Not yet November but already three babies down! Ooooh oooh nearly there!

[BeckyBendyLegs]

New thread...

Congratulations homesinthesun!!!

My tip bottle wise is to at least try the cheapo boots ones. I had those posh ones that are meant to be just like a nipple (forget which brand, but they were big wide bottles) and DD just got milk everywhere and didn't seem to drink much. We got the boots ones, which were something like £1.50 for 3, although the teats were rubbish, we replaced them with clear ones of the same shape (again, about a quid or so for a multipack) and she had no problems. It would have been better if we had tried the cheap ones first. And I'm pretty sure she was on the odd bottle of ebm straight from hospital (at about 8 days old) with no nipple confusion, and she was a baby that wouldn't feed for the first couple of days (she ended up being cupfed ebm and nearly on a drip in hospital). She was born at 36 weeks too, which is meant to make nipple confusion more likely, so I find it a bit hard to get worried about, tbh.

I tried nipple stim last night and just got rivers of colostrum! I had to sit with a towel held under the nipple while I did it. I'm sure I have even more than with DD, and the midwives remarked on it with her. This isn't always a good thing, as the poor kid used to get too much milk and cough and splutter. Also I only fed her for four months but was still making a little bit of milk when I got pregnant this time, two years later. Which was really annoying as I was on drugs that meant I couldn't feed her, so it was just wasted.

Ooh, and if you have a dishwasher you don't need a steriliser. The water and steam and all that in the dishwasher is just as hot as it gets in the steriliser.

And if you are only doing the odd bottle, there are microwave sterilising bags you can get for quite cheap that are easy and quick to use, and are useful to have in the changing bag in case of some kind of sterilising emergency. (not sure what that would be though...)

Does anyone know of a product for catching breastmilk at night in bed? Once I get going, I doubt breastpads in a bra would cut it (or be very comfy or easy to work when half asleep), and some kind of multiple layers of toweling incorporated into a stretchy top that could just be pulled up or down to feed would be ace. Or some kind of pad to lie on that would absorb the excess milk without being uncomfy, so I could do my semi-bedsharing thing of letting the baby lie next to me and help herself until DP comes to bed (he worries too much to bedshare, and also smokes and drinks, so it probably isn't wise)

Sorry - hope that didn't sound too dramatic, the friend who has been in labour all week - Erika I am not sure if her waters have gone but she has been having strong contractions for quite a while now. I'm sure it will be ok though. She seems to be coping and has spent a lot of time in the bath!
Lissy I have got the avent bottles, are they the ones you meant? I hope they work, they were quite expensive!

I've opted for the tommee tippee ones this time around, the closer to nature range. Had heard too that UK dishwashers don't get as hot as the US ones and so probably weren't the best for sterilising. Might be wrong though ... certainly you'd have to make sure the filters were all clean otherwise the bottles will come out with dried on dirty water.
Have used the pre-sterilised bottles when out before and they're brilliant. Also, most breast pumps come with a sterilising box - mothercare have 1/3 off their bottles and sterilisers at the moment.

No more progress here so am resigned to the fact it could now be ages before he arrives.

Lissy hope you're ok now after your traumatic afternoon.
Good luck to all those with symptoms going on!

Good luck tomorrow BB

Re sterilising, I don't think I'm going to bother this time. I found a tub of Milton much handier than the microwave steriliser that came with my breast pump, but since then my childminder told me that the consultant on the neonatal ward here suggests not sterilising so that the neonate's guts can become populated with bacteria, as is the norm. So if they recommend it for neonates then I can't see how a newborn is different. And her son had a bowel complication too. Maybe for formula, but again I think that the scary warnings on tins about how to make it up properly are more about excessive arse-covering than real risk. But with a precious firstborn it's hard to be brave!

Re bottles, DD was topped up with EBM and formula from the word go - using a cup in hospital until 5 days old and a bottle after that. Never any nipple confusion. She did end up refusing bottles but that was after giving up topping up at 6 weeks or so and not trying again until 4 months or so.

Fingers crossed for the Contracting Ones!

BB please let us know how you get on. I'm a couple of weeks behind you and on the highest dose of drugs possible for high bp - although feeling absolutely healthy .

I was at the hospital on Monday and they started mentioning sweeps etc but I've got another appointment tomorrow so I can ask more questions about when they'll try to start labour, how, what happens if it doesn't work.

btw, love the popcorn analogy.

Just found out that DH's cousin has had her baby 5 weeks early by c-section. She was ill earlier in the year and hasn't had a fully formed plug during the pregnancy so when her waters broke today she was taken in and now has a little girl. V sweet.

Don't know if anyone else has been to a breastfeeding workshop? It's part of my antenatal classes but the image of my midwife massaging a knitted boob is going to stay with me for a long time

Congratulations Homeinthesun Welcome little Kyla, a beautiful name. Hope you're all doing ok.

