Feb babies 2011 - We may not be glowing but we're definitely growing!

[Wanderingsheep]

The old thread was getting quite full so I took the liberty of starting a new one, I hope nobody minds! I thought I'd keep in with our glowing and growing theme (I'm not very creative, sorry).

You'll get best 3D photos after about 26-27 weeks, as they start to fill out with a bit of fat and look more babyish. Before that they can be a bit skeletal-looking (obviously your mileage may vary). After about 31 weeks they tend to really run out of room and it's very hard to get a good face shot. So if you can bear it, try to wait until 27-30 weeks (but if not, the closer you can get to that the better (s)he will look).

aaaaaah - don't know if I can wait until 26 weeks

Helloo!!

Am back from long lunch and got my hair done, what a nice boss I have letting me take nearly 3 hours!!! I will pay for it though, of course

Great news about the scans everyone, well done

2 days to go! Think it will be an 'offical surprise' although my money is on blue

Thank you Angels1 :)

Think i'm having a boy too 40weeks, as I'm all out the front.

Does that mean anything or just an old wives tale....??

Congratulations to Prof and Highlandlass, it's so good to hear everything is going well. I love the bashful baby comment, very sweet. Oh and Highlandlass, I'm all out front and having a boy, but i have a strange dip in my bump around my navel area and not sure what that is.... I think the old wives tale is that way and if your bump is more football shaped it's a boy and watermelon shaped is a girl. It's all very scientific of course

angels you sound like me, I can be all clucky and excited one second then really irritable and sharp the next, oh, and today I've been in tears 3 times. Honestly, I've never been a crying person, very stiff upper lip and all that but I feel like a teenager at the moment and I'm really getting through the mascara... at your choccie and bio oil boobs, at least we can laugh at ourselves! I really recommend the 4D scan, it helped my OH to 'bond' (don't like that term but can't think of how else to put it) with our baby. He's certainly been a lot more serious about things since then.

Well I was all round with dd and ds was a bowling ball, so I don't know..... I measure 11 with my very short American toilet paper and someone said I looked very petite today. I've been to the gym today too!

I forgot to say congratulations to everyone on their scans, sorry!

I've looked much the same with all of them; was bigger with DS but then he was a much bigger baby, and my overall shape has been pretty constant.

Hey everyone - congrats on scans :)

TPT 8.5 - A whole sheet more than last week! I can't stop eating at the moment, seems to be that every 1 1/2 hours I get starving hungry and if I don't eat I get all light headed and need a huge dose of sugar (ie a shockingly unhealthy chocolate bar- favourite at the moment is snickers)

Anyone else eating like there's no tomorrow?
x

Hello everyone & congratulations on all of the scan results! All this talk of 3D / 4D scans makes me think I'd like one though less to know the sex, I'm set on a surprise! My bet is also blue, everyone I know seems to be saying the same though I'm not sure what they're basing it on. I don't go with bump prediction as tempting as it is, I was all at the front with DD whereas this one is all out everywhere! Prob just that I'm bigger now & looser! I've def been eating more this pregnancy!

Back to my book now, oh and the Ina May Spiritual Midwifery arrived from Amazon this morning. Now THAT is hippy! Some brilliant photos, there isn't a single man in it who doesn't have long hair & a long beard! Love it though, the words are very inspiring from what I've skimmed of it. Look forward to getting stuck into that after I've finished the Sheila Kitzinger one. Should be well informed if nothing else! a different matter putting all into practice! Perhaps I'll forget buying a house & move to a teepee instead... I have been known to burn incence!

Evening all,

Great to hear about all of the wonderful scans!! We have two days to go and I'm struggling to contain myself!

This might be a silly question, but could someone please explain the toilet paper measuring to me please... do you simply wrap it around your belly??

It could be a football or a watermelon...!

DH has said neither..so he's useful this evening....!!! He love the 3D picture.

That's what I did, MummyGeorgie. Sadly I am trying to convince console myself that American toilet paper sheets must be shorter than UK!

MummyGeorgie yes you just wrap it around the tummy at its largest point (I assume) and count the number of sheets it is. It will probably be in the 7-10 region, but don't worry too much if you're not - it will be the brand of toilet roll's fault, not yours.

