Due in June 2009: The final quarter - packing our bags and remembering to squuueeeeeeezzeeeee!..

[Ineedmorechocolatenow]

Here it is!

Afternoon all

naat, i'm baking, don't seem to be able to cool down at all, whatever the weather! We stopped by dh's grans yesterday as she is not long out of hospital so we're all taking turns to check on her (she's 88!) she had 2 jumpers on and her gas fire going full blast, I couldn't stay long it was just unbearable!

laura, what was it like not getting up for work this morning

tee, we're in the opposite position! We need to put dd3s cot down to make room for the moses basket! At least dh made it up in the loft at the weekend and got everything down so now I just have to get round to washing everything.

I went to see the diabetic dietician yesterday and sat there thinking that's what tee said Will have to wait to see the doctor next week for any decisions on medication and birth options. That'll be a fun discussion

Ds had great fun at his cub camp, he came back absolutely filthy but very happy. You'd have thought they had a mud bath every day, the state of all his stuff I don't think he got much sleep either, at least he's not been up at the crack of dawn the past couple of days!

Quick question, is there a difference between "bodysuits" and "sleepsuits"? (should the baby not sleep in a "bodysuit"?)

Tee I also got some shoes quite similar to yours, nice and comfy
Where did you get your cot from in the end?

I am puzzling over sheets/bedding for cot and moses basket.
Moses basket: I was told to just put the mattress in a pillow case on the moses basket which seems to fit Ok. But I am thinking I'll probably need a sheet as well, not sure where to get that the right size?
Also not sure whether the baby will actually need a sheet/blanket as it should be warm enough in the house (around 19 degrees Celcius).
I bought a baby sleeping bag as well.
Cot: We bought some kind of bedding for the cot, basically a fitted shit and a blanket and I'm thinking that the blanket will probably be too hot for summer.

This should obviously read "fitted sheet" .
I clearly need more sleep.

june, confusing isn't it! Bodysuits are worn as vests, they usually have short sleeves and no legs with poppers that do up under the nappy. Sleepsuits are the all in ones with long sleeves and legs that go over the bodysuit. Unless it's very warm you would expect to dress your lo in both, day and night.

For a moses basket you will need pram size bedding which you can get in all the usual baby shops. Nights can be colder so a blanket, probably the cellular sort would be a good idea. Usually 3 sets of cot/pram bedding are a good idea, 1 on, 1 in the wash and 1 spare in case of leaky nappies/sick! I take it you meant a fitted sheet Be careful buying cot bedding as it comes in 2 sizes, cot and cot/bed, just to confuse things more Hth

Hello ladies!

June - am still laughing at your typo, and wish you hadn't tried to correct it - much funnier as it was! SO glad I am not the only one totally baffled by all this baby stuff! Have added my questions below...

Clothes - What is the difference between sleepsuit, babysuit and babygro/w? Assume they are one and the same and baby can be in them regardless of awake or asleep?

Bedding - do babies need a flat sheet as well as a fitted shit sheet (sorry, June, but it is funny!)? Do they use sleeping bags or gro bags right from the start?

Have also started to prepare a list of what I need for labour bag/s, and think DH can expect a convoy of suitcases - seems you need lots of stuff!

Transport home - here is a controversial one! I thought we had to get a car seat, but didn't want to as we don't have a car, but it seems we can park the buggy w the brake on (FWIW Phil & Teds) into the black cab w baby in the coccoon and that is fine. People seem to do it when they are a few months old, so why not when a newborn? Thoughts? Disagreement? Am very confused on this one.

Laura - congrats on earning your freedom! How exhilarating! Hope you take afternon naps, sleep ins, and generally luxuriate in not seeing your awful co-workers!

Inneed - how unfair to add an earache to sinusitis! Hope you can take something for it!

Tee - congrats on cot and mattress! We got the moses basket last week and now I feel like a proper mum-to-be!

Naat - hope you don't have SPD, but that if you do, the exercises help.

Insy - glad to hear little DS2 is getting better, although don't blame you for wanting him home w you. Am also worried that won't focus as much on my next pregnancy as will be concerned about DC1.

LittleSarah - oooh, Hot Milk - gorgeous!! On my wish list. Another thing I am confused about - how did you know what size to go up to? My bazooms have "blossomed" by 2 sizes already.

June - bummer re nausea returning. Still, eating more often sounds good to me! DH admitted that I now waddle, and I woke him w my snoring the other night . And I saw a documentary last night on grizzly bears, and I grunt and puff like a pregnant grizzly bear, too. Someone please tell me something glam about being pregnant!!!

Silk - welcome!!

Bigcar - awww, your DS sounds too adorable, heading off to cub camp. How precious!

