Graduated Elderberries - Thread 8

[Cavort]

The over 30's expecting/just given birth to their first little bundle of joy.

Thread 8 already!!

Ahhh glad you had a fab baby shower alex!!

Men nest? Can someone tell mine? We ran out of sugar yesterday (bearing in mind I don't drink tea or coffee so wouldn't know) and he said only half joking geez woman what do you do all day. Cheeky shit.

My mum and dad are the same re advice. My dad is actually driving me mad in general! Not sure if I already moaned about this so won't repeat myself.

I ended last night with stomach pains and throwing up, not my finest hour. Baby was not impressed and kicked me lots of tell me so. And where was my OH? In bed, ignoring his sick preggo misses.....charming! :-( Thankfully feel better this morning, no idea why I was sick.

Ooh mother hopefully the sickness could be a sign. You need to have him now to make room, two more BFPs since Thur!

lol can you make me an admin on the fb group so I can add the new grads?

mother when is/was your due date again? I know it's around now but can't remember when! baby brain so exciting, I've also heard sickness is a sign of labour. This is like pregnancy symptom spotting all over again! My DH was cheeky about mat leave the other day too, they were saying on 8 out of 10 cats that mat leave is a just one long tea break and he was laughing REALLY hard whilst checking my expression to make sure he wouldn't get told off

Mother I was sick in the last few weeks but I can't remember how long afterwards labour started. Not long I think. I hope those bags are packed!

2 more grads, how exciting! The more the merrier.

my bags packed and babys bag is packed....my OHs bag isnt Just been for a dog walk and have arranged a walk with a friend for this afternoon too so fingers crossed the sickness last night is a sign.

Yay, more grads, love it!!!!!

Due on Thursday alex. Hope he is aware of that I think he must be further down in my pelvis as I can't really bend to put shoes on anymore without pain.

Hello ladies,
At 15+4, (and now signed up on FB) I've decided I really need to dip my toe in here.

mother fx for you that this is the start - will be on tenterhooks for news!

Apologies if this question has been asked umpteen times before, but I couldn't see it elsewhere on this thread. DH is very keen to start making some lists and plans on what to buy and how to reconfigure the house for the little one. I'm a bit more relaxed about needing to do this stuff now, but I can see that at least making the lists, if not doing things yet, could be helpful.

So - what are your recommendations for things to buy/not to buy? We have our room on the top floor (loft extension), are planning that baby's permanent room (and maybe changing space?) will be 1st floor. What should we put where? We're thinking co-sleeping cot/babybay for our bedroom, and a permanent cot (poss convertible bed) for the nursery.

Hi poppy and welcome

The truth is you need to buy very little IME. We've got a similar set up to yours. Our DS is four months and still in a cosleeper with us (second hand arms reach from eBay) and we have a cotbed in his nursery for when he finally starts sleeping more in a couple of months time.

Things I would recommend (having told you that you need very little!)

Co sleeper
Angel care monitor with sensor mat (DS was in intensive care with serious breathing issues for a few days, so this has been invaluable for peace of mind)
Some kind of a basket on each floor to keep nappy change stuff in
Ergo sling
Bumbo seat or mamas and papas snug - v cheap off eBay but really good
A playmat - again got ours cheap off eBay
A swingseat bouncer thingy - bit think it varies baby to baby how much they like them
Some kind of toy to hang on their car seat or pram to amuse them

Hi poppy and huge congrats! I'm nearly 37 weeks, exciting We ended up doing a loft conversion this summer so I was very disorganised for me and bought very little as the house was a mess. Now I'm really glad I didn't buy much as I was really lucky and got some great hand me downs, just tonight a lovely mamas and papas changing table from my neighbour, plus I've had some great gifts and clothes already. So I would def say less is more. I think the essentials for me were to think about how the baby will sleep and get that ready, pram, car seat, ergo baby carrier (because I knew I'd want one of those), changing mats (John Lewis do a good value one for £5) and then stuff for the hospital bag like nappies, maternity pads etc (you can get good lists online). Been packing my hospital bag today! Better run as DH wants to watch last week's homeland but will add anything else I think of!

Hi poppy and thanks, no news as yet I'm afraid.

I agree, you don't need as much as you think. We have a swinging crib in our room which is in the loft for the time he is in with us, I have nappies, cream etc up their too. We bought nursery furniture for the nursery but imo you don't actually need all that, just a cot and changing mat, changing supplies etc. My folks insisted on buying us a baby bath but I've been told we don't need one of those either.

We also have a playmat and vibrating chair thingy (can't remember what it's called), a mobile and heaps of other stuff we no doubt won't need. looks cute tho

We considered a travel cot for downstairs as I don't want to have to fret about what the dog is doing all the time. Going to play it by ear though. Hoping to just use the carrycot from the pram downstairs.

I would suggest starting with looking at prams. We went for the Mothercare Experior although I'm still annoyed we didn't get the Mothercare Orb Looking at prams is fun, plus even though the reviews is important it is equally important what you like and how it feels to push etc. Gut instinct goes a long way with a pram I think.

welcome poppy and as others have said, you need less than you think.
Mine is 4 months old and we don't even have a nursery yet - he sleeps with us in a co-sleeper (Fabimax from amazon.de, it's bigger and cheaper than babybay) and in a baby hammock during the day.
Don't buy too many clothes, they grow so fast - I have packed most of the clothes away before he even got to wear them, he just grew out.
We love the Babybjörn bouncer, but are quite ambivalent about play mats.
Yes to a good pram.

