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

fools I am SO SO jealous! Have a brilliant time!

carlita right now i'd love some wobbly unremarkable thighs!! Would make injecting so much easier!!! I bet yours no where near as bad as you think they are though!

Artex my childhood home was covered in the stuff - nothing like walls that can give you grazes if you fall against them! We had layers upon layers of wood chip wallpaper in our house when we bought it - it all got stripped off by us (god that was tedious!) sadly taking much of the ancient horse hair plaster with it! Hence re-plastering most of the house when we bought it! Is so nice to have smooth walls when it's done though! Well worth the effort!

I have photos from before the re-rendering - none from immediately before sadly but the pebbledash was in a state for ages, so we have plenty of photos of it looking bad! I have lots of in progress photos too, from sending updates to DP! When it's all done and finished and I've painted the front door, windowsills and brick edging I shall post a before/after shot! It does look a lot better and hopefully the improved kerb appeal will bump the value a bit!

I think you should be allowed to slap people who make judgemental comments about bumps - it's just so ridiculous that people think they have the right to comment like that! Or at the very least make a tactless comment about their appearance back!!

Have fun tonight at legally blonde!

I wish I could say we had fun unprintable plans, but DP's flight gets in at 8pm, so once he gets his luggage call it 9pm, then we won't be home till 11pm ish - so I suspect he will just sleep!! We are having a proper roast dinner on sunday - he went desperately searching for one in NY on Sunday and couldn't find one! He's missing home cooked food so we shall have a roast chicken and a laze about on the sofa... He's straight back to work on the Monday - so we've only got the one day together :( To be honest, I'm mostly looking forward to a decent nights sleep - I just don't sleep well without him there...

Speaking of which - HORRID DREAM! I had my recurring stress dream that I haven't had for years last night! (My teeth are all crumbling and falling out and I can't talk, or eat properly as I can feel them coming loose and disintegrating). Usually it's quite a short dream and I wake up quickly, but last night it went on and on, I'd wake up, feel all yuck from the dream, eventually get back to sleep and drop straight back into the dream :( Don't know why I suddenly had that out of nowhere, i'm not feeling especially stressed, just tired! Feeling very tired now though despite having a lie in - am going to spend the day tidying up and being good in the hope it wears me out so much I sleep properly tonight!!

Just to change the topic entirely, does anyone have any pointers for doing homemade christmas stockings? We never did stockings as a kid, but DH loves them and we bought a couple a few years ago, but they have no sentimental value. I'd love to make one for him this year - ideally it'd be something I could sew. We have a great fabric shop nearby that sells christmas fabric but I'm not very arty and can't visualise how to decorate it. Any thoughts, ladies-who-craft?

ghost Isn't bun making one? BUN where are you?!
trope eek! Artex is only on ceilings, you have now made it seem much, much better! done the wood chip thing before so know exactly where you're coming from on that one, nightmare! Horse hair plaster? How old is your house?

Ghost There's a wonderful website which i have ordered from in the past and the owner is on facebook too, www.littleadesigns.com . Not that i'm suggesting you copy her designs at all but it might give you some inspiration to decorate your stocking?

trope we have one artexed room in our house and we've just agreed with our builder to redecorate it. It's going to be the nursery so soon there will be lovely smooth yellow walls! Congratulations on getting the front of your house finished. Must be so satisfying and I bet it's looking really lovely now too.

I'm getting podgy :( I'm eating good stuff but seem to be eating quite a lot of it and am getting a bit squidgy. Hmmmm. All for the right reasons and i'm so thankful i'm not suffering from sickness at all, but still...podge! I also had my booking in appointment at the drs yesterday at 10+2. Whoop whoop! Blubes is in the system and am now awaiting a letter.

carlita it's not actually that old amazingly - it's a 1930s ex council semi (and every bit as dull as that makes it sound!) We also had to cut back/plaster over pipes in the walls that stuck out that we (and our builders at the time) surmised were old gas light fittings!! The owners before us had cut them back to near the wall and stuck bits of wood over the ends and painted them the same colour as the walls!! We also had a new top step of the stairs made after taking up the disgusting old carpet and discovering that the top step was made of a saggy old kitchen cupboard! I could go on and on with all the stupid things the idiot buy to let landlord who owned the house before us bodged!

My parents house had artex on the wall by the stairs - I scraped my arm/hand on it so many times over the years! So did the bedroom my sister and I shared for years and a large part of the lounge - by the time they got it removed from those areas we'd picked the little sharp bits off so it was lots of little lumpy damaged artex bumps! They still have artex on some of the ceilings now - they're in the process of getting lots of replastering done ready to sell the house! Think they should have done it years ago so they could enjoy it looking nice, but the artex never really bothered them that much! Strange people!

Mamma how exciting about the nursery! I'm nearly done clearing out all of my stuff from my office - so soon we can start decorating it ready for it to be fuzzy's room!! We haven't decided on colours yet, but it's a gloomy north facing room, so something bright on at least one of the walls I think!

Hurrah for getting your booking in done - must feel lovely for it to be all official!

