12 to 24 week pregnancy thread

chonorla

Hello everyone!!! Hope everyone has had a lovely Christmas! Mine has been organised chaos with 3 children - which will be 4 by next Christmas!!!! :eek: Thats a definite ouch to the cost - I agree helen4891 My mum has asked me not to have anymore as they cost her a fortune and my sister also announced she is expecting her first baby next year. Poor Nanna


Bigbird - I am on my 4th baby and have seen the MW once at 16 weeks - I am 25 weeks today (so will be off here soon!). I will then see her at 26 weeks and the Consultant again at 32 weeks. I am classed as high risk for a number of reasons (I am asthmatic, anaphylactic, have HG (still on medication....), have large babies and quick labours) but they seem to think I have coped fine with all these issues in my other pregnancies and this is enough for me!
I do know what you mean - compared to your first baby its a huge change!!!!

The GTT test for my area is a BMI of over 30 - I am 30.5 :mad:. I wasn't this heavy with any of the others - have just joined Slimming World now that I can eat other stuff than salty crisps and snacks. Previous babies have to be over 9lb 9oz also. Mine have all been, so I am having a GTT on the 8th Jan - I think? I did write it down somewhere!!!! But as I have HG and the appointment is at 9.15am they are fully aware that trying to keep a drink down at that time is near impossible.....

I have had a crib with all of mine instead of a Moses basket - but my babies are longer than average (all 60-62cm) which means they go straight into 3-6 months clothes and look like I have shoe-horned them into a Moses basket!!! I have found a bassinet on Amazon (someone posted it on the pregnancy thread) and am considering one of them, this time. We are really limited for space in the bedroom as my 2 youngest share the largest bedroom at the moment, so we are in the medium size one. It is a bit cramped as I have had to put a desk up for my uni work and I am a bit behind with my ironing.....:o and its taking over the bedroom! But thats not going to change in the near future :rotfl:

I have started buying - got some lovely babygros in Next sale and a couple of the thick sleepsuits. Getting excited now

Hope everyone has a lovely weekend and I will be graduating to the next thread very soon - so I wish you all a happy and healthy 12-24 weeks x

IHateDida

chonorla wrote: »

I have had a crib with all of mine instead of a Moses basket - but my babies are longer than average (all 60-62cm) which means they go straight into 3-6 months clothes and look like I have shoe-horned them into a Moses basket!!!

Even though I am not buying anything until the next scan not wishing to tempt fate and all that....I have been looking at "stuff" that I will need to buy.

I want to keep things down to a minimum - basically we have just downsized from a 4 bed to a 2 bed - which isn't a problem as with baby, there will only be 3 of us. But we want to avoid excess "stuff" that we won't use for long (and I am getting old so there won't be time for any more!:D).

Could I ask whether I will need a moses basket? By crib - do you mean cot? I was just thinking of buying a cotbed for the nursery and possibly a travel cot for when we go away. Will this be enough?

And prams?! OMG! I haven't a clue but I want to be very MSE if I can and get some kind of "travel system" (again to avoid "clutter") but after just looking.....how on earth do you decide on what to buy?:eek: (just trying to prepare for post-scan purchasing frenzy when hopefully the sales will still be on!). At the moment.....I don't have one thing at home that is baby related!!!!

SplanK

Just thought I would show my head in here again (wife now 16.4 weeks and started to feel the flutters )..

Travel system - we started looking last weekend and I was getting very stressed! One thing we found very quickly that our car (Nissan Almera),although a medium sized family car, didnt take to most car seats due to the shape and angle of the rear bench. Please ensure that whatever you find fits your car. I had to drum this into my brother who’s GF is 6 weeks ahead of us. They had bought a travel system without even checking the seat fits properly! Get the store to test it and also take a look/call the manuf to be sure that it’s compatible with any car you plan to use it in.

Do not just assume it will fit.

IHateDida

SplanK wrote: »

Please ensure that whatever you find fits your car. I had to drum this into my brother who’s GF is 6 weeks ahead of us. They had bought a travel system without even checking the seat fits properly! Get the store to test it and also take a look/call the manuf to be sure that it’s compatible with any car you plan to use it in.

Do not just assume it will fit.

Oooh...thankyou - I just assumed one size fitted all - and as both our cars have isofix I thought I could just get anything that was isofix-ok and was looking at ones from Amazon. Never thought that they wouldn't fit - so thank you for that - before I buy, I will ring manufacturer as it will have to fit both our cars (your wife is 1 day behind me in terms of dates!).

chonorla

iHateDida - It is a complete minefield when buying baby stuff I agree and so much stuff that people say you need - which you will never even use!!! As I am on number 4, by number 3 I had it whittled down to the bare essentials and number 3 was a very MSE baby

Cribs are in between a moses basket and a cot - usually wooden and I like the ones that swing Google crib on ebay and you will get an idea of the size. For my last two I had 2 cribs - one upstairs and one downstairs (both second hand just new mattresses) and then a cot bed for when they go into their own (well shared room. I have never had a cot - always a cot bed. I always keep my babies in my room with me until at least 7-8 months - so that is something you may need to think about? If you will be putting baby in their own room quite soon then you may get away with a moses basket in your room for the first couple of months and then straight to the cot bed. If like me, you will need somewhere for them to sleep in your room for a while - then a crib is your best bet. My eldest actually slept in a travel cot from day one, till he went into his own room as space was very tight that time. So that is an option? Saves buying either moses basket or crib!!! The bassinet I am looking at is multi-functional and will act as a crib, then cot and it is also a travel cot. Try this link

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B006UAQ7QU/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE

As for travel systems I only ever had one and was not a fan. Possibly because I hated seeing my big babies scrunched up asleep in the car seat - I much preferred them lying down flat. And my goodness the car seat is heavy to carry with a chunky baby in - so always ended up taking them out anyway :rotfl: So I always have a car seat (which mainly stays in the car) and a reclining pushchair that lays completely flat - this takes up much less space than a travel system and folds down much smaller. I did have a Mamas and Papas Pliko for a while - this can have a car seat attached and folded down quite small.

