Due Feb 2010 part 2: the second trimester

[CaractacusPotty]

Not sure I am any more qualified, frankly, but hey ho!!

lansinoh before or after? personally, my nipples are dry and uncomfortable and the colostrum steady leak isn't helping, so i'm using (a very little) already to keep them comfortable (had same thing last time, and mw recommended this)... guess it depends how yours are?! try a bit and see if they feel more comfortable!! it lasts for ages, so won't go off if you open it now and don't use it til feb!

gear/changing bag queries....

Already have left from DD

vests/babygros to 18 months
cardi's to 6 months
hats/mittens/socks
bedding/sleeping bags
toys/books
pushchair (lays flat)/cosy toes
carrier
cot
bottles
steriliser
breast pump
travel cot/bassinet
changing mat
sudocrem
lansinoh
nursing bras
bouncy chair
bumbo

Need
couple of new towels (soft for baby!)
moses basket
car seat
nappies
cotton wool
wondering about getting a sling/carrier as think it would be easier than the pushchair in some circumstances.

I need to wash the clothes/bedding etc cos they've been packed away.

Never had a changing bag - used a little rucksack/haversack (in fact, still do!). Did buy a skiphop fold up change mat tho which was def worth the money (specially as it'll do for new baby too) - saves having to lie your little one on a possibly minging public change table!! Mind you, i'll be 35 in Jan and i've never owned a handbag!!! (or a pair of heels come to that!

Hi all,
The Maclaren recall is only for USA (I guess as a precaution against lawsuits). Children should never be around prams/pushchairs when (un)folding whatever the brand, as they shouldn't be near doors openning or closing (accident happens ). Nothing really to do with the safety of the pushchair itself. No need to panic!
Whao! [amazed emoticon] you seem to be all almost set up, and ready to go!

No sign of colostrum, I read somewhere it is supposed to be orange? Is that true? I just had some milky discharge before birth 1st time, does that mean I won't have enough milk again? (MW said it was because of emCS and blood transfusion)

Westlondongirl I find you very brave to fly at Xmas!

Welcome moth2

I am lost again on the list,

27th Jan Devotion DD1 6yrs & DD2 3yrs
1st Feb Moth2, 1st but also stepdaughter 3 yrs
2nd Feb Raindroprhyme DS1 8y, DS2 4y
2nd Feb Ktpie DS 13m
3rd Feb sunangel88 1st
4th Feb mothrof2boys
5th Feb chinook Dd 3.6yo
7th Feb grin DS 1 yr 6 m
7th Feb mamaloco DD will be 5y near due date
8th Feb fiziwizzle, 1st
8th Feb gingerkirsty, 1st
8th Feb PinguCarrier, 1st
10th Feb Lovelymonster, 1st
10th Feb T4tastic 1st
11th Feb Woowa 1st
12th Feb Fluffycoo 1st
12th Feb Yummylilmummy 1st
13th Feb mignightsun DS 3y
14th Feb tryingtobemarypoppins DS 21months currently!
14th Feb Clappedout DD 21m
14th Feb Pops78, 1st
14th Feb Glynnispig 1st
14th Feb Threeplusone- DD 12.11yrs DS1 5.2yrs DS2 2.1yrs
14th Feb Stoofadoof, DD 2.11
15 Feb AngelaCarleen 1st
15 Feb flyingcloud 1st
16th Feb GuernseyFrench 1st
16 Feb Watercress DD1 2y 10m
16 Feb esselle - DD 5.1y, DS 20m
16 Feb hannahsaunt - ds1 (8.11), ds2 (6.5), ds3 (23mo)
17 Feb Bethylou - DS currently 16 months
17 Feb Becks130 - DS 3.5 yrs
18 Feb Sunnybump - First
20 Feb Gert ds 22m
20 Feb Cluny 1st
21 Feb Pyjamababe - First
22 Feb Skibelle
22 Feb Scoobydoo
23 Feb 2Happy ds1 4y ds2 2y
23 Feb (twins!!) Insanitybecomesme DS1 9yrs, DS2 7yrs. DD3y 3m, DS3 21m
23 Feb TheOldestCat DD 2.9y
23 Feb Phee96 DD 9m
24 Feb Elebereth
24 Feb TotallyAndUtterlyPaninied DS 15m
24 Feb MidgetGems
27 Feb Westlondongirl
28 Feb Mawbroon Due DS 3.10yo

Like stoofadoof I never had a changing bag. A backpack (you can have a "posh" one, e.i. not sport but handbag look alike) and a first year travel changing mat, where to strore cotton, wipes and nappies. I am a "struggling mum" I found that the simpler the better. A changing bag is always in the way, I am struggling enough with the pram and the baby.

Everyone seems very organised! I was thinking I would do my shopping after Christmas, when I might grab some bargains and more importantly won't be working so will have TIME. Oh I can't wait!

