Due May 2010: Into the third trimester we go, can the bumps get any bigger?

[MarquiseDeMerteuil]

So here's the continuation of the thread previously known as Due May 2010: Where we get a 'bloom' just in time for the christmas mayhem???
Let's see if this one lasts up until the first birth... Knowing how chatty we can be, I doubt it!

Hiya folks, as usual I need to apologise for not keeping up with the thread. Just feeling so crappy lately I don't seem to have the concentration span. Exhausted all the time (probably the anaemia). Only 5 weeks today to go! I'm gonna try and go back a few pages and at least partly get caught up. It's a long and rambling one so feel free to switch off!

Pagen not sure if you've seen my reply to your thread on Salisbury Local. It seems we both live in Bulford and our original due dates were only a day or two apart (and we've both been brought forward into April!) which I thought was rather cool. I was suggesting grabbing a coffee at The Beeches sometime but sounds like you're confined to base at the mo . If you need anything gimme a shout - even if it's just a visitor bearing cake! I was positive for group B strep with DD too, they just put me on an antibiotic drip through labour and it wasn't a problem for the baby. Hope your GD testing goes OK tomorrow. I am under the care of the diabetic team at Salisbury as I have type 2 diabetes and they're a lovely bunch, I'm sure you'll be in good hands. Sorry you had such a bad night and are feeling weepy.

hobnob and SK I'm with you - can't wait to not be pregnant any more. Have more than had enough now.

Re Grobags, I still have all DDs, one of which is a summer weight one so gonna try and pick up another at the Salisbury NCT sale on Saturday if I can. If not will prob get one on ebay.

myfirstbump your lovely pale green nursery sounds perfect. No such luxury for mollybump. We do have a spare box room but it's full to bursting with DHs kit and there just isn't room to store it all anywhere else. So she'll be in with us for first 6 mths or so then we'll have to fit a cot in DDs room. Hopefully by time she graduates to a bed we'll have moved as he'll be getting out of army just about when this one turns 2 so we hope to buy a bigger house. Mollys clothes are being stored in a chest of drawers we've been able to squeeze into a corner of the living room!

Re hospital bags - I had to rush to pack my bags on Monday as I developed bad itching like in my last pregnancy and thought it might be Cholestasis again. Had to go into the hospital and wasn't sure if I'd be kept in or not so hurriedly threw together bag for me and one for baby just in case. Thankfully bloods came back clear for bile salts and Liver Function is fine for now so false alarm - retesting in a week or two if I'm still itching.

memory what dose of iron have they got you on? I'm only on 2 Ferrous Gluconate per day, but just read yesterday on the leaflet that came with them that recommended dose is 4-6 per day! Think I'm just gonna start taking 4 today and tell hospital when I see them on Monday that's what I'm doing, as I feel so terrible I don't think 2 is touching it. at prospect of you being induced at 37wk. I wish they'd do my CS at 37 instead of 38, but baba is stubbornly average sized so they've stopped doing fortnightly scans on my now and won't do another til 36 wks now (last was 32). Consultant's words were that everything is "boringly normal". Have discovered that the insulin they have me on (novorapid) doesn't work as rapidly on me as it's sposed to, so am having to inject 45 minutes before starting to eat if I want a reading within range at 90 mins post meal, which is a real pain (I suspected this was the case so injected some and didn't eat - just tested every 10 mins til I saw sugar start to drop). Found my old blood sugar book from last pregnancy and realised (I have no memory of this bizarely) then I was having to inject it 1.5-2hrs before eating (as I was a lot more insulin resistant then - was on almost 10 times the dose I'm on now) so could be worse!

marquise congrats on your cousin's new baby. 10lb 12! was the CS planned or did it end up that way coz baby was so big?

cupcake and dorothea I'd mention upper abdominal pain to your midwife, may be nothing but can also be symptom of at least 2 conditions I know of (just call me a hypochonriac!)

Folks are we still planning to do the secret stork? It must be getting close to when we were sposed to post gifts? Sorry if I've missed any announcements about this.

