March 2011 - we made it!

[Muser]

The waiting is over, the babies are arriving. March 2011 mums, come on in your time is up.

Yeah I think we're gonna put L in big cot after Centre Parcs. Also been sorting out the newborn clothes she's grown out of - felt sad!

me too, L - makes me want another just so they get more wear!

Hannah is in 3-6 months now. It was awful packing away the newborn and 0-3's. Defintaly keeping them even though number 2 is a long way away...

Just a quick question - do I pack too much in my changing bag? Its always bursting at the seams & I am forever routing in it. Do I treat myself to a new one or not? Anyone got any recommendations? I would love one with lots of pockets.

I pack 2 space reusable nappies & wet bag,nappy sacks, mat, wipes, full spare outfit, cardi in case its cold, sunhat in case its sunny, muslin, rattle panda toy, my purse and glasses. I take this wherever I go - even if its just a quick outing as its easier than unpacking and checking the contects.

Oh and I try to have an activity every day too but often feel a little lonely. Its hard to be the one to suggest coffee after groups though - really want to sometimes but too nervous. I joke to DP its like i'm on the dating scene. There are loads baby groups on but unless they are the surestart centres I worry they might be a bit cliquey.

Doesn't sound excessive for a change bag halo. I always take a sleepsuit rather than a full outfit for a change of clothes though. Takes up less space. I have a Skip Hop change bag and it's pretty spacious. But as I use the sling mostly I normally just use a regular rucksack. Since switching to washable nappies it's been driving me crazy though. I can never find what I'm looking for now I can't fit everything into my little Skip Hop pronto mini change bag.

That's what I take haloflo. I've got a pacapod bag and it's awesome! Highly recommend! They are prob wishing they were brave enough to ask you for a coffee too!
Iz is in 0-3 but not for much longer. She has far too many clothes, she's only worn most of her outfits once or twice!!

Not been on for ages, but have just managed to have a quick catch up on all your news. Not on facebook either. Imogen is now 11 weeks old and weighed in on Tuesday at 12lb 3 oz. She has been sleeping all night (from 9.00 p.m.'ish to 7.00 a.m.'ish) for the last 3 weeks so we feel very lucky. She only really naps during the day if taken out in the car or in her pushchair and has a 'fussy' time early evening. She is now on 7oz bottles - 5 a day - every 3 to 4 hours. DS (5 years) loves her to bits - though has been suffering a bit of 'green eye'. All in all, everything is fab, just wish I had more hours in the day for some me time. Also struggling to lose weight. A stone has come off fairly easily, but still have another stone and a half to go and its a beginning to get me down a bit as I am struggling to fit into anything! Have bought a few new things in a larger size to keep me going - just don't feel very attractive! Been also thinking about Spilt and Too Immature and hoping they are ok. Love to you all x

We take abiut the same, but I use a standard rucksack as then I can easily swap between the sling and pushchair. I also only go for a sleepsuit as opposed to a full change.

I'm still using the free Boots changing bag. Just about getting to its limits though as nappies get bigger, and I am using reusables more. I carry a mat, wipes, mini pot of Sudacreme, antibac gel, nappies, nappy bags, spare sleepsuit, vest, cardigan, hat, a blanket and a toy. Plus a bottle of water in the side pouch.

Our change bag is a new level of chaos now I have 2 in nappies. That's pretty much what we pack, plus snacks etc for DS. You can get smaller travel packs of wipes (usually in the mini travel section of supermarket) and I include spare boob pads in mine too as I'm always bursting!

Chickiewoo am in the same situatio as you re weight loss - first stone just magically disappeared, now 1 stone to go and nothing doing! can't try to lose weight or my milk supply goes, and I walk loads anyhow!

Halo, I shed a few nostalgic tears the other day when packing our 0-3 clothes, and he seems to fit very snuggly in his 3-6 already! :(

Lozario, your changing bag IS at a whole new level! I'm a ridiculously light packer, to the point of wondering why I bother...so I'm learning from everyone here. I've been thinking recently of a friend who is about to have twins, and how she is going to manage, but I still bow my head to all of you with more than one, regardless of age! :)

Ugh, 2nd period since giving birth...time to get preggers again?

Hi everyone

oh my goodness let me tell you about my most hectic day since having lucy!

well firstly for all of those who live in london how do you get around!!!!!!

so me and my OH decided to take lucy and his little boy (4) to london for the day to madame tussauds and NHM etc so getting on the train from liverpool lime street i couldnt move the pram down the aisle i had to leave it there and carry lucy the whole journey!! and then we arrived at Euston and being from liverpool i did not know you had to prepay your bus ticket! we pay on the bus!! so after annoying the man of the no18 bus we trudged off and back into the information centre to get a ticket!!

gets to MT and its HEAVING!!! apparently this was a quiet day !?!?!? so you have to leave pram I did know this and I knew id get a baby carrier however it was far too big for lucy to go in!! and she just hung there like a limp last sausage in a butchers! so i took her out and I CARRIED HER the whole time we was there with hundreds of people all bustling about getting pictures etc it was manic!! in the end didnt bother with getting pics as too much hassle. My OH did get pic with hitler though....

so i was sweating had enough and so had lucy and my OH took his little boy in the 4D magic marvel so i went to exit to get pram as she was tired now and I couldnt get out of the bleeding gift shop!!! i felt like screaming!!!! so in the end got out and tried to get pram but didnt have ticket as OH had it but i needed the pram badly so i had to describe what it looked like then tell the man even what was in the tesco bag underneath it!! ha. anyway got out of that mess and looked for something to eat went to pizza hut i was asked if i had a booking!!

