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!

Hi everyone!

It's so funny you're all talking about nesting today - DH was a bit bemused last night when I started cleaning out the kitchen cupboards. Seems to have spurred him on too - he's now painted the nursery, put the blind up and built up the wardrobe and storage unit. We've just gone for cream at the moment and will get some nice blue curtains and things when baby arrives. No-one knows we know what we're having so a blue nursery might give the game away!! I think for me its because I still feel pretty good so want to get everything done now in case it doesn't last!!

On what to wear to give birth I've bought a cheap nightshirt from matalan/primark both times then threw it straight into the bin afterwards. I've got some cheap knickers from primark for afterwards and second egg on not buying maternity towels but getting normal thick sanitary ones with wings! Something I found really useful last time I was in hospital was thick socks. I spent a lot of time pacing round the tv room in the labour ward to help things along. My feet started to get a bit sore from the cheap carpet so the socks were a godsend!! Another tip for first timers is that in my experience maternity wards are boiling hot so I wouldn't bother with thick dressing gowns or pjs. Something light would probably be better.

Am totally in the mood to start getting things ready for baby too.

Resent being at work (though i like the money) cos i want to get things ready.

PK616 - don't worry about venting on here - i agree with you. DH will get the hoover out to vacumn up a spider but won't hoover round afterwards. I do love him but sometimes.... he can be a bit silly!

Gill79 - The hospital pretty much gave me no choice and I had to formula feed for the first few days. I won't be going for that this time though!
I always assumed milk came in straight away but I think it's different for everyone. Some women on my ward were instantly feeding whilst DD just bounced around on my boobs and screamed with frustration. When I told the midwife I didn't think anything was coming out she gave my boob a good squeeze and out popped some colostrum. It makes me laugh when I think back to that now!

Have given up hoovering upsatirs too - only dd2 up there at mo (we sleep downstairs) and dh is still doing nursery so not much point.

LO seems to get hiccups a lot - very wierd! Never noticed it with other two. Any old wives tails about what that means? DD1 says she heard that you'll get a hairy baby if he/she has hiccups - i though that was if you had heartburn! All a load of cods'!

Beansprout - that sounds horrendous - i don't think you should be doing so much! do you have to go with DH at wkend? Sounds like you should be resting - you don't want to end up like mini and ladle now do you!

Hope all ok with you both BTW!

I am doing to voluntray pre-eclamsia thing too but I just have to chew on a tampon-like thing (Looks like a slice of one) and send it off once a week with info about swelling and recent bp etc. Sounds like they are all different! No plastic bags involved at all!! Didn't realise that was what survey was or would have said yesterday - I am such a der-brain. My memory is shot too. My mum gave dd2 £35 the other day which dd2 gave to me to look after needless to say I have lost it. I also seem to have conversations that i then don't remember (or maybe the pixies are lying to me!) Paranoid emoticon!

Hi - briefly darting on - I got taken in the office at work yesterday - my boss came over with 'have you got two minutes' face one and was ushered into meeting room. At which point he said 'it has been brought to my attention that you have been using the internet outside of your lunch hour to look at 'baby sites'' Oh bugger. He also asked 'what did I have to say?' I felt about 12. I just looked at the floor and said 'nothing'. So that's it for me during the week other than lunchtimes when I shall have to squeeze on quickly and then in an evening battle DP for the laptop. Was gutted thinking I can't just come on here whenever I feel like it and pass the time at work when boss isn't in and I have nothing to do. Instead I'm going to have to spend the next few weeks trying to look busy and being bored out of my head and just wantng to be at home getting ready for my baby! Mean boss.

Cot was delivered last night - yay! Will be a while before it gets put up cos nurery still full of power tools and dog beds adn needs painting but it's still good to have it. Looking forward to another weekend of DIY-ing and nesting and acquiring things for hospital bag.

Glad someone else mentioned about being supersensitive about worrying something will happen to me. I worry constantly that me and bubba are going to be in accident, the bus is going to crash and poor DP will be devastated. Strangely I worry more about DP. I get terrified that he's not going to come home from work because something awful is going to happen him - he drives for a living and it's quite treacherous out there on the motorways and with the number of miles he does......I just get frantic thinking he's going to be a in a terrible accident. I'm not usually like this and it's a really intense feeling of worry I can bring myself to tears. I feel overwhelming surges of love for him at the moment (not that I didn't always) and just don't want to let him out of my sight!

Anyway must go - Big Brother is Watching.....

Top of the morning,
Sorry talu about your nasty boss, You being happy increases productivity silly Boss, am on the war path today, mil is coming this weekend then Dh friend arrives on tuesday why do people use my house as a love shack! Hubby's friend told my ex -neighbour he was staying with us before asking us and then a van from france delivered some wine and said have a nice party, i looked confused then the man said oh your visitor ordered this he is having a party here.
After he lives i will have to clean his room because he never does-even when he stayed with his girlfriend twice For two weeks in two months-oh they live in bangkok-never give me a present-Flowers- i had to clean their glastonbury clothes otherwise they would have cloged my machine. They even asked us to put our dog in kennels as the girlfriend was not comfortable with pets-thats when i said thats it if my dog goes then they cant stay. (oh myabe thats what friends are for).

