Jan 2013 Part 5: Once we pop (on time!), we just won't stop!

[BuntyCollocks]

New thread! I've lost my lovely spreadsheet so if someone can add in the stats and update, that would be wonderful; I'm sure someone else had a spreadsheet that was as anally organised as me

Knuckiing and happy we're in the same boat but only just started sailing...as it were...We have accepted an offer on our house; and had an offer accepted. Waiting on mortgage. The move will not take place until the baby is here. Which may be harder or easier - I've no idea! Luckily we are only hoping to move across the road - literally! We have recently decluttered and I'm hoping it won't be too bad, especially as my parents also live very close by and I can see myself de-camping down at theirs to breast-feed in peace and let the men get on with it!

marasme I know what you mean about the dust - we've been there a few years ago when renovating. I hope you get sorted soon!

Pmgkt how exciting....

Yey pmgkt that's fantastic news!!! How exciting, a lovely snugly baby in time for Christmas :)

Seems like were feeling the final stretch now...

Must say I've been really lucky does she speak too soon and as yet Im feeling ok, no joint pain and not feeling too tired....my only niggle is not being able to get comfy on the sofa at night.... I'm fine at school walking around but get a sore back when relaxing.

Met my health visitor today, was dreading it after hearing horror stories but she was lovely :)

Got a telling off by my hubby though, went to my midwife appointment today and forgot my phone (20min walk away) then decided to spend an hour wondering around the shops.....little did I know hubby had come back to work from home, seen that I was gone....called the midwife who said I had left an hr ago...and had therefore worked himself up into a complete panic thinking I was giving birth in a street somewhere.....bless him he was as pale as a sheet when I got home....think hes adamant I'm going to go into labour any day! Under strict instructions to have my phone with me at all times lol!

I just really wanna know when the babies going to come now...got a bit excited the other day as was going for lots of loose poo's (sorry for TMI) getting lots of BH loads more wet discharge (again sorry for TMI) and was feeling a bit weird and weepy.....but now realise this is prob just normal end of pregnancy stuff....aww well 36 weeks done....only 7.5 days left at school....

Hope all you yummy mummies are doing well....massive 'high five' to those that are moving house, dealing with toddlers too etc...

xxxxxxxxxxx

Oh forgot to ask....I have a feeding/night away from the baby question that I would love some advice on...

Me and hubby are invited to a wedding on 16th Feb. I was a bit worried as baby will only be 5ish weeks old (potentially even 3 weeks eeek) But really want to go as very close friends getting married and also think it may be nice to get dressed up and have an evening with the hubby.

Also, other plus points, the wedding is only down the road so if anything was to happen we could be home in 10 mins.

It starts at 2 so could have the morning/early afternoon with the baby.

My lovely MIL has offered jumped at the chance to come and babysit and dear SIL is going to keep her company. MIL has even said to stay out till the morning (if I like) so I can have a drink and a good nights sleep and come back in the morning, she's more than happy to get up through the night etc and I trust her completely.

I really hope that I dont sound like the shittest mum in the world planning a night away from the bub before its even here but want to think realistically about it as do think it would be a nice thing for me and my hubby to do????

If I do go ahead and go what would you advise about feeding?? Express milk and leave?....and if so should I introduce a bottle once a day perhaps from the early days.....should I nip back for an hour between ceremony and food?? Or just trust MIL and stay away????

Sorry for the babble....any words of wisdom gratefully received!

Very exciting pmgkt an early Christmas present, make sure you keep as all up to date!

alchik don't feel guilty about arranging to go out after baby's born. You and dh will probably need it and only being 10 mins away should help keep your mind at ease.
Expressing is probably the best idea but I have ff all mine so I'm not the best person to give advice on that.

I had my 34 week mw appointment today babies head down and she's coming to my house on Thursday to do my bloods again so I haven't got to go all the way to the hospital.

The reservation I'd have on that, allchik is that your milk supply might not be fully established at that point, and so you might not be able to express enough. You are potentially going right in the middle of the growth spurt that happens around about 4 weeks, when baby could be wanting fed every few hours.

Can you take baby with you?

I don't really think it'll work otherwise, but it might! You'll unfortunately not know until baby is here if it can/will work!