I'm just about to do mine. But I just want to say that I have a friend who back in 1985 was declared a boy in her mum's scan... only to turn out a girl because they somehow contrived to mistake the umbilical chord for, erm, "it". But that was a long time ago and the scan technology must have improved since then.

Thank you tadjennyp and zerominuszero I'll do mine before I go to bed! I'm now thinking that maybe that second milkyway was a bad idea.... it was a fun size one though so that surely doesn't count!?!

Very amused by the umbilical cord mistake.... I'm sure your friends father must have been very proud for a while :o

Hi all been working last 2 days.
Brilliant news on scans everyone,are we nearly all scanned now?
Have had a really upsetting day and feel really down. Too complicated to explain but its to do with my hrs and my boss being a twat. I held back for ages but ended up in tears..so embarrassing. Have day off tomorrow so am going to contact hr but i could really do without this. I am seriously considering going sick but i have clients who rely on me. Sorry just needed to share.
Angels trust your little baby to be difficult.I am tempted to have a posh scan only because its my last one and will be nice for dd.
Did anyone watch the docu on living just now about foetal alcohol syndrome. I felt really worried as i had more than a few about 6 days post conception. Did anyone else? After 4 yrs trying you just give up so wasnt expecting to be pg.
I think i founded the blw thing. I had 3 under 5 so they had no choice or wouldnt get fed haha. I will prob do a mix of both tbh.

Awwww ledkr hope it gets better for you at work. Hopefully a day off will help... maybe?

I must have one of the last scans, it's on Monday and I am very excited. Just need to trim my hairy tummy first

Just did TPT. 8.5, slightly smaller than last week

Hope you're feeling better ledkr and don't let your boss bully you into tears, if he's a twat then that's his problem not yours. Definitely call hr tomorrow so you feel more assertive, if you need some time off then take it and don't feel guilty.

I'm teetotal so didn't drink before BFP but was smoking approx 30 cigarettes a day and feel amazingly bad about that. Gave up immediately but can't help but wonder if that's why my baby has one kidney. I don't think you have anything to worry about as long as you weren't downing a pint of vodka a day.

tadjennyp US paper must be smaller than UK stuff unless you're carrying triplets You mentioned you live in Oregon earlier, I have friends there (in Portland and Manzanita) and one of them has a daughter called Jenny...now that would be strange!

grigglepuff a snickers is a nutritious and healthy snack full of antioxidants, omega oils and vitamins and anyone that tells you differently is lying , they're practically part of your 5 a day.

Just off to bed but saw your comment zero, I have the most incredibly hairy tummy too! I swear it wasn't like that before or I would have been epilating it, so pleased I'm not alone with it! I was going to shave it but then thought it might keep me warm through the winter, it's actually quite impressive now I've let it grow (and a great deterrent to OH's amorous desires when all I want is sleep).

IIRC you don't even share a blood supply with the baby at that point, so wouldn't worry at all.

Hello all! too many pages and too many things that I'd like to reply to, but by the time i finish reading all the posts I've forgoten them...
Congrats on the scans! I understand how terrible it must be not to know when you want to.

Mine also has a larger than normal tummy! they kept on doing the meassurements, we didn't understand why, until they showed us the results... it's big in general, but his tummy is two weeks older than it should be...!!

Unlike mine, which hasn't grown, so I'm still and 7 TPT (and a bit, but not even a quarter ).

I bet the spiritual one is even more hippy... won't be buying that one just in case, might try and go to read sections at a bookstore when dh isn't looking. By the way, he's getting more convinced by the homebirth, if everything carries on as low risk.

My tummy is also hairy! are you all having boys? perhaps it's the testosterone? and I also use it as a love deterrant...

