Due in April 2007 - BigOnion to the rescue

[EllieK]

another week, another thread

oooh! WO, thermals! What a good idea. Thanks for that! Have just about defrosted now.

CD - lol @ your dd! Very cute.

Miam - poor ds! Hope he manages to sleep ok tonight.

Maveta - i'm having a serious organising spree at the moment and I keep thinking 'is it too early to do x,y or z?' But I guess we just need to go with it, these last few week are going to fly by.

On the bottles debate - what would people recommend if i'm hoping to bf. Should i get some bottles in case, or just wait and see, and send dh out on emergency trip if we need them?? Would rather not spend money on something we don't really need. Any advice?

I agree Maveta. I'll still use my steriliser, just thought it was interesting. Jake was in Special Care for 3 wks and they sterilsed everthing! Just shows how different each unit is.

Maveta - using a steriliser is really easy, so don't worry on that account. And you can just leave all the sterilised stuff in it until you use it, so in a hot country, esp if you have cats around, it seems like the easiest option. I'll be using one again (if I can prise it away from my SIL).....

emmy, just seen your post. That would be great if baby took bottle and breast. Encouraging to hear you managed it ok. I've heard it's really hard. Maybe we should get some bottles for that anyway...

Eca, most books suggest you have one bottle and form of sterilsation in case of emergency. Although some would say get nothing and send DH out in an emergency. Depends how good your DH would be at that kind of shopping!!

Sorry girls didn't mean to put a downer on Avent bottles. I think it depends on the baby. With Jake being prem he had a poor suck so he couldn't manage them. Almost all my friends used Avent with no problems at all.

Eca - it wasn't hard at all. Maybe I was just lucky as I know some babies can be really fussy, but I was hating b.fing so much that I made dh go out and buy some formula and Em just took to it and switched back and forward really easily. I guess that's pretty good going as not only is a teat totally different from a nipple, but formula tastes nothing like breast milk. Of course you can always express and put that in the bottle so at least the taste is the same.

I would get a few bottles anyway, as that gives you the option of expressing and going out without the baby for a couple of hours.

Oh that sounds a bit bad - obviously you'd leave the baby with someone.......

Eca - meant to say good on you re. the new job! Wow, you´ll be keeping yourself fit anyway with all that walking around! Thermals sound like a fab idea.

I´m going to get that breastfeeding book everyone is going on about to try and get an idea about it. Am a little worried as - ahem - I have quite large nipples tmi I know but I do and kind of worry the baby might struggle at first esp. as everything seems to go on about how they need to get as much of the aerola into their mouth as possible and not just the nipple itself.

Eeek, I can´t believe I just told you all that but if you can´t spill it all on MN, where can you??!

And in the wake of that information I have just shared, I´m off to watch House... night girls x

Emmy - how old was em when you introduced bottles?

Maveta - I have bought that book and found it very informative. It has a bit about having big nipples and what to do to help the baby latch on. Really would recommend the book, wish I'd had it last time as I might have managed BF longer.

Emmymummy - Good on you mixing BF and bottles last time. Don't worry didn't read it as leaving the baby home alone

Eca - probably only a couple of weeks old. I was getting seriously depressed and I needed to know that I could go off and leave her with dh for an afternoon.

With hindsight it was really good that we did introduce bottles and that she took to them, as at 3 months she was diagnosed with reflux and had to have Infant Gaviscon mixed into her milk - not very easy when you're b.fing!

Emmymummy - Reflux that is such hard work. Has Em grown out of it now?

Ange - yes, she grew out of it by about 9 months old, thank goodness. But I know the signs to look out for this time around.....

It's horrible and goes undiagnosed so often. Jake had it too. He also had Gaviscon, but the doctor made me stop it when Jake was 12 months. All hell then broke loose, because he then started to have problems breathing, when he got upset which eventually was diagnosed as reflux still and now has to have Ranitadine twice a day until he starts school.

Sorry to go on but it was very scary for me at the time.

I bottle fed after just 1 week, and i have to say it was great. Meant I wasn't tied to Becky the whole time, and dh loved feeding her. Each to their own though. We used Avent bottles as well and they were great, bt again, each baby is different.

Holby City was gross with all the vomiting - put me right off my pasta!

Right, need to do the Tesco on-line shopping.

See you later.

Oh Ange that's awful - I had no idea it could get so serious (I guess Em had a mild case), poor Jake. Should he grow out of it by the time he's 5?

