June 2019 - Part 7!

[Kescilly]

Hi ladies! Picking names, packing hospital bags - third trimester here we come!

I thought I'd start out with the stats this time and I'll post the updated name list in a bit. I've just included the data that I have, since a lot of people are missing bits (or quite possibly I've missed their posts). We come from all over, so I'll put that bit in another post later as well.

Our average age at estimated due date is 33! That should help some of us who are feeling older.

And that's not just because we're all second-timers! In fact, most of us are having our first baby this year.

Baby #1 - 31
Baby #2 - 26
Baby #3 - 9
Baby #4 - 1
Babies 1&2 together! - 1

Fifteen of us are expecting lovely little boys, nineteen of us are expecting darling little girls, and at least sixteen of us are waiting to be surprised!

The average due date is June 13th, and the most popular due date is June 24th. We don't have anyone expecting on the 15th, 23rd, 27th, or 30th as far as I can tell.

And if you happen to have a baby on my birthday (June 16th), your baby will be born on Father's Day this year!

Just to add, I found the Little Lamb breast pads on the nappy lady site and the reviews were really good. I've washed them through a few times to help with absorbance ready for when I need them. Also treated myself to some organic coconut oil to use as nipple cream!

For those who consider cloth nappies - here in Suffolk we have a 'Nappy Library' where you can hire the nappies you need and as far as I'm aware it's all free. The ladies running it are really lovely and we are considering doing it (just still a bit worried about coping with washing even more stuff). I could imagine these organisations existing outside suffolk as well, maybe have a look on google

Ours was closed due to funding cuts @annihall but yes pretty sure a lot of areas have them, good idea! Our local NCT has one. Same for baby sling libraries.

For anyone struggling with SPD, particularly at night like I have been I’ve bought a snoozle slide sheet. Finally had a pain free night, slept so much better and in less pain when I got out of bed this morning. Expensive for what it is but thought I’d mention in case anyone else is struggling!

I’m putting together the snuzpod. Instructions say it should take about 40 mins. Any guesses to how long it’s going to take me 😂 for a bit of context ive put 3 pieces of Ikea furniture together in my entire life!

@Napssavelives let me know how you get on, I've still not put ours together yet 🙈 what colour did you get?

Natural . Currently interrupted by tears :(

Oh Naps, can we help at all? It must feel overwhelming sometimes.

I don’t think so but thanks . Just didn’t see myself doing this alone. It’s made worse by the fact the kids are at their dads. I’m sure it’ll be fine when baby is here and He’ll be snuggle up on my chest and we’ll figure it out

All done! Will attach to my bed in a few weeks. Fairly easy to put together

Looks great @napssavelives, good job! 😊

I set ours up, left the room for 5 minutes and one of our cats had taken ownership of it 🙄 Going to need to make sure that zip is done up all the time!

Yeah I can see my car doing that too so I deliberately left the plastic cover on the mattress. Eating an Easter egg to reward myself

You can guarantee the baby won’t sleep in it! My other 2 boys would only sleep On me so I’m expecting this one to be the same. I may get a sleepy head too but will see how he is. Luckily I have a Waitrose down the road which John Lewis do next day delivery too so if I beed one I can get one pretty quick.

Ah brilliant job Naps! Your baby is lucky to have a strong, capable mom.

@WeeBean typical cat! Ours is going to have foil on it for a while until we can be sure he will leave it alone.

Nice work @Napssavelives! I did the sleepyhead snuzpod combo last time (after many weeks of her sleeping only on me...) and pretty sure it was ordered in desperation at some point, so glad I won't have to do that this time around 🤪
Talking of desperation...I have been awake since 1.30am so that's 3 hours and counting....I was already feeling wrecked yesterday after a night tossing and turning so how the hell will I get through a Sunday on almost no sleep?? DP was driving me fucking mental yesterday too as he has genuinely NO CLUE how to take the pressure off me and am still the default parent/effing housemaid while he had at least 2 sofa naps yesterday grrrrrrrrrrr!!

@Napssavelives Snuzpod looks great! Before getting a sleepyhead just make sure you research safety before making a decision. I bought one for the exact same thing (I’ve got a snuzpod too) but since found out they aren’t safe for unobserved sleeping but it’s not well known in the UK. It’s called the dock a tot in the US. I now regret getting it!

Question- When you go in for lack of movement what tests do they do on you before sending you home? I do feel like I have some active days and others more quiet and I just never know if it’s normal or not and it’s worrying me a bit. I had a midwife appointment on Thursday and she took bloods and used a doppler and she was happy. Would they do the same type of thing if you went in to get checked or something additional?

Yeah I heard they weren’t deemed safe for sleeping unsupervised in anymore. Figured it was about weighing up the pros and cons . If baby will only sleep on my chest like the other boys perhaps a sleepy head is safer than that?! Who knows. Will see what he’s like when he gets here.