And unless you live in the middle of nowhere where nobody delivers, you can simply buy most stuff when the baby is here.

Can I ask about bedding... Is this right?
Newborns can have a grow bag/sleeping bag provided its not one they can slip down into (so the ones that look like dresses or dungarees at the top). However don't their arms get cold? I read you're not supposed to also use blankets at the same time
If not using a sleeping bag it should be blanket(s) and fitted sheet on the mattress. No quilts, no bumpers on the cot (when we get there) and no pillows

If that's right then what do they sleep in????

if it's cold, you put them in a long-sleeved vest or pyjamas. Or if really cold, I've also seen grobags with sleeves.
We don't have anything but fitted sheet in the cot.

I agree that you don't need nearly as much stuff as Mothercare would like you to think!

We've got a cot bed which for the moment has a borrowed Moses basket sitting in it for sleeping, a bouncy chair (best buy for us) downstairs and a playmat/baby gym thing then the obvious car seat/pram stuff. I tend to pack the changing bag for the whole day in the morning then carry it around with me so we never use the proper changing mat we bought just the folding one in the change bag.

If you do but a baby bath I highly recommend getting one of the sponge things that go in the bath, they stop the baby sliding around and leave you with both hands free instead of having to hold them and makes those first few baths a lot less nerve wracking! They're only about £7 so money well spent IMO.

Oh and we also have the angel care monitor/sensor that Janey has got and I second the recommendation. We're really pleased with it (only got it recently, bit disorganised)

Now it's getting colder Elodie sleeps in a long sleeve body suit, a sleep suit and a 2.5 tog Grobag and she seems fine so far. Babies feet, hands and face are always a bit cold and it doesn't mean they are actually cold, you just put your fingers down their clothes and feel if their chest is warm they are fine. I think Grobags are only recommended for babies over 8.5lbs so if a newborn is smaller you might have to use an alternative like a swaddle and blankets for a while. Traditional cot bumpers are not recommended but you can get breathable mesh ones to stop their arms and legs from escaping through the bars. I recommend just buying what you need to get you through the first few weeks with a newborn and then getting anything else as/when you need it.

See you're feeling movement now merk, I honestly think that was one of the most exciting times!!

Mine is moving much much less now as he must be cramed in like a sardine I miss all the movement and watching my belly jump around.

See the helicopter is pretty busy now, so glad there are so many bfps! It's been a bumper few months!!!

Thanks, ladies - this is all super helpful.
Not sure I'll persuade DH that we only need to get the minimum - he'll want to be prepared for every eventuality, and is already talking about playpens and child-proofing cupboard doors, even though I'm pretty sure mobility is a long way off yet!
Will also have to content with 'helpful' MIL and SIL and their views on what we should have ...

Ahem, contend, not content

Today I have done a food shop, dog walk, shampooed the lounge rug, changed our bedding (watching a 9 months pregnant woman change a king size quilt would be funny, I swear it didn't used to be that hard), I've also sorted a box of changing essentials for our bedroom and a drawer in the lounge so we have changing stuff in three rooms now. Feeling more prepared

Just need a baby now.

on a different note why can't men say when they finish something. How can we have chips with dinner if hes already cooked them all and eaten them while I'm not here? I'm not a mind reader, more annoyingly I did the weeks food shop today so could have got some.....grrrr.

mother that's because the food fairy comes automatically and tops things up when they run out. Same as the loo roll fairy and the cat food fairy. I have told my DH that the fairy (aka me) is not a bloody mind reader but he seems to forget that too!

We had a tiff on Sat night which I ended up laughing in the middle of as he tried to prove his point that he did loads found the house. When asked to name what he'd done in the last five days he got stuck at loading the dishwasher (once) and buying his own dinner one night (as I was ill). I think it might have dawned on him then that his contribution was a little lacking, especially as we both work the same hours!! Bless him, I blame his bloody mother

Pregancy moan alert!! I've only got four days until mat leave, my broadband has gone down at home so I can't do my usual working from home, I've got to travel 3 hours to do a client pitch, and a cold I thought I'd got rid of has come back with a vengeance! Feel rotten and been awake coughing since 4am. Have to go in today for this pitch but after that, it would be really bad form to call in sick or slack off during my last week right? Just want to shake this off as would be horrible going into labour with a chest infection or something!

More cheerfully, purple I'm glad you second the recommendation for the angel care sensor/monitor as I've bought that too.

Apparently Alex your body is clever and won't go into labour when you're ill, but will wait for you to recover. But whether that's true or not, I think you should def start slacking. I think you should call in sick today!

Bloody knackered. Hate this four month sleep regression. When will it end?!

Not at all Alex, just remember you've got more than your own well being to think about here and is it fair on baby Alex to start his/her new life while you are ill and feeling run down? Therefore phoning in sick = a selfless act.

Same here Janey. I thought we had reached the end of it after a few (bloody fantastic) nights of 11 hours sleep with one brief feed, but the last 2 nights have been right back up there with the best of 'em. Last night she struggled for an hour to go to sleep at the start of the night, then slept until 02.00 but was then wide awake 02.00-04.00 and woke every half an hour after that until finally getting up at 07.20. DH helped me out a bit as I was still completely mashed from the previous night's disaster but I still feel absolutely terrible today. The Wonder Weeks reckons we have 6 more days of this shit left. And now she's happily squealing at The Tweenies.