Thread 2 for us classed as more mature pregnant ladies

[AliasGrape]

Hi everyone.
I noticed our thread was about to fill up, so thought I’d start a new one quick. Hope that’s not too presumptuous of me and have to say thank you to @Sheera1 for starting the thread.

As the title says it’s a discussion thread for any pregnant women who are classed as that bit older for a mum to be.

Copying our list over so we can keep up. If you would like to join please copy and paste the list, adding your own details in date order.

Really hope I’m doing this right! 🙈

@Liveforholidays 40. Due 01/06/20 - Baby boy born 4th June 💙
@Ethellsmum 38. Due July DC5
@fool11 45, due July, DC2
@PregnantPorcupine, 38, due 29/07/20 DC1
@AliasGrape 40 Due 30/07/20 DC1
@stairgates Age 43 Due 5/08/20 DC12
@Dufferedup 42. Due Sep DC3
@Realladymarmalade Age? Due:29/08/20 DC (darling child)?
@Ferrylass 45. Due Oct? DC2
@3isthemagicnumber3 40. Due 16/10/20 DC3
@Brightonmaman 41. Due 19 Oct DC2
@LittleMiss7 38. Due 20/10/20 DC1&2.. TWINS!
@crispaddict99 40. Due 9/11/20 DC1
@Sheera1 41. Due 20/11/20 ds10
@onlyreadingneverposting8 44. Due 24/11/20 DC (darling child)?
@Frazzlerock age 41. Due 26/11/20 DC3 - 7th pregnancy
@EveningReflection 38. Due 04/12/2020 DC1
@MariaDingbat 40. Due 07/12/20 & FTM dc3
@AuntLucy 44. Due Dec
@passthemustard Age? Due Dec DC5
@sunlight81 Age? Due Dec DC2 & 3 TWINS!
@countingblessings 40 Due 19/12/20 DC2
@LJEva 42. Due 25/12/20 DC2
@Shroppy 38 Due 31/12/20 DC1
@Kiffers 42, due 01.01.21 - first child
@Liese27 38 Due 9/01/21 DC2
@footprintsintheslow 40 Due 10/01/21 dC3
@pinklillie 39. Due Jan DC1
@sk283 40. Due 21/01/21 DC2
@Antihop 42. Due 21/01/21 DC2
@mlctobe 41. Due 21/01/21 DC2
@Dia1212 40. Due 21/01/21 DC1
@Mummymilla Age? Due 24/01/21 DC3
@Viennoise 38. Due 26/01/21
@Louscarlet 39 due 30/01/21 DC1
@Celibacydidntwork 46 Due 31/1/21 DC3

Congratulations @MaryShelley1818 I recognise your name but not sure which threads. Being pregnant with a toddler is now joke. Mine is 27 months and I'm done in.

@Samk79 I think there's a few with big gaps here. I have a 21 year old then a two year old and now this one hopefully in January. It was daunting but it all comes back. Some of the guidance has changed but the basic principles are then same.

Hooray for crochet @Frazzlerock

@Clarkel1 how are you getting on? Not heard from you in a while and wasn't sure if you didn't know where we are. How's the pain going?

Ok I was giving this a go on my work laptop instead of my phone as like @AliasGrape I keep losing things I have typed, but it wouldn’t post!

@NaomiB79 Congrats on the girl. I agree on being so in love already. My private scan at 11 weeks it was so cute sucking its thumb and having hiccups.

@footprintsintheslow I too am having some nightly wakes. Generally my bladder and then I can;t get back to sleep for a couple of hours. The next night I am zonked though which is good.

@MaryShelley1818 Hello! Welcome to the thread. I am old and overweight too :) Tbh I was with ds10 and it was never an issue. I hope this is the same. The way I see it is that I am used to carrying excess weight, so it is less of an impact. :) I was fine until DS was 2 weeks overdue and I was more just fed up at the end. I do find this time, my stomach muscles are rubbish and already find it awkward getting up off a low couch. Just where the weight is I think. All my scans have been no problem despite a big flabby belly.

