Due May 05 part 5

[logic]

I think it's time for a new thread! The old one was getting huge...

I bled for about 8 weeks, no-one really tells you this. Not heavy for all that time but enough taht had to wear a pad every day.

Shocked at how organised you lot all are. We've just bought paint to think about painting the bedroom.

Fashill, i found bathing my new baby really stressful and of course they pick up on your every emotion and he hated it too - for the first two weeks at home i just strip washed ds - they are clean anyway. Eventually one of my friends (with children of course, they are a godsend) made a date to come round and bath ds with me. She thoroughly enjoyed it and so did ds, and that convinced me to relax and enjoy it too. Have a few great photos of ds bright red, rigid and screaming during his first bath at home and I laugh now when i look at them.
The hospital midwives normally ask you to bath your new baby in the hospital before they discharge you, to break the ice so to speak.
I had no experience whatsoever of babies when i had ds but loving them and wanting them to be safe warm happy and healthy leads to making the right choices for them, wether it is through classes, reading everything you can lay your hands on or asking questions 24/7. And you have MN of course!!!

For me the bleeding was very heavy but I know that it lasted less than 5 weeks.

The antenatal classes should tell you the technique for bathing the baby i.e. putting the baby's head on your elbow and holding their arm with one hand to stop them slipping into the water while you wash them with the other arm/hand. In ours, the first baby was born before the classes finished so we had a practical demo! For the rest, you pretty much wing it. I agree with northstar, you will instinctively make decisions that are perfectly adequate. You can always phone the hospital for advice too. I remember phoning up when ds was a few days old in a bit of a panic because his cord stump started bleeding and all they said was 'Is this your first baby Mrs Logic? - I thought so, don't worry about it'

Tinker - is that normal?!? I didn't expect it to be that long

Thanks Northstar that's lovely advice I love him so much already and want to look after him as well as I possibly can. We've just got a phoneline put in at home and just in the process of getting broadband so I can use MN as and when I need it as I've only been able to get on at work!! We've pilfered a laptop from DP's work too, he said he needed it for 'working from home'!

Don't know if it's normal. Know someone who bled for 12 weeks I assumed it'd be for a week at the most - ha!

OH MY GOD!!!!!

Bleeding varies from pregnancy to pregnancy, with my 1st I only bled for 2 weeks and my 4th I think was about nearly 4 months and was very heavy. But what they dont tell you is that the more babies you have the worse the after pains are, like bad period cramps. Which is obviously your uterus going back to its original size.

There are no hard and fast rules for how you bath your baby, you do it how you feel most comfortable, who says that you have to do it how they show you in hospital. I found that the best way for me was to not wash their hair seperately and then bath them but to put a bit of baby bath in the water and then put the baby in and just swill it round their hair and wash their bodies, they dont get dirty when they are tiny. And a good tip I learnt when I had my first, was that if they cry when you bath them its because thsey feel insecure, so hold him so his feet are touching the end of the bath and and their ears are just below the water level, it makes them think that they are in the womb.

I just used to put a bit of johnsons top + toe wash in the baby bath and swill it round. It's not as if they are rolling in the mud at that stage. It's when they start running around outside that you need a hosepipe

Thanks for the tip about the after pains missblossom. I am really dreading them now because I had terrible afterpains while bfing ds for days aftwards. I was crying at every feed and the midwife told me to drink paracetamol.

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Its so useful to know what to get, I'll have to buy some pads, knickers etc, and the bathing tips are useful too, Myermay what's infacoil?
Myermay I don't know what I'm having and I can't guess, I seem to go through phases of thinking its a boy, then others of thinking its a girl! All my family think its a girl and dp's think its a boy! I know what you mean about people commenting about you getting big all the time - its a bit wearing, the nicknames of tubs, fatty etc and comments about eating all the pies and chocolate are a bit trying too - especially from men with bigger waistlines than me, due to beer bellies - at least ours will get smaller in a couple of months - even if it takes alot longer to go.

myermay, I am using Miriam Stoppard foot gel which is really nice but then again I didn't pay any money for it. When I subscribed to a pregnancy magazine, I got a whole box full of her pregnancy skincare range as a free gift.

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Hmm, just bought breast pads and matenity pads - 3 for 2 in Motherare atm. I went through a box of breast pads a week last time

I was wondering about buying infacol and kamisol (or whatever the breast stuff is) but then I thought it might be tempting fate - you should in theory be able to survive without, shouldn't you?

