April 2015 Thread 13: The babies are creeping in one by one and the gardens really need seeing to!

[TheBooMonster]

Welcome to the 13th April 2015 babies thread!

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We’re in the home stretch ladies, we've had the first baby, how many more threads can we manage before the last baby is here?

Oh yes solstice I think learning rugby hold on one side saved me!!! Also lying with her on the bed on my side with boob flopped and her cuddled in for another different angle seemed to help her too. Can't believe I forgot all that! Wow I hope it floods back!

Ohhhh I'm feeling so impatient for this baby now! And we are not anywhere near ready!!! I am being ridiculous!!! All this talk of babies...

Maybe I will see if I can encourage dd upstairs to allow me to tidy up the bedroom and make space for me to do my hospital bag...

Thanks ladies for advice on health visitor!
Hopefully will go ok!

Ooh these recipes and meal ideas are making me hungry. I'll have to get ready and go out soon as come Monday (my food shopping day) there's never much left in the cupboards!

My cheap and easy recipe that I've been making once a week is just a simple cottage pie!
I just buy a small pack of minced beef from ASDA which is relatively cheap, there ready made mashed potato from the fruit and veg aisle, (I love cooking but definitely not standing peeling and mashing spuds right now!) and some peas and carrots!
I sometimes pop in some Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce into the gravy inside the pie too I mix butter and pepper into the mashed potato, and once it's cooked I grate some cheese to add on top and put in the oven for another 5/10 minutes other half seems to love it and it's so affordable to make. And it's filling! That will be tonight's dinner I think

Lauren thanks for the mention of Asda's recipe website. I had no idea it existed! So going to have a look through for some ideas before I go food shopping later

Kismac, I think you need the equivalent to 6 pineapples to have enough of the enzyme to have an effect but trust me I ate a lot of pineapple and curry and had sex and bounced a lot with both boys and no labour induced by any of those

Midwife just discussed bf at 34 week apt with me FiRaffe, the labour stuff comes a bit later.

Don't worry about the hv RL20, she's not going to snoop around your house jut have a chat and generally chat to you about what's aroundfor you to do with baby. They don't take over your care until 10-14 days post birth and my experience from then is that's it's more you go to them if you need them once they've done the postnatal depression questionnaire around 6 weeks but it has been 4 years since I had a baby!

Try not to worry PenguinPoser! Stress will make it more difficult, you have one good side that's she's getting milk from and you can express from the other if necessary. Try different positions and if you're not happy with the midwife support then she if you can speak to another on that may suit you better. I used nipple shields with ds1 for a day because I had holes in my nipples and it was very painful but it's not recommended as its a different kind of latch (more bottle like) than nipple. Keep offering the nipple she's struggling with and as you get more confident and she grows slightly you will find that both sides will improve but you will probably always have a favourite side. You will probably also find in your own surroundings you will be more relaxed and things will become easier.
You will be sore for a while it's normal. Some people I've seen suggest putting maternity pads in the freezer and my Dh got me to take regular pain killers as the hospital weren't great at giving me anything, ask and they should give you something stronger than paracetamol. Dh is a strong believer in taking something if it hurts and he had me taking co-codamol with ds1. Don't suffer for the sake of it

My boys absolute favourite is chicken with pesto and pasta Lauren82000. Chop breasts into chunks and fry, cook pasta and lob in peas towards the end to cook. Add jar of pesto to chicken to warm up, drain pasta and peas and add to chicken too. Serve with crusty bread and cheese grated on top for apparently the most awesome dinner ever!!!!!!!!!

37w

wineandchoccy we share a due date - 4 more weeks?!!! That's pretty much d day!!! You are finishing at 39+3? Brave, I could not manage til then!!! You will need lots of rest and !!!

X posts and just wanted to say I disagree with daholster about feeding hurting even if its right in the beginning. With ds2 when I knew more what I was doing I didn't let him latch badly and never had pain while feeding. My nipples were sore in between feeds for a couple of weeks but not so bad that I couldn't bear to be touched as with ds1. Other than initial toe curling latch the rest of the feed was totally comfortable unless he wasn't on right.

Fair point cinnamon. I think I meant the 30 seconds of latch. It can easily put you off! But even that didn't hurt after a couple of weeks.

Plus I had thrush horribly so even when it was right it did often hurt and has probably tainted my memories of it slightly!

I did with ds1 too so I've done both very painful bfing and totally pain free bfing. I was getting sorer and sorer with ds1 and all midwives said it was fine so I assumed I was being wussy by the time someone else looked and said actually his bottom lip wasn't out I had holes and thrush and so healing took a lot longer so I always advise people to check and check and check as not all midwives are as good at getting a latch as they may portray that they are and i find it very frustrating.

