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)

Thanks sorky
We didnt really want to use a Moses basket to start with, bit of a waste of money. But we live in a little one bed flat, so only practical option until we get moved.
We should be moving on the 2nd Jan now, to our bigger place - so may use Moses in the day & get a cot of the nights.

Thanks MS - did you just use cellular blankets in the moses basket?
Im hoping the mothers instinct will kick in when she arrives

Thankyou MarkStretch, they're lovely. X

KT We have a mosses basket that has a fleece like surround on it. Not sure if it's the same kind of thing as you're talking about, but the way I understood it, is that bumpers and things aren't suitable incase your baby shuffles up and gets head pressed up against it trapping all the body heat in resulting in over-heating, so as a newborn can't actually move......? I might be wrong but that's how I see it.
We put basket in the cot as we had a dog at the time, but I didn't let ds sleep in it in the day (cot that is) until he was about 5 months as wanted to distinguish (sp?) the difference between day and night and long sleeps and short sleeps. I think it worked, my dad thinks I'm a bit crazy, but I don't care (!) I'll be doing the same again this time.

Your mother instincts will def kick in. The main peice of advice I can give is trust yourself. I was full of so much doubt of myself up until about a year that everytime I left the house I'd ring dp to ask what I should dress the baby in, and he always said something completely different from what I was going to do, ut I did it my own way anyway.
I've never used a grow-bag (want one now but £25!!) as I was really paranoid about over-heating, so I used sheets and blankets so I could easily remove or add through the night as I saw fit.

Sorry for the ramble there.

Morning

KT, I used a moses basket and will do this time as well. My DD was too small for a grobag, so I waited until she went into the cot until I used them (I am a big fan of them).

for the 6 weeks she was in the moses basket, she was in vest and babygro with a sheet and blanket as necessary (although it was summer). She was a little hothouse (unlike most babies), so I was careful not to overdo it. My HV always told me to feel the back of the neck, not hands / feet. Another piece of advice I was given was that cold babies complain, but over-heated babies don't - they can die from over-heating. I have never forgotten that, and never overdress her - even now.

Cellular blankets are great - some babies love to be swaddled, and they are good for that as well.

btw, I think you need the padding around the inside of the moses basket as the fibres can be quite rough. When DD was big enough to press her face against the side and move about, she was moved into the cot (without a bumper).

A lot of it is instinctive and you'll be fine. But when I was in your position, I was terrified and asking loads on MN

Yes just the cellular blankets.

Thats really helpful, thanks LBB.

I did think that about newborns not being able to move.
She will be right next to my bed the moses basket anyway, not to mention one of those under the matress alarms.

Good idea with the Cot at night thing - I can see the reasoning behind that & ive read something that says the same. Think it may haev been the Gina Ford book.

morning all
MS am very jealous that you will only be 30! (a mere child!) two days after xmas. I will be 41 the day after (DH has REAL problems with gift buying!) Feeling very old and grumpy now.
Think I've forgotten all my maternal instincts. It just seems so wrong to. be taking DS aged 15 for interviews over the next few weeks for colleges for A levels when I have another one due to arrive shortly. Luckily, he doesn't seem too embarrassed by it.
DD now appears to have a really bad cough/possible chest infection. We were up most of the night with her coughing. Its very odd as she sounds like a dog barking when she coughs so I'm wondering if it might be croup? Any views? Typically, can't get a doctors appointment until next Wednesday.
Dinky, will text you later to let you know if I can still escape but if she doesn't improve today it seems unlikey

I agree with LBB - you need to trust your instincts. Especially with temperature. When DD had her first fever, it was so traumatic for me. I went straight out and bought a £40 ear thermometer and was taking her temp every 5 mins (& I work in medical profession!!)!

I also done day time naps downstairs with TV on etc, and night-time upstairs in the dark with no chatting etc. Worked for me....fingers crossed it will do so again....

remind me of this conversation in 3 months time..........

thankyou LittleMissNorty.
I have been really concerned about the padding around the side, but like LBB said newborns dont move (or atleast not that much im guessing?)

You only had 6weeks out of your Moses basket? My poor mum, she is assuming that baby will have a good few months in it, so will get the moneys worth

I think I ended up using lots of Gina Ford ways without actually reading her books. I'm very routine, routine, routine at the beginning to the extent that I'd time how long he played with each toy/teddy.
Go on, laugh, you know you all want to!

My ds was in his basket for about 4 months, he could have stayed longer, but I found that when we stayed at mum's and he was directly in travel cot with the extra room I noticed he'd sleep for 9 hours!!!

