Due May 2010: Where we get a 'bloom' just in time for the christmas mayhem???

[AnAngelWithin]

Morning ladies. Hope you don't mind me starting a new thread! The other one was too big for my computer to manage! lol

01 May - Brightredballoon, 32. #3
02 May - kaystar, 33, #1
03 May - lizzie9442, 23, #4
04 May - ForcesSweetheart, 36, #2
04 May - memorylapse, #5
05 May - Lotus Palm, 31, #1
05 May - Bettymamma #3
06 May - DorotheaPlenticlew, #2
06 May - LuckyC, 35, #1
07 May - Woody31 #1
07 May - hobnobfanatic, 37. #2
08 May - sweetkitty, 34, #4
08 May - Sassles, 30, #1
08 May - TheShopaholic, 33, #2
09 May - Alexw, 37, #2
10 May - Sophie2008, 28, #2 & #3 (Non id twins!)
10 May - Gils, 28, #2
11 May - Itshappenedagain, 25, #2
11 May - sheepgomeep, 32,#4
12 May - pamelat, 31, #2
12 May - Tamuna, 28, #1
12 May - slipperthief, 33, #2
12 May - napa, 31, #2
12 May - Katnkittens 29, #4
12 May - Haribolicious, 36, #2
13 May - Cith, 30, #1
13 May - Wibblela, 36, #1
14 May - Charmbutterfly, 28, #1
14 May - Carikube, 36, #2
14 May - JamesAndTheGiantBanana, 28, #2
14 May - CornishSAMum, 32, #1
14 May - Tinylion #2
15 May - TwentiethCenturyHeffa, 25, #2
16 May - MoggMum, 38, #1
16 May - MinnieMummy, 36, #3
16 May - schipo, 40, #1, [boy]
17 May - newmomma, 31 #2
17 May - LittleOneMum, 36, #2
17 May - First1, 21, #1
17 May - Morph2, 36 #1
18 May - TomlinTowers, 31, #2
18 May - 30ish, 31, #2
19 May - cupcakefairy, 25, #1
19 May - Pigleychez, 28, #2
20 May - LolaAnn, 22, #1
20 May - mmmmmchocolate, 27, #2
20 May - BuongiornoPrincipessa, 29, #1
21 May - Suey2, 39, #2
21 May - Sweetpeasmum, 38, #2
23 May - Swangirl,36 #3
23 May - Mollybob, 37 #3
23 May - RacquelWelsh, 38 #1
24 May - Yorky (started on here as HeadInAWhirl), 31 #3
24 May - Cafuffle 36 #2
24 May - AnAngelWithin #5
25 May - Den26, 26 #1
26 May - Booboomonster 35 #2
26 May - Washersaurus, 33, #3
28 May - Glastochick #1
30 May - tiggsy98 29, #2
31 May - April80 29,#2
31 May - Hollyoaks, 27, #2

I've not really thought about packing a hospital bag yet, I remember last time around, I was unprepared for 5 days in hospital, only packed for 2. Since we were in the process of moving house (we moved the day after DS and I got out of hospital! God, were we naive!), DH struggled to find the items I was requesting and he ended up bringing me some strange clothing! This time I am going to set aside extra things that he can bring to me if the stay is longer than expected. Definitely will be packing lots of front opening tops/nighties for myself, comfy leggings and extra pants and leggings (didn't expect so many leaks!!) super absorbent pads, a lightweight dressing gown - it was warm in there. Also, more front opening clothing for baby - DS had abrasions on his head after the failed ventouse and successful forceps delivery and pulling things over his head wasn't great. That's something nobody warned me about! Also, if anyone has Newborn sized nappies from America (I was sent some with shower gifts), be warned that a newborn over 9 lbs won't fit into them, so best to pack some size 1!

I've had a molar pulled and swine flu jab last week, but feel fine, luckily! I was really scared I'd feel rough afterward. Just generally feeling huge and can't walk faster than a snail's pace without getting a stitch (this stage came much later in my first pregnancy!) Had to order new bigger uniform tops already, when last time around wore my usual tops until I went on ML. But I'm going to take a year ML again, most likely. Can't wait!

Just requested to join the FB group

I'm so confused now. Not sure where I'm meant to go for my GTT in a couple of weeks. After my consultation at hospital they said I should come back to them at 30 weeks and discuss the results instead of talking to my MW about it...they didn't give me anything in writing, just verbal instructions. I think I will ring them up to verify. I hate having to do that, I sound so clueless. Still don't know if I will go for the elective csection or not and am getting tired of thinking about it. Can I just go into hibernation and give birth while I sleep?

