September 2024 - Thread 8!

[SpicyMoth]

Continuation from thread 7 over here; https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/pregnancy/5070517-september-2024-thread-7?page=40

Can't believe we filled the last thread up already feels like it wasn't even made that long ago, gosh time is absolutely flying by!!

@WinsandSam - I'll have to ask about CBT for sure, thanks so much for the recommendation - maybe I'll actually get some help seeing as I'm pregnant!

I've been trying to get mental health support for... Well to be honest since teen-hood and realising my daily crying was not in fact "just my period/puberty" as every doctor told me it was (all males ofc, typical 🙄) so I don't hold out much hope if I'm being honest.
I originally wanted to wait until my MH was sorted before ttc, but after over a decade I was running out of fertile time frankly, so here I am still with crazy anxiety and emotional dysregulation, but what can ya do?! 😅

Question for those of you who have done this before.
I'm going to do a half hearted hospital bag pack soon after my trip with the blood clot at the weekend it would be easy to have something to grab with medication, charger etc in if I need to go back in.
But for the full blown pack for giving birth what do you pack it into. My list seems to be big enough I will need a full on suitcase... is that normal?

@rupertbear91 I had a wheel-y wee case, like handluggage size?

Best advice I got was to get ziplock bags and put everything into wee bundles and label the bag - “newborn outfit set” (complete set with vest and babygrow, scratch mits, whatever you’d like), “tiny baby outfit set”, “tiny nappies”, “bigger nappies”, “maternity pads”, “breast pads”, “clean jammies for me” and so on. So that if you need to ask partner/midwife to grab something out the case for you, it’s easy for all involved! It was brilliant for us, and took one less stress out of my husband’s head 😂

@rupertbear91 here’s what I took with my first, didn’t need it all (didn’t need shampoo etc as was discharged same day) but definitely had everything I could’ve wanted. Shorts for partners for sure, it gets so hot!

@rupertbear91 and for baby, sorry. Definitely didn’t need all of this but would’ve if we had stayed in. We used 2 sets of clothes in 4 hours 😂

(ps sorry for all the posts everyone!)

@MrsM89 if it’s any help mine told me if I’m not immune they will do a blood test 4 weeks after the start of the rash and that will say if I have had exposure. From what Iv read elsewhere they are supposed to do weekly scans if that’s the case because I think if growth was to slow it could indicate anaemia but I’m not quite sure. They did say because we are over 20 weeks the risk of there being an issue from it is far less.

@Cat2022 thank you lovely. I have messaged my midwife again today but I don't expect anything from her. I'm seeing consultant next week so hoping he will advise more.
I'm worried about when they will check if I have contacted it as my little girl ofcourse could of caught it from my boy so then I'll be exposed again.

@MrsMoggy I was born at 39+5 weighing 5 lbs 9oz back in the day. Back then they didn't do growth scans so my mum never knew I'd be small. Think I was around 1-2% percentile. I'm absolutely fine, no complications. I'm naturally petite but this is likely to be genetic. Usually 50kg / 5 ft 3.

I'm currently being offered extra scans too because one of my uterine arteries has high resistance (placenta issue) which puts me at risk of having a small baby. As of 26 weeks he was measuring around 50th percentile so all good so far and the resistance isn't affecting things. Have another scan next week at 28+5 weeks to check in.

My firstborn was 50th percentile at birth but has since dropped to around 5-10th percentile aged 2 years. Her build is similar to mine so suspect usually genetics take over at some point, whatever weight they're born at.

Thank you to everyone that replied to my post on this thread and previous. I’m a bit less panicked today but will no doubt be a bag of nerves before the next growth scan. My first child (12 years ago) was on the 50th centile and never any problems with him (very smooth pregnancy until he moved less and was found to have low fluid so was induced at 38 weeks). Whereas this pregnancy, which was a surprise in itself, has been fraught with problems so it does feel like one thing on top of another.

I’m 5ft 8 and my husband is 6ft so we aren’t really genetically predisposed to having a small baby which is why I’m concerned it’s to do with the thyroid problem I had at the start which I was hospitalised with, or another growth issue. I think the frustrating thing is not being able to do anything to help her grow and it being all out of our hands. Also people constantly telling me I’m so small etc which just seems to rub it in really

I had an appointment with a consultant today about my uterine fibroids - I'd been told at scans that because of the position of one of them I might well need a c-section. Anyway the doctor took a look and said, we won't know until 36 weeks if the baby's head has gone below the fibroid or not but it might well do so you might well be on for a vaginal birth! Which has knocked me sideways slightly as I was really in the mindset that it would be a nice chill preplanned c-section hahaha. But whatever happens happens. The worst thing is that even if it is a vaginal birth he said I'll probably have to be up on the ward and not in the lovely luxurious birthing centre which is a SAD STORY but ofc what really matters is safety for both me and baby. Anyway he booked me a bonus scan at 32 weeks to see what can be seen at that stage so I guess it's nice to have an extra peek at baby

Turns out DH is working late tonight - he works sometimes from home, sometimes out on site, so he’s been at home working all day and then out tonight. My train got cancelled so he will have left before I get home. I know it sounds stupid but I have been crying so much from the disappointment of not being able to go through all the baby clothes together when I get home. It’s the most ridiculous thing, but I was so excited all day and I didn’t know he was working late 😔

I had the most intense pregnancy craving today. It was actual hard work to fight it.
It was so intense it felt like quitting smoking, it was the same sensation, an urge that I literally had to manage.
I had been craving stroopwaffles. I had some at home, the mini ones, I was already staring at them last night, but I knew it’s a bad idea to eat that at night so I didn’t touch them and instead had them today morning after my morning coffee.
some 1,5 hours later I had my breakfast (a healthy one, just some mozarella pesto balls with black rye bread and a peanut butter out flap jack after. This is a very typical breakfast for me) the craving of sugar following that was just unreal, I blame the stroop waffles. I was literally sat at my desk at work, changing my stare from the table surface to out the window and I was actively managing the craving. It lasted for like 3 more hours. It was just unreal, literally the same feeling like when I went cold turkey off from Tobacco.
3 hours later I had my lunch (roasted baby potatoes with boiled farm veg and chive sour cream sauce) followed by one lemon mousse thingy and it wasn’t that bad after, but man, that was hard hard work! I never knew they can be so intense!