Re Mothers Day. I got a lovely bangle and a box of chocs as well as cards from DH, DD and The Bump, but we didn't do anything special as firstly I was feeling way to rough and secondly DH has a pet hate of trying to find anywhere to go for lunch on that particular day when the world and it's mother are all out doing the same. Ended up just having a wander round the shops in Basingstoke which was nice. So we're planning to go to a country pub that's been recommended on Saturday after the NCT sale instead.

dorothea I'm the same re sleep. Have taken to sleeping on the couch at night now too as I was getting my best sleep on there in the afternoons.

Bump is very big now and very low down. Constantly getting comments on it. Random woman stopped me in Primark at the weekend to say "love, you look like you're about to go pop", and a mum at soft play yesterday said "you must be overdue by now aren't you?" I've only gained 1 stone exactly since I got my bfp (Which googling tells me is all I should have gained given that I had a starting BMI just over 30). Haven't gained an ounce in last 6 weeks or so despite baby growing nicely, so am hopeful I'll stay this weight or close to it til delivery now and not have much, if anything, to lose after the birth (a week after DDs birth I was 3 stone heavier than BFP day).

Re changing bags, I started craving a Pink Lining Yummy Mummy bag after seeing a few at toddlers. Couldn't justify the £60 price tag for a new one so got a 2nd hand on ebay for £30.

Re prams, I bought a Bebe Loola Confort travel system on netmums, and a Mamas and Papas travel system on ebay (complete with in-car base) for a tenner as seller had some bad feedback in the past and no-one else bid! and was given an old carrycot style pram by a freecycler, none of which I'm now keeping in their entirety. Am putting the Bebe Loola on ebay, keeping the car seat and in-car base from the travel system and freecycling the buggy part, and re-freecycling the carrycot pram. My aunt found a lovely cream Silver Cross carrycot pram in a charity shop in Glasgow in mint condition, and my gran gave her the money to buy us it (despite me telling her we already had 3 to choose from!). We were having probs finding a way to get it down here, as when boxed up it was gonna cost as much as the pram to courier it, however my uncle is gonna be in Gloucester on business this week and has arranged to pass it on to his area rep for this are who'll drop it off to us later this week. So now the plan is to use this one as the main pram while baba's little and just move to our silver cross Pop buggy when she's big enough. Not so worried about boot space this time round as we've got the Galaxy and have removed the back 2 seats giving plenty of space for the carrycot pram and that way the car seat can stay fixed in the base when we're out and about.

booboo I can never remember what I was going to respond to so now as I'm reading through the thread I have a notepad window open and type in my replies as and when I think of them then just copy and paste it across when I reach the end.

SK Sounds like the shopping went well. Sometimes get pangs of wishing I was shopping for blue bits but then I remember how much money I'm saving by having another pink one ;-) The crutches are a real pain when you've other kids to deal with. I get my knuckles rapped for not using them all the time but how do I hold DDs hand crossing the road with them? How do I carry the sie of handbag I need to carry (filled with snacks, drinks, wipes etc etc) with them?

pigley sorry ur mum's winding you up. I'm worried my mum and my nana won't be the same with Molly as they are with Lola. Lola is the first and only grandchild/great-grandchild and is totally doted on, this one will have a struggle competing with that in their eyes I think. I remember going to the garden centre to get playsand when I first bought DDs sand table and I couldn't even nearly lift the 25kg bag, you're very brave to attempt it now! I won't even carry the tesco bags in from the car right now lol.

Re bright babygros, I bought a couple of nice green and red, and brown and orange ones in Next's sale (altho they were more like long-legged rompers as no feet in them).

pagen I'm with SK on the johnsons, gave DD what the doc called baby eczema and had to switch to oilatum bath stuff (which we got on prescription). She's outgrew the rashes when she was about 2 so used up the johnsons stuff then! I found cotton wool far too fiddly and will be using Huggies Pure wipes (as they claim to be just like cotton wool and water) this time around.

Have updated list with my location.

