Jan 2014 THREAD 14 -- This will be the lucky one!

[TobyLerone]

We got Thread 13 out of the way without too many mishaps. Phew!

Now it's time to sit on our arses eating entire Chocolate Oranges really get to work on getting some more of these babies out.

You are so right another! I need to start focussing on the reason I am gonna be in labour and the baby at the end! That will be my new calming visualisation!

Hope little Mason picks up - little monkey!

With dd I had to strip her to nappy and run wet wipe/washcloth up and down her back to get her to wake up to feed properly. It's only til they get their strength back - soon she was rocketing up the centiles.

Midwife just told me to make sure she is feeding every 3 hoirs and wake her if she doesnt demand a feed.
Have taken clothes off etc to wake her and am feeding her by time now instead of by demand in the hope she puts on the weight as i know eventually she'll be demanding it ok on her own.
She has started doing the proper green poops now though so she must be progressing.
The only thing that worries me now is that she only seems to feed for 5-10mins and then she pulls away and then dozes off. Not sure if that means shes stopping too early to get the good stuff and i wouldnt know how to make her stay on.

another hope mason wakes up a bit and there are no jaundice issues for you.

Woop woop humpty looks like things are progressing and nice that your choice of birth place is so lovely.

Frizz sorry to hear the midwife was concerned Sylvie lost 10% at her first weigh which was a day early too, but had her weighed yesterday and the midwife said she has gained a lot in three days but wants to keep an eye on her weight gain so I've got to see her again on Monday. I also kept having the problem with her dozing off and I've started waking her up to feed every three-ish hours now too. I think once your milk comes in it makes a massive difference as she seems to feed a lot longer now (before it was around 10 mins and now it's around 20). I'm sure if you keep going she will gain enough I also have to strip her off and keep tickling her to wake her up!

Had our first outing today and went in to town. Had lots of comments about Sylvie which was nice! Ended up having a bit of a meltdown in debenhams cafe because she was hungry but I couldn't manage to get her to latch on and she kept crying and people stared was really nervous about bf in public and struggled to get her in the right position under my scarf without exposing myself and it stressed me out big time. I felt like such a failure and we ended up just going home so I could feed her. Decided I'm going to keep expressing and just take a bottle out with me from now on.

Thanks felix i think my milk has started to come in as my boobs are huge and hurt a lot. I might wake her up every 2 hrs for a feed if she is on for less time.
Am not sure how much weight they hope she will have put on by tomorrow though!

My god you are brave bf in public already. I was feeding when the PIL visited today but just covered myself with a blanket and that was enough. Although i do feed right in front of the window and that doesnt bother me. Its the latching part thats scary, i agree. I am not very fast at it atm and it takes a few attempts and sometimes some tears (from aurelia not me) but hopefully ill get better at it.

More baby's Congratulations Puggle

Nature hopefully that's you on the mend.

MrsRA that sounds awful, hopefully it eases off soon.

Think it's safe to say Frizz , Another and Felix that the worrying a doesn't stop!

Felix your way braver than I think I would be, for your first time out I think you were awesome to even try! I'm sure in a couple more days you will be a dab hand, way more clothes and stuff to de-robe when your out.

With some of the baby's being slight jaundice is that because of the weather or is that just a stupid thing to say!?

I'm off to watch a movie and stuff my face with popcorn! Hope I can at least be a tiny bit comfy in the sofa.

Felix well done for giving it a go in Debenhams! Its such early days! Were you by yourself? Perhaps you could try next time taking someone with you to support you? I think that was very brave - actually I am in awe!!! Think the first time I try feeding in public I will drag DH along with me. He doesn't tend to give a toss what other people think when we are out, so I reckon he would be a good person to have with me as when I start to panic and meltdown he can hopefully talk me down.....

mrsrA that sounds awful. At least it's not long left now

Today we've laid the bedroom flooring which has made a huge difference. Lots of tummy tightenings with all the bending over but was worth it. Tomorrow going to fit skirting in our bedroom. Think ill sleep well tonight apart from the 400 toilet trips!

OH was with me and was really good and tried to help all he could. I got the boob out with my scarf covering and everything but I just couldn't get her in to position as I couldn't see where my nipple or her mouth was OH suggested practicing at home with the scarf so I think I'll try that. I even went in to the baby change room to try but she was too worked up by this point, and some stupid woman kept trying to open the door even though it was clearly occupied which made me even more stressed!! I'm sure I'll crack it eventually!

Well done for nursing in public!

you're very brave :)

pains have started again, i think it's that time of day. Apparently the odds of me going into spontaneous labour are about 3% or something.

dh has a two week holiday starting on 5 Jan, if the baby comes while he's on holidays his pat leave will start at the end of his holidays. Means potentially a month off together. One whole month. I'm dreading the thought to be honest. Having him at home messes with my routine, the house is always a tip (i think, why am i cleaning and he isn't?) and after a week I'm longing for him to be back at work. He's very excited about it though, he thinks we'll have quality time before the baby is born. We'll see

felix you will absolutely crack it and that's a great idea trying it at home. My mate did that infront of a mirror so she could be confident she wasn't flashing everyone....

frying I know how you feel about having your DH off for so long. DH only has one more week off and I am actually really going to miss him when he goes back to work this time. Think that's because I am feeling wussy and vulnerable and his mum will be arriving a few days later. I am normally miss independent, so it feels weird to suddenly be so clingy yo him! Hopefully if you end up with him for a month he will actually prove very useful. You never know....

felix you did really well going out so early. There's nothing to feel bad about. With ds I eventually stopped caring about what people could see and would just whip my boobs out at will. And I'm by no means an exhibitionist.
When you do it in front of a mirror you'll be surprised at how little people will actually be able to see, even without a scarf. Maybe the long scoop neck vest under tops trick would be something you could try.

