April 2015 thread 7: Our viable, wriggling bumps have us walking belly-first into the new year!

[BrixtonBunny]

New thread xx

I feel so under prepared compared to you ladies! So far all we have in the house is three baby grows and a pack of nappies. We've got a co sleeper cot being passed down to us and a moses basket from a friend but I still dont feel prepared in the slightest!

My lovely mum got me some toiletry bits and bobs for my hospital bag but I haven't even thought of packing one yet.

When is everyone thinking of putting the crib up?

I think it's because they're keeping an eye on him that everything else other than the urinarty system is normal Misty414, you can probably find the calculation online. It's something to do with femur length (FL), head circumference (hc), abdominal circumference (AC) and BPD which I have no idea what stands for!

TENS machine was awesome in labour!! The prefnancy/labor ones are different to regular ones, Dh uses one which has two pads that you put in specific positions he swears by his so I tried one. The labour ones have 4 pads that you place in a square pattern two on lower back and 2 higher up your back. It has a constant kind of humming and then when a contraction comes along you press a button and it goes to a higher intensity and a different rate of pulses. Without a contraction it bloody hurts, with one I found it amazingly helpful. With ds1 I was so afraid to take it off to get in the bath they recommended. Dh would press the button to turn up intensity and I sucked g&a, worked well for me until I had to be on my back and I hated how it felt when I was laying on it so turned it off. With ds2 i had only tens until I got to hospital and was 8cm when I got there so I think it was pretty good! I know people who've found them annoying. I hired mine both times but this time I bought a second hand one which was cheaper than the rental and all I need is new pads for it.

Hi lumpyparcel! Wow after reading your comment, I definitely feel unprepared! I haven't bought a single thing. We were saving ourselves for the January sales.. Although I don't get paid until the end of the month so will be relying on dragging my partner to the shops for us to buy things! It's mainly down to him really that we haven't bought anything as yet! I'm sure he thinks we have about a year to go still. When really it's actually less than 4 months now isn't it! Went food shopping with my mum today and we accidentally ended up down the baby aisle due to trying to get out of the way of trolleys and people, (or maybe it wasn't accidental on her part?!). It was interesting though as she was showing me the different sizing on the nappies (I can't say I've actually ever looked properly at a pack of nappies before), and looking at the baby porridge and food, as she was telling me I started on porridge at around 11 weeks! Which was much earlier than the recommended age. It did make me worry a bit less with them sorts of things. She said she fed me the porridge to fill me up more as I was a really hungry baby especially through the night! X

Thanks for the info on TENS Cinnamon. I had never heard of it before I joined mumsnet so I will do some more research and see what I think!

TENS machines work by sending tiny electric pulses which i think interfere with the pain signals. I use one for my Hypermobility Pains sometimes like when idiot nurses stop my tramadol and tell me to try ibuprofen and Period Pains, It was also quite useful last time round for when my crappy Chronic Pain made the suposedly uncomfortable BH's hurt like hell. Didn't get a chance to use it in labour as it didn't end up in my bag no space between the frilly knickers and too big baby grows They work wonders for some people, but for others they're mostly just annoying...

rl it's recommended that you don't start weaning till 6 months, midwives / health visitors may advise that you start earlier if baby isn't satiated by hungry baby milk, but that still isn't likely to be any earlier than 4 months, before that their systems aren't really built to cope, but you'll know when baby is ready.

Went on a bit of a spree in Jojo Maman Bebe earlier, bought a wooden rainbow rattle, a mouse teddy and a pretty baby grow for bump, a couple of t-shirts for me (that are being delivered as they didn't have any in store but were more than happy to order them) and some bath toys for DD which she already had a set of but loves so she wouldn't feel left out. As I was on a roll went to mother care and got some Badedas bubble bath (Can't remember if that was suggested here or on the JS thread) half price pump slippers and some cotton wool buds, So I can cross loads off my shopping list!

Thanks Boo. And wow that's a lot of things crossed off your shopping list! I really need to actually start writing mine down on paper rather than screen-shotting things on my iphone, which then get lost in my camera roll!

Which pushchairs have everyone been looking at?