29 April - Littleowls, 31 #1 ??? Carlisle,Cumbria
01 May - Brightredballoon, 32. #3
03 May - hormonalmum, 33,#3
03 May - Lizzie9442, 23, #4 GIRL
04 May - ForcesSweetheart, 36, #2, GIRL (CS 22/4/10) Bulford, Wiltshire
04 May - Memorylapse,37 #5 GIRL Chester
04 May - Squirtsmum, 27 #1, Belfast NI
05 May - Sweetkitty, 34, #4 3DDs, BOY, Lanarkshire (nr Glasgow)
06 May - DorotheaPlenticlew, 35, #2, GIRL, Edinburgh
06 May - LuckyC, 35, #1, GIRL
07 May - hobnobfanatic, 38, #2 GIRL, Wye Valley/Forest of Dean
08 May - LittleOneMum, 36, #2, GIRL, planned CS, central London
08 May - newmomma, 31, #2 GIRL
08 May - Asparagusaddict, ? , #1
09 May - alexw, 37, #2
10 May - Sophie2008, 28 #2 & #3 (TWINS!) BOY & GIRL
10 May - Gils, 28, #2, ?, Falkirk (Central Scotland)
11 May - Itshappenedagain, 26, #2 GIRL liverpool
11 May - MarquiseDeMerteuil, 33, #1, South London
12 May - pamelat, 31, #2 BOY Nottinghamshire
12 May - Katnkittens 30, #4, GIRL
12 May - Haribolicious 36, #2, BOY
12 May - Mustbemadno3 35, #3
12 May - LivsHannah 27, #2, BOY
13 May - Cith, 30, #1
13 May - Wibblela, 36, #1, GIRL?, Huddersfield
13 May - TinyVeins, 29, #1
13 May - Mummymunchkins, 40, #3, BOY
14 May - MinnieMummy, 37, #3, ??
14 May - Fiveisanawfullybignumber, 37 #5 GIRL
14 May - Carikube, 36 #2 ?, Southampton
14 May - JamesAndTheGiantBanana, 28, #2 GIRL
14 May - CornishSAMum, 33, #1, ?, Cornwall
14 May - TomlinTowers, 31 #2, GIRL, York
15 May - LuckyMiller, 33, #1
16 May - MoggMum, 38, #1
16 May - schipo 40, #1, BOY
16 May - Vicky204, 34, #1
16 May - Rachelfruitloop 35, #2 BOY, Chilterns Bucks (NW London area)
17 May - TwentiethCenturyHeffa, 26, #2 Devon
17 May - Morph2 36 #1
17 May - KaffaCakes, ? , #1
18 May - 30ish, 31, #2 BOY, cs booked 11th May, Bolton
19 May - Pigleychez, 28, #2 West Sussex
19 May - cupcakefairy, 25, #1
20 May - LolaAnn, 22, #1, BOY
20 May - Aim, ?, #2, BOY
21 May - Suey2, 39, no2, GIRL
21 May - Sweetpeasmum, 38, #2
21 May - Mumofeag, 34, #3 BOY
23 May - Mollybob, 37 #3
23 May - RacquelWelsh, 38,#1 BOY
23 May - Nimk, 30, #1
23 May - myfirstbump, 26, #1, Shrewsbury
24 May - AnAngelWithin #5
24 May - Yorky, 31, #3
24 May - peakyispreggers, 27, #1 BOY
25 May - Den26, 26, #1 BOY Inverness, Scottish Highlands
26 May - booboomonster, 35, #2 GIRL, SW London
26 May - kateyjane, 32, #4, Halifax, West Yorkshire
26 May - AliMouse, 40, #3 BOY
26 May - Glastocchick, 34, #1
31 May - Hollyoaks, 28, #2

SK- sounds like a productive shopping trip
I too have a box full of Johnsons stuff. We were given lots of bottles from friends and have enough talc to last a lifetime!
DD too had sensitive skin to start so we are only just using most of the stuff now.
She has developed a thing for cream ever since grazing her knees. Now everynight shes rubbing her knees saying "Ooohh Sore,cream on mummy" They are fine!

Our comb and brush were useful from the start though as DD was born with a full Mop of hair! Lots of comments about how I must of had lots of heartburn.. I had nothing. Have more with this one and you watch it will come out bald!

The "painting" is always a hit.. Did lots of that when working at the nursery.

ML- not too much longer then

Den- the heartbeat thing is so inaccurate! Everyone has opinoins and has reasons behind thier choice..size, way your carrying etc.
My MW keeps saying, baby is a good size... is it a boy? - we didnt find out.

Schipo- Im plan to try to go as long as possible again without an Epi but if its like last time (27 hours, with hormone drip) then when they put that drip in ill be asking for an Epi. That drip really made my contractions 100% worse.

