TTC#1 - Looking for Others in the Same Boat PART TWO THE SEQUEL WHERE WE ALL GET OUR BABIES???!

[MocktailMe]

www.mumsnet.com/talk/conception/5093665-ttc-1-no-previous-pregnancies-cycle-6-looking-for-others-in-the-same-boat?page=40&reply=144772936

Hi everyone!

I can't quite believe it but after a while year we only went and filled the last thread.

I'll tag you all below so that you can find me!

If anyone silently reading along wants to keep following - here's the place. If anyone wants to read the fertility journey for the last year have a look through the last thread.

The heatwaves have been terrible I have to say 😅 I'm 15+6 now and this is like the fourth heatwave already!!! It was rough over the time I was being sick but at least it will be cold by the time I'm massive.

I had a gender reveal scan the other day and we found out we are having a baby girl 💖 I'm over the moon! They literally the room up pink to reveal which was really sweet. Not sure if anyone did that but if anyone's ready for number two by now I would HIGHLY recommend!!!

I have to say I do think this will be my only baby so I am trying to appreciate all of pregnancy even the less than desirable parts 😅

I would totally love the wisdom of you mum's in helping to craft a must have shopping list? We want to buy as little as possible as I keep reading about regrets and things that don't get used! We won't be buying anything until after the 20 week scan (four weeks to go!).

@MocktailMe ahh congrats a little girl! How lovely 😍

Being pregnant in the heat is not fun, I remember being heavily pregnant last summer, I empathise with you all being pregnant in these heatwaves!

We also tried to only buy things we needed, but you still end up getting more than you need lol. I’d say these are the things we used the most in those early months -

snuzpod (baby slept in this next to our bed for about 6 months but he’s so big he grew out of it by about 5 months 😂)

We didn’t bother with a Moses basket, for the day he slept in the carry cot part of his pram which we kept in the living room

Pram - we had a travel system we use it everyday so worth the money

Sling - good when baby didn’t want to put down when he was younger. No used so much now because he’s too heavy to carry

Nursing pillow if you’re planning to breastfeed

Lots of muslin cloths

Baby bath, bath thermometer

Groegg - reassurance for temp of the room. And a night light for the night feeds 😂

Caddy - keep everything in one place and can move it round the house

First aid bits - thermometer to check baby’s temp, baby nail clippers, hair brush etc.

We have a steriliser which we never use because I’ve been exclusively breastfeeding.

Toy wise - fisher price glow and grow kick play mat.
..number 1 used toy before baby could roll. You’ll be a purple monkey fan in no time lol

If you make a baby wish list on Amazon you can get discount on item as you buy

@MocktailMeHuge congratulations, it’s going to be a baby girl! Hope you are enjoying your second trimester!
Try not to worry too much when the kicking starts. I was driving myself crazy when I didn’t hear my son kick for a few hours during the day - he was just sleeping! You just need to get to know your pattern when they start to kick and roll (usually at night or after a big meal!). I had to force myself to eat sweet biscuits just to reassure myself and to get him to move, there was no need for that really..

As for the shopping list, I second Snuzpod - it was very convenient, we used it all the way until our son was five months. That said, he didn’t want to sleep in it consistently for a couple of months. Every transfer was a battle, and sometimes we let him sleep in the pram as we could push him around the house 🤪

Pram - we are in London so chose a very mobile and agile Joolz Aer2. If you need something sturdier for off road walks and don’t plan to travel on public transport often then maybe something with bigger wheels is more suitable.

We did find a simple Ikea changing table very useful for the first 5 months.

Black and white toys and cards, a mat for tummy time, bathtub, thermometer for those first couple of months before you get used to get by without one.

Momcozy nursing pillow and a pump were excellent.

Don’t forget about comfortable clothes for yourself to wear in the hospital and at home.

babybjorn bouncer - excellent from about 2-3 months when you need to put them somewhere safe to make meals or take shower - our son loved it!

You do end up with a lot of stuff regardless but it all sells well once your baby grows out of items!

Snuzpod seems like a must!

I had been mulling over a moses basket/living room crib but using the pram makes so much more sense, I'll just do that instead as it's such a short period of time they need one.

Some of the other things I hadn't even thought about eg thermometer! Thanks for the Amazon tip I will get that set up!

Thanks so much 🙌🏻

I've been told I have an anterior placenta so should expect to feel kicks a little later down the line and honestly I'm not sorry about that, as I know the anxiety over kicking enough is going to be difficult to deal with. Whilst I know I shouldn't expect to feel it at all I don't worry! I will try hard to remember those wise words when the time does come 😅

How lucky I am that you all have such good experiences to share now!!

@MocktailMe rest when you can when the baby sleeps (even if you don’t sleep) because the sleep deprivation is brutal 😂. I really don’t think people speak about this enough it is hard I have personally found this so tough even now at nearly 12 months. I did not think my life would revolve around naps and feeding so much 😂

People will try and ‘advice’ you about sleep…my response is unless you are coming to my house at 3am in the morning respectfully stop lol

How exciting another baby girl on this thread! And that's such a lovely way to find out, congratulations.

Pregnancy in the heat we've had sounds tough, must've intensified the nausea somewhat... Have you found the sickness has got better in your second trimester so far?

As far as things to get,
Definitely a good travel system, we went to John Lewis to try some out and it was amazing how much some of them just didn't feel right. We went with the Silver Cross Cove which I can't fault - the cove 2 has just come out with a folding bassinet which I do wish we had!

