January 2014 (thread 8) Half way there just about! Finding out pink or blue

[BuntCadger]

New thread for us, can't believe another one filled! Half way there girls :) on the homeward stretch :) xx

Well done on the bargains blue!
We haven't bought anything new yet. We have around 15 baby gros/ vests all around 30/50p each from charity shops/ boot fairs, a steriliser and some bottles that was £3, and a bouncy chair thing free from friends. We are getting a cot 2nd hand from family too, so I think the main things we need are buggy, car seat, Moses basket and baby monitor? We'll prob get all of those except car seat and Moses basket mattress/ bedding 2nd hand as well if we can. And visit the sling library to try a few before buying. And some more clothes bits like a snow suit or something else warmish, and muslins.
Now, does anyone know how serious the advice not to wear heels is? I like my shoes!
Have a good day everyone!

Whoops... Sorry for double post!

wow blue thats a lot of good bargains.

Thankfully we have so far had to spend nothing due to donations and loaning of items, but we have a full drawer of 0-3 month stuff, moses basket, baby bath, a few newborn bits and a few 3-6 month bits.
Need to get the pram/travel system, highchair, baby bean bag, jumperoo, steriliser, changing table and a few other bits from my sisters in the coming weeks.

Hoping that we will just need to buy some more newborn things, a couple of 0-3 month things (my sis has more 3-6 month we can have but if its a girl we may need to buy some as they are all more boyish) breast pump, pads, cot bed, bottles, baby monitor, car mirror, car sun visor thing, bath temperature thing, changing mat and baby grooming kit.

Some of it is more stuff I would like and not necessities, and am hoping that people buy us clothes for our xmas gifts. Have managed to make an amazon wishlist for the rest and its only £150 ish so not too bad.

My boss wants to buy me the Ellas Kitchen Cookbook for a thanks for how well I have worked over the past few years (I have been her dogbody/bitch) which is lovely and will be nice for when bubs moves onto baby food as I want to make everything if I can and only buy a few bits for emergency use.

Can't believe that I only have 15 more weeks of work until mat leave. Am getting worried that when I have my meeting about dates etc that I am going to be teaching them a few things about what I am entitled to as only a few people have been on maternity leave recently (since things have changed) and they weren't the type of people to have researched it themselves, they just went with what the bosses said. You should see my 2 pages of notes plus a print out with things highlighted lol!!

Toby mini Vodka bottles! Lol! Brilliant!

That's great the contractions are peetering off! Hurray! Loving the pack mule idea - am hoping to send bubs off to work when he is a year old rather than me returning to work. Am sure it will be good for him to start work early and learn the value of money at that age!

MrsA you are also an inspiration! I really MUST get my lazy ass down to a car boot sale - perhaps I will force myself to go on Sunday this week and see what little outfits I can pick up for bargain prices....

Well I wore heels last weekend as flats make me look awful in the dress I was wearing BUT I don't think I will much longer as I did NOT feel stable and was constantly worried I was about to topple over. Standing on one leg to get my knickers on is a challenge in itself at the moment, so heels are probably a step too far for me now, but I am sure there are ladies who take more risks than me....

Toby glad to hear contractions are stopping. Take it easy!

I have the opposite with appointments - nothing booked since 20wk scan. Should I be getting a 25wk check with 2nd pg? And do I book it or do I get a letter??

We're also getting lots secondhand - except carseat, which "they" strongly advise you get new unless you're absolutely sure of its history, cos the internal structure can be compromised by a bump and you might not be able to tell by looking at it.

We're nearly sorted for stuff! Just need to get carseat, swaddlers, replacement bits for old breast pump and muslins! Going to run out of things to do though and then the wait will seem longer so I'm rationing jobs. Haha... Have also planned a series of meals to cook and freeze so we're well stocked post birth.

Having a bit of a wobble this week with horrendous SPD. Feel so guilty as can't do anything with toddler (he's currently messing about on the iPad again..) and have no idea how we're going to get through the next few months if it doesn't let up

sultana... You know you can put your knickers on before your heels?
I am so bad at the standing on one leg move at pg yoga, it's quite embarrassing. Oh well...

Ps... extra where I am you have to book all your own midwife appointments. Mine 25 weeks is next week, and then I think it's every 3 weeks, eek!
frizz I also have a long list of notes which will form a letter to go with my matb1 as my employers are crap and still don't have a maternity policy, grr! I want to make sure I have all the legal stuff confirmed in writing... However I'm going to write it in work time as its their stupid fault I'm having to do it at all!

Glad the contractions are stopping toby, and pmsl at the jelly mould sultana! Any news on your niece sarah?