Hey allchik my prediction is that you'll find it the hardest being away from your new baby, but think you should jump at the chance. Given it is so close by, I reckon you could even come back to feed the little one yourself at least once before you set in for the party/drinking. That said, after such a long break, you'll probably only need one glass of something alcoholic and you'll be on your arse

Pmgkt get your DH to get cracking with the batch cooking then! You will have a lovely new baby in time for Xmas :)

Dj hope your shower gets sorted soon - I must say, having builders in is less stressful than DH "doing it on his own" - at least builders do make some progress (we have known "projects" to last many years and end up as botched jobs)

Mama - I don't know about the dust. It is filthy and everywhere. We tried dusts extractors, which do not achieve much (a bit disappointing really) and we have hoovered everything, including the walls. Still, everyday we go back, a fine pellicule has resettled. I just want it out before the baby is here, as it has already triggered a bout of sinusitis and I don't want a snuffly C-section baby to inhale all that crap.

Allchick - your feelings might changed once the baby is here, but I think it would be nice to have some time having fun with DH. Of course things might not work, but eh. I did this with DD when I went back teaching for a few days when she was a few weeks old. I expressed enough for a couple of bottles in case of emergency (bear in mind that some babies do not want to take the bottle, and it is not advised before 6 weeks). My DH was hovering around, and brought DD to me every 3 hours for a feed; this way, the separation was not too long, and the feeding was under control. It would be easier if your MIL could do the shuttle this way?

BTW, not sure what the general take on alcohol and BFing is?
Last time round, I remember having at least one little (tiny, very dilute!) gin every -other- night to take the edge off. Never bothered me (or DD / DH) but some of my friend are teetotal til the end of BFing.

I always felt this odd rush of panic / anxiety come up just before milk let-down - most strange! The gin did help though

Marasme my italian mother inlaw swears by keeping a good glass of stout beer by the bed each evening to sip. DH turned out OK more or less and so are his five older siblings. But its all about the hops promoting improved milk production. My sister in law gave me a massive packet of herbal tea including hops and liquorice and all things nice to promote milk production. Always had a problem with it given DS was underweight for a long while and needed supplementary feeding. Being forced to down 2L of herbal tea a day was a bit intense though. I didn't last on that approach for long.

Allchik I attended my sister's wedding when DD was six weeks old exactly. Granted it was a more stressful experience as I was matron of honour. I remember clearly though the milk supply was really flowing at that stage (I was exclusively breastfeeding) and there is no way I could have not either a. have had DD with me or b. had frequent access to a breast-pump. Even if your LO is happy to take a bottle (and mine was happy enough to take a bottle of expressed milk from DH from about 2 weeks old) you will need to 'get rid' of your milk every few hours.

How we managed it was: DH had DD for the entire day and I nipped back to a hotel room periodically to express milk into bottles, which he then fed to her. I couldn't have done without a breast-pump: hand expressing takes far too long and it took me long enough with a pump. Sorry if TMI but I remember this vividly being a big day in my DSis and my life! If I hadn't had bridesmaid duties I would have just fed DD myself in a quite corner/ room.

To be honest my advice would probably be to take your LO with you to the wedding. At that age they sleep a lot, especially in noisy, crowded darkened rooms. At the same wedding I'm talking about there were actually two other newborns and they were no bother either.

Marasme I also had that horrible feeling of anxiety/ depression when breastfeeding, especially during let down. There is a name for it which escapes me at the moment. I'm hoping it won't be as bad this time (if I manage to B-feed) - it was really odd.

Wow it's busy on here today!

allchik you prob won't know until baby is here how you will manage. If you really want to go then you'll find a way and expressing should be fine provided baby is already used to a bottle. You may find you can't bear leaving baby so soon though! But each person is different so maybe wait and see how you feel.

I hope those moving house/decorating are doing ok.

pmgkt looking forward to hearing your news next week!

Does anyone else feel generally useless at the mo? After an afternoon out yesterday I'm now waddling around, limping and struggling to carry DD. Although the giant bag of revels I ate probably didn't help

allchik I also went out without ds1 when he was 6 weeks old - for NYE... I got very tipsy very quickly, so had to pump the booze out of my milk before I could feed again in the morning!

I'd been expressing milk and my mum looked after him. And, of course he slept through the night (never again to happen til he was 1 year old!).

