TTC a 2012 baby - the GRADUATES!

[Carlitawantsababy]

As requested/suggested this is a thread for those graduating from the TTC a 2012 baby -this is our year thread! Bring your BFPs and get yourselves comfy

love the fancy dress lips!

Thanks so much you lot! [hgrin] I had to go out in London, walk through a packed restaurant and spend the evening dressed as a rampant homosexual has been recently! It was actually painful! I am not a fan of fancy dress either really but in this instance it really was tortuous!

Ghost, just pop into primark or hit eBay and get a mini or micro skirt and a burbury top, something skimpy. Don't wash your hair for a day or two and scrape it all up into a hifh pony tail, with the obligatory strand hanging down on each side of your face, big hoop earrings. The transformation will look perfect with a baby bump! Oh and Asda do stick on long nails. I reckon you can do this for under £30.

You've all made me realise I need to do more exercise. Doubt walking the hounds and chasing the toddler will cut it.

Bun, your cards are incredible and I love the Christmas tree. How did you make it? May need to make that?

Hello.

Bun the cards and xmas tree look great. I have a load of xmas cards to make. I was planning on doing it in the evening but at the minute I just seem to fall asleep once the boys are in bed. Maybe this weekend when they go to their Dads. I can't believe you are 6 months. I am only 6 weeks!!! [henvy]

Fools I had a great giggle at Robbie Williams doll being worth more when he dies. I sold my 5 Spice Girls dolls when they reformed for that tour. I got £600 for them. It was very very nice indeed.

I am getting fed up of not sleeping. I have tried everything I can think off. Including almost crying in the chemist this morning when the pharmiscist(sp) told me there was nothing he could give me. [hsad]

I will be back soon to try and catch up more but the boys are busy trying to kill each other.

Kayzr, I'm so sorry you aren't sleeping well. Have you considered trying to stay awake instead? My body seems easily fooled by a little reverse psychology.

So we had our first scan today. 12 week nuchal scan. Turns out we are at 14 weeks! All looks good and healthy! All suddenly seems real. Will update the edd list later.

Right ghost, everyone, I must admit I love fancy dress! my pet hate though is people having non Halloween themed costumes for Halloween (fancy dress event of the year) it's supposed to be scary - zombies, corpses, witches etc. chavs are scary but not in the right way! Anyway, you can easily do it for under a fiver, if, you own or can borrow a large handbag and heels. Any outfit will do, a black top and jeans or skirt, just your normal clothes, wear pink lipstick with lots of gloss and thick black eyeliner. Add to that a trip to poundland for hairspray, stick on nails, spray on (wash off) fake tan and glittery fake lashes (yes, poundland sells all these wonders!) £4 job done! the fake tan makes so much difference the outfit just won't matter, everyone will love your outfit. I once went to a tube station fancy dress party as Barbie (DH went as Ken - Barbican) and although I had bought an air hostess outfit for that one (normally do on the cheap) it was the fake tan that made it, most definitely! Will you show us a pic?

Woo hoo! Congratulations fools what a lovely surprise! What was the baby doing during the scan? I love scans! Have you got a good picture?
kayzr I can't believe you're only 6 weeks! That's going slowly even for me! And bun 6 months! Wow, not long at all left.
3 people have said variations of "you're getting big" to me today. Well duh.

Loving the hormonal dream self Bun but sorry about the bad night as well. I ended up getting up at half 5 (so already awake for 3.5hours), going for shower & getting ready for work as normal. Then nearly crashed my car on the way into the office so I rearranged my meetings & came home at lunchtime to nap on the sofa. Not managed much sleep but chilled out some, so that's good at least. Happy 6 months!

Ah yes ghost I didn't consider the veggie options much! That's a shame. Yeah I agree about the cinema, although at least there's a bowling alley now, and it's quite a good one, so having both in the town should do it a lot of good.

I have a similar potential fancy dress problem with our Sales Conference but that's yet to be confirmed so I may well be back for some advice if we get it confirmed [hconfused]. I think the big hair, makeup etc is a good idea, maybe wearing a pair of leggings, a nice booby top to show off your assets & possibly braving a pair of heels for the afternoon? I know we're not really supposed to wear them but hey, if it's good enough for Victoria Beckham, I'm sure you'd be fine for an afternoon if you felt up to it? (Disclaimer - I've never watched any of the "The Only Way Is..." series so I may well be waaaay off!)

