Calling The Viroids - Just Shagging Graduates!

[gormers]

Just thought I'd start a thread for all those JS graduates, whether a newbie graduate or even if you left us a while ago and are well on your way. Would be good for us to keep in touch, see if we're all staying 'sane'.

Don't know about you ladies, but I am still filled with the overwhelming urge to PIAR (that's POAS for all you older graduates - after you left us we went a little mad and started harnessing the power of the ramekin!) I think once you start the habit it doesn't leave you!

Well, it's good to know that the Just Shagging method works. Even if we did once in a while just cheat a teeny tiny little bit!

BB - my reasoning is that birth is inevitable - not matter how much (or little) research I do, all plans will go out the window and the baby/ies will come out one way or another. With pushchairs, on the otherhand, if I do no research and state no preference DH will end up purchasing some £9.99 kids dolly pushcahir.

Not sure what happens at 16 weeks - more blood and wee pots I think. Having mine at 14+4 as want to be on holiday when 16 weeks actually is.

Hey ladies!

bb I've been to Kiddicare. Twice because the first time was a Sunday and they don't open on sundays . They don't have all the ranges there - they have their own brand, Babystyle, Maclaren, Silver Cross, Obaby, Stokke, and a few others (from memory) - they don't have Bugaboo or Mamas and Papas, and I'm sure there are a few others not there. But the range is massive and it's more than enough for getting your head around!

I am another one doing more pushchair than birth research. Shopping is fun, but having your bits split open by a tiny human is probably not, so I'm going with shopping at the moment!

Black Swan was great but it's totally up my street - I love dance films and I thought Natalie Portman was incredible (though I don't usually like her all that much). As the reviews say it is massively OTT but if you go with it it's so intense and gripping. I felt like I'd had the wind knocked out of me by the time I left!

The 16 week appointment is completely pointless, so don't worry. The mw let me listen to the heartbeat, which was great, but it's not standard procedure. Apart from that she gave me a form for NHS antenatal classes and told me my blood test results from the 8 week appointment. It lasted less than five minutes, so I wouldn't worry about waiting until 18 weeks.

Right, scan news! It was amazing, and all was great - they go into so much detail - brain, spine, heart, lots of measurements, kidneys, blood flow, placenta, etc etc. Everything checked out great and the baby is well within the normal range for everything. They don't give you a length measurement but she weights 340g. And she's a girl! She's going to be called Isobel Edith (Edith is after her great grandmother) and I'm so excited! We never did pick a boy's name, but the girl's name has been certain since before Christmas. DH won't let me tell anyone in RL though.

DH has 3 sisters and has spent his life surrounded by women. He is chuffed, obviously, but he keeps looking at me suspiciously and saying 'I bet she'll be like you', and rolling his eyes. And then, with increasing degrees of alarm, 'I bet she'll be like [substitute each sister, his mum, my mum, and grandmothers here]

My dad, called Vin, said he hopes I'm going to call the baby Vinessa

Right, I need your help. I just got a wedding invitation for 2nd April for a girl from my old work. She's nice but bonkers (she's the one who thought it was a compliment when she said I didn't look pregnant, just fat, because nobody in their right mind would ever want to look pregnant because pregnancy is horrible whereas being fat is just fine ). Her family and her DH's family are very very strict Evangelical Christians (i.e. some family members disowned for getting pregnant out of wedlock, etc.)

Now, I want to look definitely pregnant and not fat, for one thing! I also want to wear a nice dress because it's a wedding and an excuse to dress up. But all I can find are boring work dresses and grannified items, except for this:

sexy dress here

Slightly worried that a) it's £92 even with the 20% off voucher I have found, which I have never ever spent on a dress before (and those would be dresses I could wear more than once) and b) that even if I get the blue and not the red it's going to be way too sexy for this very twinset-and-pearls kind of event (the evening reception features tea and cake).

Should I go for it? At least I won't be drinking so I won't be tempted to say 'yes, I am pregnant vicar, but I'm not sure who the father is because I really shagged around that month and to be honest, I was hammered for most of it'

Better still, has anyone found anywhere that sells maternity dresses for women who are not thirty years post-menopausal and may occasionally leave the house?!

