September 2019 babies - thread #4

[Stroan]

Starting a new thread before the old one gets filled up!

We did a social media post on Sunday to let friends know about our news - and have already been offered for free:
Playmat and gym
Moses basket
Baby bath
High chair

So amazed how people I have not seen for years are offering up all sorts of things. So many lovely messages too - I think we have stunned everyone we know as we were always the childless couple - funny how babies seem to bring out the best in people. Feeling quite overwhelmed! :)

Giving stuff to a friend is by far the nicest way of getting rid of baby kit! I love hand-me-downs, especially seeing different babies in clothes I remember mine in! So cute!

Ah that's lovely megan, I love jab me downs too! Especially things that aren't used for very long like the moses basket or coats.

Aww that's lovely @Megan2018 I've been trying to palm off some of DD's clothes to anyone I know who is pregnant, but they've all had boys 😂

I was surprised by how many people bought Dd presents when she was born. Friends bought outfits and clothes, but even my friends mums bought things! We were inundated with clothes for her. Some things only got worn once, some still have tags on! A good tip is that most places will let you swap things for bigger sizes without a receipt. So we got loads of newborn/first size stuff but Dd was 8lb 10oz so we swapped them for 6-9 months etc so we had some nice bits stashed away!

Aww lovely @megan. My sister in law gave me loads of maternity clothes which has been brilliant :)

On a separate note - has anyone looked at NCT or any other classes? My hospital promotes Noobies classes, although NCT are available in our area too. Anyone have any experience or insight into any of these classes? Are there free ones at the hospital too? I had kind of expected there would be?

I have my 16 week appointment next week so will ask the midwife too

Really depends on each area excitednerves but where we are our trust even gives us free Hypnobirthing classes as well as full range of other courses too. I still done the NCT course too as many colleagues raved about how you make life long friends etc. Really loved the course and still all super close 2 years on!

@excitednerves I echo @TwittleBee re NCT. Our group is still really close and it was worth every penny for the social support alone, especially in the first year. There's no substitute for having someone going through the same thing at the same time, especially when feeding at 11p/1a/3a/5a and needing a WhatsApp chat. The guys all just went to the pub last week in fact! There are other courses (like at the hospital) to talk you through what to expect in labour, but that is covered in NCT, plus you get the social element.

Thanks both. I'll take a look at NCT and the Noobies classes - Noobies have a better website (ha! I'm a sucker for nice branding as I work in marketing) and they're held upstairs in a pub close to us which seems really nice.

I'm interested in hypnobirthing too - I'll ask if our trust does that too. I know they offer them, not sure if it's free. I think the booking-in appointment was all so overwhelming I only took in about half of what the midwife told me - so I'll need a full rundown again next week! There's so much new stuff to take in!

I’ve signed up for NCT, mostly just to make friends in the area!

I’m thinking of doing the positive mum online hypo birthing as it looks a really reasonable price

I signed up for NCT at 8 weeks! Mainly because they had a class for Sept/Oct babies literally down the road. I live in the arse end of nowhere so wanted to make sure I got on it as nothing else for miles. Not cheap though at £230. But I’ve paid in chunks!

I did really want to do NCT again, was waiting for the 12 week scan before booking but can't afford it now I've lost my job!

I’ve never done NCT with any of mine.
Is it worth the money??

No NCT anywhere near here and there wasn't when I had the older two either. The local midwives do two afternoon sessions so will probably go along to those in an attempt to be sociable!

Oh no twittle!! Sorry to hear about your job.
I did NCT with my first, and chose carefully re location (ie- didn't go for the ones somewhere everyone is way above my income bracket...). We are still really close 6 years later. Our instructor was also brilliant, lots of help with understanding the kinds of conversations we might find ourselves having in hospital, and looking after the baby- and each other!- once they arrive.
Fundamentally you are paying to meet some naice friends. Morally, it's pretty dubious, to be frank, but it certainly got me a brilliant set of friends who I love dearly and would bitterly miss. It pays to get them as close to home as possible- you want to be easy pram distance from each other...
eggy I wouldn't bother now you're a few kids in! With the possible exception of if you move area and know nobody.

I’m only doing it because we don’t even know how to pick up a baby, have no kids in the extended family and no local friends with babies. Because we are older most of our friends with children have teenagers!

If I knew what I was doing I’d not bother. It is expensive and reckon it’ll be a breastfeeding cult.

Haha @Megan2018 your comment just reminded me of the dreadful breastfeeding class we had at NCT - it was taken by a different instructor to our normal (lovely!) instructor and she looked like a hippy and spoke in a whisper, we were sat in a freezing village hall in February, all sat round holding plastic babies and squeezing woollen tits into the right latch position. It was awful! I did breastfeed DD but this very nearly put me off!

I never did NCT or anything either, i was only 19 when pregnant with my first and avoided any situation that was likely to make me feel judged!

At my last scan the mw gave me some leaflets and said "there is some information on parenting classes but you are not expected to attend don't worry, i know you could probably teach them yourself"

@BridgetJonesDaiquiri
that’s exactly what I’m imagining! I’m probably going to give bf a go but I'm not that fussed about it and not at all sure it’ll fit well with our life as DH will be with baby while I look after horse.
I don’t do well with being told what to do though, so if they push-I’ll go the other way.
I was bf for 6 weeks then ff and I’m good, so if that’s what happens for us I’m cool with it.

My four have all been formula fed from day one, through choice. I have never had a mw try to pressure me otherwise.

Although we had a separate breastfeeding session with NCT, there was zero pressure and fed is best was the message (though to be fair, our breastfeeding session was really helpful). Same goes for birthing options- we talked through what would happen with a c-section and epidural actually more than hypnobirthing. It all depends on the instructor you get and what you say you want to get out of it at the start.

We had an awful session too BridgetJonesDaiquiri and again was with their by specialist. She was so militant about BF and said anyone who couldn't BF was a liar!! I flipped out because my DSis really struggled to BF her DD and her response was that she clearly didn't seek help (she bloomin did, we have specialist BF MWs that come over to help every 2 days for first 2 weeks and then as and when you need!). She really didn't explain any of the realities of BFing either so for many of the women in the class it was a massive shock. And things like mastitis was really minimised.

I didn't do NCT last time. My trust doesn't do nhs antenatal classes, just tell you to watch some videos on the website. So I went to sign up for NCT and they only had a single space, wouldn't let me come with my DH so I just didn't bother. I met some great friends at baby classes though and we are all still meet weekly now. Don't think I'll do NCT this time but I've found a twins club in my area!

Is anyone else due first week in Sept still being sick?

I am 14+6 and cant even keep a drink down so far today. I have been sick and had a nosebleed at the same time again

Lots to think about with twins boodles!

I did NCT to meet friends in the area and am still close to them now. I didn't even attend the BF session, I had made my decision to FF before my DD was born.

I may try combination feeding this time as my pg has been so much better and I anticipate being in a much better mental state by the time I give birth than last time round.

@IVEgottheDECAF I'm still sick in the morning and if I don't have pills to hand often sick another 2-3 times throughout the day. This is considerably better than my last pg so I'm just going with it but if you can't keep water down I would be concerned you will start to get dehydrated soon. Have you suffered like this with your pregnancies? You may need to try the doctors for some anti emetics!