How exciting are all these arrivals and the imminent ones too. Good luck to all of you with contractions and/or early labour signs. Everytime I log on there seems to be a new baby

I am shattered. Walked into town today for the 1st time in 2wks and now I remember why I have stayed in! I am in agony, it is usually no more than a 20min walk, in my pre/early preg state but today it took nearly 40mins there and an hour back It has made my SPD agony and now I can hardly walk. But have promsed dd we can goto toddler club in the morning so will have to do it all again, oh yay.

It's also given me a tonne of BH. I just want some sleep!!!!

Shall check back tomorrow for anymore news but must goto bed now, night ladies x

DD was given bottles from the word go as a top up, but not EBM as they said she needed formula to help steady her sugars as they were not regulating, or something like that. I was not impressed bu was naive and did not know i could express at hosp until a couple of days later. However, from the word go DD was fussy about bottles and refused them entirely by 3 weeks, even though she was offered one after every breastfeed. We were encouraged to continue trying, as she was not gaining loads of weight so quickly, and we tried everything, from MAM to Dr Brown, Sainsburys etc. The only ones that vaguely worked for her were the MAM ones actually, on a rare occasion she might pretend to take a little, rather than with all the others where she screamed the place down...until 9 months when dh bought a cheap sainsburys bottle for £1.99 or something, with a grippy handle and she took it herself, never looked back She just wanted to do it herself!

oh sorry meant to say, nothing progressing here. Baby has definitely engaged now though, whether he stays there is another matter! Walking is actually painful and I am so grateful we are not upstairs in the loft as I am struggling with the stairs! Have lower belly pain/aches, thighs are achey, in fact legs in general are very achey, like period pains, have backache and i feel very pregnant no But no contractions, although a few BH, and baby is moving about, especially when I ate third of a tub of Phish Food with my friend. That itself is a sign baby is considering an entrance, as I have my chocolate ice cream taste buds back!

I am thinking by the weekend, getting ready, but not ready yet.

Looking forward to waking up to more baby news...good luck those who are imminent and sleep well everyone xx

homeinthesun congratulations on baby Kyla! Hurrah for even more good news!

Tigger great to hear your SD is doing so amazingly well - there are many of us pregnant ladies who'd have to really puff to get up a couple of flights of stairs! Must be such a relief that he's recovering from his operation so quickly.

Lissy thanks for all that info on ebm. It's something I now realise I need to prepare for sooner rather than later. It must make SUCH a difference to be able to pass over the occasional feed to DH and get a longer lump of sleep. I'll hit Boots tomorrow for a few bits.
Glad you found your dd fairly quickly - it must have been a horrible few minutes.

Laugs at baby not being engaged yet. I've got my 40wk MW appointment tomorrow and I think she's going to say exactly the same to me - I certainly don't feel much different from how I did two weeks ago. Not that I particularly want to feel like I'm balancing a bowling ball on my bladder, but I understand that it's an important part of the process!

Pavlov Thanks for the heads up about Googling about shows and getting images. I will NOT be doing that. Hope that your LO will come along while you're nice and ready. We know you'll keep us up to date.

Looking forward to logging on tomorrow for the next baby updates! Good night all.

hobnob this is the first time for me but I'm not bothering with sterilisers either. I know it's a common thing back home to keep the bottles and teats in boiling water for a bit, seems to do the job well enough. All my three nephews have grown up fine without the faff of sterilisers. I've always thought that people tend to go over the top with dettol and the death to all bacteria stuff, and that kids have to munch their way through their share of mud to build up immunity. Well, I hope I'm not only brave on paper... knowing my luck, in a month's time I will have developed the worst case of pfb syndrome and will have to be medicated for that or something

Rant alert

Following on from Mum's comments last week about it being my "own fault" I was "still pregnant". Just now I was watching a program on extending breast feeding out of interest, and to see if they were giving any general breast feeding advice. Mum decided to sit down and watch it with me. She started going on about how it was disgusting and embarassing that women were being so unsubtle about it The bit she was talking about showed a woman who was feeding twins, who exposed her breast before putting the child to it. She then went on to say I had to ask my brother if it was okay for me to feed, and that I shouldn't do it un public in case I upset anyone.

Now, I have actually already spoken with my brother, because he asked me some questions. Obviously, I recognise he's at an awkward age, and am not going to sit there with my boobs flapping everywhere. I asked him if he would prefer if I went into another room, and he shrugged and said only if he has a friend over. Which is perfectly reasonable. And I have said if he changes his mind once Bryn is here and wants me to feed in another room or even just with a blanket then all he has to do is say.

Am getting so fed up with her endless critisium of my choices and views. Next was the statement of that I had to be considerate of other people, as if usually I go round with a rediculous amount of skin exposed / bad lanuage on my clothing / shouting and screaming / whatever else might be found offensive.

