Evening all
Sorry I haven't been on - last couple of days have not been great. Still really niggly and tired but no baby as yet. Was so crap last night that my poor neighbour had to make the girls' supper as I was too jiggered to do it. DH home in 3 days, thank god, so the baby can safely arrive, if indeed that it was the niggling is all about. However, no one in my family has EVER gone into labour so I'd be very surprised. We all like to be induced or have C sections
Talking of CS, someone asked the other day if you have to be NBM for a planned section. The answer is yes from 12 o'clock the night before. Usually you are prescribed metaclopramide (to stop you being sick) and ranitidine (to reduce the acidity in your stomach) for the day before to reduce the chances of you puking on the table and to stop your stomach contents being too acidic if you do aspirate them (which you won't! Don't worry!) You can go out for a nice dinner and then starve yourself so all is not lost. The only bad thing is that you are NBM until post section so if you have to wait until later on in the day for a slot you will be hungry! To any ladies having a planned section, it is absolutely fine and on the day the adrenaline gets you through. Thinking about it in advance is by far the worst bit.
Katie - if you have had chicken pox you can't catch it again. Chicken pox is dangerous to newborns but if your DS has it now chances are that he will not be infectious by the time the baby is here. If you BF you pass immunities to the baby anyway, so it is less likely s/he will catch it. My DD was exposed to it when I was 36 weeks with DD2, but my GP friend (whose daughter was the culprit!) said that the baby would be fine as I had had it and there was plenty of time before the baby arrived for it to come and go. HTH.
Beans, am so glad your MIL sounds better. IT must have been an awful few days for you all. Take care.
I was worried about the impact on DD1 when I had DD2 and a friend suggested that I wrapped up a few small bits for her and kept them near the sofa. When people came with presents for the baby but nothing for her (which was rare - most people were very generous), I could fish out a wee something for her to unwrap. Nothing huge, just a hairslide, sticker card, dolly spoon etc, but it made her feel better. Most people were very sensitve to her and did not overly fuss over the baby when she was there. In fact, the only person who really caused problems was my MIL. Nuff said.
About expressing, leaking etc - Veggie is absolutely right. Nipple tweaking etc can stimulate the uterus and kick things off so don't do it yet! I have used 4 breastpads in my life (not bad considering I have BF for about 2 1/2 years in total) so not everyone leaks. I also was told not to express for 6 weeks to sort out supply and demand. Obviously sometime it can't be avoided (eg if the baby is in NICU) but if all is well, you don't want to send your norks into overdrive and produce too much.
Talking of feeding, I have a microwave steriliser going begging. I don't need it as 1. I don't have a microwave any more and 2. I am a slackarse 3rd time mother who puts things through the dishwasher and leaves it at that! Would anyone like it? Am happy to post it to you if you CAT me (or tell me your email so I can get your address. My email is my name so I can't put it up here) or I could bring it to the london meet up if easier.
Majormoo, I am laughing at your Richard Madely moment. I am always shoving things on the buggy and then only remembering to pay asI am leaving and have stolen things a few times when I got out before it dawned on me. I had quite a weird crush on RM as well in my last pg but that seems to have passed thank God.
Traceface, I am with you on the smells. I love the smell of B and Q and sometimes just walk up and down the aisles pretending to look for paint or whatever, just to get my fix. I also like solvents and sniff whiteboard pens at work like there's no tomorrow. The poor baby will have to go cold turkey once he's here.
Cheese - I cant' wait for some blue and some brie. For the last 2 babies DH has made a welcome home supper of scallops, liver and then a load of cheese to make the end of my abstinence. Effie, I could live in NY dairy - heaven! You quite often see celeb chefs in there too.
WG - Isabella oliver is great for nice maternity stuff and is usually resold on Ebay for pretty much the price paid for it. Let us know what you get.
Hello everyone else, hope you are all well . I seem to have inherited Verso's insomnia. DD1 in my bed now and am just waiting for her to drop off before I put my SATC dvd on the laptop. Thank god I haven't got to go to work tomorrow as I'd never make it. Only a week left for me now. Am definitely in the departure lounge and just sniffing pens without really doing much else . I have been back from ML for less than a year as well, which hasn't gone down well. However, DH said on teh phone last night that he is going to get snipped now so this will definitely be my last. I felt quite sad when he said that, even though 3 children is my top limit anyway. How bonkers am I?!
See you tomorrow.