Dec Mums - Christmas is coming...the Dec ladies have got all fat...time to have our babies...the novelty's worn flat

[Beans33]

Here's a new link for us all - think it needed doing asap as running out of space!!

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well i compromised and did a cursory tidy up and then had a bath with my new lavender salts (DH managed a trip a neals yard shop whilst in London so i have them andthe arnica & seaweed bath foam)

but we are off for a little family walk to town to get supplies from chinese supermarket and as we have eaten through most of the tea time assortment have to stock up on biscuit for MW tomorrow and in case we go into labour.

Cat i swear whenever i get a bit nervous about giving birth (ie if DH away etc) veggiebaby disengages i think he is going to be good to his mummy like his brother he likes to oblige his mummy and keep her happy. so i'm sure if you tell him to wait til she is aro0und he will.

Jam I don't think the receptionist really cares. She is well known round town as 'The Rotweiller', she is really nasty to people. I have had a bit of pain in my ear this week but haven't been able to get an appointment. I think everyone has got a cold or got flu so is filling up the doctors.

Veggie I am so jealous!! Whenever we go to see my Dad we go into the chinese supermarket. There is so much lovely stuff in there but we just haven't got a clue what to do with it all.

a question for you lovely ladies. we have been loaned a lovely rocking crib which we are going to use next to the bed for the first 4-5 months. it comes from holland, and i've got the original mattress for it which my friends used. it is a lovely sprung mattress, but still very firm and i would have no hesitation using it if it weren't for all the SIDS advice. i know i should get a new mattress for it - we went to john lewis and they gave us one which is slightly too long (they suggested we got it out of the cover, and cut it to size). however, it still leaves a 4cm gap in the width of the crib. i understand that is the accepted maximum size of gap allowed by the SIDS people.

also, john lewis didn't recommend using waterproof protectors on mattresses until the child is over 1 year old. is this right? sounds like rubbish to me - anyone heard the same?

i'm getting a little bit paranoid that my instincts - use the old mattress with a good and new waterproof cover - are being overtaken by what i "should" be doing - any advice?

sorry - to add: and when you look at a 4cm gap in the width of the mattress compared with the width of the crib - that looks like an awful lot, i can tell you...

Thanks Cat and Effie, I wonder if it is the baby's head engaging further..

Veggie, glad you had a nice bath. I've cracked open my arnica bubble bath early even though I was supposed to be saving it for a treat post-baby!

Kayz, you poor thing - hope you feel better soon.

I am sooooooooooooooo tired, can hardly keep my eyes open - am watching DD's unpiling piles of videos, dressing up clothes and blankets into a huge mess and just can't face stopping them. Oh for a Mary Poppins style tidy up with just a few finger clicks!

Does anyone else keep doing things and thinking "Oh, this might be the last time I cut my toenails" or something like that? It's quite a strange thought. Just popped into my head this morning!

What I mean is - last time before arrival of new family member!

Beans I know just what you mean. I keep randomly looking at expiry dates at things in the fridge and thinking "my goodness, the baby will be here before that goes off".

waiting the 4cm gap would bother me as well, I think I would be fretting..

Beans I do that too. I saw an advert for something in the TV and I though "Oh the baby might be here by then"

What does Arnica do? I told DH about getting some and he doesn't understand why. So what do I tell him as I am not 100% myself.

Oooh hatty I keep doing that with the sell by dates! The baby will be here before the sour cream goes off etc

waiting You could return the one you've bought and try somewhere else for a better fitting mattress perhaps? 4 cm is a lot.

Effie - I was having a cup a day of R leaf tea from 35 weeks and two or three cups a day from 37ish weeks. However, I am now 40+2days and no sign of baby so not sure how helpful it is! It is also supposed to help with second stage labour so will update you on that later. I have been taking Arnica tablets - one a day of Arnica 30 but it looks like I should be taking more.

Thanks so much to everyone for the mince pie tips. Obviously I just have to try all of them to see for myself which ones are best suited to me!

Had 40 weeks MW appointment today. Baby 2/5 engaged, is a long baby (!) and showing no signs of arrival. Discussed induction - Chelsea and Westminster suggest 41+5days but I would prefer it to get going of its own accord. MW suggested lots of walking but I am already going for a 40 minute walk most days and then doing a few walks down to the shops. I might have to up it to an hour!

waiting I have not heard that about the mattress protectors. WE have put on in our cot (though not on the moses basket as we couldn't find one? so maybe this means it is true?)
veggie thanks for that re the puncture, we had had our old one more than 24 hrs before putting it up (lazy) but I shall make sure DH doesn't start fiddling with the new one!

Yes me too on the sell by dates! Well more a few weeks ago, I would buy things and think "well that's ages away, that will last til the baby comes, i can buy that". And now it seems very close!

kayz arnica helps with bruising. So should help down below afterwards, I see some people take it before as well. I don't understand these numbers though, can I just take more of the 30c ones instead of getting these 200c jobbies

hatty just started getting those pains too. They don't come and go though, so I don't think mine can be contractions at least. Hopefully it means some kind of progress downwards even if appearance is not imminent.

wg I agree that a 4cm gap sounds like a lot, I think you'd have to plug it with rolled up towels or something. Unfortunately, I don't know what else to suggest as we're still dithering over whether to use the same cot mattress or buy a new one!

hatty those are the pains I've been having, plus period-type pains. I think its the baby wriggling his way further down rather than anything being imminent! And I've used my arnica bubble bath as well already!

kayz how's the vertigo?

donnylass congratulations!

