November 2017 #4: Bump botherers, nesting and maternity leave!

[GingerHanna]

In which we swat away unwanted hands, perform military operations every night to roll over in our sleep, clean the kitchen cupboards for the eleventy billionth time and count down the days to our maternity leave!

Previous thread here.

Click here for The List.

Urghhh now on a second type of antibiotics as the first lot didn't work. I've felt so rubbish that had to drop a few rides yesterday and take myself home early! 33 weeks today and just feeling absolutely dreadful!

I'm mega pissed off as was tidying my maternity file up and noticed my blood test results from early August say I am low on a number of counts. Ask midwife to check it and she agrees I need to see GP about iron levels. If I hadn't checked it what would have happened? No wonder I am breathless and extra tired. This is about the 3rd thing that has been missed / poorly handled and I am fed up.

@lydiangel83 how rubbish of them! You can start ahead of your treatment by drinking orange juice as that will help you absorb the iron tablets when you start them. I'm hope you feel better soon

@DuRezidal I hope the antibiotics work and you feel better soon

Thanks @theotherendofthesockportal I'm just annoyed and concerned mostly that it will have had impact in baby. At nearly 35 wks it all feels a bit late!

Silly question but im packing hospital bag and not sure what newborn baby wears to leave hospital?! Is it long sleeved baby grow and then a thicker sleep suit to keep warm?(due date 1/11). Any advice welcome!

Sorry to hear about those of you who are ill or struggling. Hope you're feeling better soon.

@lydiangel83 I would probably go for a short sleeve vest, babygro & a cardigan with a blanket tucked over baby once strapped into the car seat. Possibly a cotton hat as well if it's a windy day. It's not normally too cold at the beginning of November.

I'm hoping to finish my hospital bag(s) off today. Picked up some travel size toiletries, new toothbrush & some cheapo slippers over the weekend that I can just leave in my bag & not have to worry about throwing in last minute. Going to order another phone charger as well as we are down to 2 as
DP keeps taking them away for work & not bringing them back. Will turn just need to back a bag with drinks & snacks nearer the time.

I think baby keeps turning in & out of breech, it's confusing me, I'm feeling same amount of movements but one day all the kicking is at the top & other days it's all at the bottom. It was a breech day yesterday & where she was kicking was very uncomfortable

@lydiangel83 We're not due till end Nov and we're planning on a short sleeve vest, long sleeved sleep suit over the top and we also have a snuggly pramsuit. We'll keep a blanket in the car as I know you're not supposed to have pramsuits or coats on them in car seats.
Hope all of you that are feeling awful start perking up soon.
We went to the Baby Toddler show yesterday and finally decided on a travel system. We've now ordered that, the car seat and base and the chicco crib. It's all staying in boxes for now though as we're still hoping the house completes before she arrives!! I just wanted to unpack everything and build nursery furniture dammit.

Second child, no plans to do the nursery as it would involve either losing my dressing room or my office/spare room and as DH and I are currently enjoying having a bedroom each it's just not going to happen.

Plan is to just buy a bigger house.

Just completed another trip to IKEA! Have two nappy stackers for the different size nappies we will be using come November. And to think I'd never heard of them before!

Going to ring around some decorators on Wednesday and try and get the three existing children's rooms sorted before lo arrived. Don't have the time or inclination to do it myself

LO's coming home outfit consists of a short sleeve vest, a long sleeve sleepsuit and a hat and blanket. She'll be going from ward to car to house so not worrying about any more layers.

Out of pure nominees what prams/travel systems has everyone gone for??

*nosiness not nominees!!

We ordered ours yesterday- went for the uppababy vista in Austin (green). It's got such a light frame and can convert to a double stroller down the line

@Topsyloulou thanks I get confused between vest and baby gro and pram suit, what's the difference between vest and baby gro?

Lol @Zampa I haven't bought one yet but would like to!

We have a maxi cosi mura, we bought it second hand but bought a new car seat for it.

We have the Britax Affinity. Bought it second hand & then bought a new car seat to go with it. It was close between that & the Uppababy Vista. A couple of friends have the vista & love it but have said it's very heavy as a double. We tried them all out & then once we'd decided bought ours off eBay, saved £400 & the lady had only had it 4 months, she was a pushchair addict & kept changing them all the time. If you buy a second hand vista just be aware that the older models can't be used as a double if that's something you think you'll need.

