February 2014 - Part 5 - The one in which nobody has ANY vomiting, heartburn, or random leg injuries...

[marzipanned]

Well, here's hoping!

Re clothes, just buy the basics in newborn size:
Half a dozen all in one sleepsuits, and vests, a couple of hats and scratch mitts, a couple of cardigans and a snowsuit thing. You will get given piles of newborn and 0-3 stuff, and no matter what anyone tells you, you will want to buy some gender specific stuff once baby arrives, even it's only in the supermarket. If the birth goes well, you will be up and about within a couple of days. DD was born on Saturday, I was in hospital till Wednesday, and on Thursday we ran out of food so I went to Tesco's and spent an hour buying bread and milk and being congratulated by strangers.
Yes, little outfits are a faff, not as comfy for the baby and more work in washing, ironing blah blah blah but I am prepared to put money on every single one of us succumbing to at least a couple of teeny tiny outfits :-)
I bought loads of plain white cotton sleepsuits, and tie-dyed them in lovely bright colours. But then I'm just odd.
jazzcat vests go under their sleepsuits. It doesn't matter whether they are sleeveless or short or even long sleeves, choose according to the weather. Dress them in layers: vest, sleepsuits, cardigan, snowsuit or coat/blanket. You can always take a layer off or add another. I love baby clothes:-) my husband used to refer to the row of lovely sleepsuits hanging on the washing line by their toes as 'baby skins'.

Sorry you are still feeling rough Champagne.
Another vote for ASOS from me too, tops came up rather large I would say. Nice stretchy comfy dresses and not too expensive.
In terms of newborn stuff, I found that I was given LOADS of outfits so I only really needed essentials - sleep suits (onesies/babygrows) - allow at least two per day until you want to stick washing machine on. Vests - our babies will be winter dudes so these will be essential - up to you whether you get the sleeveless/shortsleeved/long sleeved ones - same number as babygrows. I'll be digging out socks, couple of hats, cardigans x2, scratch mittens, a snowsuit too. I got everything in white to begin with so that you can whack everything in the machine on a hot wash after nappy explosions. Layering is the key, so you can control body temp. We didn't use sleeping bags til DS1 was 3 mo. Can't wait til 20 weeks so I can see what we have left over and what I need to shop for! This time round I am going to invest in a bednest or similar - easy access for the dreaded night feeds that are such a killer when they are feeding every 2.5 hours! Also some box sets of DVDs to while away the hours in the early days.

I know it's not clothing as such but I'd also advise on buying some muslins. I used these for everything and even though DS wasn't a sicky baby they came in very handy. Great for covering up when feeding and make great newborn swaddled too.

Also scratch mitts if these haven't already been mentioned.

I made the mistake of buying loads of newborn size and then DS was big and only in them for 2-3 weeks! So don't go too mad until they've arrived and you know how big they are :)

For me personally the sex does make a difference. My son is on the autistic spectrum and if I was to have another boy it would be more likely he would be too rather than if I had a girl.

So for me although I love my son to pieces, I really am hoping for a girl. Not that a girl cannot be autistic too but it's less likely. But if it is a boy then that will be fine and we will get on with it. But I must say most little boys I do know are pretty disgusting all talk of bums and pooh. My little girl just thinks boys are from another planet lol!

My DD is not a princesses type of girl though she will not be seen dead in a dress. she has a very individual character and will not follow any crazes of fashions that go on at school. I am glad she is like that it does make her a bit of the odd one out at times but she has her own mind and it can't be swayed.

Thanks all, bit clueless as first DC for me. Also we are a 'team yellow' so trying to buy essentials in neutral/white to see us through the first week before we start to buy pink or blue. I know I'll get lots of gifts but want to be able to dress it at home without too many washing machine loads per wk.

Sounds like I need to get a few more all in ones and vests and then a snow suit, although there should be more of these in the shops in a couple of months (plus presume Christmas sales)

Haven't got any outfits as such but the baby grows, vests and hats I have bought all go with each other if you see what I mean. Will have to buy an outfit once I know what we've got though!

Yes vix muslins were a life saver I would second that. My fist Had reflux and the amount of times she was sick I could not have gone anywhere without those.

Shit - I've just actually read the NHS booklet on healthy eating they gave me and it says no ready prepared salads and no houmous! I've had the odd salad but I eat loads of houmous! That isn't on the bloody NHS website I checked!

I remember when I was pregnant with my DS. I saw this adorable soft cotton baby blue little number in gap. I couldn't get over how soft and lovey it was and it had a little hat to match. It cost close to £40 and I couldn't resist and caved in and bought it.

