Due August '07 - Part 4

[tokentotty]

Welcome all !!!!

Sorry hersetta our posts crossed and I had forgotten about your back to work deadline.

Oh, I'm absolutely determined to BF, do you think I need to get formula as back up though ?

Ooops, quite a few crossed posts there ! All of us asking Mrs B the same thing ?

I don't know whether having it in the house would
a) make me more likely to give in and use it if bf gets tough,
or b) be a soothing backup that'll let me relax, meaning I won't need it...

currently going with the former and relying on DH doing a 24hr Tesco run if it really all goes bad.

Then I'm gonna do the same Mrs B. Decision made !!

HI Everyone

Just mananged to have a quick catch up. We've not done anything yet with regards to getting ready for the baby. We are in the process of redecorating the spare room but we will have the baby in with us for first 6 months so not planning on getting rid of the guest bed yet.

I ws trying to remember when I packed my hospital bag last time and it was pretty much on the day that I went in to be induced I just had everything piled up and ready to go although Birth was pretty quick so the bag was left up on the ward and we missed out on having a camera there when DS was born and his photos had to wait till later which was a shame. Think DH was in too much shock when he got to hospital to have tkaen any photos though. Rabbits and headlights spring to mind, it ws too late for any back rubbing and reminding me of breathing by the time he got there.

I didn't have any formula in the house as I'd chosen to BF DS and we had plenty of 24 hr supermarkets nearby if we needed them. Only advice if you plant to BF is get as much info as possible beforehand. I had a different message from every midwife I saw in the hospital for the 24 hours we were there after birth with several of them desperate for me to give him formula and it's very hard to stick to your guns when you're tired drained and just in need of some support !!!

Hi guys, hope everyone had a nice long weekend!

I had an odd conversation with the antenatal receptionist nurse this morning, when I asked about getting a MATB1 form. She asked me who my mw was, I said I didn't have one. "Who did you see at your 24 week check then?" she asked. "What 24 week check?"

Silence on the other end of the phone for a moment.

"Who are you seeing for your 28 week check though?"
"I didn't know there was any 28 week check either!"

She ran off and came back and explained that somehow I'd been overlooked (!) and I'd missed out on my checkups so could I come in asap so they could do their thing. So I agreed and went in, the attending mw said whoever had booked me in hadn't filled out 3 forms at the back of my notes, so I had no midwife assigned to me, no "care provider" asigned to me (as in should I be seeing a community mw, my gp, or them) and no hv set up for after he's born either.

Wonderful!

At least it's sorted out now, but for some stupid reason I did cry, as my body is currently unable to process any small emotion without leaking (and that's just my eyes)

Oh and despite being needle-phobic, I somehow managed to arrange myself a glucose tolerance test for next week, so I have two lots of blood tests and a fast to look forward to. Fan-flippin-tastic.

Anyone else having a gtt?

Hi everyone, hope we are all well - banana at your doctors - unbelievable, glad it is all sorted out for you now!

Must agree with everyone that i have nothing ready also like mrsB we are awaiting the spare bedroom to be plastered ,with Ds i had everything down at 28 weeks, even hospital bag packed but, nada,nothing this time round, it just seems to be sneaking up on me!
But on one thing have had a nappy lady come round and show me how/what cloth nappies i need, Just need to buy them now!

With regard to BF, i tried to last time but had no real help or support so on the way home from the hospital i made dh go in to tesco and get some, luckily my niece was only 4 weeks old so i had n idea what to get as sis had just started using it, last time i felt the pressure to bf overwhelming and had midwifes getting stroppy, especially when i told them i had made a decision to Bottle feed, i must say go with what you feel you must, im going to try again to bf but also going to buy some milk before as-well!

have a midwife appointment tomorrow, looking forward to that as its seem like i have nothing for ages!

Can't believe how organised you all are! Our spare room is still full of boxes from when we moved here 15 months ago - must get on with clearing out and painting!

