November 2014 Thread 8 - Bottoms up, we're heading for the big push!

[TwigletFiend]

Afternoon, ladies. Hop, flop or otherwise clamber aboard!

[Petal26]

Thanks for the feedback ladies, good to compare :-)
Saying that he's usually quiet he's had a very active day today!

[WorkFreeWannabe]

Evening Ladies!

Had a growth scan this evening as the midwife measured me 1 week ahead at my GTT, then a consultant measured me 1 week behind 3 days later!!!

I'm happy to report everything is well, baby bang on track, head down and measuring 76th percentile. The legs are 87th percentile though, he has his 6'4" Daddy's legs. Placenta is still anterior high, but right at the top of my bump so unfeeling lots if kicks and punches. Estimated birth weight is 7lbs 5oz, which I'm ecstatic about . Was worried he was going to be a whopper!

GTT results are fine. The hospital gave me an envelope to write my address in so they can post them to me.

I'm feeling a little more prepared now, starting emptying the nursery of junk. Bought a few baby clothes and hospital bag bits from Tescos using their Clubcard Boost offer.

3.5 weeks left of work before annual leave starts - can't wait!! My commute is horrendous. I get a seat in the mornings on the tube as I get on at the first stop. In the evenings I'm a ghost. No one notices me, the bump or my baby on board badge

[ToniWol]

Glad to hear everything's on track workfree. Also good to hear about others movements. Blueberry has a habit of nudges at the bottom of the bump or huge jolts (attempted star jumps?).

Slightly annoyed that my right hip has decided to be awkward today. It seized up on the bus to work this morning and hasn't really eased off all day (not helped by the fact I have an office job!). Aquanatal seemed to help though. At least it didn't ache through the session. Awaiting DH coming to bed with wheat bag for it. Also adding an extra pillow under my upper leg to provide support to the leg. Although am getting aches down the leg at the moment. Will have to mention it to MW on Thurs.

[haventgotaclue1]

Anyone else had their whooping cough jab yet? Had mine yesterday afternoon and now it feels like my arm is about to drop off not that I'm being melodramatic or anything

[CraziesTogether]

I had my whopping cough jab a few weeks ago now and strangely it had no effect whatsoever....I'm usually a bit pukey after jabs.

I have been tempted by Ewan the Dream sheep for a while, so have ordered one from amazon, more for me that baby

I had an almighty sainsburys shop delivered last night to cook up fill up a spare freezer we have in the garage. Although the thought of standing at the cooker for a few hours is really not appealing to me

Car seat fitting tomorrow then that's all the major purchases done. Has anyone bought a nice changing bag they would recommend? Yet another product with far too many options available!

[eastmidswarwicknightnanny]

Crazies rather than a massive cook up plan meals on non work days n once on mat leave before baby arrives so it's things you can make double/triple off so not a huge task we do this on at least one non working day so generally have stuff in freezer n last time I was off a mth before baby so we had casseroles, lasanga, spag bol, pasta bakes, cowboy pie, cottage pie, curries, stews, soups and always made extra for freezer was great as only needed to cook rice or spaghetti or veg fresh or some garlic bread and lasted us mths as didn't use every night. We use alot of those foil trays to freeze in or the Pyrex dishes with plastic lids to make life easier.

One thing I would suggest is have some nice meat in the freezer for a Sat night treat that's quick n easy we love rib eye steak so brought on offer as its quick with new potatoes n veg for dinner - we have used Donald Russell n westin gourmet for meat the latter is cheaper n now our preferred meat company.

[excitedforbaba]

haven't got a clue 1 I had my jab 2 weeks ago and arm felt fine until I napped on it then it felt really heavy for a few days afterwards but all fine now!

crazies I love the yummy mummy changing bags but they can be so expensive glad we got a good one with our travel system so I didn't have to spend ages trying to decide!

Ladies all this talk about batch cooking has my tummy rumbling! I'll be going back to sleep dreaming of lasagnes and big hot bowls of spaghetti bolognese

[ToniWol]

My arm was sore if I laid on it after the Whooping Cough jab, but it eased after a few days.

On the batch cooking I'll do some once I'm on leave, but as we only have a small freezer I suspect our slow cooker will come into its own once babies born. We've got a couple of comprehensive cook books with suggestions for it so can have a good variety of meals.

[ladydolly]

haven'taclue I had my jab on Monday, it's a little sore when I lay on it but it's easing up. I think the swimming and waving my arms at daisy birthing eased the stiffness a bit!