This time I will use a sling when possible and we have been given a Mothercare Urban Detour for when we go walking - which we do a lot and my Maclaren buggy which DS2 has just stopped using will be my everyday buggy.

I have very little baby related as I gave it all away after number 3!! Never intended to have anymore but am afraid broodiness got the better of me

I am going to attempt to use reusable nappies this time - something I have never done and just researching that is giving me a headache!!!!

Good luck for your scan and am sure everything will be fine xxxxx

SplanK

To be honest, we walked into stores thinking roughly the same, that if our car didn’t have ISOfix, we would just need belted seat and all would be good...however here are somethings I have picked up on in my research...
1. At least 3/4 of the base ofthe baby seat has to be in contact with the rear bench at the correct seat position.
2. Air bags - need to check where the seat is being fitted, that no airbags can interfere (some cars have sideair bags in the rear).
3. Need to check that the seatbelt is long enough for non ISOFIX seats. Some seats have multiple routes for this issue though.
4. Car seats can *generally* be fitted to the front passenger seats as long as there is no airbag (even if you can turn it off its still suggested not to). It is not advised however as statistical data shows that the front passenger seat compared to the rear is less safe in a crash and the driver could become distracted.
5. Some cars have under seat storage - if this is the case then you may need inserts available from car manuf's to fill the void for the car seat to be fitted safely.
6. With seat belt secured seats,you need to check for "Buckle crunch" where the buckle for the seatbelt interferes with the car seat needs to be checked for otherwise it becomes a weak point during a crash.
7. ISOFIX isn’t that straight forward as there are different standards of ISOFIX and again, the base of thecar seat may not be suitable for the bench! So one of your cars may have 1 type of ISOFIX and your 2nd car may have a different one!
Research suggests that 2/3rd's of car seats are incorrectly fitted. I am not all that surprised really given the mine field and the ability to order them over the internet without checking. Even if the manuf suggests it fits, you still need to double check as each model of the same car could have differences from what’s been tested.

Sparkles87

Isofix is a brand, it's an extra fitting that you add to your car and then you can snap the baby seat into it instead of just strapping it in. Upside, it's more secure and less fiddly. Downside, it takes up that seat of your car as they seem to only come out with a screwdriver so quite fixed.

Thankfully I have a friend with a 22 month old who is my baby guru! Her best advice with buggies was to go and play with them in the shops. Check the steering and stability. How easily does it fold up one handed (when you're balancing baby/shopping!). How light is it. How small does it fold.
We've found one we really like in mother care, but going to try babies r us first before we put a deposit down.


The advice is that baby should be in the bedroom with parents for six months so we're going to put the cot in there for now but keep all the other baby stuff in the nursery. I don't think we'll bother with a moses basket because they aren't in them very long, as cute as they are. Plus the travel system we are looking at has a sleeping carry cot, so baby can nap in that if we're at anyone else's house.

IHateDida

Oh my goodness thank you chonorla! I appreciate the time you spent writing that.

We were thinking (early days I know but the time already seems to have flown!) - of putting a double bed in the baby's room - so getting it to sleep in there in its cotbed from the start - and then allowing the more tired of us to retreat back to our bedroom as and when - I am guessing it will work. We also have a bungalow - so will always be in the next room so to speak regardless of whatever room we are in!!!! (never lived in a bungalow before - I feel 80 already!).

Thanks for the info also about the travel system - never really though much about it - but like you say - do I really want a baby to be sleeping in its car seat the whole time.....

Oh.....and I am planning on reusables also (I just can't bare the whole landfill thing although faced with a dirty nappy I know I could change my mind!) - so do let me know how you get on as I haven't even ever changed a disposable nappy ever in my life before - but I reckon if my Mother used resuable then I can (but she didn't work - so after a year off....I know I could change my mind again!!!!).:rotfl:

There just seems too much to have to think about!:o

chonorla

I agree with going to have a play with the buggies. I had a disastrous buy with my double buggy - there is only 16 months between my last 2 so I could not get away with not having one.

It seemed quite good in the shop (Mothercare) and folded up easily - very important with baby and toddler in tow - but in reality having 2 different sized children in it, made it a nightmare to push as it kept veering to the heaviest side!!!! Obviously this was not something I would have known prior to putting both of them in it, but I sold it on ebay after a few months and "suggested" it was better suited to twins. The lady that bought it was thrilled and thankfully she had no problems with it because it was evenly balanced. I had promised her money back if she wasn't entirely happy before anyone thinks I was being mean selling it on :rotfl:

xxxx

SplanK

Sorry, I am going to have to correct the above post. ISOFIX isnt a "brand", its a fixing standard, well, multiple standards!

I think what you are refering to there is seat bases which you can purchase which allow the child seat itself to click in and out easily. These can be secured with either by a belt, or ISOFIX clamps depending upon model of base.

A lot of child seats can be belted/ISOFIX'ed as their own (such as the Maxi-Cosi Pebble), or you can buy a bases to make life a bit easier for yourself and the child seat clicks into the base without faffing around!

Essentialy ISOFIX standard is 2 U shaped brackets mounted onto the cars body work acting as an anchor. These will be at the bottom of the backrest where it joins the bench inbetween the join.

You can not (usualy) retrofit ISOFIX points into a car or purchase them as an addition.

However all new cars sold in Europe now have ISOFIX points as standard (has been for a while - I think 2006 was when it came into force - but please check each car regardless before purchase of a seat!)