December 2016 Babies - Thread 6: Growing bumps and looking for bargains

[barkingtreefrog]

Previous threads:

Thread 5:
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/antenatal_clubs/2699892-December-2016-Thread-5-20-week-scans-and-wriggly-babies?pg=1&order=#prettyPhoto

Thread 4:
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/antenatal_clubs/2668947-December-2016-babies-thread-4-blooming-in-trimester-2

Thread 3:
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/antenatal_clubs/2650742-december-2016-babies-2nd-trimester-in-sight?reverse=1

Thread 2:
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/antenatal_clubs/2622412-Morning-sickness-and-first-scan-anticipation-its-the-December-2016-babies

Thread 1:
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/antenatal_clubs/2597324-December-2016-Babies

SouthDownsSunshine: Yeah I've heard good things about Eastbourne. Going to try and phone them at some point to see if I can have a look around. I'm not on the Facebook group (just never got round to it) but you are welcome to look me up on Facebook (and if anyone wants to send me a group invite you are welcome). My real name is Sara Hawkins and my profile picture is with me with a parakeet on my hand!

Finally bought some baby bits at the weekend. Got a bit over-excited in Mothercare (to be fair I had some stuff I needed for get for DD1 too) and spent over £160. I still want to get a baby-carrier too, and I also need all the consumables (nappies, breast pads etc).

Had my 28 weeks check this morning. All going fine and baby has apparently already gone head down apparently, so I think she may be on track to be a bit early like her sister, so I also need to think about packing a bag in the next couple of weeks I think just to be on the safe side.

Cnchapmanxx I would say you need:

Clothes and toiletries for you (I would stick with loose clothes for immediately pre-birth as the bump takes a while to shrink). Ideally tops / PJs you can breast-feed in easily.
Breast-feeding bras.
Towels (I was caught out by this with DD as I assumed the hospital would give me towels)!
Maternity pads (the bigger the better, as you will bleed very heavily for the first few days).
Disposable knickers or big comfy granny pants you don't mind getting ruined (see heavy blood loss warning above).
Breast pads.
Nappies.
Wipes (or cotton wool with water if you prefer).
Vests / sleeping suits / any other baby clothing you might need.
Given that we are all having winter babies, maybe a snowsuit or similar for when you go home.
Muslins.
Nipple cream can be a godsend when you first start breast-feeding.
Snacks (hospital food can be a bit crap).
Lots of change. Very useful for vending machines, and also a lot of hospital car parking machines only take change, and you may well needing quite a lot for parking if you have to stay in a while.
Phone / phone charger (I left DH a note to put this in my bag when I went into labour).
A well charged camera (for newborn baby photos).

I'm sure I've forgotten some stuff now.... [goes off to think].

kitKat that is amazing thankyou for the list! ive just copied and pasted and printed it off! going to get a bag at the end of this month and start packing! i want to be organised haha!

solomon thankyou il start end of this month as time is going nowhere...

You're welcome cnchapmanxx.

Kitkat that is a splendid summary! I would stress the use of lansinoh/other nipple cream - I was religious about this before and after feeding in the early days, I really do think it helped.

I think I may have said this before and frightened the life out of first time mums, but I personally found tena lady pants super useful (rather than disposable knickers + pads combo). I felt much more secure. Wish I had had them with me at the hospital.

Also headphones and music/podcasts on phone or ipod/ipad, if you find yourself having to be in hospital for a while with not much happening (I was induced).

Solomon my delivery date is at 39 weeks, although I've heard lots of babies with downs are induced early so i should sort myself out. Although we have a few days in nicu/scbu so I'm kind of relaxed about what baby needs! My baby has been head down for ages, since before the 19 week scan!

The free packs I picked up from boots weer helpful in having sample sizes of lansinoh, tiny nappies etc. I might chuck those in a bag so I have made a start!

I recommend water wipes, the midwives were a bit funny about me using proper wipes on baby. And life is too short to faff with water and cotton wool.

I also recommend a bag for you and a bag for baby. Last time I had a list on top of each bag and crossed things off as I added them. That way, in an emergency, dh would at least know what to go out and buy.

