Hi Zaku

Congratulations!  Being pregnant is such an exciting time so enjoy.  I found that the time just flew with my second pregnancy because I was still so busy with my first.

There's really not a lot of advice to give you, you've done it before after all.  Is there anything specific you are concerned about? 

There's no doubt exercise in pregnancy is beneficial to both the mind and body but I can't see why smaller babies would be considered a good thing when the majority of problems are with babes who are underweight and not overweight. 

FWIW all my babes were between 3-4kg at birth and healthy and there was no real difference in my exercise routine.  I think Mums and Bubs are all individual and their weight will reflect this.  One more thing for drs and nurses to compare and bug us about and make us feel guilty if we don't fit their profiles.

Like NadiaD said you will be fine.  Every labour and birth is different and all the best intentions may go out the window but that doesn't mean you shouldn't plan for a great birth.

My tips are -

- Focus on what you want your birth to be like and affirm the positives.  Say "I will have a natural, intervention free birth" not "I don't want a traumatic birth".  Say what you want and not what you don't want.

- Have a birth plan.  Keep it simple and in an easy to read format.  Care providers won't read or remember a three page document.  Choose the 6-8 things that are most important to you and keep it to one page.  Make copies to take with you to the hospital or birthing centre.

- Make sure your support people are on the same page as you.  You could do a birth plan for them that is different to the one you give the hospital.  This is the document you want to put all the homey touches you would like for your birth eg soft lighting, a special doona, your birth music, what natural pain relief you want to try eg water, massage etc.  These are the things that are often put in the main birth plan but the reality is the hospital staff will not have the time or resources to make these happen.  It will be up to your support team so let them know what you want.

- Read about the different interventions now, at the start of your pregnancy and make notes about what you would want to do in those situations and then put them away.  You will have the knowledge if you need it but from then on listen to and read positive birth experiences.  You want to be in the best frame of mind to birth your babe and however well meaning, horror birth stories can impede your labour and birth. Become adept at changing the subject when somebody starts telling you about the horrors of birth.  There is no benefit to you or your babe in hearing this. 

- Ignore any advice you don't like, including the above     It's your birth so you can do whatever you want

Congratulations and I wish you the birth you want.

Hi

Just joining in here.  I have 2 daughters who were born in 2006 and earlier.

My eldest DD was born in November 2001 and my second DD in February 2006.  I am constantly amazed by how fast they are growing up and how tall my eldest DD is getting.  Looking forward to hearing from some other mums with older children.

Hi

Just joining in here since my third daughter Immy was born in August 2009.  She is a very active almost three year old (aren't they all) and is growing so tall so fast that she has lost her babyness in the past few months and become a real little girl.

Looking forward to sharing my experiences with others.  I find this age to be so interesting and I love seeing how my girls develop and grow.

Hi

I thought I'd join the 2009 birth club since my fourth daughter was born in July 2009. 

I am a little bit sad that she is my last baby, especially since she started walking last night and she will definitely be our last.  I am however looking forward to an end to the baby brain that has taken over me for the past years when I have been either pregnant or breastfeeding a baby.

I really wish I had kept up my journals but somewhere along the way I didn't get time to continue them.

I remember when my first DD was about 8 months old a work colleague told me that even though you think you will remember everything along the way you forget.  I didn't believe him then but 8 years on it's true.  We are lucky though because as our youngest children are developing they remind us of the little things Amy did that we had forgotten so I am madly trying to write it all down before I forget again.

Anyway, my advice is to definitely keep a journal and update it!

Hi everyone

Thanks for an interesting discussion.  I think sleep is one of those things that we tend to really get hung up on and are always looking to find solutions to.  The thing to remember is that no solution will suit every child and sometimes we need to adapt to our children's needs.

When my first child was a baby all the advice I was given was to do a version of Ferber's sleep schedule.  This just didn't work for my child and even my Mum came over to sit with me and show me how she did it with us.  After my daughter not settling down at all even she admitted that it wasn't going to work for my child.  This was a huge turning point because I felt I had permission to let go of the idea that babies needed to learn to put themselves to sleep in a cot alone and actually listen to what my baby was trying to communicate to me about her needs. 

Since then either my partner or I have always held them until they go to sleep.  We've found that some time between 2-3 years of age they have decided to go to sleep by themselves in their own beds.  I've found it quite easy to transfer them to their cots and pat them pack to sleep if they stir and except for when they are teething, unwell or having a growth spurt that means they want to feed in the night they have all slept through from a very early age. 

I do believe that having a routine is important but think that you can have a routine that suits your family.  Our routine at the moment is that we all have dinner together, then baths or showers, a story and bed.  The older two girls (aged 8 and 4) will read in bed for about half an hour and my third daughter (2 yrs) will say she wants to read but will usually look at one page, put the book under her pillow and go to sleep immediately.  Then my husband and I will turn out most of the lights in the house so it is really dark and quiet and usually watch something we have taped from tv or a dvd while I feed bubba and she goes to sleep.  We find this really relaxing and our baby goes to sleep really quickly and then we have the rest of the night to relax. 

I really think that it doesn't matter so much what the routine is so long as it's something you can replicate and your children can anticipate so they know what to expect and feel safe.  I think feeling safe is the most important thing we can do to make sure a baby is able to sleep.  Some babies need a bit more reassurance to feel safe so we need to give them that.  For some a Ferber like routine will be enough but others will need more and I think that's ok too.

Anyway, sorry if I am rambling on a bit too much for a newbie.  Sleep is just something that I think is so important and I don't believe parents are given enough information on alternatives to Ferber type sleep routines and in my experience it is not something that is suitable for all babies.

Hi everyone

I just stumbled across this website and joined the forum so I thought I'd better introduce myself 

My name's Julie and I'm the mother to 4 beautiful girls aged 11 months - 8 years.  I live in Fremantle, Western Australia with my daughters and partner.  I'm a SAHM but also volunteer for an organisation that provides childbirth and early parenting information for mothers in my area and I occasionally have some paid work doing workshops with pregnant mamas to be. 

I love to share parenting info with other mothers online because it gives me so many ideas on what to try if our current methods aren't working.  I believe there is no substitute for the wisdom of a collection of mothers.

Our parenting style has evolved over the years depending on what worked, or probably more to the point what didn't work, for us. 

Anyway, that's enough about me for now.  I look forward to "meeting" you all on this forum.