Waddling Zombies and Dancing Babies - Due Feb 2008

[Pk616]

Hiya ladies,
Thought I'd start the new thread, hope you like the title! Best I could come up with I'm afraid!

Aww ladle how lovely for you. can really sympathise as dd1 was v prem too (she's 19 now!). It is amazing to have a cuddle after such along time, they look even smaller in your arms than they do in the incubator don't they? Hope all continues to go well for you all.

Breast feeding tops - don't think they existed when i had dds1 & 2! If they did i managed perfectly well without, having said that i have bought one of the drop down strappy t-shirt thingys for in hosp instead of nursing jamas but i wouldn't bother with any others. You can be very discrete with a normal top tbh. the one thing i did do sometimes (if out) was to drape a shawl over my shoulder to cover up if i thought i might offend anyone.

Went to babiesrus today, generally i think they're good value but have to say sale was disappointing - didn't need anything but if i had have done there wasn't much 'sale' stuff, more buy 2 get 1 free type offers. Haven't been anywhere else so don't know what's about (before chrimbo i did get some really cute clothes half price in asda though!).

Hello just to let you know I have a new Christmas Day bump pic on my profile, it's not a close up tho so hope you can see it ok! Also a new one of my lovely boy .

what a neat bump egg! you look v glowy . til recently i've felt quite small, but have had a v impressive growth spurt. am now 31 wks for first time people have said they cant belive i've still got 8 weeks to go!

i am very impressed at those of you who braved the sales. i am hoping i can avoid shops for quite a while...

sallyinyorkshire: lol at your sample conversations. friends and family asked same questions again and again over xmas and lots of tips etc. bless them, and a few weeks ago i would have been happy to chat endlessly on the subjct, but it's all got a bit groundhog day of late.

LADLE - lovely to hear from you. going past your profile page, saw your telly faves which are spookily similar to DH's. in partic he a big charlie brooker fan and is reading one of his books on sofa as a i type!

all ok here. still got the blues a bit. being with my family is lovely but i always feel a bit peeled and oversensitive, like i can feel too much on everyone's behalf. hmmmmm. that makes no sense.

right, off to eat a jacket potato. i have never craved simple fare so much

Hi all and a merry xmas, hope everyone has had a great time. Haven't posted for a while now but have tried to catch up!!

Have finally finished work and although I was actually quite sad in the end, it's such a relief. It was great getting up this morning knowing that i didn't have to rush around!!

We had a great xmas although I've totally overdone it the last week or so so have been in a lot of pain and started swelling up like a baloon on xmas night. Did think at one point I was going to have to ring someone cause came over really funny but I zonked out and that seemed to do the trick. Obviously had nothing to do with the obscene amount of food I ate

Work threw me a fab baby shower and got us so much stuff. Plus another girl at work has just had her baby and bought her in at 6 days old and it really jbought home to me what's going on so I'm finally getting quite excited!! Jobs now include getting the nursery finished and packing my hospital bag!! Midwife seems happy with progress and there were no showstoppers today which is good.

Ladle - your girls are lovely and i'm glad you are all well

Enjoy the rest of the festive season everyone x

lovemymum, I will look which make it is tomorrow and let you know.

I think I may have traumatised DD today, shes now 19 months and we've been doing sign language for a while now. She was looking at a photo of a friends new baby and doing the baby sign, so I pointed to my belly and did the baby sign telling her mummy has a baby in her tummy. She looked very confused and then did the sign for eating! So now I think she thinks I've eaten a baby! Oh dear!

I'm really starting to panick now as I'm not at all organised or ready for the baby. Our house is small with no storage. I need to get a doublepram but haven't got the money. and a carseat, another cot. Oh god, can you sense the panick rising????

Egg - love the pickies. My bump is huge compared to yours and i only have one in there! I have tried to upload pix of me but devine intervention creeps in and it doesn't work! will have another go sometime.

Blue - sure dd is ok and hasn't suffered any ill effects, it is uite funny though (sorry).

tyaca- feeling a bit grumpy and resentful too, i think it's just hormones hun. put your feet up and be good to yourself for a bit - says she who is about to go and see aunty (100 today!) in rest home and to order new carpet for dd2!

Countto10- hope you're ok now...definately, absolutely nothing to do with food! Giving up work seems to be a mixed bag - i felt quite sad (was due to finish on 4h Jan but doc signed me off week before chrimbo) - it is a relief to stop rushing (well, my version of pregnant rushing) around but it's also wierd not to be doing normal routine things. I miss my friends too. Still when i have to go back i'll hate it!