Shite Tallulah that's crap! Don't they know it will be detrimental to your health not to be on MN all day?

Beany - I really feel for you, thank god this weekend we have NO plans at all for the first time in ages. DH is not working, or even working from home, or even ON CALL, so he will be around the whole time. Your trip to Birmingham sounds like shite. Only hope you were sitting down.

Forgot to say, I took flip flops to hospital as well, a lifesaver when going to the loo etc as floor not always as clean or dry as you might hope, and they are better than slippers for wet floor. Also take crappy old towels, chances of getting blood on them is high, and you can use one as a makeshift bathmat as you may find the bathmats in hospital are far from clean .

Christmas market started today in Winchester. DS, who is finally almost well again, and I went and looked round. He loved it and made a lot of friends . Feeling happier today than in aaaaages.

Hi, want to pick everyones brains again please!

Can't remember when you're supposed to start drinking rasberry leaf tea and how much - can anyone remind me?

Also, is is ok to use lavender oil and tea tree oil in the bath?

On what to wear during/ after the birth - I had a water birth last time so was butt naked for the birth and the immediate bit afterwards. Then was kindly wrapped in a hospital sheet so I could shuffle down the corridor to the room that my bag was in. It was a good job that I didn't have to spend long in hospital because I was woefully underprepared - spent most of my time wrapped in said sheet because I didn't have any kind of night shirt or dressing gown with me (had to chuck the oversized t-shirt I had brought with me to wear) and other than that I just put the clothes I came in wearing back on. Am definitely going to arrive better equipped this time round.... Egg's crappy towels is a top tip. And I'm going to pack hairbands this time (getting my hair wet in the birth pool had ruined my 'do' ).

Milk x

Anyone tried Hypno birthing? or no anyone who has tried it?
I am starting tommorow ( a friend of the family does it and has offered me a free course)
Many thanks.

Sorry I meant ' know '

Raspberry leaf tea. I think it is 34 weeks, or maybe 36? I think I will start around Christmas, when I am 35 weeks. Last time I drank a cup or two of tea a day and also took the tablets. Did have a lovely easy birth, no idea if it made the difference though. My sis did the same and has had three easy births.

So sympathise with everyone having a bad day...grrrr....grrrr...grrrr, however, I'm starting to feel better now after a couple of terrible weeks.

Went to midwife on Tuesday and burst into tears - she put me straight back onto full dose anti dep as I've been going downhill for the last three weeks (been taking half dose for 6 weeks). If I can't breastfeed then so be it but there was no way I was coping.

Jo,
Sending you a BIG hug
We all have to deal with things how we can. If you need anti deps to cope then that is what you must do. If you wish to give your baby breast milk but the pills make that impossible for it to be yours you could look into donor milk. My friend currently produces more milk that her baby needs so she donates some of it. I'm afraid I don't know more about it than that at the moment, but it is a possible alternative to formula.
I've suffer from depression too hun so you're not alone and I think that the hormones that go rushing around our bodies through out pregnancy and the natural pre-natal anxieties that we all have to one degree or another make it all that much harder to cope with!
Take yourself out to do something you enjoy while the suns up, maybe something as simple as a gentle stroll through a local park. The sunlight will help you somewhat. Also, keep yourself open to people, talk to your friends and family, even if you don't talk about the things that trouble you, human contact is very beneficial.
We're here too and you can talk to us about anything, someone will always be here to hold your hand over the cyber network.

What a bastd Tallulah! "Baby sites" GRR

Your house guests sounds nice Ruva. Make sure you are a very BAD hostess.

So what does Raspberry tea do then?

Thinking of you Jo - agree that it's much better to take them than to b/f and be depressed. How long do they take to get out of your system? Would be good if you knew exactly when the birth was going to be so you could stop for a few days to at least get the colostrum out!

Thanks for all the tips about clothes and feeding. Feel really squeamish about the whole breast thing actually! Seems so wierd to think that stuff comes out of there that is going to be dinner for someone. And apprehensive that I'm going to struggle since I've always had "issues" about my non-existent boobs and now that I've actually got to do something with them feel a sense of failure waiting on the horizon!

Have a good weekend everyone xx

Ruva - why are these people being so selfish? It's not right!

Hi Jo - i had antidepressants a few years ago (family bereavment, stress at work, relationship break-up) and can understand how you are feeling. Anti-d are wonderful. I still felt low but no 'so low' and i bounced back quicker. Glad you recognise that you a little bit of hand-holding is a good thing (taking anti-d).

