March 2024 second trimester onwards

[Busylizzie85]

New thread 😊

@Ellora610 those are symptoms of low iron but you are on a very high dose of tablets. It might be low blood pressure related especially if it's only happening during the night when you're going from lying to standing. But you definitely need to talk to your midwife so they can check what's causing it x

@gentlemum Thank you - when I check my BP at home, it does seem low, so I’ve started recording it. I’ve messaged my midwife about a week ago and not heard back. I’ll see if I can get an appt with her. Appreciate the advice! 😊

@Ellora610 having vitamin c like orange juice when you take iron tablets helps it absorb more. While having tea when you take the tablets make it absorb less. Also cooking meaty stews in an iron pot strangely also helps retain a lot of the iron in the food and helped increase my levels.

@Allaboard209 Thank you, I've been taking the tablets with vit C, not sure it's helped so far but I'll keep trying. I wasn't sure if using iron cookware would actually help, it's interesting that you feel it helped you 😊 I'll have a look online and see what I can find! 😁 x

Has anyone got or looked at breast pumps yet? Looking at the single Elvie but it's so expensive and the Medela swing maxi which seems to have a couple offers on. Any past experience with pumps? Thanks

@Allaboard209 I used a momcozy with my first. Wasn’t too expensive and worked well for me! It’s hands free but bigger than the Elvie (and I would guess louder) so it’s not as discreet. I had also read a lot of reviews about the Elvie leaking but thought that may be user error. I mainly breastfed so I didn’t need to use it loads either - I usually just popped it on the other side while I was feeding and built up a freezer stash for when I went back to work or was away.

I also had an Elvie curve which was quite good for early days - again could pop it on the other side when feeding and would usually get a pretty good output - once we got into more of a routine with feeding it wasn’t much use though.

That’s just my experience but I suppose it depends how often you’ll be using it and how much you’ll be reliant on it!

@Allaboard209 I’ve spoken to quite a few friends who have used pumps / breastfed and they have all recommended waiting until breast feeding is established before investing in a pump. Expensive for something that you’re not necessarily going to use.

I had my 20 week scan last week which seemed to go on forever since baby boy was have too much fun. The sonographer was filling in for someone else but I’m thinking now might have been quite inexperienced.

With my first pregnancy, I was told where the placenta was etc and everything they were checking in the scan. I then left with a mountain of pictures from lots of different angles (is this normal?)

For this pregnancy, the scan was nearly an hour long. The person sat in silence with me asking quite a few times if everything was okay. They didn’t tell me anything about the placenta, the size of the baby and questioned if it was a boy. I had a gender scan and it was quite obvious it’s a boy. I left with one fairly rubbish picture and told to return because he was uncertain about the babies spine.

Is this now normal for a 20 week scan? My little girl was born in 2022 so the last 20 week scan was in 2021 so surely not that much has changed since then.

Start out with a haakka to help with establishing a milk supply. They’re mega cheap and SO effective.

I personally wouldn’t fork out on anything more until you know that breastfeeding is going to work out for you and your baby. I’ve had a lot of friends waste a tonne of money by trying to prepare ahead of time, but once you’re ready they’re easily available with next day delivery.

i used a medela flex initially which was brilliant but not hands free (the hands free bra attachment never worked for me). Once I went back to work I switched to a fraupow wireless pump which was probably marginally less effective as a pump but a godsend in terms of being able to carry on working whilst pumping when I was at home (I wfh most of the week).

@Hiddenvoice you’ve almost described my 20 week scan exactly! There for about an hour, very little information
,no scan report and told to go back a week later as they couldn’t get a good enough look at the spine. My second scan a week later was so much better. Different sonographer (the same who did my 12 week) she got what she needed spine wise really quickly then just turned the screen towards me so I could spend some time watching baby while she detailed everything she could see for me. Came away with a paper report and a very funny picture of baby looking like he was smirking at us.

Have you had your second scan yet? Really hoping you have a better experience and a more understanding sonographer

Thanks everyone for the heartburn advice! I’ve tweaked my diet a bit, stopped eating 3 hours before bed and put a wedge under my pillow so I’m not sleeping flat, and touch wood it has been better. I’ve a midwife appointment next week so I’ll speak to her about possibly getting a prescription if I’m still having issues then

@glasspaw @Thwam @Aquarius93 thanks for the advice, I will get the Hakka for now and see how it goes with establishing milk later on!

Honestly I’m terrible with making decisions. I knew what features I wanted rather than what brand. I knew what weight was comfortable for me from day trips with my sisters two. Then I went to The Little Children’s Market and a health visitor was selling one in mint condition for £100. Checked the manufacture date of it all, checked for no recalls, some of if was still in packaging.

