Due April 2021

[BoJingle]

Is around who's due in April 2021? How are you feeling?

I was in a thread on here in early pregnancy, dropped off when I joined the buddies Facebook group, I'm still in it but its not really for me.... I miss having a place to go to chat pregnancy though.

If you still need vests and sleepsuits I'd recommend checking the Asda website as they had some really good deals on for their baby event think it was packs of 10 vests or 5 sleepsuits for £10!

My midwife has said to do my birth plan around 36 weeks but that seems super late to me, ordered a hypnobirthing book and going to look into maybe doing a course as the anxiety about having to actually give birth when I have such a crap pain threshold is starting to kick in 😔

@firsttimemomtobex given that one of my friends gave birth a month early and full term is 37 weeks it does seem late. But maybe they just want it to be as accurate as it can be so do it close to the time to avoid changing your mind.

Thanks for the heads up on Asda. My one seemed sold out on a lot of things - I popped in store yesterday. Not much new born size at all.

For the feeding - if you’re planning on bfing, there is absolutely no harm having the ready made bottles with single use teats in the cupboard - if all goes well you waste £10, but if it goes tits up (it did with us, quite horrifically) then at least you have it in 🙂

This time I’m planning to exclusively pump - I may offer the boob once we’re home and relaxed but no pressure on myself. I’ve just got a cheap bellababy pump, then once we’re a few weeks in I’ll invest in a spectra pump if I want to continue, or a prep machine if we go formula.

Hoping to avoid formula purely because DS has a bad allergy so this baby likely to also and would like to avoid that (but will have some formula in just in case it’s needed)

Hi all,

Congrats to the movers!

We did NCT the first time and it was invaluable for the friendship groups we made, but Im not sure I would if I'd had my first during covid as the meet ups really were key for me.

RE baby clothes I'd prepare for 3 changes a day at first with poop/sickness so get lots of sleepsuits and vests! Likely you won't need much more than that.

RE feeding, I breastfed and expressed with my first, but found expressing such hard work that I hope to tackle breastfeeding exclusively this time. I'm not buying bottles "just incase" this time as I gave up exclusively bf when it got tough last time around and I wish I'd persevered, which I might have been inclined to had I not had bottles in the cupboard. Such an emotive subject and no judgement here on whatever you decide to do. I felt so much guilt in using formula when I was told that I had oversupply that I pressurised myself to pump far too much and it was exhausting. Don't let it affect your mental health, baby needs a happy mum, however he or she is fed. There are lots of support groups for breastfeeding online, which I didn't know about when I had my first, so hopefully they'll help if that's what you want to do. Likewise there are lots of different formula choices. Each to their own.

@TheViewOutsideMyWindow

Hi all,

Congrats to the movers!

We did NCT the first time and it was invaluable for the friendship groups we made, but Im not sure I would if I'd had my first during covid as the meet ups really were key for me.

RE baby clothes I'd prepare for 3 changes a day at first with poop/sickness so get lots of sleepsuits and vests! Likely you won't need much more than that.

RE feeding, I breastfed and expressed with my first, but found expressing such hard work that I hope to tackle breastfeeding exclusively this time. I'm not buying bottles "just incase" this time as I gave up exclusively bf when it got tough last time around and I wish I'd persevered, which I might have been inclined to had I not had bottles in the cupboard. Such an emotive subject and no judgement here on whatever you decide to do. I felt so much guilt in using formula when I was told that I had oversupply that I pressurised myself to pump far too much and it was exhausting. Don't let it affect your mental health, baby needs a happy mum, however he or she is fed. There are lots of support groups for breastfeeding online, which I didn't know about when I had my first, so hopefully they'll help if that's what you want to do. Likewise there are lots of different formula choices. Each to their own.

“ baby needs a happy mum, however he or she is fed.”

Absolutely this and couldn’t agree more!

I tried to bf first time around but couldn't due to an undetected tongue tie. I had bought a cheap pump but it was useless. Second time around I intended to bf again and he took like a dream. I did ask every single midwife I saw though to check him for tongue tie before we left the hospital! I did buy a Medela swing pump and they are amazing! I expressed loads but typically he refused to take bottles.

Will see what happens this time around.

@Catlady21 I had the medela swing with my first, bloody incredible! Such a good pump and loved that it did the stimulation and express modes automatically. The feeding team lent me an ardo “hospital grade” pump and it was crap in comparison.

I’ve seen people raving about the bellababy so hoping that’s not shite 😬🙏

I’m so glad to hear you had a good experience the second time ❤️

@flappityflippers1

So much so he was still feeding at nearly 3yrs!

Third time round I'm happy to go with whatever happens, bottle or boob. Boob was so much easier, no fuss with sterilising etc... but bottle, I got so much more sleep! Lol.

