Due May 2009 - There's a bun in my oven and it's making me HOT! HOT! HOT!

[FiKelly]

Shiny new thread already!

if you are planning on bf it is a good idea to have some bottles and teats in also so you can express and store and then if you need 'time out' or in an emergency the breast milk can be defrosted and someone else can bottle feed it to the baby - or spoon feed it to them.

steriliser also just generally handy to have - dummies, in-the-mouth-toys etc.

when i was induced with the drip I managed for about 8 hours with gas & air. At one stage it was going to fast & I was struggling so it was slowed down a bit. But I agree it progresses so well it is difficult to get your head round the process, and in my case it all kinda happened very quickly. I had been to my anitnatal appointment on the wed 3 weeks before baby due & told I was going to hospital 'for a rest'. Poor DH was on a long run of night shifts and on the Thursday morning he was off to England to meet up with some mates for the weekend. He had been looking so forward to this!! I was examined and 'swept' at 08:30 on the Thursday morning, & the Registrar informed me I was 'going to have my baby today'! So I had to phone DH and he'd just checked in!! Thankfully for once EasyJet allowed him to transfer his ticket to a later date!! So instead of DH going homw to get a bit of rest then get up to the hopital to do the hand holding thing - he went to see his dad and spent the afternoon talking to the builder in our house!! Think he did have a few hours kip.. but he didn't get to the hospital until around 7pm - 9 hours after my induction had commenced. He arrived to experience my final contractions as the epidural was being sited. This time - he'll be with me the whole time so he can see exactly what it all entails. I was pleased I managed the first parts on my own - I think after a while I'd have gotten annoyed with him being there (poor guy can't win!!!) but when he arrived I was so relieved to see him. 2 hours later ds was born!

I'd do it again - no fear!

re sterilisers... although it's a microwave one we've got it is also a cold water method one too. In fact i think we've used it just as much with the cold water method as the microwave. I only tended to use it as a microwave one if i had to make up a batch of bottles ready to use with formula. The rest of the time it was filled with water & good old milton...

I don't plan to buy any formula before #2 arrives... will wait and see how the BF goes in hospital as i'm really keen to give it another really good go. Looking back with ds I can see my milk supply problems were there from the start... as the hospital had to supplement my bf a couple of times. It just didn't become majorly obvious until after i'd been at home for a day or 2. So this time at least i'll be able to tell when all is not right in that area...

I'm hoping a combination of my still-breastfeeding toddler and expressing prior to my c-section will help this time. I had terrible problems establishing breastfeeding last night and DS has been mix fed from birth. God knows how we've managed it for 2.4 years!

last time, not last night!

Thanks for all your nice messages - we have a very sad office right now. And I thought DH was feeling sick because of the shock but it turns out now he has some vomiting bug - just hope DS and I won't catch it.

polony car trip to hospital involved retching on all fours in the back seat foot well - not fun, and a real job to get me out. Speed bumps v bad too, as was lift to 8th floor. And that was bout 12 hours before DS was finally born. Eeeek.

This is probably a silly question first timer.

I plan to bf, how many bottles should I buy? Also what sort? What sort of teat? There seem to be so many around.

Just been given £200 wages (boss still owes me over £3500) so have treated myself to an iced bun - yum!

I'm going to ask for as much help with bf as possible this time... I found getting the hang of latching on tricky... especially as I had 2 inverted nipples with ds. I had been using the avent nipplette gadgets prior to ds arriving but it didn't 'fix' them in time. I started using them again as soon as I found out we were expecting #2 and luckily it seems to have fixed 1 and greatly improved the other. So this should really help with the latching on. just got to hope for some decent milk supply this time and hopefully with some positioning advice as it was a bit difficult to see where ds mouth was with my truly enormous boobs!

alapala - fingers crossed you miss the bug.

Thanks for all the discussion about sterilisers. Consensus seems to be to get a basic microwave one as I'm planning to BF so think that's what I'll do!

LoobyLou36 well £200 is a start... hopefully it will be a steady trickle from now on until you have all you are owed. I personally used the tommee tippee ones. Before DS arrived we had bought a fancy avent steriliser & it had a bottle & teat included with it. DS refused this bottle even when he was desperately hungry for milk... so we took the avent one back and tried the Tommee tippee 'closer to nature' ones as they were called at first and he had no objections. I like the fact that they tried to mimic the breast shape and had a large nuby/silicone area that the warm milk sat in during feeds making it warm like your boobs. As to how many bottles... you won't need v many if you're b feeding & what teats mainly depends on your bottle choice. We started with newborn teats to match the bottles. I know avent have a multi flow teat for their bottles but I've no experience of them.

LoubyLou, we only had 2 bottles and while I was bf full time that was perfect as backup, for expressed milk. We got 2 more when dd started having formula during the day at 8 months (I went back to work so we bf morning/evening and she had a couple of bottles during the day at nursery). That all worked out fine. And we got the tommee tippee ones as they are designed to be realistically like boobs! But I have read that they have a chemical called BPA in them, where some people have doubts about it being safe for babies, so when dh melted them in the microwave by mistake a few months ago I wasn't that disappointed, just replaced them with Avent and we've had absolutely no problems with those either. Everyone I asked here recommended Avent as it's everywhere and apparently the bottles suit most babies well. Teats come with the bottles and have recommended age ranges depending on the flow. Hope that helps!

Ah Fi interesting about your experience with avent/tommee tippee - that's what I thought would happen with dd and why I got the closer to nature ones in the first place. At the time I couldn't find anyone who seemed to have heard of a baby refusing an avent bottle!

