Due Fab Feb 2009: crossed fingers (and legs) we'll get through another thread without welcoming any early arrivals!

[MarkStretch]

Welcome.

Please feel free to add yourself to the list.

TinkerBellesMum - DC3 (girl), due: 01.02.09 (not expected to get far into December) (age 27, Birmingham)
Laidbackinengland - DC4, due: 23.01.09 (age 34, North Devon)
Nkweto - DC2, due: 30.01.09 (age 35, West London)
Mamagoose - DC3, due: 31.01.09 (age 32, Spain)
Questionkid - DC1, due: 03.02.09 (age 33, Wallington, Surrey)
PinkTulips - DC3, due; 04.02.09 (age 24, Roscommon, Ireland)
MsLucy - DC2 (a boy), due: 4/2/09 (CS a few days early)(age 38, North London)
Swampster - DC3, (a boy), due: 06.02.09 (age 40 , London)
Rosieposey - DC4, (a boy) due: 06.02.09 (age 36,Swindon,Wiltshire)
MarkStretch - DC2, (a boy) due: 07.02.09 (age 29, Norwich)
onwardandoutward - DC2, due: 07.02.09 (age 35 South West)
LittleMissNorty - DC2, due: 08.02.09 (age 40 in a couple of weeks, Kent).
KT1983 - DC1, due: 09.02.09 (age 25, London)
KazzaL - DC2 (suprise flavour), due 10.02.09 (age 35, Cirencester, Gloucs)
herbgarden - DC2, due: 11.02.09 (CS 02.02.09) (age 38, Berkshire)
TheHouseofMirth - DC2, (a boy) due: 12.02.09 (age 38, Wimbledon)
Littlesez ? DC1 (a girl) due: 15.02.09 (age 28, Manchester)
America - DC2, (a boy) due: 16.02.09 (age 32, London)
Rachrox - DC4, (a boy) due: 18.02.09 (age 28, Cheltenham)
Catstar - DC2, (a boy) due: 18.02.09 (age 36, Chessington)
Dinkystinky - DC2, (a boy) due: 19.02.09 (age 32, London)
Pluto DC2 (gender unknown), due 19.02.09 (Age 38, Kent)
DizzyBrummie - DC2, due: 20.02.09 (age 36, Berkshire)
Calico1 - DC2 due: 21.02.09 (age 40, West Herts)
mrsy - DC1, (a girl) due: 22.02.09 (age 24, Maidstone, Kent
Scubagroover - DC1 (a boy), due: 22.02.09 (age 31, London/ Kent)
Winemakesmummyclever - DC2 (a boy), due: 23.02.09. (age 35, Manchester) expecting cs @ 39 weeks.
Spottyshoes - DC2, due: 24.02.09 (age 28)
Lardybump - DC2, due: 24.02.09 (age 34)
Chilledmama - DC2 (a girl), due: 25.02.09 (age 32, Southsea)
Cocodrillo - DC3, due 26.02.09 (age 34 at the mo, London) expecting a CS at 38-39 weeks.
mumoverseas - DC4 (a boy), due: 28.02.09 (CS 2 to 3 weeks early) (age almost 41 Arabia/Crawley West Sussex)

rosie, as you know I have a bad back, it's gone back three years since I fell when pregnant with Lily-Hope. I couldn't push the pushchair, I can barely manage a shopping trolley. I used a wrap sling (photos on FB) and it was amazing. It spreads the weight across your whole torso so the baby disappears. I put someone in the sling once, she held onto her baby until I'd done it and I said to her "Let go, now tell me where's your baby?" She was shocked and asked me where the baby was - not the actual baby, but the baby weight, she couldn't put her finger on where she was carrying because she couldn't feel the weight.

I was carrying her until she was over 2 and I was pregnant with PGP.

Ooooh meant to say...about the whole car seat thing...

It never ceases to amaze me how many products are produced, advertised and sold as being safe for babies and good for parents which are down right bloomin dangerous.
I don't know about all of you but my biggest fear as a parent was and will always be Infant Cot Death...you know, the idea that you make it through your pregnancy, labour and birth only to loose your baby to some undefined demon!!!
Anyway...the number of cot bumpers that are advertised and even given away with cots as making the cot 'more comfy' for baby.
I had to remove them from my DSs cot 3 times when my (not so)DM was looking after him.
Sorry depressing rant over!!!!!

Look TBM...over half way!!!