Half the time I feel organised, the rest of the time I think I have nothing ready. Also, I keep telling myself that if the babies come early they will be in hospital for a while so I will have loads of time to sort the rest, but the reality is that (fingers crossed) they should be about 5lb or so by now and (fingers and toes crossed) wont need too much time in hospital and I do need to be more organised! Today I have finally got my spare purse out and put some money and loose change in for my hospital bag.

DS has been sick this morning. Not sure if he is really unwell or just a fluke puke. Thankfully we were in the kitchen at the time but still a big mess. He does seem a bit under the weather.

Only tomorrow and then the dreaded inlaws arrive on Sunday .

Oops, meant to say, bluedomino we moved DS into a bed at 20 months and it all went really smoothly, is it worth considering that instead of having two cots? Or is that even more of a horrendous thought?

Ginger - my dad took the pic and I am kind of facing half towards him and half sideways, so you can't see how far out the bump sticks. It is quite a tidy one, but it juts out way in front of me and enters rooms well before me .

Hi everyone.

Bluedomino - We also put our 2 ds's into beds at around 1 1/2. Might save you getting another cot?

Egg - don't want to panic you but you must be around 35 weeks now - I don't think you're dts would have to spend that much time in hospital now if they came early! I'm sure leesmum said at one stage that she had her ds at 35 weeks and got home the next day. I've still to pack my hospital bag - I think I have everything for it just need to get around to doing it. Still 6 weeks to go though so I don't suppose there's too much of a rush just yet. Would be nice to have it organised before I go back to work on the 2nd though as I could then relax when I finish up on the 17th - can't come soon enough!!

I have my next midwife appointment on Monday. I've hardly had any this time as it's my third and I haven't had any complications during previous pregnancies. Will be nice to hear that everythings ok although this lo is still quite active which is reassuring!

Hi double - lovely photo of your son. Beep beep!

Count - it may take you a few days to get used to being at home but its lovely to be able to do 'baby things'.

I think most of us are beginning to panic that we haven't got our things ready. I know i am!

Had 31 week scan today and LO is breech. Will have another scan in a few weeks to see if she turns. Got a photo of her face but looks a bit spooky cos its shadows and black & white. I think she has her father's cheeks and my angular chin (well, it was angular before PG hormones made me look like a weeble. "Remember you're a weeble!", yes , i know the song goes 'womble' but i'm slightly nervous about a possible c-section. Hope she turns by herself. Best to take one day at a time.

Egg - its really good that you've got to 35 weeks.

Hmmm yes and my sis just told me that her friend had her DTs at 35 weeks (that's TOMORROW for me and for Mini too!). I thought average was 37 weeks but it might be 36 weeks. Urghhhhhhhhhh.

Will get thoroughly sorted tomorrow, just in case!

DS not been sick again but is definitely under the weather and not eating much, just licking all the crackers in the cracker barrel we got for Christmas! It has been a 90% CBeebies day here!

Hi everyone , glad you all had a nice time over christmas.

Mini how are you doing? for anyone wondering mini posted on pregnancy thread yesterday that she was having contractions (or so she thought!) i think she's a bit fed up with it all now and ready for the babies. Keep us informed mini xxx

Rozzy yes i did have Ds at 35 weeks, in fact i am at the same stage now that i had him and yes my bag is ready to go, i have even left a bag at sisters for Ds with spare clothes in etc for when the time comes. Here's a tip for anyone doing their hospital bag this weekend, if you have other children buy them a small toy and wrap it up off the baby and have it in your bag for when they visit you in hospital.

Egg your bump is very tidy and your son is real cutie, lets hope his chunder was a one off and he doesn't get poorly.

Hello everyone, hope everyone had a good xmas. I am glad I am not the only one panicking about not having bought much for the baby yet! The inlaws came round yesterday and dropped off their cot which they don't use any more. And their old cot mattress. Will I be a Bad Mother for using a 2nd hand cot mattress, do you think? It does have a washable cover....

Anyway the spare room now suddenly looks like a real nursery, with cot, mattress (even if only for decorative purposes at present), music box, mobile and all - I love it so much!!!

lovemymum - don't really know much about this but someone at work was in the same position (baby breech, worrying about cs) and the baby did stay breech till about 36-37 weeks and then one day the baby suddenly turned all by herself! so try not to worry the babies do know which way up they ought to be and I'm told they almost always turn!

V excited for those of you reaching the 35-36 week mark... not long now!

Was 35 weeks yesterday (or is it today?), anyway would be more than happy to give birth now! Am totally knackered and fed up with the 'will it be this week?' feeling especially as hosp have said he will be induced early but haven't said when. Every twinge i get i hope it's starting on it's own!