Nappy caddies - we have one in the living room and one in the bedroom and it's just so helpful to have everything to hand and easy to store away. And in each nappy caddy we just have some nappies, some nappy rash cream, wipes, cotton pads and a spray bottle of water (so we're not using wipes all the time), spare change of clothes.

Clothes - I found it difficult to work out how much of each size to buy at the beginning when you don't know exactly how big the baby is yet. Our 25th centile baby didn't ever go in newborn clothes as she was so long, luckily we hadn't bought loads of newborn size clothes. She was in up to 1 month sizing for a bit, and I know of quite a lot of babies who have gone straight into 0-3 months. Maybe have a few of each, and Vinted is your friend.

We use dog poo bags instead of nappy bags, waaaay cheaper. We also use a puppy pad on top of the changing mat which helps absorb any free wees or poos that happen before you've put a nappy on 😅 it's saved us having to wash our sheets a few times now (we usually just change her on our bed rather than a full on changing table, but you'll find what and where works for you with all that)

One thing I would add is we haven't done her nursery yet. They sleep in your room until at least 6 months so we've kept what will be her room as the spare room. It just means we can keep the spare bed a bit longer which was so helpful at the end of pregnancy and the early newborn days where we could sleep in separate beds and get a better sleep.

Overall we bought a lot of it quite late on, there are loads of things that you don't necessarily need but you might suddenly find you do need something, in which case you'll either go out and buy it or Amazon prime it. For example one week in I realised I'd need to start pumping, we didn't have an electric pump so husband popped out to Argos and got one, job done. Most of it's not as urgent as it feels like it is

@MocktailMe a girl so exciting!!!

with regards to buying things:

buggy - we have a Nuna triv next which is great lightweight ish but suitable for some off road.

Essentially you want to choose if you go super compact - yo-yo/ joolz aer or mid sized Nuna triv next or large off road. John Lewis and Mamas and papas offer appointments to choose.

• Baby nests/moses baskets - we have too many because we have a tiny flat and our baby won’t be put down I wouldn’t buy too many and it depends on your house.

• I love the ikea trofast as a changing table - https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/trofast-storage-combination-with-boxes-room-divider-light-white-stained-pine-red-s39612570/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic-shopping&utm_campaign=shopping_feed&utm_content=free_google_shopping_clicks_Children%27sIKEA works really well in our flat and we just have a changing mat on the top.

• Get everything off Facebook marketplace/vinted - we got all of our baby clothes off there.

• Baby bath - we have a snuggle one.
• second on the nappy caddy’s or even just plastic tubs for nappy supplies etc - we have one in our bedroom/baby room/couch
• Breastfeeding bras - don’t get too many till your milk comes in my boobs are HUGE now so ones I bought at the beginning are too small I really like the momanda sports bra types super comfy
• nipple silver cups/cream and breast pads
• lots of maternity pads
• I bought disposable underwear for recovery but you’d be fine just getting massive like 3-4 sizes up massive pants (less wasteful)
• peri bottle - you can probably get for like 50p from Vinted
• nappy bag for pram - again if you have any bag you can use that you don’t need a special one

one thing we didn’t do is tell people what gifts to buy but everyone got us baby hair brushes so we have about 5000! I wish we’d made some sort of list…

we started buying stuff from 20 weeks onwards it’s so exciting!!!!

also baby clothes you actually need more than you think because they change outfits 100 times a day

your clothes - I’d recommend some nice PJs - Chelsea peers do good maternity ones

Guys thank you so so much!!!

I've made an Amazon baby registry (amazing discount!!!! What a tip!) and used all your advice.

The only thing I haven't put on it is clothing as I am expecting lots to be gifted (I know it's the most fun thing to buy so I get it 😅) and also because I will be following your advice and using vinted - which I've already done for a couple of maternity bits and bobs.

In other news it feels a bit scary at 17 weeks but.. we have bought a pram! It was a great deal on eBay second hand refurbished so couldn't resist - the iCandy Peach 7 with changing bag, rain cover, cup holder etc all the bits and bobs for just over £400. It felt too good an opportunity to miss so we snapped that up. I have to say I love it! I couldn't have justified buying it brand new but it is by far my favourite pram so I'm thrilled to have it.

Ooo congrats on getting the pram, that's one of the most exciting bits to buy! Amazing deal too!

We've not done so well on this WhatsApp group have we 😂 if people are still keen for it DM me your number and I'll set it up

Soooo lovely to see your updates @MocktailMe

Think people covered most of the essentials tbh but my ride or die’s are/were:

• nappy caddy upstairs and downstairs
• baby sling (my baby needed contact and motion initially or wouldn’t settle - I went to a sling library to try them and hired initially to check I liked it! They also taught me about safe positioning ect which was so helpful so defo look to see if there’s one near you!) At almost 9 months we still use a carrier every single day, I’m super strong and fit because of it as he’s 11kg now haha!
• snoozeshade for pram naps
• Heated clothes airer! Because omg the amount of washing and trying to dry indoors in winter takes too long😂
• if you are having a C-section I recommend reading the 360 mama guide to C-section as it helped me prepare once I needed one
• electric nail file
• babygrows that had inbuilt scratch mitts
• a freezer full of food (we used cook for most of it but prepped some myself too) you reeealllllly under estimate the amount of time you actually have to yourself and to do basic things

think the rest has been covered that I’d have suggested in addition to the above.

@KTB34 laughing so much, I loved the purple monkey in a bubblegum tree!!!

I know I mentioned a while ago a WhatsApp group, if people are still up for it feel free to private message me your numbers and I’ll get it set up? I hardly ever come on here but would love to keep in touch!

@KT199 just sent you my number !