Baby January 2023!

[TTC24]

Anyone else due January 2023?! Found out yesterday I'm pregnant with baby #2. If my dates are right, I'm 3+6, due 27th January! My daughters a Jan baby, but was due feb (she was 3 weeks early). May just must be a very fertile month for us! We fell pregnant last May too, but never met them😢.

@VixenAndCub I wouldn't be put off by it. My DD is really affectionate. Always giving me cuddles and tries to share everything she has with you. She is a lovely child (although she is only 15 months so that may change) and really happy most of the time but when she has a tantrum it's a good one haha
Other than the occasional tantrum she is honestly the best child.
I'm very nervous about having a boy as I've just figured out a girl so it will be interesting to see how different they are

@lilroo87 morning ;)

You know what, I just manage. I do all my housework in the morning starting at 5am and so its done and out of the way when I come home from school run, and have time for my youngest two daughters. One of which is 4.5yrs and I homeschool also and working from.home too part time. I have 5 between the ages of 22 months and 14.5yrs. A lovely mix of boys and girls and the eldest 3 and second to youngest also chip in with chores. One washes up whilst I wash down the worktops and fridge, and the other loads the washing machine whilst one dust pan and brushes. In the lounge, I tidy up the toys whilst the eldest hoovers and one polishes the coffee table and tidied away books and crayons. We have a daily schedule and I wash all three girls in the shower at the same time, saves money and time. And youngest boy baths by himself and obviously the teen sorts himself out. As soon as we wake up, beds made immediately and washing up done after meals. Its good to have a schedule. People wonder how I have time for everyone and one on one but we do and we work hard to provide for them also....but thank God its all working out fine and blessed to have number 6.

Its getting more difficult now though as I have a hernia. I get it every pregnancy so everyone is doing more with prizes on the weekend for helping mummy.
It bulges out even just going up and down the stairs and bending down to pick up the toddler.

I also would love a water birth. I had one with my 3rd baby and it was amazing. I got in at 7cm and it was just amazing. Very relaxing feels weightless really good on your back and easier pushing. Would love it this time again. I have had all natural deliveries so hoping for that again. Even if I am to be induced due to big baby still can't.believe he was almost 4lb at 28 weeks. I have another one next Friday and probably will know where I stand with induction.

I really do highly recommend the waterbirth though.go for it if you can :)

And congratulations to everyone else and wish you all the best :)

@VixenAndCub my growth scan is at 32 weeks next week so hoping for the best when I see the consultant also. Wish you all the best for yours.

When will we all be getting our hospital bags ready?

@PopsicleHustler
I'm thinking of getting one together the first week or so of December so it's out of the way before the festive season. Still haven't got much in terms of clothes so when we get paid mid-Nov we'll be buying some vests and the like to go in the bag. Will buy formula around New Year's so it's in date. Want to get 99% of the bag packed by New Year's, since I'm due the 16th and I hear pregnancies after the first baby can come early. Plus they're thinking of inducing me early because of my health.
I got laughed at last time for the things I brought, had a duffel bag and they were like "you staying here for a while is it?" but I genuinely was stuck there for 3 days and ran out of stuff so hopefully I'll pack better this time 😆

@PopsicleHustler omg, I'm pretty sure you are a super woman. I am never on top of housework haha.
Glad you've got the kid helping while you've got a hernia, must be awful.

Maybe I will go for a pool then. I was thinking maybe getting one anyway and using it for last part but I wasn't sure. I've read so many people say that second births can be much faster so I'm wondering if there'll even be time to inflate and fill it by the time they make an appearance 🤣

@VixenAndCub @PopsicleHustler
I'm planning on getting a bag together around beginning of December aswell. I'm visiting family for Xmas when I'll be 35/36weeks so I'll take a small bag with me there as it's 300 miles away from home.
I had a huge bag aswell, fit so much stuff in and I actually had to stay in 1 night so I was really glad.
I did buy some of those disposable knickers as people suggested they would be good, I got the biggest size but I could barely get my leg in them, it was amusing 🤣 luckily I had lots of big black pants aswell haha.
I didn't even prepare with taking formula as I wanted to breastfeed and luckily that worked out otherwise DP would have had to rush off and get some

@lilroo87
It was a mess last time. I forgot baby vests, didn't have formula (I couldn't BF because of medication I need to have), didnt expect so much bleeding so didn't back enough comfy trousers for myself and ran out of maternity pads within the first day or so. If they didn't keep me in so long I'd have been fine. But they wanted to check my son's hearing since I was born deaf (developed hearing later on, due to a mutation rather than anything else) wanted to see if he was too, but gave birth over Easter bank holiday so had to wait. Had to ask my MIL for more maternity pads when she visited...was mortified. So definitely packing multiple packs just in case I'm stuck waiting for the hearing test again!
Nurses got quite nasty last time we asked for formula so we'll bring our own this time and hope she takes to it as well as our son did. He thrived on SMA so stick to that I think.