Well, went to the frontline Zara yesterday, only not all shops carry their "extensive" maternity range aka 2 racks of clothes. So will try again and report back. Am v hopeful about this wrap dress, I tell you!

Sorry for the essay!! And hope you are all having lovely afternoons!

Bigcar - just crossed posts! Thanks for the answers to June's questions! So a body suit as well as a sleep suit. Can't you get baby vests/singlets? You could in Australia, but maybe I am way out of touch? Seems like a big faff to have a body suit that does only what a vest does?

Yes, you can get 'normal' vests, but they have a tendancy to ride up under the sleepsuits, especially when you pick your lo up, so from my experience I would say bodysuits are actually less faff although I'm sure others will disagree!

Bedding comes down to personal preference I don't think it matters too much either way, blankets/sleeping bags. If going for blankets I would also have a flat sheet between the lo and the blanket. Babies are very good at kicking sheets and blankets off, hence sleeping bags being good, but it's harder to remove a sleeping baby from a sleeping bag if you think they are too warm than a blanket.

Car seats, that's a tricky one if you would only use it a handful of times it seems a huge expense to go to, but your lo will be safer strapped in a proper seat with a seatbelt in a car. I suppose if you have a car seat other people/family would be able to offer you lifts, is that likely?

Something glam about pregnancy.....umm..... err...... nope, give up

bunny in the UK you do not need a car seat in a taxi, which is actually pretty silly, as a taxi is no more safe than a regular car. The rule is more for convenience for the taxi firms, I think! But it is much safer, of course, to have a car seat in a taxi. This is why we are getting a Maxi Cosi, because it can be fit into any car with just the regular seat belt.

Bigcar - ah, yes, the riding up. I understand now why a normal vest might be a bad idea!

OK, sounds like I am heading into the world of flat sheets, too. Plus a sleeping bag or two.

Tee and Bigcar - agree that a car seat would be better/safer, but not only do we not have a car (and no intention of getting one) - none of our friends do either, and family is in Australia. So no trips in "private" cars. Baby likely to be travelling in cabs/taxis, trains, planes, buses and on foot.

Oh June, at your fitted shit

Bigcar, great tips! Thanks for those! I feel a bit of that you're not cold all the time like me I'm literally cold all the time!! I'm always wearing double socks at home You'd think pg hormones would help me in that department but no...

Bunny, I'll be waiting for those Zara news I didn't know what the rules were for taxis either... tricky one.

One of my best friends from Argentina, who now lives in Italy, had her baby last Sunday! We got pg almost at the same time, we "baby-planned" the whole thing together so I'm really excited and now quite anxious to have my LO She was born 2 wks early but weighing 3.580 and measuring 50cm, so thank God she came early Oh I want these 8 weeks to fly by!!!

june we bought it at Ikea. Excellent price and seems very safe and sturdy.

If anyone is interested, here I am at 30 weeks!!

Hello all. Thanks for kind messages.

Feeling rough, but now on penicillin for sinusitis so hopefully that'll kick in soon. I keep forgetting to take it though, not the best thing to have to remember with 'pregnant brain'. The doctor was an utter waste of time though. I went in saying 'I have sinusitis, I'm in agony, the paracetamol isn't working and want to know what I can take that is stronger. He spent a good minute looking in my ear, then asked me to tip my head forward. He asked me whether that caused me pain. I said yes. He looked very pleased with himself and said 'you've got sinusitis'. No shit 'Sherlock' . He then said I could take ibuprofen even though I was well into the third trimester. I said I was surprised as I had heard that you couldn't. He said there'd be no probs. I said that I'd heard that sinusitis is common in pregnancy (which it is). He looked at me like this and said it wasn't. Um... that's not what I've read, but you're the doc....

Cashing in my prescription at pharmacy, the pharmacist laughed in my face when I said what the doc had said. I text SIL (another pharmacist) who said that the doc was MAD and that you can't take ibuprofen when in the third trimester. . I felt totally fobbed off by the man, clearly he is a shocking doctor! Oh well... still in pain...

Been steam cleaning the carpets today as they were foul and it's one of those jobs we wanted out of the way before this LO arrives.

My DS was born in four weeks, this time last pregnancy, so it's all feeling really close.

For those quibbling about vest / babygrows / bodysuits / grobags etc, we got 2 x 5 vests that pop underneath and 2 x 5 sleepsuits for first early days. The vests will be cooler under their arms as our bubbas are summer bubbas... we;ve also got three sets of fitted sheets / flat sheets / cellular blankets for moses basket. We plan to use gro-bag when the little one transfers to the cot after they're out of the moses basket. That's pretty much what we did with DS and it was fine..

Sorry for not catching up on all the news (and to Tee for apologising for it).

Ineed - What a numpty doctor eh! I'm sure it must be hard being a GP and trying to be well versed in every area but really, surely stuff like that should be fairly basic?