Going to eat some dinosaur biscuits I made with DS today!

Im feeling poop this evening..Ive got a raging sore throat and cant swallow, plus ear ache in both ears..looks like a trip to the GPs for anti biotics tomorrow

Asda has a baby event on at the moment and Ive given in gracefully and bought some baby stuff..I got a Tommee Tippee Closer to Nature Electronic steam steriliser for £20 and a Tommee Tippee Closer to Nature breast pump for £10, also a Winnie the Pooh jacket for £5 and a packet of unisex strtchsuits for £5..so feeling quite pleased with myself

but also oddly panicky that Ive bought baby stuff

I do think lists are a good idea but it's only when you have a baby and realise what you actually do use you get a good idea. Some people love changing tables, we have never had one, never had a baby monitor either or a baby bath, everyone is different, some babies hate bouncy chairs some love them. DD1 really needed scratchmitts as she would claw at her face, DD2 never needed them. Buying too much stuff is part of the fun though.

Heffa- Glad your appointment went well ad Yay her the extra scans DH has bought me my own BP monitor so I can monitor it myself too.

Lucky- I had to re-read your post...especially the bit about "I am going to go go upstairs with DH and video camera!"

Moggmum- your friends birth sounds lovely

Sorry to hear of those suffering with SPD. Sounds like Suey is going to be in demand

of all you buying lots of lovely baby bits.

Nightmare day here waiting in for the bloody postman! Eventaully spotted him across the road and grabbed him to ask if i could grab my post now instead of waiting for him to do the rest of our very long road. Told no so had to wait until 4pm till he got to me!! Got the bits i needed to get my road taxand darted off to the post office. First time driving the new car went ok. Typically the local post office was closed so then had to gointo town to the bigger one. DD kicking off big time as she was tired from waking early. Had to park miles away and queue for ages at the post office only to be told they couldnt do it! The car was registered as a disbaled persons car previously so it needs to be done by the large main office. Sooo annoyed an DD still kicking off.
Bit about tearing up in front of the guy in the post office. He was ever so nice, poor thing. Just had one of those days!!
Now have to send everything off and wait for them to send the tax back before being able to drive the new car. Bang goes my visit to my parents tomorow and my haircut.
DH was abit short on the phone with me earlier too as he was stressed at work but returned home with a choc bar for me- Good lad

Can't believe how behind I am! Haven't managed to look at MN very much this week, am a bit behind with work, so trying to catch up!

Sorry not to give personal replies. Feeling really sorry for everyone with SPD, it sounds awful Hope you are all able to get some relief in some way.

Am joining in the mattress shopping. We bought a new one for our 3rd DC which I was planning to use again. Have had to store in the garage (wrapped up) since moving in July, just got it out last weekend to find that all the bottom has been nibbled! Glad the mice didn't get to the pram cosy toes!

I agree with SK about the list. Have also never found that I needed baby monitors, babybaths, top and tail bowls or changing tables, sratch mitts etc... Think most of those items (bought for DD1) are now being heavily utilised by baby Annabel and Baby Born

Haven't bought anything yet, still feel like I'm tempting fate - silly I know. Am going to have to get organised soon!

Anyway, hope everyone is having a good week. Take care

katey know what you mean about tempting fate by buying things early but we need to spread the cost as joint income will be seriously compromised once LO arrives

Good to hear that not everyone considers baby monitors & baths etc a necessity although we have bought a bath as our house only has a shower and we don't fancy bathing LO in the sink!

Starting from scratch so have absolutely no baby clothes or paraphernalia and this is all a constant learning curve for me

hello all!

ML hope you are feeling better this morning.

Sounds like lots of you with SPD Mines just the ligaments in my tummy straining, its painful, but someone at school kindley gave me a bag with several bump bands in so I am going to try them. My back and my hips ache today, so i think its shifted to the rear! Have posted pic of my bump on profile. Taken yesterday.

I have got quite a bit of baby stuff now. Got babygros cheap, an avent steriliser for £26 instead of £40-45 from tescos, a few pram sheets from matalan (£4 for 2!!) My dear nan, bless her soul, sent me £100 towards the pram/vets whatever I need it for. I opened the letter and cried haha. I love her to bits, we are so close!!

I've also been buying the odd travel sample of shampoo/nice shower gel etc to put into a bag in case I have to go to hospital.

Kateyjane - I agree that scratch mitts are a waste of money. Socks worked just as well with DD1 - if not better!

Marquise - do report back with DP's verdict!

Mustbemad - 35 isn't horrible when you're 38!