@lydiangel83 a vest doesn't have legs but will have some of sleeve, long, short or like a vest we'd wear. It has poppers on the crotch & envelope neck but no other fastenings. A babygro / sleep suit will have long sleeve arms & legs. Normally has poppers all the way down the front & legs. A pram suit will be in a much thicker material, normally fleecy & goes on over the baby gro & only used when its really cold.

One thing about vests that it seems like lots of people don't know - the envelope neck is designed so you can pull it down over the shoulders to remove it when the baby's had an explosive leaky nappy so you don't risk wiping poo all over their face/hair.

We've got an OBaby travel system. I think it was something like Zezu. It was 6 years ago that we bought it so my memory's a bit hazy! It's functional, but not especially swanky. My friends seem to favour Phil & Teds, particularly as a double buggy. They are rather easy to steer but they're not cheap & I'm not sure you can put a car seat on them. I found that a big plus in the early days - baby falls asleep in the car & you can just plonk the seat on the pram chassis. It's a lot less faff than setting up the pram bit too. I don't know how much I'll use the car seat as a carrier this time - with DS2 I had him in the sling a lot & with 2 older DC to chase after I can see this being a more practical solution than lugging around the car seat. I'll start putting changing things in the DSs' bags & getting them to help with the baby by carrying her stuff - no big changing bag to carry & it'll make them feel involved!

We have a Bugaboo Buffalo as it needs to have all terrain wheels all around as 2 weeks after the birth he will be coming with me to the stables as I go back to work. We then bought the Cybex Atom car seat to go with it.

We have the 2014 Uppababy Vista, which converts to a double with a Rumble seat. We bought both at knock down prices in a John Lewis clearance sale. It's large but has THE BEST basket which is great for shopping, the family's coats, toys etc. Very easy to steer, goes over any surface and us great for tall people.

We also have a McClaren Techno for holidays and an XSS stroller (which folds up to a 20x20 square) for nursery runs.

If you've not bought a car seat yet, definitely get a lie flat model as babies can stay in them for longer, which is great if they're snoozing. Our car seat is the lie flat Cybex Cloud Q but it weighs an absolute ton so wouldn't recommend it for that reason. The Kiddy lie flat model is much lighter.

We did look at the Vista so interesting that so many folk have gone for it. We very nearly went for it too but there are some v narrow streets where we live and the width plus narrow streets and a small car put us off. We've ended up with a Mamas and Papas Occaro instead which I love. No convertibility into a double which is a down side but as our current little bean is our first we're not sure if we'll even WANT a second!
I'm still struggling with insomnia but it now has a pattern in that I wake at 2am and can generally fall back to sleep somewhere between 3 and 4am. Wondering if this will be part of my routine when she arrives as she's pretty much always awake too at that time in the morning.

@redfragglebiker I feel your insomnia. My sleep is getting worse! Last night I had 2 hours and 20 minutes of sleep and that was in broken chunks. I'm so glad maternity leave starts for me on Friday

My sleep is pretty rubbish too, and I feel permanently hungry because of having to eat the right stuff for gestational diabetes. So I'm quite grumpy! 9.5 days of work left - cannot wait to finish.

We have a bugaboo chameleon travel system - it's on its 5th baby but still going! We'll probably only use it for a year and then switch to our other pushchair which is an out and about nipper - it's better for dog walks and visits to my horse.

Picked up a load of baby stuff from some friends yesterday so the house is full of clothes etc. Looking forward to sorting through everything once I've finished work.

oooft sockportal that's rough. I'm still getting a bit more than that thank god! I'm not due till end Nov so I'm 31+4 currently with 5 weeks still at work (and it should be nearer 6 but I have some holiday allowances to use up!)

It's funny you mention hunger @butterybollocks When I've been waking up at 2am I feel hungry too! Might try keeping some snacks by the bed

@theotherendofthesockportal also finish on Friday and rnight get 3-4 hrs sleep if I am lucky. Literally cannot wait! Had lunch with a colleague who finished 4 wks before due date (like me) and her waters naturally broke 4 wks early! Definitely hoping that doesn't happen!