Pregnancy Off Topic Thread

[odetotheseaweed]

I always used to offer before baby too because who doesn’t love baby cuddles?

But Mr R does it too. He will make dinner and put it infront of me but never offers to hold baby while I eat. He just laughs that baby always knows when I’m about to eat because that’s when he wakes up

With Mr R, I think just say something. Like “hey, I eat one handed all day whilst you’re at work, please can you just take him for ten minutes so I can eat my dinner whilst it’s hot?” My partner used to come home from work, go to the toilet, faff around downstairs and I’m stuck under a sleeping baby and have needed a wee for over an hour. In the end I asked if he could just come and check first if I needed anything, and he never even realised that I might. Men are weird

 

[aggytha]

I’ve been testing out the hot shots on the Prep Machine today. I have a digital thermometer and pleased to say so far so good- all of them were well over 70c!

I’ll still be checking religiously once the boys are here because I’m a control freak, but glad it seems to work as it should so far!

 

[WatchingFromTheSidelines]

Nearly 3 weeks with baby N and this growth spurt is having my liiiiife. He’s only napped 3hr16mins and he’s been on the boob 2hr11mins. And last night we only got about 5 hours total. Today i managed my first nap whilst he napped. Yep it’s taken nearly 3 weeks for me to nap! Aaaaand I finally got a haakaa to catch other side let down when feeding and it’s helping loads for the OH to help with bottles! Literally lazy pumping isn’t it

 

[watermelon sugar]

I put my foot down at custard creams!!! They are the worst biscuits!! I said what I said!!

 

[Brewtime87]

Hahaha cringing at myself so much for this but I'm the total opposite. My OH is a terrible snorer and keeps offering to sleep in our spare room but I won't let him, I'm clearly too needy
I'm sure the bigger I get and once summer actually turns up (lol at my optimism), I'll be waving him goodbye with a smile on my face every night

 

[raspberryjuice]

Yeah I keep having those omg what have I done moments too thank you! I have a level 3 in child care so I’ve worked with a lot of children over the years but when it comes to your own it’s so different lol
Noo I haven’t booked any yet but I will deffo look into them and book one xx

You’ll smash it! I didn’t do any qualifications but I worked in a nursery for a bit after leaving school and I have to say my own is much easier than looking after strangers children in a professional capacity. Yes it’s more tiring because they don’t go home at 6pm but it’s also more relaxed and rewarding. You’ve got this

—-
It’s Mr R’s last full day of paternity, he goes back tomorrow night. He’s let me have a lie in this morning while he got up with baby but I walked in to the living room when I got up and saw them cuddled up watching some football highlights (seasons over mate, get over it!) and Mr R explaining it to Baby R and it made me really emotional thinking it won’t be so easy for them to have that time together after today obviously he will have days off but he’s always so tired on a day off because of working nights. It’s just hit me how much he’s going to miss out on

 

[Laughalong]

Whattttt you’ve just made my head fully fall off

So I boil the kettle then straight away make the feed in a bottle as normal, then pour it in the nuby rapid cool? Is that right?? And if i sterilise it I can’t use it again for 3 hours?

What’s the hot shot method then?

i swear I’m not this thick usually and I managed to keep my 4 year old alive thus far so must’ve done something right with him

Okay so there’s parts to this…

You HAVE to wait 3 hours regardless no matter how you use it between using it because that’s how long it takes for it to reset and cool back down before you can use it again. So I’ve personally bought two just in case I need another feed sooner

There’s two ways to use a rapidcool. You can put all the formula in and the full amount of boiled water straight from a kettle into a rapidcool. Wait the two mins or so until it flashes green and it’ll be good to go. The downside to this is it would need sterilising after every use because the formula went in too.

Method #2 is mainly for bigger oz feeds, probably at least 6oz+. Method 2 involves putting about 2oz boiling water + all the formula into the baby bottle (this is what they call a hot shot). Then putting the rest of the hot water (for example 4oz if you were making a 6oz bottle) and waiting for that to cool. Then adding that 4oz to the 2oz hot shot into the bottle which will cool it down to a drinkable temp. Then because you haven’t put any formula into the rapidcool, you can get away with longer without having to fully sterilise it as it’s only been hot water in there

Hope that makes sense!

 

[Elle Woods]

The hospital isn’t close to my home at all so we’ve been staying there to be there as much as possible but I’ve had to come home for a day or so just to get organised and get myself together a bit and then I’ll go back. I feel bad leaving but I’m not any good to the baby if I’m struggling myself

 

[watermelon sugar]

Does anyone follow/watch Brittany Miller on tik tok? I hope none of you dress like her

 

[Brewtime87]

Oh god I hope you don’t have a stalker on your hands

Sent from my iphoen

Over 20 minutes later and I'm still cackling my head off at that last line
Thank you for cheering my morning up haha! X

 

[Elle Woods]

I just bumped into an old family friend who I've not seen in years, got chatting about the pregnancy and said it's a boy and she sort of went "oh, a boy, were you gutted?" before I could tell her no I was delighted she went on to say "I just always imagined you having a girl, will you try again for a girl?" People say the weirdest things and please, having another baby is the last thing on my mind when this one is yet to be evicted

 

[Laughalong]

Just sneezed & wee’d myself in Selfridges
---
In all seriousness I’m gonna probs become more of a silent reader given how today went. I’m not fussed on what actually happened but it’s clear some people read this thread to not be supportive so I don’t really fancy posting about my life anymore. So baby is all good I don’t want anyone to think it’s about something going wrong in the pregnancy if I don’t post anymore!