Re arnica, I haven't started taking mine yet. Last time I took it during labour (when I remembered!) and then 2 around every 2-3 hrs after birth. It helps with bruising and swelling.

WG: I'd worry about 4cm as well, could you try online as I think there are places that sell a wide range of different sizes of mattress.

Have just brewed up my first pot of raspberry leaf tea

Back from GP appt, unusually left me feeling pretty upbeat - baby fine, starting to engage , iron levels 'excellent', weight gain 'very good' (i.e. looks like I'm on track to put on about 2.5 stone, same as with DS). Sugar levels a tad high, so I'm having another fasting blood test next week {bleurgh}. He was v reassuring about the group B strep, said that even if I didn;t make it to hospital in time for 4 hours worth of ABs I and the baby would be well looked after

Kayz: hope you get an appointment tomorrow.

Kayz- i married a chinese guy so he would know what to do with all the stuff in the shop. And tell your DH to do what he is told and stop asking questions, Arnica is for bruising and helps prevent sepsis.

30c once a day is fine pre birth and i'm sure you could just take up to around the equivalent of 200c after.

Hatty- this is my 2nd bottle of Arnica & seaweed.

Beans- you can actually reach your toenails.

Penny- RLT is for toning the uterus not for bringing on labour. If you are worried you can try acupuncture.

Our cat just ate something so think he has turned a corner (we caved and bought him some lovely Sheba tuna. hope he'll go back to his other cat food.)

Wg, you could try these people

WG: also found this for made-to-measure mattresses:

myworld.ebay.ie/mattress-makers

Snap!

thx - will get on to them smartish -due in 2.5 weeks.

i have just eaten all of DS' leftover chocolate buttons. he is really good and always eats a few then saves some for later or the next day he never eats them all in one go. and now i have eaten them all, i am a bad mummy

Hello everyone this thread still moves at the speed of light...

Really exciting to see all the progress that's happening - kayz really glad you got your homebirth booked, if you want any questions answered there's lots of us who can try and help!

Oh and on that subject, my bit of brilliant advice from the midwife. Instead of using maternity pads for the first few days, just bung a disposable nappy in your pants. It has a much better chance of catching the flow from different angles especially at bedtime, and we've all got tons of them lying around anyway!

Cat, Effie, Hatty, SL and rosmerta, the pains you're describing are exactly what I felt at the very start of labour - kind of like period pains and focused just in the bottom of the womb area. So it could be a sign that things are making a start! Not sure how dilated they got me but it could be the baby just starting to push down so the cervix gets ready.

Waterproof mattress covers - the ones on the mattresses we got don't actually cover the whole thing which i was a bit surprised by, just a third or so in the middle as presumably that's where the baby/toddler's bum is going to be when it's wet at night.

Have had a nice restful day today, DH was an angel and let me sleep with the baby on my chest til about 10 while he tidied up the house. We have finally chosen a name! Sarah Kirstin (plus my mother's maiden name as an extra middle name) so we're busy trying to remember to use the name rather than call her Sausage or Munchkin or Nipper etc
I think the milk is coming in as well as my boobs have got massive and are quite hot. Just bunged a cabbage in the fridge in case it's needed And AND I changed two whole nappies all by myself today so feel as if I'm finally learning...

hi!
couple of questions...
are contractions across your whole uterus or centered in one place, like the very base of the pelvis?
And more of a parenting thing...my dd has never ever sucked her thumb and has just started doing it since yesterday. I'm assuming it's related to the imminent arrival, and have asked her why she's doing it and she says "for nothing". Should I ignore it or tell her off for it or what? It's not the best habit to start right before you start school, but then again I don't want to be harsh on her with so much change going on. what do you think?

trace - contractions, well for me they were concentrated very low down, which was just the cervix expanding apparently, I didn't feel it anywhere else. Though BHs are definitely the whole thing hardening, so maybe the way it felt to me was a bit odd.

Re DD, can't offer any experience but you're probably right not to make a big deal about it. There's so much going on for her that it's a comfort and once things have settled down - new baby, school started - she'll feel a bit more relaxed about life in general. It might just be a temporary crutch and if it's not hurting, I wouldn't stop her.

Veggie I dated a chinese guy when I was at college. OMG I practically lived at his parents house. It was great, but he was just as excited to come to mine to have stuff like Toad in the hole and stuff my mum made. His mum still invites my Dad round for dinner and stuff despite the fact we spilt up about 2 years ago. I get so jealous when Dad rings and says he has been there for dinner.

Will tell DH to do as he is told.

Ooooh excitement here. DH was being his usual silly self and found the baby name book while looking for something else. He said jokingly "We could call him Emmanuel instead" my response was "If I can't call him Theo then we can't call him that"

So......... I am allowed to use Theo as a middle name!!! I am so happy about it!!!