Due February 2025 - Thread 4

[UrbanSquirrel]

Just creating this so that we have somewhere to continue when Thread 3 fills up. If you're due to have a baby in February 2025 (or late January or early March, as we have a wide spread!), come join us for support, advice and (at present) some really useful Black Friday recommendations! Big welcoming hugs to all the usual suspects coming over from Thread 3 🤗

@elb1504 like my husband said, “all you need in the bag really is a sleepsuit and a couple of nappies each for you and the baby” 😂😂😂

@retrievermum Is that not right? I went to pack the hospital bag and realised it's just a few spare pants, maternity pads and a t-shirt for me and some nappies and a few bits of clothing for the baby. That's pretty much all the NHS website says to bring?

I feel pretty prepared generally, or maybe more like there isn't really that much to do? Will put up the crib in a month or so and spend the last two weeks of Jan freezing lasagnas and giving the baby clothes a wash.

Yippee, 32 weeks today and it's my last Monday of work before maternity leave kicks in on Friday (amplified by a few weeks of annual leave)!

(Does a little dance)

There is nothing more satisfying than replying to emails saying, very politely, 'I'm terribly sorry but from Friday this won't be my problem for over a year - please contact Person X instead'. To be honest I mentally checked out of work a few weeks ago, so they'll probably be glad to have someone more dynamic on the case after Christmas 🤣

I'm 32wks today too, getting there slowly aren't we🥳

Got a growth scan and consultation this afternoon, hoping to discuss birth plan etc as I haven't done this yet. I'm on meds now for high blood pressure 😕 so we could be meeting little one in 6'ish weeks!!

Is anyone else on here on medication for high BP?

Ah very jealous @UrbanSquirrel ! I'm 31 weeks today but I won't be finishing up until 16 Jan, which is feeling like an eternity away. I cannot wait to get that out of office on! Feeling like I've still got a lot to do work wise as well 🙃

@QuantumPanic no it’s totally right! Everything else is nice to have but not even remotely essential! I’m lucky as my hospital let partners stay as we all have private rooms so I guess DH might need a pair of pants too 😂

Good luck with the scan and the consultant, @OnePinkSloth! Fingers crossed you'll be able to clarify what you want re. birth plan. I'm impressed actually that several of the gang here are seeing consultants so soon. I have to wait until week 37, which makes me rather nervous as MiniSquirrel could well rock up within a week or so of that, thanks to the GD. Eek!

Let us know how it goes! x

@retrievermum and @QuantumPanic

*Guiltily side-eyes the two large holdalls in the bedroom stuffed with 'hospital necessities' 😶

@UrbanSquirrel don’t worry, with my first I had a full family suitcase with me! I looked like I was off for a month long cruise! Admittedly most of it was snacks (which I didn’t eat at the start because I was being sick, and then wasn’t allowed to eat when I did feel hungry!) but still 😂

I feel like no-one prepares you for how sick you can be in labour, my God i had snacks and all the energy drinks packed and I didn't eat for about 24 hours!

Same with my first! Had so many snacks (that I had to replace as I ate most of them once I packed my bag!) and couldn’t face food during labour. Mine was fairly rapid and I think the sudden movement and speed it all progressed was a bit much.

What I would recommend for anyone, planned section or vaginal birth, is isotonic drinks (like lucozade sport) the electrolytes help with rehydrating and keeping everything balanced versus just glugging litres of water. I was so thirsty during and after birth, having some with me helped so much.

Another question for the not FTMs.. is it actually worth it / necessary to get nursing bras? I'm a B cup usually, probably bumped up to a C at the moment, but I just wear crop top / bralette type thing and they could easily be pulled up or down to pop a boob out 😂. Am I being overly optimistic about how straightforward it is?

@superj21 I personally found nursing bras easier for when feeding whilst out and about, but wore stretchy crop tops at night/in the house etc.

It can be quite hard to pull a crop top down when you’re also dealing with a wriggly baby! I’d recommend maybe two nursing bras just to have and then stick to crop tops the rest of the time/when you get more confident!

Also nursing bras were easier when my milk came in as they were more supportive and I went from an A cup to looking like a porn star overnight and my boobs were AGONY for a few days, so that might be worth considering too!