Great news on your scan TTL . Must admit to feeling a bit at all the girls though (I was fine with waiting til I met you lot). Hope you got a lovely pic. Your name for her is lovely by the way.

TTL have a look on ebay for IO dresses - they come up quite regularly and tend to go for £30-£50. You mightn't find exactly that one though. Otherwise I would say go for it, but I'm a sucker for a nice outfit.
Also congrats on scan etc, and lovely name. People keep asking me if we're going to find out, and I wish they wouldn't because they usually have an opinion on whether it's "right" or not (and tell me so!). This includes the nurse who took my bloods at the hospital for nuchal tests who said "oh you shouldn't find out, it's right to get the surprise.....mind you I found out with both of mine"!!
DH is keen to find out, I'm ambivalent so we probably will. Might not admit it to anyone else though

Have managed a whole day at work where I didn't feel too crap. Had tea with a friend and her gorgeous 9 month old afterwards and had to rush home a little suddenly as was beginning to feel the need for food. Not a bad day though.

Woop woop TTL FANTASTIC new about lovely healthy baby girl, so pleased for you! Name is lovely .. so many names in my head I'm still not finally set for either sex so hopefully finding out will at least half the choices! Dress is lovely and I think fine for respectbale wedding!!

Glad you're feeling a wee bit better Esk hopefully coming out the other side of ms hell!

Oh and to see that I'm not the only one with a keen eye on a pushchair!!

Vanila: I agree with the birth research stuff so thats inevitable what will happen will happen and theres not a lot I could do about it. Last time I started looking I came off in tears saying I want to c-section as I was so scared so giving that a miss for a while!

Watching OBEM with Mum now and I think I am feeling more confident now but cant believe how much wax and gunk the baby comes out covered in!

Takethat: Congratulations on the girl! So exciting. That dress it really nice and classy so would be great for tea and pearls! I think the word I am looking for is 'classic'
I am going to a wedding when I will be 36 weeks and thought all the maternity dresses where horrible and I felt really frumpy but I bought mine from a normal shop. Heres the link but I am a curvy girl sso what I would wear normally. Its a bit of a granny shop local to me but they have some gems sometimes;
For a April wedding

Also 16 week appointment for me I did wonder why I was there as all she said was did I have any questions and took my blood pressure.

And I love the name.

I think we have narrowed it down to 2 names so be gentle with me as I cant face the name boards again but thinking of Harmony or Felicity with no middle name.

I love the dress ttl. I second the ebay suggestion too. I've got a wedding to goThanks for the info on Black Swan/16 week appointment too

Great names ttl and cowboy. On my list at the moment is Mededith, Eleanor or Philippa for a girl. I'm struggling more with the boys namaes but so far we're considering John and Henry. We're not going to find out what sex the twins are which means we've got 4 girls names to pick and 4 boys names to cover every eventuality!

cowboy step away from OBEM

Congrats TTL - how exciting! Beautiful name too! Ohhh....wishing my life away at all you people closer to your due dates than me Love the IO dress, and IO in general...as the queen of eBay I can't believe I didn't thing of looking on there!! I now have a bid going on some trousers...maybe I should have remained ignorant

Had some bleeding...went for another scan (at £155 and expensive photo but PRICELESS in terms of reassurance!) wriggling away, growing nicely etc. The clot she had said had gone (hence my realy worry with this bleeding) is actually still there so could get some more. Let's see if I can hang on until 23rd Feb and my 12 week scan

Cowboy lovely names too! I watched OBEM. Very and the effort the midwife went into with the foreceps. One thing I am scared of most of all is needing that sort of intervention. Looked horrendous.

Guys you are amazing - Ebay! That is the answer. Can't believe I didn't think of it. Thanks for the nice comments about the dress - if I don't get one on Ebay I'll keep it on my favourites list just in case ...

And thanks for the congrats on the scan. So excited :) Love your names bb - all three girls' names are very elegant and pretty and John and Henry are lovely too - my uncle is called John and DH's family cat is called Henry so they're both out for us, but I like them both! We struggled with boys so much.

esk glad you're coming out the other side of the MS.