Iv never had to book in liverpool so didnt understand that but nevertheless went on and had mcdonalds. so came the NHM bit and that was chaos asking all sorts of people what bus but everyone i asked who worked in shops and restuarants were FOREIGN so they had no ideal in the end a nice man told me and we walked down baker street onto oxford street and just stumbled upon the bustop for the 414 so that was ok got there and more steps but lucy needed feeding i was sweating so i took her the cafe and let them 2 walk round.

now here is the worst bit!! leaving at 4 our train was leaving Euston at 5.07 so we tried underground (ill explain that bit later) and no avail got to bus stop couldnt get on the n74 or the first 414 had to wait for the next one then cos of the queens birthday thing (yes how badly timed was our trip for this!!) the bus couldnt move on once it got to green park so we got off tried underground didnt work then by this time it was like 4.45 so we were l like ahhhh

in the end jumped taxi to euston cost us 13.50 and we made it!!

so all in all our train tickets cost 108 total our bus tickets were 6.60 each and then we paid for the taxi!!! very very expensive day.

I will never go back to london again with lucy because it is just so not pram friendly! liverpool i find is fantastic for this. couldnt really believe it for the capital?

tube would have got us everywhere why do they not have lifts? is there a reason for this? how does anyone who has a pram get the tube? i couldnt fathom it at all!! so buses everywhere and it was a pain!!

all in all i did really enjoy it and feel i didnt make the most of it so definitely will go back with OH again soon without lucy!! and now shes fagged out on her dad! haha

anyway praise to those who live there i felt the hours flash before my eyes!!

and the london born people I asked for help were superb! very nice.

sorry for mammoth post congrats if you get to the end!!!

hope everyone is well love to all x

I mostly use a sling to get round London, I haven't worked out the knack of escalators yet. And I never go to the West End or big touristy areas! It's why I love my sling though. No worrying about getting prams up steps or if there'll be space on the bus.

There's no lifts on the tube because the stations are mostly too old and it would be too expensive. One of the reasons why I love the Docklands Light Railway is that pretty much every station has lifts and there's no gap or step between platform and train so you can push the buggy right on.

I am impressed you tried Madame Tussauds with a small baby. No way would I have done that!

Well she loved the whole thing!! Her eyes were darting back and forth and she really took it all in but she has always been a very nosy baby!!
On the little taxi ride she loved that! And I bought the pic of me and her together she's staring at something (which was the carousel with all the colours) it's such a nice thing to purchase and something I can show her when she's older

Katie you sound like you had a fun day... Look on the bright side - at least you didn't do it alone. Imagine my surprise when I went to Manchester via London to discover that there were only steps leading to and from the underground and I was carry luggage for a week at my parents.

I had a much more relaxed day... bought Anya her first rattle and other toys since I got carried away with the half price section in the elc. I then went to mothercare and spent another £50 on "summer essentials" - I got the best fan thing as Anya gets moody when warm and we're off to Spain at the end of the month. Also got a head support for the car seat as she has outgrown the newborn insert but looks terribly unsafe without something supporting her head.

I love shopping for Anya; must be careful I don't raise a spoilt child!

RE: Changing bag - I travel really light as I don't even fill my boots freebie bag. I carry nappies, nappy bags, mini sudocream (freebie size - I refill it),a less than half empty pack of baby wipes, changing mat (comes with it), a sleepsuit, a vest, a hat, a cardy and 2 muslin cloths. Although then I have my handbag too which contains: a purse with every card I have ever been given, keys, phone, satnav (never know when you might just need it), Nintendo DS, my passport and a prescription for antibiotics (just incase of a sudden onset of mastitis). So I guess I don't really travel that light.

Katie that sounds like our aborted attempt to go to the NHM. We're Londoners and it stressed us out so much!!! Some tube stations have lifts but most don't - it's escalators or stairs. Buses much easier but often you can't get on them with a buggy, especially our ma-hoosive double buggy, if it's busy. Well done though sounds like you managed really well under the circumstances, bet you were knackered when you got home!!

Catherine I love the contents of your handbag - esp passport in case you have to make a quick getaway!!

As if I heard you talking about me...

