Due March 2023 - thread 5

[TeddyBeans]

Off we go again 😘

23/2 - botleybump 💓
24/2 -
25/2 -
26/2 - TeddyBeans 💓
27/2 - Ubbee 💙
28/2 - BabyNumber3OnTheWay 💙
1/3 -
2/3 - BethBeef 💙, Cams50 💙
3/3 - LittleAcorn20 💛, LaForza101 💙, SammyJay5 💓, pamplemousse19 💓, Lauren11x 💙
4/3 - EastyBaby19 💙, Cdoc 💙
5/3 - Babynum2 💙, hopingforarainbow27 💓
6/3 - allthingssparkly, Thirdtimesacharm3 💙
7/3 - GreenIsle 💓, Noodle20, Pickles23 💛
8/3 - Splashh, June628 💓, BabyLimey 💛
9/3 - Penelope_2023
10/3 - iratepirate 💛, PeonyPops 💓
11/3 -
12/3 - Katlouise24 💓
13/3 - ToffeeEl 💓, Franklin321 💓
14/3 - beatingheartbaby 💓
15/3 - Hrf1503 💓, TTC24 💙
16/3 -
17/3 - Room4onemore 💓
18/3 - XjustagirlX 💛, CristinaNov182 💓
19/3 - Dreamingof3 💓, alotoftutus 💙, AK93 💙, hellosunshineagainxxx 💙, Allthegirls3 💓
20/3 -
21/3 - FirstTimeTryer93, LifeOfRiley1 💛, Rose429 💓
22/3 -
23/3 - Choc2022 💛
24/3 - whydotheyallhaverubbishwheels, Charlothevet88 💛, Mrs2022 💛, Blocklynn 💛
25/3 - Whywhwhy, Missy95 💛
26/3 - purplerain555
27/3 - Cats23, firstlittleone 💓, dmb91 💛, AGirlsNameIsAryaStark 💛, hol92 💙, Amy1303 💛, Bobduncan 💛, OonMP 💛
28/3 -
29/3 - Perexi 💙
30/3 - ChristmasJumpers 💓
31/3 - Baby2iscooking 💛

I’ve never had braxton hicks or after pains, which are meant to get worse after every birth, but I’ve been extremely lucky so far

@havanamama I didn't take formula at all. Figured DH could drop to the hospital if necessary and my midwife said if I hoped to breastfeed it wasn't necessary. Nobody's 'milk' comes in for a good few days, but what you have will be enough for your baby. It's still very concentrated like colostrum (thick, yellow) on the first few days (which is enough for baby stage) and the amount baby needs is not much more than a teaspoon every feed. Much less than what a formula fed baby would be taking and cannot be compared in terms of volume.
I think often people freak out about this as it is unnerving to not be knowing how much they're getting versus a formula fed baby, but you have to trust your body.
Your mature milk (the white stuff, that you'd think of as milk) comes in properly around day 4. Everyone is different (in terms of exactly when it comes in) and breastfeeding is a two way process with your babies body talking to your body about what they need through their salvia! So trust your body and your baby to change your milk accordingly over the first few days.
You can tell your milk is changing over that first week by the colour/consistency of their 💩 and the amount of wet nappies, so you'd have a good indication of whether things are working well or not so after a few days.
Here's a useful link about how much they need www.medela.us/breastfeeding/articles/how-much-breast-milk-should-a-newborn-eat

Sorry if I'm telling you things you already know. But when I was a FTM I had no idea of this.

Also, I do realise there are cases and complications where milk doesn't come in as it should. I think it's just saying the worry is if it isn't in after a few days, which means your partner defo has time to nip out for formula even if you have a few days staying on postnatal.

@Eastybaby19 Braxton Hicks here for a couple of weeks now and I'm 28+1.
They're only mild at the min, just tight and mild discomfort. Not really bothering me yet except to take me by surprise

@havanamama read back and it should say "is enough for baby AT THIS stage"
Obviously not enough for the whole baby stage as my typo implies 🤦‍♀️

Thank you all!

