August Due Date Crew (Thread 4)

[AnnieApple123]

Here’s a new thread for the upcoming new year.

I think we’ve got all due dates covered now but newbies are still of course most welcome. We’re a friendly, chatty bunch so do feel free to join in.

@Sjw30 people had noticed at my work before I told them too..
before I went into any room, did anyone bloods etc, was right in amongst the good bad and ugly..

But ofcourse now I'm restricted.. can't go into certain rooms or take certain peoples bloods etc.. and I'm actively avoiding the barrier rooms 😅
So I just said in the end as it was easier haha!

@ChloeN I think it's more proper deli meats with no trace backs they are more concerned with?
Like Asda etc can all be traced so it's less likely to have to worry :) but I've still refrained :(

@sally16 i bought it for tea after she said I could have it but I’m doubting it now so I think I’ll miss it, I’d be too worried 😬

@ChloeN I'd be the same 😅
I'm still annoyed I got stuck with some tasteless soup instead of pate at work night out though 🤣

Hey ladies! Can I join?
Think i’m 6 weeks and due on the 25th of August.
Haven’t told anyone in real life yet but due to go away with some pals for the weekend shortly so doubt i’ll be able to hide not drinking when out for 4 days in berlin :/
Dunno if i should tell my mum and dad when I see them next week so they know before i have to tell me friends. What do you all think?!

@ChloeN The guidelines around food are severely outdated and most midwives know this. That's prob why your midwife said it was ok. The NHS website has to be really really careful but in reality, do you ever know anyone who's got listeria from deli meats? Especially in the UK. Don't go to Tokyo and eat raw sushi from the street markets, but in the UK we are pretty safe. I'm really not a very good pregnant woman though because my godmother is a midwife and she tells me that the vast majority of food avoidances in pregnancy are really unnecessary, so I still eat deli meats (from the supermarket) and I do also eat sushi from reputable places where you know it's been frozen fresh and prepared properly. Similar with caffeine / alcohol. Don't get shitfaced, and don't drink in first trimester. But a glass of wine every now and then when you're 8 months pregnant really isn't going to harm your baby.

That being said, it's VERY much personal preference and don't ever feel pressured to do anything either way that makes you feel uncomfortable. Just do your research and make an informed decision 🙂🙂 (just don't do 7 tequila shots next weekend pls)

@somuchtolearnabout no I borrowed it! My sisters a neonatal nurse - one of the parents she became friends with had bought one from America (over a grand to buy!!) and donated it to my sister cause the hospital wouldn’t accept it. My sister lends it out to mums who need it and let me use it! But it’s gone back to the original owner as her sister had a baby really early. Sorry long story 🤣

@sally16 lol it’s just not fair 🤣🤣 we’re having it cooked in pasta instead to make me feel better, I wish I wasn’t such a worrier! I nearly stopped having baths all together but I had to remind myself it’s okay🙌

@somuchtolearnabout thats very true I’ve never heard of anyone to get listeria at all, the midwife didn’t even seem to know what I was talking about she just said avoid uncooked meat! It’s really hard to not get overwhelmed with all the info

Hi ladies, please can I join? I'm 7 weeks 5 days and due 17th August. I have been lurking but so anxious as this is an IVF pregnancy. 6 rounds, 4 transfers and 3.5 years later! Had my scan today at the fertility clinic and have now been discharged from them. Saw the heartbeat and me and my husband nearly burst into tears, just about managed to keep it together 😂

Congratulations and welcome @Narwhal88 and @santastolemycat
that’s amazing @Narwhal88!

@Havanalily1806 @LMM91x if it makes you feel any better, I put on about 3 and a half stone while I was pregnant, and I ate everythingggg. Like croissants for breakfast most days, so much ice cream, chocolate, cereal. Everything I wanted for 9 months 😂 and I lost half of it within 2 weeks of her being born without doing anything. I then cut myself some slack for 2 months (coming up to Christmas season). After that i calorie counted and my baby fb group set up a separate bit for all of us getting back to normal and did a weekly weigh in to keep us accountable. I lost another stone and a half from Jan to May when I went on holiday and then have yo yo’d with my weight up and down a few lbs since then with trying to count, but also thoroughly enjoying my maternity and going out for lots of lunches and coffees! I def could have lost that last 2lb and more if I’d tried 😂

this time round I just want to not gain so much as I’m worried it’ll be harder to lose after a second baby 🙈

I love your approach and thoughts to feeding @somuchtolearnabout 🥰 with my daughter I said I’d give breastfeeding a go and wouldn’t worry. I only lasted 5 days and had to stop, but honestly the guilt that I felt for not doing it destroyed me for weeks because my hormones were so mental! I cried so much even though I was never so set on it to begin with. My brain felt like a cloud and I felt like I wasn’t enjoying my newborn, and I was exhausted having it all on me.

this time round I still can’t decide what to do and whether to try for a few days for the colostrum, attempt combi feeding, or just go straight for formula. But I know I’m def not trying for EBF as I know I’m already going to need so much help from my husband with having our daughter too!

