First Time Frolickers foray into 2011

[cherrycobbler]

New year, new babies and lots of new BFPS!!

Link to future grads here

ARRIVALS:

Fudgecat - In loving memory of Baby Elliot - Born asleep on Friday 17th September 2010

Fulhamgirl - EDD 30th May - DOB 9th Apr - Girl - Lily Ann - 4lb
Trying4Baby1 - EDD 25th Apr - DOB 6th May - Girl - Emily - 10lb 2.5oz
Pepperonipizza -EDD 24th May - DOB 28th May -Boy
CurlyCasper - EDD 21st July - DOB 24th June - Girl
Spirael - EDD 25th Jul - DOB 7th July - Girl - Miranda Jane - 8lb 3oz
DesperateHousewife21 - EDD 18th July - DOB 9th July - Boy - Dylan James
Sazziej - EDD 1st Sep- DOB 24th Aug - Girl - Evie - 7lb 8oz
Ozziegirly - EDD 24th Aug -DOB 25th Aug - Boy-Thomas - 7lb 1oz
NovemberAli - EDD 2nd Sep - DOB 8th Sept - Girl - Matilda - 8lb 6oz
WhiteRoses - EDD 15th September - DOB 19 September- Boy
Hobnob - EDD 26th Sep - DOB 21 September - Girl - Matilda 6lbs 6oz
Pixiestix - EDD 24th Sep - DOB 26 September - Girl - Tegan - 7lbs 7oz
Addie81 -EDD 7th Oct - DOB 19th October -Girl
Chancewouldbeafinething - EDD 10/10/10 - DOB 21st October - Boy - William James - 9lb 14.5oz
Hermya321 - EDD 24th Oct - DOB 24th October-Boy - Asher - 8lb 3oz
WorrisomeHeart - EDD 12th Oct -DOB 26th Oct Boy - Lochlan - 8lb
YorkshireTeaDrinker - EDD 6th Nov - DOB 5th Nov - Girl - Eleanor
Bunnygirl80 - - EDD 19th Nov- DOB 11th Nov -Boy-WIlliam - 7lb 2oz
Mumnerves - EDD 8th Dec - DOB 16 Dec Boy - Sean 8lb 2.5oz
Luckyseven - EDD 17th Dec - DOB 20th Dec Girl - Beth Elise 8lb 4oz
Oneof8 - BFP 18th May - EDD 17th Jan - DOB tbc - boy

CURRENT GRADUATES:

Capricorn76 - BFP 12th Apr - EDD 1st Jan 2011
Homebound - BFP 30th Apr - EDD 8th Jan
Seablue - BFP? - EDD 10th Jan
Aly323 - BFP? - EDD 31st Jan - Boy
Muser - BFP 22nd June - EDD 27 Feb
Superpenguin - BFP 1st July - EDD 4th March - Boy
Haloflo - BFP 22 July - EDD 20 March
SaorAlba - BFP 7 Aug - EDD 15th April
Kurlyvoice - BFP 1st September - EDD 16th April
MrsWajs - BFP 13 Aug - EDD 24th April - girl
stegasaurus - BFP 27 Aug - EDD 3rd May
Cherrycobbler - BFP 3rd September - EDD 11 May
Crazydays - BFP 4th September - EDD 13 May - twins - boy and girl!
crazybutterflylady - BFP 1st Sep - EDD 14 May
Bellaby -BFP 11th September - EDD 22nd May
Highheelsandequations - BFP 30th Oct - EDD 13th July
Slowshow - BFP 3rd Jan - EDD TBA
Roundtable - BFP 14 Jan - EDD TBA

Hello all, hope all are well.

Nesting continues, have bought the nursery furniture from mamas and papas yesterday. Am so excited that we finally decided to splash out and get a matching set. Its only the Fern range at £500 (sale ended yesterday so the price is more now) but still, it all matches!

I have decided to move things around with my annual leave and now have a finish date of 22 February 2011. I CANNOT wait! 3 weeks tomorrow will be my last day until 2012! (Taking 39 weeks off plus accrued annual leave = a return date of 10 January 2012)

Am feeling massive now and quite baby obsessed. I think I may be starting to bore my friends. AN classes were last week and were ok. There were 13 couples there and a mix of ages. Everyone was very shy, me included. We talked baby safety, cot death and signs of labour. I feel I learnt a little but my DP learned quite a lot. This week we should be doing the tour which I am excited about and also more about relaxation methods in labour.