Ghost I'm looking to make DP and I stockings too - so shall be watching for suggestions as well! :) I'm also going to make a kind of advent calendar for him as a surprise and fill it with all sorts of home made chocs and things (not got a full 25 day long list of things written out yet - but am working on it!) Am planning on making 25 little bags from xmas fabric and then stringing them up on a ribbon with painted clothes pegs! I am however rapidly running out of time to get this done - so really need to pull my finger out, get off the sofa and get on!!

Despite not putting on any weight bump does seem to be growing! I've been taking photos of bump while DP has been away (as it popped the day he flew out to NY and has been noticeably growing ever since). I took one last night that made me do a real double take - I don't stop and look in mirrors a whole lot, so was really shocked at how big/pregnant looking the bump was! I know logically i'm nearly halfway and should have a proper bump by now - but it really crept up on me just how big it has become!! Can't wait to have a nice big regularly kicking bump over xmas!!

Hi all! Sorry I've not posted lately (I have been reading, just been too crap to post) - have been living in the depths of potty training! DS is doing really well, a little unsure at first but he's getting there

Trope great news about the work on your house! and good work on hurrying the builders along! Good to hear they're doing a nice job after all the hassle.

Gosh that arthritis pain sounds horrible, never heard of someone getting it there before Echoing Ghost in hoping that it's a short lived flare up. Not to mention the injection! I'm usually fine with them but I think I'd really struggle having to do it myself, although, I certainly wouldn't suffer the same problem of lack of inches to pinch!

Did you say you had your 20 week scan on Wednesday? How was it?

Ooh Carlita Legally Blonde! Such a guilty pleasure - enjoy!

Fools another one here! Loving the attention to detail with the sparkly nails too! Hope you're having a lovely time (impossible not to I'm sure!)

Ghost, yes, I'm making a Christmas stocking. Well that's the plan anyway. I've cut out the pieces of fabric and embroidered the front of it. Then I haven't touched it since (about a week) because I need to get the sewing machine out to do the rest and I'm a little terrified apprehensive.
I've been using these instructions because I fell in love with the design but I've seen simpler (like this).
I'm going with ruby red for the main body and emerald green for the cuff then I've used some lovely shiny embroidery thread in the same colours and some leftover buttons from my button tree to decorate it. If it goes well (which remains to be seen) I'll do one for the rest of us too.

That's a lovely website Mamma! Will have fun browsing that tonight when I should be doing my stocking!

Am 30 weeks tomorrow! Got a little nervous yesterday because the little monster had dropped right down (TMI alert), so low that it felt like my bum was going to drop off!! Then, when I was in bed last night, I started to get bad cramping and tightening across my belly and I was sick. Was thinking 'don't you bloody dare come this early lady!'. All good today though and bump's back up to where she should be
This happened a couple of days after me telling DP and my mum that I have A Feeling that I'm not going to make it to 40weeks this time round. My mum responded by saying "That's funny, I was thinking exactly the same last night, I think she's going to be early" - not the right answer mother! :P

This place is a pig sty and DS has run out of orange and banana so I best get off!

Hello,

Hope everyone is doing ok, I am rubbish at keeping up at the minute. I am always tired. Plus DS1 is poorly and has been off school all week. He's currently crying about not being there for Children in Need.

I am now 9 weeks and I have a bump. I think my muscles are in pieces at the thought of a 3rd pregnancy.

I've put a picture of bump and the scan picture from last weekend on my profile now.

I promise I will try to keep up more!!

Good morning everyone! Waves really then slumps back on the sofa, yawning. Yesterday was.... AMAZING! Hot chocolate underneath the stump of a massive Christmas tree. By under i mean suspended from the ceiling. There was a tree maze, hog roast, everything. Missed ds painfully as he would have loved it.... until it got to 9 hours on our feet, carrying heavy bags. Quick funny (according to me friend) story for you all before I go back to sleep, picture the end of the day we were told to leave, bags and boxes adorning our arms, tired and heavy legs and pregnant. Some utter twat silly person decided to get on the wrong escalator. Rather than go to the bottom like a normal person and go back up, I tried to run up the down. Again, twat. I, naturally, stacked it. One grazed knee, one bruised and one thoroughly dented ego. Luckily, the shopping and freebies broke sprout's fall. Oh, and nothing broke. Still, laugh away. apparently, according to my not so best friend and not so dh, its hysterical.

Promise to catch up later!

bun 20 week scan is this coming wednesday! We made sure DPs NY trip finished before it as I/we really want him at the scan! Can't wait to see fuzzy again - getting scanned so often is definitely a HUGE upside of being high risk - it's only been 4 weeks since the last scan (with the obstetrician)!

Scary with you & your mum both getting the same feeling about your due date - fingers crossed you're only a smidge short of 40 weeks! A week early say, that would be OK!

Kayzr wow that's quite a bump for 9 weeks!

fools if you're going to have a tumble, you might as well do it in style!! (and for the record, it's exactly the kind of daft thing I'd do at the end of a long day!!) Glad sprout wasn't squished though! Still enormously jealous of you for going to the fair! It sounds just amazing!