I got my ergo today and its genuine (was a little worried about it that). Ds went into it on Dps back but he's not overly keen on it. Can't wait to try it with the little one. Have also bought myself some stuff online in the sales for when I'm not huge.

Just had a stark reminder of my whale status!

am in the bath, not really paying attention to the running water. I glanced up to see how long the bath has left to run because my belly is still in the air, realises the water level is at the drainage holes under the tap.

even at my biggest my belly would still be wet! So there you have it, beached whale, even in the bath

felix I third what others have said, you're doing fabulously well to have tried feeding in public.
Have you considered a feeding apron like this one?
A friend had one and said it helped as you can see the latch whilst being covered.

Thank you for the kind words everyone. Hopefully today won't put me off trying again.

Humpty that is such a good idea, I didn't know they existed! I may have to buy one to try out

frying! Lol! It doesn't seem possible does it? Do you remember the days wondering "when will my bump appear?" Am a bit scared about what I will be left with once bubs finally makes an appearance. The NCT girls who had their babies look like skinny minnies just two weeks post birth! You wouldn't know they had had babies! I suspect I may be the one who struggles to get in shape in our group! However, it will all be worth it when I look at my little monkey when he finally arrives....

Hi all

I'm afraid I haven't posted for a few threads, but I have been following you guys. I just wanted to let you know that my DD arrived safely on 15 Dec by emergency c-section. She was due 5 jan, so was 37 weeks exactly, but weighed in at a healthy 7lb 6oz and hasn't needed any special care or had any problems feeding - just a little bit of jaundice.

We'd had a tough few weeks leading up to that - I had obstetric cholestasis so we always knew she would be early, but I got quite poorly towards the end and spent most of the last week before she was born in hospital.

Thankfully since she has been born all has gone well and we had a lovely Christmas with my family, being pampered by relatives. Like others have found with their babies, she is quite sleepy so needs to be encouraged to stay awake to feed, but that does at least mean we get a decent stretch of sleep at night (whereas my first DD woke every few hours).

Best of luck to all of you for your imminent arrivals and congratulations to those who already have their babies

fidget many congratulations! Glad to hear you're doing well.

Felix - well done on getting out and trying, it's hard at first and it feels like everyone is staring and that your baby is loudest noise ever. Baby is loudest to you because you're mummy and totally tuned in to baby. Breastfeeding is hard and learning curve for both of you, you'll get there and just take a deep breath and try again :) even having fed 3 they are all different and my :rd had undisguised lip tie which made latching hard. Xx

I'm almost 38 weeks now and feeling very big and very tired. Still not properly packed hospital bag tho, but dh keeps sneaking bits in it! Lol

Congrats fidgit what did u call her? Glad all is ok with you both.

Dont be hard on yourself at all felix like the others say u were so good to attempt it so early!!

toby and book keep meaning to ask I know u having your babies at ashford too. Ru having them at main hospital or mlu? Wondering if we might be in at same time. I'm obviously in main hospital bow as being induced due to all my kidney issues etc..

Congratulations fidgit, glad all is ok with you and your dd despite the OC and troubles at the end.

Well done felix at attempting to breastfeed whilst out and about. As others have said it gets easier, at the moment you are both learning about latching, but soon it will become practised and you will be more confident.

I am now in the wip em' out anywhere stage too, I stopped caring what other people thought when I had dd1 the boob monster. Vest tops under other tops like enormouse suggested is a good tactic when needing some discretion.

frying my DH found a whiteboard with a rota list of cleaning or chores useful when he took over being the SAHP until it became second nature to him.

Congratulations figit
another brilliant idea! I'll have to adopt that one.

i have loose stools again. Since Christmas, well a couple of days before, I've had one day where i could poo normally. One. I've have diahorrea, then constipated, now this. Which is rubbish. I've not eaten anything different either.

on the plus side, I've only woken up once tonight, just now, which seems brilliant! DS will be awake soon, but I'm going to try conning him into sleeping again as we have church today and he's a bugger if he doesn't sleep well.

A quick one from me! Baby sofia was born this afternoon 8lbs after a very speedy labour! 38wks +1. Turned out was in latent labour since xmas eve,turned up at hosp 9cm after waters broke. Sadly didn't get waterbirth as birth centre was full, but gave birth naturally no pain relief eek! Unfortunately had a nasty tear so had to go to theatre afterwards. Nice midwife brought her to me so we could gaze at eachother and didn't miss out too much.

Happy with choices we made and though it was hard going (crowning I guess the worst) but fact only labouring in hospital 3h30 made it easier.

Sofia is a beautiful bonny girl so far feeding well currently asleep on my chest like a tiny angel.

Funny how they feel the same on the outside as in! All her wriggles are so familiar.

Quacko that's brilliant! Congratulations, and what a lovely name x

Congratulations fidgit and quacko - such lovely news!

How are you doing choco? Are you still at home? I'm down for the MLU, but the baby is currently showing no interest in being born at all. 39 weeks tomorrow and she's not even engaged, so I'm starting to suspect I'll end up on the ward being induced anyway. Midwife has offered a sweep at 40+3 but has suggested waiting an extra week. I just want her safely out ASAP now because I spend so much time worrying about whether she's okay due to her general lack of movement.

Does everyone have nice plans for today? I've got my last nct class, probably followed by excessive chocolate eating