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.

@Zampa I took 3 x first size vests and babygrows, 3 x 0-3 vests and baby grows. For coming home I had put a home made by my mum knitted cardigan and hat over the babygrow.

Don’t forget hats and some places like you to bring in socks but don’t write that on the list! Speaking from sorry experience!

Congratulations @topsyloulou she is beautiful

Lurker here but not a big poster, congrats to all the mums so far I still have 2 weeks till due date but so hoping I go earlier...feels so much more real now seeing all your little ones!

Thanks everyone. DS chose the outfit from
John Lewis, it's got a matching hat too but far too hot in hospital for it. She's got a very similar one as her going home outfit.

@Zampa I packed 3 newborn & 1 0-3 outfit. DS got through lots of changes of clothes when we were in hospital, mainly because he wee'd everywhere! They do enhanced recovery here so I could go home tomorrow but will probably stay until Wednesday so I can get as much rest & recuperation in before I'm home with DS.

@butterybollocks good luck for tomorrow. Enjoy your steak dinner.

Thanks team! I got baby's coming home outfit in size 0-3 and it looks huge! Will get a back up, I think.

There's a Boden clearance sale near us on Wednesday and Thursday so might see if there are any newborn bargains.

Urgh, I'm so fed up of not sleeping properly. Apparently my body thinks I don't need to go to sleep until at least 1.30 & I should always wake up by 5.30. By 10am I'm so exhausted that I have to stick the DC in front of the TV so I can have a nap. Even then I can't be getting much more than 5 hours out of every 24 - I'll sleep more than that once the baby's here!

Is anyone else getting really hungry? It's like the early days again when I was constantly hungry & would feel sick if I didn't eat immediately. The sick feeling isn't anywhere near as bad but I'm snacking all day long. It's probably no bad thing - I've lost a lot of weight during pregnancy so I could do with some energy reserves for labour/breastfeeding... I could perhaps choose healthier options than ice cream & the chocolate coins I bought for the DC's stockings...

Hope everything goes smoothly today buttery & they don't keep you waiting too long!

@AGnu I pretty much stopped sleeping just before I had Bea, maybe you will go into labour soon? Sorry to hear that you are feeling rough :(

Good luck today @butterybollocks x

Congrats to all the new arrivals 😊😊 so exciting!! @butterybollocks hope today goes well!! Totally suffering with this pregnancy insomnia!!! Doesn’t matter what time I go to bed I sleep for an hour n half and that is it!!! Has been like this for over a week! So tired... my cousin who has a 14 day old baby is getting more sleep! Not due till 24th Nov but feel as ready as I’ll ever b and I’m growing impatient! Bump has dropped loads and I’ve got back ache and stabbing pains daily which seem to get worse at night!! Have had a straightforward pregnancy and this part is definitely the hardest!! 🙈❤️

Haha @Agnu I packed DH a bag with snacks (Minstrels, galaxy bars, choc hobnobs) in case I have a long labour and he needs some sugar to keep him going...and have steadily eaten my way through it ALL! 🙈👎 Just keep telling yourself you need to lay down fat for the baby lol.

I am the same with the not sleeping but yesterday got put on Piriton for itching and last night was the first night I slept all the way through from 1 til 6! Didn’t even wake up for my 4am wee! Are we deluding ourselves thinking that once our babies are here we will sleep more?! 😃 zzzz Ladies, get on the piriton it worked wonders for me :)

Oh and sorry @buttery, huge good luck today!! So excited to hear about your arrival x

Any news buttery?

Argh, still really struggling with expressing colostrum. Getting less than 1ml a day which doesn't seem like much use and it's not increasing at all. Feeling more and more pissed off about having to be induced at 38 weeks now...I get why it needs to happen but it really feels like my body isn't ready for it yet. Hope this isn't a sign of things to come.

Baby Freddie arrived this morning at 10.04am via elcs :)

We were lucky enough to be first on the list this morning so were done nice and early (the one advantage of gestational diabetes!). DD came in to meet her new little brother after school and he fell asleep cuddled up on her lap.

I've had a wee and Freddie has done a poo so we're on track to be allowed home tomorrow morning. DH has just gone home and I'm feeling slightly overwhelmed as Fred won't be put down so not sure I'll sleep at all tonight. He's been feeding really well though and the expressed colostrum I brought in has been invaluable.

Hope everyone is doing OK. I'm very excited that I'm not pregnant and I don't have gestational diabetes anymore!

Congratulations @butterybollocks, Freddie had gorgeous, I love his name! Freddie was on our list of boys names. I hope you get some sleep tonight xx

Meant to say is gorgeous not had. Damn you sleep deprivation!

Congratulations @buttery, and I love the name Freddie!

Congratulations @butterybollocks! Enjoy lots of cuddles and hope that you all get some rest tonight. Good luck with the recovery.

@accrualintentions I brought 9ml of expressed colostrum in with me. I didn't think it was much but staff at the hospital keep saying it's a brilliant amount. Stick at it if you can, it's worth it just to know you have something to give quickly after birth. Freddie has only been having 2ml at a time today so even a small amount is so useful.

Congrats buttery! He's adorable!

Accrual it really is a case of "every little helps" when it comes to colostrum. Just keep collecting what you can because the baby really will only need tiny amounts to start with. The post-birth hormonal changes will trigger milk production - how much you can hand express before the baby comes is really no indication of how much baby will be able to extract. They're much more efficient anyway!

Congratulations @butterybollocks

Congratulations @butterybollocks. Freddie is gorgeous. Hope he's letting you put him down so you can catch up on sleep.

We ended up staying in again tonight. I had a couple of big bleeds & Iris has struggled to feed as I'm not producing enough colostrum for her. I knew I might struggle as my milk never came in with DS so was fully prepared that we would be doing formula but was hoping to do 5 days with Iris as I did with him but it became clear this afternoon that she just wasn't getting what she needed so we switched to formula. She had such a beautiful latch & a great technique but nothing coming no matter how hard she tried. All being well we'll be going home today & it's all so much easier at home.

@butterybollocks huge congratulations he is perfect and Freddie was one of our names if Liliana had been a boy!

@AccrualIntentions I didn’t have any expressed colostrum and I had to syringe it my first and second night’s which was horrible. I got a tiny amount but it seemed enough for baby and now everything is fine with my milk fully flowing. Fingers crossed for you.

Congratulations on baby Freddie he's gorgeous!!

It's only one week today until our due date now, booked in for sweep Monday and induction in Wednesday as we can't go over due date. can't wait until our little boy is here,counting down the days, all your little ones are making me even more excited !!

Huge congratulations @butterybollocks he is gorgeous. How did your first night go?