@annie1994 Thank you for your reply to my question about ready made formula! That makes total sense to take some with you just incase, for peace of mind, especially if things took a little while to get established the first time around. I hope things go well and thanks for sharing.
@SamanthaVimes Thank you also for your reply about breastfeeding, I appreciate it! That's a very good point that colostrum will already be there, even if I might not see it at the moment, and that the hormones will do their job to produce milk a few days after the birth. Yes they were saying on the breastfeeding workshop last week that the baby's stomach is the size of a cherry when they're born so a tiny amount of colostrum should be enough! My midwife had talked about trying to hand express some colostrum from 38 weeks, although I've read others say that it isn't necessary. As you said though, I'd maybe quite like to try it just for some reassurance, although I'll prepare myself that it will probably take practice and perseverance to get the hang of it. I've bought some of those little syringes from Amazon just so I have them. I'll watch a few You Tube videos first too! Thanks again x
@MollyRover I'm glad you have the option of your neighbour's help if you need it, that's good. I really hope your DH can be at the birth and all will be well. Yes I'll keep pushing the book issue with my DH as the room won't feel like the baby's own if so many of his books are there! I think we'll need to build an extension just to store his books! I'll persevere with getting rid of the first bookcase and take it from there 🙂
@Lianna93 It's nice to know that I'm not the only one living with a book hoarder! Newspapers and magazines are also a bit of an issue but he's actually going through those and throwing some out at the moment so I suppose that's a little bit of progress! 😄 Thanks also for your reply re. my breastfeeding question, my midwife tried to describe how to hand express at my last appointment but I can't really remember what she said! I've read that massaging or warming up the breast first can help though. I think I'll buy the haakaa aswell, at least for collecting milk from the opposite breast later on, as it has really good reviews. It's probably a really silly question but with the excess milk would you just store it in a bottle in the fridge and then feed it to the baby from the bottle some other time? A lot of things I've read say not to feed a breastfed baby from a bottle incase it then discourages them from latching on, but surely you need to do a bit of both if there's too much milk to consume in one go so as to not waste it!? Hmm I probably sound as clueless as ever but I can't think of any other way it could be done!
@CaptainCarp @Lianna93 @KizboBaggins I feel that I'll be totally the same when I come home from hospital, or even when they hand me the baby in hospital for the first time...is this actually mine? I've always been very awkward with babies too, just with not having a very big family, and minimal/pretty much no experience with them...when people used to bring their babies into the office in the days before covid, I was always the one who would avoid holding them as I never really knew what to do or how to speak to them, I just felt so awkward! When it's our own though I'm sure we'll feel different...I hope! 😄
@annie1994 I'm not sure about contraception yet after the birth...I was on the mini pill for a while and don't think I had any issues although I wondered if I felt a bit more moody than normal when I was on it...nothing major though! It stopped my periods totally aswell which was great at the time. I came off it around 7-8 months before we conceived and I didn't have any periods during that time...it might be more to do with me starting to do more exercise and count calories though because I felt that I hadn't been that active during lockdown and wanted to lose a little bit of weight. I think I unintentionally lost a little too much weight at the time and it messed with my hormones so my periods never started again which concerned me a bit. That's why I was surprised when the pregnancy test was positive although I had been getting a few fertile signs after I started eating more calories again! I never actually had a period in between stopping the pill and conceiving so my due date is based on my scan measurements rather than the date of my last period. Anyway sorry for the waffly answer! I suppose we'll see how things go and as others have said, the baby will probably be a natural contraceptive for a while! DH would quite like another baby aswell but I'll need to see how I manage with one before thinking about another one!
@Fingerscrossedfor2021HK Oh I hope you are alright, that must've been a scare for you! I'm glad you went in to get checked, and I didn't realise they could give medication to stop the contractions, that's interesting. I hope you and your baby are doing ok, and that they stay inside for a little longer. At least you're in the best place for them to keep an eye on things x
@GrowBabyGrow Welcome 🙂I don't think I've actually felt Braxton Hicks either and I'm 37+5...unless they've been really unnoticeable but maybe it's just one of those things that not everyone gets...I hope it doesn't mean my body is less prepared or something! My bump seems to feel a bit lower than it was though and just feels really full of baby, haha. Maybe a bit tighter than it was but I suppose that's to be expected with her growing.
@strawberrysummer19 I've had a few days when I've felt that the baby is more active than normal, a couple of occasions it has been really noticeable but then she has calmed down again. It made me a bit anxious at the time but she went back to normal so I'm hoping everything was ok! I think at this later stage the movements feel a bit different since she has less space now to move around in there...almost more squirmy movements and trying to press/poke out limbs, she probably wants to break free! As some others said we probably notice movements more at different times of day when we're less distracted, etc. It will feel strange not to feel movements anymore once the baby is born but at the same time will be nice not to have the anxiety about whether everything is ok or not.
@missv556 Hope you are doing ok, it must be tiring having had to go to the hospital so many times but it's good that they're monitoring you which will hopefully provide some reassurance. Not too long to go now, for any of us! It will be nice to feel normal again!