I was wondering if a standard rucksack would do for a changing bag, I'm intending to carry LO in a sling as much as possible and thought a normal changing bag might be too difficult to heft about. But I thought I'd work it out when the baby arrives... am I mad?

I'm planning on a standard rucksack, mostly because one-shouldered bags (as almost all changing bags are) are BAD for our backs! I blame a lifetime of shoulder bags for putting my back out at 21, and even now, at 30, if i give in and use a shoulder bag out of vanity for a couple of weeks i hurt badly.

Next time you're out, watch the posture of people who have a bag on one shoulder - they almost all have one shoulder up or are leaning to one side. Then think about what this is doing to your back, and go and buy an ugly rucksack (from TKMaxx where there are bargains!!)

pompous lecture over

fiziwizle, i'm planning a sling and rucksack combo as much as possible - let's see how it works out!

btw, go to the pregnancy chat section where there is a posting on the breast crawl - you need to watch a 7 minute youtube vid, which sounds a lot, but is amazing! I'd love to know if any of you experienced mums have successfully persuaded hospital to let you do something like it.

Better still, here's the link:

breast crawl

On the changing bag front, last time I used a Caboodle bag - a kind of rucksack that goes across you and does up with Velcro (really bad description, sorry). I found it worked really well, as it had loads of pockets, distributed the weight well, DH could use it, and it worked with my front carrier (much preferred to pram).

Whoever asked about double buggies, I have a 3yo (just!), so am planning to use my MaClaren plus carrier (not that we use the pushchair much these days). I did look into buggy boards, but they are so expensive and I just can't work out which I need for my pram and pushchair!

You're all very organised with your baby stuff and hospital bags. I'm planning to get through Christmas, then sort out the baby's room and stuff once I'm on mat leave in January. I'm hoping I've got pretty much everything from last time, so will just have to get consumables like nappies.

I have a physio appointment today for my SPD, and am hoping for some good advice to help me cope as I'm really suffering. It's very frustrating.

That breastcrawl video is good, however it is not ideal with the mother lying flat on her back. It is much better to be propped up a bit more than the mother is in the video. This allows the mother to see the baby better, and help the baby if it needs a little guidance.

You can roll a towel or blanket and put it on your lap to give the baby something to push their feet on if need be.

It is also worth remembering that the baby in that clip probably didn't have any/much by way of drugs during the delivery. If you have had pain relief/epidural/c section, your baby may not behave like the one in the video straight away, but don't worry!! Keep him/her cuddled in skin to skin on your chest, and when s/he is a bit less woozy, then you can try again.

I can't wait to try this with ds2. I really wish I had known about it with ds.

The hospital where I am due to have ds2 uses this approach (or they are supposed to anyway, whether it has filtered through to the staff or not, I don't know..) and they call it Laid back nursing which I think is quite a cool name for it.

If you read a lot of pg literature, it is just kind of mentioned at the end of pages and pages about how to latch the baby on. It's like it's some sort of curiousity often saying stuff like "some babies will even crawl towards the nipple" as if it were something odd!!! This is what they are supposed to do!!!

Hi all and welcome to all newbies

Havent been on for a while but try to keep up with all the posts! Hope all well today.

Im finding it increasingly difficult to sleep at night, I surround myself with pillows but still find my tum, hips and legs ache and have to roll over bout 20 times a night! Does anyone else wake up with an aching tummy? I also sometimes get tum pains during the day, but guess this is normal?!?

Other than that I am feeling quite well

LO's movements increased over the weekend, with him wriggling all night for two nights! Was fairly quiet last night tho. Should movements be quite regular now? Sorry for all the questions!

Am feeling ok bout having things ready. Havent actually got the big things like pram, car seat ect but we know what we are getting and are going to order them in a couple of weeks. Need to make sure the pram and car seat fit in our car first.

As for clothes I have quite a bit but am a bit unsure of the sizes I should go for for babygrows? I have about 4 new baby ones (up to 7lb9oz), a couple of newborns, a couple of up to 1 months. Do I need more? And of varying sizes???

Hope everyones having a good day

x x x

I think the breastcrawl is amazing and will give it a go this time. Definitely wasn't part of my hospitals usual procedure last time. I just remember the midwife shoving dd on to my boob in an attempt to distract me from the fact she was about to take a needle and thread to my nether regions! As a quick aside I would like to reassure all the first timers that being stitched up is the thing that I was most scared of beforehand, but turned out to be a load of worry about nothing. Didn't feel the tear happening, didn't feel anything while it was being repaired and it gave me no discomfort afterwards.

I would like to slightly disagree with everyone regarding wipes. We struggled with using cotton wool and water for about 2 weeks then started using wipes in more sticky situations. Huggies Pure wipes are by far the best I think and we still use them now, mainly for hands, faces, leather sofas and dust removal! When we had used a wipe in the early days though we did clean her bottom with water afterwards and dry it with a muslin.

