Due in Feb 07. It's January its all getting a bit close now

[peachygirl]

Hi new year, new thread!

Congratulations Plumpbump!!!

CurrantBun, just pack in your hospital bag what you would pack for a weekend away (so toothbrush, hairbrush, nightie, etc) plus lots of huge sanitary towels (I used Allways Night ones last time) and lots of horrible pants which you either won't mind blood getting all over them or disposable ones. Also of course stuff for baby: nappies, cotton wool for wiping bottom, and a couple of sets of baby clothes. And a couple of breastfeeding bras, and your digital camera.

Think that's it - anyone got anything else to add?

About the Braxton Hicks - don't worry, I didn't get any last time until the last 2 weeks. Apparently they are much more common in subsequent pregnancies and some women don't get them at all first time round.

Welcome to the newbies. I think it's a big jump to move from lurking to posting so nice one. I found quite a good list on a childbirth thread. I think it was called help what do I need? If I was clever, I might be able to do a link but I'm not so I won't (clever that is!)

I think my overnight bag is going to really be two bags - one for me and one for LO. Once you put in pads, pads and nappies, there's not much room for anything to actually wear!

Have a good weekend everyone - anyone got anything good in the sales? We're still looking for a chest of drawers so that we can put away all the cute clothes that we've been given by SIL. I keep having a look at them in the box and thinking they look lovely but I don't think my brain has actually realised that a baby is coming out of me first before it can be dressed!

Congratulations plumpbump! Can't believe that the first one has been born already. Jacob is a beautiful name - my (would be favourite but obviously I don't have favourites!)nephew is Jacob

Welcome to penguinette as well

It's all getting going isn't it?!

CONGRATULATIONS Plumpbump! Love the name and glad wee Jacob is doing so well, look forward to hearing all about him.

Have now rented TENS machine so feel have done something towards this baby arriving!

Ds announced today that he hoped it was a boy "because girls are boring" he has even chosen a name he likes (which I have to say I am warming to more and more!). Just hope if a baby girl pops out he'll not really be disappointed!

WOW our first bubba! Congrats to Plumpbump - hope you are all well and get out of hospial soon and can get on being a family! That is a good weight for 32 weeks!

Updated list!!

BABIES!

PLUMPBUMP Jacob 2nd Jan 5lb 1oz at 32 weeks!

BABIES IN WAITING!!

SALLYALLYALLY 1 Feb
SOUNDBITES 1 Feb
BABYDRIVER 1 Feb
SMUDGEMUM 2 Feb
SALLYN 3 Feb
SORKYCAKE 6 Feb
MUMMYTOJAKE 7 Feb
BUBBLEBELL1 8 Feb
LUCYB9384 9 Feb
SUZIS 11 Feb
PENGUINETTE 11 Feb
BABE 7 ? 14 Feb!
MARMITEMAD 14 Feb
DONTCALLMEYUMMY 14 Feb
DRJO 13 Feb
TITCHY77 15 Feb
THELITTLESTBOHO 15 Feb

TUTTIFRUTTI 16 Feb
HAIRYCATTERPILLAR 16 Feb
KATPOO 16 Feb
MOOSMA 16 Feb
ALOCIN 18 Feb
PEACHYGIRL 19 Feb
TOMMY 22 Feb
MRSJOHNCUSACK 23 Feb
BIENCHEN 24 Feb
CHACHA 25 Feb
ANDYROBO237 26 Feb
CURRANTBUN 26 Feb
FORGOTTENFREETIME 27 Feb

FLOWERTOT ?
CADEAUXBURY ?
BECS21 ?
12YEARGAP ?
JULEZBOO ?

I can't believe it, congratulations plumpbump and to you DH/DP. Fingers crossed you get to take him home soon.

