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

Just a quick note to wish Gilly all the best on your last day Hope you enjoy your few days off.

Mistlethrush Sounds like a great weekend!

Spent most of last week being optimistic about the IUI but have to admit not feeling so positive about the outcome now . I know I'm only 10 days post-ovulation so it's a bit early to tell, but no sign of implantation bleeding & my temperatures haven't gone up, which they would probably do if it had worked. Anyway, have a busy weekend lined up to take my mind off things!

Hello again all - thought you'd all disappeared and thread dropped off list, but you're back again

Had a great weekend with ds behaving really well - particularly yesterday. Dh had car all day, so dropped us off at a local posh health club that was having an open weekend so we had a free swim in a lovely pool for an hour and a quarter (although ds didn't do quite as much diving and swimming as he has previously for some reason), then walked quite a long way to the bus stop (bought 'Over the Hedge dvd at supermarket for ds for being so good about long walk) - home for lunch - ds took himself off to bed. We had to take dog for a walk, so took the bus again and walked a fair way to the park, walked around the park, had a play in the playground (met one of ds's friends) (dog lay outside waiting) and then walked considerable distance back to the bus stop where he only got a little fractious waiting for the bus (15mins). He then ate a large supper and went to bed happy . More days like that please

Hello everyone!

Sorry for being AWOL over the last week - having had a quiet week work-wise, the previous week (just as well with the IUI), it was a bit busy, plus trying to replace everything in the kitchen has taken up most of my time. Nearly there now (though fitter has to come back to fix a couple of things this morning but I banned him from coming at 8am this time - not that it would have mattered as was awake at 7.30!)

Quick catch up over the last week. Gilly Glad to have found another Like Water for Chocolate fan. As DH isn't keen on subtitled films, it was a great opportunity to watch it. Scorpio I saw Mamma Mia a couple of weeks ago and thought it was great! Pierce Brosnan really made me laugh. I also watch typical girl films with DH - it's probably about the only genre we both like.

Gilly There is no justice in SA results, is there? It seems so unfair that all your DH's efforts with vitamins haven't made any difference and I have several types of zinc tablets in the cupboard, all untouched. I was a bit when DH ordered takeaway pizza for the second time last week - his excuse was that we didn't have a proper kitchen but I had plenty of salad available!

Mistlethrush Very impressed at DS's language skills!

Sybil Glad Jamie is sleeping a bit more - hope it gets even better soon!

Wave to everyone else, including Ready if you're lurking

Its a bit echo-y in here this week! Where is everyone?

Jamie is doing well and has put on nearly 4 pounds in the last 7 weeks. (proud mummy with ruined breasts emoticon!) He has also started sleeping for 3 hours at a time during the night. Which, believe me, is much nicer than 1.5 hours between feeds!

Different parenting - that must make it very difficult - and so difficult for dss to have any stability in terms of expectations etc...

Re different parenting, I was at neighbour on Sunday - took 2.4yo out of house at noon in just nappies ('she won't wear her dress') and put in OPEN TOP car to drive to party. Chatted with mother later on - 'I spent my time trying to keep her in the shade' - bit late by then since dh had driven there with no protection at all (even if they had sunscreen on)

Ds did go out and play in paddling pool for a bit in the afternoon, but he was in factor 50 which you could see all over (was just a bit concerned for house later when he came back in, but better than sunburn )

lol and wow at your ds german use!! I say the odd bit of french to mine and they do it at nursery/school too. Ds class has 32 children , but R has a 'helper' sometimes because of his dyspraxia so gets more 1-1 that some.

Dss is 6 too; 7 months older than Reilly. His mother parents very differently to me, shall we say.

Its such a lottery on which school you get - whilst the schools around us aren't 'bad', just don't have the teacher/pupil ratio levels that private can - ds is 1/8 - except that his teacher is head of nursery, so that there are two teaching assistants, so most of the time there will be 3/16.

Re languages - yes, I know, but ds not doing too badly - manage to tell mil to 'go away' in German aged 25 months - he has a seat that has an inbuilt speaker system, so we can plug an ipod thingy (not the real thing!) and switch on his German story when we're in the car. He quite often goes to sleep to it - either that or starts answering back to what he can hear (we can't!) which is very startling.

Only major debt we have is the mortgage - but really spent 20% more than we should have done on our house when we bought it, so that is a bit on the large side....

Good luck with dss - how long is he with you, what age compared to your dcs?

MT - will your dc be going privately? Mine just go to the normal school But then our school is rated Outstanding and only 3 mins from my house....I think foreign holidays are very important for children - i think it teaches language, culture and also helps children to function into adult worlds - for example learning to travel well, or saving their pocket money for treats. I'm also fairly lucky enough that our rent is cheap and DH is paid well(self-employed) - also we have no debt so literally just have to pay our living costs. Therefore it stretches well, lol

Dss is here htis week. finding it hard. I find being a step-parent very hard actually.

