January 2014 (Thread 11) - We demand answers like what to pack in our bags and who stole our energy?

[Toothfairy78]

OK before we start... SQUEEEZE!

And begin!

Hi everyone, I haven't posted since the first couple of threads because a few people back then had MCs in the first few weeks which made me worry too much. I'm 28+3 today.

I don't feel in any way prepared for birth, I'm under shared care with the consultant an the midwife and don't feel like I've received any information at all, they are just checking me and baby and sending us on our way. I'm totally unprepared for mat leave as well since I've been trying to get the necessary form for MA from the admin person at work for weeks with no success! I've also started getting horrendous anxiety this week which I think is a combination of work and having to have extra monitoring because of low fluid around the baby at the scan last week.

On the plus side we've got most of the essentials sorted and baby is kicking and wriggling lots which is both awesome and weird to feel!

I hope everyone else is ok.

Thinking of you, nature. How cruel for it to have to be so late in the day.

Welcome back, madrat. I think you'll find that none of us are really prepared, so you're in good company!

I'm glad we're all a little unprepared then!

Nature I've just been having a catch up with the previous thread, I really hope your scan today is reassuring.

I think they do preparing for the birth stuff around 36 weeks. Before that it's usually somewhat of an emergency anyway and until then the situation isn't really clear enough - ie whether you'll be low/high risk or induced or need monitoring etc.

YY Tarka. I'm not seeing my MW again for another month anyway, and I have a scan the week after that (at 36 weeks) to find out what they're going to do with me. If I'm allowed a VB, I suppose she'll go through birth plan stuff on the appointment after that. I think that's normal. She mentioned something about a home visit for that.

Ah ok thanks, I'll worry less. It's my first baby so I don't really know what to expect. I just want to fast forward to christmas off work and a baby a few weeks later, work is draining me right now!

I'm not prepared at all, but MW mentioned induction last week (although it was in the context of they won't induce you this early) but it's still put the fear in me to get hospital bag ready and moses basket blankets washed just in case!

It is annoying having to wait till this afternoon but it does mean Dh can come without causing problems at his work. I've 55 mins till I leave work now!

checking in
having horrid dreams about dp running off with another woman - woke up crying at 3am!

Hope mrhumpty is on the mend humpty.

Been thinking of you all day nature, hope your appointment goes well. Only an hour and a half to wait! Please do let us know how it goes, we're all thinking of you.

Welcome back madrat! Like toby said, no one here is prepared. In fact, I had a freak out about that yesterday, but after seeing cute baby pics of DD I decided that perhaps a baby isn't such a terrifying prospect after all.

Hope everyone is ok with the wild weather. How are you doing toby, book and choco? It seems like things are a bit crazy round your way. And sultana and space? Sorry to everyone else, I can't remember where others are. I'm blaming pregnancy brain.

x post

sorry about the horrid dreams lovelilies. pregnancy dreams are really weird and they feel (at least to me) much more real than not

ughh. fat fingers. at this rate will finish this thread by myself. sorry...I meant to say they feel much more real than my normal dreams. At the end of my pregnancy with DD I kept having a dream where I was driving on US interstate 95 in a chevy suburban we owned when I was 15, but I can't actually drive so I kept knocking down and killing my family members. I still haven't gotten the courage up to drive.

Thinking of you nature. Hope it goes ok.
Exchange just had in my office -
Colleague who has just been on H&S course: "have you had your second pregnancy risk assessment?"
Me: "I haven't had any risk assessments"
Colleague: "well on my course they said you're supposed to"
Me: silence I BLOODY well KNOW I'm SUPPOSED to...
My boss: "well why do you need one, there's no risks here"
Me: because it's a legal requirement, CUNTPUFFIN, alongside a CHUFFING maternity policy "well for example, you might want to put things in place around me carrying heavy stuff like when you left an event early last week without telling me, leaving me to carry everything, or X, Y, Z bla bla bla"
Boss: "well it's not like you do any of that anyway"
Me:
Boss: "and anyway, you should be sensible enough to manage that yourself"
Me: "it's nice to know you care about my health and safety... Haha.. Only joking"
Boss: "well it's nothing to with me anyway, health and safety isn't my thing".
And... BREEEAAATHE...

In packing up our bedroom and moving downstairs for 6+ weeks so it can be insulated and plastered along with the nursery. Great cause our loo is downstairs but bad cause I don't want to be decorating my bedroom and nursery with just a few weeks to go! Going to ikea tomorrow to show DP the furniture I like and hope he likes it too ( mixture of malm and expedit in white)

Re nursery decor, what are you all going for? DP thinks bright. I think calm and neutral nursery and playroom can be bright. Ours is an attic room that only gets sun in for a few hours in early morning < adds blackout blind to shopping list> so needs to be light coloured to help it feel brighter.

Thinking silvery grey or pale aqua ( to keep it unisex also).

Thinking of you nature, keeping fx!

madrat I liked at some birth plan templates online today, I don't understand half of what they say!

DH has told me we need to pack the hospital bag now (his DB and SIL still hadn't packed one at 39 weeks when she went into labour!)

We're going for neutral and relaxing white and grey in the nursery :)

blue we just got our room and baby room plastered thus weekend and need to do coving, skirting and flooring before decorating so I know how you feel! I had already bought wallpaper for spare room (which is now baby room) when I under estimated how long house renovations take so I'm sticking with that. It's cream with burgundy toile pattern and other walls will be cream

I don't know how you managed to stay so calm MrsAVB! Your boss sounds terrible!