Rachel - excellent tip about front-opening clothes. DD1 had ventouse, but no abrasions, thankfully.

Think I'll hit the Asda Baby Event this weekend - hope it's still on. Really want an electric breast pump this time round - the manual one made me quite sore last time, even though I was a veteran BFeeder.

With sterilisers - I had an ordinary 'cold' one last time, but the electric/steam or microwave ones are tempting me. Anyone have any experience of them?

Top of bump is agony at night or if I overdo things. Really stretching/burning feeling that aches. The only thing that relieves it is lying down on my side and doing nowt. Never had it as much with DD1. Anyone else getting it? I'm presuming it's normal and nothing to worry about...

hobnob i was looking at the electric pumps, i really struggle with expressing before. Believe it or not, i have tiny hands and they were always too hard work for my hands!! Asda have got a tommee tippee electric one for £40 instead of £80, but I don't know. I always ended up giving up BF cos I got so stressed about it (had constant feeders and DH wanted to feed the baby too!)

I got an avent steam steriliser in tescos last week reduced to 25 from 45. I hated cold water ones, couldn't be bothered with all the solutions etc, steam was much easier!!

Hi all

Glad everyone is generally well (minus spd and ML's sore throat).

Pigley - rough day, hate those.

Baby shopping - havent done a thing!!! Hoping to reuse alot of the clothes, especially if this is another dd, so just need a new bouncy chair which I think I can borrow, oh and a nursery . The office is being redecorated and dd's cot and changing table will go in there, then her room needs to be decorated and we need a bed. All of this and potty training!!!!!!

It's also dd's birthday tomorrow, she'll be 2, so dh taking the day off to spend with her and then we're having a party at a softplay centre at tea time. Can't believe its two years already!

happy birthday to your dd for tomorrow hollyoaks. Hope you have a lovely day tomorrow

Just rang up the pram shop and ordered a maxi cosi car seat on top of my pram and picking it up on monday. My nan sent me the money bless her. They did it for £99 for me as well seeing as I had bought a pram from them. I was trying to decide between the cabrio and the new pebble. I love the new pebble in the green colour, but seeing as its not out yet, there aren't any reviews on it, and the cabrios are cheaper in certain colours now as its the end of season line I suppose. £35 difference between them for the same spec. Both fit on my zapp chassis too, so I plumped for the cheaper one (thinking of having the dog to pay for as well!!!)

We've never used our baby monitor either. We can hear DD if she wakes up and she is a v.quiet sleeper (no snuffles, nothing) so the baby monitor is a bit pointless tbh. If she's ill I tend to put it on because it makes me feel better but it still doesn't really achieve anything.

Our baby bath was sort of useful, we used it for the first few months so probably saved a fair bit of water. Probably won't use it again though but it only cost £10.

Our changing table's great, it has shelves underneath which are great storage for DD's room and I've always found it easier to use. Don't think they are essential though, we just needed to buy something for that room for storage and figured we'd double up.

Sterilisers - we have a Tommee Tippee one that can be used with cold water and tablets or put in the microwave and it's always been pretty good.

Breastpump - I used one of the Ameda Lactaline dual ones last time (DD was exclusively fed expressed BM for 2 months) and it was pretty good but I struggled a bit with it because of bigger boobs. We found that the local maternity unit rents them out as well so that might be worth investigating?

Some things I thought would be essential have been useless and things I was told would be useless have been quite helpful, a lot of it depends on what suits you tbh.

Lots of muslin cloths are useful though or cut-up old pieces of towel.

quick question (at work)

Can I ask what is the point of breast pumps - electrical or otherwise, bottles and sterilizers, if you plan to be with the baby 24/7? Is it just for emergencies or for sharing night feeds?

I didn't think we'd really need all of that but I'm really quite ignorant. Will I need it all?

schipo, i really wanted dh to be able to feed the baby, plus be able to have a bath in peace at night while he does that, knowing i dont have to rush in time for feeding/baby screaming etc... and dh really wanted to feed the baby too as he wasn't very confident with he bathing thing to bond

Schipo - everything Angel says Also, and I know this can be very contentious, but if BF doesn't work out then it can be good to have some basic supplies there. I never felt discouraged by having them but was very grateful when BFing didn't work out that I had bottles for the expressed milk and when expressing stopped working that we had formula ready to go.

OTOH, where we live, we wouldn't have just been able to pop to the shops in an emergency so it was good to have stuff ready and waiting.

Not saying that's essential though and don't want to get flamed.

Rachel- agree about the front opening clothes. DD's head was incredible sore after being turned with the vontouse, so the sinple poppered sleepsuits were all she wore for ages.