@stellarfox when I’ve been in for reduced movements they did a ctg for about half an hour and said if still weren’t happy I could have seen a dr and had a scan arranged. This was all within the hospital though - not community midwife

@Naps I stupidly took the plastic off ours, it came folded in half and wanted to make sure it got its shape. Hope you enjoyed your Easter egg! I've got mine stored away along with a Lindt bunny for after baby comes (damn GD!) I'm so excited for it 😂

@Kescilly good thinking with the foil, might try that. We used to out it round the pots of our indoor plants when the cats were younger but they saw it as a game and ripped it to shreds while racing round like eejits on their funny half hour 😂

@toomanyflatwhites with you on the no sleep! Tossed and turned all bloody night thanks to cramp in my leg, it feels like the growing pains I used to get when I was kid. Can you insist it's your day for sofa naps and your DH came take your DV out so you can catch up on some sleep?

@stellafox as naps said they do a ctg which tracks the HR for about 20-40 mins. so it is more thorough than the Doppler the midwife uses. On the ctg they are looking to see not just if the heart is beating and the baseline rate, but also the “variability” in the heart rate over a period of time, which can be an indication of whether or not the baby is in distress / getting enough oxygen. I’ve been in twice now so they are also now referring me for a scan, which is reassuring.

I get stressed constantly about movements, as I’m never confident about whether I know what is “normal”. Sometimes the baby is active, sometimes more quiet. Sometimes movements are strong, sometimes super light. Despite what all the “advice” says, she definitely doesn’t have a regular routine/ pattern! (or at least not one that I’ve been able to identify). So it’s hard to know when to be worried.. I suppose it’s one of those things where if something were really wrong we would just know somehow, but without that experience it’s hard to identify where the line is between the baby having a quiet period and the baby being unwell??

@bizawit @stellarfox I've been in four times for reduced movements. My baby has active days and very non-active days. My obstetrician said it's a myth that babies have a pattern, though some do

The machine doing a ctg measures a variety of functions - once the machine is satisfied that a certain criteria has been met, it produces a report which the midwives and on-call doctor review. It's also possible to get a quick bedside scan. My hospital has a policy of scheduling an extra scan if there's been two or more occasions of RFM.

@toomanyflatwhites I feel your pain!! I slept well last night but that's getting to be quite rare. Four more weeks till mat leave and daytime napping!!

I went in fairly early once for reduced movements, maybe around 24 weeks? They just did a doppler and bloods. It was the first time I heard a heartbeat! The community midwife never uses the doppler at appointments. I had one do it once but she was newly in from Scotland and I think she didn’t know that they don’t do it here. I wish I could hear the heartbeat again.

I felt a lot more uncertain about movements before. I don’t know if she’s settled into a routine now or if I am less anxious, but I haven’t had a day where I’ve worried in a little while now. Hopefully that keeps up!

I think it is quite stressful because while things can go wrong in pregnancy, most of it is outside our control. But reduced movements feel like something we have control (and responsibility) over.

Thanks @swiftfox and @WeeBean - DP majorly redeemed himself shortly after my post moaning about him 🤪 he woke up around 5 and I cried in him because I was so tired and he was super sweet, offered to go and make me tea or talk about baby names! I went downstairs and got some warm milk and then felt more relaxed after sitting on the sofa for a while, and slept again from 6ish, and when DD woke up he took her to her room to let me sleep (this is genuinely a first!!!) and now he had taken her swimming!

Re sleepyhead - @Napssavelives I felt the same about risk in terms of baby sleeping on me/in adult bed vs in a safe space and that made sense for me. I don't know if guidelines have changed in 3 years (haven't even looked into it...) but personally I didn't ever leave her sleeping alone in it anyway so if it's just about unsupervised sleep then I would still be following the guidelines.

@toomanyflatwhites aw glad to hear it! Years seem to force men into action lol Enjoy your relaxed morning!

@Napssavelives well done, great job and it looks fab! Our Mothercare store was out of natural so we got espresso. You've inspired me to set mine up now too! Also sending you a big hug xxx

@WeeBean Also love yours, what make is it? Gorgeous kitty has taken it over, love it! 😂

@Bizawit re movements I have exactly the same problem. I'm 35 weeks and still can't pin point a set pattern. Some days she's really active, some more quiet and I can't tell when those days will be. I've been in 5 times now, had 3 scans and numerous CTGs (all perfect) and honestly I've just resigned myself to going in as often as I need for the remainder of the pregnancy and I've also asked for weekly CTGs for peace of mind which they're kindly obliging. That in itself has made me a bit more relaxed. I'm telling myself I'm 35 weeks now and so close to the end, very soon this will all be a distant memory!

@rollerskaterdata aw thank you, it's an Inovi Cocoon, the idea is to keep pets out 😂 Yoda takes over everything 🙄

I'm another one with absolutely no pattern for baby movements, glad I'm not alone! In the hospital on Wednesday they said not to worry as no pattern is obviously just what's normal for me, makes it so hard to know when to worry though!