I'm afraid I couldn't cope with all the shuffling around, as well as she grew quite fast. We all slept MUCH better when she went in her own room (very un-AP I know).

I do routines as well LBB - not GF, but its the only way I can cope with life - let alone one or two children to add to it. My DD thrives on it, and I deliberately didn't do the "in the dark, shut the door" naps - she sleeps anywhere, and through any amount of noise. Fingers crossed it continues.

Yes, you kind of make a rod for your own back in the silence don't you? My downstairs neighbour is due to have her first in feb too and has asked me to walk quieter as she is worried it'd wake her baby. I took her for a walk up the high street and pointed out all the sleeping babies in their prams next to a busy, loud road.

I found routine the only way to keep sanity too. I wasn't prepared to not know what was gonna happen at what time each day, to what time we went out, how long for, when we'd feed, when he'd nap, how long it'd take to hoover. I'm a bit uptight as you can prob guess.

I hate this site sometimes, got loads to do before my dad comes over and we're not even dressed!
Got to go shops

Im with you on the Routine thing - I found her books really interesting, but very strict routines.
I guess the first few weeks any sort of routine will be out of the question - but hopefully, we will both get a bit of routine happening after the initial madness & not knowing what to do & when to do it!

Mmmmmm me too....I'm supposed to be hoovering whilst DD is having her nap.....(and she isn't dressed yet either)

Been lurking here with not much to say. Tomorrow we meet the consultant.

Newborns can't move much??? Bot of mine certainly did. The second day we had DS2 home from hospital I woke up an he was in the bedside cot upside-down.

Me: Did you put the baby in bed upside-down, DH?
DH: No, you must have done it!

I am not a total loon - I KNOW I didn't! Really thought DH was having a laugh.

Next day I actually saw him doing it. Seems he was looking for me - he soon got much better at finding me.

Been thinking of you Swampy....nice to see you. Good luck at the consultant tomorrow x Hope you get some answers....not knowing has got to be the worst.

Blimey - upside down ...i'd probably swaddled DD so she was physically unable to move

Hey Swampy, good luck tomorrow, we'll all be thinking of you.

I think my ds was a bit lazy.......

Morning,

Mslucy - hope you have a better day today. Am sure that you are a great mum and that your ds loves you very much. Being pg is tiring, being pg with a toddler is doubly tiring. I have found myself being a right grumpy and miserable old feck at times. I have decided that there is nothing wrong with cutting myself a bit of slack, just chilling out for the day and trying to recoup some of my energy and sanity. I think it should be a maternity right.

I rarely get flowers from dh, but ds will always come back from a shopping trip with grandma with a little bunch. So sweet, and of course, grandma is helping to train him very well

Hope all the sick folk and kiddies are on the mend - this time of year is just awful isn't it?

Have only got best mate left to buy for - she'll have perfume, so she's easy to sort out.

Dinky - your biscuit presents sound lovely. Hope you get better dreams (they are just so vivid aren't they - awful, awful things)after your curry fest tonight.

We are going to start making tree decorations (including some decorated biccies) this weekend. Would love to put the trees up (we have 2 - my parents used to work in a garden centre, so we got them free cheap), but dh is away at the rugby this weekend and there's no way I can manage them both on my own. I love the sparkly twinkle of the lights and everything (sigh).

In fact, he could put the bare trees up tonight and ds and I could decorate them while he's away & we can have a cosy Sunday night with a real fire by the tree when he gets back. Ooooh, I love it when a plan comes together

Swampy - lovely to see you here. Hope everything goes well tomorrow. Will be thinking of you x.

Goodluck tomorrow Swampy - Hope all goes well x

Had a moses basket that we used for a few months - he just got too big for it very very quickly. Saw a pic of ds with my cousin's ds from when they were wee babies that my sis put on FB. Ds is massive when compared to the other, SIX months older lo!

Agree that kids should be able to sleep through any kid of noise. Although did use the "ooh, I can't vac up as ds is asleep" excuse on a number of occasions

Swampy - my 10 w old ds did his first spot of night time levitating whilst we were staying here. Just the three of us in a spooky old house and he chose to start turning himself right round in his travel cot . Lovely place, right next to Rosslyn Chapel (was used in the Da Vinci Code film) though a bit creepy at night when wandering around trying to sort out a lo!

Swampy, good luck for tomorrow, will be thinking of you xxx

Good luck with consultant tomorrow Swampy. My DS used to move all over the shop in his cot when we stopped swaddling him - we used to place bets on which way round we'd find him...

Same here Swampy - good luck for tomorrow, you will be in my thoughts x