Due March 2008-New thread as we all talk too much [smile]

[turtle23]

Not very original, but the thread WAS becoming ridiculously big.

My house is still a building site BUT DH and I did manage to go shopping and order: pram, carseat, cot, mattress and an activity mat. So I am feeling a little more organised now.
Need to deal with the rest online I think. Thanks goodness for JL and Mothercare lists online!

If you are picky, I suggest anyone who hasn't, should order the big things asap. A couple of the things I wanted were 4-6 weeks to order!

I've got a busy week of appointments lined up, scans, consultants, midwives, blood tests. So next week I should have a good idea as to whether I have to have a c-section or not, amongst other things.

First NCT class tomorrow night.... a bit nervous.... but also excited. I know it sounds stupid but I think I am finally realising that I am going to be a mum... and soon!

it's all beginning tohappen...(except lodgers leaving!)

HQ, your class sounds exactly like mine. Where are you doing it? And I tell you what you could do with another day: swim, do it for me! And then report how wonderful the weightlessness feels and I'll live vicariously though you! I'd love to go, but can't with ds at present, local pool closed, and I want him to start when he's old enough to really get a sense of achievement from learning. When I was pg with him I just loved going for a swim, Went nearly every day, but almost bankrupted myself as it involved walking down marylebone high street past all those shops...into all those shops...

HQ sounds like you're doing a similar yoga to me. Mine's with an active birth teacher, too, and schedule is same, I believe. I hope it makes up for everything I haven't done so far! And the place where it's held also has a great post-natal pilates class for mum and baby. So, hopefully that will help with the jelly belly and my sanity!

Went to our first NCT class last night. It was pretty good. More informative than I thought it might be, given feedback from other people. I think it's most helpful for DH, actually. You should have seen his face when they pulled out the cervix dialation model! Actually, you should have seen my face. Um, 10cm is quite a lot!

Anyway, going to the class definitely makes it all more real. And nice to meet mums at same stage.

All this talk of yoga nearly made me choke on my doughnut. Good for you ladies. However, I consider the 20 km walk I do every night between my bed and the loo, betwen my bed and the loo, between my bed and the loo, quite enough exercise for me at the moment.

Anyway I didn't come on here to post that. I came to say my pushchair has arrived!!!
As you can tell, I'm very excited. Apart from a half price changing mat this is my first proper item to arrive, so thank you MIL!
It's brilliant in so many ways. Can't wait to put something in it!!! I did briefly consider DD's Baby Anabelle but common sense prevailed. If anyone is on the edge of their seat wondering what I've bought, well here it is
And for £180 it's suitable from birth and comes with head hugger, liner, foot muff and rain cover. I love it!

I did the labour ward tour on Sunday; have first NCT class Friday (it's quite inconveiniently an all day one - as a freelancer that costs me lots of money).

Have a load of baby things in the washing mashine; have bought awful maternity pads etc in Boots so I'm begining to feel more prepared.
Luckily I have stepped up my individual Pilates classes and he does visualisations with me too and holds mother and baby sessons which will be cool; must listen to Gentle Birth visualusation CD more often now...

Off sick today, trying to do work for another client to make up cash but feel so washed out!

Technos ROCK! But am disappointed you're not getting that one with a mummy board on the back to scoot into hossie in labour in

OK, got to order some name tags for ds1 starting at nursery

MB, Cash's are good for name tags.
Also as to Mummy board, sadly pushchair was ordered before your helpful link made me aware of such fantastic things. I am also sad about lack of skateboard but I guess you can't have everything!

I'm doing my yoga in Ealing - JFly, Merry - is that where you are (outside chance I know!)?

As for swimming merry, I did a bit in early stageS of pregnancy but then had a day when I got really bad aches around my pelvis so stopped going at about 4.5 months. I did loads on holiday in Egypt last week though and the weightlessness was WONDERFUL as you said, so I'm planning to start again. I'm only working 4 day weeks from now on, so my plan is to go swimming on Friday mornings. So with that and yoga I feel like my pregnancy is all backwards and that I'm getting more active towards the end than I was at the start (but then I spent the first 3 months pretty much attached to the sofa so it isn't hard to be more active)!

glam - I dare you to go out around the streets of east London with Baby Annabelle in your pram. Just pretend you're one of the mad women from My Fake Baby on Channel 4 last week. If you didn't see it, one of them took a doll in a pram to Harrods to buy an outfit (£300! Roberto Cavalli! Leopard print!) for the next doll she was getting. I really admired the assistant in Harrods - how she maintained an inscrutable look on her face as the woman explained how much better dolls were than real babies, I'll never know...

