September 2019 #9 - for Twittlebee **title edited by MNHQ**

[IVEgottheDECAF]

New thread ladies as i feel the end of the last one may fill quickly following last nights news!

Once again congratulation Twittle & family

Nappy stash has finally been pre-washed. Feels like I’m finally getting somewhere

@Stroan I called and moaned and they’ve written me up for 150 strips and 200 lancets at a time now. We’ll see if they appear! Googled and the test strips are £25 for 50 so not cheap-but its not like we aren’t going to use them between now and EDD! I may have told a white lie that I’m going on holiday so need plenty .

Wow, that is expensive though!

I'm saving them money by re-using lancets, but not a lot I can do about testing strips...

@Stroan mine is at 95th percentile too apparently so I'll be joining the big baby club! Potentially- I've heard how unreliable they are!

Going to try to get more strips and lancets on Thursday so I'll report back how many my lot give me... hopefully they're sensible.

Training alllllll day today with my cover, I just want to sit in silence for the rest of the evening now. His style is very different to mine, he's pretty cautious which is a good thing, but with a million and one things to do and a year end could do with being a little quicker. Only day 2 so I'm sure we'll get there... 28 days left at work!! In theory 

Erm, @IVEgottheDECAF if you don't sort that pram remorse out I'm going to set stabby @Megan2018 on you

@Stroan @kyles101 95th percentile over here too - both families have big babies however though so not too much of a surprise...

Also holding on to fact that so many seem to be off.

Would be easier without "helpful" comments from my mother in law though - i.e. "don't eat too much tonight so he gets even bigger then!"

@Megan2018 talk to me about reusable nappies! Genuinely tempted. Cannot seem to convince other half though - looks at me like I've gone slightly crazy...

@HEFebery. I know I’m not Megan but I’m trying the reuseable nappies too. If you go the ‘the nappy lady’ website and do the questionnaire she can guide you as to which might suit.

Have to say though that I chose something different than her suggestion after reading that many reviews I went cross eyed. I have chosen close pop ins.

There are several different types. You can get:

birth to potty where they extend.
Sized
Wraps that go around a liner
All in ones
Pop in type where you have a liner that pops inside a wrap

So much choice

@Karigan195 thanks so much - will research away tonight!

Urgh, I feel your paid - I've banned my dh from telling MIL about my GD @HEFebery because I just can't deal with her wilful misunderstanding. I'm not sure i mentioned but a few weeks ago we were talking about when she came with me to the 20 week scan and she said to dh "oh yes, I was so worried because it wasn't moving a lot and the lady doing the scan was worried too" we WTAF - nothing of the like was said or seen - baby was moving around just fine, they struggled to get the views of the heart they needed but that was due to positioning. So god knows who else she's gone around telling that too. Under no circumstances does she get to know anything pertaining to my medical condition etc now.

*pain not paid!!

@kyles101 @hefebery thanks. It's the unexplained jump from 25th to 95th that is worrying. I was expecting another big baby as DD was 10lbs 3oz but as he was tracking the 25th percentile I thought it would be ok. If his growth continues to accelerate, it's definitely a big problem.

My diet is strict, I'm shrinking everywhere except the bump so really frustrated that I've managed to make another giant baby. Dr Google is not helping.

@kyles101 preaching to the choir! She means well, but before you know it everyone we know will have heard something completely inaccurate.

Midwife is referring me for GD tests just to be on the safe side as baby is big - what exactly is involved?

I looked at reusables and everything I read was saying different ones fit different babies (not unlike disposables) and didn't fancy shelling out for them and testing different shapes and styles whilst caring for a newborn. I would've been tempted to go for it if I'd 100% known what would suit baby and could buy a full kit at a reduced rate before, but I know myself I won't have the headspace for it. Fair play to anyone who gives it a go.

Want to try reusable wipes at home though- thinking about the Cheeky Wipes but I suspect you could DIY their kit for the fraction of the price they're charging. DH was like when I announced I wanted to try them, but I think they'd be great for newborn poops. Just wondering what to do with the dirty ones- how do you wash the "dirty" box properly? How often would you do a wipe wash?

@HEFebery it basically means a thrilling morning at the hospital. You have to fast from 8pm previous evening (water is ok but that's it) then when you go they'll take some blood, you have to drink a lot of sugary mildly rank tasking drink - a bit like really cheap warm squash - mmmmm - then you sit and wait. For TWO hours. You can't move about (take a book!) then you go back in and they take another sample of blood. If fasting and / or 2 hour bloods show glucose levels in excess of where they should be they'll diagnose GD and that's where the fun really starts

No, to be fair, at the minute I'm controlling with diet, but my understanding is that it worsens over the duration of the pregnancy so what you can eat today without causing a spike won't necessarily be tolerated in a couple of weeks time.

