sandy_rose

Found a set of keys today, car and house keys. I'm handing them into the police station tomorrow but just thought I would post on here as well. Pm me with a description of the keys if you think they may belong to you.

I was in hospital for 14 days when my baby was newborn. I was expressing for dear life to keep my milk production up as my baby was on an iv drip and not allowed to feed. I asked at scbu if they would take the milk as I was throwing away copious amounts but they said they don't do it anymore -?

Brierley were amazing pre, during and post birth. If you have the chance to get taken on with one of the teams you should take it as they get extremely busy and you're lucky to get booked in. Whichever team you're booked in with I'm sure you will be well looked after.

I can highly recommend Julia at The Vale practice. She also works at the Osteopathic Centre for children. She saw me throughout my pregnancy and beyond as well as baby when she had problems with reflux - she's fab.

We've got a video monitor, it was great in the early days especially as she spent some time in special care and I was a bit neurotic to start with :). Now she's 6 months I'll be using it to keep an eye on her in her playpen while I'm dashing around the house trying to get stuff done (I can always dream!)

Expressing from one boob while baby feeds from the other seems to work really well too.

We used a syringe at Kings, which is what they gave us before she could go on to bottle. We gave her a dummy to pacify her as poor thing was being starved and so really hungry. We just put the syringe in her mouth next to the dummy and she would drink every drop. Can't even imagine feeding a sleepy newborn with a cup, bottle was hard enough with her falling asleep every 2 mins.

You really do want to have the NCT group nearest to you. The info they give you to be honest you can find in a book or free class at the hospital but the main benefit is having other mums on your doorstep once the baby is here - invaluable. The one I did (with Alice) was part evening, part weekend and the odd weekday morning. I'm surprised you can only find them during daytime as the dads really benefit from the classes too. I would call the coordinator and ask, as when I was looking into it they hadn't organised a local one yet that suited me and they booked me onto one in Brixton!

I went to see an osteopath during pregnancy to sort out my lower back problems, mentioned heartburn and was amazed that she was able to sort that out too - it went away instantly and never came back. The lovely Julia, vale practice has the magic touch :)

I agree re spa day vouchers, bit of a waste on a breastfeeding mum. However, I would love to have had a massage or other treatment, either locally or by a mobile therapist at my home. The other great option is food, Cook do gift vouchers and a freezer full of their yummy foods would be bliss if she hasn't got people round to help her much. Wine and chocolate is also a pretty safe bet, or a voucher for a good internet shopping site such as the White company or Asos...it may be a while before she'll want to venture out to the shops but a new top is guaranteed to cheer her up.

I have the new model and can't work out how to get the seat off! I don think it should come off when you fold it though.

I grew up in Sweden to an Italian father and Finnish mother. We have always spoken Swedish at home, Mum spoke Finnish to me some of the time if we were alone. I would speak Swedish at home and Finnish or italian whenever relatives were around. We spent most of our holidays visiting family in Finland and Italy, and none of them spoke Swedish so I had nok choice but to communicate to them in their language. By the age of 4 I was fluent in all three languages, never mixed them up and would even translate between Finnish and Italian grandparents. My Swedish certainly never suffered and I had top grades in Swedish, English and German at school. The more languages you speak, the easier it is to learn more! Languages are so easy to pick up at that age, your children will learn both without you making a big effort to repeat yourself in both languages as long as they hear it spoken regularly. The languages learned as young 'sticks' in a different way to those learned in later life, and are much easier to brush up on once needed in the future. Visiting family is by far the best way to learn, especially if there are other kids for them to play with.

I haven't read all the posts but my advice would be to throw away the books now and just go with the flow for te first 8 weeks. I skimmed through baby whisperer and gina ford, they did nothing but make me feel inadequTe when my baby didn't seem to conform at all. I'm so glad I didn't follow any advice as it would just have been stressful for me. My baby is only 3 months so perhaps I'm not qualified to advice others yet (!) but I'd say nothing prepares you for how you will feel for the little one once he/she arrives. I thought I would perhaps try the controlled crying route but lo and behold my baby was fed to sleep from the start and it's just so lovely. I never let her cry, she really doesn't need to, if you spend time getting to know your baby you will probably learn to recognise the different signs for sleepiness/ hunger etc before they get grumpy, no need for books just mother's instinct. I sometimes put her down when she is drowsy, sometimes she is already asleep. Either way, she has been sleeping 7-7 with a quick 2am feed from about 8 wks. When she wakes up in the morning she chats away to herself in her cot for a while before I pick her up and she's always happy. I'm convinced this is due to the fact that I spent my time enjoying getting to know her and responding to her needs instead of stressing about routines. Oh, and re the sleep deprivation it's honestly never been an issue either, just sleep when your baby sleeps - and this is a lot!

I was advised every 3 hours, never leave it more than 4 (and I had a big baby). I did set an alarm at night as my baby was very sleepy. If she is breastfeeding she may also be compromising her milk supply if not feeding often enough in the early days. Your granddaughter is bound to be more sensitive at the moment but perhaps suggest she phones her midwives to double check?