I must be contrary today because I have done the opposite to you all with changing bags. I have just chosen a huge Radley bag to use when the baby is born. I am determined to look less like a new mummy this time and my old changing bags are so boring and bulky. Though I have noticed some much nicer ones in the shops this time round. Plus as I plan to breastfeed I should only need to carry a couple of nappies and spare clothes.

Went out for a powerwalk with a friend last night and my hips are sore for the first time today. Serves me right for trying to be healthy.

mamaloco just to reassure you I have had no leaking colostrum yet, and I didn't last time either and I breastfed dd for over a year. I had plenty of milk. In fact one of the highlights of having dd was when my milk came in and I had the norks of Pamela Anderson for a few days. (Thank goodness they go down though). My friend had the same problem as you with her first due to a blood transfusion and post birth surgery, but was absolutely fine the second time round after a planned section.

While I remember not only is Lansinoh cream excellent but their breastpads are the best too, as they are really thin and the only ones I found with a waterproof backing on them. Which I think is essential for obvious reasons.

glynnispig i bought a dreamgenii pillow about 4 days ago and it is amazing how much difference it has made to sleeping. It supports legs, bump and back all at the same time, and i hardly wake up now as it doesn't move, unlike all the pillows i was using before to wedge myself in position! Has been worth the £30 already in extra sleep! Bought mine in tkmaxx, amazingly, but shop about online and they can be had for about £35, well worth it for 3 months of decentish sleep!

My current change bag is actually a big handbag, I started off with that and the change mat from the free boots change bag, with the nappies etc just put in the zip up bag thing the change mat came in, then I got a fold out change mat with pockets from mamas and papas. It's great but a bit too big for my current handbag. I think I might go for the rucksack idea too.

I like the idea of the breastcrawl, the reality for me when I had DS was totally different to what I had imagined. My hospital had plenty of posters and leaflets etc about skin to skin contact but in reality DS was in distress during labour so they had to check him first, he was fine, then when they gave him back to me I was being stitched up after my episiotomy (which was one of those things I was dreading but was actually fine). They put DS wrapped up on my tummy but I couldn't really see him as I was laid right back, it took about 45 mins for the doctor to stitch me up with me asking every few minutes if he was finished yet as I was desperate to cuddle my baby. Eventually he finished and I unwrapped DS (they seemed a bit surprised by this!), it took at least 30 minutes, perhaps an hour for him to latch on but then after a little nap he proceeded to stay up all night feeding so we got plenty of practice in.
So although things weren't perfect it was all fine in the end.

OMG I am knackered today. I have had a pretty normal day, but it's been so long since I had one of those what with ds being ill, and me before that, and about 5 weeks have passed since things were last "normal"

I took ds to nursery, got the bus home, cleaned two small kitchen cupboards (working my way round the kitchen a little at a time), then walked the 1.5miles back to nursery. We then had lunch, I hoovered and hung up a load of washing. DS and I then went on the bus down the town to watch them build the big ferris wheel that goes up every Christmas before heading home and cooking the tea.

I think I might be needing some iron tablets as i am pretty pale and washed out. The midwives will run a test at my 28 week check, but said I could get the nurse to take bloods before then if I thought I needed it. This is exactly the same point where I started to flag last time too.

So, I am heading for bed now with the laptop so I can fall asleep watch eastenders.

Oh, and I got a chance to weigh myself the other day. I am 66kgs which is 2kgs more than what I weighed at booking in. I don't know what I was pre pregnancy, but I usually hover around the 62-64 mark.

I love kgs. They never sound so bad.

My goodness mawbroon you've only put on max 9lb?! How on earth?! I have put on close to a stone and a half, and no sign of it abating. Of course all the cake/chocolate/biscuits don't help; but I'm pregnant, if I can't (over)indulge now when can I... I've even lost my sense of taste for the past few days with a cold and STILL been eating cakes and biscuits

mawbroon I hover around the same weight prepg as you... I am now 75 Kg!!! went up to 80 (+something, I stopped looking after that ) in my last Pg. Where do you put the baby?? To be completely honnest I am 5'8'', and lost 12 to 15 Kg in the month folowing birth, leaving me with ''only'' 4 Kg of BF fat but that is still bigger than what you are now.... let's go and have a
Nice to see you and DS have recoverred
I had a glucose tolerance test done, somebody ask questions about it? MW said it is best to do it between 26 and 28 weeks unless concern before. Had 3 blood samples taken, one at 0h, then you drink/eat, and one at +1h and again at +2h. So I had to stay around the hospital. If they give you lots of glucose (doc choose amount to give to you) you have to stay in as you can have a reaction hypoglycemia or feel unwell if your blood sugar stay too high.
Off to go to the midwife, and see what she said about the anemia, hope I don't have to take Iron tablets, they upset my stomac and give me the runs (sorry TNI)

As anybody tried the Maclaren XLR? Is it that much heavier than the Triumph? I have to take subway with it so a bit confused about pram choices! Was really happy with my Maxicosi quinny sport first time around, and them Triumph, but this time a travel system will be too heavy for sure. Any mums walking and taking subways, have a preferred pram? (No elevators in subway here, flight of stairs everywhere!)