@VixenAndCub oh no, sounds awful.
I definitely overpacked but that was on advice of my cousin who has 2 kids and she just pack loads of everything 🤣
I thought hospitals had some formula to give out to people if needed.
I didn't like being in the hospital last time, my DP couldn't stay so I was alone and no-checked on me. My DD screamed for hours as she had trapped wind but I didn't know. I got moaned at for not going to the toilet often enough to help with the bleeding but I was terrified of leaving my DD cause she was so upset and I just didn't know what to do 🤷🏻‍♀️
I wish the after care had been better at the hospital.

@lilroo87
Yeah I wish after care was better too. They do have formula there but they had an attitude about giving it out. "You should have brought your own, why aren't you BFing?" So had to keep explaining that I can't even if I wanted to. The pressure to BF from my midwife appointments and the hospital broke me. Got to the point I dreaded having to ask a nurse for formula because I'd get a speech about how lazy it is that I won't even try 8 times out of 10. So my partner had to start asking when he was with me. I did bleed through once and I was so apologetic but the cleaner was so kind. She was the nicest person I met there...the nurses/midwives were so judgemental compared to her.
I don't understand how they want us to go to the toilet all the time and leave our babies alone... Not exactly safe.

@VixenAndCub that's just awful. Pushing breastfeeding when you've already said that you can't is not right. I do think they need to just be more accepting of a mother's decision when it comes to bf or formula. The funny thing is that there isn't enough help if you chose to bf anyway, I was given some terrible advice when trying to bf in the hospital, like not burping DD cause bf babies don't need it. This is what caused her to scream for hours in pain 🤦🏻‍♀️

I had a room which ended up being to myself so I was grateful but I still felt awful leaving baby by herself. I didn't sleep the whole night and discharged myself the next day against their advice because I just wanted to be at home with DP.

I keep being told the same about girls! I'm bloody scared, too! 😂 My son is really chilled. I mean, he's a bundle of energy, but he's such a good boy. If you tell him no, he understand and just cracks on. My friends with daughter, when they tell them no, all hell breaks loose. I'm not sure if it's a boy/girl thing, or a parenting style thing.

At least we've got each other for moral support if they're sent to test us 😂

@TokenGinger
My son's the same! May get a little pout that lasts all of 5 seconds then he's off. My cousin has two daughters and she always says how wild and loud they are. Seeing them compared to my son it's like night and day. Again, like you said, I'm not sure if it's girls or parenting. My son gave me a couple of white hairs, I feel like a daughter will give me a full head of white hair!

@lilroo87 my first was 3 weeks early and also a pretty quick labour. Aww that’s going to be a nice gap between your two. My DS is nearly 21 months so too little to understand it all but he’s very affectionate so we’re hoping he’ll take to the new baby well.

@PopsicleHustler How lovely to have such a big family. I've seen that quite often, whereby people have had tough childhoods and gone on to have bigger families themselves because they have so much love to give after not receiving very much themselves as children. I'm sure your children are very much loved ❤️

We're currently going through the process of organising our bedrooms at the moment, but once we've got the new wardrobes up and turned the spare room into an actual sleeping place, I'll get my bag ready. With my son, I took five baby grows and five vests and we were on our very last one when we got discharged 😂 And I had to send my dad for more giant knickers because I bled through the five I took so I'm packing for a week's holiday this time.

@lilroo87 I hear you on the hospital after care. I really wish there were wards where partners are allowed, then wards where partners are not so women can choose. Giving birth is utterly exhausting and when you have a tough baby, it's so hard. I was so overwhelmed that first night in hospital after being in labour all night and having zero sleep for 36 hours at the point he was born, to then have to stay up with him all night alone. I was delirious. I really needed DP to take over with baby whilst I slept but it was impossible.

@icecreamgirl94 aww, fingers crossed he does. It will be a tough time for them I reckon as they will probably have a lot of emotions like we will. I've made a plan with my DP so that when he comes home from work he'll take baby and I'll spend some 1 on 1 time with DD. I'm also looking at how to breastfeed in the sling that I have so I'll still be able to play with DD so she doesn't feel like all my attention is on baby.