I have a Bee plus, it's fab for getting in and out of our v small boot and up/down stairs, in shops, cafes or narrow pavements as well as taking on flights. It's very light and easy to push with one hand, but it's a city pram and not good on gravelled paths or off road as we discovered when visiting grandparents. I was also not that keen on having to strap tiny baby in from birth whereas Chameleon does have proper carrycot, but that's only for a few months and we've used a sling a lot anyway. A big plus is how easy it is to fold and you don't have to take any of the parts off the Bee first, which you do with the Chameleon. A few friends of mine forked out for the Chameleon and now regret not going for the Bee instead, as they do pretty much the same thing but the Bee is so much more compact. Ps I drive a Toyota and I love that too!

I've treated myself to two new bags - got them off eBay in a vague attempt to justify it! One is a Lin & Leo leather one which I love, it doesn't look like a change bag and it opens up fully with lots of little pockets so easy to access everything. The other one is from Cath Kidston. It's lightweight, wipe-clean on the inside and comes with a bottle bag so seems very practical, but the mat that comes with it takes up most of the space inside. Storksak and Orla Kiely do nice ones as well but they're more pricey. Someone also gave me one of those compact ones from Melobaby that you pop inside your normal bag, and actually it seems pretty handy and I imagine hubby will end up using this one.

You can pop a few arnica pills in a bottle of water and sip throughout labour, might be easier than taking one every hour or so. The staff at Healthmatters will give you the ones you need and tell you how to use them during and after. Rescue remedy might also be a good idea. I also picked up a Green Baby perineal gel from Healthmatters, to help with healing - haven't given birth yet so can't tell you if it's any good or not. You might also want to get your hubby to pack a bag with some clothes and comfortable shoes for himself, change for car parking etc.

www.asos.com have recently started doing children's clothes. They've got their own brand as well as Gap, French Connection etc www.theirnibs.com John Lewis

Lots of local shops and most cafes are closed on Mondays - not sure if that is relevant to you or not ;)

Hambleden is awful, I was with them for two years and filed two complaints in that time! They lost my notes for about 6 months and the phlebotomist took calls on two different mobiles (selling his car!!) whilst taking my blood. The practice manager never bothered to respond to my complaints...I'd say avoid them!

I've got a hand blender that you can have if you haven't already got one, I haven't got round to Freecycling it yet. It's a bit stained from pureeing lots of squash but other than that it works fine. It's a Kenwood Wizard 3-in-1 and comes with a chopping bowl (small crack in it but works ok) and a whisk attachment too. Best thing about it is it stacks up quite well if you haven't got a lot of space. Anyway, it's yours if you want it! http://www.amazon.co.uk/Kenwood-Wizard-HB655-Blender-Chopping/dp/B0001A29H6/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=kitchen&qid=1271078604&sr=1-3

I'm in! Sandra

Hmmm...I've just hit my 34th week and definitely starting to get very uncomfortable in work, even though mine is sitting at a desk most of the day so not as active as your Mrs. All I can say is I don't envy her!! I've had backpains on and off, the physio prescribed by my GP was a complete waste of time. I've had a pregnancy massage which was relaxing but nothing more than that. I can highly recommend osteopathy treatment by Julia at The Vale Practice. She sorted out my shoulder pains, lower back pains and even my niggling hearburn. Osteopathy is very safe in pregnancy and also very good for making sure the pelvis is correctly aligned in preparation for childbirth. I think Julia also practices at the Osteopathic Centre for Children in Clerkenwell on a Wednesday. Pregnant mothers are welcome too and I think you pay a reduced rate there.

Flickr is great and you can limit it to friends & family only, I've been using it for years and so glad I had good quality backup of all my photos when my computer broke down. The other option is to buy a web domain with your baby's name and upload photos, videos and blog too if you're into that kind of thing. It's easier than it sounds ;) moonpig is free.

I've got the same thoughts running through my head as you (I'm due at the end of May). Everyone I've asked have recommended Grobags so I've got a few of those. They seem safer than blankets as the baby can't kick them off/ suffocate on them. I actually found some Grobags in TK MAXX (Lewisham) as well as swaddling, blankets, towels, breastfeeding pillows, baby monitors etc at reasonable prices - their baby department is huge. With a summer baby you would want to start off with 1 tog. I've also seen some nightgowns with elastics or poppers along the bottom instead of legs, which seems like a good idea if you need to do a quick nappy change in the night. It saves you having to worry about buttoning up a whole babygrow and ending up with a mysterius spare popper... Someone also advised me to get a few extra sheets , cut them in half and layer them onto the top half of baby's mattress. This way, if the baby throws up you can just whip off one layer and not have to worry about changing the whole cot/ crib if the baby is fast asleep. I reckon there's only so much you can plan, as you just don't know what the weather is going to be like but let's hope it's going to be a sunny summer this year!