Penguin. Medella nipple shields worked for me. After a couple of weeks I didn't need them anymore. Used them every other feed or so to ease the pain.

As cinnamon says it's those first toe curling moments of each feed - ouch! If DH was around I would grip his hand and he would get some idea of the pain levels.

I wept like a loon for first two days after DD born.

Good luck.

I agree with cinnamon about painkillers if you need them! I had forceps delivery and not once did the MWs mention anything beyond paracetamol or ibuprofen. I was in tears because it hurt so bad to sit. Finally one of the MWs who was visiting DD noticed my discomfort and asked what pain medication I had been given. She was shocked they hadn't told me I could get co-codamol. I phoned up the GP and got a scrip right away. It was a lifesaver.

daholster I hope I remember how to take care of a newborn! I'm a pro at taking care of my 2yo, but I'm worried I've forgotten how to even hold a new baby I'm sure it will come flooding back!

Daholster yes we do share a due date, 29 days to go (unless we go over), I finish work on the Friday as we are due on the Tuesday which everybody keeps saying is rather ambitious or mad but I decided I would rather have the time off with the baby than driving myself mad watching daytime tv. Last 2 weeks are just catching up on admin on the laptop so can sit in my pjs if I'm knackered.

Oh I wish this baby would stay down, my ribs hurt so much!!! Bum in them again! I know it's still early and there a plenty of time but really! In, out... Indecisive little monkey!!! Have been out up and about all morning too, what a pest for him to be so flipping high!!!

Solstice you're worrying about remembering how to hold a newborn ... Spare a thought for those of us who have never even held a newborn baby before! Or is that just me...?

Nesting problems... I went to the bathroom about half an hour ago to brush my teeth. I've just came out after cleaning the floor, sink and toilet! Will save the bath, shelves and windowsill for later though!...
Also cleaned the living room this morning which was today's task anyway, but ended up re-painting the windowsill too! When we painted it a couple of years ago, the cat ended up walking on it before it had fully dried so it's had paw print marks on it ever since! Have made the decision to close the slatted blinds this time, but have opened the windows slightly and opened the blinds too so it's not too dark, and he can't get on the windowsill

Solstice, I held a 7 week old at Christmas and I felt I was holding it all wrong and she wasn't happy about me holding her at all. She cried and cried, yet I gave her to my friend and she stopped crying instantly. I thought perhaps she knew I had a bun in the oven and had a slight scent of milk about me, as that was the time I started to get a bit of colostrum if I put pressure on my boobs. Wasn't very reassuring but I suppose when it's your own you feel far more comfortable holding them than someone else's baby.

I won't try and read everything that has been posted since this morning, I'm skimmed it and that will have to do!

My 34 week appointment went fine, I had a new midwife she was really nice. She said the itching should be ok as long as it's not on my palms and bottom of my feet. Also she said if it was really really bad I would be doing it all the time. I'll go with that for now, if it gets worse then i'll go back.

Also RE: my appointment at the hospital for palpitations they are sending another referral in case the last one didn't make it. So hopefully i'll get that sorted soon, I won't hold out hope though since of course it usually takes ages to get an appointment. My iron stores were low though so it might be that which was making my feel faint and my heart race.

In other news, we might be moving rental properties a week or more after the baby is born. Just the way it's worked out with the notice periods we can give, so that will be interesting. Still need to finalise things so it depends if were happy with the agreement etc. But we have found a nice house in Richmond town which looks ideal for families.

Solstice - Lauren - me too! I feel like I need a refresher! Hoping it all just comes back to me...

Whoa, epic catch-up!
Massive Congrats, River, Penguin and Chicken ...and good luck on the breast-feeding on all counts!

Lauren, am sorry (and quite angry!) to hear your DP isn't getting much sympathy off his GP. I'd echo the advice to speak to another one. Also, if he's having just.. general fears.. is there a forum he can vent on to like-minded people? Or maybe a one-day NCT or NHS thing you could go on where he could express his worries, because everyone will be in the same boat, and that really helps?

Daholster you poor thing, very glad your various discomforts have settled down a bit.
Anuses are a pain in the arse! (Pun intended). I'm in solidarity as I've had a mangled butthole since my early twenties (too much time spent on the toilet reading, I suspect, among other things!) - the irony is that it's actually behaved better during pregnancy due, I think, to a vast reduction in alcohol consumption which I think always set it off :0D And that's nothing compared to what you have to out up with. So you definitely get points for having the most complicated bottom and being a complete trooper about it. Hope you're continuing to feel better today (thought we were going to have yet another weekend birth for a while there! :0D)

Skyra - jelly cake 2 looks similarly delicious!

