From 31 weeks.. what do I need to do to prepare?

[Twinkletwinklelil]

Prep as in, what should I be eating? What stretches? When to start colostrum collection? When to pack hospital bags?

literally done nothing 😅

Eat whatever you feel like eating. Stay active if you can.

Most people advise to pack your hospital bag by 36 weeks. Colostrum collection isn't meant to be done before 37 weeks juuuuuuust in case you're inclined to premature labour and that sets it off.

Eat what you like. Try colostrum harvesting if you want to although it's a very new idea and seems to cause far more stress when it's hard to do than outweighs the slim chances of you needing it as far as I can see.

Never did any stretches although I did like a good swim.

No harm packIng now if you want to. You don't need that much. Was advised to take my own pillow the first time. No idea why. Never came out of the bag and I didn't take one next time.

Eat what you enjoy, a balanced diet will help keep energy up, and plenty of iron rich food. I’ve been eating dates and having raspberry leaf every day since 32 weeks, and I do a yoga video everyday. It can help to do forward leaning and hands and kneees positions. Colostrum collection can be done from 36 weeks. You can do perineal massage (I started about 34 weeks), and also pelvic floor exercises. I’ve kept walking as much as possible.

I packed bags at around 36 weeks

I had DS at 35 weeks, I didnt have a hospital bag ready my dh had to bring me stuff in which wasn’t ideal. The cot was still in the boot of the car. We didn’t even have a car seat.

To be honest it’s my own fault there because I had a few hospital stays at 31 and 33 weeks due to high bp. The doctor told me I would get to 37 weeks and I believed him for some reason, at 34.5weeks I went in for a routine check feeling fine and they wouldn’t let me leave until I had DS.

Thanks! So helpful!!

This is a fear of mine! Even though it’s totally fine!
but I feel so unprepared 😅

Pack hospital bag now.
Stop sitting on the sofa (only the gym ball from now on).
Walk as much as you can manage.
Drink raspberry leaf tea.
Don't bother with colostrum. (If you need it, you can harvest some into syringes after your baby is born, in the first 72 hours or so before your proper milk comes in.)

Ok I'm a bit less laid back than some posters here in some ways, and more laid back in others!

Hospital bag - I did a big pack around 36 weeks but I kept a list of stuff to finish, and I revamped it a bit last week. I just finalised it at 40+4 😂

Eating - I'm eating my normal foods and staying hydrated. That's all you need!
I am additionally drinking raspberry leaf tea and eating 6 dates a day, you might like to look into those if it's something you'd be interested in.

Colostrum - I'm not collecting; my midwife told me not to bother. I've practised hand expressing so I know it's in there and how to get it out, but I haven't needed to collect it yet.

Stretches - I've been doing perineal massage on and off for a few weeks and it's highly recommended. Massage is a loose term though, it's definitely more stretching! I also follow Allie Brisco on instagram and just do some exercises she suggests as "labour prep" but I've been going to pregnancy yoga anyway as I was into yoga before I got pregnant.

I hadn't done anything by 31 weeks other than buy stuff and make lots of lists. A few other things I can think of:

• Practise driving to/parking at the hospital/birth centre etc. if you've not been there regularly.
• Check you know how to put the car seat in the car / take it out if it's a travel system
• Check you know how to work your stroller and all the bits
• Batch cooking/freezing some food
• Washing a few bits of baby clothes in advance

I'm sure I had a million things on my list but those are a few you can do to help yourself feel better and not go crazy 😊

I largely packed my hospital bag at 36 weeks, but like PP I was adding/removing things if I felt I needed to. The last bits went in at 39+4 when I was already in labour! Get your partner to pack the bag with you so that they know where everything is, you won't want to be rooting around in a bag yourself or trying to give instructions on where something is once you are at the hospital.

Personally I found it helpful to have harvested colostrum before going to the hospital - my baby was very sleepy after birth and not particularly interested in feeding so it was helpful to have some ready and waiting. Don't stress about it if you can't get any in advance as it is no reflection on ability to feed the baby after birth, but it's good to practice the technique so you can feel confident in doing it if you need to.