With you all on the breathlessness. Just going upstairs is hard work now!

Yorky- Hope you and DH can get some answers about the birth.
Was it you doing the secret stork? Are we still doing it?

happenedagain- Glad the steriods havent affected baby

Lucky- I remember DH laughing at me cause i was in tears over choosing a pram with DD. I feel your pain!

forces-Good to hear from you.

Thanks for the comments on grandparents favourtism. Im not worried about how she will be with this one... She will be as equally uninterested as she is with DD.
I am due to be going down to spend the weekend with them tomorrow and mum has offered to have my neice for the day on saturday! Heaven forbid she should spend anytime with her other granddaughter thats she doesnt see very often. Think its going to be a weekend of gritted teeth and biting my tongue.

DH is off to Dublin on a stag do tomorrow and wawy for the weekend. Typical man,leaving everything till the last minute suddenly remembers about the liquid restrictions so guess who was out buying miniture bottles of everything this morning.
Came home to pull up the same time as a delivery driver. DH's company have sent him a bottle of very posh Champagne to celebrate his recent promotion.- They do appear to be looking after him rather well

Been out this morning in the garden with DD playing in the sand tray. Was interesting as last summer she really wasnt keen on touching the sand at all whilst at the beach. Now shes older shes getting her hands in but still very girly about brushing it off instantly! She doesnt do any mess on her hands!

Been feeling really uncomfortable the past few days. Baby seems to on the move nonstop and really hurts when it moves around. last night was a tad concerning.. seemed to be getting some BH but they were alittle regular and pattern like. Everything settled down but you brain does start whirring alittle! I keep getting really sharp shooting pains in my bum too, Im guessing that baby is jumping on a nerve.

On my lunchbreak, and trying to catch up a bit as I'm out tonight!

Loved this week's episode of OBEM. Both the couples were really supportive of each other, and did really well. The younger blond husband seemed so excited and eager to be a dad, so sweet!

Booboo I'm SW London too - whereabouts are you?

Heffa - Hope the physio is able to do something to help the SPD.

Cupcake - good point about the antenatal / postnatal threads. How does it work?

Pigley - can't believe you were lugging big bags of sand around! Very impressed with your cunning use of wheely bin to transport it round the back though!

SK - your list of what you bought in Boots has come at just the right time! As our nursery furniture is now not arriving until after easter , DH suggested last night that we get our hospital bags together this weekend instead (we were going to be getting the nursery ready). Think I'll copy out your list and take it to Boots with me!

Squirt - hooray that you've finally moved house! Must be such a relief. You deserve a massive rest now after all that unpacking. How annoying about your annual leave, but really glad it worked out with telling DP's relatives about which things you'd actually use for the LO.

ML - not long to go! Makes me quite jealous to think you could already be holding your baby while I'm still at work!

Schipo - I'm aiming not to have an epidural if I can cope without. I'd like to just do gas and air + birthing pool in an ideal world, mainly because then I get to stay in the home-from-home bit of the birth centre, where DH can stay in the room with me after the birth and I wouldn't have to go to the ward. However, I am trying to keep a bit of an open mind about the whole pain-relief thing, as it's my first time and I obviously have no way of knowing whether I'll be able to cope with the pain or not.

Actually, while i'm on the topic of pain relief, a quick straw-poll... TENS machine - worth it or not? I have heard really strong opinions both ways! Our NCT teacher let us play with one last night, and it was quite striking how differently people reacted, some could barely feel anything, while others could feel it really strongly, even on identical settings.

Hobnob and others feeling a bit short of breath. Apparently this is because the baby is taking up space that used to be used by your lungs, so your lungs can't inflate fully.

Newmomma - hope the cold goes away soon. It's such a misery not being able to take anything for it! Lemsip's my usual comfort when I have a cold or sore throat, and couldn't believe it when I got ill before christmas and couldn't have any.

Happenedagain - keeping my fingers crossed that you get the birth you want and that your exam goes well. I like your old wives' tale about the heartbeat. Thing is, mine has a fast heartbeat which is meant to mean girl, but sounds like a train which is meant to mean boy, so could still be either!

Forces - welcome back! Good to hear from you. Not sure whether DH's cousin's baby was a planned CS or ended up that way.