My work are being a bit complicated as well mrsa. My contract finishes during mat leave, so my mat pay depends on whether they want to renew the role or not. I don't think I'll be going back anyway, but the extra money would be nice :) I might go on leave a bit earlier than I had originally planned due to all the hip and back pain which is stopping me sleeping at night now. As of tomorrow I'm driving to work instead of walk/train/bus, which should help, although I'll be driving with a broken toe which might not be fun!

Just to add insult to injury, I now have sodding piles as well . I'm only 23 weeks - how much worse is it all going to get! Anyway, off to the hospital now so someone can look at my cervix. Oh the glamour!

MrsA, bugger the advice. You wear heels as long as you're comfortable wearing heels. If your back starts to become sore, you might want to lower your heels then, but while you feel comfortable to wear them, wear them! You won't get much opportunity on maternity leave :(

:o @ sending the baby to work, Sultana! Sadly DS is almost 14 and is showing no sign of moving out yet.

Aaawww, extra :( That really sucks. Did the physio tips not help any? You poor thing.

Book, sorry to hear about the piles. That is rubbish. If you're going to the Maternity Day Unit at the WHH, the midwives are utterly lovely. Good luck!

I've decided we need to cut right down on our expenditure and waste in this house, so I'm on a mission to get back into meal planning properly so that we waste less and shopping as cheaply as possible. Currently browsing A Girl Called Jack for recipes. Once I've tried them, loads of them (especially the soups) are great for freezing, so are going on the batch cooking list.

Yeah, wear the heels while you can mrsa!

Hospital was a TOTAL waste of time. Nurses were lovely but the doctor didn't read my notes and didn't even ask why I was there. I explained all about the previous LLETZ and dodgy cervix situation, and he just said it shouldn't cause a problem and if it does I should just go to hospital. He didn't even measure my cervix . He also seemed surprised that I'm not feeling much movement, but didn't do anything about it so I just have to wait until 28 weeks and if I'm not getting 10 movements a day by then "it will be a problem".

I had planned to buy baby her first outfit this afternoon if it all went well, but now it feels like I can't and I have to hang on just in case . BUGGER. Still, she's still in there at the moment though, which is obviously a good thing!

Bad luck book I feel your disappointment. That is really crap of the hospital. Well, I had my 20 week scan today (on the cusp of being 22 weeks so saw a fair bit of detail) and ALL IS WELL except...I have a v low lying anterior placenta, which explains why I've not felt many kicks yet, but I have to be re-scanned at 32 weeks to check it has moved up. Anyone know about low lying placentas? All I know is that there's a risk of placenta praevia which is a disaster, but not sure how to avoid that. Baby looked great, I had the inkling it's going to be a girl as I saw no sign of testicles or willies but who knows - team yellow for me.

PS I'd be interested to know how much coffee / wine everyone is drinking at the moment...are you all brilliantly de-caff and tetotal? I am still drinking one cup of filter coffee a day and about 1 glass of wine a week which is the same as my other pgs, although maybe I drank less coffee then...I'm not judging, I'm just curious to see if I'm the only naughty one.

what is it with doctors being insensitive to pregnant women! You'd think they'd try to be a little more understanding!

Glad the scan went well Mythree! I have no idea about the placenta though, I'm sure someone else will be more knowledgeable.

You're all making me feel very unorganized! We bought an asdas own moses basket for £14, then we're given a very posh one from a friend. We're going to keep the posh one here and the cheap one at dads and move the new mattress between them! We've bought some clothes and I've been buying breast pads, nappys and nappy cream with the weekly shop. It's my birthday in November so I've asked my family for lots of baby related bits so I'm hoping we'll only need to buy the travel system and monitor.

book piles argh!! They are the worst. Sorry the hospital was a waste of time.
My niece has been taken to Bristol hospital now and they discovered last night that she also has a fractured skull. Apart from that, she is still in an induced coma and in a critical but stable condition. So much crap going around in the press about it all.

I'm glad baby is moving a lot more today. I didn't feel it much atall yesterday or the day before but it seems to be back to normal now.
I put my DD up for a nap at 11am and fell asleep on the sofa myself! Then my step dad did the whole knocking and walking straight in thing and I jumped out my skin . So glad I wasn't dribbling all over the sofa ha ha.

mythree I had a low lying placenta with DS and when I had my scan further on it had moved up and all was OK. My worst nightmare was a C-section so I was worrying for weeks but everything turned out totally fine.
RE. tea and alcohol, I have never drank tea or coffee as I hate the taste but I have drank on 2 occasions this pregnancy. I had 2 white wine spritzas at a wedding reception and I had two glasses of wine on my wedding anniversary at a meal with DH.
So you are not the only naughty one !!

Glad the scan went well mythree, I know nothing about placentas though, sorry.

