MSE Pregnancy Club 28

newcook

I have discovered the breast pump is a god send! I was able to express a whole feed for Esme which made me feel so much better knowing she's getting the good stuff. I've decided to express a few times a day and bottle feed so I know she's eating enough too. I've said to the midwife that if she gets hungry in between or I don't express enough at first I will top up with formula and she's quite happy with that though has warned it will be more work but I'm more than happy to do this as it takes the pressure off me and baby and also means OH can also help with the feeds.

big5

We took a trip to IKEA today and got a Kallax storage unit for the baby's room, which is starting to take shape, plus of course a bunch of stuff we didn't plan on buying. Didn't get the kitchen chairs that we actually went for - they were showing as 'in stock' on the website, but the poor member of staff we harassed said there seemed to be a pallet missing from the warehouse. Can't see us having the time (or in my case, energy) to go back before the baby comes so it's a bit annoying (we want 2 more to match the ones we've got, so couldn't just choose something else).

Son goes back to preschool tomorrow after a long 3 weeks off, so it'll be nice to have a bit of me time (even if I spend most of it doing housework).

Hope the new babies and their mummies are doing well, and the mummies to be are feeling ok and not too fed up with being pregnant!

sexymouse

Oh that's frustrating about the chairs big5. I hate it when things like that happen. We have a massive kallax unit in our playroom for all of my son's toys and it really helps to keep things nice and tidy. Don't forget to secure it to the wall though as there have been some nasty accidents associated with them tipping if this isn't done.

My son goes back to nursery tomorrow too (he only does mornings) and I have another appointment with the physio at 9.45. I'd intended to wash my son's newborn clothes etc this weekend, but never got around to it, so maybe I'll get them done tomorrow afternoon. Once they're all washed I can get on with packing my hospital bag. I think I have most things for it now which is good. We have our third hypnobirthing class tomorrow evening, so I've done my homework for it this afternoon. Time seems to be going very quickly at the moment - I can't believe I've only got a couple more weeks left at work before I go on maternity leave (provided this little man doesn't get any ideas about coming early).

cats2012

Sexymouse we did our hypnobirthing course at the weekend too! Ours was just one full day, plus book & mp3s we had to do before to prep then continue after. Even OH enjoyed it!! I'm feeling really positive about trying it all

My OH is still worrying baby may come early, so after our nursery furniture arrives on Thursday I may start getting a few bits together for hospital bag etc. Only 31+1 but I know a lot of early babies so want it all done by 35 weeks I think.

Hope everyone else is doing ok?! Congrats to the new mummies!!

clarabell1984

Morning all,

Hope everyone is well? **Long post warning**

I've been stuck with this horrendous cold for 2 weeks now and feeling miserable

I'm 28+3 now and have my next midwife appointment is on Wednesday morning.

I just wanted to gather others thoughts on antenetal/breastfeeding classes? I've decided not to go with the NHS classes, mainly becauase DH can't come. I looked into the NCT classes but can never find any within a 20 mile radius when I search their website (not sure if i'm doing something wrong!) and looked into Daisy Baby classes but time/location didn't suit! I have since booked a block of 6 combined pregnancy yoga & birth preparation classes starting next week - DH can't come to these either but i'm not really sure how much antenatal information is given even though this is how the class is sold as 'Pregnancy Antenetal Yoga'

I've never been one for classes and didn't intend on going to any of these kind of things. I'm not going to pretend that I know everything that is taught at them but I just feel uncomfortable going on my own and would much rather that my DH could come with me. (and he would like to come too).

I know that the midwife is going to ask me if I've booked the breastfeeding class too which I do not plan to go to. I would like to try breastfeeding but not sure it will be for me for various reasons. I don't know how to tell her this without again sounding like I must know it all already. I've heard that the midwives can be quite pushy with breastfeeding in my area!

My sister in law has a 10 week old and didn't do any classes at all and she is managing just fine, she mentioned there's nothing you cannot learn through apps and youtube lol - are there any others who have decided not to? Part of me is feeling like I'm being judged by others when I tell them i'm not going and it's starting to get me down a bit

I've also been told that I'll miss out greatly on the social side of not going to classes and meeting new mums to be but I have a small network of friends/family mummies to socialise witth when our baby is born.