I think I am in the potentially missing being pregnant camp, but I have had a pretty lucky time of it so far. I feel completely the same as normal, with just a few unexpected upsides - feel a bit more chilled out, can now wash my hair twice a week instead of every other day, my skin looks loads better, I can get away with wearing jeans to work on days that aren't Fridays without anyone daring to take issue, and get loads of random half days off work for antental appointments without having to take annual leave!! Beginner's luck maybe? I am really excited about LO arriving too, but not looking forward to the lack of sleep (only time I get woken up at the moment is when dh gets up to go to the loo half an hour before the alarm goes off ), or postnatal bleeding and general yukkiness.

Grobags - thanks for all the tips! We're definitely planning to use them, but wondered if we can use them from birth with the moses basket, or if we have to wait until the LO is a bit bigger. They have some quite heavily reduced ones on the 'offers' section of the mamas & papas website - check out the 'internet only offers' at the bottom of this page .

Forcessweetheart - Hi! Sorry, I didn't get your message, its probably buried in here somewhere but I seem to have missed it! I tried to msg you direct but apparently you can't do that without paying...figures, so feel free to contact me on vireland"at"live.com - Sorry to hear about your diabetes, I definately havn't got room to whinge about my problems!! but it is good to hear from someone else who has been through this...and due at the same time!! We may meet up on the labour ward! Have you finished work yet? oh...and where/when is the NCT sale? Is it the one at the leisure centre in Salisbury on the 20th?
Hugely jealous of your weight gain, I put on almost a stone a month for the first few months! As I was banned from the gym early on due to continuation of monthly bleeds, so went from being a fitness fanatic to a couch potato, and the only thing that stopped me feeling sick in the first trimester was eating...hence my 3stone weight gain...still, seem to have stabilised now and although i'm still not exercising (Unless struggling upstairs counts) and still eating chocolate my meals have got smaller due to bump taking up all the room and he/she is already the size of an 8wk old so I don't think there is any need for further weight gain...I hope!!
Never mind, its all in a good cause and I fully intend to get back to the gym..or take up pushchair jogging ASAP!!!...interested?
Better fly, time to cook for my man XXX

LuckyC - The Erythromycin is for the strep and I seem to be doing OK on it (Touch wood!), I've done nearly a week so far just another to go. I'm then going to re-do the thrush treatment as i know the antibiotics will have reversed any headway I made previously but hopefully in 10 days I will be all clear!
What are the thrush friendly foods?

Pagen count me in for the pushchair jogging (although it may be more of a speed-walk for me at first as I'm so unfit!). I picked up some leaflets on that at the baby show in Salisbury Guildhall the other week. Can't say I've ever been a fitness fanatic - I was over 23 stone after I had DD - but would really like to start going to the gym after I've healed from the C-Section, as with my big weight loss I really need to tone up the excess skin!
I have the advantage of having had a gastric bypass a couple of years ago, so despite being able to eat pretty normal sized portions now - I still have a re-routed intestine that prevents me absorbing a lot of the fat from what I eat. I'm sure this is the reason for my low gain - as I've been eating so much rubbish.
Yes the NCT Nearly New Sale is on 20th at the Five Rivers Leisure Centre. 10am entry for members, 10.30 for non-members.
How you feeling now? Any better than you were this morning? Actually might be better taking this to email as you suggested rather than clutter up the thread even more! I'm on lisabpearson at virginmedia dot com.

TENS it was all I had until I got in the pool both times, have never had a sniff of gas and air.

Secret Stork didn't get a very enthusiastic initial response but DH is still happy to organise it, given the time constraints, he will email everyone he has heard from by Saturday evening with details of who to buy for on Sunday night which gives us a fortnight to shop, and then post on April 3rd/4th? His email is mr dot yorky at hotmail dot com

I love the idea of secret stork, but as a relative newcomer to this thread, it must have been discussed before I joined, as this is the first I've heard of it! How is it intended to work?

Does anyone know if there is a tradition that DHs are meant to buy DWs a gift for after the birth? I thought I had heard it somewhere, but when I jokingly said to my DH this morning that he can go easy on my birthday present this year because he needs to save up for a fab post-baby gift, he accused me of making it up! I'm sure I'd heard of it as a tradition though, like saving the top of the wedding cake for the christening (if you're having one). Anyone?