I'm not a huge fan of changing bags, I can never find one I like or that's 'unisex' so I bought the brown version of this www.pureluxuries.com/product-info/hoxton-slate-black-canvas-leather-messenger-bag/B205SB-HOXTON/?utm_source=base&utm_medium=baseFeed&utm_campaign=base&gclid=CIjY7s_8vL8CFUsUwwodaXMA1Q which I love.

Have also started the batch cooking, only 1 shepard's pie so far but it's a start! Like eastmids suggests I'll just be making extra of whatever I'm cooking.

[blamber]

I was thinking of getting this bag:
www.amazon.co.uk/Summer-Infant-Easton-Tote-Changing/dp/B004EBK740/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1410336950&sr=8-6&keywords=Changing%20bag&tag=mumsnet&ascsubtag=mnforum-21

It's not expensive and it gets good reviews.

Am I mad for not doing any batch cooking?

[Annarose2014]

My DH is adamant I not start batch cooking. He thinks its insane for a heavily pregnant woman to go mad at the stove when there's pizza leaflets dropping through the door and a Tescos down the road. I'm not putting up much of a fight!

Midwife this morning. Am measuring bang on by her tape measure, and baby is still Breech. Oh well. Plenty of time left to turn.

She also weighed me much to my horror, but I was relieved to see I've put on 9kg which is pretty fine at this point, as I think you're allowed 12-14kg by the end.

[Greenstone]

I think I'm going to get a (trendy/leather if possible) rucksack as a changing bag this time around. You can get tiny fold-up mats to put in whichever bag you go with...apart from that any bag will do for a changing bag.

I'm all for batch cooking but am I the only one with feck-all freezer space? There's just no point in starting yet because ours is still jammed. We'll have to eat all the existing stuff and then make more! I'd do anything for a chest freezer.

AnnaRose your Dh sounds very sensible indeed. I would add that if anyone asks if they can do anything after the baby arrives, immediately say 'yes-bring food'. My cousin brought over food for DH and I on night 3 and I still feel such love and gratitude for her whenever I think about it!

I have midwife later today. GP last week seemed to think I will be having a much bigger baby than my 3kilo DD, so I'll be interested to see what the midwife thinks. Bit scared at the prospect of a big baby because I'm very small!

Hope you're all feeling well today.

[TwigletFiend]

Greenstone, ditto on the freezer front. Our is tall and skinny and is currently rammed full of food, so no way I'm going to fit much in. A good tip is to freeze stuff in the plastic Chinese takeaway boxes lined with cling film, then tip it out once frozen and stack the 'blocks' in freezer bags - makes them all pretty uniform so they fit together properly and they're in handy portion sizes!

RE changing bag, I'm cheap lucky in that one of my gifts from the kids I taught at Pony Club in the summer was a posh black and blue grooming bag. Loads of pockets round the sides, small but quite deep. I'm planning to use that instead of buying a proper bag! I do need to get a small changing mat to fit in it though.

Anna, if you could despatch your DP over to give mine lessons... When I mentioned batch cooking my DP looked a bit baffled - think he was expecting freshly-cooked meals every night since I'll be at home all day!

Am feeling quite proud of myself today, which is very sad, but I managed to ride my horse and walk the dog before work this morning - first time in a couple of weeks I've managed to get my lazy butt out of bed early enough!

Toni, is your slow cooker easy to use? I've never had one as I usually just bung stuff in the oven on a low temp, but you seem to be able to get the quite cheaply so am thinking this might be a genius idea.

Crazies, I love Ewan too! Gah, the temptation is overwhelming...

WorkFree, glad all is on track for you and your GTT was all clear. At least your smaller/larger measurements are the right way around - smaller head and longer legs definitely preferable to the opposite!

[ladydolly]

My freezer is small as well, under the fridge types. I'm going to sound annoyingly smug again but I defrosted it a couple of weeks ago and we ate everything in there in prep for batch cooking (not in one go I might add). Dp has quite bad food allergies so I prefer to make food from scratch. And actually DP was the one who suggested stocking up on the batch cooked meals. Hope he's prepared for a lot of stews in the run up to xmas!

Slow cooker is absolutely invaluable, even pre baby. I use mine all the time since I have way more energy in the morning to dinner prep. The only thing is, it does smell so good all day that it makes me hungry having it on when I'm home! Mine was only £12 from Tesco.

Anna I also got weighed at this appt, way more than 9kg gained but they weren't worried and even said 'it's all baby' when I said 'what a horrible figure to see on the scales' - bless them.