Wow thanks everyone for the speedy advice,loads of good ideas...ur all right,im not gonna know how I will feel till the time comes but good to have a think :)

bealos thats really good to know,can I pick ur brain?How much milk did u leave n how did u build it up?(over a few days?) sounds dumb but dnt get how u can express n feed?or is that what supply n demand is? Thanku...n lol at bub sleeping through!x

Oh n I have clearly cursed myself with my 'im feeling fine' comment..just got out of the car n almost fell over due to mega groin pain,done lots of walking around today so maybe thats it x

allchik I pumped my 'spare boob' whilst I was feeding with the other. I found my boobs were quite leaky and this helped with the let down too. I just used a handheld Avent pump. This was fine for small quantities - but I think I'm going to get an electric one this time as I'll be going back to work sooner.

I pumped and decanted into the small milk storage bags, which I then froze and defrosted enough to leave for the night - you'll know how many feeds you're doing, so just leave enough milk for that plus a few spare.

Inevitably there's some wastage when pumping which can be quite sad when you've spent ages pumping it out, but hey ho... such is life.

As you say, you won't know til the time, so just wait and see...

Re: alcohol and breastfeeding - my mum was encouraged to drink Guinness by her MW 30 years ago when she had me and then my sister.
She's very obedient and so drank Guinness every day - we're both absolutely fine; healthy, normal size, (and university graduates).
I think it's only a problem if you binge - like with most things in life!

Guiness is very good for iron which is why they used to recommend it, for multiples and low iron counts. However the no drinking advice now rules it out.

Good luck pmgkt hoping your little bubba arrives safe and well next week have to say you will have a little bubba in time for christmas what a lovely pressie

allchick it will be tough leaving bubba but at least you will be just down the road and you can nip back anytime you want, they say you should have a date night within the first 6 weeks of the baby being born to "reconnect" with your partner. truth is you probably have one drink and be tipsy woo (on your arse) and not need to stay out at all. Your MIL sounds like a godsend of course it would prob be great to get a full nights sleep and recharge your batteries

had contractions and landed myself in hospital woke up yesterday feeling grim so went to the midwife thinking it was just bubba playing me up but when she examined me she said thats a contraction, que shitting myself, calling hubby all of dither and a night spent in the Central Delivery Suit, injections and multiple people taking swabs and looking at the old fanjo

home now thankfully and bubba is still tucked up warm in my tummy

How many weeks are you bouquite. The lady opposite is 30 today and contracting loads.

I'm starting to worry now because I don't think I've had any Braxton-Hicks'.
I'm 33-weeks tomorrow.
I know my tummy should look tighter, but I haven't seen that happen. Is there anything else to look for?

pmkgt im 34+6 today bless the lady opposite it's def scary

boutique poor you, that sounds scary. Glad alls ok now. (I lol to - "looking at the old fanjo" though!!).

diecio don't worry not everyone feels them. I dont think it makes any difference if you do or not. It's usually with second babies you feel them more.

Tested my new bugaboo donkey last night, am very excited! It's got lots of pink on it for my two girls!! Slightly paranoid about the superstition of not having pram before baby but I couldn't not test it really and I don't want it getting damp in the garage (and we have a mouse in there eating the corners of everything).

Was up having the shits til 2am last night. Decided it was cos of too much chocolate in the day so I'm going to try and cut back a bit (note: 'try').

How is everyone else today?

Don't wish for BH, I don't think they're necessary and I'm still getting them constantly. You might be getting and not noticing as they don't hurt but if youre trying to walk at the time you would.

Do we actually need maternity sanitary towels can't we just use strong normal ones? They're so expensive and they look the same

katolla I used maternity ones over the top of Always night time ones with wings. And never had any spillages! You then don't need to change the underneath always one as often, just the top maternity pad. I liked the maternity ones as they didn't get whiffy at all. Whereas e.g. Always ones on their own get sweaty and minging. But maybe that's just me lol!

birdies the Donkey is so cute, I want two babies now just to get one! Had a go in mothercare yesterday.

boutique please look after your fanjo! Glad your baby didn't come out just yet.

Katolla ive bought proper maternity ones... At Boots they are only £1 ive just read stories about the 'aftermath' so im going for superstrength nappy type protection! Still need to buy some granny pants though.

On the braxton front ive not noticed anything either (37 wks) but im thinking i dont entirely know what im looking for so i may have had them but not known about it.

Practically have no ankles these days. Went for a 'good luck -you'll need it' farewell type dinner with the girls from work last night i only managed an hour and a hallf til my back started hurting and i had to pull out the old paracetamol and heartburn things :-D