April 2013.....we're halfway there! (Part 5)

[bunnygirl80]

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Welcome fluffeh!

Sorry you've had a rubbish day ratcatbag. You're right, lists are the best!

Glad it's not just be, thanks wishful - and I'm 23 weeks today too! We are EDD buddies

Had one of my bezzies over this evening which cheered me up considerably, and made me feel a lot less isolated. As does this forum, of course!

We don't need much stuff luckily as this is DC2 & the same sex as DC1, the two things I was planning on buying in January are NCT baby nest side car cot & Woodland friends baby gym. My parents have kindly offered to buy the baby nest! Bless them. They bought our Quinny for DD.

What I have bought is some clothes and bits and bobs. I am doing the baby a little secret stocking and giving it to DH on Xmas morning before we get up. So far I have got:

• Joules gorgeous baby grow
• Cath kidston baby grow & 2 bibs.
• Owl rattle
• Comforter.

As the vast majority of this baby's clothes will be hand me downs I didn't feel too bad spending a bit more than I usually would on the few new things we are buying.

Can I mention a couple of things we found useful or not to try and help those having DC1? Don't want to sound like a know it all! Just what worked for us, take it with a pinch of salt. Everyone is different.

Couldn't have lived without:

• Baby sleeping bags: BRILLIANT! We use Merino ones but they are pricey.
• Angelcare monitor & Sensor pad: can't fault it really and no false alarms with the sensor.
• Changing mats (doh!) x 2! one upstairs and one downstairs to save traipsing up and down. Nice whicker basket for wipes & nappies downstairs.
• IKEA Antilop high chair: £22 including delivery and so easy to clean! Also very handy for holidays as legs come off
• Easyfix base for car seat: so much easier than faffing around with seatbelt and feels more secure.
• Muslin clothes: buy double what you think you'll need!
• Dummies: lifesaver, DD was a very sucky baby and EBF- no problems with nipple confusion. I also got rid of them at 10 months when she had a cold and couldn't suck them and breathe.

Things that were a disappointment/didn't get used:

• Gro egg: had a thermometer on monitor, think most of them do.
• Mini outfits in newborn/0-3 months: DD just wore sleep suits.
• Moses basket (borrowed): huge & clunky, bent out of shape really easily, nightmare to store & transport, couldn't see baby through sides or reach out and touch easily. DH had to pick DD up and hand me her to feed after stitches for a few days BUT the alternatives are expensive.
• Tommee Tippee electric breast pump: rubbish and very tricky to clean, Mendela swing was much better.

Be careful stocking up on nappies/wipes as some babies get awful rashes with one brand or another and you don't want 200 nappies you can't use.

fluffeh welcome!

wishful sounds like an awful day but at least everything is OK. Hope you are taking it easy. I wouldn't read too much into Dr saying he/she, I think Drs tend to pick a sex and then call all babies he/she regardless of gender.

Mama continuing to think of you.

Jacqueline good luck for tomorrow.

mumofwombat we will have an identical age gap. DD was born 23.04.2011 & I am due 05.04.2013.

Welcome fluffeh

Good luck for tomorrow jacqueline

ratbag I'm with you on the lower back and shooting pain in my bum cheek and right leg. Had sciatica with other 2dd's too but atleast it doesn't sound as bad as you poor ladies with spd.

toobreathless I think sharing your knowledge and experience is really helpful. This will be dc3 but I found it interesting! My twopenneth - you really don't need a baby bath! Biggest waste of money, or a bottle warmer. Most useful - muslins/bibs - get about 4 times the amount you think you need! Fab for dribble, milk, snot and will last well into toddler age. Agree with dummies too, I wld of gone insane or seriously wld have stopped bf otherwise. Dd2 was ebf for 6 mths but was very sucky. Found it very hard to take them away again but worth the sanity in the early days.

Ooh, I found some skinny jeans atlast too, in mothercare. £15 in the sale to make it even better! Loose top from debenhams and now all sorted for my work Xmas party!

Take care all x

22 + 2 I think?

enjay agree re: baby bath, but they are very handy to fill with ice and stick beers in etc if you're having a party/BBQ! Ours has had beer in it more often than a baby

Jaqueline good luck for tomorrow, keeping fingers crossed for you :)

Mama thinking of you, hope you're both OK.

Thanks for the warm welcome :).
Most of our bargains have been at school/church Xmas fayres. Best bargain so far was a brand new gym/playmat thing for 50p! It's really lovely and doesn't look like it was only 50p.
We also scour the local buy and sell groups on Facebook. This weekend I picked up a travel system where only the pushchair part has been used, meaning the carrycot and cars eat (including car base) are in perfect condition. It cost just £20! I figured we could buy a different pushchair when he or she grows out of the carrycot.
toobreathless thanks for the tips. I was going to buy a breast pump before baby is born but I think I'll hold off as I don't want to waste money that could be spent elsewhere :). I've also got a fair few sleeping bags, I think they're a fantastic idea!

Things I found most useful last time:
Muslin squares (again)!

Easifix base for car (still using now as DD's car seat is extended rear facing and will be until she's four).

Morrck baby blanket 'hoodie'. I remember trying to get DD into a snowsuit on way home from hospital and it was a nightmare! We got one of these and it was a lifesaver as it worked in car seat and pushchair. It also meant if DD fell asleep in the car we didn't have to take loads of layers off to bring her in and risk waking her. www.morrck.co.uk/baby-hoodies-1.html

Coffe holder for Bugaboo

Pointless things include: top and tail bowl, baby socks (we used rights as they stay on) and "outfits" as I kept DD in babygrows for months!

coffee obviously suffering from withdrawal symptoms!

tights stay on, not rights! I give in now!