I hope they’re happy knowing they caused upset to a pregnant person

 

[Elle Woods]

Are they not seeing you to check on your scar or anything or are the hospital checking in on you? Only because other than weighing baby, asking how he was feeding and checking jaundice levels they were mostly focused on me and my recovery, scar, emotions etc during the 3/5/7/14 day appointments so it seems a bit rubbish they won’t have that engagement with you for several weeks? Do they have any emotional support in place at the hospital so you’ve got someone to talk to on the harder days?

Nope. My scar was checked when the dressing was removed and that was it. The problem is my baby is 3 hrs away from home so my normal midwives have said they’ll only be involved once he’s closer to home, the hospital he was born in (also hours from home) discharged me so I’m not under their care anymore. I’ve sent my GP an email to say I feel like I’ve been left in the lurch and asked for some help. My preeclampsia medication also needs reviewing and nobody has contacted about that! It’s all such a messy situation
---

Oh @Elle Woods sounds like there’s a gap between the ante and post natal midwife care so you’re a bit in limbo. As Raspberry said, the midwives don’t really do a great deal PP but check baby’s feeding and health and your MH and healing at home before you’re passed on to the HV, so realistically I guess they don’t really have a role just yet, but you’d think there would be another service to cover the interim for NICU mums.
I’m guessing you don’t have a second to think so I had a quick google and this looks like a relevant resource https://www.bliss.org.uk/

Remenber though most hospitals have a birth reflections/de-brief service if you think you need help to understand exactly what happened and why. I know your priority is baby but if you think it could help, please take the time for yourself too while baby has the NICU care.
You should also still be able to access the maternity MH services depending on your trust. It’s a real crap situation that you’re expected to advocate for yourself when you’re so exhausted and all your energy is on baby but if you need it, and if you can, mum’s wellbeing has a big impact on baby so it’s as much for him going forward as it is you. Lots of love to you xx

This is really helpful, thank you so much

 

[Brewtime87]

I've dropped Mr Brew at the pub to celebrate his team winning the FA cup, so I'm back on the sofa with a large dominos pizza watching more Married at First Sight Australia. Can't complain!
Attempted some gardening earlier but got worn out after five minutes haha, is this the new normal?!
How are you and your little family?

 

[odetotheseaweed]

You want me to pop in the shop and buy 3 things which will take 5 minutes? WELL I MIGHT AS WELL SPEND AN HOUR AND A HALF FILLING ALL THE CUPBOARDS! I love how men jump from one tiny job to a massive job that doesn’t need doing
---
My hormones feel a bit crazy tonight and I’m being a total bitch, I know I am, and I can’t stop

 

[raspberryjuice]

We’ve done the nursery but not built the cot yet because baby won’t need it yet and kept the spare bed in there. Mr R still sleeps in there even though we’ve just got a super king bed to give us both space. It’s the snoring I can’t cope with I think we’ve shared a bed probably 3 times since I was about 10 weeks pregnant! He’ll sometimes come to bed with me to watch a film or something but as soon as it’s done or now when baby R falls asleep he’ll go back to the spare bed. He’s weird about it too and gets all sad like “will we ever get to sleep in the same bed again?! ” it’s like will you ever stop snoring like a warthog? There’s your answer
He does settle me in to bed, brings me a drink and kisses me goodnight every night though. I feel like a child sometimes

 

[raspberryjuice]

See this just makes me think cos I was saying to my boyfriend is it weird if we send messages with things like wash your hands before touching baby / don’t come around if you’re not well to our family/friends and he said “everyone knows that now it’s common sense” clearly fucking not!!!

It really isn’t!! We give hand sanitizer to people as they walk in the house and have bottles of it dotted everywhere. Most people have been really good and cancelled visits if they’ve not been well but we have had to tell 1 person they couldn’t hold him when they’d just had a fag outside, and asked a couple to wash their hands first. We’ve also had to ask people not to kiss his hands/face. Luckily most people are ok but you probably will need to get firm with some people. If I’d known his step mum wasn’t well I wouldn’t have taken Baby R to their house and definitely wouldn’t have let her get up in his face. She did the same with Mr R’s 6mo old nephews that evening too and they’re also poorly. Shes not a popular lady this week!

Lucy has posted on a couple of other threads about what’s going on with her. I won’t post the details because it’s her info to share but if you search her posts you’ll be able to see what’s going on. At her last update everything was ok with her baby girl though. I’m sure she’ll appreciate your good thoughts x

 

[Brewtime87]

I hope you and baby are doing okay @Elle Woods x

 

[Lexi88]

What’s everyone doing for their partners for Father’s Day? Or what did you do for your partners first Father’s Day?

Not got anything yet but I screenshot this on Insta earlier, thought it was a lovely idea which I know he will love

 

[odetotheseaweed]

Been a tough weekend here, some tough anniversaries and the kids are being hard work. But escaping it all for a couple hours to meet some friends, and then I’m 15 weeks tomorrow!