March Monkeys 2016: 21 boys and 15 girls born

[littlelily]

Thanks ladies, a bit more active today. Trying to notice a bit more today.

Painted baby room today and bought a lovely second hand gliding nursing chair yesterday. Just crib, cot and baby monitor to get.

How is everyone?

 

[Buttercup84]

Lol my due date is leap day but with the girls both being late (12 and 14 days and both were induced!) i'd say the chances of this one actually being born on their due date are very slim. I wouldn't mind a leap day baby to be honest but i'm guessing an 11th or 12th March birthday for this one. I've actually added an extra countdown to 42 weeks on my phone so I don't feel so down when my due date comes and goes
Nice to see you back bigbelly Did you go for the Doona pram in the end? I saw one when I was out last week.
I haven't heard anything back about my GTT so i'm guessing/hoping that means i'm in the clear since they said i'd get a call the following day if the result was positive.
As far as movements go this one is pretty active but I wouldn't say i've learned their pattern, or even if they have one yet. Neither of my girls ever had a pattern of movement though which was quite nervewracking but thankfully they always moved regularly enough that I never felt worried enough to go in for monitoring or anything.
I had my 3D scan today and it was lovely to see the little munchkin again Unfortunately he/she had their arm up for a lot of the scan and even when the sonographer managed to get them to move it they had it back there within a minute! I didn't get as many good images as I did with the girls (especially my first who was perfectly behaved for hers lol!) but I was pleased with them anyway. It was a nice experience and fun to compare the images with the ones of my girls.

 

[bombshellmom]

littlelily- glad you felt movements today! we always freak ourselves out about those things!

bigbelly - glad to see you back

buttercup - OH MY!! how sweet! i love those 3D photos of baby!! amazing how well you can see baby's faces, we did the 3D with Rylie and are going to do it again with this bub towards the end of December most likely? your little one looks to cute!!

Anyone else willing to share bump photos ?
Here's 24 weeks + 2 last night after we took Rylie to see Disney Frozen on ice! I feel huge for 6 months!!!

 

[DaisyDreamer]

lily, Doing well. Just some hip pain and ankle pain on the same leg! Need to remember to stay off my feet...

Buttercup LOVE your scan pics. Really tempting to go get one myself. It's amazing hoe clear you can see baby's face. too funny about the 42 week countdown. I hope none of us in here go too far past our due date. Starting to think who out of us will end up delivering first? I wish the Dr would just call to let us know the results regardless if it's positive or negative. Always gets me worried that maybe there was some mistake in their system and they think they called me but they never did and therefore I never got the news I was supposed to Maybe I'm just paranoid.

Bombshellmom: cute bump pic! Here's mine at 27+3. Feels like today I'm even bigger though

 

[NDH]

With my ticker I actually set my due date to 3 weeks later than Im really due and we're only telling people Im due end of march/early April. Not even my mom knows my due date! my girls were both close to two weeks "late" so Im fully expecting it again and trying to stave off the "no baby yet?" comments a little bit longer.
So my ticker counts how many weeks I am correctly, but you'll notice it has a lot more days left than everyone else - just cause i dont want to sew it reach zero and still be waiting. I was trying to find a ticker that didn't count down at all and only counts up but unfortunately there aren't any.
I hate the due date pressure, so needlessly stressful and utterly pointless since only 5% of babies are born on their due date and 50% of babies aren't born by 41 weeks (omitting non medically indicated inductions)

 

[KalonKiki]

Mama Bat love the 3D scan pics, baby is is cute!

Great bumps ladies! I'm on my phone right now so that makes it harder for me to share mine but I do keep them in my journal.

My DS was born at 38 weeks exactly (I went into labor naturally) so I'm guessing that this time I'll give birth at 39 or 40 weeks. I highly doubt that I'll make it to 41 weeks, let alone 42 weeks.

 

[CurlyRose]

Good work on all the preparedness mama fox! I am so unprepared, not even chosen what I want in that room, let alone started doing any of it!

Lovely pics mama bat, I had been considering one of those scans, but finances havetaken the decision away from me now, so I will just have to wait and see!

I'm expecting to go to 41 weeks as my mum did with both me and my brother, so it seems likely, I'm not too fussed about it being "on time", but suspect I will be increasingly impatient when that date arrives anyway.

 

[allforthegirl]

I am pretty sure that I am way bigger than all of you

 

[Fezzle]

Here's mine from today. My fundal height was 24 cm last time I was measured (at 24w3d) and today was 27cm (at 26w1d)!

 

[DaisyDreamer]

Love the bump pics! Looking good preggo mamas

MamaDuck I haven't done much either. Just the things I know baby will NEED in order to survive. The rest will come, ha.

NDH That's a good idea if you know that you are likely going to be late. Even if you're early it will make you feel better about it on your ticker. Really hope none of us go too far past.

My mom has never gone full term, so she thinks that I need to be ready to go by Valentine's Day (almost fainted when I realized that was two damn months away. Two. Short. Months.). My brother was delivered at 37 and he was 8lb6oz, my sister went at 38.5, and I was scheduled c-section for 38 weeks but broke my mom's waters the day before she was scheduled to go in

 

[littlelily]

Just trying to be organized because it spreads the cost and the loooong list in my head is getting shorter - need the headspace!