@TokenGinger it's just awful isn't it. They sent my DP away in the afternoon and said it'll be fine for him to come back but he got caught in traffic both directions so he didn't get back to the hospital until 7pm and the visiting for partners was until 8pm. Because we were in a room on our own most of the staff just ignored him being there but there was one matron who was so rude and told him he needed to leave. This was after telling me that I wasn't breastfeeding right but not helping me figure out. I was just so exhausted and wanted to cry.
The after care needs to be 10 times better for everyone and yes, I agree on the rooms with and without partners. We're all vulnerable so it would be nice to choose if you have to stay in

@lilroo87 That sounds awful! It truly is an exhausting time for new mums. Like, you'd never wheel somebody down to theatre for surgery, then when they come around, hand them a newborn baby to look after unaided. Labour definitely felt worse than surgery 😂

I'm really stuck on names! Has anybody chosen their names yet?

My DP's heritage is Nigerian, and our son has a Yoruba name so this baby will, too. However, a lot of his family and friends go by either their Yoruba name or their Christian middle name and alternate quite fluidly between the two, so I feel like choosing a middle name for her is just as important as the first name.

We've decided to call her Kemi (her full name would be Adekemi) and my possible middle names are:

Cora
Camille
Lucia
Lucille

There are others I like - Florence, Leah, Felicity, Delilah - but I'm not sure they flow so well with the surname.

Does anybody have any thoughts on which might go best? Xx

@TokenGinger
It took forever to get a name for our daughter, naming boys was so much easier! We eventually landed on Lily Rose in honour of my fiance's Nan - they were super close. I named my son Noah James after my late brother so only made sense to keep the meaningful names going.

Out of the list you have, I really like Leah and Lucille. Saying Adekemi Leah and Adekemi Lucille aloud rolls off the tongue well. Works best with the full Adekemi and Kemi IMO of course.

@VixenAndCub Lily Rose is beautiful. Two classic, and timeless names. The same with Noah James. What lovely names.

Thank you so much for the feedback. Leah is my closest friend since childhood and I'd love to add that in there, but out of Lucille and Leah, I love Lucille more.

I think I need to say them aloud like you have a few times and see which one sticks best.

@TokenGinger
Saying the choices outloud definitely helped us when we were naming the kids. Seeing names written down, hearing it in your head and saying it aloud can all be different. Try using variations of the names in conversation with your DP and see if any sound better in normal conversation. That's how we went from Evelyn Rose to Lily Rose - Lily just sounded better to us in conversation.

Already decided on the name months ago, if it was going to be a boy! A nice Muslim name.
Very popular among muslim boys. But not as popular as Muhammed.

Haven't decided when to start on the hospital bag, maybe next weekend after my consultant appointment, so i know where I stand with induction. because she said a possibility being induced at 37 weeks and that's literally 6 weeks away. So I really want to get cracking. I always pack far to much but I would rather that, than too less. Not forgetting snacks and chocolate! Really need to sort through my lasts sons newborn and 0-3 bag but its buried at the back of the storage unit smothered in dust, old lamps and old hoovers, really dreading it.

@TokenGinger
I like Lucille aswell for a middle name, think it goes well with Adekemi.

@VixenAndCub Lily Rose is a beautiful name.

We gave our DD grandparents middle names so she has Mahala and Joy. I absolutely love Mahala and it was my great nans name (pronounced Ma-hay-la).
This time we're planning on giving baby my step dads name as a middle name. We don't like many boys names but there is one my DP is set on and we've been using it to see how we feel so will probably end up with it.

It's so lovely to see the beautiful names you've chosen 😍

I'm very much 'see what she looks like' right now. My some was Arthur right the way through my pregnancy and the moment he was born I said to my partner he didn't look like an Arthur. So we tried Noah and Harry for a while but nothing stuck or suited him. He ended up with a less traditional name: Grayson (Gray) which suits him so much. He's very individual and bold.

Trouble is now we don't have any girl names that compliment it well. We've got a list and will just see when she comes I guess. Here are some of them;

Delilah
Maeve
Paisley
Anwen (we are Welsh)
Willow

We welcome suggestions 🤣 middle name will be Joy.

I'm almost 32 weeks and so unprepared. I'm trying to prioritise Christmas but now the anxiety about not having baby things is kicking in. I guess I'll pack my hospital bag after my next appointment.

I had a a growth scan last week and baby is estimated 3lb 12. Not sure if I'll be having any more!

@CJones11 I am going to be very biased but I love Willow (we picked that for DD). If this one was to be a girl then we were going to go with Elowyn.
I love Anwen on your list aswell, did consider Arwen for a girl also.
Delilah I love but everytime we mentioned it we sang the "hey there Delilah" song so thought we couldn't go with it 🤣