Ds has Triptrap - natural (beech?) with the red striped cover for the baby bit - although that is long gone and we keep on having to move his foot rest down. Before long his seat will be on the move too.

He's had a great weekend, playing in the paddling pool a lot - he invented a 'run off the patio, down the steps, across a bit of lawn and jump (with large splash) into the paddling pool' which kept him occupied for quite some time. He also liked getting wet then climbing onto climbing frame and coming down slide (preferably with Daddy using watering can at the same time).

Scorpio ... !!! We could afford a 2nd at a pinch, but doesn't seem to be too likely... Mind you, private school fees for 2 would mean that we wouldn't have a foreign holiday for the forseeable future, so perhaps just one might be best.

Sorry, my browser obviously displayed it more as a deep pink than a red. In which case then red is ace, (ds1 's favourite colour).

I can't believe your gp was prepared to give a vasectomy to a 25 year old 2 weeks after his child's birth. DH is 33 (so old by comparison...) and was told in no uncertain terms not to go back until ds2 a year as they would not even refer him until then. It must depend on your area. My brother has just had one and his baby isn't even due until the end of this month but it will be his 7th!! (two wives, older childer in late teens). He is also in late thirties.

Hello ladies just popped on to say hello and to send you lots of baby luck

it's red, isn't it? combo 5? lol at you using fictional ds3name

our gp told dh he could have one when she was 2 weeks!! and he is 25...out of order imo

Great news Hobnobs, fingers crossed on the 2ww now.

Scorpio, I am planning to get a tripp trapp too, although will probably go with a natural wood one to match the kitchen chairs - thinking ahead though, if you are planning another would pink be a good idea? What if the next user is Dexter?

Dh is also looking at a vasectomy but isn't allowed one until Jamie is 1. Apparently they won't do it any earlier in case you change your mind. Until then its a full body condom me thinks!

which colour??

i like combinations 1 & 5 on the favourite combinations thing....

Hope everyone is feeling more positive

I am a typical girl and like typical girls films and chick lit (am not silly, just find some films heavy going, lol)Me and some Mums from school are off to watch ?Mamma Mia next week

I get Mimi's Stokke Sleepi in 3 weeks she is having the pink circles beddingand a pink drape.

Im also going to try and get a mini-cot kit.....finally pinned DH down about dc4...think we may ttc from Xmas, if we both still feel like we do now. After that baby is born i think dh will have a vasectomy because otherwise i would just carry on and want the dcs to still feel like they get everything they need - both from parents and material wise. We can afford 4, but no more iyswim. Still want to be able to go on hols, etc.

Off to France in 6 weeks YAY

Thank you, I'm all embarrassed now. Gilly, you are lovely too and I am incredibly grateful that you were around at lunch-time, otherwise I would have spent the two hours between DH doing his bit (which he found rather stressful and thought might not be up to usual standards / quantity ) worrying about it. As it was, by the time we'd finished lunch, I was much more relaxed.

As it happens, his sample was fine - volume was good and motility was 76% before preparation and 94% afterwards so I can't complain. All that worrying for nothing!

I also had another scan this morning (though I don't think I should have, but as I discovered that the follicles had a growth spurt overnight, am quite glad I did). Can't say that the IUI was exactly pleasant - probably a bit more uncomfortable than a smear test but not as bad as my HSG.

My kitchen fitters have just gone (due back at 8am tomorrow to finish off) so I'm going to ignore the mess and dust everywhere and go and watch Like Water for Chocolate on DVD!

Have a good weekend, everyone.

Gilly Great news that they're able to discount it from your 3 NHS cycles.

It didn't sound likely that they'd do the treatment tomorrow (unless I get a surge on the OPK in the morning) but they are open both Saturday and Sunday for treatment if need be. The doctor said that it's still early in my cycle so she didn't seem in too much of a rush, though I did point out that I usually ovulate on Day 12 (today). I asked if the Clomid was likely to have delayed ovulation but she didn't seem to think there was a link. Who knows!

Have to admit that although I'd like the follicles to grow a bit more, I'm keen to get on with it now . No mention of triggering ovulation but I'll ask about that tomorrow.

Have a good afternoon everyone - it's beautiful weather out there

Its sounding really positive Hobnobs, fingers crossed it all continues to go well.

Gilly, the Mandy Allwood scenerio would be too awful to contemplate although I can understand that it seems an awful waste to let all those eggs be wasted. At least next time they are going to keep a really close eye on you.

Well, I'm back from my scan. I have four follicles - 2 on the left (15.4, 12.9mm) and two on the right (14.8 and 13.6mm). Interestingly enough the two on the left were much smaller on Tuesday and she thought they wouldn't reach maturity but they've grown faster than the others. It's not clear yet which ones will be dominate. I have another scan booked tomrrow morning (getting used to the journey now!) as she thought it was unlikely I'd get a surge on the OPK before then - said they like them to be 17/18mm.
Uterus lining is about 10mm which seems good.

Gilly Thinking of you. Hope you're ok and that you get tenants for your house soon - you don't really need the extra stress at the moment.