MSE Pregnancy Club 26

KScarlet

Thanks for asking Angel I am ok thanks, my cold went to a chest infection so I've had a bit of time off work due to that. I've bought some bits for hospital bag but as yet not packed it. Cleverly in my decluttering mood I must have given all our bags to the charity shop! I will use a changing bag for baby but I still need a bag for my things. I'm trying to clear the room first so 5 bags of rubbish is leaving today along with a few more boxes of books for charity. We've been given 2bags full of beautiful baby clothes which I'm so grateful for but wondering where it will all go! I think I'm going to box up clothes into sizes than gradually start washing! I had a panic last night if I had baby early (unlikely!) that I hadn't washed anything yet or DH wouldn't have a clue where all the clothes are lol!!

How are you feeling? Xx

Rummer I think pension contributions continue but I don't think you pay tax/ NI on SMP so shouldn't lose anymore. I could be completely wrong as I'm below tax threshold anyway and don't even have a pension *cant wait until my retirement!* sorry that probably doesn't help at all x

kerri_dfw

Oh my goodness what a difference a pillow between the legs makes! I'm laid up in bed today as my hips are hurting to walk and I've just put the pillow between them and oh my word instant relief! It probably helps that the pillow is fairly cold too.

Poppy27

kerri_dfw wrote: »

Ooh just remembered something else from last nights hypnobirthing...has anyone seen the breast crawl? Youtub it if you don't know about it. You put baby on your abdomen after they're first born and let them find the breast themselves, rather than shoving boob to face. It's meant to help them latch on. I've never tried it before, but it looks lovely watching the baby actually crawling for food. Apparently there's a natural instinct in them to crawl for the breast like newborn animals do (only thing I can relate to is kittens).

Yes our NCT breastfeeding class leader talked about this, and I spoke to an NHS bf consultant recently after a MW appointment who said she'd never seen it but knew about it and thought it sounds lovely. They are born with a 'rooting' reflex and seek out your breast for food during skin to skin. Often it can help if you can squeeze a little bit of colostrum out to help them to smell their way towards the nip.

Re. blankets, we've got a few cellular blankets which I have bought over the last few months in the sale on the Mothercare website. Works out a lot cheaper if you're not fussy about colour - all mine are cream or yellow. I have also got a sleeping bag from Tesco and a swaddle blanket, so it'll be trial and error for us while we work out what suits LO best.

Also, I'd recommend getting a room thermometer. We recently discovered we have no idea what temp the room is! We thought it was getting very cold in our room and were considering putting the heating on, but we plugged in our Gro-Egg thermometer and it fact it's only about 17.8 degrees, which is apparently within the 'comfortable' range of 16-20 degrees.

Angelmommy

Kscarlet - Gosh hope you're ok now? Must be horrible being ill on top of normal heavily-pregnant woes. I had bought lots of clothes (dd2 and I went a bit baby shopping mad after the 4d scan) plus sister gave me 2yrs worth of clothes from her little boy so I sorted them into ages and just washed anything 0-3 and under. The rest are bagged up in ages and in storage (mostly on top of wardrobe!). By the time I washed the early clothes/blankets/bedding etc I had 10 loads of washing. I'm doing ok thanks, have times when SPD is horrid but generally finding life much easier since I finished work last week. Xx

Kerri - glad pillow is helping you, I find it makes my SPD much worse. I woke in agony at 4am today just because I accidentally put the duvet between my legs while laying on my side. Wanted to sleep with pillow as supposedly really good for encouraging baby's head down - I feel like I push his head back up lol.

Angelmommy

Not sure if this helps anyone but most Mothercare stores are having an Expectant parent/mother night very soon. It's invitation only but if you call them, they add you to the list. Free goody bags plus 10% off everything and baby advice. To see when your local one is I typed in 'mother care expectant night' and my local town. Mine is tomorrow. Handy as work gave me a £50 voucher when I left for maternity leave. :-)

BadlyWrittenPoem

On the blankets/sleeping bags, I've found that even though we've used sleeping bags apart from right at the beginning we've got plenty of use out of the blankets we have as we've used them for things like covering the baby in the carseat etc. so whilst I probably wouldn't go and buy blankets specially, if you've got them they won't inevitably go to waste if you switch to sleeping bags. Just thought I'd say in case anyone is thinking, "Oh no I've wasted loads of money on blankets."

BadlyWrittenPoem

KScarlet wrote: »

I've bought some bits for hospital bag but as yet not packed it. Cleverly in my decluttering mood I must have given all our bags to the charity shop! I will use a changing bag for baby but I still need a bag for my things.

They might not be to your taste or the right size but there are some bargain bags here if they're your kind of thing: http://www.yumidirect.co.uk/outlet/bags.html

bigzippy

How on earth am I in the 20's on the list ?! :shocked:

Well I'm officially 3rd trimester now, 28 weeks today Still seems unreal half the time, after such a battle to get here, but then I feel bubs throwing shapes all over the place and catch a glimpse of bump in the mirror and have to believe it! this pregnancy, & lack of usual medications, is definitely making my other conditions worse though, so I'm really wondering how I'm gonna be by the time B-day arrives... :cool: The medical bods are as keen as me that I avoid a C section, as my recovery would be much slower than for a 'normal' person, but I'm really concerned/realistic that I may just not have the physical resources to get through labour & delivery :cool: As it is, I'm already practically on bed rest and still get to the point (like last night) of weeping with fatigue

Meh, there's nothing I can do about it, so let's hope for the best (while planning for the worst) !

I don't *think* there's been any birth announcements I've missed, but if there has, congratulations! I am reading along daily, just don't always have much to say/contribute

28+0 :j

jemb

Rummer wrote: »

Phew, what a headache it is trying to work out maternity pay! I hope some of you ladies may be able to help with some of the practicalities I have all the info from my company as to entitlements etc but what I want to know is what money is taken off the Statutory Maternity Pay and if it is paid weekly or monthly through your employer?

I know my pension contributions will be taken off and I need to work out if student loan payments continue from it and any other deductions etc Just worried I will end up with far less per month than I thought :eek:

Student loan shouldnt be, if i remember rightly, it should be under £16k you dont pay anything towards student loan, that's even if you're working full time. x

abis21

I am really not fond of Braxton hicks.