Sorry to hear that Tallulah. I suppose rules are rules and maybe he thought that you weren't concentrating on work enough. I once had a colleague tell on me to my boss that i was on the internet during working hours. Cow! It's not nice being monitored at work. At least you are still allowed to look at lunchtime (sympathetic emoticon).

hi jo, hope you start to feel the benfits from the ADs soon. I was on them right until conceived this one from pnd and midwife and gp have been talking about putting me back on as have been having a hard time with my spd, so far stopping work and just being a bit easier on myself has been enough but its good to know they're there if i need them. i guess you probably have had the conversation with your midwife but i thought there were some ADs that you could take while breastfeeding, if you start a thread in the 'feeling depressed' section you'll get lots of advice and extra support - i did last year. However, breastfeeding your baby isn't the most important thing for it - having a mum that is coping and as happy as possible is the most important thing for a baby.
Bst**d internet sneaks at work tallulah - hope the last few weeks go quickly so you can make the most of daytime web (much better than tv, othe than my favourites - phil & fern).
On the subject of what to wear in birth, i was fully dilated once got to hosp, vaguely remember taking trousers and pants off, OUCH, and the immediate post birth shots are of me half wearing my (by now bloody from ds) bra so i think that was it - darling mother showed this pic to ALL her friends, colleagues, strangers in the street... this time she's not getting copies of those photos! I picked up a nice pj set from H&M a while ago, black bottoms (hiding those stains) and a wrap around black and pink top. Am looking out for something else black to tide me over those post-cs days that i'll have to stay in

Gill - am with you on the BF thing. Lucyand2's comment half turned my stomach .... no offence Lucy... am just so squeamish about it i cant even watch on telly.

when i was in late teens, some medication i was on made me lactate. i had to have a full examination when admitted to hospital once and told the dr this. she spent a good five minutes flicking my nipples to see... the little buggers didn't produce and I ended up feeling foolish when it was HER flicking my nips....

Is anyone else suffering with stomach aches/tearing feelings or is it just me? Thinking it's just my muscles and ligaments stretching, as am quite big, but wondered if anyone knows?

Loobyt, I've had a lot of aches around my stomach all through this pregnancy everytime the bairn felt like having a bit of a growth spurt. most of the time it's been due to the old ligaments stretching (it first started before I'd had the dating scan and I worked myself into a tiz worrying about it!) and once I had a water infestion which started off feeling pretty much the same but just got worse. Even so I'd advise you to call your midwife and see what she thinks, that's what she's there for! If it's nothing to worry about, such as a bit of ligament stretching, you'll have put your mind at rest!

As I'd got myself all miserable over not having a nursary to decorate and not being able to put my hospital bag together and feeling like I had no control over anything I made an executive decision last night...
...I put up the christmas tree!
I know it's early but the tree does mean quite a bit to the oldest man and myself as we've never had one that was ours as a family before (last year we decorated a 7ft tall cardboard cut out of thunderbird 3!).
Daft as it seems I think it worked, at least in the short term, as I'm now quite happy to do the washing up. Mind you starting to take my iron tablets again might also have a little to do with it! Only thing is I strained my hips getting up and down off a chair to decorate the top of the tree so the washing up is going to have to be done in little bits and I'm gonna need my crutches to get around asda with the oldest later! (He can't drive and he's terrible at resisting the chocolates and dohnuts so he can't do the shopping on his own!) AH well you can't win them all! I for one would much rather be in pain than miserable. I was getting so down that the weather got bad inside the house!

hi everyone. Haven't had time to breathe let alone mumsnet, but have just begun 2 weeks holiday prior to my maternity leave starting on 17th december!!!! Yay!!

Am so knackered and mildly psychotic most of the time, am so moody.

Had a brief read of posts, hope twin mums o.k, and that everyone is coping o.k.

Trying to think of projects to do whilst i'm off, started a list this morning and have filled 1 side of A4 already! Not very good at doing nowt!

Feel ridiculously massive and getting loads of braxtons hicks, can't remember getting them so frequently before.

Take care everyone.

PK - go easy - i know its tempting to keep going but getting pains isn't going to help you feel any better.

Joosey - i hope you feel better once you have had a little time off work. When i get tired, i get anxious and panicky. I hopefully leave my job end Dec (perhaps stay on for a few more weeks if they have difficulty replacing me - but work will have to fit in around ante-natal classes.

Am in full nesting mode! Have started to prepare my hospital bag. Have bought both maternity pads and Always ultra with wings.

tiredness definately a factor lovemymum, i take ages to wind down. saying that though,i had loads of plans today, but instead spent the afternoon snoozing on the sofa!!

impressed by your organisational-ness re massive maternity pads!! some of them make you feel like you have a single mattress shoved down your pants!!

Have been chrimbo shopping today - horrible!- usually love it but felt really resentful and fed up!

Does anyone know how mini and ladle are?

Have a good weekend everyone

blimey you're brave ginger! sorry you feel down today. hope things improve over the weekend
i daren't go into town, i know i'll end up hitting someone. live in york so have tourists as well as crazy christmas shoppers!!