Thank you for the thoughts and good wishes (and your PM Catherine), an update on things here:

I am 30 weeks this weekend with our second baby girl. She's growing very well, and at my last scan at 28 weeks was measuring about 1-1.5 weeks ahead. Got one last scan coming up in July for 36 weeks. Fingers crossed she will have decided to turn around by then as she's obstinately breech for now. I finished work on Friday (hurrah!) so am embarking now on the life of leisure for a few weeks. Hugely relieved to have stopped work though as I am exhausted and so darn uncomfortable. Also I'm so much less anxious at home because I know that if I'm worried I have complete freedom to go and camp at the maternity ward for monitoring, or to use my doppler etc, whereas at work I just get more and more wound up and stressed when she's being quiet.

Bobbie had her 8 month "birthday" on Thursday. I cannot believe how much time has passed. Most of it's a blur tbh. I miss her as much as ever and still find myself hiding away in all sorts of strange places to cry.

I had a really tough and strange experience when we went along to an antenatal group last weekend. My MW was leading it thankfully so at least she knew our history and could be sensitive to it, but it was hard to go through the explanation of the stages of labour and what contractions feel like etc, because of course it made me walk through that day again. The other couples were all first timers and I didn't know what to say when they asked about me. I wanted to explain about Bobbie, I can't and won't pretend she didn't exist, but I didn't know how to and went a bit mute. Confusing too because in the context of birth I both am and am not a first timer - I've been on the delivery ward, I've been induced, I've laboured and delivered. But I've not done that for a term or near term sized baby, I don't know what pushing or crowning is like and I didn't have any drugs that would be offered in a normal labour. (And morphine is cack by the way!).

Baby number 2 is lovely and lively most of the time which we love DH likes to play with her when she's having a wriggle session and will poke her and blow raspberries on her and wait for her to kick him back! So hoping she comes home with us, and so bloody scared that she won't.

I'll tell TooImmature that folk are thinking of her. She's had the results back from Thea's postmortem, but I'll leave it to her to come and update if she wants to.

Love to all and your lovely babies xx
(sorry it's such a long one!)

It's lovely to hear from you spilt, so glad things are going well. Before you know it you'll have Bobbie's little brother or sister with you. I can't remember if you found out the sex?

I can't imagine what it must be like preparing for the birth when you've kind of done it before in such an awful situation. The antenatal classes must be difficult. I know I find some conversations difficult because of my losses, but they were nothing like yours as they were so early. Lots of strength to you for these final weeks. I think about Bobbie a lot as we had the same due date. You absolutely shouldn't pretend she didn't exist. She is, and always will be, your first baby. Nothing can change that.

Your ears must've been burning Spilt. Good to hear from you, and glad things are going so well for you.
It must be a difficult thing going to antenatal classes, am glad for you that it was your MW, and good that you are going, as you will need all that information soon when the time comes! (eek!)
Muser must have 'mummy brain' , cant wait to hear the news of your little girl in a few more weeks.

Muser sad to hear you have had losses in the past.

Thank you spilt for letting TooImmature know we all think of her, send her our love!

Ha, look there's second girl right in the first few words! I blame the 16 week growth spurt, my brain has shrivelled up over the last week.

at Muser! Come back out the corner you daft brush. So how big is your 16 weeker now? Are you getting smiles yet?

Split glad all is going well. I'm not surprised you find antenatal difficult, it must bring everything straight to the forefront again. Your Bobbie will always be your first daughter, nothing will change that. You must be getting excited about meeting your little one, mixed with some apprehension as well. Much love to you and your family.

Katie you are very brave to attempt central London. We live in West London and have not attempted it yet. Sounds like you had a lovely day though. I bet you all slept like logs that night!

Catherine passport? In case you need to leave the country? You are very organised.

All going well here. Isobel continues to amaze me daily. THe latest thing is giggling at everything and everyone, although only in the mornings. Its such a lovely noise! She is still sleeping through, heaven! We are still in 0-3month clothes ( she is 14 weeks). But we have a whole drawer full of 3-6month clothes ready, I don't thinkt it will be long....they grow so quick sob sob! I saw a proper newborn yesterday and suddenly realised how big Izzy had got.

Have there been some name changers on here? Or new faces, I don't recognise some of your names

I am getting smiles spilt, they are lovely things. Although she saves her best for her dad and random strangers. I am apparently not quite as smile worthy. Not when she could sit in the sling and grin at people in shops.

No laughter here, I'm jealous Cheese! We do have an impressive collection of squeaks and squeals. And some lovely gurgles.

We've been using 3-6 month stuff for a while due to lengh, although also still in some 0-3 months. I'm glad I switched to washable nappies as her big cloth bum is keeping her trousers on, she's long but still a bit skinny. Seems to be getting chunkier since the 16 week growth spurt.

I am seriously hoping we have now seen the back of that spurt, it was no fun. She was back to doing long stretches of sleep again last night. Long may it continue. It lasted an entire week, I can see why people go for the hungry baby formula or baby rice at this point. But we made it!

Lovely to see you spilt.