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What do you wish you had known with your first newborn?

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  • fantasia322
    fantasia322 Posts: 1,373 Forumite
    Just re-reading this thread...4 days to due date and petrified!

    ((((((((Hugs)))))))))) Winky. nothing I can say will make you less apprehensive, but i promise in a couple of weeks what you feel right now will be forgotten. It wont be long hon x
  • I've loved this thread too - I have 8 days until induction date!!
  • Winky,_The_House_Elf
    Winky,_The_House_Elf Posts: 476 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture Combo Breaker
    edited 13 January 2011 at 12:17AM
    Just re-visting this thread, and want to say a huge thanks to everyone that posted. :beer:

    Nothing initially went to plan - 72 hour labour, 2 failed epidurals, Pregnancy Induced Hypertention, Emergency C-Section and then I was re-admited following a Pulmonary Embolisim, Pneumonia& Heart problems :eek:

    Eventually got home a few weeks before Christmas, and the advice from here has really helped me to chill out, relax and enjoy my daughter, who is 7 weeks old now!

    One thing that my parents did for me which was worth its weight in gold was get me a cleaner for a few hours a week. It just kept on top of things (Mopping floors, changing bedding etc), and was the best present ever! Not very MSE, but there's something wonderful about fresh sheets when you are spending so much time nursing your Little One and are too sick to manage yourself, much more useful than a fancy pram or cot IMHO. (Mum had a stroke last year so felt guilty she couldn't muck in)

    I am breast feeding, but I wished I had practised infront of a mirror before my first time in public, so I could see if I was flashing anything and give myself some confidence. Last week I was stuck in a full hospital waiting room last week, waiting to get bloods taken, and I had to just get on with it as I hadn't expected a 2 hour delay! I think I might have flashed 30 OAPs!:rotfl:

    The hardest is just letting DH do things his way without needing to hover/take over... now there you can easily make a rod for your own back!

    Thanks once again, I hope this thread is useful to other mums to be.

    Winky xxx
    Right now I'm having amnesia and deja- vu at the same time. I think I've forgotten this before
  • Make a plan, written down on the computer so you can adjust it and make sure you have got everything you need. I had about 98% covered but some people were hardly at 50% and that caused them a whole load of stress.

    One partner should not have to shoulder it all. Whilst the mother slept, I covered the night shift most of the time apart from some limited breast feeding.

    Clear the decks. You need to slowly move back into a routine but it can be near impossible to get a baby to fit into your established routine. Get free time. It will get easier, though it doesn't seem like that at first.
  • Bufger
    Bufger Posts: 1,857 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker Debt-free and Proud!
    Only see parents and siblings straight afterwards. All kinds of friends and relatives want to come and visit in the first week and thats when life is at its most hectic!!! We had visitors that would come, stay longer than they were welcome and then leave the house in a mess only adding to the stress. We stopped all visitors except close family for 3 weeks and it was great - stuff what they think!

    GET A TUMBLE DRYER IF YOU DONT ALREADY HAVE ONE!!
    MFW - <£90k
    All other debts cleared thanks to the knowledge gained from this wonderful website and its users!

  • I am breast feeding, but I wished I had practised infront of a mirror before my first time in public, so I could see if I was flashing anything and give myself some confidence. Last week I was stuck in a full hospital waiting room last week, waiting to get bloods taken, and I had to just get on with it as I hadn't expected a 2 hour delay! I think I might have flashed 30 OAPs!:rotfl:

    Heh, don't worry about this, all breastfeeding mums have flashed people, you get used to it. Glad to hear it's going well :)
    5:2 diet devotee, frugal recipe creator, pretty excellent cook, pretty terrible housewife.
  • daleigha
    daleigha Posts: 274 Forumite
    Winky, I must have been due around the same time as you! My birth didn't go to plan either, and ended up with an emergency c-sec, but as soon as I saw my little man it was all forgotten about!!

    I LOVE the cleaner idea - I could certainly do with one!! (As I sit here wasting time on the internet lol!!)

    What do I wish I had known.....
    - the birth was instantly forgotten about so I wish I hadn't got so wound up about a birth plan
    - they grow sooooooo fast, so take lots of photos
    - there will come a day when you can leave the house in less than 15 minutes!!
    - enjoy spending time with your partner / reading books / watching DVD's / whatever else takes your fancy while pregnant as life will never be the same again!!
    - buy lovely pyjamas as you will spend at least a week afterwards wearing them!
    - buy as little as you can possibly get away with until you see exactly what you need - it's amazing the stuff I've bought that has lain unused, and the things I bought the wrong one of, and had to go out and re-buy!!

    xx
  • that no matter how many times you wash, you still smell of baby sick
  • pupsicola
    pupsicola Posts: 1,175 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker Mortgage-free Glee!
    Get as much rest as you can between now and the birth.

    Keep a very open mind during the birth. Hopefully it will go smoothly. I got very hooked on my birth plan and when it didn't happen that way I felt dissappointed in myself. Stupid thing to get hung up about, at the end of the day if you and baby are healthy and ok that is all that matters.

    However you decide to feed your baby know that he/she will be fine. Midwives and hv ruined the early days with my new baby by bleating on and on about breastfeeding.

    Enjoy every moment of the precious first weeks. They grow and change so, so quickly.

    Dont loose your identity. Rope your other half, your mum, mil into helping with baby and see your friends, go to the gym, and do things you enjoy. It helps keep you sane.
  • Fab thread!

    Reading with interest as I've recently found out Im pregnant with my 2nd child.

    My 1st is 5 now, loads of things I wish I knew!

    How to change a nappy, I couldn't understand why my baby was going through 6 sleepsuits a day! Point it downwards lol!

    Not to be bullied by the breast is best brigade, I spent an awful week in hospital, and was made to feel like a failure because I asked for a bottle for my very hungry baby.

    Make use of family, you don't have to be wonder woman.

    Join toddler groups, I met some of my good friends through getting out and about.

    Enjoy it!!!
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