October 2018 Babies club

Cash_Q

Ok cool thanks I was thinking we should say it on the way in alright, definitely will!

Cash_Q

For the second night in a row I've been wide awake since 3am. At least yesterday I could sleep all day..going to have to take a sick day today. Feels like I'm never in work these days between appointments, coming in late, and using a few days personal leave. I hate to call in sick but I'm no good to anyone with this little sleep on me. Wish we could just fast forward to October!

catrionanic

Cash_Q wrote: »

For the second night in a row I've been wide awake since 3am. At least yesterday I could sleep all day..going to have to take a sick day today. Feels like I'm never in work these days between appointments, coming in late, and using a few days personal leave. I hate to call in sick but I'm no good to anyone with this little sleep on me. Wish we could just fast forward to October!

This is me regularly! There’s a lot of nights I wake at midnight and that’s me.

Take the good of napping while you still can! That’s the joy of your first pregnancy. It’s great your employer is understanding too. I haven’t taken any sick days because I don’t get paid for them and I feel too guilty!

Cash_Q

I also feel guilty of course but teaching 7 children with special needs I need to be able for them and have a bit of energy when they walk in the door. I've been in plenty of days with just a few hours sleep but I am just so exhausted in general these days that there's no way I could have gotten through today. Got 2 hours sleep this morning and think that's probably it for today. So frustrating 

I don't know how you aren't cracking up waking up at that time regularly!

Did your husband like your gender reveal?!

catrionanic

Yeah it’s hard-going. I’m still going to bed at 8 or 9 o’clock so that seems to be my way of coping. My husband is also sleeping on the sofa a lot which helps as he snores!

Baby reveal was a lovely wee moment. He’s excited to have two boys.

Cash_Q

catrionanic wrote:

Yeah it’s hard-going. I’m still going to bed at 8 or 9 o’clock so that seems to be my way of coping. My husband is also sleeping on the sofa a lot which helps as he snores!

When I go to bed that early I am guaranteed to wake in the middle of the night. Staying up later hasn't helped me either this weekend though!

So nice to have two boys together they'll be best buds!

Orange369

Congrats on your boy! And good luck to the girls who have scans tomorrow.. mine in Thursday and I am so nervous but excited too. How long did the scan last for anyone who has had it yet? Did you need a full bladder at all? I am just hoping everything is ok the fear is still there!! I feel like I am wishing the week away until Thursday comes.. I am the same very tired too, had to take my duvet out of the cover and just sleep with the sheet as its hard to sleep in the heat

catrionanic

Our scan was only around 15 minutes. They didn’t say anything about the full bladder, although I hadn’t gone to the loo for an hour or so beforehand (which is a long time when you’re pregnant, ha!).

Orange369

Oh my god that is so quick!! I suppose they can tell very quickly if everything is looking good.. Do you have another scan anytime soon or do you get many more after the 20 week one? I have a consultant app in afew weeks so I know ill get a mini one then but not sure if you get many follow up ones after the big one..

Cash_Q

Orange369 I just read the leaflet from the Coombe ahead of our scan tomorrow and it says you don't need a full bladder. I heard 15 mins as well but I don't feel that's short to be honest, one to one attention for that length of time sounds pretty thorough. When I attended the emergency room at the Coombe at about 6weeks I queued for about 2.5 hours and was in and out of the room in 5 mins and that included an internal exam, ultrasound scan and the time it took to undress and get back into my clothes.

Best of luck in Thursday, it's exciting but also an anxious time, can't wait to have it finished.

Orange369

Cash_Q wrote: »

Orange369 I just read the leaflet from the Coombe ahead of our scan tomorrow and it says you don't need a full bladder. I heard 15 mins as well but I don't feel that's short to be honest, one to one attention for that length of time sounds pretty thorough. When I attended the emergency room at the Coombe at about 6weeks I queued for about 2.5 hours and was in and out of the room in 5 mins and that included an internal exam, ultrasound scan and the time it took to undress and get back into my clothes.

Best of luck in Thursday, it's exciting but also an anxious time, can't wait to have it finished.