Loobylou,

I breatfed my two, with the odd formula/expressed breastmilk (EBM) for DD and just EBM for DS. I managed fine with 2 bottles (then 3 once they were at nursery) although it did mean regular sterilising. I have always used the dr browns bottles- a bit more pricey but they have a system to reduce wind/colic and DD/DS both took to them no problem. They are quite big, so look a bit strange with a newborn who only needs a couple of ounces, but handy for when they get bigger as they take up to 8oz.

I think with the avent microwave steriliser i bought (and the breatpump and bottle warmer too probably) i got free bottles, so if you are buying any of those products, you could always try with the avent bottles before investing in more.

alapala Luckily i don't think we have any speed bumps on the way to hospital... but on our next trip in for the tour of the birth suite i'll be on the look out! Fingers crossed you don't get the bug too...

fikelly I am similarly blessed in the nork department, and found the rugby ball hold worked incredibly well for us when DS was tiny. As he got bigger he developed a preference for my left nork and we developed a comfy way of sitting and feeding. He now likes to feed in the most bizarre ways! I shall have a lot more confidence this time with experimenting with holds but also having faith in my baby's natural instincts.

We use Dr Brown, Tommy Tippee and a generic bottle with no name! We've never stuck to one particular brand as we preferred to let my norks be the constant.

looby glad your boss is making some attempt to pay you but the outstanding amount is not acceptable at all. I hope you get it soon. He is very lucky to have such an understanding employee.

These are the bottles I'm trying this time around. They're supposed to mimic the way milk is transfered from breast to baby and bf babies can use the same technique. I think 2 bottles sounds very reasonable. If you express and freeze you'd store the milk in other milk storage containers anyway. I trouble the other way around. Both my dcs like the breast so much that I couldn't get them to take the bottle. I tried nearly every bottle and teat on the market unsuccessfully (neither of them ever took a bottle). (euromum The avent ones were the ones she hated most of all, so I had the same experience as you) The Tommee Tippee ones didn't exist yet back then and I think that dd might have gone for them. I have a feeling that her problem was the feel of the silicone teats. They're quite hard, but the TT ones are soft. I want to try these Breastflow ones, because lo can use the same technique to get the milk out and hopefully take to them OK. I'm no good in terms of advice re teats. They confuse me too; that's why I stuck to bf + I'm too lazy to make up bottles all the time

euromum the tommee tippee bottles etc are now BPA free

right have to dash... taking my mum to do her weekly food shop. DH is away today in carlisle for the day and not due back till v late. So going to be a v long day as ds was up before 6am again... and DS & I will be doing dinner/bath/bed routine on our own. Will be very relieved when he goes to sleep so I can have an early night

Great about the BPA, know what I'll be going for if this lo refuses the avent then!

Agree with llareggub about the rugby hold for the larger-norked lady, when dd was small this was by far the easiest way to feed her. It was the only way really until she was about 3 months, at about 4 months it got a lot easier to feed her across my front which was much easier in public. Then at 5 months she started stopping to turn round and grin at people, leaving me suddenly exposed to the world and on one occasion inadvertently squirting milk all over one of my friends. The joys...

Must do some work too...

euromum, you reminded me of why i tended to use a bottle when out and about with DD- she was always pulling off for a look around, and i had a really powerful let-down too and remember one stressful lunch in pizza express where i had milk spraying out all over the shop

Oh boy alapala - we have loads of speed bumps between here and the hospital. Its about 30 mins clear traffic and an hour if its busy or blocked. Is there anything at antenatal classes to suggest how to cope with the car trip?

Belgian in my antenatal records misoprostol is listed with a little box to tick next to it in the assisted vaginal delivery bit, but I obviously missed the first time around the fact that its listed in the third stage labour part of that section (I was looking this up around new year). It still freaks me out a bit. I like the sounds of its not being used at all in the UK.

I am buggered today. Energy levels fluctuating from completely useless to thinking about being less useless then back again. I much prefer it when everything comes easily. Belgian I'm so impressed with your ironing while sitting down (I guess you're quite used to being very busy!) but do look after yourself. Have I mentioned that I don't have an ironing board and therefore don't iron? We had one at our last two flats but they came with the flats and stayed with the flats so now we are ironing board bereft. I'm starting to develop the feeling that I really ought to be ironing something. Which reminds me llareggub glad to hear you had a lovely spa day, well done you. I have knitted a bootie. Actually I knitted three but none of them match. I think between the three I have one.

My baby has discovered star jumps - prods in all directions, I have no idea whats going on. Lots of shifting movements in the wee sma's lately. I think the baby could roll us both over onto my other side any day now.

Wee sma's? Wee smors? Wee small hours that is.

polony oh you really must buy an ironing board. DS has been asleep this afternoon and I have done lots of ironing. I find it weirdly soothing and relaxing and I am somewhat irrationally happy with my new steam generator iron. I suspect I am quite sad really, but give me an iron, a board and a rubbish true movie and I am happy.

Polony Good that you've answered my question before I needed to ask it. Wee sma's? Never heard of them!! I actually do the ironing on my birthing ball, very comfy! I've got a thing about ironing though, I think it's the only household task I'm meticulous about. I just love ironed clothes. As for the box in your notes next to misoprostil, I think it's sometimes used to stop bleeding if someone is having a major PPH.

My baby's kicking my left hip and right ribs, so it must be in some sort of side lying position. I can sometimes feel somthing tiny sliding across my belly, maybe a little hand or foot?

The rugby hold is also good after a c/s. Keeps baby away from your belly. After a while though you become so confident you can do it standing on your head. I remember bf my dd while following ds around the park!

llare I'm equally ecstatic about my steam generator iron! I usually watch rubbish day time TV: Jeremy Kyle or This morning + ironing, like you said weirdly relaxing!