Hi everyone - just wanted to say thank you all so much for your thoughts and hugs it really is appreciated and needed!
Its been a sad and mad few days but we are getting on with things. Unfortunately the funeral will not be yet, in fact it won't even be here. My Grandapa lived in Ghana, so all his kids\grandkids here and in the States will be flying out there for the funeral...except for me . Issues with flying in the third trimester, a history of blood clots in the family and also a country where the mosquitos eat you like you girls eat chocolate... means that I'll be staying in Blighty.
I have spent all of holby city trying to catch up...

BBCK - so about you only having 8 days left at work. I'm counting down 40 days (8 weeks)

GMM - although time is a great healer you never forgot those who you love and cherish. Hugs and thoughts with you.

DP keeps on vetoing all the names i choose and says he wants to wait until the baby pops out to see what she looks like. He won't even put together a list of names that he likes so that i can tell him yay or nay. Top of my list so far is Sarai, my mum is Sarah, and according to name websites, Sarai means my princess\my lady...now i just need to convince DP.

As for rings - you lucky girls. DP has already told me i'm gettng flowers...joy.

CD - your DD is my kinda girl!!!

It's good to be back - I've missed the chats

(BBCK Here!)

Thanks for well wishes for tomorrow - about to have kitchen cupboard raid then off to bed - really worried about fainting

Emmymummy - would be interested to know about how you mixed fed - think it would be really good option for me.

CD - sorry hun about no.4 thing - must of come as quite a shock!

I have an avent starter kit - but no formula as was planning to express milk for a bottle if needed - not sure whether to get some formula in just in case or whether I will just give in at the first hurdle.

Maveta - why not just buy 5 nappies, a wrap and some liners and see how you get on - then you could sell them on if isn't for you without having spent much money.

My nephew had reflux which wasn't diagnosed til about 5 weeks - he wasn't gaining weight and cried and cried after every feed - went onto gaviscon and sorted itself out now.

Ted had colic from 2 days old - which was mad - the midwife really upset me because she said it was because I bottle fed him - and now I know it makes no difference it makes me quite angry what she said. Different teats can make a difference - the nuk ones seem to be highly recommended. His colic was from 5-7pm and he would cry and cry then feed and pass out for a really good sleep - the crying was heartbreaking as there is little you can do - though if no.3 has it would definitely try cranial osteopathy, baby massage and homeopathy out.

Holby City was good I thought - glad I wasn't eating my dinner though LOL! Do you think the actress who plays Connie is really pg? And can't wait for next week!

I think he's now beginning to grow out of it. It used to be when we missed a dose it would happen again, but he seems to manage most of the time now even when we miss a few doses, except when he's poorly. Sorry didn't mean to scare you I think Jake is quite an unusual case according to what the hospital told me.

SOSPL - Good to see you. I must admit that once Jake started on a bottle he was a more settled baby despite the reflux.

Was just thinking how great it's going to be to see you all on Saturday.

Yay, Yvie good to hear from you. So sorry you can't fly over to Ghana for your Grandpa's funeral, but sounds like it's for the best hon. How do you pronouce Sarai? The meaning is beautiful as all little girls want to be princesses....

Yvie good to hear from you. Sorry you can't get to your Grandpa's funeral. You need to protect and look after yourself and bump. I'm sure your Grandpa would understand.

12wks - wanted to add my good wishes to you for your test tomorrow. Meant to send them earlier sorry. Think you could always send someone out for formula if you find expressing too much. No point buying it for the sake of it. Having said that you could buy a carton of ready made stuff just in case. That MW sounds horrible hope you don't encounter her this time. Bottle feeding makes no difference to colic. I would also try those things next time, Jake was first diagnosed with colic before they decided it was reflux and I agree the crying is heartbreaking.

Holby City was good tonight, bit too much sick for my liking though Not sure about Connie being really pg. Have you heard that somewhere?

i'm starting to get a complex, whenever i'm on here there seems to be no-one about, whenever i'm not I come back to loads of posts to catch up on.
something i should know?

GMM - sorry to hear about your awful weekend. Hope you can find a chance to rest and be pampered and get lots of love.

Am enjoying the name talk: Ruby, Callumn, Asher, Charlie, Noah....all lovely.

Have been SO busy for the last week and a half with work that I've only managed to read this latest thread and half the other one.

Maveta - you are wonderfully organized and I don't think it is too early at all. I will be finishing work in early/mid Feb. and have put off a lot of baby shopping tasks 'til then. Don't have the time or to do much now.

Eca - good question about getting bottles, just in case. I'm in the same boat as you and was wondering. I'll probably buy some and some formula just to have on hand. And as Emmymummy said, you can use the bottles for storing your own pumped milk and then others can feed the baby if you are out.

My bump has grown a lot in the last few weeks! I love to sit and watch him/her move.

Good night all! Big hugs to those who've had bad days...rest well tonight.