Tomorrow I'm giving aqua natal a try, another class Wednesday and then 34 week check on Thursday (Will be 33+4) Also my birthing ball arrived today during the half hour I was home for lunch. It's hardly surprising it's all I talk about when there is so much going on!

crazybutterfly I may consider a HB for number 2 but feel hospital is best for my number 1. I would go to a birthing centre but my nearest is 40 minutes away with my hospital being 2 minutes. My OH cannot understand home births though so I might have him to bring round . When do you have to decide by? Hope you get chance to talk to the MW and make a decision.

crazydayz Wow, 40 weeks! Your poor thing. Glad the twins are weighing in well though, and very evenly. Are you hoping for a vaginal birth or is a CS likely?

cherry Hope that LO's kicks picked up. I find some days are just quieter than others so hopefully your LO was just a bit tired like you.

mrsw Hope your 28 week check went ok & your arm isn't too sore. Your LO picked up its movements? They are such worries and this is just the start.

jollysargeant Good to hear from you and that you are in the nesting phase too.

kurly Let us know what your classes are like tonight. I like to compare.

I'm going to try to type my birth story while feeding... sorry for typos!! Sorry if this is long-

Went to my 39 week appointment on Monday and threw my bag in the car just in case, but not really expecting anything. My contractions had been regular and I had been 2 cm for ages. When I did my NST, there was another brief random heart rate dip, so when I saw the doc, he said that he would like to go ahead and induce Monday instead of Thursday since I was 100% effaced and seemed ready.

We started the oxytocin at noon and then waited and waited. when I finally got to a little over 3cm, a doctor offered me an epidural which I declined at that time since I had very little pain and it just didn't feel right. The worst part of the early labor stage was that I couldn't eat and I was STARVING. Also, it was a bitch getting to the bathroom because I had to be hooked up to monitors and an iv.

At about 5 am, my contractions picked up quite a bit and at almost 6, my water broke. It was the strangest feeling. I was dosing off an it felt like a strong pluck or kick in my stomach, then the water came. I'm so glad it didn't happen in public! As soon as the water broke, my contractions got very intense and painful. At 6cm, I went ahead and got the epidural. The epidural was like magic. Didn't hurt at all, and made it possible for me to sleep.

I spent some time on a ball early on, but got grounded when we started having more drops in heart rate. After my water went, the rate would drop anytime I moved from my left side. They eventually gave me a catheter and put water back in to try to keep him off the cord. They did this again later while I was laboring down.

At 2pm on Tuesday, I was fully dilated and head was visible. The epidural had worked wonders and I was feeling a little smug. They decided to wait and have me "labor down" to try to shorten the pushing part. This just means letting the contractions do the work. Unfortunately, two hours later, my contractions hadn't made much progress, so they lowered my epidural and upped my oxytocin. I started pushing at 4:30. in the next two hours, I developed a fever (had to get antibiotics), my blood sugar went up (given insulin), they took away all the epidural and made my contractions much more intense to get Kai out. They started getting really worried because his heart rate would be wonderful for ages, then just drop.

After almost three hours of hard pushing and when I really doubted I could go on, the doctor was prepared to do a section. However, a nurse who had just come on duty came in and took over the show and really made the difference. Kai was born about 10 minutes after she came in and was perfect. My vagina however, needed a little work .

Although this all sounds horribly medicalized and unpleasant, it really wasn't. Most of the time, DH and I were alone in a very private room, but were checked on regularly. The staff was generous and warm. During the actual birth it was mostly just me DH and a nurse in our birth suite. DH was great. He was super annoying when it was just waiting, but as soon as things got closer, he switched on and became a star. He held my leg and head and coached me through every singe push for three hours. He also cut the cord.

It only felt very "medical" when Kai crowned and they called the doctor and others into the room. As soon as he was out safely, he was placed on my chest while I was stitched up. As soon as that was done, the room was cleared and our family spent an hour together for "bonding" before they did anything else. Kai breastfed almost immediately.