Love that mug trope - it calls to my inner geek [hgrin] We don't get to go out much either these days - similar finance reasons plus having a wee one makes it much harder to go out as I don't really like to put on PIL's too much. I did just LOL at you caressing your bladder! Hope the achy pains go away soon, but nice to be having a growth spurt. On the exercise front, is it worth considering getting a pregnancy yoga DVD? I know it's similar to Pilates but just thinking if it's one you can do at home, you can fit it in when you're feeling up to it and not having to worry about whether there's a class or not. Also you can then just do the exercises that suit you, and skip those that hurt/make you uncomfortable.

Hi Kayzr - wow at the £600 for spice girls dolls!!! [hsad] to hear you're suffering with no sleep as well - and even more so that there's nothing we can do....hope the boys don't succeed!

That's fab fools! I gained a week at the 12 week scan too, was quite chuffed

Carlita gosh I can tell you like fancy dress, thanks (to others too) for the advice! Sadly I don't think there's a poundland in Oxford but I'll see what I can do. There will be no photos!!

Have just arrived home and the neighbours are drilling or sanding something and it's SO NOISY and driving me nuts! They've been working for 2 months now on a 3 bed end terrace! They've been very apologetic and always stop by a reasonable hour; I just wish they would finish already. Still, it has to be done, and I'd rather they finish before the baby is born!

Oh davina I'm glad you managed to get some rest. I second that disclaimer, have never watched Essex/Chelsea programmes. ghost no, Oxford is probably too posh for poundland, oh well, you'll have to triple your budget and go to boots!

Don't know why with all my inane babble I haven't told you all the exciting baby related news - since yesterday I have felt the baby so much, turning, kicking, dancing away, it is just lovely (had about one movement a day previously) actual little kicks too. Just beautiful [soppygrin]

Carlita amazing!!!!!

Me too Carlita - it's the best thing! My whole belly is lurching and the baby is flailing like mad in there, it's awesome!

Awww wow Carlita thats so cute.

That is fantastic Carlita! Really happy for you. You really seem to be having a dream pregnancy, I can't think of anything that has got you down.[Imnotjealousonelittlebit emoticon] [hgrin]

Baby was wriggling every which way during the scan, watched its little heart beating and it even appeared to wave at one point, I think it was more 2 fingers up to the sonographer who kept poking him too much (disclaimer, obviously we dont know the sex. I've just decided poppet is a boy) when she was 'encouraging' him to move for the nuchal neck measurement. We also got mooned several times! [hgrin] Ds wasn't so keen, the sonographer is one of the first women to not gush and coo over him so he just sat there looking miffed on daddy's lap and stole all my jelly babies. I got 4 and they weren't even my favourites (dh ate most of those). Grrr. Ok, am signing off on my phone and onto the pc for the first time ever so shall try to remember pinterest and scan photos. Will also then reply to everyone properly as feel I've been too mememe today. [hblush]

ghost wow that sounds noisy :( My old office was in the middle of a new development and we had building works going on all around us, was horrible! I think in some ways it's worse than having work at home because you aren't even going to get the benefit at the end!!

Am very jealous that you're still doing pilates! I've been doing is for 6 years now and love it, it's so good for the arthritis, but the combination of preg and arthritis issues is just making it impossible right now - too many joints I can't lean on / move properly! :( Still, it's not forever and I do get a cute (hopefully cute!) baby at the end of it!

Bun thanks for the link to the paper - may have to get some, it's lovely! :)
CONGRATULATIONS! on reaching 6 months - that's amazing!! That's gone so quickly - really doesn't feel that long ago you were posting your BFP!

Fools lol at "rampant homosexual has been" - you have a way with words!! :)
Your chav fancy dress suggestion basically described the delightful folk I went to school with - what a flashback! The scraped back hair with dangly bits at the front in particular takes me back!!

Kayzr Wow at £600!! that's fab - I know i'd rather have the money than the dolls!! Hope you managed to get some sleep last night!
I think it's lovely that we have such a big spread of due dates on the thread - much nicer than everyone being due at once! Although I do admit to getting jealous of the people who can feel their baby move - not long now though!

