In the Company of Pregnant Ladies (No1 Babies Detective Agency pt6)

Yes,its all ordered! I feel a bit shocked that I have actually bought something so real, I havn't bought anything else really, out of superstition.[Hope I don't change my mnd now...}

Hi there, Toomuch![waves] I know what you mean, you do need to see them, touch them, have a go at them first, for me the deciding factor was the one which fits in my car, and user friendly in getting it up and down quickly. good luck..

Morning folks!! Hope you all had a good weekend!!

Hi Kensgirl - great to hear from you - but to hear you've been having a hard time!! Stay and chat with us - we are now the TTC first (and second/third) timers and the ladies with bumps (or just flab in my case) thread

MT - I really want to try washables so bore away with any insights!

Still can't decide on a buggy - reckon I need to go and see them in the flesh to decide so I'm going to drag DH out this weekend for a sneaky peak - where would be the best place to go for a good range?

Also, was nearly finished knitting an item this weekend and dropped a stich which undid the stitch below and after a few tears gave in trying to work out how to pick it back up - I'm rubbish at knitting!! Off to google how you pick up a stitch through the row below now..

Kensgirl - glad all is well with bump anyway!

So, have you ordered the bug then? Colours sound nice. I did see rather a nice pink one in Harrogate at the weekend - ds would have liked that colour! Although £629 is a good deal is it? And I thought that the MB was expensive! (Although we did need to buy a car seat on top of course)

We didn't get a cosytoes with the MB - I made one (dog footprint pattern) which did really well for the winter before ds was 1 - used a blanket before then. But mostly we wrapped ds up in a snowsuit which was best for us (given regular dog walking) - for very cold, snow suit plus own cosytoes!

How's everyone else on this lovely sunny day?

Thanks for the welcome back, girlies ! 7 I think bump is fine now, but to cut a long story very short I was scanned because of my history at 6 weeks, everything fine, then started spotting bright red blood at 7 weeks. It didn't last long, so the GP diagnosed thrush. I was scanned again just before 10 weeks, still fine, then started bleeding quite heavily at almost 12 weeks, scanned again, still fine, but the bleeding lasted on and off for 2 weeks, the hospital decided it was coming from me not the baby, but having been there before, was convinced that it mean the end. Anyway, we heard the hearbeat at 16 weeks, but have spotted reguarly on and off since, at the moment everything is well. I had another scan at 19 weeks, which was just amazing, and feel as though I have passed a real milestone now.
On top of that, I have been incredibly itchy everywhere!! So. I am currentlyhaving bloodtests and fortnihghtly monitoring for obstetric choleostasis, and to add insult to injury, there has been an outbreak of slapped cheek/ parvovirus in my class so I have been off sick for 2 weeks, as the consultant says mu blood teasts show I have no immunity to it, and if I get it it could seriously affect the baby with a severe form of anaemia. Phew!
To be honest though, I'll go to hell and back in how anything affects me, so long as bump stays healthy and well.

Mistlethrush, I hope your rmc appontment goes well, have you had any more news yet?

Nomore!!I hope you are feeeling better, I am absolutely willing everything to work for you, I think your blue bugaboo dream was a phrophecy xx

Hello there Ready! Its lovely to see you,I have a feeling that this is your year too, and glad to see you are still perky and positive. x

wow, Scorpio, I can;t believe how fast your pregnancy has gone,anyday now really! Its lovely that you are having a girl. We decided not to find out the flavour, I just feel so blessed to be having a baby at all, i really couldn't care less what its going to be.

I have been loving the pram wars .
heres my two pennysworth.

We had narrowed it down to 3 : Bugaboo cameleon, Stokke Xplory, Silver cross sleepover. They are all lovely, I love the ease and the look of the bug, and that it fully reclines forward and rear facing, and that the carrycot bit converts to the pushchait bit so that we don't have that to store. I loved the height of the Xplory, as it means baby has a better view of the world and is up and out of the way of dogs, fumes etc, but in pushchair mode it barely reclined in the forward facing position, and I don't like the thought of a todler falling asleep and waking up grumpy because they are stiff and squashed. It also felt more stiff and difficult to put up and down than the Bug, and the footmuff has 2 legs rather tha a sleeping bag shape, and I was wondering if that would make it feel restricting for a toddler.
the silver cross felt lovely - the fabrics were so soft and snuggable, I could imagine, a baby feeling cocooned and safe, but it was huge when folded down and wouldn't fit inmu car!

So, I have just decided to order the bug, in a dark brown base and sand tailored fabric. We have been offered a really good deal on it £629 including car seat and fittings, and the footmuff, but I have to order before midday today. Not a hardship really.....

Sorry for the mammoth - back later x

Kensgirl - Hello - been looking for you, hopeing that you were OK. I mean, you are the reason that I was here! What's been happening? Let us know what's been up if you feel like it.