We were talking about that on Sunday at my class - bumpers and quilts. One of the things she did was a little survey: who would be willing to let their baby sleep in a cot next to them, in another room or in their bed. I (only parent in the group) was the only one who said they'd have their child in their bed, there was a mix of another room and next to amongst the group. She then explained that a baby is twice as likely to die in another room than in a parents bed and that there has never been a case of SIDS in a parents bed where the advice has been followed. She didn't say though that 90% of SIDS happens in baby's own bed! I know where I feel safest!

I know, don't we talk on here! I think I may just be about able to make it through this thread but the next one will be more "Will we have our first babies in this thread?" rather than we don't want them!

I have officially become the clumsiest person in the world. I drop everything. And I just drank some chocolate milk straight from the bottle (am working at home today - bliss - so it's my own bottle from my own fridge so why not drink straight from it I thought?) and managed to literally pour it down the front of my pale grey top. Clean on this morning. Typical.

I'm glad to see that other people are buying stuff but hiding it away. My DH is getting so cross because we've got a house full of stuff that we've either bought or been lent by other people and I keep insisting we make room for it all in our already overcrowded cupboards. This is partly because I'm a bit of a neat freak but mainly because it makes me feel so superstitious to be looking at it all.

I loved having DS in my bed but DH hated it and just didn't get a good nights sleep...DS snored like a baby elephant and DH who doesn't smoke and rarely drinks (much)was just really paranoid. That's why I'm trying to get a bedside crib for LO so that I can get best of both worlds...also hoping she doesn't snore as much as her big brother!!

Lol QK i am just as clumsy - everything has been going down me! I have bought just about everything for lol now - i just need to get some black nightshirts for me and an under mat breathing monitor basically because i know i will sleep better and be less paranoid i have one for lo.

I would definately have lo in my bed too TBM but i know DH wont be keen on that for too long hence my quest to find a smallish beside cot. Have to say though that your teacher saying that there has never been a case of SIDS in a parents bed where the advice has been followed doesnt seem to correlate because i was reading a womans account in a newspaper only a month ago of when she got up to bring her 8 week old into her bed one morning just so that her and her hubby could get some extra sleep and she said that her baby was in the crook of her arm and she woke up one hour later and the baby had gone Obviously we werent there but she was saying she did everything by the book and it still happened because babe was in bed with her. Is probably rare though seeing as the current advice is to have baby in the room with parent for the first six months.

I always had my DD's in bed with me but like i said i dont think that DH will be so keen as he is quite a light sleeper and i dont mind as long as lo is very close to me which he will be in a bedside cot and i know myself i will sleep facing him and probably touching his arm or something too. Im definately a fan of co sleeping myself TBM but was just quite surprised to read that your class teacher said that. Ohhh and on that subject did anyone see that research done in Cambridge recently where it was said that if you sleep with a fan you reduce your babys risk significantly (i read up to 72%) as it stops the build up of carbon monoxide. I have always slept with a fan (and DH hates it) but i need it in the summer to keep cool and i just kept it on in the winter because i need the noise now to get to sleep! Glad to see that its apparently going to do lo some good too

So the best sling to get is one where the weight is even distributed then? I will start researching now then as i had dismissed them outright because of my back

proper wrap sling rather than high street thingy...If you look at people carrying in the bjorn style thing, the baby is very close to them and is really quite far down their front and if you look at their posture they are all walking round hunched because it pulls your shoulders forward. When you wear a wrap, the baby is bound to your upper body so the baby weight is properly ditributed and because the fabric goes all round your upper body rather than just pulling on your upper back you don't get back pain. When it was pointed out to me it seemed obvious but until pointed out I thought they were all much of a much too!

lbb, i paniced madly throughout ds's preg about who the hell we'd leave dd with as we had no friends in the area and my mother was an hour and a half away. as it turned out i woke up in labour at 6am and didn't feel the need to get to the hospital til 9pm that evening so she had buckets of time to get there

honestly, the chances of you having a ridiculously fast labpour just because it's you second are slim..... chances are you'll have hours (if not days) of warning to get you family there to mind ds.

this time my mother is closer to us and i have loads of friends in the area who could step in for an hour if necessary so i'm not worried

is anyone else getting headaches? i've had a headache on and off for days now and it's driving me nuts.

rosie, that's not following advice then. It's pointless doing it ad hoc because you won't be used to baby being there. It has to be full time with a breastfeeding mother, neither parent a smoker or taking drugs (prescription or not) or overtired. Then the normal bedding guidance followed.

chilled makes good points. If you look on our FB group I've posted pictures and an article about babywearing. I'll link to my photobucket page too if you want.

Headaches PT? should you not ring your MW? BP OK?

I think there is a not missing from my previous thread.

the baby is notvery close to them

Simple word making lots of difference.