Fools WOO! Congratulations on jumping forward to 14 weeks - you are catching me up!

Davina Glad there are other fellow geeks on the thread! :) The Pregnancy yoga DVD could work - thanks for the suggestion. Was going to have a look on amazon to see if they had any pregnancy pilates ones, in the hope that some of the exercises would be familiar ones. Am a bit worried about how i'll get cardio exercise once I have to stop squash, there's a council run gym in town you don't have to buy monthly memberships for, thought I might see if I could go there once or twice a week and just do the crosstrainer for a bit (figure I shouldn't be able to fall over on that even with a big-ish bump!) Being fit is a pretty recent thing for me (been quite ill for most of the last decade) and I really don't want to let it drop if I can avoid it!

Carlita & Ghost aw, that's awesome! Must be so lovely feeling the baby move so much! :)

Fools You haven't been mememe at all! No need for ! :)

Well I'm yet again waiting to see if my builders turn up - rain is forecast and it is dark and gloomy here, however it isn't actually raining yet! They usually arrive between 9-9.30am, so am waiting to see if they turn up before trying to make plans for the day. The house is a complete pit so I really should clean and tidy, but (and this may sound really snobbish) I don't really want to open the bedroom curtains with people up on the scaffold able to see in - our bedroom / office are private (and embarrassingly messy) and cleaning/tidying with the lights on / curtains shut is just horrid and gloomy and depressing.

Oh! And I got to the post office yesterday - it wasn't my ebay parcel! It was a quote from the crappy dodgy wall tie company that came around weeks ago - they posted me a quote, without putting any postage on the envelope, and, best of all, the quote makes no sense! The total price is lower than the first item's cost alone! And they got my address wrong! Am half tempted to post it online for all to mock! They really are the dodgiest most incompetent bastards around! This does mean that I am still waiting for my ebay parcels though and I really really really want my nice new coat to arrive!! Still, we are picking up the cot tomorrow, then driving up to Godalming to go and look at the buggy we like (the Uppababy Vista) so it should at least be a fun day! Then we have our final comedy gig on the Sunday - Dave Gorman - which should be brilliant!

Hope you all fun weekends planned!

Fools, the Christmas tree was really simple, I bought some nice thick felt (0.4cm iirc), cut out circles in descending sizes (really could have done with a compass for this but have gone with the rustic look instead! ), rolled up a long, thin strip of felt for the tree stump and made a star, then just threaded them all together. Was done in an evening
Congratulations on your scan and extra weeks!

£600 Kayzr?! at least something good came from them reforming!

Glad you got to relax yesterday Davina, sounds like you really needed it!

Aw that's lovely Carlita I've reached the stage where the big kicks are making me jump and wince as they're bordering on pain, things are very active in there at the moment!

Have your builders turned up Trope? I hate having to wait around for people like that, like I've got nothing better to be doing!

hey bun, nope, no builders and unsurprisingly no call to say so either :( On the bright side though, I have been able to open the bedroom curtains for the first time this week and have put the mountain of clean clothes away, put the winter duvet on the bed (I feel the cold really badly!) and clean bedsheets on! So I have been productive with my morning

Am having a little post lunch sit down (breakfast at 7am means I'm starving by about 11am!) then I'm going to attack the bedroom with the vacuum cleaner - the fun I have!

Glad i'm not the only one who hates people looking into bedrooms! Do you know how long your neighbours will have the scaffold up for?

Lol at getting matching coats AND boots!! I gave up on maternity coats in the end as they were all either:

1. big puffa jacket type things that made me look like a shiny pregnant sausage or
2. woollen dark colour duffel coat type things - lovely and warm, but crap in the rain. (Plus I'm allergic to wool, so while a winter wool coat is bearable, as i'll wear jumpers underneath, it's not ideal - if the cuffs or collar touch my neck it gets all sore).

And as we know, it does tend to be a bit wet and windy down here in november/december!

So! I decided to get a parka a size up from my normal size and after some ebay searching I found this size 12 topshop one that I really liked (hope the link works - is to the completed listing - scroll to the bottom to see the coat). The description said it was actually quite big around the body - so more like a 14 in that respect. So with any luck, it should be the right length in the arms/body, but big enough around the middle that breasts/bump will fit! It may not get me to 9 months, but by April it shouldn't be so cold (I hope!) and I can get away with not doing it up, or wearing DPs monster kagoul over my clothes if it rains!