I don't intend to just sit around with my boobs hanging out all over the place, but I do intend to do what is best for me and for my baby, to the best of my ability.

Sick of it, I really am. Why pull all this bullshit now after saying she would support my decision at the start? If she wanted me to having a fucking abortion she should have made it clear right from the word go so we were at least on the same fucking page.

Sorry, am just so angry and upset right now

Oh erika Hopefully she will grow a pair and get over it once the baby is here.

I've just really had enough of it. Yes I'm quite aware that I screwed up. Yes I know that this wasn't what they wanted for me - the only time my Dad has ever said he was proud of me was when he was telling everyone I'd got into my sixth form, and hey look, I fucked that up by becoming ill. And just to make them that bit more disappointed I was in a physc unit too. But sush don't tell anyone that, we can't let them know.

Sick of being told how much I've screwed up their lives. Has anyone thought for a single fucking minute that this wasn't what I had planned? For Christs sake, right now I'm supposed to be in Cairo studying. I'm supposed to be learning the things I've always dreamed of, visiting all the monuments and translating like I always wanted to. Instead I'm stuck in a damned wheelchair half the time, can barely do anything by myself, am in constant pain and am 38 weeks pregnant. Yes, this was exactly how I pictured my life to be.

erika sounds like you really need to get out of there. Do I remember correctly that there was a chance of you and DP getting somewhere for a few months?

Erika mil said similar to what your mother said to you, a few weeks ago. which peed me off as i hadnt decided, and felt like she was making my choice for me by being so unsupportive. but am going to ignore it and see how i feel when baby is here. if you feel you want to go for it, dont worry what anyone else says about it.

Congratulations Homeinthesun !!! Welcome to the outside world, little Kyla! OOoh, soo nice with babies popping left, right and center!

I have backpain and a pain down my leg and crummy cramps and diarrhea and feels like baby is headbutting my cervix. AND tomorrow is due date! Back to hoping!

Good luck all and hugs to those that need them!

Can't read all, sorry, too much going on with MIL Baby and cramps..but will later.

Sorry about last night, was just so down and angry with it. Tried to go to bed and she just carried on shouting at me. Trying to focus on what she's saying instead of letting it get to me, and its coming across that its much more about her than it is me. But still. Of course she had to come in this morning and make a couple of digs before she went to work. So am now awake, have brought my duvet down stairs and plan to snuggle on the sofa with a bar of chocolate. If a day starts off badly, it tends to stay that way

Sorry. Don't have anyone to talk to about it. DP is angry with me for some reason.

Comma good luck, hope this is the start of things for you, do keep us updated.

Oh Erika I am so sorry your Mum is being like this If I could drive I'd come and see you. Sounds like you could do with a bit of moral support (and some cake )

I really don't know what to say. You are supposed to be looking forward to your new arrival and all this has been thrown at you. That is extremely unfair.

All I can suggest is just nodding along with your Mum, smiling sweetly and then when Bryn is here just do whatever you want anyway!

x x x

Erika are you able to get out of the house and meet a friend or something today? It sounds like you could really do with a chat with someone who is on your side. I'm sure your mum is on your side, if push comes to shove, but she's not really doing the best by you at the moment. You need to be focusing on the future, not dredging up the past and, like you said, she offered you her support when you found out you were pregnant and you need that support more than ever now.
Please don't feel like you have failed or that you've missed out on all the things you had planned in life. Yes, your life will take a different course from the one you'd imagined, but that doesn't mean you've closed all those doors. You sound like a really strong and mature person and I'm sure that will take you far.

Erika what everyone else said! And more hugs. Having a baby is in no way the end to all these life plans. A delay, sure, but you will get to accomplish everything you want and more. A lot of people in your situation would be crumbling to pieces but you are so strong in the face of all these crazy obstacles and unwarranted criticism - keep your head up, you're doing great.

Raggie I had a conversation very much like your hairdrier one with an editor yesterday, except it was about two jobs I am doing for him and I couldn't remember what either of them was about

Also, at the MW's I saw on screen that I am 28 and thought "Am I? I thought I was 27." I kept going back to it all evening, trying to remember if I am 27 or 28 and even this morning I had to say to myself, you were born in 1981 and it is 2009, so you must be 28. But I'm still not sure... AGH!

I find the giving-the-baby-a-bottle-early-on thing quite emotive. Last time I threw a book across the room because it told me I was making a rod for my own back by exclusively breastfeeding and not introducing a bottle by a certain stage. Hard as I tried I couldn't express milk, though I could breastfeed and that comment made me feel like I'd tried so bloody hard to BF and still I wasn't good enough. (Mind you, baby experts are good at making you feel like that - and most of them aren't even parents! ) When I did try to introduce a bottle (quite late on) DD was having none of it. In the end she went straight on to cups and never took a bottle. It wasn't the end of the world, even if it wasn't ideal.