PT - How's your fluid intake?? If low try to guzzle about 1litre of water and see if that abates headache.
Please bear in mind what LMN said too...might be worth a phone call to MW.

Having BrainFart - Is this your first Pregnancy? If it is then High BP is more likely apparently, if not your first pg then subsequent pgs tend to follow similar pattern for BP (again apparently).

Hence why best to check with MW!

Hello all - had to write something cos seeing loads of messages all morning but at work so have to check on the sly and haven't had a moment free of boss to write!!

Nadssss - yes Im in London and booked to have the bab at Chelsea and Westminster...what about you??

Dinky - curry sounds fab but cannae make it this Thurs annoyingly - hopefully they'll be another get together soon....maybe I'll have to try to organise one....

LBB thanks - glad I found you all too!

Re belly buttons I have long been proud of my inny and it keeps scaring me each night when I lie down and can see more and more of the inside of my belly button

chances of you having a ridiculously fast labpour just because it's you second are slim..... chances are you'll have hours (if not days) of warning to get you family there to mind ds.

Thanx for that PT, that's all I need to think about, it going on for days again
I would def call m/w about headaches. How's your vision? Any swelling?

TBM you are right about ds1 having the advantage of being only child, I suppose I'm just trying to justify not wanting to carry my baby without sounding really selfish!
I did see the wrap around sling you're wearing in photo on FB and showed dp last night, it does look more comfortable than the standard ones. I had awful back ache with ds, I only used my carrier twice.

Anyone else getting really bad back ache yet? I'm walking around pushing bump out to arch my back as only way it doesn't feel like it'll break.

hi all....yes what a chatty bunch you are today.

On the subject of purchases - just thinking of buying a few bits and pieces today and I remembered one of the most useful "outerwear" things I had in case anyone is interested (and it was given to me by a friend) was the jo jo maman bebe polartec fleece all in one suit. I was going to order another one (I gave mine away stupidly and not sure if I can get it back) but can't see it online at the moment. It's not too duvet like but dead cosy without feeling like you're stifling the baby. www.jojomamanbebe.co.uk/detailfash.php?type=FASH&code=A2101&proddesc=Polartec+All-in-Ones&supercateg ory=BRN00004&branch=&wcategory=CAT00036&catdesc=Polartec+Fleece+Outerwear&super=0020BRN00004~0010BRN 00010~0070CAT00036&treecode=TRE00009 there isn't a piccie unfortunately but the pictures of the bigger kids give you an idea. It'll probably be pretty cold when they're born although thinking about it it might be more useful for 6 months old when they're that bit bigger.

I also liked the mirror you can get from Mothercare which you fix on to the back seat in front of the baby carrier and allows you to see your baby from your rear view mirror (as they are in rear facing car seat) - I hated it when they were crying but I couldn't see whether they'd perhaps dropped something or not.

Anyway, sorry for the "plugging products" post - just thought I'd share !...

Oh yes please TBM could do with reading up on babywearing seeing as i am quite warming to the idea can you post that link please?

I wasnt sure how much she actually took her baby into bed with her as the article wasnt that specific but like you i assume that she didnt do it regularly but then i cant help thinking that even parents who dont have baby in with them all of the time must sometimes take their baby into bed with them and if they havent been smoking,drinking or feel overtired then thats the requirements - i didnt b/f my last two and like i said i co slept with mine, felt much safer doing it too. I have to read up on SIDS advice but i just thought you just had to not drink, take drugs, not drink and not be overtired i didnt realise that you had to be a full time breastfeeder too? Its changed a fair bit in the last 11 years thats for sure but its good to know these things.

Ive really noticed that not only has my sleeping gone way downhill but so has my constitution im not sure whether or not to go the way of prunes or fibogel iyswim? Ill try anything as i want to stay away from Senakot - not sure if you can take that in pregnancy anyway but it never agrees with me and gives me really bad tummy ache.

Should I post a more up to date picture for your DH LBB? Me on my crutches. I should have been on them since before Tink was born but I put it off (regretting it since) I'd have been lost without the sling. It's a shame you don't live nearer or I'd show you what they're like.

I have a few spares here from when I've made one for a friend (leaves me with two spares) if anyone wants one you're welcome to have one, I can get some different fabrics in too if you want something different.

With breastfeeding you are more aware of what they're doing because they're looking for your breasts (it's not a formula dig). You're feeling them against your bare skin and when they move closer or away and the position you adopt to feed them in is the best position for sleeping.

If the baby isn't there all the time you won't be used to them being there and are more likely to turn your back on them and less likely to be in the cuddle curl position that protects them from both parents.