@Dia12 my bump is a lot of fat too :) I still love it though. Gives me an excuse to be proud of the weight there :)

@Samk79 I have a ten year age gap. I honestly can't remember it at all and am panicking a good bit. I remember being a bit rubbish at the whole thing. I was in a ward post birth at 31 with two girls about 18/19. They both had girls and were continually changing the clothes to these wee cute dresses like it was a doll. I was terrified to touch DS as it seemed an impossible task to dress him. It was also 30 degrees C and in a hot hospital so DS stayed in a wee white vest the whole time looking like James Dean :) I am really excited as well as terrified. I am going to try and be less terrified and try to relax a bit. It helps that DP is really laid back and that can rub off or it might infuriate. DS's Dad was very highly strung.

I also remember this glorious weather and I had a lovely garden and I was sitting inside as i just couldn't work out how to get out the house with DS and a chair and shade, so I just sat inside. I am a very practical and able person, but those first few weeks I just struggled other than sitting and feeding.

@Frazzlerock @onlyreadingneverposting8 Loving the bump pics! I need to try and get one up. Looks quite like my last pic. No huge change. Awww that is just lovely on teh snuzpod and having a wee sob. I am just so happy for you and us all to be here, especially given the first post we met on. This is one sticky warrior bean!

I had bought a few things as it was cheering me up and bargain hunting. After scan I think I will go a bit nuts so need to rein it in!

Frazzle that is so lovely that wee kicks are felt outside now too. My DS has been so cute. He is talking about it all the time and apologising for talking about it all the time. He and DP are both sitting with their hands on bump to try and feel kicks by my extra padding and anterior placenta are cushioning it for now. They are both being very cute about it. DP's first and DS has a half sister, but only sees her at weekends and he was little when she was born, so was not interested.

Hello again everyone.

Love the bump pics @onlyreadingneverposting8 and @Frazzlerock Here’s me looking like the side of a house last week so at 37 weeks. I went to a cafe with my friend which felt both incredibly normal and also like a huge event and totally panic inducing! Anyway I’d said to her that thanks to lockdown and basically not leaving the house in months there were no pictures of me looking pregnant. Not that I mind as it’s not my favourite look, but I thought the baby might want to see one day, so she took some! There’s one of me in M&S baby section wearing a mask too, which will be something to explain in future! (Or maybe the new normal still then?)

Frazzle that’s lovely about the snuzpod, made me quite teary too!

I was also awake in the wee small hours this morning, generally my sleep had been better in the last few days apart from needing wees, but last night/ this morning was a write off. I’ve actually just had an unintentional nap on the sofa.

@NaomiB79 congratulations and what a lovely scan picture!

@MaryShelley1818 congratulations too and welcome to the thread!

Hmm, trying to attach picture this time! Excuse bra line showing through.

Aww @AliasGrape 🧡 I can't wait to get to the stage you're at - although I'm sure I'll be eating my words! But what I mean is being so close to meeting baby.
What's the baby section like in M&S these days? I've actively avoided it for the past few years so I've no idea!
I keep seeing things I like online in 0-3 months and everything's always bloody sold out! I'd love to go shopping properly. My dream right now is going to Bluewater and taking my pram for a test drive and buying all the essentials, but uugghhh I'm way too nervous. I have a face mask but hate wearing it for prolonged periods.

@sheera1 your DP and DS sound so adorable. It's all so exciting isn't it 😝

I'm using the mobile app now as I've finished work and shut my laptop down. I much prefer being able to use proper emojis on the app, but still prefer desktop!

@Frazzlerock M&S was lovely and quiet which was good as I was fairly anxious about being out!

Not much in 0-3 months sadly! There wasn’t in the giant M&S near us that I went to weeks ago either. I’d dragged myself there in a panic thinking I wasn’t going to have any clothes for my baby as wasn’t finding anything online either, and then there was nothing in store. I had a little cry in the car park. At the one last week there was some very cute newborn stuff though - but thanks to gifts/donations I now have bags and bags of newborn stuff but if this baby does turn out a big one they may never wear it! I did get a winter weight sleep/grobag thing that was reduced to £11 from over £20 - it’s age 3-6 months so will be the right size for this one by Oct/Nov.

In terms of finding 0-3 months stuff I actually lucked out in tescos - my sister had been looking for me every week and there was nothing but last Monday there was suddenly lots of stuff. Hopefully as things are getting more normal supplies might be coming back in?