After the birth, I spent almost two ays in the hospital. They wanted to make sure the fever I had didn't mean anything. I had a lot of pain in my hip and girly bits, but it's much better now. I had a horrible headache for two days, but it's gone. I was probably most shocked that I still looked 7 months pregnant the next day. Luckily that's going down too. There will be no new belly photos on line for awhile!

Kai did very well at the hospital, but lost more weight Than he should after we went home because my milk was slow coming in. He also developed jaundice due to the same. After a couple teary days (my tears), many doctors appointments, and a couple of formula supplements, he is much better. Todays doctor says we're good to go all breast again and the baby looks very healthy. I'm good now, but it was very overwhelming at the time. I've been very teary and cry easily right now. I hope that passes soon.

It's all 100% worth it.

Looks like it's time to feed again. Before I sign off, congrats on the purchase to Halo, you're in the exciting part now!! It'll all happen so fast from here.

Crazydayz measuring 40 weeks! Wow. I'm amazed by twins. I can only imagine how it must feel when they both decide to get active. My friend gave birth to her girls on Wednesday at 33 weeks. Both girls were healthy and are doing well.

Waves to everyone else.

aly your story is really incredible. One of the things I love about this thread is hearing the birth stories and no matter what, the new mum is full of love, positivity and strength. I think knowing that is what will get me through my labour!

So happy that you and Kai are doing well and that you can go back to BF today, great news that he is very healthy too - and I hope the tears pass soon. From what I hear it's a day 4 and onwards thing and goes as soon as it came!

Well done and enjoy your new little bundle. Can't wait to see photos of him soon! x

Hi everyone,

Completely failed to get back and catch up last week, don't know where the time is going at the moment, although I am trying to spend more quality time with DP and doing nice things rather than sitting on MN all night

Kurly so sorry to hear about your friend who lost her baby. It's always so sad to hear these stories and I can't imagine how it must feel when you're close to someone. Glad you managed to have a chat to her though. Hope you had a lovely birthday, the bunting sounds really cute.

crazyd cannot believe you're measuring so big already, wow! So exciting that you're getting two for the price of one though, and one of each is just perfect.

crazyb any more thoughts about the homebirth? I really like the idea of one but we are a good 30-40 minutes from the nearest hospital so I worry about what if something went wrong.

halo glad the nesting is going well and cannot believe you're almost starting ML, although I'm already counting weeks until I can start mine!

aly thanks for sharing your birth story and glad to hear you and Kai are now doing well.

Hi to anyone I've missed, have been trying to keep up with reading although not posting but although I'm not quite as exhausted as I was, I'm still fairly tired!

Well I now have a proper bump, which I am very pleased about. Didn't like the just looking a bit fatter stage at all but even though I'm getting people comment that I look quite big already I'm quite happy with it. Think it's just the contrast as I was quite slim before May try and post a bump picture later. Told the rest of my department a couple of weeks ago, but still haven't been brave enough to say anything to the kids yet, although it's fairly obvious now. I just don't want to make a big announcement during a class, and although they're all gossiping, they won't come out and ask me. I think as well that because I won't be starting ML until we're almost at thw summer holidays, it won't affect any of my classes so I don't need to prepare my Highers for me being off or anything. Or maybe I'm just being chicken?!? Kurly how did you tell the kids?

Have attempted maternity clothes shopping twice and been very annoyed with the shops nearby so after the 2nd unsuccessful trip I gave into internet shopping. So now have a few nice things from Next and am waiting on stuff from ASOS being delivered. Put away all my 'thin' clothes at the weekend so feeling a desperate need to restock my wardrobe!

No other news here. Starting to enjoy being pregant now I'm not waking up in a panic every night, although I still do worry occassionally, and now waiting to start feeling movement and get my 20 week scan (3 weeks on Friday, can't wait!).

Hope everyone's well. Will try to keep up with the news more now I'm not about falling asleep on my feet when I get home from work.

Hi everyone,

Congratulations aly and it must be lovely to have the bump highheels

Wow crazy 40 weeks, I hope the back ache isn't too much.

slow I think I'm having the same queries as you. Not getting a lot of information from my doctor, big hoo ha today trying to get booked in with the midwife as the receptionist though 8 weeks was too early but couldn't find anyother booking until 12 weeks?!

