Christmas crackers: due in December!

[Loulou000]

Maybe this will really be the last one... until the postnatal one.

by the way is anyone else going to be in Kingston?

hi Carameli, how sweet, do you have pictures of the nativity? Lol at baby Jesus in there!!!

I have small presents to and from ds (3) and baby in my hospital bag. My dilemma is that my parents are looking after ds while I give birth and then bringing him to hosp, and how can I explain that I want time for just me, DP, ds and baby, and could they wait downstairs for half an hour... They think they will be bringing ds up to the ward... But they are quite overpowering and I don't feel that close to them and I am just so worried about ds and want to do the best thing for him - which is to introduce him to baby in a calm atmosphere with just mum and dad and not his crazy grandparents buzzing around holding the baby and taking photographs... Sorry to ramble!

Well i failed to get to my due date!! but at the moment i'm not at all bothered!

Amelia Carys Davies made an entrance into the world at 7.07 this morning - at least i got to december!! Alls well, feeding happily and sleeping like a log (for now!!) boys are over the moon at having a sister and i have a whole new excuse to go shopping- PINK!!!!

I'm sure i'll be back soon, but for now i'm shutting off the computer to get some well earned sleep! birth story to follow!

Oh, congratulations nearlythere, can't wait for all the details. I'm very of you!

indiemummy, how far is it from where your ds will be to the hospital? Our hospital has separate visiting times for partners to all other relatives, not sure how your's works but would it be possible for your dh/p to pop home and get ds at a time when your parents can't come too? My mum brought ds in after I had dd and tbh, I wished I'd sent dh home to get him on his own. Like you say, having a bit of time as just the 4 of us would have been lovely so I'm definitely doing it differently this time.

Carameli, the best tip I was given about older ones meeting baby for the first time was make sure you're not holding the baby when they arrive so you can cuddle them, etc, then introduce them to the baby. Ds was only 19 months when dd arrived so he didn't have much of a clue about it all but it definitely made it easier to be able to pick him straight up and cuddle him as sson as he arrived. I also put his present in the end of the cot so he found it when he went to look at dd. TBH, he was more interested in the present than dd!!

Hope everyone else is well, can't wait to hear from Magnolia and Cals, and maybe Anna too. We ought to be getting news almost every day now!

Right, here's the updated list as of today!

Babies:
bewilderbeast 22/10 Joseph Robert
maroon35 23/10 Francesca Eleanor 2lbs 11oz
jabberwocky 22/11 Kiernan Finley Rose 5lbs 3 1/2oz
Lucy5 24/11 Boy 9lbs 7 oz
Calmriver c/s 24/11 Amberli-Rose 4lbs 15oz
Elibean c/s 24/11 Mischa 7lbs 2 oz
Magnolia1 c/s 30/11 Boy
Nearlythere 1/12 Amelia Carys Davies

Still to go:
Annaspanner 1/12
Calsworld 1/12
SH27 2/12
Contentmum 3/12
Softymum 4/12
Bubblylion 4/12
Indiemummy c/s 5/12
castlesintheair c/s 6/12
beepbeep 6/12
diamondsareforever 7/12 Boy
choccybickie 8/12
Beaker123 induction 8/12
Baretoes 9/12
VanillaMilkshake 9/12
dublindee 10/12 Boy
ELM 11/12
Mardybum 12/12
Rubystar77 12/12
Mumatuks 13/12
satinshoes 13/12
Baconbaps 14/12
lubella 15/12 Girl
judemum 15/12 Boy
accessorizequeen16/12 Boy
Carameli 17/12 Boy
Loulou000 c/s 18/12 Girl
Devongirl 19/12
babypowder c/s 20/12
cupcakes 21/12
Lollipopz 23/12
northernmama 23/12
Thalia 24/12
spinamum 25/12 Boy
catkins1000 25/12 Boy
lennied 26/12
Olihan 26/12
Weirdbird 26/12
Gloria42 26/12
summerlovebaby 26/12
pedilia 27/12
Indith 28/12
stokeymonkey 28/12

indiemummy, of course you're in the gang

Since ds2 came early, I didn't have the gifts ready as I meant. Dh took ds1 to the hospital gift shop and they got a onesie that said "I'm the little brother" on it. Interestingly, ds1 did not want a t-shirt that said "I'm the big brother" I had asked a friend to knit a little scarf for ds2 to give to ds1 thinking it would be a nice keepsake so I gave him that when I got home. I told him that babies can talk to their mommies when they are living inside Mommy's tummy and that ds2 had asked me to get the scarf for his brother. corny, I know

We did have my parents in the room when the two met. Mainly I made sure that ds2 was in a cot and I basiclly focused all my attention on ds1 and let my parents see/hold the baby. ds1 sat on my bed and we talked and cuddled.