@Xur your willpower is better than mine, I had a craving for a Gail’s chocolate muffin today and went on a minute round trip walk to get it 😂 yet to find a craving I won’t give in to!

@Xur just eat the waffles!! 😂 don't resist.. go with it. Baby wants what they want 🫶🏼

28 week Midwife appt today - Heartbeat's great, solid 145 to 150 bpm and man is measuring bang in the middle of the charts!
Unfortunately have blood and protein in my wee apparently, and yesterday I had immense pain on one side of my lower tummy & back so I think I may have something up with my kidney.
Not super surprising as I had some kidney issues that didn't get seen to in time pre-pregnancy due to my old GP being frankly shite, but it does make me wonder what's going on with my kidneys though, as it was the left side last time, and right side this time!!

Really hope it's nothing serious >.<

@Lillers ahhh that sucks is he back yet?! Let yourself feel the feels. It's so nice he is interested of course my husband is keen haha but he doesn't get the same giddy feeling I do when I buy baby clothes. But showing him and him holding them up visualising baby makes it seem so real... So I totally get your feeling! Hopefully you get to do it a bit later or tomorrow 🩷

Place marking here too, 28 weeks and seeing my midwife tomorrow for the first time since my 16 week appointment (that feels a million years ago but as it's my 4th baby I'm guessing for the most part I just get left to it 😂) having to have the GTT same as I did with my last two pregnancies but I didn't have it then so hopefully don't this time either 🤞🏻

@longingtobe23 He’s not home yet, probably won’t be for a couple more hours, by which time I’ll have gone to bed. He doesn’t have to work this late too often (maybe once a fortnight) but this is 2 nights in a row which pretty much never happens, so I was really surprised when he told me earlier. I haven’t opened any of the parcels, it kind of feels a bit soured now 😔.

Is anyone planning on breastfeeding? Will you be pumping also? I’m really unsure about needing to get bottles/breast pump etc. With our daughter she was in nicu so I had to pump, and it was hard work. I really have no idea what to do this time.

@SpicyMoth sorry about your kidney worries, it's not nice to be worried about your own health at this time - but glad baby was looking good!

@Emmaev I’m planning on breastfeeding and pumping (I need DH to be able to do some of the feeds!) but I genuinely have no idea what I’ll need in terms of bottles etc. Nobody in my family has breastfed, they’ve always gone straight to formula, so they can’t tell me anything! Two of my best friends have had babies this year already so I’m hoping they’ll be able to give me some advice.

Hello thread 8! I am back home in Nottingham after a flying visit to Cornwall to see my mum and pick up the car!

Came home to baby girls room empty ready to be painted and have furniture built! Yay

@Lillers@Emmaev Im planning on breastfeeding - I did try with my daughter but actually what made it “go wrong” was I introduced a bottle too early and she got nipple confusion so I would recommend sticking to their advice of waiting until 6 weeks to start pumping/ introduce a bottle. I ended up exclusively pumping for 6 months and it has the downsides of both because it’s time consuming but you also still have all the washing up of bottle feeding. My family also didn’t breastfeed so they were more the type to try and push introducing a bottle I wish I’d had someone in my corner to tell me to try and keep going with breastfeeding.

If you do want to start pumping what I’d recommend would be:

• Pace feeding - look into this but it’s supposed to try and prevent nipple confusion
• A hakaa or similar silicone pump to catch let down when feeding from other side (note this is still a pump so they also don’t recommend these before 6 weeks as can cause oversupply which sounds great but not fun)
• A good double pump that can also be used as a single (I had a spectra s1 and Elvie stride - spectra is the better pump but Elvie more portable)
• bottles we used were Mam - you don’t need too many at first and get the slowest teats so size 0 in mam
• milton cold water steriliser and bucket as it’s the easiest and quickest to fit all the bottles and pump parts into (a lot of steam sterilisers etc ruin the silicone pump parts faster and it ends up expensive to replace)
• Local breastfeeding support groups

@Cat2022 Thank you so much, this is so useful! Saving this post.

I'm starting to panic about being so unorganised! I had a dream last night that baby girl was born and laid in a cardboard box on our bedroom floor, had no name, and was in a black halloween hand me down outfit because I hadn't washed any clothes 😂

The nursery is still our 'storage room' which we need to empty, then we need to paint, lay flooring, do skirting boards, wallpaper, build cot etc and then I can finally buy and sort clothes lol! But I still feel so poorly with the HG that everything takes it out of me, and I'm the only one who can empty all the stored stuff in the nursery as DH will not have a clue how to sort it all.

So yes, very stressed this morning! I had my 25 week appt on Tuesday and got sent into hospital for fluids cus my ketones were +4, which meant I'm now behind on work (self employed) and I felt too ill to catch up yesterday so I've got even more to do today

Aaaaaah!

Just had a big ol’ breakdown at work because they asked me to do something I don’t want to do.

I literally feel like a child having a tantrum.

I’ve told them I’m going home sick if they make me do it. I have never in my life been so unprofessional and can’t believe I’m behaving this way - hopefully they’ll forgive me 🥴