We were so scared about bathing. We got ignored in the hospital and then our home visit midwives kept saying they'd show us, but it was never possible for various reasons. So after a few days we propped open an instruction manual (!) and I made dp do it. As soon as he did it, I couldn't believe how simple it was and how we'd made such a big deal of it!

You know how fragile newborns are? We found that while everyone else's newborn seemed to be really fragile, with ours we were much less careful. Basically we had seen him emerge from a birth canal, and both of us had so much respect for someone who could make that journey and come out OK, that we figured we were unlikely to break him!

I don't mean less careful - that sounds callous. I mean that he just didn't seem fragile to us, but I'm too pg to think of clever words!

Looks like I'm going to be making a trip to Mothercare then for lots of pads!

I always wondered what infacoil was. Looks like that may be worth getting too!!

My friend said that she got some 'Guinot' cream for her legs and it was really great stuff.

Any tips on what nappies are good?!

I use pampers. I tried huggies and they didn't seem to fit so well but some of my friends have said the opposite so it's down to the shape of the baby, I suppose.

My friend who is a nurse say Pampers without a doubt - she works on a neonatal ward so sees & changes LOTS of nappies! I would imagine every baby is different though, so maybe a different brand would be better for some??? We're actually considering using washable nappies for baby from about 6 weeks old. Will see how we feel when the time comes.

Thanks everyone for advice about pads, knickers etc. I got some knickers from babies 'r' us because I've heard 2 people say they're good. What about pads though? Any makes better than any others? My friend has given me some thick (night-time) Kotex and Always pads too. How do maternity pads differ from these?

I used Always night time pads, as I found that they are better than maternity pads.They are also less bulky (maternity pads feel like your wearing a nappy)and they are cheaper aswell wich is a bonus.

hi everybody - haven't posted for a while as I get kicked off by either DH or DS! But since DH is happily watching Star Trek and DS is tucked up in bed I thought I'd grab the opportunity!

I haven't bought any pads or Breast pads yet but they are on my 'to buy' list - along with loads of other stuff too! I'm pleased you lot are organised cos I for 1 am definitly not - we still haven't got all DS's things out of the attic but I don't think there will be that much we can use for this baby as DS was born in January - so a totally different season. Will have to get my finger out...

Oh, and I have to share this with everybody - last night DS was stroking my bump very affectionately and, without and provocation from me or DH, told his 'baby brother' that he loves him!!! I could have burst into tears, it was so lovely!

Have to agree with fisil re: your own baby, they're never as "delicate" as other peoples seem to be, strange as it may seem.
I have read on other threads that nighttime pads are recommended above maternity pads, but due to my pg brain can't remember why now- sorry.
I bled v heavy for a couple of days, i was bf so that makes the wombs return to normal(?) slightly more intense but lessens the bleeding afterwards, it was light for a couple of weeks after that and was gone altogether by 4 weeks.
The most difficult part for me after the birth was "is this normal" - from the labour all the way through the next few days. This time round i will be alot more relaxed because i will know that yes it is normal and it all soon goes away, as you move on to the "getting to know you" stage which is infinitly more fun

maternity pads are like mattresses - but for the first couple of days I found that any normal towel just couldn't keep up!

We've always used pampers with ds, but I've done the same again and bought 2 packs - one of pampers and one of huggies - cos I'm sure it depends on your particular baby's bum shape (oh, I hope it's the same - I adore ds' bum!)

Maddison, don't say that - we had a Jan baby last time too and are hoping to get away with everything the same! Mind you his clothes have all been lent to a May baby for the past year, and have come back with slight additions and removals!

Thanks Myermay Have succumbed to a couple of gorgeous little dresses (I know, I know!) but have promised myself I am getting nothing else as we are slowly disappearing under mountains of gifts already!

Thanks for that fisil - its handy knowing that we may be able to use quite a lot of DS's things because I haven't had the heart to get rid of anything I can't wait to go through all his things now, might get DH to venture into the attic after work.

I think I'll do the same re nappies - i'd hate to think we only got 1 type of nappy and DS2 be allergic to them or something and not have anything else for backup.

I popped in from the April thread - late April and you never know with these things.... Picked up some tips already.

In case anyone is as mad as me, I will be trying out well fitting undies that I can reuse after pg. I would hate to feel a pad going all wobbly inside because of cheap or paper pants.

If they get a bit messy, blood washes out easily with a bar of old fashioned bath soap and cold water, even if a few days old.