I hope appt goes good today JH

All this info on babies things is pretty useful, I have to admit have been feeling slightly overwhelmed (still have only purchased a teddy!) but will try to make myself a list then go sale shopping on boxing day morning.

22+3

hi sorry for the very late update. thanks so much for all the thoughts and messages they mean a lot i've only be able to get online today. last wednesday monitering showed signs of foetal distress decelerating heart rate which stabilised again then last thursday my waters began to leak and i had a large bleed. They have given me steroids and medication magnesium something or other and have been expecting me to go into labour any day, but everyday counts. So far babe is looking good. They have been holding off delivery to give the meds time to get into his system but at the next sign of distress or heavy bleeding they think they will have to deliver. I'm just focusing on keeping breathing. 24+0 today.
I really hope everyone is doing well.

mama thanks for updating - we're all keeping everything crossed for you and little Alexander. 24 weeks is such a milestone and you've made it!

Relieved to hear from you mama. Glad you've hit the magic mark although obviously this must still be incredibly anxious for you. Best wishes to you and Alexander. What a little trooper he is.

You're all putting me to shame with how organised you are. Haven't done a thing yet!

So good to hear from you mama! Glad that your amazing little Alexander is still hanging on in there fingers crossed he can stay put for a little longer hey! I hope you are well too!! I can only imagine what a wobbly time this must be for you mentally as well as physically.

I never used muslin squares last time with ds1 so now you all have me wondering what I used instead lol! Maybe ill try them this time round and see what I'm missing!

Glad to hear from you mama you & lil Alexander are doing so well & being so brave. As someone who can't even read the tv guide at the moment without finding something to cry over I find your bravery incredible.

mama so good to hear from you. Well done to you and Alexander for making it to the magical 24 week mark

You are right every second counts so the fact that you have both fought through to now is amazing. You are amazing.

Keep us updated when you can. If you need anything at all please get in touch and I'm sure we will all do everything we can to help you.

I'm off to my scan now, will report back later. Will also do a list of things I loved last time round and what was a waste of money etc.

21+4

Great to hear from you mama. Sorry to hear its been such a scary time but really glad you've made it to the 24 week mark! Hang in there baby Alexander!

I'm much better (phew!), even walked down to the village this morning. Must be feeling better. Managed to queue up in the post office for about 20 minutes hours too which I'd never have managed last week! :)

Scan tomorrow! Eek!

19+6

wow mama can't believe your 24 weeks it seems like we've been counting down to this for ages! So glad your still okay and your baby is still hanging in there, looking forward to more positive updates

Thanks for all the tips everyone on what you found useful for dc1 keep them coming I'm starting a shopping list of what I need and what is nice to get so this is really helpful! For those of you who have breastfed before did you get a pump and bottles for when you knew you would be out during a feed or so DH could do some, I'm hoping to breastfeed but not sure if I need this stuff....

Anyone still knitting? I'm making a blanket (purple and yellow as we don't know what gender) I decided the easiest way was to do small squares and sew them together as that way I can just start and stop whenever I have time and not worry about ruining it. I worked out I need about 70 squares all together(!!!!) and I've done 12 I'm so proud of it so far hope I manage to finish it

23+1

welcome fuffeh! sounds like you've been doing what i have...getting ebay and other 2nd hand bargain. i love the challenge of it! we've got an ebay cot and glider chair - both £40 bargain! a grow egg, various funky clothes, a borrowed moses basket, some funky coloured muslins and my SIL bought me a M2B pack of smellies plus her fave breast pads!!

lutrinae - ive been an emotional wreak the last two weeks all of a sudden. and stupidly watched some recorded One Born y'day and bawled like a baby. hilrious. i think xmas expectations can make things run at a higher vent too.

sorry for crap typing...i'm doing one finger typing with my left hand as i made a painful kitchen boo-boo last night and grabbed the metal handle of a frying pan that had been in the oven at 200 degrees! after a lit of swearing, we ended up in A&E as the burns are quite bad. what a numpty i am! now ive a hand all bandaged like Mr Puft from ghostbusters and my arm in a sling...i hope t heals in time for me to wrap my chrissy prezzies, its my fave bit!

mama well done to you and your boy makng it to 24 weeks and FX you can hang in there for a bit longer.

20+6.

Oh grow poor you - I hate hate hate burns (who doesn't!) and I'm always grabbing hot things.

birdbrain I breastfed DD1 and I didn't have a pump or bottles at first. I tried pumping at about 12 weeks just to see if she would take a bottle, but she never got used to expressed milk for some reason. She had a bottle of formula a day from 5 months and had no problem with that (in fact she loved it!) I was happy to feed in public from the beginning but I completely understand that it's a really big deal for some people and expressing might be the way forward if you think that might be a problem.

I haven't bought anything at all for new baby - as we didn't find out the gender with DD, we have loads of neutral stuff already, but I really should treat him/her to something new and special!

One thing I can really recommend is to get some kind of comfort toy from the beginning - my DD still has her rabbit in bed (and one spare!) and it really settles her.

24+1

Glad you have made it to 24 weeks mama. heres hoping baby can hold on for a bit longer.

Still haven't bought anything at this rate baby girl will be out and doing her own shopping!!!
Maybe I'm waiting for the sales.

So what slings/carriers are awesome nowadays ladies? When I type in eBay thousands come up narrow it down for me!! Been almost 11 years since I used one and I def don't remember what it was! I want it for a little bit of shopping and mostly walking the dog I think if that makes any difference!

Any info would be mostly appreciated! X

Ouch grow that sounds nasty! I think increased clumsiness is a side effect if pregnancy but still.... Hope it heals quickly!

Slings wise I inherited one from my sister - it's a Tomy Safari.

Great news mama! Keep going we are all thinking of you!

I need to get a good sling/carrier! OH is adamant he wants to use one!