Thanks everyone! Yes spotted early and small clots so treatable. Just got to wait to see consultant for plan for birth and stopping the blood thinners on time.

It’s my little lady’s 1st birthday today, can’t believe it was a year ago that she was placed in my arms. It goes so quick

Had our 4D scan today and little lady was blowing us kisses 😚
29+2 for anybody who's interested (though measuring at 30+3 😳)
Got plenty of lovely pictures and she looked quite different to the sneak peek we had around 24-25 weeks.

We got our 4D scan too! We got a cheeky girl by the looks of her sticking her tongue out! Haha, all she did was yawn too🥹

Aha! Adorable!

Oooh I love these 4D scans! Makes me so sad my little terror wasn't playing ball ☹️

Aww! If it helps...our little lady got sick of all the attention and definitely gave us the finger towards the end 😂

Such gorgeous scans 🥰 we're going to book one in for after Christmas and take our mum's as a surprise, although both say the 3D scans are "creepy" haha

I can't believe braxtons hicks can start so early!!! I thought they were reserved for near real labour 😬

@TeddyBeans they had me up and walking 3 times to get baby girl to move...wasn't holding up hope until I sneezed and it woke her right up haha. I was there for 3 hours total!

These are the only pictures I got 😕 a skull and a third of her face

Insomnia has kicked in tonight 😞 anyone else struggling to sleep?

I’ve been struggling with sleeping for months now 😑
Luckily there is always plenty of work to do, so I’ve stopped even trying tbh.

@iratepirate oh you poor thing, it's so rotten. I gave up an hour ago and am sitting in my living room doing some scrapbooking now. May as well be productive! I feel tired, will probably have to nap later but sleep is just not coming today

I’ve been sleeping 8-10h, but most times feels not enough 😄

when baby is here I think we might get a sleep consultant or do a sleep training program

any recommendations ?

I wouldn't worry about that just yet, baby might sleep incredibly well. DS slept beautifully through the night from about 12 weeks until he was almost a year. Then had a sleep regression, went back to sleeping beautifully until he was 2.5 then had another one. He's 4.5 now and mostly sleeps well without having had any input from external sources.

I would recommend the wonder weeks app so you can see roughly when they're due a development leap which affects their sleep

Thank you @TeddyBeans ! Just downloaded it.

My biggest piece of advice re sleep is, ignore everyone else! People want you to think newborn babies should all sleep 6 hour stretches and will have allll their own opinions on how to get a baby to sleep...but the reality is, it's completely normal for them to not sleep, at least not in longer stretches until they are much older and accepting it and going with the flow is the best way to deal with it (from a mother of 2 children who didn't sleep through the night until 2 years old 👍)

@havanasecond the wonder weeks app as a brilliant app, we used it to guide us on nap times.
And I also second the fact that babies just aren't meant to sleep for long stretches biologically. My opinion is that sleep consultants are a bizarre waste of money, they're essentially being paid to do something that ultimately goes against nature, and I've heard lots of stories where people have paid for them only for it to last a couple of weeks and then go back to normal.
Babies need to learn their circadian rhythm.... There will be so many things that affect their sleep like teething, illness, developmental bursts over the next two years that a sleep consultant has no hope of fixing.
Sorry, I'm a bit cynical with these things. @Dreamingof3 hits the nail on the head saying just accept it for what it is. Acceptance and strong coffee is the answer to most things in the early years in my experience ☕

I thought this was a great book on sleep
www.amazon.co.uk/Gentle-Sleep-Book-toddlers-pre-schoolers/dp/0349405204/ref=asc_df_0349405204/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=310831412334&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=6792840966010113233&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1007011&hvtargid=pla-434127105086&psc=1

And the author is good to follow on Instagram too 😊

Absolutely strong coffee @LittleAcorn20 😂😂 also with my eldest I listened to everyone when they said I absolutely must put the baby down to nap...but then she'd never sleep longer than 5 minutes 🙈 contact napped with no.2 and she napped much better, which in turn helps their overall sleep