Hi everyone,

i totally agree Ginermumi- i will be 35 weeks on sunday and i tired too!!!!

Cannot wait- however i have everything ready now- just need DD to enter the world.

re Bargains - Have just been looking online and have found a BT digital baby monitor on sale at Argos - £20 off. even before the price reduction it looks to have a lot more features than the equivalently priced Tomy. You can buy online (but they charge for delivery) or reserve an item in your local store.

Let's all keep each other informed of the latest baby bargains to be had... I am beginning to realise that retailers don't tend to discount baby stuff very much!

Hello ladies,
Having quite a lot of trouble sleeping at night so I've been napping pretty much all the time instead (Turned 34 wks yesterday). I think it's a combination of being preggers and a touch of stress related depression because of the cat.
ladle - Great to hear from you. I loved looking at the twins pictures the other day. It's nice to put faces to them. I'm sure it won't be long before they are both getting regular cuddles and thriving from them.
I don't understand this 'tidy bump' business! what is a tidy bump? what is an untidy bump for that matter? I just thought a bump was a bump! I feel so ignorant!
The cat had his fur shaved off under anaesthetic on boxingday and the diesel had burned his skin in his legs and undercarriage. His skin is much better now the air can get to it but the diesel and the bathing has stripped his natural oils so now it's going leathery and starting to crack in places. I've asked if I can rub some babyoil or olive oil or even butter into his skin to improve it but as he has an appointment for tomorrow morning the vet just keeps telling me to leave it until he sees him again . The poor little mite is suffering so much and his brain is so small he doesn't understand why and it just rubs me up the wrong way. the vet bill has come to £280 so far and he's still got two more visits to go so we're looking at a minimum cost of £360. Ouch! Lets just pray that the baby is at the earliest, ontime or preferably a little late or we won't even have to money to get to and from the hospital and I'll have to walk! At least the hospital is only round the corner! not too far when your having contractions on the way there and feel like your guts are falling out of you on the way back! Nah, I'm sure one of the prospective grandparents will give us a lift I'm just being pessimistic!
Christmas day itself was lovely. Dp had man flu but he's always a tad melodramatic when he's ill so I just sent him to lay down with mounds of tissues and cold meds and didn't let it spoil my day. Heartless aren't I! The inlaws hosted xmas and they did a grand job! they even invited my folks over for xmas tea so I got to see them too - even better!
I managed to finally get my hands on my hospital bag. It is lovely and is on wheels (bonus) but I'm ot sure it's big enough! and although I still have a lot of things to get to fill it SIL, bless her, has given it along with a set of clothes for the bairn, a front opening nightshirt for me, nipple cream, chocolate, two packs of newborn nappies 100 breast pads and 48 maternity pads. It's a reasonable start abut I think that things need redistributing a little between my labour bag and the bag of top up stuff I'm leaving at home for if I need to stay in longer.
Everyone else is holding the baby stuff they've bought hostage still, which is driving me f@@king nuts. what are they going to turn up at the hospital with their arms full of stuff (I know one particular family member has a rediculous amount of things that they have bought just for my baby)? I don't want to have to cart all that crap AND my baby and hospital bags back from the hospital! I want it all in my house, right now! I need to know what I've got and what I need to get. I don't need gifts when the baby is born, the baby is my gift! One of them is a midwife, you'd think she'd know better! Are they all f@@king lunatics? why don't people just understand! Grrr!
I've not seen any bargains to be had I'm afraid but then again I have to admit I've not been looking!
as for changing stations... my mom changed me on her lap using a waterproof apron for protection, I'm not going to be quite that lo tech, I'll use any appropriate surface at the time, but I'm not buying a changing station! We were given a third hand baby bath that fits over our bath so you fill it with the bath taps and pull out a plug to empty it over the bath so that's what we'll be using for bath time. DP's got about a month off when I have the bairn so if height is a problem with bathing and changing the bairn, I know he'll do it no questions asked so I don't have any worries about that.
I think this is shaping up to be a bit too long so I'm gonna shut up now and give someone else a chance!!

juat a little update on the poor cat...
he's heeling really really well and I'm allowed to moisturise him with E45 or equivalent to bring some elasticity back into his skin.
My parents, bless them, have offered to help with the ever mounting vet bill so it's not all pasta and no fun this month!
Yippie, things are finally looking up!!!!

Egg and Mini - hope you are both ok (mini? are you still there?!). Keeping everything crossed for you both.
Oh and Egg, you look flipping gorgeous in your pic (as does your ds of course!)