MarquiseDeMerteuil I've never heard of that before - but it sounds like a good tradition to start!

I am definitely in the not missing being pregnant camp - heartburn, waking up every hour of the night for a wee, not being able to run around after DD etc, etc ..... Although I do love feeling the baby moving inside me even if he does take my breath away sometimes!

I had horrific heart burn with DD - she was born with black hair long enough to plait! I was really shocked - even the midwives commented on how much hair she had. Babies without hair seemed strange to us! She's had it cut so many times over the last three years, it is now very b;onde, thick & down to her waist! I'm really suffering with heartburn this time too and think this one may also be a hairy baby!

Johnson baby products also caused DD to have baby rash. It went as soon as we stopped using it.

I can breath a huge sigh of relief - went to the hospital today and had lump looked at. They scanned it & told me it was nothing to worry about! I didn't actually ask what the lump is but as long as its not suspicious, I don't really care! A huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders and DH has smiled for the first time in two weeks - i didn't realise how worried he was!

Hi Ladies, thought I'd just quickly post the link to the Secret Stork thread since I had it bookmarked, it is here.

I missed the secret stork thread as it was the time I moved house so have added my name and wil]l email mr yorky[grin

Hi All

MDM Thanks for the links ? some really cute Grobags etc

Schipo I?m hoping to cope with just gas & air as I?d like a water birth, all being well. I do wonder whether this is realistic but am trying to keep positive about the birth. One of my Pregnancy Yoga buddies has just had her first baby (she?s 41) and managed her contractions using breathing techniques and a little gas & air towards the end. Her labour was only about 5 hours and baby was just over 7lb weight.
By the way, the Mother?s Day message you received from your Stepdaugher is a really good sign

Thanks to everyone for advice on baby lotions, hospital bags, etc, etc! I?m yet to pack mine but feel a little less daunted about what I need to take now. Have been to Boots and bought some essentials like maternity pads, breast pads, sleep suits & nappies (& a lovely going home outfit for baby). My Mum bought me a fab changing bag for Xmas which I?ll take to hospital plus a bigger bag of extra ?stuff? that I?ll leave in the car until after the birth. Need to start thinking about getting some ?easy access? nursing tops soon

Has anyone had experience of Baby jogger City 3-wheeler stroller? It looks good on paper but can?t seem to find any in the shops

I?m definitely going to miss my bump ? I?m enjoying being pregnant and love feeling baby move - can?t imagine life without my big belly now! Have been lucky so far though with no pregnancy related ailments and have a feeling that pregnancy is easy compared with looking after a newborn

Hope everyone else is ok and sorry not to mention you all ? my poor brain can?t cope with remembering all these posts after a long day at work !

MDM my mum says tradition is for husband/partner to buy mother flowers. not very exciting, but my dad bougt her an eternity ring when she had me, my grandad di the same to my nan ( ring) on the birth of the first child. like the thought of that, but im not married too or with my LOs dad!

speaking of which...he has now said he wont be back til next tue/wed at the latest. when he calls next il just tell him to order it...il have given birth otherwise! im very jealous of all of you with loving supportive partners, but then again you would think that you knew someone after 7 years!

MDM - don't know if its traditional for dh's to buy gifts post-birth but my dh got me a beautiful eternity ring for xmas just be fore dd was born in January. Totally unexpected

Forces - welcome back, how did you get a Pink Lining bag for £30!!!! I've been looking but the second hand ones are hard to come by. Well done.

On a more selfish note, been to gp and put on iron and folic acid tablets, but only one per day and more bloods in a fortnight. Also found out the cyst was actually an abscess that no amount of abs would have shifted. The only way to cure it was to drain it otherwise it would have burst inwards and infected my arm. Slightly that lo has been exposed to so many abs for no reason and I have felt rubbish for so long, but glad its eventually sorted.

Evening ladies - first the me bit, went to see the MW today and it wasn't my usual useless one it was this other one who it felt like couldn't be bothered and was just ticking off the checks. Asked her about being induced and she was a bit but has made my an appt with the consultant at 36 weeks. She said they won't induce early for SPD I said I didn't want induced early just at term, she said I could have a sweep at 39 weeks which I will refuse, I am never having a sweep again, IMHO they do nothing and hurt and are just plain horrid. Was trying to find out from her about the chances of an induction kicking off a fast labour but she was completely useless, my friend who is 24 weeks went in straight after me and said the same thing. Good news is baby is head down and everything else is fine with him.