Thanks @retrievermum ! I'm very intrigued whether mine will get bigger when the milk comes in 😂 M&S look like they've got a good selection of 2 packs so will maybe grab one of those

@superj21 I got some new ones (as a special treat!) from M&S the other day, I’ll link because they’re sooo comfy! I can still (just about) fit in normal bras but I’ve been wearing these because they’re much comfier (and to be fair because I’m still feeding DD it’s much more convenient than trying to wrangle down the H&M push up bras I normally wear - my boobs are like sandbags now haha!)

https://www.marksandspencer.com/2pk-non-wired-nursing-bras/p/clp60609481?intid=mobile_app_pdp_share

Oh @retrievermum I was just looking at these ones! Glad they're comfy !

@retrievermum how's the sizing on those ones? I'm usually a 10 but maybe better sizing up ?

Hi everyone,
I’m 29 weeks today and had my first growth scan. We were told that baby’s size is ‘off the charts’, literally 😦. As in 99+ centile (the chart doesn’t cover more numbers) for his tummy 😦 and his head was 96 I think! He weighs around 1.8 kg at this point and is positioned head down! Something tells me he will arrive before his late Feb due date…

We’re having another scan early Jan and the consultant told us that if he’s over 4kgs at that point I will be offered a c section. She also said that at the moment there isn’t a national best practice approach to delivering as she put it ‘good sized babies’ but there is risk of complications and baby’s shoulders getting stuck whilst coming out which will lead to an emergency. I’m scared at this point and all for c section I’m not going to lie.

I also spent 5 hours in triage last week due to my high blood pressure. Gotta monitor for the next 2 weeks and possibly will also be prescribed something :(.
not to mention my anaemia got worse and they doubled my dose of iron and did more blood tests. I also have 0 negative blood type so need anti-D but nobody picked up on it until now…
I’m very anxious today and just started ordering bits for my hospital bag as I’m scared I’ll need it sooner than I expected!!!
im sorry for panicking I just needed a good rant. I feel exhausted and still working until 4th Feb whilst all I want to do is nest and prep for my chonker to arrive!!!

@superj21 I’m also usually a 10 and just got a 10! They’re really stretchy and there’s loads of hooks at the back so I’d just go with your normal size :)

@ThisLimeDeer ahhh it sounds like you’re having quite a time of it! I hope you’re okay!
Remember growth scans are notoriously inaccurate and can vary wildly so try not to panic too much just yet, you’ve still got plenty of time to think about what you’ll do if baby IS massive (it might have been that today they just caught the end of a massive growth spurt and his growth will slow down a little for a while now, you never know!).

In regard to the blood pressure, mine has been high all throughout pregnancy (it was last pregnancy too), but they did put it down to white coat syndrome, hopefully the same applies to you and when you monitor it for a couple of weeks you’ll be declared absolutely fine! But if not, that’s okay too, and the medication will help without impacting on baby.

You definitely need a rant (and probably a wine, typical!) but that’s what we’re all here for!

Perfect thank you ☺️

I had a variety of nursing bras but in the end found stretchy non-padded bralettes (Next do nice cotton multipacks) the easiest to pop boob in and out of, rather than faffing with a clip. I would say that nothing could have prepared me for the size change when my milk came in, and I wasted money on bras that fitted for a really short time. Bralettes in a size or two bigger then normal would have had much more use. For reference my boobs went from a B pre-pregnancy to a C whilst pregnant, to something like a GG when my milk came in and then all sizes in between until a very empty B cup (mainly skin 😂) after 4.5 years of breastfeeding. Luckily pregnancy has perked them right up but I know it won’t last 😆

@ThisLimeDeer that all sounds really stressful to be happening at once! Did they say when you would have the Anti-D? At least it sounds like you are getting lots of monitoring to keep everything under control between now and baby being born 🙏🏻 will be interesting to hear how baby grows in the next month and what the plan is closer to labour!

Nursing bras were essential for me first time round, and I'm getting a few more nursing tops this time too as with a winter baby I don't want to be too chilly feeding out and about! Nursing pyjamas are also brilliant, nice warm ones (I found opening button downs too cold).

And seconding the lucozade, it's the only thing that kept me going last time and was the first thing I packed this time. I'm adding a few things compared to last time so the bag is BIG!

@sohomum18 😱 I've gone from an A cup to a B cup and kind of thought that might be it for me...as someone who's always had smaller breasts, I can't imagine suddenly having big ones. 😬

PThanks for the heads up - will hold off on buying nursing bras for now (my current slouchy bralettes will do until the baby is born) and cross my fingers that things don't change too drastically (not that big boobs are bad; it would just be another big change to deal with!)