Hobnob- we were given an Advent electric sterliserfrom a friend which was fine but were using the Toppee tippee bottles which didnt fit so efficently so thinking of a new one this time. Remember seeing one advertised that stays sterile for 24 hours which i might look into. Guessing that might be handy with a toddler to run around after.

Hollyoaks- Happy Birthday DD for tomorrow!

Breastpumps- I had real trouble latching DD on for numerous reasons so the bump was a godsend to me. DD managed to get my milk for the first 6 weeks which was better than nothing.
I was convinced that i was goig to BF easily and was devestated that it wasnt going well. Had bought no Bottle feeding stuff so had to send DH out with a list. I really beat myself up and it was only after a long chat with a MW that she made me realise it was ok, I could express and just had to do what was best for baby and I hadnt failed at all. Please remember this if the same happens to you
I was FF in the hospital as it was the ony way DD was going to get over her terrible Jaundice and get better. Once at home I pumped away like a mad cow!

Monitor- We used ours quite abit. DD liked the music it played to settle her and with ours it your could turn the music on without going in and distrupting her. Plus you can record your own voice and also use it like a walky talky and talk to her without going into her.
Sounds lazy but if you went into her that was it.. she thought it was playtime and you were up for hours!

Baby bath- We didnt buy one.. Just something else bulky to store in our old little house.
We bathed her with us and used this, also helped with the clumsy holding a wriggly newborn thing.

Having a better day today thank god!!

Schipo - I breastfed for two and a half years and would express if DD spent an afternoon at nursery when she was older, and also for comfort if, for example, we went to a wedding without her. Without expressing, I thought my boobs would burst! It's useful for getting a partner involved in the feeds, too, though, tbh, my DD usually refused to drink from a bottle. She was all boob or nothing! She pretty much went straight to a cup - missing the bottle phase!

Thanks for the shopping tips, everyone!

I have the Mini Medela electic pump and it's been great, used it all 3 times. Would second it's great for pumping off milk to make you more comfortable and also for EBM. I think I have thrown out our steriliser as I didn't use it after DD1, if DD2 or 3 had a bottle we washed it and stuck it in the dishwasher.

I would say even if you are planning to BF, get some bottles as a basic, I also know some people buy in a few ready made cartons of formula too I never had but can see the benefits.

I think I am going to get a monitor this time basically for when I am out in the garden with the other 3, if DS is inside then I can keep an ear on him so to speak. Our house isn't big and I hear the DDs if they stir no problem and we will be in the same room for the first year anyway.

I bought some BLUE things this morning, Asda baby event, 3 babygros/sleepsuits for £5 and 7 vests for £5 plus a cute hooded towel. I will probably buy a few little outfits nearer the time but won't get a lot until I see what size he is and presents too.

Still need to buy a new pram (probably P&T), new sling, some new blankets and things for me really, that's about it.

ooooooooooooh my washable nappies have just arrived!!!! cute cute cute!!!!

SK there are some good offers around on the p&t at the moment!

schipo although I intend to BF most of the time, I'd like DH to be able to help with some of the feeds (may be wishfull thinking though!) so thought a breast pump would be useful. Also, I may need to attend the occasional meeting/training session at work so want someone else to be able to feed LO without resorting to formula. It will also give me some freedom if I need a little time out. As I've obviously never used one before I did some research and the Medela Swing seemed to come out top.

I need to get a new lambskin (soooo not necessary but DD loves hers and I figure DC2 deserves their own) and a new sling. I have a BushBaby sling which is great for being out and about but I'd like a more relaxed sling for carrying baby around the house. Any recommendations from people?

I need to get a buggy board as well but need to look into it a bit.

Breastpumps-related question...

In an ideal world, I'm planning to BF and, as DH is intending to take the first month off work too, I'd like to express so that we can share the feeding.

This may be a very naive question , but do breastpumps come with different size attachments for different size boobs? Or are they all the same because they just go over the nipple? Something 20thCHeffa said above (and I can't for the life of me find the exact post again now) made me wonder.

Is it much easier to go for an electronic pump than a manual one, does the brand matter? Are electronic ones battery operated or do they plug into the mains?

Finally, I heard that you should wait to get a steriliser until you know which brand of bottle your baby gets on best with, as not all bottles are compatible with all sterilisers. Is that right, or just a myth?

marquise, i was going to ask the same questions re the pumps!!!

Re sterilisers, some are a bit awkward, I boug the avent one with ds1 and it lasted with all sorts of bottles in it. Even the dr browns bottles (which i will buy again this time in case as they were great!) which have the valves and extra stuff in them!