@PumpkinEverything I wish I could pretend it was as easy as it sounds but it really wasn't. I think because I did bf my first for a long time I almost felt like I had a duty, or an obligation to do it with my second. But the reality is, I hated it. I didn't want to do it past about 2 weeks but forced myself, despite knowing full well I should stop, but the guilt absolutely ate me alive. One day my husband just said enough is enough. Weaning him was just stressful because by that point it's habitual and your hormones go even more nuts when you stop bf. I also know for an absolute fact that our house was a much happier house when our journey was over, and for me, that's all I want.

So when I fell pregnant I told myself very early on that that's it for me, I have nothing to prove to anyone. Feed your baby however the hell you like. As long as it's your choice!

Also as a side note @PumpkinEverything I actually think your mindset is really healthy. Not sure what you're going to do, and don't put any pressure on it. If you're not sure, nobody says you have to decide until the baby is actually here - then you do what feels right for you. I will feed colostrum because I always found that bit "easy", but the very first day I feel like this isn't right anymore, that's my cue to bow out 😂

Has anyone else found their pregnancy symptoms a bit intermittent? I'm about 8 weeks and have had about 10 days of just wanting to sleep and feeling mega fatigued, like I didn't even want to stand up. Today, I've got a bit more energy and I'd be lying if I said it wasn't concerning me 🙈 I still feel sick, and it still took me 45 mins to decide what to have for lunch because nothing was appealing 🤦‍♀️ but yes, some of these symptoms feel very intermittent. Is anyone feeling the same?

@Createcomet Yes me! I’ve been tired pretty much all the time but my boobs hurt more times than others. And nausea pretty much disappeared for 2 weeks but has now come back intermittently. I’m 8+4

@PumpkinEverything same here with the breastfeeding thing. I was so worried about everything else that I wasn’t really certain on breastfeeding at all last time but I felt like I didn’t have a clue what I was doing so just gave up. I didn’t expect to be bothered by that and I wasn’t at first. The midwife said to wear a bra at all times and my milk would dry up. About 5 days later he was screaming the house down getting his nappy changed one night and I started to leak through my top. I suddenly went back into not having made a decision about it again and thought maybe it’s not too late to restart if there’s still milk there, I felt all this guilt about letting it dry up. I bought a pump and tried to get it going but gave up again within a few days and convinced myself it was too late. I want to be a bit more prepared with an approach this time. I do want to aim to give them some maybe for a month or two if I can even manage that but I’m going to try and have things figured out a bit more beforehand this time and not be scrambling about ordering pumps in the middle of the night 😂

@Createcomet me too some days of sickness are worse than other and my boobs feel better one day then sore another. I’m assuming it’s normal! I’ve had a bit of a back ache tonight but I get that not pregnant too so trying not to worry

@somuchtolearnabout @PumpkinEverything I also hated breast feeding, im gonna buy the mom cozy and just pump and use formula.. im not stressing myself like last time for to end up miserable again!
Some people love it.. I am not that person lol

I’m in one of those bad moods again where I don’t know what’s actually even wrong with me. I think it’s probably a combination of it being January, the weather being awful, feeling sick, feeling tired and just not having any interest or motivation to do anything 🤦🏼‍♀️ I just want to climb into a hole and come back out in spring 🙈

@sally16 this was what I hope to do this time I think. I will try and do the colostrum syringes if I can and then just pump alongside formula without actually putting baby to the boob. I thought I was weird for having no urge to do that last time and it almost creeped me out but since then I’ve seen loads of things about it and saw someone on YouTube say it weirded them out and they just pumped instead so I think this would be ideal for me, as long as I know what I’m doing

As a first time mum I'm very unsure what I'll do regarding BF, but seen so many people say it becomes an obligation/chore, and seen a friend stress herself half to death about bf not going well, and me and my partner were both only BF for 6 weeks and we're fine, so I think I'm going to try for a bit but put no pressure on myself and not worry about it if it isn't going well, or keep it up if I have no issues. Fed is definitely best imo, however that may be.

@santastolemycat congrats! 💙
I was six weeks when I had a weekend away with some friends planned, I just told them :)
I was very tired at 6 weeks, so it helped having their understanding.

I've also just told everyone else in my life, so maybe I'm not the best to go by!
I don't have a lot of people in my life, so I see no point in waiting till an arbitrary number of weeks before I tell them as if anything were to go wrong the people around me are the ones I'd want support from.
I wouldn't do well if anything went wrong and I hadn't told anyone, I definitely need support from people, but that varies person to person of course!

@BCxx I like the idea of pumping, but in reality I found it really really stressful, time consuming and felt like kg was the worst of both worlds 😭 I didn't have either the convenience of breastfeeding, or the convenience of bottle feeding. Definitely totally natural to not have the urge or just feel like you don't "want to". It's personal preference and you should never feel any guilt about that.

@BCxx I also get in those funks sometimes where it doesn't matter what people do, they still manage to piss me off. I think for me it's the sheer exhaustion and lack of motivation, just makes me have a very short fuse.

I breastfed and pumped combo with my little boy, we planned to do formula alongside but he projectile vomited every formula we tried 🤦🏻‍♀️ eventually got diagnosed with CMPA at 6 months and got put on special formula, weaned off breast at 7 months after 2 awful lots of mastitis.

I will say though I found breastfeeding itself easy, no bottle prep and no planning for out and about. I pumped loads so my other half could do feeds and I could actually leave the house without baby when I needed to. I enjoyed feeding, and will definitely try and do it again. But definitely agree fed is bed, and your mental health comes top priority.