Am I being silly letting this all get to me?

cats2012

Clara - don't worry about what anyone else says, it's up to you guys!! As mentioned, we're not doing NCT as our local dates don't work, so we're doing NHS which is just one full day. My OH is very keen to be involved so is also reading an Expectant Dad handbook, and helping with my hypnobirthing. To be honest - we're getting tons just from that. I am surprised you don't have local NCT ones though, perhaps worth emailing them?

Breastfeeding wise I do have to disagree with you very slightly - if you're hoping to try I think a class or something would be a great help. Regardless of my own opinion, my friend told me support & guidance was all that got her through the really hard first few days - without that she would have just given up. So if you want to give it a go, it may be worth it just to try and set yourself up for success. However, if it's not for you that's fine too!

As for social, what are you planning to do post-birth? I don't think I'll have made any "mum friends" from my antenatal classes, except maybe pregnancy yoga, but I'm planning to do loads of stuff in our local area once baby arrives so I'm not worried, and , like you, I also have a fair few friends locally with babies, plus our family. Personally, I actually didn't want to make too many just "mum" friends as my best friend said it got super cliquey and competitive - I hate that!

I hope this helps a bit - but to an extent just trust yourself and your judgement, and your OH. Only you know what you need - don't feel you need to do things just because other people do. that's certainly how I've looked at it all, and I'm really happy with our plan

clarabell1984

Thanks Cats, your post has helped. I'm not as outgoing as I was in my 20's and lack a bit of confidence I guess in things I do!

I was surprised also about the NCT classes - I think I must be using their website wrong or something but I have heard that they are also quite pricey and I have booked these other classes now - couldn't afford both.

My DH got an expectant dad book for Christmas and I am learning lots from the internet and will continue to read up before labour etc.

Breastfeeding wise, I'm not saying I wouldn't learn anything at classes, I'm sure I would but I've heard that it is very biased and that they speak negatively regarding bottle feeding and I would like to keep an open mind.

There are lots of classes that I can attend locally with mummy friends and family post birth. Some ladies that I know will have newborns by then too and although we aren't 'friends' as such, I can see us doing things with our little ones together as they will be in the same position. Like you, I'm not all that into making just 'mum' friends as I also heard about the cliquey aspect from friends.

cats2012

Sounds like you're all sorted then definitely just go with you instincts. After all, ladies all over the world do this and manage!! No point going to anything that will make you feel uncomfortable.

sexymouse

I think that the benefit of doing the antenatal classes is that it tells you more about your rights during childbirth as well as informing you about options for pain relief, birthing position etc. However, your yoga antenatal classes should help you there too. They can also prepare you to an extent about what happens if you need a medical intervention of any kind. With regards to breastfeeding, I did the NCT classes with my son and found they didn't really prepare me for breastfeeding at all. Like you, I wasn't sure if I would breastfeed or bottle feed initially with my son, so had both options prepared for in some way. However, once I'd had him, an instinct seemed to kick in that made me determined to breastfeed and the more I struggled with it, the more stubborn I became. The best thing to do is to ask for help in the hospital before you are discharged after the birth (either the midwives or ask to see someone from the infant feeding team). My biggest regret is to not be properly feeding before I left to go home, and I needed to have maternity support workers over for virtually the first 10 days to help me, which was stressful. This time, I'm going to try to stay in hospital until I know we are sorted if possible. Get them also to check for any tongue ties whilst in the hospital as these can go undiagnosed and cause lots of problems with feeding. Also, if you decide to breastfeed, it would be great to locate your local breastfeeding support group as they really helped me too, it's less daunting feeding there than at a mother and baby group in the early days.

big5

We did NCT classes last time. Everyone seems to rave about them, saying you'll make friends for life, etc, but that wasn't our experience. None of the other couples lived near us or made the effort to get together afterwards, so most of my 'mummy friends' are from baby and toddler groups in our village. We found the course good though, but there's plenty of info online about labour and birth (NCT's website has lots, plus Babycentre, etc) so if you don't feel a class is for you, you can still prepare yourselves.

Not bothering with any classes this time, but have done a bit of reading to refresh my memory. Would be nice to think it'll be straightforward like last time, but there's always a chance it won't be.