I've given up caffeine and booze completely, although I have had a couple of sneaky cups of tea to try to make the baby move a bit! I would LOVE a glass of wine, but I'm so bloody stupidly anxious that I can't let myself take the risk (even though it is non-existent). So have one for me please! DP tried to get me to have water with honey, lemon and whiskey last night because I have a sore throat so he clearly doesn't have a problem with the booze thing, although if I want a diet coke he says things like, "really, caffeine?" Oh, and I had normal tea at the in-laws because they treat decaff with the contempt it deserves and wouldn't buy any :) I WILL be having champagne on my wedding day though!

sarah, so glad your niece was stable enough for them to move her and that she is still stable. I've got everything crossed for her. And how dare the press comment on something they know nothing about?! (

Yeah, I think I'm going to put the don't wear heels advice in the same box as the don't use any cleaning or beauty products one, aka the bin, obviously unless they start getting uncomfortable.
Congrats on the scan three, no idea about low placentas (placentii? ). Caffeine - I have a cup of normal tea and a few cups of decaf coffee most days. Have had a glass of champagne at a couple of family dos, but not drunk alcohol apart from that. I have licked the cake bowl every time I've made a cake though
book how annoying. I hate waste of time appointments.
toby I like a girl called jack. I got the Jamie Oliver book out the library after all the hooha, and although some of it looks nice, none of its rocket science and I think his version of budget is more expensive than my normal cooking!

sarah glad that she is stable enough to be moved. Thats got to be such a big sign that things are moving in the right direction.

mythree glad the scan went ok. I have no idea about a low lying ap but fx it will move itself.

extra i am on my first dc so have an app booked for 25 weeks but the sheet I got after my scan said that you had to book a 28 week app if it was your second etc. Sorry about the spd as well

book sounds like you are having a hard time of it. Really feel for you

toby me a dh have really cut back on our food shopping. We only have 1 wage coming in now and dh has actually gone to the job centre today to see if he can claim job seekers allowance as a supply teacher as he is basically stuck waiting for work from the agency and needs to be available last minute if something comes up.
I now go online and pick my meals (using bbcgoodfood and try and go for as few ingredients as I can but healthy) and then use tesco online shopping to see what stuff should cost. Then I rearrange my meals and change things if I think I am spending too much.
Then i write everything down inc cost per item and go to Aldi to see what I can get there which is cheaper. Then anything that isn't cheaper or they don't sell I nip down the road to Tesco or Morrisons and get it.
So far its working well and we are spending about £20-£22 and then an extra few £s for more milk/bread so about £25 over the whole week.
Have only been doing it for 3 weeks but both me and dh are pretty impressed with the food quality.
We could prob do most of it just as cheap with tesco value but the aldi packaging is nicer, but a similar price to tesco value.

Frizz you are doing seriously well with your budget. I have started going to Aldi as my weekly shop at Sainsburys was getting silly but the lowest I've got it to is £65 (which still made me feel good) and that's for a family of 4. I'm impressed...(and competitive) so now I'm going to try to beat that and get it under £65 next week!

I've just started meal planning too. Our weekly shop for the 2 of us is about £35 and I can't get it any cheaper! We eat a lot of meat though, DH doesn't think it's a 'real' meal without meat!

Sarah glad to hear your niece was well enough to be moved. Bristol is the best place for her

We are budgeting for food too... £30 a week for two of us. Generally it's an online shop of £40 every 10 days/ 2 weeks (including toiletries and household stuff) with some fresh veg from Aldi or somewhere local in between. I say we, it's more like I - DH keeps scuppering it by spending more on one meal "he really fancies" than I've spent the rest of the week. Sigh...

frizz the mysupermarket will make your life so much easier (well food shopping anyway). You can make your list on it (just like on the tesco website as it uses their data) and it will tell you which products you can get cheaper at Aldi. So no more writing down. It's really accurate. AND unlike tescos own website you can sort by "price per unit" rather than just "price" so much easier to find the best deal.
There's an app as well I think. I use it just to find the best deals at tesco (only supermarket near me that delivers) as it so much easier to use than the tesco website. Once I'm done it transfers it all to my tesco acc so I can just check out.

mythree great the scan went well! I know about as much as u do about low lying placentas, but hopefully it will move up out of the way by itself.

Great to hear they have moved your niece sarah thats positive!

We are also starting to budget. We planned the months meals and created a white board so we know what we are having when and dont forget what we have bought which is our classic mistake!!!

Has anyone been watching Jamies money saving meals? I nearly dribbled at some of the slow cooked meats recipes! Om nom nom! Cant get enough meat at the moment! Roasts and gammon steaks are quickly becoming my staples!!!

book piles and a sucky time at the hospital! Poor u! I can just imagine how you were feeling by the end....well done for holding it together!

mythree I dont like tea or coffee and I have only had the odd moment of wanting alcohol, so have abstained so far. Am not fussed enough about alcohol to have any. Chocolate on the other hand.... really really hope my diabetes test on Friday is negative!!!

By the way, the jelly mould leaked this morning! Good job the midwife has a sense of humour....