The next month (January) I saw it reduced for less than half the original price, I did feel rather stupid for spending all that instead of waiting for January sales. Plus when I went to H&M after buying that outfit I spent about the same amount but ended up with about 7 outfits for that price.

£40 might of course be nothing for some to spend on a baby outfit, but it is a lot for us. I had to hide the tags from my husband for that one as he would have made me return it.

So the point of the story is, I will be waiting for sales this time.

What? Why hummus? I have recently had cravings for salad and my friend brought me round lots of tomatoes and cucumber etc and I ate them all with Hummus oops! I can't see why chick peas would do any harm and what else is in there? Lemon? Garlic?

I eat hummus daily and did so with DS. I wouldn't worry

I will be doing looots of baby shopping when I go to England for my graduation in November! Can't wait

I know! I eat bloody loads of the stuff (alas with kettle chips at the moment not carrot sticks etc). Just seems ridiculous! Are we allowed packaged sandwiches then if not salads? I've really only been listening to the food advice which makes sense - e.g pate because of the vitamin A, unpasteurised stuff due to listeria, sea food blah blah. It also says to avoid deli counter meats - I guess it's due to hygiene etc.

Guess I was right to sneakily put back the piece of Victoria sponge I asked for in morrisons the other day after the counter girl,who had just been on the shop floor, came and put it in the box with her bare hands. I should have said something but was so shocked (and just wandered away with mental images of her probably scratching her arse a few mins before until I found a shelf to leave it on!)

Awwww all the baby clothes talk is making me want to buy something! Still not got anything yet! Only 3 weeks until 20 week scan tho so will know soon - plus the baby and toddler show is soon after that so I can no doubt indulge myself then!

In terms of swaddling - what exactly do you do? Do you just wrap the baby up and leave it wrapped up? Lol sorry that sounds really thick! Hopefully you guys know what I mean!

If hummus is off the menu then this baby is screwed. If I was buying it from a lady with dirty hands from a street stall in a dusty town in the middle east I might worry a bit, but maybe not so much the stuff from tesco. Though the dusty unchilled version would probably taste amazing.

I'm not in maternity clothes yet champagne. I thought I had the start of a bump (14+1) but sonographer was very clear that it's still quite low down so it's maybe just wishful thinking. I'm off on holiday next Friday so I'm really hoping it doesn't pop out while I'm away so that none of my clothes fit...

somany I used to work in GAP whilst at uni. They have a 6-8 week stock turnaround, so pretty much if you wait that long and stalk your items you will be able to get it reduced. I know for a fact they have their sale about 2 weeks before Christmas as everyone used to moan about having to work late to mark it all down during peak party season. So I will be holding off for the bigger clothing purchases (like a snowsuit) until December. I seem to remember last year the other big shops like John Lewis, Debenhams etc also had their sales a week or two before the end of December.

Until then I shall just buy the odd thing here and there or so I keep telling DH

No hummus, that's ridiculous, I've been munching away on it! I'm not giving that up. I might have had a slightly juicy steak on holiday too, it was great

got back from holiday last night and on a massive 'getting rid of the bed bugs' mission this morning. I had to bin my handbag and tote bag it's a right faff.

champagne, I'm still in normal clothes, I'm wearing my normal skinny jeans now. They get tight as the day goes on, but my bump could easily be normal podge.

I eat loads of hummus! Not seen any info saying not to eat it?

I think with the pre packaged salads, they are fine to eat, as long as you wash them?

Good - I am ignoring the stupid houmous advice then!

Eeek eeyore - bed bugs don't sound nice - good luck!

I still eat bagged salad - just make sure to wash it and really it should be fine. Would not recommend eating lots of salad on holiday though - I ended up with salmonella from eating tons of greek salad in greece. Not pleasant, but luckily the then 1 week old baby was fine!

Employment Motivation - how long is it now? :) I just finished my dissertation of 20 000 words in May. Was so much fun in the start, but was really bored out of my mind with it at the end - keep in mind that it takes much longer than anticipated to arrange it all, and check and double check fonts etc with the uni you study at!

Not in maternity clothes yet - I think my extra weight is making it look like I am just very bloated. My tummy looks slightly rounder/less flabby, but there's no sign of pregnancy bump. My jeans are a bit tight, so only wear them when out - at home it's pjs or elastic waist stuff :P

All the third timers on here, I know we have discussed this before but when did you fell movement second time round? I'm 15+5 and nothing yet that is definitely baby (rather than wind) I felt my first move at 18 weeks, and I was expecting this one To be a bit earlier.