The final *JULY 2014* The one where we ALL move to post-natal

[justhayley]

Hiya so this will probably be our last ante natal thread Really hope that our postnatal thread is as busy.
You ladies have been a great support, and it's been fab going through pregnancy with you all. I honestly don't know how I would have got through the last 6 weeks of 4am wakings without you.

I'm not due till 24th and have no signs baby is still coming early so will probably be the last one one here - don't forget me!

Anyway will love you and leave you - actually will now pop back onto our regular thread for a chat

Happy birthing

BLUUUUEEE!!!

Congratulations lovely really happy for you. When I went to sleep and posted that I expected baby news from you when I woke up at 4am I wasn't actually expecting it lol. Serious dedication posting a few hours after the birth! Lovely name. Phoebe is our front runner as well think we are the same lol.
Has she got a middle name? (Will try not to steal it)
Glad you got to have your water homebirth and are happy with your choice. I don't know anyone in RL that's had one so lovely to hear a positive story. Hope my labour is like yours - minus the week long contractions!!
Glad she's feeding well. You sound like everything is good with you as well. Very excited looking forward to pics on Facebook (hint hint nudge nudge).

I'm currently bouncing on my ball, couldn't sleep so thought I'd make use of the time seeing as I have no more shelves to paint or things to do in the house lol. Went to the loo and lost a bit more of my plug well assume the clear jelly iv been losing over the last week is my plug anyway. Seeing the MW tomorrow and hoping to be told baby is fully engaged and ready to come. It's my 39 week appointment, will I get an internal exam? Would like to know if plus has gone and what's happening with my cervix if anything. Guessing sweeps don't happen until 40 weeks? Actually really need to look up this whole sweep thing as I actually have no idea what they do. With a previous 35 week baby I didn't even need to think about it.
Would like to have baby tomorrow. EVEYONE in my family (mums side) strangely has a birthday on a multiple of 5. DS was also 15th so thinking this baby really needs to follow suit and get moving tomorrow.

Lol just popped on FB should have known you would have already posted a pic - I mean what else would you have to do so soon after the birth lol. She is scrummy & a lovely full name. We really are the same lol, different name but I too am going for 2 middle names and the 2nd being after my nan. Struggling to find the 1st middle name though - we have a possibility but not 100% yet as it has 4 syllables and not sure if that makes her full name a bit too long - even though a she'l hardly ever use her full name. All my fav girls name end in a y ie sound and I don't think they really go with Phoebe. A ending names work well but I havnt found the one that goes with Nan's name and surname as well - runs off to baby name forum for next part of being awake till at least 5.30am

Yaaaaaaay! I was lying here feeding Leo and wondering if there was any news. Congratulations blue and a big big welcome to Phoebe (great name) - glad she's here finally!

Thanks everyone - managed 3.5hours straight sleep but realised I need to refresh myself on newborn cues as just picked her up at first tiny squark assuming she wanted yet more milk-but no, just doing first poo and now fallen fast asleep on me! Slight problem is I can't go and change her as still v wobbly-got v v dehydrated (see below) and poor DH snoring next to me and haven't the heart to wake him right now!

One thing for all those yet to pop - get some Lucazade Sport isotonic drinks in your hospital bag as v good for replacing lost fluids and sugar-MW sent DH out to buy some for me yesterday as I'd bought the traditional lucazade which was making me more sick. Basically I couldn't keep and food or fluid down for more than a few contractions all day and was v sick several times which wasn't fun (HB ladies have a couple of small cheap washing up bowls to hand in case!). It was my body's reaction to the pain. The other thing the MW gave me at the end was honey-by the teaspoonful! Great to get sugar levels up!

moresnow DS was at childminder all day yest and overnight- we'll pick him up around lunch today to do intros. I wouldn't have coped with him in house yest or even asleep upstairs I don't think but that's mainly cos the first bit was so slow- I had a lull in proceedings in the morning so saw him briefly to say goodbye though. Best tip for intro that I've read is that DS's first priority will be seeing his mummy and baby will be utterly secondary so it needs to be all about me and DS to start with iyswim and then do baby sibling intro.

ickle hope you got some sleep

Blue

congratulations on baby girl! well done!

just popping in to say I am officially 9 months pg today!

sweep booked for Friday, and I did sort baby clothes properly on Sunday.
Today I will pack my bags.

be back later for a proper read.

good luck all - how many of us still going?

hayley my 39 week appointment was just the usual pee/BP/bump check. But then I've not lost any of my plug or anything, so might be different for you.

On blue's tip on hydration etc - you can buy tablets you can add to water to make up those hydrating sports drinks, if you want to save space in the hospital bag. I've treated it like running a marathon and have stocked up on energy gels etc!