Ready you don't want separate handles - you want one. Means you can push it single handedly.

Nomore - sorry about the illness. I used to get tonsilitis very regularly - probably about 3 or 4 times a year or more - until I gave up cows milk - I can have yoghurt and cheese but not milk. Now, if I have some, it gives me a very specific cough and even dh can tell that I've had some milk in something. It can be as little as a single scone that sets me off (so the icecream that dh and I've had this evening will definitely have repercussions tomorrow, but it had to be done!)

Nomore - we got the boots yesterday but i could only just get on laptop today; spent most of the afternoon sleeping . They are beautiful and so very tiny - but i know she will be that tiny, just strange to think she will be wearing them soon - i feel like im going to be pg FOREVER!! I'm 38+2 today, hoping she will be here this time next week. Am planning on a live labour theread, lol! Thanks again, they are so lovely.

Kensgirl!!!! Soooo lovely to hear from you. I have thought about you lots (and have to confess to searching your posts to see if everything was ok)... Sorry to hear that it hasn't been plain sailing... are you ok now? You are always welcome here (or any thread come to that!) - don't be a stranger!

Hello there!
Please can I come in again? Its been a while since I have posted, but I have looked in on you all reguarly, I've missed you !

I'm now 24+2, and its not all been plain sailing, hence I didn't really know where to post, I felt a bit homeless really, but no I feel a lot more settled and able to come back.

I'm off now to have a read through, big hugs especially for Ready, Nomore, Gilly, Mistlethrush xx

It's a good sign... it's your body getting all the bugs out of the way now... so it will be fit and raring to go for the IVF

Plenty of rest now. Make sure dh looks after you.

Gargle salt water.

Well, it is chuffing raining now. So I spoke too soon. Plenty of rest and fluids chick. Fingers crossed it doesn't develop into anything else.

MT, you see? this is what I am talking about? I skimmed over the negatives of the bug? and settled nicely on the ?it did look good though? ? Have to say, dh and I looked at the bug yesterday, and I am definitely waivering? We looked at the silver cross system, which again, I like the look of ? dh liked the separate handles. But in all honesty? by the time it becomes something we need to decide on, there will no doubt be lots of other options out there

Hobnobs, thanks for the freecycle info? will check it out

Hope everyone is having a good weekend so far?

Weather is lovely here.

No, to be honest, we've not been terribly impressed with Bambino Mio - the training pants (most recent experience) are certainly not as good as some of the others available (like the diaperwraps I got from Flame).

The prefolds we used alot we had 2 types - favourite ones Nature Babies - stayed less hard and also stained less.

Also had some terry squares to start with

First 6 months mainly prefolds and terry sq plus a few shaped - a tots bots, one of the pocket ones, a couple of others.... Ready for nursery we got 11 Tots Bots size 2 which were OK for 3 days in nursery, then we had 5 totsbots bamboozles for nights. Favorite wraps were nature babies ones - they were a good shape on ds, and the fact that you could do waist and leg at an appropriate fitting rather than rely on one fixing to sort both. Also love the farics available on Nature Babies... www.naturebabies.co.uk/wraps.html
(for ds we had a denim and a leopard print amongst others!)

More buggy knowledge - met up with some mnetters from Harrogate today - one (with youngest child there) had a bug - which she said wasn't that stable, the stand fell over when she lifted the chair bit out, and then the whole thing took up the complete boot of an A4... It did look good though!

Nappies: we went the washable route - a friend had gone washable and gave us lots of info, started out in disposables then 'hired' a mixed bag from the Nappy Lady - lots of different inners and outers so that we could decide what fitted ds best (and please note, different babies, even in the same family, suit different nappies and or wraps better, so its not something you necessarily want to buy before you get the dc...). What surprised us was that we decided that we found prefolds rather good (they are a square that has a thick central section before you start, then you fold them into a rectange which simply lies inside a 'wrap' front to back) - so we had quite a lot of prefolds and some shaped nappies (we tended to use shaped when going out as less likely to have 'issues' if you didn't notice that a change was required quick enough....). We only used disposables for travelling or holidays. You have no idea how smug it makes you feel when you go to the supermarket and other parents with children the same age are half filling their trollies with nappies and you don't have to. Washing is no problem - dry bucket in the bathroom for changing, wash every two days with a special nappy wash added to normal detergent - after nappies have had a rinse through on thier own, just add the rest of the washing. Ds potty trained himself over one weekend at 26mo, and I'm sure that this is partly down to the use of washables. Any further questions, let me know, otherwise I'll stop now before I bore anyone senseless!

Ready - lol @ Cher. Love that film.

I'm having lots of BH today; hopefully all pushing Mimi's head down!!