But, he's just finished throwing the mother of all temper tantrums, so it's anyone's guess as to how things will go...

congrats nearlythere. lovely name

i have raging insomnia again. baby has been moving loads tonight, much more than it has in a while so i doubt that its anywhere near coming soon. i'm also full of cold which isnt helping.

Big congratulations, nearly there! So sorry I missed your post earlier. Two boys and now a girl, how lovely

news about calsworld

From Calsworld's* DH,

(copied from Satin's limk as that thread's filling up fast!)

DH here, thought you guys would like to know that Calsworld is a little pre-disposed at the moment... she's sleeping.

When the midwife arrived at sometime between 5 and 6 am yesterday she found that LO's head wasn't sat on the cervix.

This led to that and at 14:29 on the 1st December DW gave birth to James by emergency section. He arrived weighing 8lbs and is absolutely fantastic, as of course is DW.

I'm sure she'll fill you in on the rest when she's out but as I know how much she's enjoyed reading and corresponding with you guys, I wanted to keep you up-to-date. Plus the fact that I've told the rest of the world and I really wouldn't want to leave you out

p.s. Sorry if I've crashed the thread here or gone OT, the words are swimming so I thought I'd just type. Now it's time for sleep (I've already wet James' head with the one can of lager I could manage)...

Congrats Nearlythere and cal!

By the way where the hell do I buy a matress cover for the cot? I seem to live in a city were finding one is like the search for the Holy Grail!

Oh yeah and Tesco have taken most of their baby stuff off the shelves to make way for Christmas stuff. Because nobody has babies at Christmas! The place is 2 stories and huge you'd have thought there was room for both!

Conratulations on the safe arrival of James Mr and Mrs Calswold!

Calsworld, so sorry, moved your dh's announcement on to here then forgot to say CONGRATULATIONS to you both.

Indith, we got our mattress cover from John Lewis. Know what you mean about people not having babies at Christmas - me, dh and ds all have birthdays in the Christmas - Epiphany fortnight and I've learned to buy b'day cards, paper etc in the summer, otherwise you can't get any. One day, shops will learn that there is life outside Christmas .

Yes, Congratulations Nearlythere and cal! And thanks Cal-DH for the update!

I'm still here, as you can see. The pains just come and go-just false labour I suppose.

Pineapple and sideways stair steps for me from tomorrow!

Cheers Olihan. Looking like I am going to have to go over to Newcastle. Why did Mothercare have to become HMV?

I linked to Cals announcement and then forgot to say congrats too .

So, congratulations Calsworld

Oooh, more babies! Congrats to cals & nearlythere. I almost want mine to come early as it sounds so delicious holding a newborn. But no, not ready yet! 38 weeks today, quite happy for him to arrive on time or a bit late!

Congrats cals and nearlythere. So jealous of you both .
Still, only 8 days to go!

Many congratulations Cals and Nearlythere..

Was in jojomamanbebe today rummaging through sale stuff...of course there was nothing useful on sale..except for some maternity clothes..rather nice ones too!

Where is the best place to buy moses basket sheets from? Also when should one get measured for feeding bras? I'm 36 1/2 weeks now.

Summerlovebaby, any pram/crib sized sheets are fine, I think we got ours from Babies R Us - cheap and cheerful! I know they do bedding bales of a few sheets and a couple of blankets that aren't very expensive for the pram/crib sized ones. Mothercare and John Lewis do similar things but are a bit pricier.

Nursing bras I think you can have done any time from 36 weeks. I had mine fitted in John Lewis at 36 weeks, although she did say it was better if you went closer to 38 weeks as the baby has usually dropped a bit and your rib measurement is less of a guesstimate. I bought one and am going to send dh back in once the baby is here to get some more so I know the size is okay.

Anna, was wondering about you earlier, stop start pains are so frustrating, I had them a bit with dd and it was so disheartening everytime they died off. Still, at least you know everything is heading in the right direction. Have you heard any more from Lucy?

Thanks for the advice, Olihan. I'll pop into John Lewis next week probably...I must admit that of late I've been thinking that my boobs have shrunk!! Probably just looking smaller as belly gets bigger I did look at the sheets on the Babies R Us website then got confused as to whether I should just get standard ones or special moses basket ones, so what you've said makes sense.

wilkinsons do really cheap moses basket fitted sheets.

ooh wilkinsons..will have a look there. Thanks satinshoes!