Due July 2022 (thread 4)

[CaptainCarp]

Hi all another new thread as the old 1 was almost full!

Previous thread
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/pregnancy/4445441-Due-July-2022-thread-3?pg=1

In my primary job I work p/t (3 days per week) and am in the office just one day a week. Of course, they now want us back in for 2 days pw (or 3 if you're full time). 😡Just as I'm getting properly huge and tired!

Spoke to my line manager and basically told her nope, not doing it. 😂 I wouldn't mind except my job really doesn't need to be in person at all, and the commute into central London just eats time, money, and energy. My line manager doesn't much care either way - it's HR that's the problem. I'm off on annual leave from 1st June until my due date on 3rd July, so there's not much time left to leave me be!

@NamelessBaby1 I've heard it isn't very nice. I've got anti-d injections to have instead which are horrible, I'm not wimp with pain but the last one I had was such a stinger I'm dreading it on Friday 😩

I'm not convinced they are even replacing me at work they say they are but they haven't even started recruiting yet.. I'm thinking they're just gonna let the rest of the team share the burden and save some money 🙄

How is everyone doing ?

I've had a real quiet day for movement
27weeks exact today - I do feel her I just thought by now I would be having them loads
Especially when she really kicks at times but that was over 2 days ago

I've been in twice for reduced movement 🙄each time being fine - I have gone back to work today and been super busy after being off for 2 weeks working from home so hoping she will give me some real big kicks !

I hate this worry - I know I can call in but as I say I have felt her but where some days she is so active and others not so much

Anyone else around this gestation?

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Feeling sinusey again today - that has come and gone on and off

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@strawberrysummer19 I sometimes don’t notice the movements if I’m really busy working. I’ve found it I’m struggling to think of when the last one was I’ll have a cold drink as that usually gets a protest kick but if you’re at all worried definitely go in. Better you go in and not need to than the alternative!

I'm another one that had their 28 week appointment today. Eventful as usual! Midwife couldn't find the heartbeat. She asked when I last felt movement and I said it was about midday (appointment was 1.40) and I said I'd felt him low down. So she moved the doppler really low and found him straight away. She said at this stage she'd expect him to be higher up in my abdomen but apparently he's comfy down low lol

In terms of movement, my baby is quite chill so not massive amounts of movement but he moves at the same times so there's a pattern to it that I can monitor

@strawberrysummer19 im also 27 weeks and sometimes feel very powerful strong kicks and other times just flutters. There are certain times of the day where more often than not i feel baby move but its not every single day and wouldnt say i have a definite pattern yet. The water and lying down trick usually works, or eat an ice lolly! Ive been craving them and baby tends to react to that 😆 if in any doubt call in but could use the advice of drinking a cold glass of water and lying down in a quiet room to reassure yourself if you think youve maybe just missed the movements

@ChinChilly 1st July is my last day at work too! Cannot wait. I've booked 3 weeks annual leave with due date on 25th July. I got really lucky because my annual leave renews in August, so I have to take it before then anyway so works out nicely as I will have a full leave allowance to play with at the end of maternity leave. I also didn't have a GD test, I asked the midwife but she said I didn't need one 🤷🏻‍♀️ and lastly I am also in the same boat with replacement at work - they're def not recruiting so it's gonna to be hellish for my team

@ShellUK09 I'm getting to that point with work now - starting to realise that the things I'm worrying about will not be my concern in 2 months... also need to stop worrying about what it'll be like when I get back to work as I clearly have no control over that!

@Hope3821 my car doesn't have an Isofix option, but my DHs does. So in mine I think we'll be working with the old fashioned seatbelt process! The car seat we have can be used with either Isofix or a seatbelt thankfully

@deliwoman1 I don't blame you! Commute to central London sounds awful. I have a 20min drive into the office 3 days a week and that is more than enough... I might also ask to drop to 2 office days soon. Bet they don't let me though.

@strawberrysummer19 I have days where he seems really quiet and I start to worry but pretty much on the dot around 8.30/9pm most nights he turns into a womb demon ...

@KizboBaggins my annual leave restarts in August aswell.. it does work out really well! I feel really bad for the team, there is nothing I can do about it but i do wonder what the team will look like when I go back, we've got a few off with long term stress already.

Had my 28 week appointment this afternoon, she did the fundal height thing and we're right on the bottom of normal at the 10th centile. She said it's nothing to worry about atm but they'll just keep an eye on it and I might have to go for growth scans 🙄

@KizboBaggins Ahh it hadn't even occurred to me that not every car would fit an isofix base and I just ordered a travel system that includes that lol. Had a mad panic trying to find the user manual for the car to see if it should be ok (fingers crossed I think it's fine!!) I'm so naive with all this baby stuff!!

@ChinChilly i had the same at 24 weeks and went for a scan that day but baby was actually big on the scan so never heard anything after that. Interested to see what happens after my 28 weeks. Defo see bump growing!

@JJ1992 @ChinChilly how do they measure the baby without a scan? Do they literally just measure the bump...? I feel like that can't be very accurate lol

@NamelessBaby1 same. I just watched that free Baby Academy webinar tonight and I am in shock with all the information

Some things I learnt which I had no clue about:

• Apparently swaddling is not recommended for night sleeping, only day time naps.
• They leave the clamp on the umbilical cord when you go home with baby.
• You don't bath baby until at least 4 weeks.
• We shouldn't use water wipes until 6 weeks.

I'm never gonna remember all this stuff 😅

Ooh I knew you were supposed to wait at least a few days before bathing them but wouldn't have realised as long as that! And are you just supposed to use cotton wool to clean their bums for the first few weeks?