Ah great thanks, I didnt get a leaflet with that scan appointment just the letter.. Good luck tomorrow! Mine is 8.45am Thursday so I will be glad its early and will mean we will get parking in the Coombe, the parking gets so packed after 9am..

mirrorwall14

Orange369 wrote: »

Oh my god that is so quick!! I suppose they can tell very quickly if everything is looking good.. Do you have another scan anytime soon or do you get many more after the 20 week one? I have a consultant app in afew weeks so I know ill get a mini one then but not sure if you get many follow up ones after the big one..

I’m in the Coombe and that’s it apart from the mini check the heartbeat ones unless there’s a medical need for another. Last time I had a ton of growth scans. This time she said there’s no obvious issues but check if consultant wants to reassess anyways due to suspected IUGR on my first

catrionanic

Orange369 wrote: »

Oh my god that is so quick!! I suppose they can tell very quickly if everything is looking good.. Do you have another scan anytime soon or do you get many more after the 20 week one? I have a consultant app in afew weeks so I know ill get a mini one then but not sure if you get many follow up ones after the big one..

That’s it for me! I’m doing Domino scheme so no more scans. I didn’t have a 12 week scan either so it was my one and only with the hospital.

We will likely pay privately for a 4D scan around 28 weeks though.

catrionanic

Just received my old file from Holles St. Total time to go from 2cm to 10cm was less than two hours. I’m praying to God that this baby isn’t faster or I might not make it in!!

mirrorwall14

catrionanic wrote: »

Just received my old file from Holles St. Total time to go from 2cm to 10cm was less than two hours. I’m praying to God that this baby isn’t faster or I might not make it in!!

That’s my worry! Total recorded labour from 0-baby was 1hr 6 minutes..... hoping it was the induction though I had no drip or anything. Midwife doing review said to be prepared for it to be fast

catrionanic

mirrorwall14 wrote: »

That’s my worry! Total recorded labour from 0-baby was 1hr 6 minutes..... hoping it was the induction though I had no drip or anything. Midwife doing review said to be prepared for it to be fast

Have you got family nearby to mind your wee boy? That’s my main worry. Our closest family are over an hour away so I have visions of being stuck in the house waiting on them to come and baby coming too fast!

I did have about 3-4 hours of mild contractions beforehand so hopefully that will happen again this time. Once I got to 2cm, everything flew.

mirrorwall14

catrionanic wrote: »

Have you got family nearby to mind your wee boy? That’s my main worry. Our closest family are over an hour away so I have visions of being stuck in the house waiting on them to come and baby coming too fast!

I did have about 3-4 hours of mild contractions beforehand so hopefully that will happen again this time. Once I got to 2cm, everything flew.

Can you meet them at the hospital? We’re the same in that they’re 50 minutes from us but the plan is we head straight in and they come to us there just in case it goes fast again

greenttc

catrionanic wrote: »

Just received my old file from Holles St. Total time to go from 2cm to 10cm was less than two hours. I’m praying to God that this baby isn’t faster or I might not make it in!!

You were induced though caitriona weren't you? So you should have time. Mine was an hour (or less than) from 0 to 10 and I was induced to so expecting that if it was natural it would not be as quick.

I hope its longer purely because concentrating all that pain into an hour was torture instead of spreading it out over a longer time. I remember in the antenatal classes the midwife handing around some of the charts asking which we thought we would prefer, labour of an hour or of a few hours and everyone wanted the hour but she explained that the longer times were much easier! I totally get what she was saying now!!

catrionanic

Yes they broke my waters, but I didn’t have the gel or the drip. I’m hoping that, if I go into spontaneous labour this time, for as long as my waters don’t go I will be ok. But I’ll know that if they go at home, I need to get to hospital ASAP.

I’m gonna ask the midwife about it anyway at my next appointment.

catrionanic

And yes, the short, intense labour was torture. I lost all control and was completely terrified. I was totally demented and would’ve done anything to end it... including jumping out the window!

mirrorwall14

So glad there’s others in the same boat. I was totally freaked by mine. I had 5 gels over 48hrs and it had done zilch. Was warned I would probably need a c section the next day. That didn’t happen. No other induction bits needed, even my waters went themselves!

greenttc

catrionanic wrote: »

Yes they broke my waters, but I didn’t have the gel or the drip. I’m hoping that, if I go into spontaneous labour this time, for as long as my waters don’t go I will be ok. But I’ll know that if they go at home, I need to get to hospital ASAP.

