November 2014 - thread 9. The one with the babies.

[amy83firsttimer]

Waddle aboard ladies.

Congrats winter

I've got a brand new Moby Wrap sling, ordered from America on Ebay. Got all the warranty bits and was the only place I could get a nice orange one (still about £10 cheaper than Amazon)!
Have had a bit of a practice but a bit hard with bump in the way!

Evening all!!

hey lily - I "straddle" both the Oct and Nov threads too so welcome to you!!

moggle - what an ergo bargain! V envious of that charity shop find!

loving the baby wearing chat. We rarely had DD in a buggy - nearly always had her in,a wrap or sling. I think a few of us 2/3 rd timers on,this thread were the same? My fav in,early days were my calin bleu before a serious mei tai addiction and an ergo from she was about 1. Dp was quite the expert at the woven wrap and a v proud and enthusiastic baby wearer too!

have had another lovely day - one of thos beaut dry crisp autumn days! DP and I went swimming today - v impressed that I actually managed 20 lengths and a female attendant was so lovely - made me feel v proud of myself hauling out to,pool every day during mat leave. Headed into work to see my colleague (only 2 of us in entire organization) and felt v special to collect a pile of good luck and happy maternity leave cards (didn't know they even existed). She had also kept a record of all phone enquiries for me and well wishes which made me feel v appreciated and loved (even got one from Scotland's soon to be new first minister ). I left buzzing!!
had a fab afternoon getting DD and 2 pals ready for Halloween school party - fab fun! Normally i chair school parent council and organize such events but on this one - i declined. Somehow got roped into leading party games for 60 kids hyped on haribo - what a hoot to see many mini draculas playing musical bumps. bloody knackered now though.

Ooh - hotfuzz -,glad move went ok and yr tumble didn't affect or bubba.

winter - hope you are loving that freshly baked new baby!! :-)

I'd second the love of the 'mei tai', have got a lovely one, but a bit too rigid I think for the first few months (although I am definitely not an expert!)

Congrats to all new mums and babies! It's crazy how they've now started arriving. I'm still partly in denial this is happening!

I've been thinking about getting a sling, it seems like a great idea. I'm not sure whether to wait until baby is born to go to a sling library/get a consultation, or whether to take a risk and order one now. I like the look go the moby wrap and the caboo. They seem quite similar, except that you fully yield the moby and the caboo has rings instead. Anyone have much experience with them?

Heartburn is still bad and am feeling nauseous a lot. These last few weeks aren't easy!

*wrap, not yield

We have a stretchy from mamas and papas for the first few months, then a couple of woven wraps, a rose and rebellion and a connecta solarweave in baby and toddler sizes as they're such a godsend for summer holidays!

Congratulations to all the new baby and mothers looking forward to the lovely new tiny snuggles while simultaneously worrying about not having tied up work yet and hoping ds will be happy more than jealous of his new sibling.

Am also only 37+something weeks but getting really strong fake contractions and a lot of general pooing (sorry for Tmi,) which makes DH think this one might come early, although our family generally go over.. not ready !

Ladies I have a couple of ( probably daft) questions.

1. What is cluster feeding?
2. Can you eat while you feed?!

Breast feeding of course!

Hi ark - cluster feeding is where the baby feeds lots in a short space of time as they normal feed every 3 hours ish depending on the baby. For example my DD Cluster feeds between about 4 and 9 each day and yesterday that meant an hours feed from 4-5 and then another 20-30mins at 6, 7, 8 and 9!

Yes you can most definitely eat and drink whilst you feed, I'm always eating chocolate and biscuits a whole meal might be slightly harder!

Not daft questions at all I'd never even heard of cluster feeding until I went to my NCT class...Keep asking any questions you have all the lovely ladies on this thread will hopefully be able to answer them for you!

Ark, I have found this website helpful as a guide to what is normal for breaatfeeding:

kellymom

Yes you can eat whilst feeding. I would say it is essential to set yourself up with a cup of tea, a pint of water and a packet of biscuits before starting a feed . It is even possible to breastfeed a baby in a sling whilst cooking a toddler's tea, although I much prefer the cuppa and biscuit option.