For measuring, yeah they find where is the top of the uterus and measure from that to the pelvic bone (or so they explained to me today). I think it's called the fundal height. It's then just a case of making sure it's increasing in line with expectation from then on rather than giving an exact measurement I think.

@Hope3821 thank you will take a look at her Instagram!

I read ‘your baby skin to skin’ which gave lots of practical advice on birth and the first year. Both me and husband read it and thought it was really helpful!

I did this recently too but we were told to bath after the cord falls off. Not to use products for 6 weeks but could bath in water after the cord falls off. Now I'm confused 😅

There’s quite a lot of conflicting advice. I thought we were meant to swaddle newborns at night in blankets (not the swaddle bags incase their heads can slip down the neck opening)

You can use water wipes before 6 weeks if you want, midwives used them when we were in the hospital (although it’s probably sensible to keep an eye out for any redness / irritation and swap to water if there is any)

At home we used cheeky wipes which are washable reusable wipes and I really rate them, we still use them on DD so have got our moneys worth! They come with a scented oil but we’ve never used that, just water.

If anyone does go down the cotton wool route get pads rather than the balls. The balls will just stick to their bum (especially with the meconium poos!) but the pads hold together much better.

With DD we were also told to bath (if we wanted to) after the cord fell off but not before. We didn’t actually use any products for ages because she just didn’t get that dirty that it felt like she needed them.

The cord is definitely kind of gross before it falls off 😅I was not ready for that bit

@SoMuch2Say i don't think it's conflicting advice, I think it's more they are constantlyyyyy doing research so the information is constantly changing. The midwife said to make sure the sleep bag fits properly, some brands recently got recalled because the head opening was too big for the size they were selling. When it gets too overwhelming for me I just think that my granny raised so many kids with little help and probably limited resources and research and they all survived and are hardy and healthy! 😅

@Confusion101 lol of course they said different things in the exact same webinar 😂 I assume it was a different midwife. She said use cotton wool balls to clean them before 4ish weeks then you can bathe. But it's only guidance and it's to do with allowing them to absorb something on their skin that they're born with that is good for their skin (I forget the name)

@SamanthaVimes she did say "it's best not to use wipes before 6 weeks" but she didn't seem like it was a big deal if you did. I definitely will end up using them. I can see me getting really annoyed with cotton wool very quickly lol. Good shout about using pads instead of balls! How many cheeky wipes do you have? I might get some so at least I have the option

@KizboBaggins i have 25 of the white ones that came with the starter kit and got another set of coloured ones. I tend to use the white ones for poos and the coloured ones for everything else (because if you get poo stains they’re easier to get out on white, you can just leave them in the sun after washing)

They’re a bit of a faff to use out of the house so we tend to use disposable wipes for that but they’ve definitely saved us money on wipes over the time we’ve had them as we do a lot more nappy changes at home than out.

The skin stuff is called vernix or something I think?

A bit like the others have said, I thought you just shouldn’t bath them until their cord falls off. And then you just use plain water in the bath, no soap etc. Luckily my DS1 cord fell off ridiculously early like day 3 😂 they are a bit grim!!

@SamanthaVimes vernix! That's the one, thank you.

@annie1994 yeah she said no products until around 6 weeks too! Tbf the midwife was like this is all guidance, it's your choice what you want to do. Which if anything makes it harder in my eyes.

Honestly I just want someone to give me a set of newborn instructions to follow 😅

@JJ1992 ahh let me know how you get on at your 28 week app, will be interessting to see what happens.

@KizboBaggins Literally just with a tape measure lol it can't be massively accurate because everybody carries differently. I feel huge already but I'm obvs not lol. I've got a feeling she's going be a small baby anyway I was a small baby and neither me or OH are particularly tall but I guess you never know. Now I've said that I'll probs end up with a 10 pounder 🤣

I also feel like I need a newborn instruction manual.. there's so much info to take in

Just had my 28 week appt, had a nightmare as had to wait almost an hour in the waiting area as they hadn't booked me in right... Generally all was ok, had bloods taken, weight checked, bump measured, baby's heartbeat checked, blood pressure, and urine checked. Blood test will look at iron levels, to see if I am anaemic and to see if I have developed any antibodies. She did say baby was on 90th centile, I had no clue what this meant but she said it means baby is on the bigger size and will be monitored at next appointment. It could mean I have to go for another scan. My BMI is also up from 29 to 32 now... Baby was also still in breach position. She said all of this is nothing to worry about at this stage, but I feel like things are probably heading in a c section direction, not sure how I feel about that yet but I will just have to go with whatever is best anyway! Hope everyone else is doing okay 🙂

I didn't have my bump measured at my appointment yesterday, I was expecting it though because I've seen that starts from 28 weeks. No big deal I guess. I wasn't weighed either. I had my bloods done last Thursday and there's one result missing but there can be a delay so if it doesn't turn up in a few days i have to have the bloods repeated 😑

I wouldn't worry too much about size right now, there's still a long way to go and measuring bumps is not accurate. My first measured on 50th percentile for bump and at a 36 week scan and was born on the 98th percentile so predicted size can be really out.

Same with position, it's way too early to worry about it. As long as they turn head down by about 38 weeks it's really fine.

Plus with the whole swaddling, not swaddling, sleeping bags or blankets or what the hell is the right thing to do question - new small person will have an opinion and will seriously let you know if they are not into being swaddled or whatever way you've chosen to go. Mine screamed, literally screamed the house down when we attempted any form of swaddling and we pretty quickly learnt she was not a swaddle girl. 🤣