I’m gonna ask the midwife about it anyway at my next appointment.

Yeah I just had the gel, no drip.

Did you get a review like others have talked about on here? I am still in the hospital but all my records are online now so no folder to look at.

catrionanic

greenttc wrote: »

Yeah I just had the gel, no drip.

Did you get a review like others have talked about on here? I am still in the hospital but all my records are online now so no folder to look at.

Nope I don’t think Holles St do a review type thing.

My records are online now too - apparently they can’t view the old file though as it’s not been uploaded. I requested a copy of my old notes which they posted out to me.

greenttc

catrionanic wrote: »

Nope I don’t think Holles St do a review type thing.

My records are online now too - apparently they can’t view the old file though as it’s not been uploaded. I requested a copy of my old notes which they posted out to me.

Yeah didn't think they did review either which is why I asked you cause I thought maybe it was possible. Ah well. I had a good read of my notes before I left the hospital after having wee man, nothing too interesting but took a picture of that graph cause it showed the 0-10 in an hour and I thought it was mad/interesting!

Entropy7

We had our scan today... a perfect little boy! Such a lovely experience :-)

Cash_Q

Entropy7 wrote:

We had our scan today... a perfect little boy! Such a lovely experience :-)

Ah that's great news congrats ! We had ours today too but still don't know if we're having a boy or a girl, everything perfectly healthy and measuring exactly to dates

clacla82

Cash_Q wrote: »

Ah that's great news congrats ! We had ours today too but still don't know if we're having a boy or a girl, everything perfectly healthy and measuring exactly to dates

Hey everyone, long time no check in! Congrats on the scans and the gender reveals! We had ours yesterday too, all good.. baby measuring a couple of days behind but consultant said nothing to worry about, the earlier scans are more accurate. We forgot to say we didn’t want to find out and no one asked us.. halfway through I said it in a panic and she said oh I’m heading towards the bladder now turn away in case you see anything!

We ordered our travel system at the weekend, chose the Uppababy Vista and I’m thrilled with it. Has anyone any advice on the Cocoonababy.. I was dead set on getting it but recently heard there are mixed reports?

Orange369

Congrats everyone!! Great news on all the scans and all boys so far:) mine is in the morning and I am very nervous.. hopefully I can sleep! Sorry if this is TMI but last night my boobs were leaking a small bit.. got a fright as I am only 21 weeks and first baby but I googled and it seems normal progression wise !!

Cash_Q

Good luck tomorrow orange369, we were actually about 30 mins in the end and that was with everything going pretty straightforward; enjoy, it's amazing!

For those experienced mammies - about how many items of essentials would you recommend getting? People are likely to gift lovely clothes etc but in terms of the basics like
Vests
Babygros
Bibs
Cardigans....

Like 10 of each? 20? More? Obviously the baby will need to be changed a lot and the washing machine will be on the go, but what's a practical amount to have? Conscious that they'll grow out of things quickly too but sure the child has to have clothes if nothing else

We got some cute unisex bits in Dunnes today, swooning at the thoughts of baby wearing them!!

catrionanic

Re: clothing... newborns go through a lot in a day as they’re constantly vomiting and having explosive nappies. I would factor in around 10 nappy changes and 5 full outfit changes a day (girls, correct me if I’m not remembering this right!). Your washing machine will be on at least every other day.

So with that in mind, I would go for 10-15 vests, 10-15 babygros, and more muslins than you can shake a stick at. Bibs are a bit of a waste of time in the early days as, in my experience at least, they don’t drool much until they’re at least a couple of months old - and a bib won’t even touch the edges of the amount of spewing they do. So during feeds (I breastfeed), I usually strategically place a couple of muslins in the areas most likely to be spewed on. And on that note, you’ll need a few outfit changes each day yourself!