This is the cosatto cot we found - it's for the nursery. I'm holding out for a bednest for our room - the bednest site says stock is coming in on the 21st November - so will be online from early that day, hitting refresh until I can order one! Damn the cost - it's perfect and I must have one!!!

at fancying Dave Gorman - I too am fond of the nerdier men (you must meet DP sometime!!) and can definitely see the appeal - plus that amount of enthusiasm is rather appealing I find too... Must have been excruciating having a friend with a gorman-a-like boyfriend! Definitely for the best they split!!

Am very excited about pram day - have been putting off going to look at the uppababy for ages as we didn't want to risk bumping into MiL (she lives right near godalming and frequents the art shop near the baby shop quite often) but now we have announced I am free to nerd out over buggies! Hurrah!

I think the only possible way for your DP to make it up to you is to buy you a new buggy/pram of your choosing! Not surprised you're annoyed - i'd be fuming too. Know exactly what you mean about the tears - I am crying over everything atm, is really frustrating. Makes having a calm conversation with DP about things very hard - although tears can be useful at times...

January doesn't seem far away - xmas eats up time so much - it's only a few days in the middle of December, but somehow it eats up the entire month! You'll get stuff sorted - you'll go into manic getting stuff done mode and plough through it! Plus I reckon you have a bloody good excuse for doing minimal amounts for the family birthdays this year - especially if it's people that aren't taking much notice of your pregnancy! Home made card by DS and a gift voucher - note inside laying it on thick about how you're suffering SPD because of YOUR PREGNANCY and can't get out to shop for them! Job done!

Ok ladies - could do with some advice please (apologies in advance as this is a me me me post). Will also, probably be quite long as I don't want to drip feed. So after the shit nights sleep I had Wednesday night (10.30-2.10), I left work at lunch time, came home & stayed on the sofa all afternoon/evening except when DH & DS came home when I put DS to bed. He'd been at MIL's so was all ready for bed when he got home, so it took all of about 10 minutes. Baby was moving around loads whilst I was on the sofa yesterday - pretty much all afternoon which so far has been fairly normal. Very bouncy baby this time round!

So another crap nights sleep last night - more sleep than the previous night, but lots of waking up. I went to bed at about 10 as I had a headache, so took some paracetamol before bed. I woke up with headache still this morning, so took some more paracetamol. But this didn't help really & I noticed baby wasn't moving round much at all. So I had a cold drink, relaxed & tried to concentrate on movements etc. There were some but certainly not on the usual scale so I rang the day unit and went down to be checked over. All the usual tests came back ok and they got a good strong heart beat from baby. They took some blood for anaemia & thyroid tests and told me to ring next week for the results. Great, I thought, so headed home. I had my lunch & then started to feel crap again, so back to the sofa for another afternoon of rest. I had a look through my notes this afternoon & my BP appears to be high for me (it's normally 110/60 and is very consistent). Today it was 125/81. I've done a bit of reading to try to find out what is normal, and it seems the MW's don't worry until it gets to 140/90. So am I freaking out about nothing, given that I still feel crap?? Anyone any experience of BP issues? I'll probably post this in Pregnancy as well just to see if the wider MN population have any ideas as to whether I'm being a complete loon.

no apologies needed - totally understand why you're worrying.

OK - so scary thing is pre-eclampsia (raised BP) can happen anytime from 20 weeks, but and I really want to emphasise this, it's really unusual to suffer from it this early. Your BP is up a bit, but not crazy high, it's far more likely that you're stressed from work and fighting off a bug. The lack of sleep certainly won't be helping with that. You mentioned upthread that you had to flake out for a bit during your zumba class earlier this week - it sounds to me like you're a bit run down and perhaps not taking enough time out to rest up? (Easier said than done with a job and a son and no sleep, I know).

I'd keep on paying close attention to the babies movements, but try not to overfocus on it as that will stress you out more, just make a note to yourself every hour or so - have you felt the baby move? Is it more or less often than normal? That sort of thing.