We've painted baby's room a pale green (f&b pale powder if anyone's interested). It's a tiny room though so only really room for a cot and a tiny dresser. Hopefully it'll share with dd at some point (if she ever starts sleeping better).

We have loads of expedit too blue. We had several different coloured units throughout the house and DH has just finished painting it all white to go in the living room for toy storage. Would love a playroom

Fingers crossed things go well for you nature and you get some answers.

hi all! Just checking in. Humpty so sorry MrH has been poorly. Hope he's being looked after in hosp.

Nature good luck for this afternoon. Fingers crossed they can give you some proper information, and all's well with baby.

We're decorating the nursery/spare room too, despite the fact it's fairly likely we won't live in this house at xmas. Mad pregnancy hormones made me demand it. We're doing it calico (magnolia by any other name), so it isn't overtly 'nursery' and we had a load of spare paint

MrsAVB your boss sounds like an arse. Can you just write your own RA, and take it in to be signed and looked at? Make up a template - at long as you're covering the risks, the severity and any steps required to reduce risk, it should be fine.

blue we are going for a yellow to match our jungle/animal theme.

We still only have the ceiling painted though and no aminal stickers have been purchased.......
We also need curtains and a blackout blind but hopefully once its decorated we can sort the rest out fairly easily.

madrat i am normally super organised but havent been at all. Still so much left to get/do but most of what we have isnt due to my organisation but because we are borrowing of my sister and as they are 180 miles away people have brought stuff up as and when they visited.

I am sure someone has asked before but....what exactly do we need when baby is born those of you who have done this before.

We have:
a moses basket which i think has a mattress in it, sheets, some clothes, baby seat, pram, 1 big pack of nappies in one size and a small pack of nappies in the smaller size, wipes, baby bath (we also have lots of random stuff we dont really need or that we will need later - love my sister so much)

I know we need to buy:
A moses stand, changing mat, lots of muslin cloths, blankets, bath thermometer (i dont trust myself), some baby soap and maybe a baby towel and id like a car sunvisor thing for morning sun if we go out.

And ill need: nursing bras, nursing nightie, breast pads (if breastfeeding goes to plan)

I assume the following can be purchased after baby arrives:
Bottles, a mattress for the cotbed, dummies, baby monitor, breast pump etc and obv loads more nappies!

People keep saying that we dont need to worry as baby will get lots for xmas but i dont think baby will be getting a big pack of nappies or a breast pump lol.

nature thinking of you lots right now and i hope the app goes well. Let us know how it goes.

mrsa bosses are def cuntpuffins. They have no clue and to top it all off they dont seem to understand that we are in our 3rd tri and would like to actually know what the hell is going on with our jobs/mat leave/safety etc and it doesnt relax you to realise how they are even less prepared than we are and they dont have all the hormones raging.

We have just assumed the cot will be in our room to start so we've not done any decorating for the nursery. I thought we could do it in the spring ready for him to move into it next summer. I hate decorating though so maybe I'll save up and pay someone else to paint it for me. Or bribe my younger brother (cash, beer and pizza).

Fingers crossed nature!

mrsa your boss sounds like a fuckwit!!! He really has no idea!

Sorry, really cant remember anything else!

Oh, except frizz my mw said no need to kick count, just be aware of whats normal for u and if you notice a reduction to get in touch.... Am finding that quite hard as my bubs has no pattern and has quieter and busier days too...

Frizz I'm working to this list of 'essentials:

• somewhere for baby to sleep - I just need a new mattress and some bedding and blankets for the cot
• Pram - ordered
• Car seat - also ordered
• Clothes - just need some cardigans and a hat or two
• Muslins

I also want or have already got:

• A thermometer because our house gets very cold
• Breast pump and a few bottles, hopefully so DH can help with night feeds
• Reuseable nappies
• Breast pads and maternity bras and nipple cream
• A steriliser

A lovely friend has given me a play mat thing and someone else has offered me some rattles. I'm getting a bouncy chair for him as well.

Had a lovely spa day anniversary - swim, carvery lunch and chill out.

We may not finish the decorating til after bubs is here as he will be in with us for the first few months.... We are gonna get wall stickers, so will wait and see what theme to choose once we know him.....

frizz a baby towel (sponsored by persil) seems to be a bounty pack staple so should get at least one that way. Otherwise ikea are good .

madratlady good idea to save baby room until later. Unfortunately dh has been using ours as his exercise bike room and it reeked so I insisted we decorate it early to stop him using it and to give it a chance to air.

I have most things from dd so think we've got about everything we need. Just some new cot/Moses mattresses.

Glad to hear all are ok after the storm.

I have been blue-lighted in by ambulance and admitted to hospital after a big bleed this morning, this baby has impeccable timing!

Only 26+5, so have been given steroids and still on labour ward waiting to see if I have any more bleeding. No contractions and baby happy, so I am hoping that things settle down and they can move me to the ante-natal ward later and maybe discharge me tomorrow if all is well. I had expected this due to my placenta praevia, so had emergency plans in place, but still a shock.

DH brought the kids to see me, but it took him 2 hours to get here because of the travel chaos on the roads and he had to leave again straight away to make sure he can get back for dinner time. Poor Dd1 was in tears, feel so bad as she is only 4 and worries about me going to hospital, has done since I was rushed in by ambulance in labour with dd2.

Sorry for being me, me, me.

Anyone got any good jokes? I am bored and need cheering up.