Doctor wasn't very helpful about nausea and palpatations (I have a heart condition so you think they might?) Not sure if I'm making a fuss or not as I am feeling very ill at times with heart making allsorts of it's own rhythms. Hmmm not sure what to do. Don't really want to make a fuss incase they tell me off but at the same time...? DH is travelling away at work for 3weeks to and the time difference means it's really difficult to speak to him about this. Any advice would be brill!

I've got to ring up again about midwife appointment so maybe I should mention to the receptionist then? [onfused]

Think people in work might be sussing. The head knows but I am having to run to the toilet at all times of the day. Morning sickness my arse!!! Not being actually sick very often though, just horrible dry heaving which feels worse than being sick as nothing is resolved.

Anyway sorry for long and rambling post. Hope everyone else is glowing serenely with their baby bumps.

PS The boobs, the boobs, who knew they could hurt like that?! Somedays I think they might go pop!

aly that's such a great birth story, although I'm [shock} you weren't allowed to eat. Was that because of your diabetes or just standard practice.

Don't worry about the random crying, it does eventually pass. I posted my tale of sobbing over undercooked toast on the postgrads thread

roundtable - if you have a heart condition and you're having palpitations, I don't think you'll be "making a fuss" by getting it checked out. Just make an appointment with your GP. The GP I saw said that if I needed an appointment, mentioning that I'm pregnant would mean I got seen sooner rather than later, so try that too!

The GP also gave me a printout with a vague timeline of pregnancy appointments, so I had a look at that. It said that I'd get a scan at 12 weeks, but won't have my booking appointment with a midwife until 12-14 weeks. Seems late to me! I have NO IDEA how they will summon me for an appointment though. Will I get a letter in the post? When should I chase them if I don't hear anything? I'm 8 weeks tomorrow.

Oh what a strange concidence slowshow, I'm 8 weeks tomorrow too!!

That seems very late to me with the midwife, I've been on the phone today and got the number of the midwife and made a booking direct with her for tomorrow as she only comes in Thursdays. I'll talk to her about my concerns, I think she might know better what is the 'norm' and what isn't?

It means she's having to stay later but she was happy to do so as she didn't want to leave it. I was supposed to book through the Reception of my GP but they were confused by it all!!

Did you get a book to put in all your antenatal stuff in when you went to the GP? Mine had the midwives number in there. However the GP was not very forthcoming with adivice or instructions and I have to ask for all of it. Try ringing them up and asking them. Let me know how you get on

Evening everyone,

Sorry that the new grads are having a difficult time getting booking in appointments and having to deal with feckless doctor's surgeries. I was told to book my booking-in appointment with the midwife for me being about 8 weeks, ready for a scan at 12 weeks. Turns out that I was actually 10+3 and had my scan at 13+5, but that's just because my surgery totally failed to get me a dating scan! I was also given my notes book (in a Bounty envelope) to fill in as much as possible before I saw her.

aly, thank you for posting your birth story - sorry that things had to get a bit medical and that you had a difficult time with feeding and jaundice. Glad that things are getting on track and even more pleased that you still say that it's 100% worth it!

Good news on the baby bump, highheels - it is lovely when you pass that "ate too much at Christmas" stage, isn't it?! When it came to telling my classes, I did have to worry about the fact that I was leaving my exam classes right in the crucial last few months so wanted to tell them myself and reassure them that they'd still have contact if they wanted. So I picked a day when I taught most of them and told my tutor group, year 13s and year 11s all on the same day. My tutor group I told them by saying that they were very lucky and would get to test out another tutor for a year or so, blah blah blah, and they were little sweeties (a few did jump up shouting that they'd worked it out!). The older classes were easier because there are fewer of them. I didn't officially tell any of my KS3 classes - just let my tutor group tell their friends! One of my colleagues quite charmingly told her classes which I was a bit cross about to start with but it meant that word got around nice and quickly...

My NHS ParentCraft class was FULL of people on Monday, halo. There must have been 18-20 couples there (more with partners/husbands than without) with a mix of ages from mid-20s to late 30s. We were very good and mostly sat and listened to the midwife talk through labour and how specific things work at the local hospital, especially as we're not allowed to go on a tour. I learnt that there is only one birthing pool and that even if it's free you might not be able to use it if there aren't enough midwives on duty. I knew most of the other stuff from reading books, birthing stories on here, and watching OBEM, and DH felt that it was useful too. Next stop is the breastfeeding workshop on Monday. What was yours like, halo?

