopefully I can get the GP to sign me off sick, but if not, I can self-certify until Wed and then just advance my mat leave by 2 days. So I am now pretty officially off, hurray! Work certainly aren't expecting me back, I just need to formalise it. Naturally I can't get an appt with my GP until the end of March , but they have a sign-off process where I fill in a form and my GP considers the request within 3 working days, so I'll try that.