Hellllloooooooooooooooo?

[DivaSkyChick]

Anyone?

Hi hi hi! I'm here, just a bit late. Whereabouts are you? We live in lovely sunny gorgeous Shepherds Bush. I have a nearly-4-year old and a 6-month old baby. I'm surprised there's not more posts here, the borough is full of babies! x

hello divaskychick and indiemummy. Am pregnant with twins - due in August. I thought the H&F boards would be bursting with posts!!!

Hi Ladies! I'm so pleased you're there!

I'm in Fulham. I'm expecting my first on July 27 - a home birth!

Have you been on Mumsnet for long?

Oooh, DSC - not long for you now! I'm down the road from you in West Kensington.

How does the home birth work - do you have a hospital midwife with you or an independent one? I'm having the twins at Chelsea & Westminster and all the midwives there seem really lovely so far!

Haven't been on mumsnet for that long - started lurking and posting a bit when I found out I was having twins and needed lots of advice about everything...

BB, they are community midwives but in the event, there could be a hospital midwife, depending on who is available. I'll have two, one senior and one less so. I'll also have a doula.

Twins!! Wow, that's exciting. Do you feel like you're ready? Two of everything, that must get expensive. Have you done antenatal classes? When are you due?

Blimey, 2 midwives - that's brill. Is your doula just there for the birth or will she be helping you out afterwards as well? I do like the idea of being in your own home with all your own things around you, i bet it must be much more relaxing than being in the hospital environment.

I feel VERY ready for the twins to arrive - am just so big and uncomfortable now that I want to fastforward to the next stage... We've pretty much done all our shopping and you're right, 2 of everything just eats money! Thank god for ebay - it's saved us a small fortune already.

I've got NCT classes booked but the earliest one they could offer is in mid-July. I was hoping to get them out the way a bit earlier - apparently twins are notorious for arriving early. I'm delivering at 38 weeks if they can hang on that long, which'll be 8th August. Have you done antenatal classes? Are they useful? Am looking forward to meeting some other parents-to-be even if the classes themselves are not great.

Hey there,

I'm doing both NCT antenatal classes and hypnobirthing, since all I can have is gas and air for pain relief with a homebirth. hypnobirthing is really about meditation and relaxation, which is key to avoiding complications (if they can be avoided at all.)

I think the classes have been very helpful. Also just meeting other women in RL who have the same approx due dates is really nice. We all get exhausted at the same time after lunch!

You're scheduled for a C section at 38 weeks?

Glad to hear the NCT classes have been helpful. I was surprised at how early they get booked up - they're obviously v popular. Am hoping for some good advice about BFing twins - tandem nursing - it'll save lots of time if i can get the hang of feeding both at once.

Yes, i'm booked for a c-section at 38 weeks so there won't be much that's natural about it... With twins my choice seemed limited to either a c-sect or an induction at 38 weeks - you're considered full term by then. I hated the idea of being induced and also one twin is breech so it felt like quite an easy decision really.

By the way, if you are considering using cloth nappies, Hammersmith and Fulham offer an incentive scheme - think it's £45 to use towards a pack of real nappies or the cost of laundry service. Am going to a meeting tomorrow afternoon about it but if you're interested you don't have to go to the meetings - just email [email protected] for more details. I like the sound of £45 off, especially if they'll do me 2 vouchers seeing as there'll be 2 babies!

Thanks for the info on the nappies. Our dryer is rubbish and we don't have a garden so we're stuck with disposable for a while.

I think it's great that you have the option of a c section with twins - there's a lot to be said for knowing the date you'll give birth and I've heard that planned c sections are vv safe and can be a really nice experience. Inductions end in c section about a third of the time anyway, at least with first time mums! Will you have family or someone to help out for the first few weeks? Are you going to bring music in with you?

I had a tour of the hospital last week, including peeking at the theatre and there is a CD player ready and waiting - seems a shame not to use it. I do want some music but I haven't got a clue about what sort of thing would be nice. I want something sort of soothing but not naff or cheesy... Any suggestions?

Hi there,

I am expecting my first one too. And really excited about it! But still have a long way to go - it's only due in January.

BB, that meetings you mentioned - what are they?

Hi olphi, congratulations! The "Nappuccino" meeting i went to was run by Hammersmith and Fulham jointly with K&C and I think they're planning to hold them about once a month. I'd pretty much already decided I want to have a go with cloth nappies and it was dead useful - there was advice and info, discount nappies, mums demonstrating how the nappies work and how to use them on real live babies (maybe you've had more practice than me but I've hardly ever seen a baby up close so I'm a total novice when it comes to nappy-changing...) And you get a voucher towards the cost of buying nappies or towards the cost of the local nappy laundry service. Or you can just get a mixed pack of different brand cloth nappies to try out. Email the woman, she's really helpful.

Bump - ANY ideas for music in the delivery room?

Hey Bella,

Sorry, forgot about this thread for a minute!

I'll be listening to Jamie Cullum, Wilco, Bright Eyes, Fiona Apple, Keane, Counting Crows... basically stuff I know all the words to. I'm not a good singer but whilst I have the memory of a goldfish, for some reason I remember perfectly the words to songs I've loved. It's almost meditation for me and that's the point. I want songs that will take me into another place.

Not planning on putting them into any special order as who knows how long I'll be at it. Also will be listening to my hypnobirthing cds.

Of course, you'll be in and out of theatre in what, an hour and a half, tops? So you could split it up to 15 minutes intro, 15 minutes getting the baby out and 30 to 45 sewing you back up while you and DH bond with the baby... Jeez that sounds nice.

Hi Diva, thanks for the suggestions - I like the idea of lyrics that I know really well so I can kind of "zone out" in a lalalalala-this-isn't-happening kind of way. Although you're right, an hour and a half doesn't sound too bad at all. You'll hopefully be able to watch daytime TV in the comfort of your own living room - nothing like a bit of Homes Under the Hammer to help with labour! I'm a bit put out cos my hospital charges you to watch TV while you're in after the birth, which i think is a bit much when you've just had a baby...

Just wondered if DivaSkyChick has had her babe yet? It'll be soon, at any rate. Good luck and hope the pregnancy has gone well. And Bellabelly, the twins are due in August - that's no time at all! Hope you're resting and putting your feet up. Olphi, whereabouts do you live?

My smallest one is 7 months now - I can't believe how quickly it has gone.

By the way here is the link to the council's real nappies project. I went to a meeting but decided not to go ahead with the scheme, though it sounded great. The council will collect your dirty nappies and wash them and bring you clean ones. We have some reuseables, but no drier and not much space for a nappy bin, plus we're ALWAYS out and about so we usually use Nature Baby nappies which I get from Sainsburys in Chiswick (or from Ocado). I really like them. Hope you're all well!

Xx

Hi Indie,

I did indeed have my baby! Photo up on my profile and story in the birth annoucements. We are over the mooon with our little girl and, of course, utterly shattered. She likes to sleep all day and party all night. Can't imagine where she got that from!

OH MY GOD well done that's such a great birth story and she is gorgeous, beautiful names too. (We had both Isabel and Coco on our shortlist!) Enjoy it all! Let us know when you are feeling up for a wander and a hot chocolate. So pleased for you xxx