Congratulations Blue! What a lovely name.

Yay for the tap adapters, Hayley, and for (mostly) sorting things with your DP.

Zing I'm still here. Two weeks to go till due date. So impatient!

Hardly got any sleep last night. Neighbour's TV kept me awake for hours after DD woke briefly. Considering writing them a note asking if they can turn the volume down a tiny bit so I can't actually make out what's being said, but also wondering if this is just the price of living in a block of flats, although I think it's technically a separate building, just we're attached at the corner. What would you do?

Brilliant news Blue! Congratulations to you and Phoebe. The business end of your labour didn't sound too bad compared with the incredibly slow start-up, and glad to hear the pool helped so much (I am hoping for a water birth in hospital).

Hayley very glad that things have improved on the home front. Try to hold off using bleach as a condiment though!

Plate I was thinking yesterday at my 38 week appointment about what you'd said about how the amount of technology declines through pregnancy, from ultrasound to midwives prodding your belly and looking baffled. When they got out a plastic ear trumpet instead of the usual electronic Doppler thing, I wondered what next. A toothless old crone swinging a pendulum over my belly? Reading of tea leaves?

Starting to get impatient now, this cannot go on for up to another 4 weeks! Have sore ligament pains across my lower bump, waking up every hour, ludicrously vivid dreams (last night I was meant to be starring as a pregnant woman in a play put on by the police (?), but I didn't get to the theatre in time to learn my lines because my satnav didn't work, and the police were a bit threatening about my timekeeping).

Haha, mupperoon. What a weird dream!

MW had to use the ear trumpet at my 35-week appointment. Maybe I'll get the tea leaves on Thursday.

Congratulations on all the new arrivals, most recently MrsA and Blue! A real marathon Blue, but 3 pushes sounds good :) maybe a silly question but why couldn't you have used the pool earlier? Or G&A?

Hayley I'm so glad your DP is beginning to understand what he's put you through, I hope he really steps up now and does a proper job of looking after you.

Well BabyBear arrived on Friday. Woke up at about 2.45 with regular contractions lasting about a minute. By 4 I thought it was probably time to call DH's parents to look after DD. Discovered the TENS machine didn't work (WHY didn't I test it?!) Left the house at 5 and THANK GOODNESS a) that the traffic was so quiet at that time and b) that a midwife saw us in the emergency car park as by this time I was feeling the need to push. She phoned up to delivery suite and found someone to wheel me straight there. Got into the delivery room at 5.20 and our little boy made an appearance at 5.33!! Can't tell you how happy I was to get my hands on the gas and air. Head came out ok - shoulders did the damage but thankfully avoided having to go to theatre. Home by the afternoon!

Ickle, my sympathies, DD hated her Moses basket (and sleeping generally!) Early days so it may well change. This time around we one of those 'cocoons' (Red Rock) instead. Not cheap but having seen it I wish we'd tried DD in one. Also you can put it on your bed (think Ismarah also mentioned this) - as it's raised, for me this lessens my concern about co-sleeping.

... In the end I gave up on the Moses basket by day and put her in a Moby wrap.

Mupperoon, fingers crossed for the tea leaves/old crone next time

kiwi I would say something in person so they realise the problem without any confusion which a note could lead too!

SmallOlympianBear congrats to you and BabyBear, that all sounds shockingly quick! But so cool that you were able to get home the same day.

I'm hoping I don't need the 40 week appointment but the prospect of meeting the crone is intriguing. "You will meet a bald, pink, wriggly stranger with a boob fixation."

Congratulations Blue and Bear and everyone else I've missed!

The co-sleeping thing I mentioned was a Sleepyhead, available from John Lewis and Amazon / eBay. Bean happily sleeps in hers day or night, provided she's tired of course. It is not raised or covered but as it's portable it provides a familiar environment wherever she is - our bed, sofa, her cot or at her grandparents.

We may be off on an outing today. Still trying to figure out the logistics of it.

Kiwi I would second Ickle here and have a word directly. If you can follow conversations on the TV then it's definitely too loud, especially at night! A lot of the time people just don't seem to realise how loud it is - for example my other half who is often surprised when I wander downstairs, ears bleeding, to have a pop at him.

Congratulations to all the new babies and their mothers!

I've been reading along but not had much to add lately! 39.5 weeks and honestly feel like physically I could stay pregnant a while longer as I'm not miserable yet (though three weeks of maternity leave already mean I'm getting lots of rest, think I'd be struggling if still at work!). I do have wisdom tooth pain this week, which seems a bit bloody unfair!

