Due January Part 4! 🎉

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I can’t see a new part 4 as part 3 is now at 1000 replies!

Telling work tomorrow, don't know how to go about it to be honest. Really nervous.

@Luhou my manager knows already but I plan to tell my team and further management and HR tomorrow too. Good luck! I'm sure it'll all be absolutely fine! ☺️☺️

Thank you! I think I'm going to try tell eveyone tomorrow (we don't have a HR department) but I'll go to my manager first. Best of luck! I can't hide it any longer. I feel massive!

@Kalodin take her aside when you get there, tell her then see what she says.
Do you usually drink at events like that, or are you showing? That may make it obvious.

Am I the only one in this group not finding out what we're having?!
I keep being told by family with children that the surprise of what you've had at the end totally outweighs knowing early.

@Matildahoney totally personal preference, loads of people like it to be a surprise! 😍

@suz2285 just feels like I'm the only one in the group not, so was just wondering if that was actually the case!

@Matildahoney we stayed team yellow with our last one. Might find out with this one though.

Bit off topic but this is my first baby. I don’t plan on breastfeeding - my own choice for a couple of reasons.

I am wondering if anyone has got/had a prep machine and can offer me their opinion. Some of my friends have said it’s great and some of my others don’t rate it. The internet is telling me the same thing. So I’m conflicted on whether or not it would be beneficial for us to have.

@MrsJ6921 my first too, but my niece worked in a nursery and she said they were amazing, so much that she's getting one as she isn't breastfeeding.

@Matildahoney we didn't find out with ds, tbh the joy of him actually arriving was the best bit of the day.

We're finding out this tome because he wants to know. Plus he finishes nursery a couple of days after the 20 week scan, so it'll be nice to tell the team there what we're having.

It is all personal preference, and there's no wrong way of doing it.

@Matildahoney we almost didn’t find out with our DD. Went to the 20 week scan with that intention but changed our minds right at the end! I think a surprise is so lovely but I couldn’t do it, realised I’m far too impatient.

@MrsJ6921 we had a perfect prep and will use it again if we use formula. Found it was especially amazing during the night for those sleepy night feeds! Found boiling water and waiting to it to cool down with a screaming baby was so stressful but these make them the perfect temp in just a couple of minutes.

I had perfect prep for first baby and it was great. Would recommend if you’re planning to formula feed. I Breastfed 2nd baby exclusively so didn’t need it again. Planning to breastfeed again this time.

@Matildahoney im too impatient and too much of a control freak so I have to know 😂

@MrsJ6921 I breastfed but gave the odd bottle until he was 10 months when we went to bottle feeding.

We didn’t have a perfect prep. I just used 2 flasks, one with cooked boiled water and the other with boiling water and a milk tub with 6 scoops in. I used 4oz of the cooled water with 2 of the hot water and then the scoops. (I think that was the combo).

My concern of the perfect prep was the reports of black mould growth in the tubing inside, came up several times in reviews.

Congratulations @lucya66 on your girl.
I’ll be finding out at my anomaly but that’s not until 21+6.

@Kalodin i got sale code for TS with AXS and waitlisted for ticketmaster. Not sure why I got both. I’m not holding out much hope to actually get tickets though!!

@Matildahoney I think we’ve decided not to find out at the scan and have a surprise when he/she is born. One of the midwives I’ve seen said it seems to be swinging towards more couples not finding out recently, after almost everybody wanting to know over the last few years. I’m sure there are plenty of others out there if that’s the case.

It’ll also prevent me from going overboard on buying clothes as I’m sure there are only so many neutral sleepsuits I can buy!

@Matildahoney Out of my colleagues, friends and family members, I am unusual to have found out! They all think I'm odd in wanting to not have that surprise at birth

We looked at perfect prep as I combi fed DS but the way they work doesn't corform to the NHS guidelines for sterilising formula so decided against it. Instead we got a few Nuby rapid cool flasks which were only about £30 each and cool a full bottle in a few minutes. Can even use them when out and about so if I fail to feed properly again will definitely use them again!

Def get one. The only way of making formula that does conform with nhs guidelines involves waiting 30 mins for the boiled water to cool. Who the hell manages that at 3 in the morning when baby decides there and then they want a bottle? I exclusively breastfed for the first couple of months then bottle fed and it was brilliant. Hoping to breastfeed for longer this time but if we use bottles I’ll definitely be using the machine again.

Just make sure you buy the proper filters and run a cleaning cycle regularly.

My family always moan because I found out what I was having with my other 3 children but for me personally I think the baby is the surprise, not so much the gender. Who will he/she look like, hair colour etc etc so to me it was still just as special plus I like to be organised and prepared 🤣

@Matildahoney before getting pregnant, I always said I'd want to keep it a surprise but I didn't realise how little you know about baby/how few scans you have (naive I know!). So now I want alllll the info I can get so will probably find out at 20 weeks. Also someone told me it's easier to bond as you can picture it more? But I guess that's personal preference, it's my first so no idea on that one!

On breastfeeding, I think I want to try combi feeding (think that's what it's called?!) As I'd like husband and grandparents etc to be able to feed baby too. Obviously no idea how or if this will work for us. Anyone been successful with it? I've not read a lot about it yet but I know baby can start to refuse breast if they get used to a bottle?

@FirstT1meMum thank you :) best wishes with yours x

We are hoping to find out the gender because it's quite hard here to find neutral clothes and im not going shopping straight after my csection. Plus it will make choosing the name a bit easier lol
@Onedayatatime24 i was breastfeeding my first daughter for few months and then had to give her bottle as well because she wasn't gaining weight. Managed to do that for only few months because i didn't get enough milk and she really didn't like breastfeeding anymore, she preferred the bottle.
Her father did all the bathing with her, that was their bonding time and their thing to do together 😊

@LittleAlien24 aw I didn't think of that at all! I'm really lucky that DH gets 6 weeks off for his paternity leave so I've been thinking how I can help him to feel useful when all they're doing is sleeping and feeding. Having something that's theirs like bath time is perfect if I do manage to fully breastfeed. Thanks for the idea. 😊

I'm not precious either way on the feeding front (not atm anyway), will just do whatever is best and easiest for us and baby. I know so many people who really struggled physically and mentally with breastfeeding so won't push it if it doesn't work out for us.