I BF DS, and (for those who want to breastfeed exclusively) wouldn't recommend having formula in the house if you can avoid it - I'm sure if I'd had some then at some point in the first couple of weeks, probably about 4am, I'd have given in and tried it and then regretted it. Although I found the first few weeks of BF really difficult (particularly in the hospital, where as someone else said every midwife tells you something different)it got much much easier after that.

no one's mentioned stocking up on nappies, that's something you can't have enough of

bananabump/uki

I keep telling DH this, as i like to be organised. He has until the end of June sort out moving his down to the garage so we can swap the spare room into his old office and claim back the nursery.

I am now going to against most people, although i am going to breastfeed i will be geting in some bottles and formula, as i knoww several people who have just not produced any breastmilk.

I will be posting at odd times as my laptop has had to go back to mastercare again, as they didn't repair it when they had it last week.. So i can only use DH laptop when he is home from work.

Hi everyone!
Oh my gosh nurseries, nappies and milk powder..
I'm down to only 2 bras and only 2 or 3 outfits that fit and absolutely nothing bought for the baby yet.
Still not sure where to give birth either..
My back pain has been self diagnosed as PGP 'pelvic girdle pain' it's still painful and annoying as it's preventing me walking far or exercising much but at least I have more idea of what aggravates it.
Re: BF, I BF ds1 for 1 year and my poor perky 32B's ended up stretched and drooping at age 20! Now I'm absolutely loving these new boobs and it seems so sad to sacrifice them to BF! I know this is very selfish but I always wished that someone had warned me about the toll BF takes on your boobs. It's not just vanity, honestly, it can be pretty hard to feel good about yourself when your boobs look horrible!

is anyone planning to buy reusable nappies? Any recommended brands?

banana,

I'm having a GTT on 7th June - I was automatically booked for one as MIL is diabetic.

Going to look like a pin cushion that week as I have my regular 28 week bloods plus my anti D treatment because I'm rhesus negative.

itchy - im going reusable this time, the lady that i saw recommended for me the Mother ease 9 these look huge for newborn) and totbots terrys, also like the tot bots bamboo as well, there is a fab lady on here called Flamesparrow and she runs ehr own napppie business, tell her what you want from a nappie and she will advise what you need!

Lizziemum , i am also going to get in bottles etc, even if i can feed well i want dh to help feed so want to express and we also have a weekend away in November ( 1 night anyway) and babe has to be used to a bottle if we are going

itchy I think we're doing resuables too - filled in the questionnaire at The Nappy Lady (inc age of child, whether you have a tumble dryer, will they go to nursery etc) and one of her nappy gurus gets back to you with a personalised reccomendation with no obligation to buy.
For what it's worth she came up with Totsbots cotton for us too!

The thing I couldn't get over was how much cheaper it was - did a bit of maths yesterday and buying Pampers for birth-to-potty came to £600+ and the eco-friendly 'Nature' ones from Waitrose £800+, which made the reusables (£360 all in, including bucket etc) sound astonishingly cheap, even accounting for the extra laundry.

Hi everyone - sorry have been away so long; am struggling to find time for MN lately . Have been trying (unsuccessfully) to explain to DH how much hard work it is to take DS to town and come back (up a hill) with buggy, 3 bags of shopping, library books etc then to prepare dinner for his return home. I am exhausted and very tearful most of the time at the moment - DH really doesn't get it . Am noticing a distinct difference to last time I was pregnant in this sense.

However, I can't miss a chat on nappies . I can recommend Bimbles or Diddy Diapers for newborns (they come up a bit smaller than tots bots) or if you get the nippa size one tots bots you can fold the front down to make them fit a newborn. Motherease onesize are fab but no good for newborn babies (unless you have a big one!)

The Bimbles are so teeny tiny I couldn't resist getting some for DS when he was born and they fitted perfectly and dealt with all the bf poo too! I might have to go and get mine out of storage - they make me feel all warm and fuzzy

Hello. Hope everyone's well. Sorry to hear about you being overlooked banana. When I was booked in I saw a student midwife. I think that if I hadn't told her that having an underactive thyroid makes me high risk then she wouldn't have set me up with a consultant. I've got a letter the other day telling me that I have a growth scan on 31st May but it's 3 hours after my appointment to see the consultant. I'm not going home and back to the hospital twice in one day. Also, my sister has told me that it's pointless seeing the consultant before the scan so she's going to get it changed for me (she works at the ultrasound reception).