I also have some short-sleeved vests, sleep suits and babygrows for first wee while. I'm still knitting my shawl which will probably be used in moses basket or light baby sleeping bag.

Bunnymother - Hot milk stuff is lovely, the one I got in antique lace with light turquoise underneath, in a month or so I'll get another.

Breasts getting bigger is always a hard one to gauge I think, however I did read best time to get fitted is two weeks before due date. This one has a bit of growing room though (have it on tightest settings IYKWIM) so I'm hoping it will be okay. I think I may get a bit bigger but not a huge amount more if it all works about the same as last time, at the moment I am fitting a 34E (started as a 30DD) and I think I will probably end up 34F.

Both dd and dh are in bed now! Dh not well at all, seems very feverish poor man. Slightly at a loss though now, guess I should do some work!

waves

i looked at the moses basket today and the mattress with it and thought the mattress looks really hard - no wonder ds wouldn;t sleep in it and preffered to lie on our bed! is there a mattress cover you are suposed to use? i used to use a sleeping bag we were given which made it more comfy. the sleeping bag - he hated it and so did i, as the bits where it did up at his shoulders had to be undone for me to bf as it was too bulky and he got too hot in it against me bf etc etc.

am looking at what to wear in hospital and after, has anyone bought anything./ been round the shops? i have to order on line, get it sent to a uk address and forwarded here, so any tips v v useful! will be having cs so wary of pj;s and they will annoy scar? and bending to put them on

evening all

today was fab but no long lie for me or afternoon nap as hips were killing me spend day with DH as he was off work and it was fab, looking at baby clothes in mothercare DH had to pull me away before i spent all my pay day wages

Well just been told my brother and sister in law are expecting their fourth child she is currently 13 weeks and bro had the snip 8 weeks ago (so only 5 weeks too late), the three they have they hardly watch and their flat is too small for the three already so how will they cope with four? They rely on hand outs from my mum every month as well!
maybe that is why they demanded their car seat back a few weeks ago...no doubt they'll ask for the crib back once my baby is finished with it.
sounds really silly and i know i should be happy for them, and i feel guilty for thinking this but it took me and DH 2 years clomid tablets and operations in order to conceive and I was excited knowing that my baby would be the only one this year in the family and it would receive all the attention and love from family but now as soon as I 'pop' the attention will be back on SIL and her baby as bro and SIL seem to get absolutely everything! You know it took them until i was 5 months to even say congratulations to me and DH it was as if they couldn't really care...maybe I am being really unreasonable about this but it just isnt fair (god i sound like a spoilt child)

Sorry for the unreasonable post just nowhere else i can discuss this my mum kinda understands but i know if i tell her exactly how i feel she will go mad at me!

please ignore my previous rant just the news has messed with my head i am genuinely happy for them

Don't worry Laura we know what you mean, some people's behaviour are just too much all of the time and that's just one more thing on top of everything else.
(been there, done that, I feel bad everytime I slag Sil off cause she is nice and well meaning somewhere, you just gotta vent sometimes, and if you can't do it here, where can you

Oh, Laura, don't worry, girl, you can vent all you like!! If not here, where?

Of course you're happy for them, but it does seem like they have more in their hands than what they can actually handle... not very good planners, are they?

I completely understand what you feel on the attention front... it's nice to feel you and your LO will be getting all the attention now (even more taking into account your bro has gone through this 3 times already) and this is your first time.

I guess they were asking for their things because of this, huh? Fair enough, but I think some of the money should have been given back to you, girl... that was not a nice thing to do...

Anyway, don't feel bad for posting, we're here for support if you need it

Night all!!

Poor you Laura - don't worry about the rant, that was me a week ago about my sister. I know what you mean about the attention. When my sis announced she was due 6 weeks behind me, I felt the same as you and knew that she'd be getting all the attention. Our mums sound similar too. It's so frustrating, isn't it? My sis and her DP also rely on my parents for stuff and mum will hear no wrong about her (or listen and not actually listen, if you know what I mean). Sorry to hear that it was such a mission to conceive this little one (though HUGE congratulations!). I agree with Naat that they owe you some money back.

Well, feeling a little better today, though still in pain. My skin is horrendous at the moment and the spots I've come out in look more like acne, huge painful swellings that aren't actually spots, if you know what I mean. Bloody hormones!

Hope the rest of you are blooming xx

Morning all.

laura vent away!

Is anyone else getting mostly little flutters as oppose to big kicks? I still definitely feel it move, but its not nearly as strong as it was. I know I've read that any movement is good, but it still has me fretting a wee bit!

Morning Juners!

Tee, they say that at this stage (31-32wks) as babies are getting bigger, movements are felt differently. It's because they don't have as much room as before, so they cannot do acrobatics anymore Great bump pic!!!