My parents are in Lincoln needtosleep so it can't be me! I'm not having triplets but I did put on 17 lbs between conception and my last appointment 2 weeks ago so I'm hoping it will slow down now! I'm sure you have done nothing at all to make your baby have only one kidney. As prof says, no need to worry.

ledkr you know your GP can write you a 'sick note' saying you're only allowed to work less hours than usual? There are complex legal ramifications with this (as I've discovered) which I can brifly tell you if you think it's something you might need/want to do (don't want to bore everyone here otherwise!). I thought the same as you about my students needing me, but, turns out, they're fine with someone else and life goes on (I realise this isn't quite the same thing as the perhaps more vulnerable people you work with though). Loved your comment about my baby being the difficult one . Tbh I think the scanning machine wasn't a particuarly good one - my GP talked me through options for hospitals initially when I got pg when I was choosing where to give birth she said the little local hospital I'm having all my pre-natal appointments at (not the super duper new snazzy one I'll be giving birth in) has very basic equipment - so personally I think it was the machine not my difficult beautiful baby .

needtosleep are chocolate brownies as healthy as snickers?! I was so excited to find gluten free choc brownies in m & s yesterday (I'm a gluten free person). They do have ground almonds in... and I'm so respectful of those who managed to give up smoking when getting BFP - I don't ever drink or smoke but found early pregnancy really really hard as it was without battling to give up things your body is addicted to.

After buying the Ina May book online just had the genius idea this morning to go to local library to see if they have any other birth/pregnancy books - had completely forgotten about the delights of free book borrowing as I got out of the habit of going when I got BFP and started feeling rubbish, but do you know I might take a trip after mw appointment if I can manage it (seeing mw again today - for some reason she wanted to see me again after scan) :)

morning all. Still crying. Cant stop. Slept for 3 hrs and feel terrible. DD is off ill too.
Spoke to my Mum and she is fuming. It would appear that i am being bullied.
Briefly i am contracted to work 18.5 hrs per week an have been for years. In my other posts that has been what i work and they were the sort of roles where you never really got a proper break.
Started this new role as old dept closed in June. Was told by the other workers could either take a lunch or not bother and leave half hr early at 4.30. Yesterday in supervision he tells me i have to take break(no staff room and cant walk far due to spd.)
He then says its a paid lunch and i have to take it and leave at 5.I said that over 2 days that would be 16 hrs and i would then owe him 2.5 which i would do on the Wed.
He says no you will only be doing 7.5 per day so will owe me 3.5. I queried this and he said the full timers work 37.5 hrs p week so that is 7.5 per day. I pointed out that i am part time so this does not apply and i will actually be in work for 8 hrs.He refused to relent.
I also pointed out that a-i get in at 9 every morning and others do not.and b-my annual leave is worked out in hrs not days as i am PART TIME-b, two other part time workers spread their hrs over the week and many dont take lunch.
He then went onto ask me how i THINK i get on with people at work and suggested that i wasn tused to such a proffessional enviroment. He said there was never really a vacancy for me in June and i was just plonked there with no knowledge of adoption.
Does this make sense to you? I am devastated and just cannot understand it. I do great work with the kids and have a brilliant reputation.

I think with the legalities they do need to insist on your taking a break, and he's probably more aware of that because you're pregnant. It is crazy when you're not within easy reach of anywhere to take a break but they are on dodgy ground if they let a pregnant woman keep working through the whole day without taking a break. So you may have to let that one go.

Then there's the issue that you have (always, I assume) worked your 18.5 hours as 8 hours + 8 hours + 2.5 hours, and he is insisting that you change this split to 7.5 hours + 7.5 hours + 3.5 hours. Without being in any way an expert I suspect he's on shakier ground there. What does your contract actually say? (may not be relevant; I work a 23-hour week and I know mine doesn't say anything about exactly when). How long have you been working the 8 + 8 + 2.5?

You could try calling the ACAS helpline on 08457 47 47 47 and get advice on your legal position.

I would also be inclined to start being pickier yourself. Has he done the full risk assessment to cover the fact that you are pregnant? (particularly important since you have SPD). There should have been one. It's possible that this should even cover the breaks issue if you can't walk and there are no break facilities provided.

My gut reaction is that he is hoping you will quit rather than his having to cover your maternity leave as well as that of your Useless Colleague. But he knows he can't do anything that makes it about your pregnancy in any way or he'd be taken to the cleaners, so he is trying to be as much of an arse as possible over every other point he can think of. But just try to prove that...