Cardigans, I only had 2 or 3 and this was for a January baby. One to sleep in, one to go out in (but we rarely went out in the first couple of weeks), and maybe one spare.

Also, it’s unlikely baby will fit into the newborn sizes for very long, if at all. Maybe get a couple of newborn things, but mostly go for 0-3 months. Next do an “up to 1 months/10lbs” size which is a more sensible alternative to the tiny newborn stuff, which often only does up to 7lbs.

You will get so much stuff though in gifts. And almost everyone buys you 0-3 month stuff. So much of it is lovely, but in the early months it is totally impractical to dress baby in anything other than babygros. So I had many many trips back to the shops to change stuff for bigger sizes, with the result that I hardly had to buy anything at all until the wee man was 9 or 12 months old. It was great!

For babygros, make sure they open at the front. Ones that only have poppers at the bottom, or even down the side, are much more annoying to wrestle a tiny, wriggly, crying baby in and out of.

And one of the best tips I learnt, albeit when baby was about 3 months old, is that the vests have those envelope things at the shoulders so you can pull them off baby from the bottom, rather than having to unpopper and pull them off from baby’s head! The amount of pooey vests that I pulled off over his poor wee face was unreal before I learnt this! Poor child!

mirrorwall14

Cash_Q wrote: »

Good luck tomorrow orange369, we were actually about 30 mins in the end and that was with everything going pretty straightforward; enjoy, it's amazing!

For those experienced mammies - about how many items of essentials would you recommend getting? People are likely to gift lovely clothes etc but in terms of the basics like
Vests
Babygros
Bibs
Cardigans....

Like 10 of each? 20? More? Obviously the baby will need to be changed a lot and the washing machine will be on the go, but what's a practical amount to have? Conscious that they'll grow out of things quickly too but sure the child has to have clothes if nothing else

We got some cute unisex bits in Dunnes today, swooning at the thoughts of baby wearing them!!

Depends on how often you want to wash really and spares for changing bag. (Though reflux baby’s chuck up more). We had for about 8/9 of each, 8 vests + 8 babygro’s. One of each in the changing bag and one on him. I washed every 4 days or so then after the first couple of weeks (when he spewed multiple times a day with reflux before he went on gaviscon). Avoid over the head ones if you can, button down is much easier even though the nicest ones tend to be over the head! We didn’t buy any outfits but were given some in each size

Muslins are your best friend. And I used all three of my cellular blankets from Aldi. I used to tuck a blanket or/and muslin around him. Saved outfits a lot. I had at least 9-12 of the small Muslins and 3 big ones (great for over a shoulder when winding)

Oh and given it’s october if you don’t have a tumble dryer and can squeeze one into the house somewhere it was the most valuable piece of kit we bought for the baby hands down. I’ve no idea how we’d have managed without. Spin wash through, dump straight in dryer. Empty and fold. Brilliant

ETA: we realised he was allergic to wool almost immediately so cardigans/knitted hats were out. I got pure cotton yarn for my mum so she could knit for him as she was disappointed. We had one little zippy but used blankets otherwise

catrionanic

Mirror wall, were you only going through one or two outfit changes per day?! What was I doing wrong?!?!?!

mirrorwall14

catrionanic wrote: »

Mirror wall, were you only going through one or two outfit changes per day?! What was I doing wrong?!?!?!

Honestly, depends on the baby! One we got reflux sorted he was pretty good and we rarely had poop explosions (thank God!). Long bibs plus muslins during feeds and that was mostly fine. We were bottle feeding though so maybe that contributed. Bear in mind I’d have all 10 plus muslins in that wash too, they took a lot of the brunt

I remember going out for lunch with a friend and being completely stunned at the sheer quantity the baby threw up compared to mine rofl. I think I was just lucky!

Between washer/dryer I also had a three hour turn around on a wash so was rarely stuck.

Cash_Q

Thanks for the tips ladies! The vests I bought button at the bottom only, is it just babygros that you can get with buttons down the front?

I knew about the shoulder opening/pull down over the body rather than up over the head, and looked at the opening yesterday.. just seems impossibly small! But I suppose they will be really tiny at first!