Smudge mum I have had the same thoughts about a vest in the birthing pool I don't really fancy baring all (certainly initially) Moos ma I read somewher that wearing something can make you feel cold, did it?
Currentbun I'm still wearing normal pants but I have got got 5 pairs of big pants for £2.50 in matalan.
Me, My mum and Auntie whe to get the car seat yesterday (my Auntie paid for it)It's coming in 5 days she also treated me to the closer to nature microwave steriliser which looks great.
Welcome new ladies and welcome back everyone we haven't heard from in a while.

Currantbun - try out a maternity pad in your current knickers and see if it looks like it would stay put. Assuming the crotch width is normal it should. But remember that you'll likely ruin and bin a lot of pants so don't use good ones.

Hopsital bags.. a pair of PJs/nighties, some slippers/flip flops, dressing gown, some big trackies or comfy day clothes for going home. Toiletries as normal but don't go overboard as you won't have the inclination to cleanse, tone, moisturise and put your makeup on! Maternity pads - 1 pack. a few breastpads but you're unlikely to need loads if you're out of hospital before your milk comes in. Nursing bra(s) if breastfeeding. Hairbands if you have long hair. face cloth for during labour - or a little water spray bottle like Superdrug sell is good. Any aromatherapy things or music you want during labour. Something old to wear in labour. erm... loose change for the phones/sweet machine. camera/batteries. some snack food or glucose tablets. straws - handy for during labour sips or when breastfeeding. notepad and pen to write down who gave what gifts for thankyou cards later on

sorry - that sounds like a huge list! i'd keep clothes and loads of nappies/pads etc to a minimum as your DP can bring these in when necessary.

Peachygirl, the water is set at a nice temp and I didn't notice being cold until I got out, then I shivered like mad but I think that was pain/shock etc rather than lack of heat.

For the hospital bag, I didn't take a towel, the ones there weren't that nice but at least you don't have to worry about getting blood on them. I took flip flops rather than slippers too as you can wear them in the shower/bath if it's a bit yucky!

Do take:

Money, for if you can't use a mobile and for the TVs by the beds (if they have them).
A small jug for pouring water over your bits while you wee to reduce the stinging on little damages!
Something to read or listen to (iPod perhaps) as you won't have much to do if they keep you in afterwards or if things slow down in labour.
Something comfy but pretty to wear afterwards, you'll feel so unglamourous that anything that makes you feel nicer is worth it!

hi to everyone. finally getting a chance to log in and catch up - so much for having some quiet time in the new year. Congratulations plumpbump and welcome Jacob. I'd been wondering who our first 'graduate' would be.

Andyrobo, put me down for 3 Feb please as thats what my notes say even tho I think I might be early.

Thinking about hospital bags, I've just been packing mine, and here are a few things folks might not have thought about:

a clean, empty squeezy bottle which you can fill with water so that you can (TMI warning) swoosh yourself down below when weeing if you've had any kind of tear or stitching.

flip flops or slip on shoes or slippers as you may not be able to bend and you shouldn't ever put yr footwear on the bed (unless you want all those hospital germs...) Plus your feet might swell after birth because it takes a while for the body to stop producing fluid.

bottles of water for you and birth partner.

check if your hospital has pillows. last time round they didn't have any (!)so we bought a cheap one to take - and leave.

agree with others about snacks etc - try to include fresh fruit or snack bars with figs, dates, prunes etc so that you keep things nice and loose for (sorry more TMI again) that first no2.

Sorry for long post but hope it's helpful. Hope to be able to get on here a bit more regularly and keep things shorter.

Congratulations plumpbump. love the name

All this hospital bag advice is brilliant, please keep it coming - up to this point mine had consisted of a family pack of Cadbury's Flakes and a leopardprint 'receiving blanket' for the all important 'leaving the hospital' paparazzi shot. And what do babies need in their bag? Newborn sized Flakes? Please advise. So, maternity pads... I've been told that normal 'heavy flow' sanitary pads Just Won't Do so does anyone have a good recommendation of which ones to get? And I really like the idea about having something 'pretty' to put on for when you're feeling anything but. Some Chanel No5 perhaps or maybe an Easter Bonnet. Raging hormones should excuse any labour ward fashion faux pas...