@Hiddenvoice My 20week scan was worlds apart. She asked if we knew the gender-yes from private scan and she confirmed it. She told me what she was looking for and why they take those measurements, she pointed out every organ, when I told her I was born with a head condition but didn’t know much about it, she spent extra time checking my babies heart and explained a few things my heart condition sounded like, how it affects babies and typical procedure. She was fantastic. Got about 12 good pictures. Over 1 and a half hours having a scan and felt very reassured after it

@SJ456 Sorry I forgot to tag you in my reply. Its two post above this

Just wondering what all of your diets are like?

Are you eating 5 portions of fruit/veg per day? How much water are you drinking?

I have fruit and yogurt most days for breakfast then take my Proceive Vitamins (which reassure me the baby gets everything they need), but then I kinda eat whatever for lunch or dinner and snacks. They’re always home cooked meals but sometimes will cook burgers, etc…

Today I’ve had..
Breakfast- banana, strawberries and activia yogurt with apple juice, Proceive vitamins
Snack - diary lea dunker, 1x French fancie
Lunch - ham and coleslaw sandwich (fresh doorstop bread) and packet of crisps
Snack - 2x more french fancies 🙈
Dinner - spaghetti bolognese
Dessert - Ice cream

Ate quite a lot today, without realising haha! Think I need to make some better choices, but interested in what everyone else is eating like…

@BabyD6
Hi... my diet sounds similar to yours! I have all the basics; fruit, veg, carbs, dairy and protein... but I've also treated myself a bit lately. I'm not cooking as many fully home-cooked meals as I used to, mainly because I'm too knackered after work and I can't stomach a lot of foods. I basically eat whatever doesn't make my stomach churn, which changes everyday! 😂
I think we'll be ok... I know plenty of people with far worse diets, who have healthy, happy babies! Haha.

That sounds totally fine :) my diet hasn’t really changed. Yesterday it was:

breakfast: toast with marmite
lunch: a buddah bowl with 8 falafel (I concluded this was probably too many falafel but the nice lady in pulped gave me loads and they were nice so I powered through)
snack: a love raw bar and a banana
dinner: tofu with a soy & ginger stir fry sauce

basically I just eat what I want and the only change is that I’m really hot on drinking through the day and taking my prenatal vitamins. Oh and no caffeine which is slowly killing me off 🤣

@Caroline88Cici
@HKS90

Thank you for your replies! I’ve thankfully got another scan this week. it was a consultant who did the first one and said it would just be a quick 5 mins one with a sonographer but I’ve double checked and it’s another consultant so I’m going to ask some questions and get them to double check things.

I left feeling okay last week but the last few days I’ve been feeling nervous and worrying that somethings wrong.

@BabyD6 I’ve only really started getting back into healthy habits in the last few weeks. I’ve had a long run of just eating plain foods! Now I’m just trying to focus on eating 5 a day (mainly veg) and getting enough protein and iron because I’m a vegetarian.

I have also discovered that Aldi do veggie haribo sweets though so they’ve become a regular new addition to my diet 🙈

@BabyD6 It varies a lot, I find myself sometimes wanting meat and sometimes being totally put off by it.
Breakfast - Porridge or Crunchy Nut (depends how much time I have to make it), cup of tea (one cup is fine for caffeine per NHS guidelines)
Lunch - Fish fingers & salad/chips. Or egg/bacon/bread/beans (strangely a full English brekkie is quite balanced for pregnancy needs haha)
Dinner - different extremes - Pizza Hut / Wagamama / home cooked Meat and veg usually in a slow cooked stew with rice or potatoes / burgers and chips
Snack on fruit/yoghurt/crisps/cake

So the diet goes up and down, as long as you aren't starving I think it is fine.

@Allaboard209 @Aquarius93 @Ellora610 @glasspaw Thanks for your replies! It’s interesting to know what other people are eating 😄

I definitely just listen to what my body wants! If I want a share bar of fruit and nut, that’s what I’ll have 😅

As long as I have my portions of fruit/veg with my prenatal vitamins I kinda eat anything after that.. Some days are good with fresh home cooked meals from scratch, and other days are bad with pizza takeaway!

I’m going to carry on how I am.. Seems pretty alright! 🥰🥰

@BabyD6 my diet is pretty good anyway but I basically just eat whatever I fancy 🤷‍♀️ I’m also very bad at following pregnancy guidelines 🙈 today I had a slice of tiger bread toast with peanut butter and jam for breakfast, more tiger bread with lettuce, blue cheese and tomatoes for lunch, and traybake with potatoes, Jerusalem artichokes, carrots, chorizo and sausage for dinner, sprinkled with nuts and seeds mix. Left the meat in the dinner though as I’m totally off meat at the min. I’m normally less bread heavy and would have something like fruit and yoghurt for breakfast but currently have a proper thing going for pb&j toast! I’ve also cut down on caffeine massively but am still on 2-3 cups most days 🤦‍♀️🙈