Here's me at 33. Rocking my new New Look dress. The bump is not too big really, he is a 50th centile baby.

I'm finishing work next Thursday and I can't wait. Feel tired, hot , fat , grumpy, sore ribbed and stressed . Just feel there is no let up.

I am with sheera frazzle and sam with the blended family/Dps first child thing. Absolutely terrified and still worrying that I am not excited at all . I'm.finding holes to pick in dp who is eally pretty perfect to me .. Think I'm testing him...clearly all my issues from last pregnancy and mad hormones at play so I'm going to dive in and start the sertraline that's been sat in my drawer for a month. . I just think hormones send me loopy.

Childcare - hoping to just need three days and being in Scotland in a small town am hoping for cheapness, about 500 pcm & the 20% off childcare account will be getting used of course ..that takes it down to 400. Plus my other kids school club fees.
I'm trying to not sweat about it and just reasoning that its really only two years of hard money graft before free hours kick in..right?

Morning

@Realladymarmalade I love that dress! I love polka dots, and stripes too. Your bump looks gorgeous!
Our little one also seems to be hanging around the 50th centile at the moment, although a few measurements are lower than that. Not sure if that's normal at this stage (20 weeks) and he/she will catch up, or if that means we will have a little one? The femur length seems much lower down on the chart. My two boys were huge at birth and they were also in the 90th centile as little babies. so I'd be surprised if this one is little!

Go for the sertraline Marmalade, you'll feel so much better

Ahh £500 is so much more do-able. What is the 20% thing? IS that a Scottish initiative? There are lots of Scottish mums here! Anyone from down south? Near Kent perhaps?

What about the tax free childcare scheme? I know childcare vouchers are no more (I used them for the boys), but is there another version of them? Surely we can get tax free childcare??? [clings to hope]

I have a question about baby clothes. Is there much difference in size between Newborn and 0-3 months? Is it worth buying 'Newborn'? If so, how long will they be in those clothes for? I've been buying 0-3 when I can (seems to be a national shortage in that size but not for others, not sure why)

@Frazzlerock there is a difference my 8lb 2 girl looked swamped by 0-3 and newborn fitted her much better. But after one or two weeks she was grown out of newborn.

Yeha I wondered this. I can't remember what my 9lb 12 boy was in, I know he wouldn't fit into the 'newborn' 7lb Gap babygrow I bought him Maybe I will buy a few newborn (not 7lb!) babygrows to get us through the first couple of weeks
Thank you!

I've bought a few white newborn things then we'll wait and see what we have before committing to much more. If it's a girl we are sorted. If it's a boy... it's 2020, he can wear pink and floral lol

@Frazzlerock some places (M&S is one) do an "one month" size it fits 4.5kg (just under 10lb). So fits in between newborn and 0-3 months. I know some people aren't bothered about baby being swamped by clothes but I don't like it personally!

@footprintsintheslow DS2 used to sleep in a gorgeous pink floral Grobag as a baby. He still loves pink now at 11 years old. When the colours were released for their year 6 leavers hoodies, he chose hot pink but all the other boys chose blue or some other dark colour. Pink really suits him! And in Victorian times, boys wore pink and girls blue, apparently. We don't discriminate colours in this house

@onlyreadingneverposting8 yes I prefer a proper fit where possible. Good to know about M&S, I will take a look

Frazzle thank you for your lovely feedback !

The UK gov 20% tax free childcare was what I was talking about. As long as each parent earns under 100k you can claim it. A bit of a faff to start with but the govt contribute 20% of what you put in..I'lll be registering him for that asap or else topping up my kids accounts. You need to ensure the provider is registered though. It's on the HMRC's website.

Agree that clothing is a nightmare. We have had little luck on line , there are some bits in the shops.
Newborn size is def a good idea dir the first 2-3 weeks for average babies. It takes a while sometimes to regain/maintain weight as I recall? Best they are snug. We have got some bits from next and family are picking up newborn and 0-3 each time they visit a supermarket.

I also have loads of hand me downs.

Questioning whether it is a bit weird to wash someone my sons old stuff- its nearly ten years old though!

