November 2012 - counting down the weeks

[StuntNun]

Previous thread: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/antenatal_clubs/1565312-November-2012-but-thats-the-month-after-next

Stats list: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/antenatal_clubs/1485512-November-2012-Stats-List

Congratulation garden what fantastic weights! Sounds like they'll be home very soon

Lovely to hear the update from thereis, glad everything is going well for the boys.

Just blasted my GP surgery who are still lying saying they've heard nothing, I told them that that was rubbish because I spoke to the actual person who sent the email to their surgery! I demanded a call back from the manager and left details of the PCT person I spoke to hehe, let the bitch sweat for a bit!

I'm just going to email said person to let her know about the lying b***ds and copy my MP into it. Teach them feckers to lie!

DH just texted me from work to say he has something coming for me today as a suprise. I asked if it were big, purple and 8in long. He got all in a fluster . It is a parcel in the post. This is after us having a frank discussion about the need for frugality this morning.

Go shelly

garden huge congratulations. What fantastic weights and lovely names. Sounds like you are all doing fabulously. We are going to need a birth announcement thread soon at this rate!

I'm another one for the non sleep night last night. I was wide awake from 3:45-6am. Very annoying. Am knackered now but have too much to do. Just having half an hour sit down before I collect DD from nursery. I have a feeling I'm going to struggle to get off the sofa!

I can't sleep. I'm tired. I have to get ready for work. Today is de ja vu day :/

Can't even have a lie in tomorrow as have a home visit from my midwife and it's an all day appt time. Feckkkkkkkk.

when your whole bump goes hard - is that BH?

I know the recommendation is to have the whooping cough vaccine before 38 weeks but I assume that if you are breastfeeding the baby will still get antibodies in your breast milk?

By the way any first time mums that are thinking about breastfeeding, please don't watch that Cherry Healy 'documentary'. It's incredibly biased against breastfeeding and it will put you right off. I breastfed my first two and it's almost putting me off. According to Cherry, breastfeeding is painful, tedious, you'll get infections, cracked and bleeding nipples. Oh and expressing is almost impossible. It's just complete bollocks. Apparently breasts are purely decorative sex objects and not designed to feed your baby at all. They try to pare down the argument to the whole 'breast is best' thing and completely gloss over the fact that breastfeeding can be a lovely, relaxing bonding experience with your baby. I can't wait to feel that again, the feedback that goes through your body and makes you feel utterly in harmony with your baby. Or taking baby into bed with you and snoozing away with them while they feed until they pop off your boob with a sigh of utter contentment.

I know some ladies on here have already decided to formula feed and I think that's fine and a decision that is up to each mummy. I just want to emphasise to those mummies that are still undecided/are going to give it a go/plan to breastfeed, please don't be put off by these stupid things you hear about pain, cracked nipples, etc. It won't necessarily happen to you and if you do have problems then there are usually ways to resolve them and get back to the natural, pleasant experience it is supposed to be.

Yes Pasties it is!

Stunt, you just reminded me that DP squirted my syringe of Breastmilk away last night. I could have killed him. If I wasn't so sleepy!!! I just gave an exasperated sigh. Good job it hadn't taken long to get!!

As for the documentary, I won't be watching! Pffft!!

And to add, I've breastfed all 3 of mine and my boobs are still pert and probably one of my best features This little one will also be breastfed and I can't wait, it really is one of the best feelings ever.

Sent both emails, I've asked my MP why (presuming I'm 38 weeks) my unborn child is needlessly being exposed to risk due to bad management and blatant lies. It will be interesting to see what replies I get.

the detective thanks - i thought it was but wasnt sure!!?

Thanks Stunt I know my sister adores BF hers for the closeness and joy she felt - it's something I'm really looking forward to trying. She never got a single cracked nipple, never needed lansinoh and only got mastitus once over nearly 3.5 years of feeding between the two kids so as you say - the horror stories aren't always true. Sadly it seems the first weeks are the hardest and many give up thinking that the first few weeks are going to be indicative of BF.

Oh and she was back to a size 8 within 6 months of giving birth thanks to the calorie burn of BFing!!! 700 a day - that's a lot of extra chocolate you can eat . I really hope I get on with it. I'm too disorganised to formula feed.

Agreed stunt I watched that when it was on a couple of years ago and it made me very I saw it come on last night and switched it off! IMO they shouldn't be giving air time to people whose view is that 'boobs are just for sex' on TV. Err no, breastfeeding is what they are there for! I am very much looking forward to breast feeding this little one, the same as I did DD. Yes it does take time to get established, can be a bit painful at first but once you get into a routine it's wonderful. It makes me very sad that breastfeeding is portrayed the way it is on TV, it's completely natural and mums shouldn't be made to feel weird about it by ignorant people.

stunt according to the literature, it does not effectively transfer through the milk. Baby needs to be inside for as long as possible to get goodness through placenta, and at least two weeks is needed for this. More is preferable. Optimum time of administration is around 34 weeks, but better to give it ASAP than not at all, even if baby already born, as it will protect mummy.

I LOVE breastfeeding. Absolutely love it (except the cluster feeding at the beginning which is a bit challenging) I was gutted when DD2 self weaned at 16 months. The feeling is awesome, and seeing your little one feeding from your own breast is just magic, and they fall asleep with a gob full of milk. I am feeling a let down reflex just thinking about it... Aww. Sob sob sob. When DD1 used to feed, she would latch on and have a few gulps, let go, give me a milky grin, then go again. DD2 was far more business like with a little frown.