Peachy if you want to wear something in the pool I think the best bet would be a vest/tankini top or a sports bra, anything loose like a big tshirt will feel cold if it get's wet and then that part of your body is sticking out of the pool if you change position. No one can see much when you are in the pool anyway, especially if the lighting is dim and you can always prompt DH prior to the event to hold up a towel for you for when you get out to protect your modisty if you feel like it. Personallt it was something I had thought about as I had planned a home waterbirth last time but ended up in hospital because of breech presentation but using their pool. At home I had no qualms about wearing nothing in the pool but infront of ex collegues I felt a bit shy, as it was I was soooooo desperate to get in the pool I stripped off as quickly as I could and couldn't be bothered covering anything up!!

DCMY I used normal super heavy maxi ultra night pads last time and they were fine, this time I've got 1 pack (so far, it's all they had) of Sainsbury's maternity ones as they were cheaper than the normal ones (99p for 10 I think).

Ah yes, I'd forgotten about the slippers/flip flops. Hospital floors are fairly disgusting (and cold!) and you won't want to walk across them in bare feet, but don't bring your pale pink cotton slippers as you'll never get the gunk off them afterwards. I used dh's wipe-clean leather slippers last time.

Snacks is another good suggestion. Hospital food is horrible and only arrives when is convenient for them (so you get your dinner at 5pm, then nothing till breakfast at 8pm).

Some of the drugs can make you constipated, so take lots of dried apricots/fruit with you.

Try to find out in advance what sort of food helpings you are entitled to: this sounds mad, but last time I was shocked by how tiny the child-size portions were, and only found out weeks later that women who've just given birth are entitled to extra helpings but you have to ask for these. I also had to tick a "dessert or cheese" option, but found out later that postnatal women were entitled to both, but again the catering staff will not tell you that.

I know this worrying about food rations makes me sound like the greediest woman in England , but after giving birth you will be hungry! And you might be intending to leave hospital a couple of hours after the birth, but things might not work out that way -I was unexpectedly stuck in hospital for 6 days last time so the food stuff seemed really important!

yummy - depends what the hospital provide for babys needs. Some provide almost everything. Others you need to take everything. With DS I had to take vests, sleepsuits, scratch mitts, socks (their feet get v cold), cotton hat. Nappies, cotton wool balls, nappy sacks, wipes (although I didn't use them until he was older), dummy (pre sterilised in a case).

maternity pad wise I heard last time that the normal sanitary ones are no good as they don't allow for the 'gunk' (too thick soory tmi!) and apparently stitches and thigns can stick to them. Not sure if this is true but I decided not to use them jsut incase. Thick ones (like mothercare) were good for the first couple of days but they were nappy like so I was never happy wearing them out. Sainsburys ones are the only ones I know with wings and were a bit thinner. Once I was a few weeks into the bleeding, I switched to always or similar.

Tutti - I couldn't agree more about the food thing. The food choice was awful, it tasted revolting (think school dinners, sausage with skin and fat etc) And the portions were tiny. When I saw the menu the first day I was in I instantly called my mum and asked her to bring me a cheese sandwich or something. So I'll be packing something like ritz crackers or snack food to nibble on.

Congratulations Plumpbump, hope baby is well and that you and your partner recover from the shock. Get ready for all the occassions when your baby will be the smallest there despite being the oldest. Took six months for my ds (4weeks early) to catch up weight wise despite all being well! My recommedation re maternity pads is definitely Sainsburys - not only cheaper than normal towels but have wings and do a good job at keeping you dry without too much plastickyness soz TMI. Agree bag can be huge if you try to get everything in. What first timers will perhaps be unaware of aswell is that you may get about 3 carrier bags worth of freebies as well to take home. Dh was up and down the stairs twice before baby and I moved! I had bought a pack of 10 cheap face cloths last time and these came in very handy as burp cloths (ds had to be topped up with formula) and wipers when etc. The hospital was so hot that although we were in for 5 days total I was able to hand wash body suits, babygros and these cloths etc and they dried in no time so didn't need 5 days worth of stuff IYSWIM. So much about labour and the immediate days afterwards is unpredicatable I feel that you can only plan so much. I'm trying to keep packing to a minimum (hoping for a home birth anyway) and then to know where other things are so DH can bring things in as/if required. Part of me just wants to go mad and have everything though just in case - I guess thats just the nerves about the unknown - this bit (the packing) is the only thing you can actually do something about!

