February 2020 babies club

Hey there, I hit 28weeks last Sunday - i remember thinking that 28 sounds like such a big number but still 12 more weeks to go! Sorry to hear you need B12 shots Paulers06- is that to help with fatigue?

I don't think the physical symptoms associated with third trimester have hit me at all yet - no indigestion or heartburn or fatigue or back pain etc. Will probably hit me like a ton of bricks when it does land. I got quite a sharp pain in lower left side a few weeks back but it passed after a few hours and no sign since - I put it down to round ligament pain (thanks Google). Peanut is still fluttering around and kicking like crazy - the external ones out the front of me are cute and encouraging but the internal ones against my organs are not the most pleasant. Peanut is also a night owl so I guess we can say goodbye to normal sleeping hours in this house for a while come next February

I'm getting married this Friday - cannot believe the day is finally upon us but I'm looking forward to officially sealing the deal after 10 odd years with himself.

I've also been doing loads of shopping and ordering of baby bits over last few weeks and made a great dent - keeping an eye out on Black Friday/Cyber Weekend deals for various shops too.

Thanks again everybody for the good wishes and especially all the helpful BF tips, I really appreciate them. It sounds like it should be the most natural and easiest thing in the world but it's definitely not an exact science and I think a lot of it is just down to luck and a co-operative baby!

I went to the 1 day antenatal course organised by the Coombe at the weekend but it was on in grounds of Cherry Orchard Hospital in Ballyfermot - the midwife at the morning session was great and we got exactly what we wanted out of it (and then some as himself would attest to! ) Re signs that childbirth is brewing, when to go to hospital, how long to wait at home, different changes to look out for, pain relief options, birth plan options etc. I had read a lot about it already but the midwife talking through it was great as she had first hand experience of what to expect in the Coombe in particular. I was comforted to learn that the midwives in the Coombe will really take your birth plan into account (insofar as they can obviously!), I did not realise that they practice delayed cord clamping and it was good to hear about what kind of support will be provided on the postnatal ward. We were also joined by an anaesthetist who explained all things epidural to us - the procedure, timelines and associated risks - I know it's easy for me to say now having never birthed a child before but I hope I won't need an epidural because I really don't like the thought of losing mobility even for a short window - completely reserve the right to change my mind however!

The afternoon session was run by two public health nurses and in my opinion, this part of the day was very poor - got the impression that the two nurses wanted to get in and out asap as they don't usually work weekends and neither of us learned that much from the session - they barely touched on breastfeeding at all and I was really hoping that they might give an indication on when baby is hungry, tips for a good latch, positions etc. It was meant to be a 3 hour session but they finished up within an hour and during the Q&A, they weren't very aligned in their responses and both gave different answers so it was about as clear as mud.

I had mentioned at an antenatal appointment last week that I was interested in learning more about breastfeeding so I've signed up for an extra breastfeeding specific class in the Coombe in mid January (a 2 hour morning session) and I am definitely going to attend a few Cuidiu groups in a nearby town after Christmas, I didn't realise that you even could attend them before baby comes to be honest. I've exhausted many forums and stocked up on recommended bf supplies like nipple shields and compresses and pumps and I've just started the Positive Breastfeeding Book. I'll definitely look into lining up a lactation consultant as soon as I can after Peanut arrives. I know there is only so much I can do, and a lot of it will be down to baby too, but I just want to arm myself with as much knowledge as possible in advance and continue hoping for the best.

In other news, I've given my formal maternity leave notice to work and have sent away the MB1/MB2 forms - it's getting so real and so close now. Will be finishing up work on 31 January - I'd work right up until EDD if I could for a distraction but have to take at least two weeks off before EDD. I'll prob spend the two weeks fluffing about, nesting some more and batch cooking. I'd love if Peanut made an appearance a little earlier than EDD but that's out of my hands, I'll just be doing my 'figure of 8' on my birthing ball from 34 wks on to make sure baby is engaged in the right position and stays there until their big entrance.

I've also discovered that Peanut is a massive George Michael fan like me, we went to see Last Christmas in the cinema at the weekend and baby was twirling and kicking and moving like crazy all through the film and for 2 days and nights afterwards - I mean crazy movement, kicks clearly visible through my clothes and it was relentless! Now I turn George on full blast in the car and the house when himself is not around and Peanut and I have a bit of a singalong and jump about.

@ciarnimhurchu and @Ca_va - very exciting that you have opted for home births - one of my work colleagues had all 3 babies at home and was very supportive of it and her experience sounded amazing. Hopefully it will go just as smoothly for you both and I'll look forward to hearing how you got on - must be great to do your antenatal appointments in your own home too. And I am very much looking forward to the Christmas break - back in June when we found out we were pregnant, Christmas seemed so far away and the last hardle before baby comes and now it's nearly upon us. I've said all along the weeks have just flown by since the dating scan - took an eternity to get to the 12 week scan and I've literally just realised that was 20 weeks ago today - madness!

Just popping on to wish you all a very happy new year - will be a busy one for us! Hard to believe vast majority of the February 2020 babies from this here thread will be arriving next month :eek:

I'm not finishing up until very end of this month - trying to hold out as long as I can so I can get as much time as possible with baby. I can work from home a lot which helps massively - would be much harder to keep going if I had to commute into the office 5 days a week I'm sure.

Re the great name debate, I know the gender but himself doesn't yet so we haven't really had much of a names conversation - I've looked at the lists online etc. but I genuinely haven't a clue what to go for, nothing has really stood out for the right or wrong reasons. I imagine I will probably come up with some sort of shortlist and decide once we actually see Peanut's little face.

Over the Christmas break we finished up the baby's room and got all the final bits and pieces incl. car seat and travel system. I've put stuff aside for hospital bags (but haven't packed those hospital bags yet) and also on the recommendation of my other boardsies on this thread, I've joined a local Cuidiu group and hope to pop along to a few meetups before baby comes. Everything is slowly but surely coming together and it really has helped massively mentally, just the feeling of preparedness and ticking things off the list, I really highly recommend listing everything out and ticking it off when complete because I remember panicking a few months' back about how overwhelming I perceived it all to be at the time - breaking it down into micro tasks like assembling the cot, washing/folding all the baby clothes, collecting and installing car seat etc. has made it all so much more manageable. I've also started batch cooking meals and freezing portions for the first few weeks with baby, it's so easy to double/triple/quadruple quantities as I cook most nights anyway and I know future me will be grateful to not have to worry about cooking for the first few weeks with baby.

I think I'm also reaching peak nesting mode and I'm dying to take the Christmas decorations down (i'm not allowed to touch as much as a bauble until Jan 7th at the earliest), do a massive declutter and deep clean every single room of the house from top to bottom. Hopefully this next month will fly by fingers crossed and as soon as I finish up work, I will be doing every trick in the book to try to move Peanut's arrival along as much as possible, I have this sneaking fear/suspicion that Peanut is so comfortable at the moment that I'll end up going the full 10 days over and need to be induced! :eek:

Just back from the antenatal class on breastfeeding in the Wisdom Centre run by the Coombe this morning - was well worth attending IMO and am delighted to have gone to it. It was 2 hours focused solely on breastfeeding baby - covered everything from breast care to feeding cues, what makes a good and bad latch, feeding positions, techniques for hand expressing, where to go for additional support, common baby issues e.g. tongue tie and so on.

I feel much better about embarking on a bf journey after it so if your hospital is offering a similar class and you're on the fence about whether to attend or not, I would highly highly recommend it.