Kitkat, I'll look you up on fb. It would be good to meet. I don't think there's anyone else nearby.

I never needed Lansinoh or anything, despite DS having tongue tie. What I did need was more maternity pads than you can possibly imagine! I couldn't believe the amount of blood. We get sent a maternity packet by our insurance company here, supposedly with everything you need for after the birth. It has two packets of maternity pads in. That would have barely lasted me for two days! Though when we had to go into the hospital a few days after the birth they had piles of maternity pads in the toilets to help yourself to.

I also found a hand held fan useful, hospitals are so hot!

south my DS was born at 39 weeks, so I guess we might be having them at the same time.

SouthDownsSunshine that's a good tip about having lists on top of the bags in case of an emergency.
I agree about the maternity pads & also lots of breast pads. I'm not sure if your boobs leak loads if you bf, but mine leaked loads (formula)

I leaked breastmilk for about a week. My tip is to have a very soft non underwired bra that you can wear to sleep in to hold breastpads in place. Otherwise you end up sleeping in a massive wet patch.

My top tip for hospital bags is to gather everything together then get your DH or whoever will be with you for the birth to actually pack it so they know where to find things. Trust me, the last thing you want when the baby is crowning is to be shouting "no, not that front pocket, the *other front pocket" at a bewildered partner! (midwifes were weirdly obsessed with DH finding a hat...on reflection I think the were actually trying to distract him from what was actually going on at the time!)

Also, pack another bag with enough stuff for a week and leave at home or in the boot of the car so it can be grabbed easily just in case you have to stay in. We were in 5 days as we both needed antibiotics and it would have been much easier if DH could have just brought a bag in for me than having to try and explain exactly what I wanted and where to find it at home.

Thanks for all the tips this is so useful. I hadn't even started thinking about the actual birth but now reading a first timers book and there is lots more to think about than I thought.

kitkat have sent you a friend request so I can add you to the Facebook group (you can unfriend me after!) and thanks for the tips

All this list talk is making me ever so excited! Ive started doing a bag for me and a bag for baby, ideally how many vests and sleep suits do you think we will need? And is anyone/everyone planning on washing all the baby clothes before use?

I'm genuinely that people are packing bags already!! I'm still pretending that this baby won't really happen as we've so much to do before he comes alongside. I do have a hospital bag and I will chuck things at it.

For anyone not sure on breastfeeding - I can recommended the pre made mini bottles of milk you can get with sterilised teats. We took some last time as not every hospital will provide formula milk, even though our intention was to BF.

Grape hint from last time - don't wash everything. Keep somethings packaged to one side, and if you get repeat presents or nicer things you can return it to the shop! I washed everything last time and barely used loads of it, a canny friend washed essentials and took loads back - was gutted I never thought about it.

Thank you Jfw82 I've accepted your request.

Grapefruit8 do you mean how many vests / sleepsuits will you need overall, or how many will you need in your hospital bag? For your hospital bag I would have thought 3-4 would be more than enough, unless you stay in for an extended period of time. At home I'd try to keep at least 10 sets in though so that you have plenty to cover you for doing 2-3 changes a day if necessary without having to worry about putting the washing machine on more than a couple of times a week.

bonkers and spring have you tried anything other than white to start?
I have very generously been given huge amounts of clothes by a friend, but they're 90% baby pink, and if I'd been buying for her myself I wouldn't have bought a single baby pink item... Wondering whether I could make them all red or purple?! I love that yellow bonkers but I don't think it would work if it starts pink?! And I'd need loads of dye if one only does six small vests, I'm looking mainly at babygros.

I'm in the insomnia club. Really, really struggling at work as I'm too knackered all the time. 34 working days and counting....
Getting really bad back pain as well, which isn't helping with the sleeping.

Pop I too have piles. Oh the joy. I was measured at my appointment and she said I was spot on. Which baffles me when I see how different all our bumps are?!?!

Babydreaming I am totally confused by the whole sling thing. What's the difference between a sling and a baby carrier in terms of what they do and why does anyone need more than one sling? I was just going to get a baby carrier, I don't understand the sling obsession and would love to be enlightened!!!

