May 2016 babies - baby clothes, maternity leave and all the rest!

[GrouchyKiwi]

Here's the next thread!

Thanks for the messages, everyone. I have indeed had a great response from my church family so feeling good about that. And the MW came up with two options for in-the-home help, so I'll find out more about them later. I've also ordered myself a pair of crutches so I can take the weight off my pelvis.

Hope the house move goes OK, gunshot.

Sorry about your back pain, ODog. It's difficult to get it to feel better, but my osteopath gave me a stretch you could try. It feels lovely. You need to lie on your back on your bed, bend your knees and lift feet off the mattress, and try to press your tailbone into the mattress (softening your sacrum). You then hug your knees to your chest (as best you can - hard with a baby bump!) and you should feel the stretch in your lower back. Rocking gently side to side in this position is good too.

Hope that makes sense!

We're moving just over 100 miles. We'll only be 1.5 hours away from family which will be great, hopefully when I go into labour my sister can jump in the car and get to us in time to look after DD!

I have never been to an antenatal class I feel I should have, I probably would have made more friends if I did! I'm struggling to find baby groups in the new town that I can take a newborn and 2 year old DD to, hopefully I'll find some once we're there.

Hope your back feels better soon ODog

Thanks grouchy I'll give it a go but it has moved so more in my upper back/shoulders.

gunshot I plan to continue taking DS to his normal toddler groups and rhyme time sessions as you can take babies too if you want. No baby massage/sensory/yoga for DC2! Although I'm certain young babies get just as much out of watching bigger kids run and play and there are always as many babies as toddlers at rhyme time (I'm guessing because people are still on mat leave). Another advantage is that church/village hall toddler groups are super cheap (£1 donation and you get tea/coffee and kids get a snack/juice - bargain!) and rhyme time at the library is free. I spent fortunes on baby classes with DS which he cried and/or fed through

Oh that's no good, ODog. Sounds weird, but stand against the wall, put a tennis ball between your shoulder blades and kind of move it up and down the wall - and side to side - with your back. It's a cheap massage.

Just bought a tens machine second hand. Anyone used one before? I didn't last time, but every little helps eh! Plus I think you can use it for back pain during pregnancy, but I need to check that.

So pleased it's the weekend and DH can take DS tomorrow so I can have a lie in. Seeing some of the nct girls later today so I'm going to play the pregnant card and have them wait on me a bit! Haha! So tired. I just keep telling myself that it's all good practise. How some of you are doing this more than twice is beyond me? 3rd trimester hit and suddenly I'm finding this so much harder than last time.

30 weeks today so 10 more to go. Single figures next week thank god

I'd be interested to know how people have found TENS machines too as thinking about getting one.

Good to know you're still in touch with your NCT class ODog I hope ours keep in touch too.

30+5 today and over the past 2 days I've started to struggle. Absolutely shattered, bloated and constipated causing stomach pain, feet are starting to swell up. I've got a meeting to go to until 1:30pm but then might have to leave work early, go home and collapse on the sofa! Not sure how I'm going to cope with another 5 weeks to go until maternity leave starts

Hopefully I'll find some church groups once we move, all the ones online seem to be pre-walkers or 2+.

Movers are currently packing up our house. I'm very awkward with strangers so had a stressful half hour alone with them until DH got home! Luckily a friend has taken DD, I don't think she'd help matters!

frozen I hope you get a chance to rest this afternoon.

I hated TENS when I was in labour with DD1 (I was really angry through the whole thing, to be honest ).

Crutches arrived today and immediately they've helped ease the pain of walking. So pleased about that.

frozen Hope you feel better soon and have a restful afternoon.

How's your back ODog?

Do you move tomorrow, gunshot?

I don't think a lot of church groups tend to advertise online gunshot. I'm sure you will find 1 or 2 lovely ones.

Glad the crutches have helped grouchy. It must be such a relief.

I still see the girls from our nct group every week frozen. Well the ones that don't work full time. It's lovely as we are all starting to have 2nd babies too now. One already has a 5mo, 2 more have just found out they are pregnant and 2 more are ttc so all our sets of babies can grow up together. So lovely :)

My back feels good today. The yoga seems to help but it hurts in different places and to different degrees each day so I think it's just from lifting DS in/out of car, high chair and when he needs cuddles etc. not much I can do about it really. Perils of pregnancy with a toddler I guess.

Glad your back feels better ODog

We moved out yesterday, move into the new place tomorrow. Staying at my dad's tonight as it's only an hour away. Can't wait to get it all set up!

Good luck with moving in today gunshot, very exciting! I hope you'll manage to take it easy at least a little bit though!

Glad to hear the crutches are helping grouchy and that your back is feeling better odog. Pregnancy is hard work!

I've got my 28 week appointment this week with the midwife. Interested to know how I measure as everyone seems shocked that I'm "only" 28 weeks... I actually thought I was looking quite nice. My big-bump seems to make my big bum look smaller!!

I'm sure you will measure just right parsnip, everyone always seems to think you are big or small. It's never bothered me really but I know it really grates on some. I have my 31 wk appt on Thursday, hopefully DS will avoid a major meltdown like last time!

Had my whooping cough jab earlier this morning. My arms really ached last time but touch wood it seems ok so far.

Hope everyone had a nice weekend.