Is anyone having lower belly pain? It's like in a strip along my lower belly, not excruciating but noticeable, and is worse when I walk making my belly feel heavy. It's so hard to know what's normal!
I'm having lower back pain too. Just finished a round of antibiotics for a UTI so maybe it's still kicking around.
I'm calling the midwife tomorrow.

@bunhead34 get a support band! I got this stich feeling and had to hold arms under bump when walking, the babygo belly brace £22 off amazon has been a game changer

@bunhead34 I have this but I'd call it low level period pain, would you say yours is similar? Let me know how you get on.

@bunhead34 yes I am having that type of pain, on and off.

When is everyone taking maternity leave from? I was planning on working up to 39 weeks but everyone in my company needs to take some holiday in Q1 so I’ve decided to take some holiday before my due date and am now going at 37 weeks, so only 5.5 weeks to go. I’m WFH, don’t currently have a crazy workload and am a FTM so I really thought I’d be fine to keep going until the bitter end but I’m now so glad it’s moved forward. My motivation to work has totally dried up and I’m feeling so tired and uncomfortable. Counting down the weeks now and feeling guilty.

I’m going off the week before, this could be at 36 weeks, or 38 - I’m just waiting on a few more scans before consultant advises best time for baby to be born (37-39 weeks). I’m only having 8 weeks off (work from home part time out of hours, sahm during day, so doesn’t make sense to take the income drop, and I adore my job)

I went on mat leave at 35 weeks with my first, brought it forward a few weeks as I was struggling so badly. But my job was very long hours then and I was on the road all week.

I’m really finding it tough now, keep telling myself only 6-8 weeks to go!

I would also add that I’m not eligible for mat pay as was pregnant when started job (didn’t find out until a few weeks after I started, surprise baby 🙈). Were I eligible for mat pay, I would be going off in the next few weeks 😭

I've already had to start mine, I went off at 28 weeks as social distancing and working from home isn't possible in my role so I had to go 8 weeks earlier than I planned! Only on week 2 and I'm getting bored at home already 😔

@LuckyFlash I’m the same - was planning to work until week before, but we also have to take leave in Q1 - a quarter of leave per quarter...really annoying! So was going to still work until week before, but use that as annual leave and start mat leave when baby is here.

There might be a gap in between work finishing and baby arriving, but I’m sure HR will sort that out.

@firsttimemomtobex they cannot force you to commence your mat leave in this situation! You should be offered to WFH if possible (which isn't for you) or a change of duties to non public facing and if they can't sort either of those to send you on medical leave (not mat leave) at full pay until your mat leave starts automatically at 36 weeks!! They cannot force you to 'waste 3 months of mat leave!

@LuckyFlash

When is everyone taking maternity leave from? I was planning on working up to 39 weeks but everyone in my company needs to take some holiday in Q1 so I’ve decided to take some holiday before my due date and am now going at 37 weeks, so only 5.5 weeks to go. I’m WFH, don’t currently have a crazy workload and am a FTM so I really thought I’d be fine to keep going until the bitter end but I’m now so glad it’s moved forward. My motivation to work has totally dried up and I’m feeling so tired and uncomfortable. Counting down the weeks now and feeling guilty.

I could have written this myself! I had grand plans of working to 39 weeks too and have now brought it forward to 37.5 (and feeling v relieved about it!). Struggling with energy levels and motivation - feel like my brain is checking out of work already, which is awful when I've still got over a month left to go. So am also guilt-ridden

I guess its pretty natural though. Luckily my work are great and super supportive. Just got to ride out the next month....and then fingers crossed I'll get a few solid weeks to prep for baby and get my head in the right space for the birth....really hoping he doesn't arrive early, totally not ready yet!!

@gretagreengrapes I work in childcare so no chance of doing non public facing either, it was my choice to go as government guidelines were saying we're more at risk after 28 weeks and obviously 2 -4 year olds can't exactly social distance so I didn't want to put myself at unnecessary risk even though work wanted me to stay. I've had some of my annual leave so technically only going on mat leave 3 weeks earlier than planned but still not the best situation!

I'm planning on the week before ATM, but may take some annual leave before then if it all gets too much. I WFH so it's not such a hassle with commute/social distancing etc. Pre-covid I did a 3.5h commute daily, which would be totally unmanageable now, so very glad to be WFH!

I will be taking mat leave at 38 weeks. I am not enjoying the stories of early births! I'd like a bit of time at home to nest. I didn't want to have too long as my OH works out so I thought I would just get bored.

@firsttimemomtobex

I've already had to start mine, I went off at 28 weeks as social distancing and working from home isn't possible in my role so I had to go 8 weeks earlier than I planned! Only on week 2 and I'm getting bored at home already 😔

Get an employment lawyer.

I'm finishing at 38 or 39 weeks but work from home too so it's not such a problem. What I really need is for DD to go back to school so I can nap during the day, it's torture right now

im due 12th April, and thats when mat leave will start. But Ive booked all of early April off using holiday, and every friday in March.
Also lost all motivation!