HQ, I think I could posibly get away with taking Baby Annabelle out in fab pushchair if DD is with me. I'll obviously let her have a go at pushing too . Tbh, don't think anyone round here would think anything of it. I didn't see that program last week but it sounded a bit scary. Reminds me of one time I got on a very crowded bus to discover a 40ish woman sitting in one seat and her Barbies lined up on the seat next to her. And you'll never guess that nobody asked her to move them!!!!

I did not think about it in such terms, but I have been doing pregnancy yoga as well. It is called active birth course though. There was a 3-week break and my back was really playing up lately, so yesterday I bought a body pillow. I hope it works. It was quite nice last night, but it might just have been exhaustion. I go to the swimming pool regularly, but the last two occasions their boilers were down, so no exercise.

DH told me that I should only work 10 am to 3 pm from now on. He is so sweet! I'll try to stick to it, but probably not every day. I can spend the rest of the time shopping / making further shopping lists. I never realized how much stuff you need for a baby and a new mom. And I do not mean clothes, just little bits and pieces.

For anyone who isn't ready yet and needs more lists -this site looks good.

Glam- I'll meet you at whitechapel stn with my pram- I'm dying to use it too! However, haven't got any cool dolls to put in it, but could use my 28-year old teddy (he's a bit flat, but still lovely!)! We'll fit right in there .

Am SO envious of all you swimmers! I've had eczema throughout this pg and just know it will flare up if I even look at a pool. So I wouldn't just be the whale-like creature in the pool, I'd be the lobster-red whale-like creature that can't stop scratching! And there's a nice pool up the road too. Argh.

Met a friend of a friend the other day who lives on a narrow boat on the Limehouse cut near us- she had a homebirth last year!! (DH jokingly asked if it was a water birth, cheeky monkey!)

hello all, havent posted for a bit, glad to hear everyone is well

great news preggars that your babies will be home with you soon

all fine here, only 7wks till due day, and i have bought a few bits, breast pump, changing mat, sheets etc. need to wash all baby bedding and clothes, but they are still in the loft at the moment.

also suddenly remembered all the bits i will need for after the birth, comfy knickers and pads etc, for some reason i had forgotten totally about that bit oh and i need to get stuff ready for the home birth, will get some plastic sheeting from b&q for the floor etc.

all well tho, bump very wriggly, i see the midwife for my 34 wk check next wk and then i have to see her at 36wks which will be a home visit. so its all starting to get a bit real, we will have another baby in the house

still giggling that you lot haven't got everything sorted yet

hopefully the girls may come home on Saturday- as long as the consultant gives us the go ahead on Friday- i will have to stay at the hosp overnight then can take them home. We have been told not to rely on this date- consultant is well within his rights to keep them in hosp!

But so far so good- they are little troopers, both are feeding well now, Millie still has a top up from a cup as she's a bit lazy but Carys never stops i had her in a sling yesterday sitting in the day room- i forgot she was feeding, must have dropped off while watching a film and when i woke up 40 minutes later she was still sucking away

The steroid jabs certainly made a difference to the girls- they are at the stage of a 'normal' 35 weeker so all's looking well.

I have booked a total house clean for Thursday and Friday- i'll be too excited to do it properly and tbh- i can't remember the last time i cleaned bathroom tiles- so i'd only get it wrong if i tried

I put them in their swaddlebees last night- the nappies suddenly looked massive! i'll stick with the xs fuzzis for now!

There was a conversation ages ago about wanting to find stuff that wasn't just pink or blue....can't remember who it was but check out this site

not wanting pink!!!!!

Quit your giggling, preggers, you're stressing me out! I do love girly clothes, but I like bright colours and everything out there for tiny babes seems to be pastel and insipid. Love that Nordic Kids site, but I'll go bankrupt if I hang out there too long.

Oy, all this talk of swimming. I know it's good for you, but I just hate hate hate it. Don't mind on holiday, but the thought of the local pool and showers and ew, naked people in the changing room. Dunno, I'm just a big baby. Plus, that would require me to buy a swimsuit and by god that's not what I want to do at 7 months pregnant. Sigh, I really ought to have a better attitude!