[Annarose2014]

ladydolly I am absolutely convinced that the reason its not more than 9kg is cos I had a crazy active job on the wards. I must've been walking 6 km a day, easy. So I burnt off a lot.

Given my total piggery this pregnancy, if I had a desk job I'd have put on double that.

[Annarose2014]

By the way, am thinking of just getting a changing mat and stuffing it into a big bag.

I like the look of the "Baby Polar Bear Changing Mat" cos it's cheap, has good reviews and has a pocket for wipes.

Irritatingly I've lost the link right now but Google it!

[bunnykitten]

I'm feeling very fortunate in that my DS does all the cooking! I think it might be handy for him to do some batch cooking, as I think he'll be tired but we have a small freezer so won't be able to do much in any case.

On the changing bag, I have the free boots parenting club one and am thinking about getting a rucksack as that will be easier on my back and I can clip it to the travel system. But I think I'll wait until the baby arrives and see how I get on with the boots one and to get an idea of how big it needs to be.

[bunnykitten]

Sorry - typo- DH does all the cooking, DS isn't born yet!

[CraziesTogether]

My DH response to the suggestion of batch cooking was original....so I'm getting cooked meals for my lunches instead of sandwiches....haaa as if!

I am going to cook up enough sensible meals to get me through 2 weeks as for me the temptation to just eat takeaways will lead to me being ill.
A few stews, soups and basics like spag bol, chillis will be ok, maybe boring buying don't think il care when sleep deprived and exhausted.

Ewan arrives today....why am I so excited about it! Maybe as is the only totally 'non-essential' thing I've bought so far. (That and a unicorn hand puppet).

The free boots changing bag...how did you get that bunny?

I joined the club but have received nothing and after seeing some of you have needed to call them I did and have been told another 6 weeks for my welcome pack.

[excitedforbaba]

Ladies can I ask have any of you washed new Moses basket or cot bed sheets for baby or indeed brand new clothes that your taking to hospital with you?

[ToniWol]

I must admit DH has taken over the cooking somewhat whilst I've been pregnant. We did used to share it pretty evenly (I maybe did a bit more as I don't like washing up), but at the moment he's usually in the kitchen preparing stuff when I get home and is washing up as well.

We can't do much batch cooking as we've only got 2 drawers in the freezer (fridge freezer with the emphasis on fridge). However it's something we've done for a while anyway as our evenings have typically always been busy and it's so much easier to just have to do some pasta or rice to go with something that we just have to microwave after it's been defrosting all day.

The slow cooker is a godsend during winter. I just find it so much easier to throw everything in whilst I'm doing breakfast/putting lunch together and then walking in with the lovely smell after work and knowing you just have to serve. We even found a recipe for a slow cooker lasagne last year which worked well. DH does find things a bit watery sometimes but he's started combatting that by moving the lid so the steam can escape for the last hour of cooking. There's plenty of recipes out there, and if you don't want to put too much effort in - it's easy enough to do a sausage casserole by just buying some pre-prepped casserole veg, sausages and a coleman's sachet and putting it all together.

Changing bags - you need the welcome pack for the Boots one - I got it earlier this week. I've also got the Silver Cross one on order (the shop we got the pram for had an offer on for the Pioneer with a free parasol and changing bag - so we went for that).

I've been to Primark this morning and spent money on nightwear for hospital. A couple of nightshirts, a couple of pairs of lounge pants, a button down vest and a waterfall cardigan type thing to wear instead of a dressing gown. So that's another thing sorted for the hospital bag.

[TwigletFiend]

I have been convinced. Just bought a manufacturer refurbished Morphy Richards slow cooker on eBay for £14.99! Also bought a funky black and electric blue travel changing mat because I can't seem to shop without buying baby things at the moment.

[bunnykitten]

CraziesTogether There's a voucher in the Parenting Club welcome pack for a free changing bag when you buy an essentials pack of Pampers. Pampers were on offer when I bought them

I'm not sure the changing bag will be big enough, but will definitely give it a ago. It comes with a little changing mat too.

[Annarose2014]

I've just ordered Ewan the Dream Sheep from Boots You're all a bad influence!

Also threw in those Multi-Mam breast compresses - they're pricey but everyone says they're miracle workers.

[ladydolly]

excitedforbaba I've washed everything... I don't know if that's normal but my sis and friends all did.

I just KNOW I'm going to end up buying Ewan now!! I left a few things like that so that work have a leaving gift to buy for me... now how do I let them know what I want??