Smogs Food weekend was awesome thankyou (comically, DP got attacked by the mad B&B cat and I nutted myself on a low-hanging beam. And we both developed a cold. But this was not enough to spoil a break that involved cream-tea for breakfast, on top of all the lovely posh meals! :0D He also took some hilariously unflattering pictures of the bump which I'm going to stick on the FB thread later :0)

Wine Returned from a day out with my mum yesterday to discover a card from The Bump thanking me for the safekeeping and saying he/she is looking forward to coming out for some cuddles soon ..and likewise had a job restraining my tears. Particularly enjoyed the PSes:

"PS: don't be alarmed if I have forgotten how to write by the time I pop out - that's normal.
PPS: don't think too hard about how I got this card delivered."

[checks privates for paper-cuts]

Haha love it Nunkie. (Glad you got spoilt on your food weekend)

Thanks for the sympathy. I'm not convinced forums and groups would help him. He's a pretty private person but I'll let him know and see what he thinks.

Cream tea for breakfast sounds par for the course in extreme pregnancy Nunkie. I hope your DH got an extra scone for the road in recompense for having been attacked by the cat.

more babies!! yay!! dances round excitedly

I feel like DH is going out of his way to destroy all attempts at nesting... I cleaned the bathroom and it was sparkly and clean... guess who covered it in face fuzz?! Git! How does it spread so far? Tell me I'm not the only one who's partner has installed some sort of sprinkler system into their razor, it's bloody everywhere!!

Tesco has a website with lots of scummy recipes for anyone needing inspiration, I've been picking recipes from there for breakfast lunch and dinner for the past month or so and then buying in all the stuff we don't have, but I've got a bit lax at actually cooking the stuff :/ they have a seriously scummy raspberry muffin recipe on there! And a tea marinated venison thing!

hyperventilates having a panicy day today, I just can't quite calm down, only 5 hours till DH is home, then I'm going to curl up in a ball and cry sleep

nunkie that is an epic card!

on the newborn care thing I'm strangely quite looking forward to it, though the way DD handles that poor bloody doll does make me worry that the first time I turn my back she's going to give the baby her best strangley neck cuddles :/

boo, I know the feeling re: panic, and also re:face fuzz!
I wish I knew - mine only uses a beard trimmer rather than a full shave these days and it still gets everywhere!

Congrats to those who've hatched already!

I have obstetrician and scan tomorrow, they'd better give me my caesarian date or I'll do my nut at them!
Still, if my BP doesn't come down (it's up again at the moment, waiting for meds to kick in) I may well be taken from there to the other hospital and have the baby within 24 hours anyway ... (yep, I'm catastrophising again)

So I'd better get on with the bags, really! STILL not packed for me or my boys! I have warned my eldest's teacher though and she's ready to put a pack together of what he'd miss in school at short notice for his nan to teach him (she used to be a reception teacher so is more than capable) while he's staying there

He he, Nunkie that made me giggle. Ooh cream cakes! Mmmm!

I was acting wee bit pathetic yesterday after being sick and asked DH to go get me chocolate and he did! This is amazing as he's a bloody health freak. I've also accidentally eaten the mac and cheese I was keeping for the freezer. Oops.

I've been reading more of the Mumsnet Classics. I really enjoyed the one about what toddlers say but you wish they wouldn't.

Mum gave me a wee squeeze yesterday and she said baby is 3/5 engaged. Eek! Explains why I can't stop peeing.

nunkie I loved your post! Thank you! Today I am quite simply a whinging pregnant person... I think I'm gonna whine when he's down because my butt hurts, and whine when he isn't down cos I'm too stretched with sore ribs!!! No pleasing some people...

35+6

Back from the midwife. Bump is still 2cm behind but that's consistent so hopefully all will be okay at the scan next week.

ewby I'm glad I'm not the only one who catastrophises!! I have become so prepared for Thursdays growth scan result to be an induction within days that I think I'll have a break down if it's not... in fact I know I will because I've come to terms with an induction, I'm not able to get my head around going into labour naturally and not knowing whether it'll be 30 minutes or 30 hours!! --and everywhere I've looked has suggested that if I don't get my induction this week I have no option but to sit and wait for natural labour unless I go the 14 days overdue and get induced hyperventilates some more but definitely get those bags packed!! Frilly knickers I tell you, if you don't pack the bags your face fuzz sprinkler OH will pack your bag and there will be frilly knickers! Or THONGS!!