@Frazzlerock H&M also seem to do up to 1 month.

We have so much newborn stuff, been given piles, much of it still new or barely worn. An awful lot of it is very pink and very girly girly though - more girly than I’d like even if this baby is a girl, but we’ll make use of it either way I’m sure. I also bought a few newborn bits. If this baby is indeed on 90th centile then none of the newborn stuff might end up fitting so seems a bit of a waste! Agree with Frazzle that there’s some kind of shortage on 0-3 month stuff, but I’ve managed to get a few bits together and just hoping we either get given or manage to find more of what we need once baby is here.

It annoys me that the only ‘neutral’ colour I’ve been able to find is white really, with a bit of grey here and there - I’d like some stuff in yellow, green, rainbow colours etc. I could probably find it if I was prepared to pay £12 a babygro but I’m not at this stage.

We have a carpet in the bedroom now. Collecting the next to me crib from in laws where we’ve been storing it tomorrow and getting that up, and then I might actually sleep a bit better knowing we are vaguely ‘ready’ at last.

Not actually ‘ready’ of course. I feel less ready than ever in some ways. It keeps hitting me in the wee small hours of the morning in a ‘oh shit, this is actually happening, how the hell are we going to do this’ type way.

@Realladymarmalade my two year old wears my 21 year olds hand me downs lol

@AliasGrape agree on the unisex colour misery. I really hate the beige stuff. Give me
Bold prints and rainbow colours any day. Boots were very good at that but can't see any at the moment. Also I don't like that the poppers in their clothes are only inbetween the legs for a newborn. Very fiddly to man handle their little limbs in and out.

My bargain today is 5 baby grobags 0-6 months and one unbranded baby sleeping bag for £15! Bargain!

Also got a sleepyhead deluxe and spare cover basically unused for £25! Not going to use it overnight with the Lullaby Trust take on them. More day sleeping or just places to put baby down safely about the house.

Very has baby clothes in stock if people are struggling.

As it finding out the gender it makes it hard to buy 2nd hand stuff as usually in bags or boy or girl not unisex.

I have a very active baby today. Kicking really low down. Can't feel outside yet though.

Where did you get the bargains from sheera ?
I need to get wome grobags but all 0-6 sold out that I saw ...

Scottish people my baby baby box arrived ! Cant wait to open tonight.

Morning all,

Ah I had no idea about the tax free childcare being available to all, thank you @Realladymarmalade I tried to create an account but I see I have to wait until baby is born so will do that once he/she is here.

I don't find it weird at all to wash your old baby clothes. I would have done if I had any but we lost them all in a flood we had in my flat I lived in before. Really annoying as I'd saved a good couple of black bin liners worth.

I'm so jealous of your baby boxes! They're such a great idea. I'm tempted to just buy one as it will be useful to have the box for downstairs sleeping and all the bits that come with it.

@AliasGrape and @footprintsintheslow I ordered these yesterday from M&S
www.marksandspencer.com/3-pack-organic-cotton-patterned-sleepsuits/p/clp60371493?color=GREENMIX#intid=prodColourId-60371493

Might be slightly more interesting than beige, and green is very unisex I'm going to check out H&M!

@Sheera1 I reckon you're deffo having a little girl. My day by day preg book said today that boys balls only just start to drop now so you probably won't have seen those at your scan. I might be wrong though of course!

I'd love to know where you're getting your bargains too

Yay for active baby! I'm also getting very low down kicks and feel them mostly when I'm lying down on my back or on my side in bed. DP felt some big ones last night and gave my tummy a little kiss which just melted my heart!

Has anyone been watching The Secrets She Keeps? My god its a hard watch for us. DP said it would give him nightmares! But it is quite a compelling watch so we are persevering

@Frazzlerock I'm watching it. I have one more episode to go. It is tough and it does cover baby loss and still birth which is very hard for me but I wanted to persevere.

@Realladymarmalade I had no idea about the tax free childcare either.

I can't wait to get my baby box, I sent my form away yesterday but I'm only 23 weeks so will be month or so until mines arrives!

@footprintsintheslow there are so many triggers but I think it will be worth it

I had a look at baby boxes. They're a min of £150 and £450 for the posh ones. I think I will pass for now!