Serious respect for your measuring 40 weeks, crazyd - my midwife didn't measure me at my 28 week appointment so we'll have to wait until 32 weeks to see what that says. Hope you are doing ok and being well looked after.

Anyway, hope everyone is getting on well, enjoying their bumps of various shapes and sizes, and enjoying buying things if you've got to that stage! Our big bits of furniture are being delivered tomorrow - eek - so they'll have to sit in the middle of the nursery with covers over them until we choose the paint scheme and get it slapped on the walls... Also took delivery of the baby's first item of clothing - a slightly extravagant buy from M&P of a beautiful little cream cardigan - and it's so cute!

Oh, we're date twins roundtable, how cool!

Did you get a book to put in all your antenatal stuff in when you went to the GP?

Nope I got a copy of Emma's Diary and a form to send off for free prescriptions (which I still haven't sent, because I don't know my NHS number!) and that's it. I think I'll swing by the surgery tonight and ask whether I'm supposed to ring the midwives (in which case, I need the darn number) or whether they will ring/write to me. I'm just a bit paranoid that my details haven't been forwarded to anyone. No faith in the NHS, me?

aly what a story, sounds pretty tough near the end but so glad it was a positive experience and so worth it. Hope you are enjoying life with little Kai and he's steadily gaining weight! (and you are enjoying being back on a non GD diet - am assuming, hopefully, that your diabetes goes pretty instantly after birth?)

oneof8 thinking of you and your LO, hope you're both doing well.

crazyd 40 weeks, my goodness!!

flo i think you are entitled to feel baby obsessed at 33 weeks! Hope your check today went well.

highheels so glad you are starting to really enjoy the pregnancy. Bit of a horrible start for you so you very much deserve a glowy and smooth second and third trimester.

also glad you're getting your m/w appt soon roundtable hope she is a bit more helpful than your GP was, particularly around your palpitations. My m/w had to book my 12 week scan, slowshow, so I was glad that I got my booking in appt with her at 8 weeks otherwise my 12 week scan may be have been outside the time that they could have done the nuchal test. I didn't get a letter about the m/w, she just called me I think (I left my number with GP surgery) but depends on GP surgery. May be worth calling them again to see if you can speak to her before. Not being unreasonable! 8 weeks for both of you -woo!!

As for me, baby is alternately being really quiet and then the next day kicking lots. It may be my anterior placenta cushioning the blows when its in a certain position I guess? Hmmmm. Feeling a bit unsettled at the moment generally, not sure why. Pretty sure its all hormonal and a mix of being busy at work, and worried about the baby, and worried about being a good parent and such, but its a bit rubbish. DH took me away for lovely weekend away last weekend and was thoroughly spoilt which was really nice, and have fun things planned this weekend (have started antenatal yoga which I really like, and going to John Lewis for the exciting nursery advisor thing) so hopefully that will be just the tonic.

ps in fact, to cheer myself up I think I am going to go onto the mammas and pappas website and accidentally buy something. Your report on the nursery furniture flo and cream cardigan kurly has got me thinking!

Sorry to hear you're having an unsettling time cherrycobbler it sounds like you definately deserve to by something lovely as a pick up.

slowshow Did you find out how they do things? I had to arrange the midwife myself but they did at least send off the prescription form for me (or I think they did). I was also able to rebook in with the midwife today for 16 weeks when she wants to see me again.

Hope they've clarified things for you. I think it's tricky with the first as you don't know what to expect or what's expected of you.

Oops buy

Hello everyone! Just thought I would take a break to see how everyone is doing. I can't believe how far along everyone is getting!

I'm doing my best to avoid shopping- unfortunately the urge is still here after giving birth. Congrats on your recent purchases flo and kurly. My big splurge was an ergo carrier a few days before Kai was born. I have about 10 slings and carriers people gave me, but I became obsessed with the ergo. Turns out that it was a great purchase. We already use it quite a bit and it puts Kaia to sleep almost immediately. DH even likes using it. Another thing I'm really liking are some blankets I got from Adan and Anais. They're thin, soft, comfy and versatile. There is just so much fun stuff to buy (if I had a girl I would probably be more clothes crazy). cherry, hope you found something good!!