Hospital bags - this would be my list (if anyone is interested or thinks of anything else please cut and paste am sure I will forget something:

Mum
breastpads (will take about 20)
nursing bras (at least 2)
pants (12 cheap pairs)
sanitary towels (pack)
maternity mats (pack)
PJs/nighties - at least 3 (I have leaked every time)
coming home outfit (joggy bottoms and comfy t-shirt)
slippers or maybe flip flops for shower
thin dressing gown
toilet bag with showergel
shampoo
conditioner
moisturiser (face and body)
toothbrush
toothpaste
little bag of essential make up
flannel
antibac wipes (v important for cleaning toilet or shower)
lansinoh cream

Baby
vests x 3
babygros x 3 (if you are in longer get someone to bring them in)
cardigan (or bringing home outfit)
hats x 2
scratchmitts x 3
shawl
blanket
nappies x 12
pack of wipes

labour bag
well I have never used anything in labour but useful things would be
old t-shirt or nightie to labour in
hair band
iPod
magazines (could be loads of hanging about before or after the birth)
snacks
erm cannot think of anything else

Remember to fit car seat about 2 weeks before you are due, do not do what we did and be caught out and have to send DP out to buy a base the day after baby is born. Better to put base and seat in car 2 weeks before and practice putting it in and out so then it is there and ready.

Will come back later with personal posts x

Im afraid Im rather tearful tonight..Ive posted in pregnancy too..but dont know what to do.it seems impossible to find bras with a back size over 38/40...Im measuring up 46 DD and cant get a bra anywhere...Ive been bra less for a bout 4/5 weeks and now my boobs are sagging..I actually cant stop crying..Im not going to be able to get feeding bras either..I have tried:
Jo jo maman bebe
Blooming Marvelous
Vertbaudet
Bravissimo
Mothercare (shite range and shite measuring service)
Marks and Sparks

any other suggestions??

Hello all, just spent an hour catching up and thought of lots of things to say but will need to start making notes! Next time.

I had an epidural with DD. Although will try not to this time, got to fully dilated but simy couldnt cope any longer. Was still allowed in to maternity hotel with DH - thinkthey felt sorry for me!

Oh battery going, catch up tomorow.

ML is it a nursing one you are after? anyway, here has some

it was both maternity and nursing..not so worried about feeding bras yet..but thanks Angel! they actually do my back size!

Schipo I bought my britax vigour from Babyworld.com but went to their showroom in Wallingford, Oxfordshire cos we were passing through. So did get to try it first. Mothercare had some too - the central London branch (Oxford st) but it was a while back so they might not have them now.

forces you are so right! If I am on the pc I try and do same, but mostly seem to be on iPhone which doesn't lend itself to a) typing long responses or b) going from one window to another quickly! It is useful tho!

pigley you are bonkers with the sand... Now is the time to get people to help you!! Do take care!

I'm with all those looking forward to seeing the end of bump... I remember last time a friend saying how she came home from hospital having had baby and was thrilled to be able to throw herself on the bed tummy first! I never quite got the thrill of it but I appreciate the idea!

Yes it's an interesting one about favouritism and grandkids... My parents love DD and as my mother has already told me she hates the name we favour (tho has since backtracked) I sort of feel she won't like this granddaughter quite so much... That's prob irrational though - what's in a name?

Re epidural. I had put on my birth plan that I'd like to avoid one and was never offered it. Think maybe if I had been offered, I might have gone for it but as my labour was a slow build up of pain perhaps it was easier to manage. Plus, my mum had told me I had a low pain threshold in advance so I had to prove her wrong didn't I?!

mdm I'm in Battersea, on edge of "nappy valley" where you?

memory sympathies about bra size - I now have a large cup size (34G) and have had probs getting underwire feeding bras in past. But I just got one emily one from figleaves, and another emma jane one from everdaymaternity. The emily one comes with 2 sets of 3 hooks, so it expands quite a lot - so tho I'm not sure what size back they do, the expanding bit might help you if you see what I mean. Good luck, it is totally depressing not having well fitting bras I think!