We do have a dryer..somewhere in the back of my mind I thought I read that baby's stuff can't go in the dryer, glad to hear otherwise!

catrionanic

Yeah it was like a scene from the Exorcist in our house. Projectile vomit everywhere. The amount of mid-night bedsheet changes I had to do on our own bed was staggering too. And on that note, I would highly recommend waterproof bedsheets to everyone! Whether it’s puke or poo or pee (little boys always seem to pee as soon as you open their nappies), or the mad postpartum blood loss, they may save your mattress!

[I’m going to take this moment to share an embarrassing story... 3 weeks after delivery, I got food poisoning. In the middle of the night sat up in bed, with a baby on my boob, I needed to puke. So I was leaning over the baby mid-feed, puking like mad into a bowl, when my poor damaged pelvic floor could take no more. The floodgates opened. Our mattress was was in some state. And so was my dignity as I roared for my husband from the spare room with, “take the baby, im pissing im pissing!!!!”].

It really is a glamorous few months.

mirrorwall14

Cash q we’d never have survived without a dryer and even now if something comes in that’s not tumble dryable it gets tossed in for him anyways! If it survives great, if not there is no way I’m separating a three year olds clothes!

Catriona I’m dying laughing here. I feel you though, I’m a cough variant asthmatic. Every time I get an attack (thankfully rare these days) I destroy my pelvic floor and coughing is like Russian roulette! Add pregnancy and I’m a disaster now. The car is the most dangerous as it’s low to the road and for some reason that makes things worse.

To share similar, on my first I threw up out the window of the car with morning sickness and simulateously lost control of my bladder. Cried all the way home. Much more stoic about it these days, pregnancy/childbirth/parenting newborns really doesn’t leave much dignity behind!

Cash_Q

Oh ladies they're the stories I need to hear :P seriously, better to be prepared for it all!!

What exactly are waterproof sheets anyway?! Like where would you buy them and are they all rubbery and awful to sleep on? Or is it more of a mattress protector for under the sheet?

catrionanic

Cash_Q wrote: »

Oh ladies they're the stories I need to hear :P seriously, better to be prepared for it all!!

What exactly are waterproof sheets anyway?! Like where would you buy them and are they all rubbery and awful to sleep on? Or is it more of a mattress protector for under the sheet?

Ours aren’t rubbery, no. I’m not sure what they’re made of but they’re thicker than normal sheets. And I’ve a mattress protector underneath too! A mattress protector alone would only help with something very light like a few wee specks of blood. I just googled them. Similarly, waterproof cot sheets are a good buy. In the early days, I would get a couple of large muslins and wrap them tightly around the cot mattress (we use a Next2Me). It meant that I could just whip those off if they got puked on (which again happened a lot!), rather than having to change and wash the sheets every time.

Mirrorwall, your car window puke, piss and tears story has me in the horrors. What have these children done to us?!?!

shesty

Sitting reading some of these posts here in amusement....feeding no
3 and have a folded bath towel on the bed under me to protect from baby pukes and me leaking milk.
FYI Ikea have started to do waterproof sheets for all size beds, I recently got some there for our four year olds single bed. They are good quality too.
As for puking, no.1 never did, no.2 did a lot of spits and this little guy, not sure so far, although he is doing more lately.

greenttc

It was the poonamis that got us rather than any puking, I'd say there was one a day and it was a great day if it didn't happy. So many sink baths were had, the poo goes up the back and down the legs and a sink bath was the best way to clean up. We had a constant "soaking bucket" on the go in our kitchen so once the pokey vest came off it was rinsed in the so k and then straight I to a bucket of cold water with a bit of vanish and a bit of napisan (look up napisan, it was our friend) then into the next wash.

Defo used muslin clothes around the neck /chest all the time, bibs were too big an useless.

Defo agree with the button down baby gros, everything else is a pain.

No clothes other than baby gros for the first three months

We thought gro bags were great but blankets for day time and going out in car seat, buggy.

Just get a few vests and baby gros and see how you get on, you can easily get more as you see how you get on and what kind of washing routine you get into.