I'm 99.9% set on getting a travel system. They seem a lot easier and have gone by recommendation by people that I know. Two of them have said Cosatto, and they do some lovely ones.
Any other brands worth looking at for travel systems?
I'm looking around the Cosatto price and below (£450)
x

Have also been wondering about tens machine so hoping someone can answer and thanks everyone for the hospital bag tips! Currently waiting for my changing bag to be delivered, hopefully! It's something I've treated myself to a 'nice' one from John Lewis as we had some vouchers left over from wedding presents so don't feel guilty about it either

daholster sorry to hear you're having a rough time with your stoma. I know you had mentioned stoma nurses earlier - do they have any other ideas/supports you could try? I won't pretend to be an expert at all - but in my limited experience they seem to be the best people for this kind of thing. My dad had some problems with his ileostomy (although obviously he wasn't pregnant!) and they had all sorts of devices and different fitting bags etc to try.

Siarie sounds like you're very prepared! But might as well make use of the sales! Our pram will definitely fit in the boot of our bigger car but when I'm off on mat leave I will have the smaller car (fiesta) so might be a tight squeeze or involve removing wheels - hope not!

I am so achey today all over lower bump and into lower back, pretty sure it's because I can't get comfy in bed. Guess this is going to get worse before it gets better!

Ah missed the last posts before I posted - thanks for the tens info!

RL we have got the mamas and papas zoom travel system ordered - decent price and liked the look of it in the shop

Penguin- wow I've just looked at it online. Price is great compared to others I have seen! Hadn't looked at anything mamas and papas, for some reason I thought they might be more expensive than others. But what do I know! Will be showing my partner later on. Thanks x

Some places let you hire a tens machine as the good ones can be expensive. I've seen them at the pharmacy for sale so could be with asking them about stregnth.
I did consider one myself although have been advised to bare in mind that if I have the water birth then I'd have to take it off to get in the water so it could feel more painful. So not made my mind up completely. Would be nice to hear from someone who has used one though.
my step mums sister just called round with a bag of boy related items. Got a few coats, toys books and larger nappies. Although too big for now will be useful eventually. I figure anything I get given is a bonus as it means less money to spend myself however little. Everyone else I know had girls and they were hoping to palm some stuff off on me but no luck for them lol.

Hiding- I also had a few people who have recently, or in the past year or 2 at least, that had girls too! All of them were hoping to pass things down to us! Oh well, looks like it means more brand new things for our baby boys! X

RL have a look at the Mamas and Papas Sola as well, we've gone for that one and really like it.

I'm hoping to use the birth pool when I get to hospital so not sure whether to bother with TENS as well if it might make things feel worse when it comes off. But if it helps in the early stages...

I found similar relief with tens and when in the water (that's was only a bath with ds1 which was a long labour) as I wasn't allowed in the birthing pool due to being induced. It's very hard to know until you're there whether it will work for you but I think I paid £18 for hiring mine so it isn't a lot to lose if you don't get the benefit from it.

Gosh i am still feeling that birth is a long way off. I'm defo not feeling inclined to make lists yet. Enjoying being lazy before no 2 arrives I guess!

Still haven't got around to starting mammoth task of sorting all DD's old clothes into age piles to pass onto friends. Or even thought about when to move her into spare room to prep nursery for this baby.

Basically am spending today lying down (either in bath or bed) in prep for DH being incapacitated for most of tomorrow. We're off to a New Years party around the corner in a bit and then have the same friends coming for late carb loading lunch tomorrow. Unlike last year when I could barely see, I am quite looking forward to feeling reasonably perky.

My bump is now massive but I have a sneaking suspicion it's mostly food.

24wks today.

Thanks banana!
Another question about pushchairs.
I've heard from a couple of people that you should order your pushchair earlier as they take a while to arrive.
Is this true? And why?! I'm guessing I'll be looking around at them in the shops, and then when I've decided on one, ordering online from a reputable website if it works out any cheaper.
How does it work when ordering/buying a pushchair? Or have I just misheard completely and it's just like any other item?
X

I think it depends on the brand. I ordered my M&P one in the Black Friday sale and it took a week to come in, which seems to be standard for them. Others I've heard can take several weeks or even a couple of months.

Oh but if you wanted it delivered later so you don't have to store it you could specify a date.

