Weight: 61,7 kg
Belly Size: 99 cm
yikes! I've gained about 10 kilos in the last four months, I hope I won't gain much more in the next few months. XD
Today I joined a Toytown soon-to-be mums meet up, thanks to Louis for the alert yesterday. :)
There were seven of us, ranging from 12 weeks pregnant to 37 weeks, from Belgium, Ireland, Portugal, South Korea, Australia, NZ... and me. It was fun, informative and I got the chance to exercise my rusty English. yay!
The meet up was in Alex close to the Pasing station. When I got there, I wasn't sure how to find the others but Teresa already waved to me. I guess a confused pregnant woman is easily seen from far away. :D
Some of us were there for the first time, so we introduced ourselves... where we're from, how long we've been in Germany/Munich, how far along is the pregnancy, what our occupation is, and so on.
Next topic was electronic vs manual breast pump (ouch). The consensus was that a manual one is much better and, according to Teresa, the best one is from Avent, which also offers the best baby bottles. Nice to know, I haven't even thought about most of this stuff yet. XD
6 comments:
Err.. I think electronic is sooo much better. Do you think you'll still have the energy, after not getting your sleep and all, to manually pump your breast every 3 hrs? But then again to each his own. Although that's what I'd do if I were you since I'm lazy that way... huahahaha
according to the others, the manual pump is much better because you can "control" it. kinda scary/uncomfortable to think about this stuff. XD
My two cents' worth: your experience with a newborn baby will be so individual, there is no way you're going to go: Ah! Everything is the way Teresa / Minnie / Daisy / Deana said it would be.
Maybe you won't need a breast pump at all. Maybe you won't be able to breastfeed without one. In my opinion, the less you need it (for instance, only to freeze the milk for the times when you're away) a hand pump is the better solution. If you need the pump 4 or 5 times per day, an electric pump is a necessity.
My baby wouldn't drink from an Avent bottle. Just an example. There are no rules.
Yeah, I know. I really hope that I can breastfeed my baby later, but there's no guarantee for that. I hadn't thought about breast pump, baby flasks etc, but it's nice to have a reference. Thanks for the info, D. :)
Right now I'm busy looking for a midwife in my area who also offers a childbirth class. Otherwise I have to take the class somewhere else, which means that I won't get to know much about the midwife until after the birth.
Did you take the childbirth class with your midwife, D?
I did, but she was an awful bitch. :)
At the time, I didn't know much about my options, and my doctor advised to take the prenatal class at the hospital where I was going to deliver. So I signed up for that in the nick of time (you know that in Germany everything must be done months in advance) and the midwife who was teaching the class said, if you haven't chosen your midwife yet, you should know that some of you will probably deliver around Christmas (my due date was December 22) and many midwives are going to be on holiday, but I'm not going on holiday for Christmas, so I'll be there whenever you need me. I fell for that, silly me.
Anyway, the class was shite - we didn't learn anything, but that was all the same eventually because I had a planned c-section. The midwife came to our place only four times after the birth and said she wouldn't be coming anymore because we could handle things on our own (I was having huge problems with breastfeeding, she handled that more or less OK). This was particularly silly as they get paid for each visit - obviously, taking the bother to drive to our place from Rheinstetten or wherever she lived was not worth her the money.
To be fair, she gave me the most valuable advice regarding newborn stomach cramps, so I'm thankful for that. And later, when my scar was causing problems and I went to the Notaufnahme at the hospital (during the holidays) the only reason a doctor came to see me at all was because she was there and she told them she knew me. Other women waited for hours on end.
So my advice is - get yourself a midwife who works at the hospital you'll be delivering at. First of all, she may be there during birth, secondly, she may put in a good word for you if needed.
Unfortunately, I can't offer any valuable advice as far as the birthing technique is concerned, but I've heard other woman say that breathing exercises makes a huge difference. If a midwife tells you loud breathing is old-fashioned and she won't be concentrating on that during her class, don't trust her. On the other hand, I'm also a bit skeptical about the new-agey type of midwives who tell you nothing but an outrageously expensive imported organic goat milk formula is good for your baby and try to force you to switching to cloth diapers. That's bullshit.
Talk to the woman before you decide. Feel free to ask her everything you need to know. The weeks after the delivery are extremely trying, even more psychologically than physically, due to all hormone changes your body will be going through. You need a professional by your side who will reassure you that things are going to be fine, someone who's willing to truly help when help is most needed.
Wow, that's a lot of info. Thanks a lot, D! :)
I haven't decided for a hospital yet. From the list of midwives in my area, it seems that noone works in a hospital. Would be hard enough to find one who also offers the childbirth class. XD
I really should find one soon. Aaarrghh...
Worst case scenario, I'm going to enrol for the class in a midwives clinic a bit far from here, find a good midwife in my area, and then decided for a hospital.
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