Haven't bought essential things like wipes and nappies or a bath.

What size nappies should you get for new born? Do you need a bath?

Experienced mamas, is it worth buying a black out blind? X

 

[CurlyRose]

Newborn come in size 1, 2 and 3, I'd make sure you've got a couple of packs of 1 and 2 if nothing else, most babies will go in 1 for a bit. We will be getting (making) a blackout blind, because baby's rom will face due south and the blind will help to keep it cool as well as dark, essential in our house.

 

[KalonKiki]

Just trying to be organized because it spreads the cost and the loooong list in my head is getting shorter - need the headspace!

Haven't bought essential things like wipes and nappies or a bath.

What size nappies should you get for new born? Do you need a bath?

Experienced mamas, is it worth buying a black out blind? X

If you can get free samples of newborn size diapers (if you want to use disposables) then that is ideal. Then you can figure out which brand works best for you and baby. I would buy the smallest pack of newborn diapers you possibly can to start out with for multiple reasons:

1. You have no idea if baby will be sensitive to the diapers and show an allergic reaction.

2. You have no idea how big your baby will be or how fast he will grow.

3. You may not like whichever brand you end up buying and may choose to switch to a different one.

4. Most hospitals provide you with diapers during your stay there. Talk to your hospital about which things they supply you with so that you know what to bring and what to leave at home when the big day arrives.

You can always buy more diapers after baby is born, the smallest pack should easily get you through until you can buy another one. I don't recommend buying diapers in bulk unless you have a small baby (like I did) or until baby grows into at least size 1 diapers (the next size up from newborn). All boxes of disposables have the ideal weight range for the size on them.

As far as the bath goes I found it very convenient to have one. The sling you can lay baby on until he is old enough to sit up on his own is wonderful and as soon as he can sit up without support you can remove it. It also saves water. My DS is 2 years old and we still use the baby bath tub because he still fits in it pretty comfortably and why waste the water if we don't have to? We'll also be able to reuse it with DD when she arrives.

I have no idea about the black out blind but I never had one and everything turned out fine so I'm guessing it's not necessary. Just don't put the crib near a window. The crib should be as far away from any windows as possible anyway due to weather reasons.


We haven't gotten started on the nursery yet either, this is just a busy time of year. We are going to get started after Christmas though, I'm really excited.

For the first time mamas: don't be surprised if you don't give birth at the same gestation your mother did. When your mother gave birth is absolutely no indication of when you will give birth. My mother went over her due date 4/5 times and the only time she went before her due date was only 4 days before. Once she would have gone over but was induced on her due date, twice she went 2 days over, and once she went over 2 weeks late. I still gave birth 2 weeks before my due date. However if you decide to have another baby after this one then you can feel pretty confident that you'll give birth within a week of when you gave birth to this baby. It's very common for women to give birth around the same gestation that they did before.

 

[Fezzle]

I wouldn't go by my mom's gestation with me- I doubt her due date was very accurate! Like me, she had irregular cycles and they didn't have things like ovulation tests (or even home pregnancy tests) or scans then, so if they just went by her last period, I'm sure they were way off. I was over a week 'late' though I was only 6lbs 8oz so not sure if I was really that late.

One of my friends just told me she never used a bath, though I got a bath at the NCT nearly new sale for a cheap price so I figured it was worth trying out. We want to eventually try cloth nappies but use disposables at first, so probably won't get loads. We're going to get black out curtains, but we already have them in most rooms in our house. I can't get used to the British summer days where it's light out from before 5am!

 

[NDH]

My mom had my siblings and I all early (we were all born between 36 and 38 weeks) and my sister and I both had "overdue" babies (but since term ends at 42 weeks babies sent actually overdue or post dates til 42 weeks. Mine were born pretty close to 42 and my sister's was born at 40+5) everyone was convinced my sister would go quite early but nope. Mother's gestation really has nothing to do with how long you will gestate for.
I would honestly encourage everyone to see 42 weeks as being the end rather than 40 weeks (in some countries women are actually given the 42 week date as their due date to lessen womens' disappointment and unnecessary inductions). Be prepared by 36 weeks but don't have any expectations of having a baby before 42 and its much easier to make it past that 40 week point (for the majority of women who do)
The basis for the 40 week gestation theory (called Neagel,s Rule) was based on a very flawed study 200 years ago (often nicknamed Neagel's Folly) and is really so erroneous and outdated.

 

[Left wonderin]

Mmmm felt load of pressure and tightenings of my bump today . Baby moved into a different position I think and also think it could have been the start of braxton hicks . Anyone else

 

[allforthegirl]

I get the odd braxton contractions. Everyone starts them at different times.

 

[KalonKiki]

I've only had one BH contraction this whole pregnancy so far and it was just a couple of nights ago. I don't think I ever had them at all with my DS. It wasn't pleasant but I could definitely tell the difference between it and a real contraction.

 

[allforthegirl]

Always making sure you are well hydrated can help keep them a bit quieter

 

[bombshellmom]

My mom was induced early with me because she had toxemia and went about 1-2 weeks early with my younger brother, with my first I went 2 days over my due date so I agree with Keely, it can go either way. I'm expecting to go around my due date this time as well but we'll see it is interesting for sure!!

Lovely belly pics to the rest of the ladies!!
I love how all of our bellies look different!!