Ineed, glad to know the pain is a bit better. I cannot believe what happened to you at the doc's yesterday. Is he bloody joking???? As LittleS said, that's pretty basic!!! Thank God it actually sounded fishy to you (I had no idea, for example) and you checked both at the pharmacy and with your SIL. Shame on him!

Blue, I bought a nightie and some PJs but again, I'm a first timer so cannot give you any good tips for post-CS clothes.

LittleS, hope your DH is better today. If he's coming down with a flu or something, stay away .

Argies off to London this afternoon after DH comes from work. We're staying at DH's cousin's and tomorrow we'll go to the Brazilian embassy and will take advantage of that to ask some more questions . I'm also getting loads of clothes for LO that DH's cousin is giving us so, yay!!

The weather here is awful! Hope you're having better weather where you are.

(((Waves!!!)))

Naat - dh is much better today, he seems to get these occasional 24 viruses where he is hot and knackered and headachey and then he has a good night's sleep and it's gone!

I too know very little about drugs you can and can't take in pregnancy so I would need the professionals to know their shit if I was sick.

Not sure about clothes post pregnancy, I have some suitable bits I think, a few loose summer dresses for good days, I could probably do with a couple of nice summery tops but will probably just treat myself to those in June.

Laura - I understand your feelings, nothing to be ashamed of. Dh's brother and girlfriend are due in August and it did feel a little annoying that dh would have his family's first grandchild and then two months later the second would be there and steal his thunder! But then again, it's nice to know people who have babies and I think dh really likes the fact his brother will be introduced to fatherhood when he is. Obviously different for you as your brother already has 3! Also, I'm glad we're due first, at least we get a couple of months of being the only one before our niece/nephew arrives!

Morning ladies!

Well, after spending yesteday (being the only day in recent history that was lovely weather) trapped inside due to tradesmen being here all day, I have been released again!

Laura - I think I understand exactly what you are saying, and completely empathise. How frustrating! Still, regardless of their financial situation, you are not there to subsidise them, so they should refund you some of that money! Sorry to hear it was so hard for you to conceive, but it makes me even happier for you that you are now so close to having a baby, IYKWIM!

Tee - great photo! Unfortunately my baby seems to be kicking even harder - literally body shaking sometimes, and I can really feel it when she moves, too.

Ineed - sorry you aren't feeling great, what an appalling doctor . Your skin playing up can't help. Could you do something else to make you feel a bit better, like paint your nails red? That helped me feel a bit more glam. Am going to go forth and buy me some sleeveless vests and grobags. The mumsnetters have spoken and shown me the way!

LittleSarah - thanks for the nursing bra tip! Will go get fitted 2 weeks before due date, then. Am normally a DIY fitter, but think I am in unchartered waters here!

Right, Naat, am feeling ready to face Zara, and will report back! Enjoy your trip to London! I love it here, such a wonderful old city!

Talk soon, Juners!

morning all and thank you for understanding my venting last night nice to have supportive people to talk to and still shocking really when this time last year i was told off GP's and consultants I wouldn't have children and at the age of 23/24 that was hard but now being on the 'final countdown' it seems surreal

Well my SIL has asked for the crib back and i told her straight that she will get it back once Sarah is finished with it and too big for it so firmly putting my foot down over this.

tee what a wonderful photo! think i say it all the time you post a new photo that i wish i started that would have been a nice momento And as for kicks to me it is more hard flutters around my rib cage area rather than the thumps i am used to. At night time my DH can feel the flutters on his back when I'm sleeping

naat enjoy london today, one city i've never been but considering i've never been to my own countries capital city (edinburgh) maybe i should visit there frst

ineed sorry your not feeling great hope you feel better soon!

Big hellos to everyone else i know i have missed a lot of people

Tee Same here re: movements, I know she is moving, just not really kicking anymore like she was a couple of weeks ago.

Naat You've motivated me to get my marriage transcription paperwork done. I really like going to the French consulate, it's like stepping in France for an hour (french speakers, french tv programs etc)

Blue I've read somewhere that NCT do some kind of special knickers for after caesarian. Have you tried posting in "pregnancy", there's usually a bunch of people with good tips there.

I got some nighties (4) from mothercare for the birth centre and as for after, I think someone here mentionned that we'll probably fit in our ~6 months pregnancy clothes (not entirely sure how long for).

I am dreading my body after birth, what to wear for the summer, clothes shopping...
I can see myself going from shop to shop, trying loads of things on, not finding anything and either buying stuff I'll never wear or go back home in tears with nothing. (oh the memories...)

I'm looking for exercices/classes/gym that involve babies like aqua, buggyfit, that kind of stuff, if any of you have any tips on fitness after birth I'm all ears!