MSE Pregnancy Club 27

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We had our last antenatal class last night. I'm wondering if the lady who ran our classes was an nct person as they seem very similar to yours Claire and Becca. From what I've heard about other NHS classes they sounded awful so I'm considering myself lucky! For hubby and I to go from absolutely dreading having to attend to now hating the fact it's over, they must have done something right! Really going to miss going as I feel like were on our own in the big wide world now!!!

LannieDuck

claire16c wrote: »

But if youre thinking of doing it so that your DH can feed so you can get a rest, be aware of the fact you will still be feeding the baby that day so trying to find time to express is going to be pretty difficult and so isn't really going to give you a rest at all - but with anything if you are determined then you may find a way.

Don't worry too much about this, esp if DH's bottle is going to replace a feed - you can just express at the time you would normally have fed. Getting sufficient for the first feed takes a bit of preparation and pumping after baby's finished to up your supply, but after that it's fine (to start with I'd only get an extra 20ml out, but eventually was getting an extra 60ml without much effort).

Personally, it was a sanity-saver for me. DH took over the early morning (~5am) feed and I got 4 hours sleep all in one go! I just expressed when I woke up - my boobs had a lot of milk then, and the let-down would have been too fast for DD at the start anyway.

sjlou

Good morning ladies,

Manic morning as I overslept and then was rushing round before work. Going to be moving to 2 days a week working from home from now. That is going to be a big help! Only 4 weeks to go!

Got a few bits in aldi last night. Bought the avent bottle starter kit and the microwave sterilizer, plus some more muslins! At least then if for any reason I cant breast feed Ill be ready, and will be useful anyway if I manage to express.
Also, am I right in thinking that baby will need water as well as milk from time to time and Ill need a bottle for that anyway.

MrsTM what a wonderful thing to be able to do. Hope you feel like you're doing all you can and it helps your grieving too. I don't know whether I would feel up to it.

BadlyWrittenPoem & marywooyeah - Good to hear some positive back to back birth stories. I guess it just goes to show that there is no "ideal" birth that fits everyone. Everyones bodies have different limits etc

sunshine81 congratulations on team blue. That sonographer sounds like a right moody cow!!! Our very first scan was done by someone similar to this, she never even offered us photos!! I think she was annoyed that we'd wasted her time (was too early to do nuchal test, so had to re book).

becca0417 I'm interested to hear what goes on in the womens only session, I don't think we're having one.

claire16c

becca0417 wrote: »

Claire we also had our NCT breast feeding session last night ( after the women's only session yesterday morning) & it was v similar to yours. Absolutely loved it!! The lady that ran it is the breast feeding counsellor in our area so was great to know who we would be talking to.

Kynthia I really hope you get a helpful response from the seller today. We had to threaten to pull out & actually booked another viewing before the estate agent rang them to tell them & miraculously the contracts were exchanged a week later!!

Same here she has given us her contact info & said any problems we can go to her house which is about 1 mile from me, and she will help, and given us a load of contacts for groups & breast feeding help line numbers. She said they had ladies ringing in Xmas day to check they could eat cake - she was like you most definitely can, It should be compulsory! one of the guys then later on thought it would be funny to read out a fact about food when breast feeding & pretended it said the dept of health said chocolate & cakes were banned - for about 2 seconds you should have seen all the women's faces lol!

Then the teacher said the amniotic fluid taste can be altered by what you eat & then your breasts around the nipple give off that same scent so the baby is used to it - DH said he wouldn't be surprised if I started lactating dairy milk the cheeky so & so!

claire16c

LannieDuck wrote: »

Don't worry too much about this, esp if DH's bottle is going to replace a feed - you can just express at the time you would normally have fed. Getting sufficient for the first feed takes a bit of preparation and pumping after baby's finished to up your supply, but after that it's fine (to start with I'd only get an extra 20ml out, but eventually was getting an extra 60ml without much effort).

Personally, it was a sanity-saver for me. DH took over the early morning (~5am) feed and I got 4 hours sleep all in one go! I just expressed when I woke up - my boobs had a lot of milk then, and the let-down would have been too fast for DD at the start anyway.

Thanks that's interesting to know.

One great thing I discovered about Breast milk if you do express was how long it lasts for! I think she said a week in the fridge & 6 months in freezer so very handy.

I've just driven to aldi never been there before as it's 20 mins away. Got 2 cellular blankets, 1 fleece blanket, Muslins, small pack of nappies & a nursing bra.

becca0417

Claire I found the freezing info really useful. I'm going on my best friends hen do in July so will hopefully still be bf & she said freezing the odd feed is ok but your milk changes to meet the needs of your baby so a whole weekend of milk expressed months ago is still great but won't be matched to baby's needs. I never knew that, it's so amazing!!

Sjlou - I think it was mainly for the women to talk about stuff without the men there & bond a bit more. We discussed induction, what could be signs of early labour, postnatal worries, what we will need postnatlly (which was helpful as I'd been focussing purely on baby), relaxation & just general bits. Was great, I really enjoyed it!

fran-o

Our women's only nctclass was a while back but I found this which I wrote at the time:

I promised to feedback on my NCT women's only class... It was three hours and all the ladies were there (8 plus teacher). Talked about the stuff that would be a bit embarrassing in front of the lads eg perineal massage, tearing and how to cope if it happens, pelvic floor exercises, and listened to a bit of a hypnobirthing cd.

For the biggest part of the session we spent time in groups writing down two lists - one of our hopes (for labour, birth and early days) and one of our fears/ worries. Then spent a good hour and a half or so discussing. A lot of people were getting some personal stuff off their chests but a lot of the sentiments echoed around the room, many people had same worries. One girl got tearful about her fear of being left alone in the hospital (ie when baby has arrived and visiting hours are over) and set me off. Talk about being in hospital, unexpected medical problems etc just brought back lots of difficult memories around my miscarriage so I was a bit of a tearful wreck for the rest of the session. I'm so glad they are a nice bunch of girls, I was happy to tell them why I was upset and they were understanding. Five of us went for a quick cafe lunch in town afterwards, then I did some shopping and went to my Mums for another little cry and a nice dinner. Hubby is away on business so I was glad to be seeing Mum and Dad for some moral support.

becca0417

Are any of you planning on doing post natal NCT course?

sjlou

Thanks for sharing fran.

We discussed perineal massage on wednesday! Some of the guys faces were a picture! She's going to email us some instructions and link to a video (on a dummy not an actual woman!). I can link it onto the fb page is anyone is interested when I get it.

Haven't looking into any post natal courses. What kind of things to they cover?
Our nct teacher also runs the yoga I go to and does a mother and baby class. I might go to that once I've been signed off my 6 week check up. Apparently she covers specific exercises that help your body to recover, as well as stuff for baby.

claire16c

Yes you're right becca I remember that now I didn't know that either- really amazing!

We don't have a women's only bit on mine. Kind of glad if it is likely to get emotional as I'm the same Fran-o and I get the feeling I'm the only person on my course who hasn't had an easy pregnancy and obviously other ladies could have had miscarriages but I don't want to start getting upset about that again although same as you they seem a lovely bunch and I'm sure we will talk about that stuff at later points. Lots are working up til 1 week before their due date, and some are 4 weeks ahead of me yet I'm the one waddling about with pelvic pain & snacking so I don't feel sick!

Tomorrow we've got a 6 hour class!