I watched OBEM too. Fuck that programme scares me. Both women did brilliantly in the end I thought. I loved the partner of the girl with the heart problem - he and her mum cracked me up. And the faces of the drugged-out pethidine lady who wanted an epidural right from the start :) It's good just for learning all the names of the pain relief

Still I think that my belly button has been there all along so I can just push it and eject the baby from some sort of flap when I'm ready. There's no way I'm meant to actually do the birth thing.

Anyone else planning on taking alcohol to the birth?

Sorry, forgot to say thank you for the suggestion cowboy - that dress is gorgeous. I'm a bit afraid of prints, but I'm adding it to my list!

Hello!
First of all massive congrats to the pink club here! TTL I love the name (but am a tad baised as my 2yr old is Isabel!) Cowboy those are lovely, classic names too. Don't ask anyone for advice - just choose something you both love - you'll never please everyone on the naming boards!
BB I love, love, love Meredith and Eleanor and the boys' names are lovely and timeless too!

A word of advice about names, I changed my mind with the name right up until the end so make sure you are absolutely certain before you tell everyone in RL!

Vallinna I did the exact same thing and splashed out on a private scan 10 days before my 12-week one! It's so, so worth it though as the stress was making me ill. Glad everything is fine and dandy!

I had such a great birth I'm not at all worried this time around. Forceps tend to be the result of too much medical intervention (epidural, lying on your back etc) - I'd suggest doing a bit of research on the different options available at the hossy you plan to go to and take it from there. You kind of have to go in with an 'anything could happen but I'm going to try for (insert own preference)' attitude.

TTL that dress is beautiful. you can always sell it again one day on ebay - do it!!

I've ordered a doppler to get me through till 20-week scan, but it might make me a nervous wreck...

Thanks all! I like being able to test the names a little here as not telling anyone in real life at all until we decide what shes called

My friend had foreceps and she said she was really scared when they mentioned it but it was really fine and she was just glad to have him out so that has helped me to keep an open mind

Hello lovely viroids. Feeling a bit shit here at the minute. We've been going through some 'stuff' with our rented house and yesterday had some stuff through the post that has me feeling pretty low. It's a pack of lies, but we have to wait a while before we can refute the awful claims. And now one of my friends who has been unwell for a few weeks is in ICU! I'm thinking swine flu as this is what happened with my FIL.

Baby bump is keeping me going though. Had our 2nd 20wk scan yesterday so they could check the spine (LO was lying on it the other week). All is well AND we were well and truely mooned Heh, it had it's feet up over it's head, but with the feet crossed so no sneaky peeks at boy or girl bits for us. Also it waved it's little hand at us and when I pointed it out to DH, DS started waving at the screen and saying hello

Okay that's enough about me. Cowboy and BB I really like your name choices.

Hello viroids! I've graduated from the JSing thread, so thought I would pop over and say hello, have been lurking for a few days

Whoever it was that was stressing about dresses - I just found out the boden are doing a maternity range now, whoop!

xx

Afternoon all,

Had an NCT Early pregnancy class last night. I was the earliest (no shock there!) with others 12, 13, 16 & 23 weeks. I get stupidly and those further along than me! I was clearly the most neurotic in terms of working excessively about MC etc - shouldn't have been too surprised by that!! Even had the token lesbian couple (not meant to be offensive - we live in North London so were tres surprised only to have one couple!)

The main point of this little babble was I thought it was going to be very 'not me' if that makes sense. Was worried it would be a all a bit reusable nappies etc...it was just nice to chat about all things baby really. With it being our PFB and not having any close friends with kids we have sorted been in our own little bubble.

This time in 2 weeks I'll have had my 12 weeks scan - eek!

Ohhh and in tres exciting news, won the IO mat trousers I was bidding on eBay - really don't need them yet but the seller got them to me the next day! Bargain too - £21 instead of £89. They are under my desk at work, keep meaning to try them on but forgetting everytime I head to the loo!!

Wow...that was all me, me, me Hope you are all well x

Ooh I love all the names floating around. I find the name boards quite scary - everyone gets so worked up!