Kitkat brilliant list, thanks! I have a hospital bag thanks to bigfam posting the Tripp sale link, but nothing to put in it yet. I will start thinking about it soon though as I've had a couple of friends with very premature babies and don't want to be caught out.

Stubble I was too, people are very organised! Tbh I've always been very last minute with hospital bags though and only packed them around due date or when going in for induction! I might try to do it about 30 weeks+ this time though, rather than the very last min! It still feels quite far off to me although sure it's all going to come around so quickly!

I've printed out the hospital list, thank you!

barking I have only used white. The pack does say that usual colour mixing applies (so blue on red would make it purple etc). But I bet by picking the right colours, you could really brighten them up. I did bright blue tonight! I'm hooked, it means I'm not doing the actual jobs I need to though!

Thanks for fellow insomnia sympathy (don't know why but it's nice to know I'm not alone). bow, hope you coped with work ok today. I'm working from home most of this week which made today a bit more manageable but was having to do work with the two kids at home which is always a juggle, even without knackering tiredness!

Am massively impressed with all the hospital bag foresight going on, and I agree with all those saying that extra maternity and breast pads can be a godsend. Also even if you think you'll be in and out in a day or two take extra changes of trousers/joggers/leggings - with my first, I bled more than I expected and soaked my joggers and had to go home in pj bottoms as I didn't have enough spares! It can get messy even just when you're trying to lower yourself onto the loo post-birth. (Sorry, don't mean that to sound scary)

Hoping I won't be back here at 4.30 am again... Wishing everyone a good sleep!

Wide awake again....
Stupid question, but would you pack spare 'clothes' or pyjamas in the hospital bag? I was just thinking that until the point where I'm allowed home I'd probably be in bed?!

I've packed pyjamas and dressing gown, I'd like to have spare clothes in there but I really don't have enough maternity clothes to do that until close to the time! My hospital experience is a bit different (gave birth at home and was admitted a few days later with ill DS), but I needed clothes. If you're in for a few days while the baby gets care you'll want to have a wander to the coffee shop etc. But I just got people to bring me more clothes!

barkingtreefrog I'll take both. With my 1st we were in for a week, and I'd mostly packed pjs - I remember feeling uncomfy by the 1st day, because it was on a shared post natal ward with people coming and going. I wanted to be properly dressed after having a shower so I sent dh on emergency shopping trip to grab me some maxi dresses. The midwives didnt allow you to keep your bed curtain closed unless your feeding baby at the time, so in pj with loads of people coming in and wandering around I felt really exposed. Even with my own visitors coming, I just wanted to be dressed! I didn't stay in as long for my others so wasn't as big an issue but think I brought more clothes every time after that

Morning all, been ages since I last posted. Baby has reduced movement since yesterday afternoon, had my glucose load test today and the midwife wants me to go to the hospital for monitoring and a scan just to check he's OK in there. Heartbeat was strong on the Doppler which reassured me but can't wait to see him on a scan so I can properly relax!

peanutbutter2409 wishing you luck for your scan.

I'm a bit stressed now. My brother and SIL said they had loads of baby clothes for us (newborn - 6 months), but they've lent out both sets (for boy and for girl) to friends and I'm not sure they'll get them back in time. I've spent loads of money on a (second hand) crib and cot, nursing bras (daytime and sleep ones, and I may need more if I get any bigger), a few new baby clothes (they're so expensive!!), flat shoes, maternity clothes, new mattresses, baby blankets, grobags and sheets etc. etc. Now I'm looking at getting more baby clothes from new, a sling, and everything people have mentioned for hospital bags (very useful, thanks! ) and I'm feeling very ill-prepared (and broke).

I don't remember what I took last time, I just remember afterwards feeling very ill, tired and spaced out, with a lot of clutter round the bed that I ended up not using. I packed cereal bars and straws for labour, never ended up using them - but then I might still pack them this time as every labour is different.

Has anyone had any luck with bundles of baby clothes from eBay??

peanutbutter2409 thinking of you and wishing you luck. Please update us when you know. Mine went very quiet over the weekend and freaked me out, luckily she's been kicking loads since yesterday so fingers crossed for you.