Morning all just had a lovely few days with my mum she lives 200miles away and with us both working don't see her too much.

Breastfeeding- def yes you can eat when feeding and you even find a way to eat main meal one handed even if means using a spoon after dh has cut it up!!

Oh n if anyone wants a spare nursing bra I brought the aldi one last week for £5 and is very comfy n then yesterday they were reduced to 2.49!! I have a few Miriam Stoppard one's but thought for that price couple extras are handy.

Morning all - hope everyone's doing ok this morning. I'm really loving this maternity leave lark (at the moment) - not at all bored and am making good progress ticking things off on my "to do list".

Catg83 really glad to read about your "TMI" post yesterday evening as I have the same thing and wondered what was going on down there...will drink loads of water and see what happens apart from having to make trips to the loo even more frequently

Hello, long time lurker, first time caller. Motivated to post following Arkkorox's impressive leap into the unknown earlier this week (congrats Ark, what a time you've had of it recently, I hope everything goes well for you).

38 weeks today, due 13th November. First time mum, very excited. I think we're Team Pink but they weren't 100% sure at the 20 week scan.

Hello everyone else. I've very much enjoyed following your chat for the past 30 weeks.

(and Hello lurkers out there).
x

Utopian - is that the flex or the flo from Mamas & Papas. We received a v. generous M&P gift card from DHs work colleagues yesterday and I'm trying to figure out how to spend it. We've already got a carrier so I wanted something lighter weight I could use in the house. What's your opinion on it?

Welcome to GiantHulk.

I think today's plan is knitting whilst sitting on the ball. Getting a fair few twinges in my back the past couple of days but they seem to cluster up and then stop for ages.

havent and Catg83 the same TMI here . I will not be able to get sports drinks down as already suffered with the one for glucose test, but I will up the water intake and am all set to start with RLT from now on as am approaching 37 weeks when the baby is full term (just in case that tea overstimulates something and sends me in labour...)

Last night was supposed to have placenta localisation scan but they could not see properly with abdominal usg as baby had head deep in pelvis, so all they did was to do another growth scan, which I have known there was no issue as baby has been measuring spot on in MW appointments. Anyway consultant was panting a bit about the big baby as at 36+3 weeks she was about 3,2 kg. She probably expected somebody of a size of a kitten as myself I am 160cm tall and size 8-10 (pre pregnancy), but that's how we are in the family - all small size, but we are born around 4kg initially.

ToniWol also planning to start knitting from today. Have been looking through different websites for ideas what to make as my mum has been knitting mad since summer all sort of things "for my little granddaughter" since June when she got to know what is due to arrive.

Morning ladies!

Welcome Giant, nice to meet you

Weeonion what a lovely day! You must be properly shattered now though. I do hope you got a good night's sleep.

Ark I had no idea what cluster feeding was either and I don't have your excuse of only just finding out I was pregnant Thanks for asking the question. It's beginning to dawn on me that I may not quite have realised exactly how much time this baby is going to take up.

I had very strong BH contraction thingies front and back almost constantly between 11 and 4 yesterday. Moving around didn't shift them and I really began to wonder if it was the real thing but gah, sadly not. They disappeared and haven't yet re-materialised. I'm rather hoping they stay away today as I am going to meet a friend for coffee this morning, and then another friend an hour away at lunch time to go to a lovely big baby shop. Haven't seen her for ages and she's 24 weeks so I'm really looking forward to catching up. On the up side, the baby shop is much closer to the birthing centre than I am at home so if the worst does happen..

Is anyone else getting some really odd sort of scraping feelings against the top of their cervix or bladder? I can't quite work out where it is, but it feels like someone is scraping their nails across a sensitive area, with the associated pulling of fibres feeling and a good degree of discomfort.

Hello, I'm a lurker too (for the past week) and also due on the 13th November, first baby and a girl!

It's reassuring to read that other people are suffering from the same late pregnancy ailments as I am - swollen fingers, indigestion, sharp pains where I'm presuming my cervix is, not to mention the insomnia! Baby was kicking me in the ribs all afternoon yesterday and I couldn't get comfortable so spent hours bouncing on gym ball as that was the only thing that made me feel ok. Feels like I'm in for a repeat performance today.