I've got a day off work tomorrow, and reflexology booked. Can't wait! Have good fridays all x

bbm..hopefully my dillema is sorted now as have been directed to a couple of sites that stock bravado bras...which go up to my size.. my prob being cup size not exactly massive..but back size..massive (god knows why [hmm)

forces...Ive been put on humalin i and humalin s..the fast acting one really is fast acting and kicks in after 20 mins..I know novorapid is not as rapid as its name implies..
Im on 2 x ferrous fumerate a day..am tempted to get some floradix

SK..you are really suffering with the SPD..I really feel for you

Pagen..welcome to the thread

Pigley..I sympathise on the favouritism front...my DM has always favoured my eldest DD and the other 3 just cant compete..she seems to have a constant downer on DS1..who cant do anything right in her eyes..over DD1 who is perfect..despite being far from it

Forces - glad to see you posting, sorry you're feeling so rubbish though.

MDM - Tens machine, I had one and quite liked it. I thought it kept me busy at least, although not convinced that it helped the pain much. I'm not sure about getting one this time round but more because of the cost than anything else.

Push presents - DH got me flowers and a massive thing of chocolate which was nice. Nothing else though although we've always agreed that some day, once our family is complete and we have money I can have an eternity ring.

Memorylapse - sympathies about bras, hope you find something useful.

So sad that so many grandparents favour the first GC My mother says that quite a lot of her friends do that and are very open about it and she doesn't understand it at all. She has 4 (5 with my DC2) GC from 3 of us and says they're all special because they're all different. She's told a couple of aforementioned friends off about it before and asked why they feel like that or think it's OK. It must be horrible for you all to deal with.

Hollyoaks - glad the cyst has finally been dealt with

Morning ladies not a bad night despite DD1 sleeping in with me as DP is away for work. Thanks for all your sympathies, sometimes I feel I shouldn't really complain as this was a planned baby and I went into it knowing that I would have SPD again, also DP can be less than sympathetic at times, he will say things like "how are you today?" and I will say "in agony" "oh again but you were in agony last week is is a new kind of agony!" Honestly I would love him to feel like this for just one day.

ML - I knew MN would come good for you with the bras, you won't be the first with that problem.

booboo - at your Mum it's not the thing you tell your DD before she has a baby that she has a low pain threshold, bound to upset you. I think I remember my Mum saying something about having a csection was "cheating" and it was better to do it yourself As to the favouritism well DD1 was first granddaughter so she made an effort then (well if you can count buying loads of green clothes 2 days before the scan as she thought it was a boy), DD2 was a huge disappointment as she was a girl and DD3 she has never bothered with, I don't talk to her now which is kind of ironic as now she will have a precious grandson she won't be seeing him as there is no way she will be making any differences between him and the DDs (can you tell how was the favoured child in our house, my brother) she has this boys are better than girls thing going on and I don't want the DDs picking up on it. This would have been poor MILs first grandson as well (5 granddaughters) but she didn't get to see him which is sad.

Sorry bit of a wallow there, better go and break up a fight over a keyring and get the breakfasts made.

morning all..looks like we have an evil sickness bug in our house..DD2 was ill tuesday night..Ive never seen vomiting like it..literally every 10 mins all night..now DH (who is rarely ill) has got up this morning ill with it..he cant stop being sick and looks terrible...selfish I know..but Im scared of getting it...I spent the first 4 months puking up..there seems to be no warning..one minute you are fine..the next really poorly

Ugh memory that sounds horrible! Quarantine DH somewhere far away from you!

SK wouldn't it be lovely to give the DHs SPD just for a day?? I'll ask mine to do something and he'll say without even thinking "can't you do it, I'm busy with blah blah..", my response is always "sure I'll do it, you just take the baby for a minute will you? Oh no that's right - you can't, so can you PLEASE do what I've asked. If I could do it myself I WOULDN'T BE ASKING YOU". Gawd reading that back I sound like such a grump, but they really haven't the first clue what the pain of SPD is like. DH seems to think that just coz I'm not in a wheelchair and completely immobile like last time I'm fine to carry on as normal.

Pagen Just noticed you're not on the list yet. Shout if you need someone to add you.