snugglebum... I'm sure I've asked you this before but can't really remember... did you have a natural breech delivery last time? How 'happy' were the hospital to do this? Was it a frank breech presentation?

I'm still quite concerned that this little one is breech again and have heard that my local hospital are a teeny bit flexible on delivery with a 2nd child... but are likely to be very pushy towards a c-section. And of course, my family all think that a section would be best if it comes to that! But I'm not totally convinced and wondered if a breech delivery was all that bad?

Thanks for all the hospital bag tips - brilliant! I hate to think what people did pre-Mumsnet!

Hadn't even given a thought to the issue of hospital food - have just (stupidly) assumed I'll be in and out on the same day or after one night maximum: of course, I could end up having a section or a problem with the baby and have to stay in, so will definitely stock up on some snacks. Might also have to get DH to bring me some proper food in. I have a pretty big appetite at the best of times and can get a bit tetchy when I'm hungry so not a good idea to allow myself to starve!

Will I be OK to take PJs (with shorts rather than long bottoms) instead of a nightie? I have never felt very comfortable in a nightie/nightshirt and would rather wear PJs. Also, has anyone tried the disposable maternity knickers? Are they any good or am I better off buying some really cheap ones from the supermarket and binning them after use?

CurrantBun, you can wear what you like so long as you're comfortable and decent! During the day you can wear proper clothes (with loose waists etc for those poor sore places!) but do bear in mind you'll probably be bf-ing (if you do) several times a day and night so tops will need to be fairly easy access! I daftly took a normal tight-ish top with me not realising that my tummy would still be huge and wobbly for ages, I really hated that bit which is why I wore dh's shirts, they hid it well.

Currantban- i wore pj's as also hate nighties, i just wore the bottoms and a relatively baggy t'shirt on top to hide the flab and be loose enough for bf'ing.

As far as maternity towels I only used them for 1-2 days then switched to thinner more comfortable "normal" heavy flow pads. Never had a problem with them and had stitches with ds and dd.

Can I just mention breastpads. If you've not worn them before don't go for the cheaper fatter version unless you want all to know you are wearing them the thinner (but more expensive) ones are MUCH more discrete!

I also found it useful to take a bag of coins for the phone. To far and cold to trek to use mobile outside and helpful when need to remind dh to bring something you've forgotten!

Hi Suzi2, I ended up with an emergency cs (though it wasn't a major emergency as the doc went off to do a forceps in another room before I went to theatre!) as I got to 8cm and DD had turned to oblique breech, there was no fetal distress and I was the one who said "right I guess I'm going to theatre now" so no rush or anything like that. It's a long story but DD turned breech at 29 weeks and didn't turn back, I declined ECV as I feel that if a baby is breech there tends to be a reason for it so I tried gentle ways of encouraging her to move, homeopathy, moxabustion and positioning, non of which worked. I had already had a 9lb DS vaginally and knew I wanted to try for a breech birth, I had also attened Mary Cronk's breech stuidy day as a midwife and knew exactlly what sort of birth I wanted, to use the pool for 1st stage, no cannula, no continous monitoring unless any abnormal heart rate detected, all fours birth with hands of the breech and no instrumental assistance, no lithotomy no doctors!! I just wanted midwife care. To be honest it was a real shock to the hospital as they rarely had vaginal breech births and when they did they were medicaly managed, my requests raised a few eybrows but I sent in lots of literature to support my wishes and many midwives read it and were very excited about the prospect of a vaginal breech birth. My consultatnt was downright rude and said "if you were my wife I wouldn't be happy with the decisions you have made", so I just ignored him!! The hospital no has an excellent vaginal breech rate, most of which are hands off and Mary Cronk has been to the hospital and done a study day there, so despite not getting a vaginal breech birth myself I am so pleased that I seem to have started the ball rolling for other women. I have some excellent books that I could recommend to you if you want any more reading on breech births and if you need help putting together a birth plan let me know, whereabouts in the country are you?