I'll add my photos link for you now.

Ok. Well I'm just thinking about it at mo, so won't commit myself to saying we'll have one, but yeah looking at some more pictures won't hurt.
I'm also quite worried about making ds1 jealous if carrying baby around, but I don't drive so imagine it'd make travelling easier.

Have to go dr's now and then pop to the park with ds, so I'll check in later.

have good afternoon everyone

I know a lot of mums who say that having the baby in the sling means they don't have to worry about them, they have hands free and the older child can't see them so they can give more time to the older one.

You're welcome to borrow a sling if you want to see one and have a play at home.

Hello ladies - had my GTT (with real lucozade - hurrah) today and antenatal appointment with yet another student midwife - dont actually think there are more than 2 fully trained midwives in the antenatal day care department (or certainly seems to be my experience not to get them) - thank goodness am a fairly chilled second timer... Second Herbgarden on the mirror and polartec fleeces (we used them for DS when he was 8 months upwards) - have forked out for a little Baby Gap teddy bear oversuit (complete with little paw prints on the bottom of the feet) for no 2 (figured as he's going to have all of DS's old stuff, may as well occasionally splash out on something nice for him).

Rosie - as the others have said, you need a sling which evenly distributes the weight and you'll be fine. I had a baby bjorn which I used with DS - never had problems with my back with it but was very careful about ensuring it was on right and baby was correctly positioned (so didnt harm his hips etc)as was DH - I agree with ChilledMama that you do see alot of people wandering around using those with their babies not in the right position and it looks awful. This time round may invest in a woven sling too.

QK - I am uber clumsy in pregnancy too. Went out with DH to a dance thing on Friday night at Peacock theatre which was excellent - and managed to trip over 3 times on the way there and once (walking up some stairs) on the tube. DH says he's going to get me some stabilisers for xmas Did the whole pouring drinks down me thing in pregnancy with DS too (got to point where was keeping spare tops at work!).

LBB - sorry to hear about your backache. If you can, try not to push your bump out - it is actually making your backache worse (though doesnt feel like it at the time but guarantee, its actually putting your spine further out of alignment which will hurt your back more in the long run). You could try some cat stretches in the morning and at night time to help get it back in alignment or see if you can borrow a pregnancy pilates dvd from your local library which will give you some more excellent back exercises - I swear the pilates and yoga I've been doing is the only reason am not suffering from backache now despite being the size of a bus (had godawful backaches in pregnancy with DS so know how horrid it can be)...

Pink - hope the headache shifts. Not surprised you've got a headache with the kitten related stress you've been through recently and your stinking cold etc - try and take things easy and drink lots of fluids.

Catstar - am sure little O has been fine and the ladies from the babies room have been through to give her cuddles today anyway. I got told by a mum who had 2 that there were a few things to help smooth the way for toddlers accepting no 2 - (i) try and keep their life/routine as normal as possible despite the new arrival (ii) when you come home with the new baby, make sure the mum isnt carrying it - mum through door first and give toddler huge hugs and kisses etc then introduce toddler to new sibling and give toddler present from new sibling (apparently helps alay the jealousy issue) and (iii) make sure you make you and toddler time (eg. reading stories, watching tv together etc) while you're feeding the baby. She swore by those - fingers crossed they work...

Another one to add to Dinky's list. If your firstborn comes to see you in the hospital have someone prewarn you that they're on the ward (either another adult coming in first or a phone call) then put baby down so your arms are free. Make sure Dad knows this is the plan so he can pick baby up straight away if s/he is crying rather than saying "the baby's crying, are you going to pick it up?"

lbb.... never push the bump out, it feels good at the time but is actually damging you back further (i only found this out at physio a few months ago after doing it for years with my dodgy back!)

you need to clench your pelvic floor and suck your tummy in. tilt your pelvis back instead of forward as it brings the spine back into a better position. if you do tonnes of pelvic floor excercises and tummy sucking in that alone will give you some relief but it might be no harm to get a physio referral so they can show you some exercises to do that will minimise the pressure.

i don't think my bp is high, was low at last check like it always is. i think the broken nights sleeps have something to do with it as the nights i have to get up and down alot i wake up with a thumping head. am drinking loads of fluids so don't think it's a dehydration thing. have always been prone to headaches and migraines so i'm hesitant to go to the docs about it tbh

PS - the antenatal daycare unit had a message up saying only 30 days till xmas - terrified me so much I took myself back to work via Oxford Circus and did some xmas shopping (and bra shopping - now up to 36 FF/G from 32 F - boobs may well explode before this baby arrives)