I'd quite like baby not to be too late though as have rather ambitiously planning to go on a (UK, self-catering) holiday with my family a month after his due date and I'd feel a lot more confident going with a 4-week old baby than a 2-week old, but will have to wait and see!

Can anyone reassure me that we will be ok either way? A few people have told me that newborns are easier than older babies in some way as they aren't in a routine etc, but other people look at me like I'm mad! The good thing is we are staying in a friend's house that I visit at least once per year so it's all very familiar.

You're doing pretty well lentilpot, I'm 38 weeks tomorrow and while I've been feeling pretty good until recently pregnancy definitely caught up with me in the last couple of weeks. Work definitely doesn't help but then again it's not like my office job is at all physically strenuous.

We'll be staying with PILs at the beginning of September when the baby could be only 3 and a bit weeks old and really hoping it will be OK. The good thing is with family around we should get a lot of help but fingers crossed they won't be too late and will have a week or two on top to get used to everything.

Thanks for moses basket advice glad it's a not just me! Thoughts on using a bouncy chair instead? It's not quite flat but close- he settles happily in it- I was thinking as long as mot more than 2h (like car seat) should be fine- would allow me and dh to get more rest?

I keep having to remind myself he is 4 days old so not to worry about lots of cuddles at the moment and just enjoy them!

Congratulations olympian our little ones share a birthday- my labour was slightly longer though! Glad you got into labour room in time!

Congratulations, Olympian!

ickle and mupperoon: you mean act like an adult and actually talk to people I don't know? I am very bad at that. I could probably get DH to do it for me. Slightly worried I'll break down if they're not nice about it.

Lentil I think you'd be ok either way, depending on how YOU feel physically (and emotionally, to an extent). You'll be learning about a new baby wherever you are so that won't change, and you'll have support from your family.

I've got my SIL's wedding on 23 August so if baby goes 2 weeks over I'll only be one week post-partum, which doesn't sound fun. Hence I'm doing all I can to make baby come sooner probably uselessly.

Oh and ickle I used to use the bouncy chair for DD's nap times during the day when she wouldn't settle in her pram. Let me do stuff or have a rest so I say go for it. But only for naps.

Olympian the pool can slow things down if you get in too early and since it'd been such a slow stop/start process I think that's why for me. Re the gas+air I'm not 100% sure but think she was worried it might make me more sick or so woozy that lost my focus. I felt tormented having them both in the room not able to use them though!

ickle we used to use the bouncer chair for all of DS's daytime naps. Have you tried putting him in it when still awake to see if he'll self-settle to sleep in it and get used to it more whilst awake?

DS came home to meet his new little sister which was oh so cute although his concept of gentle is rather lacking.

That little newborn cry just got me again :) DH and DS fast asleep upstairs and I'd just drifted off on the sofa but -more milk please Mummy has just woken up!

kiwi

now that we booked ELSC I'm strangely settled on the idea of not expecting anything to happen till then.
I have it in my head that no matter how many twinges, pinching, lower back pain, BH, periody ache etc I have I will end up marching in on the 28th and just get baby out without a single contraction....

And I think I'm ok with that. I'd rather not have a C-section, but for some reason I think that's what it will be.

my two oldest kids made me very angry and sad today. one played a stupid prank that made me cry, the other lied and made me furious.
I am so fed up with them. And I'm just exhausted...so all in all a crap day in ZingLand....

about sleeping in crib/cot/moses basket etc.

flat surfaces are a nightmare. baby's back is curled up, you put them on a mattress they will just not lie flat!they will wobble and be startled and end up waking themselves up.
it's like balancing on air. scary.

my solution is to put a firm pillow or cushion on top of the cot or mattress and punch a dent in the middle, then put baby into this "nest" of it so baby's back is a bit more supported.
way snugglier but still safe.

and despite SIDS dvice all of mine preferred to sleep on their sides, in the recovery position!
especially as I bf all of them in bed then we'd fall asleep.

obviously only do what you think is safe, but these things worked for us.

Oh zing sorry to hear about rubbish day, hope it improves! If you go into labour before c day will they do emcs or vb? Thanks for advice re sleeping so far had 2 naps in moses basket and 2 in chair! He has also started bringing up milk a bit, not loads but sure this is normal- once woke him up when in moses basket I felt bad because obviously was lying down so we had a good cuddle!

Nipple shields- anyone any experience/ views? Got dh to pick some up just incase...lanolin ix doing the job at the moment but just 1 bad latch and could start bleeding - don't want to not be able to feed...do they work? Is it baby dependant?

hayley not long to go hope you are still enjoying getting out and about- thats what I miss most!

Hope your day is improving zing

Be careful with the lanisoh if you don't wear a bra - I have marks on the pj tops I wore in hospital