HQ I'm in Southfields and luckily the Vitality Centre (I love this place) is within 5 minute walk of me. I do all sorts there, from acupuncture/osteopathy to beauty treatments. It's so great that it's near by. They do loads of baby-related stuff too, so will check that out after LO arrives. I really recommend it to anyone around SW London.

Oh preggers, that's great news. Will keep my fingers crossed that your girls will come home on Saturday.

I'm quite well prepared I think and have bought most of the stuff I need. There are a few minor bits to get like toiletries and breastfeeding bras but I think I will wait as long as I can for that. Got the new Bravissimo catalogue and they have nice nursing bras for us big boobed ladies. My mum has come over from Brazil to help and will be doing all the clothes washing prior to baby arriving.

We start our classes in Greenwich next Tuesday. It's with an ex-midwife who now runs private pre natal classes. DH and I will go along to those. May also do the parentcraft classes at Lewisham Hospital and drag my mum along as she will also be with me at the hospital.

Hello, hope everyone is well.

Preggers - lovely to hear the girls are doing so well and might be getting home soon

I had a midwife appt today. Baby is head down which is good, although I know there's still loads of time for LO to move. They've got a new thing here where they plot your fundal height at each appt on a personalised graph based on your own height/weight. And where as the 'expected' line suggested I could expect a 7lb7 ish baby, I seem to be plotting well about that and on course for a nearly 10lb er Luckily, they have been getting some overestimated baby weights doing this so hopefully I'm one of those!

It was the 'nasty' midwife again unfortunately and I had been a bit concerned about some green discharge recently (sorry if tmi) but she didn't bat an eyelid and said I should just monitor it

Anyway, Antenatal classes are in full swing, I've got my 2nd physio class tomorrow night which is apparently all about birthing positions etc, and then the 3rd midwife one on Sunday which is going round the birthing unit etc. It's definitely making it all feel real!!

Feeling quite organised on the buying stuff front, but am leaving all of the washing baby clothes etc until I'm on mat leave (I finish up 6 weeks today!)

Expecting my first child in March.

Went for a 3/4D scan last week and it was brilliant. The quality of the pictures is fabulous.

We're yet to buy most of the baby kit needed, however, managed to get a buggy last week so it feels a lot more real now...

Hi NinjaR, this will be my first baby too and I promise you will learn lots from the ladies on here!

I bought my pram in October but arranged for it to be delivered in February, am jealous of all those wbho have there's to play with!

Just a quickie update and birth announcement!!!

My waters broke on 14 Dec so have been hanging on a while, hoping baby would stay put as long as possible. On Saturday morning at 2.30 (I was home from hospital after staying there the first couple of weeks), I woke up and seemed to be getting regular braxton hicks!! I was also a bit concerned about the baby not moving as much, so decided that as I wasn't going to go back to sleep, I'd head back to the maternity ward and ask to be monitored, just for reassurance. Turned out they were real contractions! Lauren Margaret Ella was born just before 9am, normal delivery despite being breech, weighing in at 3lb 14 (pretty good for 31 weeks I thought). I'd had steroid injections 3 weeks earlier to help mature her lungs in case she was early and she's doing fine. She's in special care - so I'll be looking out for threads on special care later - but breathing on her own, having cuddles and doing well. I'm busy expressing milk every 3 hours or so and kind of breastfed her (ie she had a sniff around and a bit of a lick) yesterday, which I think was what enabled me to leave her at hospital and come home without floods of tears. Not to say it's not emotional, but logically it seems that she's better out than in. Can't wait to get her home though.

Anyway, off to see her now.

Oh Kirst - congratulations!!!!

So pleased that she's arrived safely - it must have been a very stressful few weeks for you, and it's such good news that she's doing so well.

I have to say, for a board full of boys, it's the girls that are currently making their presence felt!

congrats kirst! wehay we can officially start a post-natal thread now without me just talking to myself

Congratulations Kirst! That's a beautiful name. I'm so glad she's doing well. Keep us posted on how you are both doing.

I saw my doctor yesterday who says baby is not breech but head down afterall. Who knows, eh? And just now have found the (unused) urine pot in my handbag that she gave me for next time. Must remember to hide that deep down until I get home tonight!