Aww your breastfeeding stories are lovely and making me all emotional! I definitely want to breastfeed this little one, and will do everything I can to make it work!

Can you imaging having a cat that had kittens and the cat wouldn't feed them, you'd be like WTF's wrong with you???? (The cat was saving her teats for little Tom as she didn't want to spoil them)!

I was actually thinking last night that I should write something on here for the first time breastfeeders. You may get to a stage where the baby just doesn't come off the breast and seems very hungry and unsettled, in my experience this happened at 3 and 7 weeks. DO NOT WORRY, it is a growth spurt and quite natural. Nobody warned me of this with my first and I was just left to it, I gave up breastfeeding for a whole weekend as I thought I wasn't good enough (she was 3 weeks old). Finally on the Monday morning I just broke down in tears as all I wanted to do was breastfeed and I felt like a total failure. I rang my health visitor (who I didn't particularly like) and started crying down the phone to her, she told me my milk was still there and to breastfeed and to top up with formula and she would come and see me after work that day. She came round and was absolutely fantastic with me, she really did reassure me and luckily my milk stores were back up to full stocks within no time thanks to her advise. She got promoted soon after that - she was brilliant.

So don't give up if the going gets tough, which it probably will for a few days. I was the thinnist I have ever been after my first without really trying, hope it works for me again this time (last time my thyroid went and I piled weight ON ).

I put on loads of weight when feeding. I am sure it was nothing to do with the slice of cake and biscuits etc which are necessary! with each feed

I always liked to have a big drink to hand when I was breastfeeding as it made me so thirsty. I bought a lovely thermos thingy so that I could have a cold drink of water at night without having to faff around too much. Just a little idea.

Thanks for the reassurance ladies. My sis has warned me about the growth spurts. She really doubted herself at those times with her first thanks to being told by (often older) ladies that the baby is constantly feeding because they are hungry and you should top up with formula to stop them starving. When actually they feed so much during growth spurts to tell your body to make more milk don't they? - it's a great system and forces you to sit down and rest and just BF when they are going through the growth spurts.

I do hate the view from folks who had theirs in the 60s and 70s and were brainwashed that man made / science and technology can improve on nature. The more I look at shit like Fukoshima, Thalidomide, deep water horizon etc etc - the more I think that Mother Nature can and does kick our arses for being so presumptious.

I'm going to have to fend my DMIL off on this issue - if she could the bub would be on formula from day one, with rusks and whisky crumbled in for good measure. Hence she's not going to be allowed up for a couple of weeks and I've got some energy back to resist her best meaning intentions. I love her to bits but we have some strong differences of opinion and I'm sure she thinks it's just my inexperience talking and I'll change my mind when the bellydweller arrives...

My MIL is of the same opinion YW. Grr.

When I felt I could not go on with feeding, which can happen sometimes, I thought of my Grandmother feeding triplets. If she can feed triplets, I can feed a singleton.

I drank loads at feeds, especially in the early weeks, and also ate dried apricots to keep me regular. I had no problems with my bowels whatsoever!

If I was out and about and heard a baby, any baby cry, I would get the let-down reflex, so always needed my boobie pads. They are amazing things, but DH will miss them most

Oh that let down reflex! It happened to me in May 2000 (very hot summer) at Safeway checkout. I was wearing a grey t-shirt and carrying 2 carrier bags, hubby said 'look at your chest', I had 2 expanding, very dark grey circles on my chest, I've never run so fast back to the car. Breast pads are your friend

I only watched 10 minutes but it must have been a reasonable 10minutes as she seemed to focusing on the positives!!

I really enjoyed the breast feeding talk by the nct. It was very interesting, the facts about Britain and Europe in terms of breast feeding stats were eye opening! But it's something that the majority of us should be able to do. I plan on breast feeding, and am more determined after that talk to make a go of it!

Right off to argue with the gp and see the mw!!!

Oh can I ask - where did you all get waterproof sheets from! Bed and cot? Does the Moses basket need one?

We've not got a waterproof sheet for the crib and carrycot as their mattresses are wipe clean horsey - I still need to get for the cot - Ikea do them cheap I believe. I think Boots do too.

Yw thank you I had a vague thought the Moses basket was ok but it's not at home so couldn't check!! Need one for my bed too......

Congratulations garden on your little girls. Lovely names and fantastic weights!

I had my appt yesterday, consultant totally dismissed me when I said I was really struggling and that the baby needs to come asap. He just stopped me and said they wouldn't even think of induction until due date! I could have cried as I don't think I can tolerate much more agony. It's affecting me caring for my daughter just now, who was up most of the night reminding what its like to have a newborn! I don't really know where to go from here, I have midwife next week. I'm not getting much relief from painkillers 30/500 cocodamol and gp had said I could try morphine if things got that bad but obviously not brilliant for baby. She said it can lead to baby being sleepy and not moving as much and me needing monitored for reduced movement. I don't know if I can do that to baby but I also don't think I can handle the pain much longer. Thankfully my DH is off today so he's looking after our DD and I'm actually just about to get up! He's a star!