Good luck to everyone x

Morning lovelies!!

hey giant - nice to see you here!

ark - cluster feeds can mean you are literally feeding off / on for hours. It can be quite a shock as this is something bottle fed babies dont tend to do. I used to have to write off hours with Dd for clusters. I invested in a really good v large mug so I could have a warm cuppa (DP would fill it with coffee before he headed out on night shift because once I had her latched on there was no way I was risking moving!).
it is totally fine to eat whilst feeding - you can get ravenous. Oatbars / flapjacks are great. In fact - I might make a good tray of them today to put away. A close pal made me a big box of them, all beautifully individually wrapped which was one of the best pressies ever!
you will need to keep yr energy up - I remember days of surviving on nothing but toast and oatcakes as DD and I had such problems latching / feeding and I needed both hands. Dp still fondly recalls trying to feed me pasta bake at midnight!!!

I will say that it is not like this for everyone. Wehad big problems breastfeeding which meant I basically gave my entire life, my time and body over to it for a couple of months. Once we cracked it though - life was much much better!

Morning, ladies!

Third baby from my NCT group arrived last night, with another on the way this morning! Babies appearing from all angles now

Welcome aboard, Giant and lily!

I'm loving the sling talk too - haven't really done much research into it yet, though I think I'd like to have one for when Bean is a newborn, at least. Are the soft carriers suitable for newborns at all? I think they look much more flexible and snug-fitting than the structured ones, but I know very little about it and our nearest sling library is flipping miles away! Boo.

37 + 4, have had to put a pillow under my bump at work today to help the ache in my upper back, sort of below my shoulder blades. It must just be the weight pulling down, I suppose. Ouchies! It does seem to have done the trick though.

Thisis, oh my GOD yes! Sitting in the office yesterday pm wincing away, and same again this morning. It's not so much a scrape as a kind of shovey, grinding pain in my cervix. Sorry to be over-sharing, but kind of like when you DTD with a very well-endowed man & he gets a bit too enthusiastic, but from the other side. It makes me clench & cringe at the same time. Ugh!

Ark, no question is silly - how are you meant to know unless you ask?! BF is one of those things, it's obviously a 'natural skill', but like walking or talking etc., you & baby still need to learn it. I'm sure for the lucky minority it all just falls into place, but the rest of us will have to work at it to get it right

Thisis not so particularly in cervix, the scraping feeling has been pretty much everywhere in the bump from time to time. I thought that little lady needs a good manicure/pedicure and that's why it felt like she is scratching me from inside.
And then sometimes it feels like she is nipping me. Probably just moving her fingers and toes and sometimes catches some bits of my uterus? No idea, maybe I am living in the phantasies.

Twiglet that's exactly what it feels like! Painful pokes in the cervix here too, really make me wince!
Woke up this morning and my previously head down baby had turned full transverse and was really painfully stretching legs in my side :(
Have been on my feet all morning cleaning to get him/her to turn as I have a midwife appt tomorrow for my homebirth and I'm not giving it up just because my child likes to rotate!

Thisis, that's a really good description of how it feels! Sometimes it actually stops me in my tracks for a second or two, as if baby is trying to dig its way out!

Ark, eating while feeding is fine, as long as its something you can eat one handed. Poor DS was often to be found latched on and covered in toast crumbs in his early days! And as for cluster feeding, not all babies do it, though it's perfectly normal if they do, it's also perfectly normal if they don't! I second looking at the Kellymom site for useful advice on what's 'normal' for a breastfed baby.

Welcome Caz, Lily and Giant. Any other lurkers, feel free to flop aboard!

Congrats on the house move HotFuzz

Decided to visit the hairdressers today for a wash and blow dry so that one treat and a bit if prep out the way, so I'll at least feel like me afterwards. Looking forward to my pedicure on sat.

Does anyone know if it's worth getting a manicure? My mum thinks it's not allowed and hospital may make me remove the varnish, also is there a risk of it chipping and affecting the baby in some way? My God, I've become THAT person