I'll tell you why I've only put on 4kgs -ish. Sheer good luck - that's how!!

Last pregnancy, I was nauseaous for the first 16 weeks, and the only things I could keep down were Greggs sausage rolls (there was one very handy at the train station on my way to work), pickled onion monster munch (but like 6 bags at a time!!), chips and the like...... you get the idea. I was really, really hungry the whole time and would be almost fainting if I didn't eat every two hours. I guess the eating crap got established in the first few weeks, and I did it the whole way through. I was 80kgs at term (I'm only 5ft 2 btw mamaloco, so was like a barrel)

I have no idea why, but this time round, it has been completely different. If anything, I've been off my food a bit, and when I do want to eat, I have been attracted to eating fruit and healthy stuff. I can assure you, it has been nothing to do with willpower. If my cravings had been guiding me towards the baker, I would not have been able to resist.

Where do I put the baby? It's all coming out the way! I feel like my bump is massive and there's still 16 weeks to go!!

I was intrigued by all the weight discussions so I have just jumped on the scales. I have put on 12 lbs which I think isn't too bad? I have been craving fruit etc too which has helped, but the main help was feeling sick until I was about 24 weeks. Then when I could start eating properly my insides were too squashed up to fit much in. Is anyone else feeling uncomfortably full? I had one weetabix and a small banana with a few seeds for breakfast yet feel as though I have stuffed in a roast dinner with pudding. Not like me at all I can assure you.

I am really trying to eat healthily though, partly to help my iron levels as I don't eat meat, but also I am one of the unfortunates who doesn't lose weight through breastfeeding. In fact I lost most of the baby weight almost straight away after the birth then put 10 lbs on really quickly when my milk came in and it would not shift until I had stopped feeding, and even then it was a real struggle. It makes me sad to see those celebs who are skinny again within weeks because the only way that can happen is if you spend more time in the gym than with your lovely new baby.

Wow Mawbroon, your description of your day made me feel tired!

After having a few recent fainting scares while out and about I'm not really going out very much anymore, which is a bit depressing.
I manage to go to a few things each week but would love to be out and about a lot more.

I still haven't caved in and weighed myself although my thighs are looking distinctly fat these days.

Both of my pregnancies have made me have to eat every few hours otherwise I am in danger of fainting, I always seem to be hungry. But then if I tuck into a reasonable sized plate of food I'm full halfway in.

I wish I craved fruit, when I eat any fruit it doesn't seem to sit right in my stomach and makes me really uncomfortable for a while, biscuits however go down no problem

Just been to the hospital for a scan to check the blood flow, last time was a problem and I had 'notches' so been on aspirin ever since. Much to my delight the problem seems to have gone and my baby is growing at a normal rate, which was the main concern before. I'm so happy! Still have to have monthly scans to monitor growth but so nice to get some good news for now.

mamaloco I have used a Maclaren XLR for the last 2 years with my DD from birth. It as been fab for city life, light enough to bump up and down stairs and goes completely flat for newborns, though I added a sheepskin too. Easy to clean, folds up easily and is still in one piece despite daily use and numerous flights. I'll be sad to see it go but having to get a P&T now for no.2.

ktpie sorry to hear you are having to stay at home more, have you tried taking snacks out with you? (I am sure you have, sorry if this sounds patronising!)I never leave the house without a banana and water.

I too am having to eat every 2 hrs and my desk drawers at work are stacked full of bizarre food items. Yesterday I got through two packets of toffee, today loving marmite, also had a huge crush on miso soup adn croissants, come to thin of it anything vaguely edible within a 5 mile radius...

clappedout - great news about your scan!!

ktpie - muchas sympathy your way, I'm practically under house arrest too at the mo due to this flipping pelvic joint problem!! Not great when I REALLY need to be going to work!

In hindsight, going to Kiddicare yesterday was probably a bad idea... it practically crippled me! Oops! I think necessity will drive me out today though - no food in the house because I've eaten everything apart from the fruit and veg (I need CAKE dammit! ) Plus I think it's time to hobble to the chemist and invest in some heat patches and a TENS machine (at least i'll be able to tick that off the labout list too!).

totallyandutterly the Obaby double seems like really good value for money and dead easy to manouvre IMO - My friend has been doing a lot of reseach into the Phil and teds double and thought that this was just as good. Kiddicare's current deal is here but I guess second hand ones must be out there?