I've had Miriam in mind for a girl for ages, with possible nn of Merrie. Also like Benjamin/Benedict for a boy but Benjamin is really popular and when I searched for Benedict on name boards it was blasted as either being too Catholic (Pope) or as having "bendy dick" as a potential bullying-name later in life.
Then a good friend who came to stay last weekend mentioned both those names in connection to her next DC and she's 12 weeks further on than me (Knows she's having a boy though, so Miriam may be safe

VP It was you who won the trousers then...were they the grey pinstripe size 2's? Actually I decided against them in the end anyway as there's no way my legs are 34" long!! Hope you love them!

LOL Esk not guilty! These are tailored, black (but a size 2 so I promise to check that I am not bidding against you going forward!!)

Congratulations katiepie2! I was wondering what was happening over on the other thread. May go and poke my nose in later. When did you get your BFP?

Oh nmcb are you okay? I hate shitty days like that and, while good days feel so great when you're pregnant, bad ones seem to get on top of you more (or is that just me being crazy?). I really hope you get this situation sorted out with your house - hopefully by the time your LO is born this will be a distant memory (or shortly after). So sorry for your friend too.

milano you have exceptionally good taste in names

at the ebay battle vp and esk. I've seen some prams on there secondhand and I have to say I was thinking of being naughty and not telling anyone on here before I bid on them. Whoops, cat out of bag vallinna hope your trousers look swishy :) A little of your NCT classes as we went ahead and booked crappy NHS ones and am now realising they are going to be shit ...

I am filled with excitement today as after a year of bollocks from the bank they have randomly released a negative equity mortgage. I cannot believe it since I rang them twice and wrote to them twice in January to ask them to help us to move (in negative equity but have always paid and clearly need to move since I am pregnant and work 70 miles from home and we need my income for the mortgage). They couldn't have been less interested - basically telling us they would only help us if we stopped paying the mortgage but until then, they're happy with us, so what benefit is it to them!!! Now I randomly google 'negative equity mortgage' and what pops up? A whole new product. I'm going to ring them later but it basically means they'll let us swap our mortgage onto a new property at the same or lesser value than our own. As Norwich is cheaper than Cambridge this should be no problem.

I'm sure there's a catch, though, or a reason they'll say no ...

Thanks TTL! Good luck with your mortgage, Norwich is a beautiful city, you'll love it.

I got my LTP (Little thin positive) on Friday, now more of a BFP after steadily peeing on about 8 peesticks in the intervening days! One has to make sure... they were cheapy ones I hasten to add.

Trying not to think about maternity clothes yet, don't want to jinx anything, roll on week 12!

I don't think there's been many graduates from the viroids for a bit, hoping more to follow soon.

Congratulations katie Great News.

Vallinna I'm feeling your "no scan" pain! It's so loooonnnnngggg between the 12 and 20 week scan! I'm thinking of folloinwg milano's lead and buying a doppler. LOL @ "ebay wars"

Sorry you are having a shit time nomore I'm glad you're 20 week scan went well.

I love Miriam esk So pretty.

Great news about he negative equity mortgage takethat. Fingers crossed

I think I felt the twins move I've 16+4. It felt like butterflies. I can only feel them when I'm lying down on my back so my tummy is "tight" and then concentrating quite hard. Do I sound mad?! Then I spent the rest of the night poking my tummy trying to make them move again

BB - I've got to stop stressing and spending pushchaur money on private scans

Can I give some 'advice' on dopplers?? Obv coming from someone very naive!! I hired one (for about a week) and sent it back on two pieces of advice. The first was from a friend who said she had one and reckoned it was near impossible to find the heart beat. She said if I was to get one to rent a hospital spec on (which I did) as that gave you a much greater chance! The sonographer then said she would use with caution. Not that any of this was really dangerous for the baby but constant exposure probably wasn't great, especially if you didn't stand a great chance of hearing anything when you tried.

TTL fab news on the mortgage front! Big relief! NMCB shitteous days seem much worse at the moment. I hope things have improved!

Katee congrats and welcome! It has been pretty quite since the graduating class I waws part of came over.

I'm off for an ebay browse!