Now that my milk is in, Kai is doing well. He's such a good boy! He's gaining like a pro an is almost back to birthweight way ahead of schedule. He eats well, sleeps well and has been a total pleasure.

Despite my shocking appearance post birth, my weight is coming off at a good pace. It might even be almost completely gone if I wasn't cramming my face constantly with all the stuff I missed while pregnant- just as you guessed cherry! Also, I'm not feeling 100% recovered, but do feel significantly better. I'm able to go on walks, go out to eat, etc. with only minimal discomfort. Once again- all worth it... I might even consider doing it all over again!

bunny in the US, most hospital s won't let you eat after admission in case they have to do a c-section. They generally try to get you to stay home and eat before coming in. I should have snuck off before we stared my induction!!

I'm another one who wasn't allowed to eat once the induction started Bunny and Aly! Apparently its because the risk of a c-section is so much higher with induction and they don't like to risk food aspiration during surgery. I was starving for about the first four hours of my labour and then luckily the pain blocked out the feeling of hunger for the next 24 hours!

Loving hearing about everybodies purchases. I still go all gooey looking at little tiny newborn clothes and there is no way they would fit Tegan now. Mamas and Papas stuff is just gorgeous. A word of warning - everyone told me to stock up on 0-3 month clothes as lots of babies don't fit in to the newborn stuff at birth. I did just that and then had a 7lb baby who was drowned in 0-3 month clothes! Had to do quite a lot of emergency shopping. So I would advise getting some newbon clothes (and maybe keeping them in the packets if you are worried about not using them, so that they can be swapped), just in case you get a littley!

Sorry to hear you are worrying Cherry. Do you have a midwife appointment soon to ease your mind? There is nothing like hearing that little heartbeat to make everything ok again.

thanks for the kind words girls. Am very glad its friday, I have to say :) My next appt is the 28 week one, on 15 Feb. Have to have growth scans in the third trimester due to my slightly dodgy blood results earlier on and I think that one of the scans will be on the 15 Feb too, so looking fwd to seeing the LO then. Seems like ages away though so if am still worried then will call midwife soon. Baby is currently kicking my appendix scar as I type so at least that's reassuring!

Awwww re: little Tegan being swamped in her clothes!

v glad to hear you and baby K are doing well aly. DH and I are thinking of buying an Ergo carrier too - it is pricey but looks really comfy for carrier and bub.

roundtable and slowshow wow 8 weeks already! I had to phone and chase my booking appointment, which was at the same time as the 'booking scan', apparently how they do things at my hospital, meaning I didn't see the midwife till 11+ weeks. I had loads of questions but in the end didn't ask half of them as it was so obvious the midwife couldn't wait to get me out of there and get finished (to be fair it was Christmas eve). Means I still have loads of questions now and no more appointments till 20 week scan so make sure you're more assertive than me and ask for the information you need.

Kurly thanks for sharing how you told the kids. I still haven't plucked up the courage although it's so obvious that they all know now anyway, at least the whispering speculations have died down! Have told a couple of colleagues that if they're asked they can say yes so they're busy spreading the gossip for me!

cherry sorry to hear about the unsettled feeling but hopefully your lovely weekend has you feeling better. Would love to hear about the nursery advisor thing as have been considering that myself.

aly glad to hear that you and Kai are doing well and impressed with the weight loss already. I've already decided I'm not even going to try and think about getting into my pre-pregnancy clothes before 2012!

Hope everyone is enjoying their weekends. I'm avoiding getting the housework done here but did walk to the farmers market this morning and stock up on tasty treats for the week. Have a friend's birthday celebrations tonight, which I am mostly looking forward to (although wish I could have a instead of more lemonade!), especially now I can show off my new bump to my friends, who haven't seen me for weeks. Have also finally managed to stick a bump pic on my profile, considered putting a pre-pregnancy pole dancing pic up too but chickened out

Sorry haven't been on much, everytime I start a message there seems to be a feeding/wee/poo/sick emergency and I have to give it up!