We're in good company though as there's a few of us here so just shout for advice and it's always on hand from the lovely September lot

@hefebery you'll have a GTT. So you'll fast overnight, then go to an appointment in the morning. They'll take blood to check your fasting levels, then give you a sugary drink. You sit for two hours and then they take blood again to see how you copies with the drink. You normally get results the same day or next day.

Worst part is the fasting!

TMI alert again... I'm having, not fanny daggers but fanny somethings... don't know how to describe it. A pressure, but sudden then goes away... I assume it's being punched in the cervix or similar?

That’s exactly why I chose close pop ins instead of the nappy lady’s recommendation. A) I got a pack on a cracking deal during real nappy week and b) I read every review going and searched all posts about them on all the nappy pages I joined and on the whole people only didn’t seem to get on with them if they had a chubby baby with plump legs. Otherwise most people rated them.

@HEFebery there's quite a few of us doing reusable nappies! I also did the nappy lady questionnaire but like karigan, I chose a different type than what she recommended. I watched lots of reviews and demonstrations on YouTube.
I have heard some nappies don't fit certain shape or size of babies but personally, I think you need to watch some videos to get them on properly, they are different to a disposable but some people seem to forget that. So if you are keen the one thing is say is do loads of research!

@kyles101 I spent the day training my replacement too. Feels very strange. I've only been in the company a year and had been panicking that she would come in and steal my job. Having done training with her I feel slightly less concerned of that, but still having wobbles about the fact that I haven't warmed to her and whether that's related, or if I'd have felt exactly the same if she wasn't taking over! 7 weeks to go

Re washable nappies and wipes- we've used them the whole way through with the first two, and will again, and I really recommend only buying a handful of different sorts til you have an actual baby to try with, truly. Nappy lady questionnaire is brilliant, so I'd order one or two of her suggestions and take it from there. Start in disposables and ease in with your tester nappies and you'll soon know which work for you. Plenty of people get addicted to having different sorts and never settle for one big kit...
Re wipes, @TheCraicDealer , cheeky wipes and nappy lady have videos etc., but if you are not doing a nappy wash, just chuck them in the dirty box which you fill with water with some pretty strong antibacterial essential oils, and then they go in the ordinary wash. Rinse off anything mega grim first, obvs. You save a bomb compared to packets of wipes, and they were our gateway drug to fully going to reusable nappies...
@strawberrylaces88 argh re your mat cover! I was burnt in my first mat leave and am now not at all keen to let anything go...
@kyles101 YES the kicks/punches to the cervix. Such joy! Also coming soon are the kicks to the bladder that cause an instant flood and farts being kicked out. So glam.
@IVEgottheDECAF how's the pram wobble???? We are agog.

@DustyDoorframes I look forward to those glamours with bated breath 

@strawberrylaces88 ha, I'm more confident that I won't be replaced after today's training too I just hope we can get to a point where phone calls will be kept to once a week! My boss is going to have a shock at the slack he has to pick up... my cover will deffo only be good for the core financial aspects I think... although I may be surprised. it's such a strange position to be in isn't it, it's like "I really hope you enjoy working here, we're a great team... but don't get TOO comfortable!!"

Ooooh thanks Dusty! I'll have a look at the videos. Will obvs look at it on DH's YouTube profile so that he gets suggested videos of how to wash them and benefits of reusable wipes

FYI for anyone who bought anything in the Mothercare sale- I bought our cot bed mattress on 19 June and thought it was weird that they hadn't dispatched it yet, so checked the website. Turned out it was sitting in the store ready for collection, they just hadn't sent the email telling me they'd dispatched it! If I hadn't checked it would have been sent back to their depot tomorrow. So if you're waiting on anything best to double check.

@DustyDoorframes the kicks to the bladder! Baby seems to do this as I walk! I get a kick then have to quickly stop myself from peeing a tiny bit 😂 I've taken to wearing a pad every day now just in case.

I had my first hormonal cry earlier. I just feel massive. I'm so grateful to be pregnant after a MMC last year so I'm trying to be positive all the time and happy and not moan. But fuck me I'm uncomfortable now. I never reached the uncomfy fed up stage with dd, I sailed through pregnancy. I've had it pretty easy with this one but I'm sick of being unable to get comfortable in bed. I'm not sleeping well.

Dd asked for a cuddle earlier and I honestly struggled to get her on my lap, and then wanted her off of me because it was hurting. But I felt bad, I've been at work all day, she'd missed me. I felt awful that I felt like that.

I'm lucky at the minute that I'm not too uncomfortable, laying on my side at night is really starting to get on my nerves though - I'm a committed tummy sleeper so it's starting to seriously get to me that I can't sleep that way.

I read somewhere that there's a massive cortisol surge at 28 weeks so that may explain all of our recent stabby / teary tendencies?

I am currently measuring above 95th percentile although only on fundal height no growth scan. My last 3 babies were born over the 90th line though so think it is to be expected.

I had been having a lot of very low down kicks which when i looked it up last night can be a sign of baby being breech. Mw on monday so see what she says!