Perineal massage is worth trying from 34 weeks - my personal experience was that I'm not sure it made a lot of difference for me (I still had tearing, obviously no way of knowing if it might otherwise have been worse) but it could be that I didn't do it often enough to get the full benefit. The My Expert Midwife range is good for perineal care - they do a massage oil as well as some good postpartum products like perineal spray.

Re: comment about taking your own pillow to the hospital, I didn't take a pillow to begin with and my husband ended up going home to get extra pillows for me when we knew I was staying in overnight. It made a huge difference to my ability to sleep as the hospital pillows were very flat and not very comfortable. So personally I'd have a pillow or two stashed in the car that your partner can pop out and grab if needed.

Unlike a pp, i do not recommend My Expert Midwife. Gave me the most dreadful thrush, which is not what you want at 34w. So use at your own risk!

We don't have a car (we are in London) so we couldn't do a lot of the tips about leaving stuff in the car to grab later. Instead, I was a bit of an overpacker, but I had a 5day stay so it ended up for the best really.

DD1 - didn't eat anything special (bought some raspberry leaf tea but I didn't use it), had hospital bag partially packed around 37w, tried colostrum harvesting and pretty sure it triggered my waters breaking. Finished packing my bag after waters went and headed straight to hospital. DD born at 38w and had a stay in NICU. The midwives were amazing at supporting colostrum harvesting to take down to the neonatal unit so don't worry too much - they will help you if they think you need it.

DD2 - had hospital bag packed from 36w. Didn't do any perineal massage as I had a c section scheduled due to DD being breech. When I went into labour, she had turned head down so I decided to switch to a vaginal birth. Didn't do any colostrum harvesting this time as I didn't want an early labour due to the breech position. I had preeclampsia with DD2 and was having bloods and monitoring every 2 days, so I also had a rucksack with a few bits in that i took to each appointment from 36w, so if I was suddenly kept in, I at least had a phone charger, PJs, spare knickers, headphones, etc until DH could arrive with the main hospital bag.

Agree about taking your own pillow. V handy if you are planning to breastfeed. Also, packing cubes are your friend - one for baby, one for pre/labour, one for postnatal etc.

If you know roughly what centile baby is tracking, make sure you have the right clothing bits. Our 36w scan showed that DD1 had dropped below the 10th centile - she was only 5lbs 12oz when she was born and DH had to pick up a few tiny baby things on his way back to the hospital one day as newborn absolutely swamped her. We should have thought to have some tiny baby bits in the bag after the 36w scan.

Also pack sliders instead of flip flops. I had to wear dvt stockings after labour and it was really annoying that my flip flops had the toe divider bit in!

Start making a list of things you want in your bag and buying the essentials
Start making a list of things for the first week. I found Asda first size clothing to be a good starting size. It's 6-9lb and whilst a bit big on my 6lb13 baby it meant we didn't need tiny baby most of which go up to 7lb. Under 6 and a half lbs you probably would want to do tiny baby but the first size would still get you through the first day whilst someone pops to the nearest supermarket for emergency supplies!

Don't buy too much of any size before they arrive. I had a friend with an averaged size baby but with long legs and went straight into 0-3months.

Start pelvic floor exercises if you haven't already
Download a contraction tracking app

Sort out your junk! We took a cupboard a weekend, ditching things we didn't need and improving the storage to hold more things and make them more findable. Once you have baby crap on top of your crap you might find the walls start closing in!

I never managed to collect any colostrum but I did find the process of trying useful for when I needed to hand express for comfort when my milk came in. So have a play after 37 weeks and see what happens but don't fret if it's just the odd bead of milk that you don't manage to collect.

Every time you go to the hospital have a drink of water before you leave. They always get you to pee in a cup. When I arrived in labour they barely got a trickle to do the dipstick