My M&P travel system could have been delivered anytime, just chose a date closer to April as I don't have anywhere to store it (worry about that later!) however as Banana said it seems to depend what you choose as a friend ordered a Silver Cross from a department store and took about 4 months to arrive!

hospital bag, I would say:

• maternity pads (I liked Natracare)
• Breast pads (Lansinoh are great)
• dark coloured or old pants
• b'feeding bras and tops, if you plan to bf
• stretchy comfy trousers
• slippers, cardigans
• something to give birth in (a big t shirt did for me)
• FOOD - seriously take loads
• Washpack and towel. Some people take flip flops in case the shower is grubby
• earplugs, the post natal ward is noisy
• babygros, vests, nappies, wipes (water wipes are good for newborns), hat, and blanket/pramsuit

I used a tens machine borrowed from a friend and took it off after a few minutes as I found it really annoying.

Good idea to have two bags - one for birth and one post natal

daholster I had literally no idea that you could do blood tests to test your immunity will deffo be asking for them! Glad everything went ok with your DD :) I think because I have been on infliximab up until this point then they will treat DD as immunosuppressed until 4 months or so as they say it takes 6 months since the last infusion to get it completely out of your system. That means that she won't be allowed live vaccines until 6 months or so. It is kind of scary especially as I am quite OCD anyway feel bad that I'm having to give her a low immune system but at the end of the day if I wasn't on infliximab I would be very very sick and not able to get pregnant probably so lesser of two evils. yes definately do check out the FB she also has a youtube channel about IBD and I think she has some videos about stomas, she now has a jpouch but did at one point have a stoma www.youtube.com/user/bedroomdancing911 :)

Oh a quick question ladies is anyone having a private 4D scan? Apparently 28 weeks is the best time to do it :) Babyscan (who have clinics nationwide) do a scan called simply4D which is £59 and the cheapest I've found so not sure but might give it a go :) We had a sneek peek of bebe in 4D at our 16week gender ultrasound :)

oh I second minipies point food!! They bloody starved me at the hospital! When I was waiting for induction DH was bringing me a meal deal and extra crisps and chocolate every day, then on delivery suite I had 1 slice of toast in the 24 hours I was there. On the ward afterwards everyone who visited was under instruction to bring food or face the wrath!

My Bramley Tote changing bag arrived this afternoon complete with matching purse (love love love the sales, the two cost less than the bag would have been alone presale) It's definitely closer to a dark salmon pink that the bright red I'd expected but I think I prefer it that way anyhow. Officially have the joy, and it's filled me with excitement and inspiration!!

Bought a top from Purpless which arrived today, and I'm pleased with it and they sent me a voucher, so I've ordered some more tops just because I have hardly anything I can still wear now. I got nursing tops so they'll last me a while, long and ruched at the sides so I can fit my belly in while still pregnant. The voucher code is GIFTV2014 which gives £5 off when you spend £35 not including postage at www.purpless.co.uk, if anyone else wants to try it I got I think five different tops for that. (I promise I don't work for them or anything!)

I've thought I might want a TENS machine, what brand should I be looking for? Yet another thing to try to get cheap on Ebay. I got a nappy bin with a few refill cassettes for £4 today, so have most of the things on my list now bought I think apart from mostly the bigger things. I need to build the cot so I can measure what size mattress it needs, I expect the cat will want to help with that.

Nearly bought a Mothercare pram second hand off the market the other day, but realised how tiny the shopping bag bit was compared with other models. I think we want an Xpedior 3 wheeler, but DP persuaded me not to go for the very bright pink one on Ebay for £60. I must say I'm not a very "pink" person myself either, and he's quite right that we still have four months to find one in a less annoying colour! Can get the bases for £59 on ebay, but annoyingly the "colour pack" with which to complete the pram in the colour of your choice is another £50 and includes the hood, which I don't think we can do without can we?

I'm going to drink a WHOLE BOTTLE OF WINE TONIGHT to see in the new year! OK it's a 18.7cl bottle. But it is all mine. I can make them last hours and hours and hours .

Boo, I haven't even looked at changing bags yet but can't wait to browse the internet now!
Lucy, I was almost 100% set on having a 4D scan at around 28/30 weeks as a place I booked my 16 week scan at (not gender scan though, just reassurance scan) was lovely and like you, I got to see a glimpse of my baby in 4D too! But our money situation is slightly different now and although it's not mega expensive, I'm not sure whether we will now. We could, but it would mean I could of bought something for the baby instead. So I'm not 100% anymore. They are lovely though! X