Orange369

Its a GIRL!!! Had my scan this morning and everything is great and developing normally thank god!! Such a relief we are on cloud 9!!!

aidom

We had our 20 week scan yesterday and all good

We already knew it was a boy from the panaroma test a few months ago but the sonographer confirmed she also thought boy at the scan.

I've gone a bit mad buying everything I've been looking at online since the scan yesterday morning. It's nice to start feeling like I'm a bit more prepared.

Cash_Q

Ah that's great news!

Re combined care with GP - is anyone else being seen by their practice nurse? I've an appointment for Wednesday but currently waiting in the surgery as I've been off work all week with insomnia. When I made the appointment today I asked to switch my antenatal appt and she said that's the nurse I'll be seeing so to see gp today. She said the nurse is trained to carry out the checks so I suppose it's grand? Just feels like a potential rip off of the system if I'm entitled to see a doctor and this was never mentioned when I signed up.. am I worrying for nothing?


**edit** GP did antenatal visit today and said the nurse is a qualified midwife also and to be honest thinking about it since, it really makes no difference so I don't really care if they're claiming for the cost of a GP under combined care

Orange369

Cash_Q wrote: »

Ah that's great news!

Re combined care with GP - is anyone else being seen by their practice nurse? I've an appointment for Wednesday but currently waiting in the surgery as I've been off work all week with insomnia. When I made the appointment today I asked to switch my antenatal appt and she said that's the nurse I'll be seeing so to see gp today. She said the nurse is trained to carry out the checks so I suppose it's grand? Just feels like a potential rip off of the system if I'm entitled to see a doctor and this was never mentioned when I signed up.. am I worrying for nothing?


**edit** GP did antenatal visit today and said the nurse is a qualified midwife also and to be honest thinking about it since, it really makes no difference so I don't really care if they're claiming for the cost of a GP under combined care

Thanks so much!! Delighted now with the scan, hopefully I will feel a bit more relaxed now!! Yeah I have been to the doc and each time I have saw the nurse instead, she always does the urine BP and heartbeat so I Reckon thats all we need unless we needed a prescription..I am amnt complaining as it is free and need to go more regular for blood pressure checks

belle_09

Hi all, sorry I've been MIA. Life has been busy. I've been rereading over the thread to catch up. Congrats on all the 20 week scans. It's so nice to be at this stage. We had ours on the 27th. Baby is doing great, all was well and it's a little girl. We are thrilled. Struggling badly with hayfever at the moment , it's so awful. And varicose veins. I'm a train wreck at the moment. Otherwise all is well though. I shouldn't complain. 3rd baby for us and I've nothing organised. I like to be well prepared so I probably should make a start.

NeeNeeAW

Girls I’ll be well 23 nearly 24 weeks for my anomaly scan! Does that make a difference? Is that ok? You all have yours done and I’m another 4 weeks away

kylith

Had my scan this morning at 21+6 and all looks good Everything is where it's supposed to be, at least. We didn't find out the sex, but I will admit to keeping an eye out in case I should see by 'accident'.

Cash_Q

NeeNeeAW wrote:

Girls I’ll be well 23 nearly 24 weeks for my anomaly scan! Does that make a difference? Is that ok? You all have yours done and I’m another 4 weeks away

I'm sure they wouldn't have given you that appointment if there was anything to worry about. If you're anxious yourself in the meantime I'd highly recommend getting a private scan done to keep you going, but I'm sure there's no real need. Hope the next 4 weeks fly by for you!

Orange369

Has anyone bought or have any reviews on the infababy travel systems!? I am looking at the ultimo they are on special for 399.. I just dont think I can spend 1000+ on a travel system!!.. Excited to be finally able to get things ready and bought, getting the baby room plastered next week, she will have a brand new room when its finished! Has anyone been to the physio classes in the Coombe? I have my 1st one Monday morning.. Just wondering what to expect, thanks

Cash_Q

I agree the ultimo seem to be very good value, would love to hear reviews. Also glad to be able to get a few bits for baby we just got some basics in Dunnes after the scan but will start getting the bigger things throughout the summer.

I'm starting physio on Thursday although I don't know how physical it's going to be, should I be wearing tracksuit bottoms or whatever? Planning to go on to work afterwards so need to plan for that!