Same here parsnip, I was sure I would be measuring "big" based on what everyone kept saying to me, but I was spot on at 29 weeks! Feel like I've grown a lot since then so let's see what they say next week!

Came into work today feeling a bit under the weather and have walked in to a clustfuck bit of a situation at work which means I have to have difficult conversations with all of my staff as they have really badly let me down....all of which is making me feel MORE nauseous/exhausted/like I want run for the hills than I already did.
Would it be AWFUL to go home sick in he midst of a drama?? Nothing I can directly do today as it's a case of stuff that already happened rather than something I can directly "fix" right now!
Happy new home gunshot and hope everyone else's Monday is better than mine!!

Parsnip and Odog if one more person tells me how large I look I might cry! Not sure what I am measuring as keep forgetting to ask. Have my 32 week appointment on Wednesday so shall see.

Coffee I don't know the answer. If it would be better dealt with tomorrow with a calm head I would do that.

Toddler been up constantly coughing through the night and would only sleep on me. Having to work from home as so pukey and tired I just couldn't even face the office on zero sleep

Hope the move went well gunshot

Everyone keeps telling me I look small parsnip even though I've been measuring on track so far. Seems like everyone likes to have an opinion on bump size!

I have my 31 week midwife appointment later so working from home today which is much less stressful than being at work. My insomnia is always worse on a Sunday night, so Monday is always zombie day.

We've got our second NCT class tonight, a big Ikea order including the cot coming on Wednesday and getting married on Saturday so it's going to be a busy week!

Ahhh! Ladies, I hear you on the old bump size comments. Apparently I am 'huge' according to my MIL but I had the midwife today and am measuring just right.

Why do people think it's ok to assess your body and comment on it?! Are we public property these days?

Ahhhh watching your toddler roll around a bed doing pretty much everything they can to stay awake, whilst you need and wee and they won't let you leave the room is pretty much the most frustrating thing ever!

I hope your week gets better Cant!

Congrats frozen, I hope you have a great day :)

There are about a thousand boxes left to unpack, but I love our house. I really miss the old city though, which is strange as I thought I'd miss the old house more. Feeling a little sad and stressed, DH has gone back to sort out the old house, but my sister is coming over later and will cheer me up!

Glad the move went well, gunshot.

Toddlers are definitely sent to try us, ODog.

What a miserable start to the week, cant. Hope it all gets sorted ASAP.

I now have tonsillitis. So miserable. Supposed to be getting the whooping cough jab on Thursday but doubt I'll be up to it.

Wow frozen exciting week!
So sorry to hear about the tonsillitis grouchy, I know it makes you feel really ill, hope you get to rest a little bit (is that possible...?)
Yesterday at work was so horrendous start to finish, and then I started to feel really sick at bedtime, the same thing happened on Sunday night...awake at 1.30am feeling really shaky and rough and the baby was going completely nuts jumping around which wasn't helping much! The midwife told me last week (when I said I'd been sleeping lots better) that from 32 weeks you're unlikely to sleep through the night because of the baby's movements - is this the case for those who have done this before? Seems like I might be getting there already (though to be fair I had a pretty good number of hours sleep before/after that)....DP made me a coffee just now and I'd normally be getting up to go to yoga before work but think I'm going to try and go back to sleep and hope I wake up feeling better as I HAVE to be at work today, we're doing the last interview for my maternity cover!

Sorry frozen I forgot to say all the best for Saturday. Hope it all goes well, how exciting.

I can't remember 'Sleeping through the night' cant. I've had to get up at least twice a night to pee since my bfp and I'm pretty sure it was the same last time. Just look at it as mother natures practice run. DS wanted to get up at 4.30 today! Managed to convince him to stay in our bed for another 45 mins and then DH got up with him.

Odog when I say "sleeping through" I mean getting up once to pee and being awake before and after that for a while - but still, given the sleep issues I had in the first few weeks of pregnancy and then again around 24 weeks (I think?) I am sleeping well since my holiday - only getting up once is pretty lucky I think when I what of others being up multiple times? Probably helps that DP and I are used to having the alarm go between 5 & 6 (have got up around this time for the past 7 years) so if I plan to sleep longer but wake up then it doesn't seem so unusual to me! Of course I know it will be different when a small person decides my wake-up time for me...

I can always get by if I have had a least one good chunk of sleep (3-4hrs) if the rest is broken up horrifically then it's ok as long as I have had that. It's the nights when I'm woken every hour by DS, baby, cats, DH snoring, bladder etc etc that kills me. I do have to keep reminding myself though how little sleep I functioned on in the first 6-9 months of DS's life and remember to enjoy what sleep I get now. Of course we may all get lovely sleeping babies that STTN from day 1, but I find preparing for the worst and hoping for the best works well!

Is anyone doing a private grp b strep test? I did one last time and it was clear but not sure if I will need to do it again this time. I'm guessing yes as you could develop it at any time. Am I wrong? Anyone recommend any good companies that do home/postal test? I think I just googled it last time.

Oh insomnia....we meet again.
After a good month of sleeping pretty well I seem to be entering into a new phase, has been a bit dodgy this week but now I've been lying awake since at least 2.30 and it's 4am now. Open-plan flats are not made for this, am in the sofa in darkness with my phone for company having crept downstairs and somehow managed to not make DP! Now, how am I going to get through a day at work on 4 hours sleep...?