Have a read of the NHS page here on pre-eclampsia symptoms and if you start to suffer from more of them call NHS direct and / or contact your day unit / hospital.

Is your day unit available on a Saturday? If you are still suffering tomorrow then perhaps go back in and get your blood pressure checked again, just to make sure it hasn't gone any higher. I'm sure they won't mind if it helps you worry less.

In the meantime, early night, DH is on DS duty - he needs to be doing everything and you need to be on the sofa getting waited on hand and foot. Personally I'd cancel any plans involving you tomorrow and just rest up. The most likely cause of this is a bug - there's a lot going around - so rest, good food (even if it's in tiny portions every couple of hours as you have no appetite) plenty of fluids and something distracting on telly (DVD box sets are perfect!) and try as hard as you can not to worry (and I do know what incredibly hard advice that is - it's really so much easier for me to say than for you to do I know).

And if you need to chat we're all here - don't worry about being me me me at all - we all are going to lean on each other over the coming months (years!) i'm sure!

I shall keep my fingers crossed that you wake up tomorrow with a horrid head cold that explains it all!

Thanks trope really appreciate it. I was wondering if my hormones were getting to me again and making me panic a bit [hconfused]. This pregnancy seems to be more stressful for some reason - maybe my body is trying to tell me this one's a girl!

Luckily we have no plans at all for the weekend other than a trip to the supermarket, so I will be sofa bound ALL weekend [hsmile] And hopefully not the head cold, but only cos I don't want to feel any more grotty! Thanks again

That's OK! We all freak out from time to time - is totally normal! Definitely a girl then!! We're all trouble you know!!

Seriously though - always best to get things checked out if you have any worries - no point in taking any chances!

Glad you have a quiet weekend ahead of you - hope you feel better tomorrow!

Aw, think trope put it perfectly! Lots of love davina take care of yourself and hope you feel back on form soon!

Couldn't have put it any better Trope! How are you feeling today Davina? No need to worry about asking for help/reassurance/having a moan, it all helps. Being pregnant makes your body go crazy so it's really difficult to know what's normal and what's not, always better to err on the side of caution

Trope no idea how long the scaffolding will be up, next door is a pub(!) so haven't bumped into them to ask yet, sure DP will be in there soon to ask! The scaffolders have gone now so there's been no one up there the last couple of days.

Have started my coat search and completely agree. Bloody maternity clothes! You'd think there's enough pregnant women to warrant making clothes people actually want to wear! That coat looks great! Very promising

The cot is lovely, definitely money well spent! I'm still cooing over the bednest too! It's lovely! Don't think I'll be able to spend that much with Christmas coming up though might get the Troll bedside cot instead. DS will probably be ready for a single bed by the time DD(?) has outgrown the bedside crib so she can have his cotbed. Worked out quite well!
It seems that it's impossible to get a good quality cheap bedside cot! Promising when it comes to selling it on though, the resale prices are practically the same as brand new with them! Have seen 2nd hand bednests go for £250/£270!

We've had big celebrations here this evening as DS did a wee in his potty! Lots of cheers, hugs, kisses and high fives, a star on his chart, his choice of dinner (prawns, noodles, rice and peas ) and now he's playing on a car game with DP looking very happy with himself!

I ended up going back to bed for a few hours this afternoon because DS woke us up early this morning after learning how to unlock the safety gate on his bedroom door! We were greeted with a cheerful "Hi mum! Hi dad!" from the side of our bed at 5.30 this morning - I was less enthused!
Oh well, my turn for a lie in tomorrow (DP and I take it in turns on the weekend) as he stayed in bed when I got up.

Hope everyone's having a lovely weekend!

Hey ladies! Survived my friend's birthday, but mostly because this cold has finally overtaken me so I gave dinner and fancy dress a miss. Had a fab lunch and afternoon though and the girls were lovely and scheduled plenty of cake stops for me thanks for the fancy dress advice though - will know where to come in future!

I've struggled with finding a coat too! Found a perfect one in debenhams reduced to £38 and ordered it, but after 5 days I received a note saying they'd refunded the order as they couldn't supply the coat. Booo

Guess I'm going to get cold this winter!

Davina I think the other girls, especially Trope have talked about it well. I hope you are feeling a bit better.

I am already drinking gaviscon by the bucket load. Bloody heartburn.