I agree with the others about not having formula in the house unless you intend not to bf at all/only partially from the start. Also, having experienced trying to bf and not getting any support from the midwives I would definitely recommend getting some help and support lined up ready for when the baby's born. The advice I got from the midwife who delivered dd pretty much just told me to stick the nipple in her mouth and it just went downhill from there. I had someone come round who showed me the proper positioning but unforunately it was too late and the damage was done. With the help of MN I've found some local bf support groups and, courtesy of Surestart, I have a midwife and doula who are both trained to teach bf who are going to come round after the birth to help me.

Motherease one size did fit my ds from birth but he has grown out of them (so much for one size!). My favourites are tots bamboozles - (sorry if tmi!) I find them easier to get the poo off! Really recommend the motherease wraps though as they never never never leak!

Haven't got anything for this baby at all - we're still waiting to move house (likely to be end of the month) - so need to sort that before can even think about baby stuff!

The list for your hospital bag seems really long - I used one from somewhere last time, when I arrived the MW asked me how long I was planning to stay for! In the end it was only 10 hours! I took piles of food but as a friend said you're going to give birth not for a picnic! I couldn't bear the smell of any food near me with DD and with DS spent most of the labour chucking up - both times food went home untouched.

Rather than take loads of stuff with me I'm planning on taking small bag of bits and leaving other stuff laid out at home for visiters to bring in as needed. solves the problem of where to put it when you're in hospital as you don;t get that much space - lots of it is taken up by the baby! We forgot our camera too and had to borrow one!

TT - those are definately braxton hicks. They're nothing to worry about and likely to get stronger as you get bigger. I took piles of raspberry leaf tablets from about 32 weeks (meant to help condition the womb) last time and this seemed to make them even stronger.

Oh dear, am also very interested in reuseable nappies but it's like you're all speaking Greek or something....eeek !! Followed advice and have completed the Nappylady's online form for recommendations but hearing which ones are easiest to get the poo off make me want to stick my fingers in my ears and run off shouting 'la a la la lal al al alalallaaaaaaaaa'. I'm rubbish at this aren't I...
Thanks for that BH confirmation. Just couldn't believe how I could be getting them so much already. A friend of mine kindly said that it would hopefully mean a quicker labout but I'm sure she was just being nice and am putting no store by that at all.

Hersetta I am SO jealous of you!! DH and I went to the Maldives for our honeymoon in September 06 and it is just magical... I've been getting real "pangs" for the Maldives again recently but I think it will be a good few years before we go back the people, the food, the weather, the scenery - it's all just paradise...

Oh! Now I'm going to have to have a cry... I've just looked at your webcam link and it's the exact same island that we stayed on!!! Have you been at the Taj Exotica before???

Hersetta, I think you should go and stand on that jetty at a particular time each day and wave at us !!

Had a quick catch up on all the posts.. have missed quite a few... obviously been working too hard

TT - I've also got a bad Irish temper my DH keeps telling me off for it!!!

Regarding nappies... I don't think I'm going to use reusable nappies but I do have an organic brochure at home (will dig it out tonight as can't remember the name) and they do nappies filled with corn starch (I think??) which are supposed to be kinder to the baby's skin and also work out around the same price as Pampers etc, if you buy in bulk.

Oops system crashed - need to log out - back later!

Sorry Baby and TT but we're not going to that island. There are only 2 webcams in the whole of the maldives so I just use the taj exotica one to check on the weather. We're actually going back to Lily Beach (4th time) for 16 nights and doing bugger all except sleeping and reading on the beach. Having no drink will be tough I think though - I got really bored at the end of a weeks holiday when we went to the Dominican Republic in December just a day after I found out I was pregnant! so being there for 16 nights with no drink will seem like an eternity. I think I may treat myself to the odd beer whilst we watch the sunset every 3/4 days.