Thanks cherry fab new thread! Hope you feel LO more frequently soon, it's such a worry isn't it. Did you enjoy your John lewis consultation?

kurly sorry to hear about your friend, it's so sad. I'm sure it's really affected you and hope you don't worry too much about yourself and LO. Hope she's managed to get some good help in RL

halo check out this ebayer for some lovely stickers, you may find what you want for a fraction of the price. GLad to hear your DH got a lot out of the classes, I found that was the main reason for going to them in our case too.

fudgecat so nice to know that you still lurk, hope you're coping ok and as everyone said you and Elliot will always be part of our frolicker group!

aly congratulations on birth of baby Kai! lovely name btw! Sorry BF started off so badly, fwiw that sounds exactly like our start (we were readmitted too, he lost 15%) and now at 7 weeks I have a fat baby sitting on my lap who only takes 10-20mins to feed, so do perservere it gets easier and you will at some point stop obsessing about how much he's taking in and weight.

pixie I know I've started putting newborn clothes away and feel all :( about it!

Sorry to anyone I've missed and if my sentences don't quite gel together. We're doing well and Sean is such good boy am enjoying life as a mummy doing things like baby swimming. Just a quick tip, get something like this it'll make night-time feeds easier.

Have a lovely sunday!

Morning all, hope everyone's had a nice weekend.

cherry hope you're doing ok, I know what you mean about LO's movements; I've had a few days where there hasn't been much going on in there and it's quite concerning but I think it's just as we are getting bigger and they don't have quite so much room. Hopefully your midwife will put your mind at rest a bit. Did you have the nursery appointment yet?

Aww highheels cute bump! You are teeny aren't you?! I'm not thinking about post pregnancy either, I think we'll have enough going on to be worrying about what size our clothes are, at least at the beginning anyway. I feel massive at the moment but people keep saying I am all bump and havent put weight on anywhere else (yet!) so am hoping that doesn't change between now and then! I think it's hard to tell yourself, I feel very wide

aly lovely to hear from you, glad to hear things are good with you and that Kai is such a delight. I bought an ergo sport for DH for our second anniversary last year (year 2 is cotton and I thought it might make him a bit more excited about the pregnancy!). I can't wait to use it; I've heard nothing but good things about it and the sport version is good for taller men too - DH is 6'4.

kurly the breastfeeding workshop sounds great - let us know how it goes. Is it part of your NHS classes??

I have my 28 week appt this Friday, really looking forward to it because we'll talk about the birth more. DH is a little too worried about a homebirth so I think I might have to put that idea on the backburner until the next one (if we are lucky enough to have another). It's a shame but he has to be comfortable really.

I have confirmed my ML starting on 4 April - am going to use my holiday for that month since there are so many BHs, then start the leave proper on 2 May. My boss has been amazing and has uplifted my SMP by double! I am so grateful and feel a bit less stressed about not earning now... in fact since I won't be travelling into London and buying lunches etc, i think I might actually be better off.

Everything else is good. I'm a bit disappointed in how long it's taking me to sort the house out. Normally it's all unpacked and sorted before I go back to work but it's been 2 weeks now and there are still boxes :( boo. I have a very quiet weekend coming up so I am determined to make use of it and get busy nesting :) I have told myself I can't start on the nursery until the rest of the boxes have gone. I am sure I will regret it!

Hope you all have a lovely week!

evening girls

Had JL appt - it was in Welwyn, crazyb and crazyd - vaguely near your neck of the woods too? The lady was v helpful and just talked us through lots of things - but was all stuff you could find out yourself if you weren't as disorganised as me and DH. Took two hours and only went through half the stuff (did get lemonade and biscuits though - how to make a pg woman happy!) so will prob go back for second half to learn all about bottles and muslins and sterlising equipment etc...

The potential second hand buggy has fallen through but I think my parents are going to get us ours as their pressie. We looked at a few in JL and are between the iCandy Peach and Bugaboo Cameleon. Hmmmm.

Any ideas on how important a drop side cotbed is? DH has a bit of a dodgy back sometimes and we're both average height (DH is about 6" and I'm a couple of inches smaller). Saw some nice cotbeds but without dropside so not sure. Thinking of having no moses basket but going with one of these instead - any thoughts welcome!