Ready You do have to join a freecycle group (they're all around the country). See uk.freecycle.org/ and click on the find your group area. It's a yahoo group so you will need a login with yahoo (doesn't need to be a yahoo email address - just a way to login to the group's page) If you do join, it's worth making sure your settings for yahoo groups are set to "no mail" or "Daily digest" (summary of all emails in a day) otherwise you might receive dozens of emails each day/week/month (depending on how active the group is) telling you what people want or are offering. Once you've joined, you can log onto the group's page and search all the messages in an archive. Sorry if this all sounds complicated - it's not, honest!

Can I just say? I know nothing about buggies? I only want a bug or xplory because I love how they look? I am the Cher (of Clueless, not Sonny and Cher) of buggy decisions

Lottie I hope you are having/have had? a great time time away? plenty of between the sheets (or not) action ? fingers crossed for a holiday conception ? it will spur me on

I can?t seem to work out how to browse freecycle? do you have to become a member before you can have a nosy?

Hobnobs glad I was able to help with the HSG knowledge? giggling at the thought of you sitting in your consultation thinking of me

I am sorry that your appointment isn?t til August, but I would have thought that a cancellation will become available once all tests are done. Fingers crossed for that.
I?d say take as much advice from all sources, and go for whichever treatment you feel most comfortable with (in terms of actually doing it, but also the success rates etc) ? and definitely get your free go on the nhs before you spend any money privately. I hate to sound like my mum, but you?ve paid your taxes? so get what you are due ? your dh sounds like mine, intent on believing it will happen naturally ? oh and we too have debated real vs disposable? my dh doesn?t see the point in real nappies and unfortunately our friends with babies back him up ? so the jury is still out on that.

Gosh, sorry I didn't realise my post below was so long!

In terms of second hand baby stuff, it might also be worth looking at your local freecycle group, although maybe not for top of the range stuff (particularly something like a car seat where you might want to know its history).Just had a quick look and ours has had a few buggies on it over the last year or two though not proper travel systems - maybe a lightweight alternative to the main one. I've given away a few things over the last year, and whilst some of them were things I wasn't convinced anyone would want (you'd be surprised), some of the stuff on there seems to be in good condition. You obviously don't get the benefit of photos that you get on gumtree.

Londonlottie I'm also in awe of everyone else's buggy knowledge (plus have been quite happy to sit back and let everyone else do the research!) If When it happens, I think I'll start showing an interest in the buggies belonging to various friends / family with children but it's great to have the practical tips from people on here. Have to admit that I'm slightly bemused by the obsession that some people (no one here!) seem to have with owning multiple buggies or changing them from time to time. Seems like a lot of hard work!

Found you! Great new thread title. Well, we had our first referral appointment yesterday and saw the main consultant's sidekick. After being left alone a couple of times in the middle of the appointment (think she kept dashing off to see the consultant whose clinic it was), the doctor basically said there's no point hanging around, and best to refer us for assisted conception (which would be to the Hammersmith if we do it on the NHS).

I need to have day 2-4 blood tests and we both need HIV screens as a prerequisite for referral. She's also going to organise an HSG though she was a bit vague about how long that would take . She got out a diagram to explain how the HSG worked - was able to look quite knowledgeable thanks to Ready's explanation (not sure if it was this thread or the TTC No1 forever one). She assumed that my GP had explained it - decided not to explain the power of Mumsnet so thanks Ready .

Hadn't realised that I was quite so close to the cut-off for IVF referral on the NHS - she said trust policy was before 39 (which is later this year for me ), whereas I'd thought it was up to and including 39. We asked about going private (which fortunately for us is an option) and she mentioned that the ACU at UCH had good results for my age-group.

Had a bit of a chat to DH about IUI vs IVF on the way home. Whilst he's still convinced it will happen naturally, if not, he's keen to do whatever is the most effective, presumably IVF, whereas I think that I'd probably like to try IUI first, as it seems less invasive. As he admitted, I'll be the one that has to go through the various drugs so we'll just have to wait and see what the experts say at the time.

Worst thing is that the next appointment isn't until August although she did say that we could try and get a cancellation once we've got the various tests out of the way. She also said to do research into the different clinics, in case we want to be referred privately so we can come prepared.

Part of me felt a bit down about it not happening naturally last night but had a good chat to DH about it. Even ended up arguing about disposable vs real nappies! Whilst I can't say that the prospect of washing lots of nappies fills me with enthusiasm, I do want to at least consider it as an option from the environmental perspective. He, on the other hand, claims not to be bothered about that but then said he wasn't going to be changing them anyway We shall see....

Right, off to catch up with rest of thread.

LL - I only actually really know about the MB - but had 2.5 yrs use of that. And have seen other people struggling with theirs when MB still being pushed with one hand. I think that the Stoke looks good for early on - gets small children up to a good level. However, imagine lifting a 2yo in and out (and in and out and in and out...) rather than letting them do it themselves.... Its really interesting that I saw the Stoke and the MB both recommended by a shop doing seating for people with problem backs.