suzi2, for what it's worth, my cousin had her second baby just before christmas, and this one - just like her last - was born vaginal breech, with labour starting naturally a few weeks short of due date. Both babies were born safely (tho' the first had slightly dislocated hips to begin with). So it can be done. She lives in the new forest but don't know which hospital she went to.

currantbun, I seem to remember the disposable pants seeming very papery, crunchy and generally nasty (we were shown them at NCT) so I got the fine mesh reusable sort which were great for the first few days as they were loose and v quick to wash and dry. On PJs, shd be fine, but just be aware that you might be sore down below so a nightie or slip dress might be handy to have in reserve at home for yr partner to bring in.

Thanks to others for tips about what to wear in the pool - I hadn't thought about cold wet tshirt problems before so will be looking out for a v cheap vest top. Got a nice, navy blue, bath sheet on the cheap in tkmaxx so sorted there at least.

Thanks snugglebum and babydriver. I'll see what the mw thinks on Monday and if she thinks baby is breech I'll request a scan to confirm and get an idea of presentation. I'm in Fife, Scotland BTW. If she is breech, then I certainly do want to consider all the options. My gran (died a few years ago) was a mw and delivered hundreds of babies at home. many of them breech and didn't lose a single one. So I don't think that breech births are impossible!

Currantbun - paper pants are horrid. i bought a 5 pack and only wore 1 pair! They were really uncomfy and wrinkly. And I think that cheap ASDA basic pants are cheaper.

Hairycatpillar, I agree about the breastpads thing. I bought LOADS of mothercare and boots ones. For one thing, I hardly needed any. And secondly I found that they looked really obvious and stupid. Whereas Tommee Tippee ones were wide and thin and hardly showed - and are often on half price at Tesco. But whatever, don't buy too many. I bought about 80 I think and only ever got through half a box of TT ones in a year!

I agree on the breastpads too but not for discreet-ness. I found the cheap ones didn't keep me dry and I got very very sore. The more expensive thinner ones work better and I didn't have to change them every half hour so they didn't work out costing too much more. I have heard that washable ones are kinder on the skin but haven't tried them. The guilt of landfills almost persuaded me but I didn't quite get round to it .

hi
long time since i posted, seem too tired in to get round to it but been away for a week so thought i'd check in. my baby due on feb 6th. interesting reading about breech births as i think mine is. he's been transverse or breech since about 20wks and from experience of last two they got settled in a position from early on and didn't move from it. got 36 wk check on weds so going to quiz the doc about it, if they're not sure are they likely to scan me to check position? what happens if you go into labour and they're breech is it too late to then have a c-section?

crikey, reading the posts about what to where in the pool i now realised that i didn't even think about it first time round and i was in naked! wouldn't normally feel comfortable with that but i'd been having 2 min contractions for several hours and was soo tired that i didn't care anymore!

re throw away knickers etc i never went for the paper one's as so not comfortable and quite big so don't really hold the pads close enough in to catch all the leakage. i just wore the oldest knickers i could find in my draw and then ditched them. at least they were comfy.

Anyone having their third? i am and am starting to think about just how exactly i'm going to manage! ds1 is 3 1/2 and ds2 20months, it's the BF when the youngest is around that i'm anxious about esp. if out at a playgroup as we've moved into a new area so i don't really know anyone well enough at groups to know that they'll look out for ds2. any advice??!!