Decided not to wait till appt next week to mention reduced movement as was really worrying so called midwife and she said to pop in to the hospital get monitored this afternoon. Spent half an hour hooked up and baby's heartbeat was fine and normal apparently so feel much better. Phew! Does the worry never end?! Feel a bit bad as hospital is not too near us, and I dragged DH out of work early too so he could drive me there, but guess its good practice for leaving work early to pick up a snuffly LO from childcare in 18 mnths or so...

mumsnerves really glad to hear you and Sean are doing so well!

crazyb fab news on the SMP uplift - am about your ML start date, it is a couple of weeks before me! I am also taking some hols and then like you start leave proper on 2 May. Bless Kate and William for getting married before May and giving us both an extra paid day of ML!

ps highheels your bump is so cute! I am carrying mine quite low and neat - good not to be too uncomfy but means that I am not obviously pregnant unless in certain clothes and do have serious bump envy of lovely big high bumps! Still have 13 weeks to get massive tho :)

Hello!

Cherry, we went for the iCandy Peach and I LOVE IT. Such a thing of beauty - and yes, thank goodness for parents wanting to buy an important present! Our main reason for it was that, if you're spending all that money, to have the option of converting it into a double buggy helps make it more cost effective. And it's less rattly than the bugaboo and has a really good shopping basket in the bottom.

Also, on the dropside cot concept, apparently they are actually being phased out for health&safety reasons. What you need to look for instead is a cot with different base heights so that you don't have to lean over too much - when your baby can get themselves up, they go on the bottom base and stand before you pick them out, but when they're littler they can be higher up. We went for the JL glider crib instead of a Moses basket - it was something that DH felt quite strongly about so I really hope that the baby likes it!

I'm of all of you able to take all your holiday before starting your ML. As wonderful as school holidays are, they are not working with me and my due date! And I'm rather hoping that I'll have my little bundle by the time of the Royal wedding and DH can be the one to benefit from the bank holidays all around that time... You lucky thing on the extra money, crazyb!

My breastfeeding workshop today was quite interesting, not least for the Mum who came in with her very cute 13-week-old son and answered questions (and gave us some top local tips). It was still a bit socially awkward with the other mums, though I actually managed to have a little chat with a few of them today and feel a bit more positive about finding some nice local mummy friends once LO is here. My main problem was trying to reconcile the HV's advice to feed all the time with all the different books that I've been reading about establishing routines and I have NO IDEA what kind of mummy I want to be. Is it just me stressing about this?

Anyway, it's OBEM time so I'm going to sign off for now - sorry for missing so many people out in terms of personal messages but I am thinking of you all!

kurly I have some quite good first-ish hand experience of the BF issue. A good friend of mine was the first in our group to have a baby - about 2 years ago. She was told by the HV to feed every 2 hours, no matter what, so she was running herself ragged getting up at all hours to feed him (most of the time waking him up to do so!). Eventually another HV (and my friend's mum) had to really step in and say it was ridiculous and she shouldn't be doing it like that. she was starting to show signs of PND because she was having no rest at all... by the time she finished feeding him and getting him back to sleep it was time to wake him up again. Seems crazy! I bought this recently, haven't read much of it yet but flicked through and it seems quite good if you take it with a pinch of salt!

cherry I would second the iCandy. I was torn between that and the Stokke - like kurly I think the bugaboos are a bit rickety and if you and DH are tall I think the iCandy has better height adjustment (from memory). I have a couple of friends with them and they swear by them. I also agree with kurly re the cotbed... the height adjustable ones will be your saving grace. The bednest is gorgeous!! Am but it's a lot of money so I know DH will say no :( boo. I did type out a long spiel about it not being mobile, but I looked back at the link and saw that it is so looks fab to me! I think you're right to have LO checked out. The Amanda Holden thing really upset me yesterday, poor woman, my heart really goes out to her. I think I have started to get a bit cocky and havent thought of 'what if' so it brought me back down to earth a bit and am going to take things a bit more easy.

Phew, long post, sorry!

Cherry I'm so glad you got checked out and everything was ok. What a relief!

Crazy, I felt sick when I read that Amanda Holden story - she had waited so long to tell the press to be out of the "danger" time It just doesnt bear thinking about.

Kurly I'm not really sure how people get into rountines with BF tbh. Its usually fairly obvious when Teg is hungry - she pokes her tongue in and out and starts licking peoples jumpers! Then if she doesnt get fed soon she starts howling. I couldn't see her doing that and then say "Ooh no, she's not allowed a feed for another 50 minutes yet". So my advice would be to just let Kurlybaby tell you what they need and when.

Gorgeous bump Highheels!

Waves to everyone else!