PK - glad you cat is a bit better and v nice that you parents are helping you out. Re a "neat bump" I think it means a bump that is contained at the front (a la Egg's!) which means that someone doesn't really look pregnant from behind.

Am ill again. Yet another cold and the cough that the GP would only give me menthol eucalyptus for 3 weeks ago has now got a grip and turned into a nasty infectin . Am losing so many hours sleep at night, it's not funny. Dh is being a star and spending loads of time with ds so I can rest. He must think his wife has been kidnapped and replaced with some fat old narcoleptic. Question is - will he pay the ransom...?

PK - just wanted to also say that your top up bag sounds like a fab idea. Unless you have a really long stay in hospital, you are not likely to need quite so many nappies, breast pads and mat. pads but a bag packed ready to be brought in if you need it does sound like a good thing to have on standby. Those little bedside cabinets that you get in hospital really aren't that big and it would be awful if you couldn't hang on to your chocolate as you were trying to get 50 more breast pads in. First things first!

PK what a lovely present - the cost of all these things like breast pads really mounts up and it must be great not to have to go out and buy them!! I'm with you on the top up bag - I'm planning on packing the minimum (hoping for the 6 hour discharge) but will lay out extras of everything somewhere that DH will be able to put his hands on just in case.

I can't believe we're getting towards the end now. I feel like it was only yesterday that we even decided to have another (after a couple of years of indecision since having ds2!) and time has just flown by. I think it's sunk in that I'm pregnant just not that there's a baby at the end of it - eek!!

Beansprout i agree with you on bag packing, i took all sorts in when i had ds, quite a ridiculous amount really. This time i have packed enough but have another at home with more stuff in it.

Dont forget an old pair of flip-flops ladies because some hospital floors are'nt allways that clean i kept an old pair from summer that were ready for the bin, which is what i'll be doing with them after i have a shower.

PK it sounds like your cats escapades with oil was an expensive one!! at least he is getting better now. As you were asking about "tidy bumps" when i was pregnant with Ds i looked like i had a football under my top (tidy bump) but now i sometimes look like i am carrying a bag of spuds underneath which does not look "tidy" lol..

Ah the tidy/untidy bump thing makes more sense to me now! I think my bump is like my house, semi-tidy! (I still have loose skin on the bumps underside due to being a fat heffer before I fell pregnant but the top side of the bump is nice and round and taught!) luckily when I'm dressed in support belts and maternity clothes I think the viewer only sees tidy bump!
Yep, fab pressie of the hospital bag, I've already told SIL off for spending so much money.
I actually have a 3 bag plan!
I'm compiling a labour bag (the one with wheels!)comprising of everything I think I need for going in at the right time, having a reasonably easy time of it and being let out same day/staying in for 1 night only.
A baby bag full of clothes nappies ect incase the bairn needs to stay in for any length of time.
And a top up long stay bag for if things don't run as smoothly as they could do and I have to stay on longer.
All 3 bags are going to be packed and labelled and sitting in an obvious spot within the next 2 weeks so DP has nothing to root around for as he is terrible when he's flustered!
I'm not taking slippers or flip-flops, I'm taking my crocks (I've finally found warm widefitting winter foot wear and at only £8 - rip off ugg boots from peacocks, snuggly!)
I am finding it hard to believe how close we are too. I've only got four to eight weeks and then she's here! I still haven't got used to the fact that I'm pregnant yet!
Very very excited but very very nervous at the same time, I'm sure you all feel the same way!
bean - I'm still getting over my crimbo cold. It's settled on my chest now so I'm basically coughing morning noon and night! must be most annoying for the bairn! I hope your chest demon clears up soon.

PK - do you have pet insurance? Its about £200 a year through Petplan but worth it. Poor puss cat!

Brussel - poor you! Try inhaling steam to break up the mucus.

Not too bothered now if baby doesn't turn. Told my SIL today it might be a c-section (cos she was saying to avoid epidural - which is what i want to avoid anyway). She said "c-section is the worst". I said, "If its necessary it has to be done". SIL is very nice but one of those who tells horror stories about birth. My niece-in-law (22) said DH and I are laid back about it. I said, what good will worrying do? They are lovely people who like to make a fuss and get involved in things. I don't let them wind me up but i can see how worked up i would be if i hadn't gained the ability to take a step back.

PK - me too - excited and nervous. I still can't believe i'm married let alone pregnant.

Am using a piece of carry-on luggage with wheels for my hosp bag. Don't think it will be big enough but will take enough for a few days and DH can bring more if necessary.