Spoke to DP last night and after two weeks of long days and complicated/lengthy shoots, yesterdays shoot went super well and there's a good chance they will finish up early today! So there is a possibility that his work might be able to get him on an overnight flight home tonight - in which case I would be able to pick him up from Heathrow tomorrow morning!! HURRAH! :D They won't be able to decide until the shoot is finished and they've reviewed the shoot list fully, so it'll be a last minute decision, so basically I won't know until bedtime pretty much! But I don't care - I'm into the home run now and only have one more night alone before DP is home! I can't wait!!

This does however mean I need to get off my arse and get the house straight!! I was going to yesterday - but fuzzy was kicking/wriggling like mad after lunch and I ended up sitting on the sofa for a few hours just enjoying feeling fuzzy wriggle about (after a day or two of not much movement) and after that I never really got going properly! But today I will be productive! Oh yes!

OK, so I said I wouldn't post it until I'd done all the finicky finishing touches like painting the windowsills and finishing the front door - but something rather exciting happened today and I couldn't help myself! Check out my profile for a photo of my house without scaffolding!!!

(Admittedly it makes everything else about the exterior of the house look tatty and shit, but it's going to look really very good once I've got all the cleaning/finishing touches done!)

What an awesome coming home present for my DP! Am very happy right now! I've even got lazy builder man here doing the paint touching up (and another coat on the porch as i'm not happy with it). He was angling for payment today, but I pointed out that all the gappy bits where the scaffold was touching will need two coats and today he can only put on the one - so he's coming back on Monday... I've agreed to pay him then... assuming I'm happy with everything!

What a great end to the week!!

Right then, all the photo additions has prompted me to do a rare laptop catch up!
trope I love your house, it's gorgeous and so....smooth looking! so happy for you that it is all finished!
kayzr your boys are gorgeous! What a god bump you have too, well done! DC3 currently looking a little like a safety pin though 9in the nicest possible way of course, like a really, really good safety pin!
fools glad you had a great time at Ideal Christmas, would be hard not to
bun congratulations on reaching 30 weeks! Fab news, hope the potty training continues well!
Had a great time at Legally Blonde last night, brilliantly cheesy! and got my annual leave and maternity leave approved today so my last day of work is 13th December - hurrah! Has worked out perfectly as we're moving on the 14th! I'm having a rather good day providing I ignore that fact that I have a horrendous cold, have almost completely lost my voice and feel as hough my throat has been ripped from me by bears and it's Friday!

Gosh, we're all unusually quiet lately!

Lovely pictures Kayzr, impressive bump!

Fools! Sounds mortifying and hilarious in equal measures! Sounds like a lovely day though

Trope Hope you're having a lovely day with your DP!

The house looks lovely! I'm very impressed with how you've dealt with the builders too!

All the scans is a definite perk! I can't believe they expect people that are low risk to go the second half of the pregnancy with no scans! 20 bloody weeks!
I've got a midwife appointment on Tuesday and am crossing my fingers that she's going to carry on being a pleb about my BMI and book me for an extra scan am already on the defensive and preparing speeches along the lines of "If my BMI was one digit less we wouldn't be having this conversation, I've only put on 9lbs in the whole pregnancy and have no history of anything to be concerned about so will you please treat me not a very unreliable number!" will probably just get all hormonal and blub like a fool though...

Carlita great news about your maternity and annual leave! Perfect timing Can't believe how quickly the move is coming together - you must be so flipping excited!
Hope the nasty cold and sore throat has improved though.

I've completely forgotten what I was going to say....

Hi ladies - been trying to catch up for days now but have a horrible virus so feeling really under the weather & extremely sorry for myself .

So I'm afraid I'm taking the cop out's way of catching up & just saying hello with a few additions! I promise I've read it all though & I will be better in future Sounds just like my school report!

Fab house trope! So glad you managed to get it finished before the really bad weather hits as well as before DP has come home - hope you've enjoyed a lovely day today, before he goes back to work.

That is a very impressive bump Kayzr - can't believe you're only 9 weeks. I'm not that far in front of you & I'm 24 weeks now - although my mum did tell me I'm small for how far along I am... And your 2 boys are just gorgeous

Ghost - no idea if they can/will do one for transverse but I had an ECV done with DS1 as he permanently had his head at the very top of my bump which I did actually really like as I used to spend all my time rubbing his head . It was quite uncomfortable at the time and there's a slight risk of a CS being required but we thought as it was a risk anyway, it was worth a shot. It worked like a dream and once he turned, he never moved back. Needless to say we ended up having the CS anyway as he couldn't get out ear first! Just something for you to consider.....

So last week for me....this was my busy week with 3 days & 2 nights in London, consisting of 3 external supplier pitches, me presenting at an internal presentation to about 60 people, and my presentation to the UK CEO for my talent nomination. Plus my sister was staying with me at the hotel as she works in London anyway, so we were catching up & she was treating me to see Wicked at the theatre. What actually happened was I had 2 suppliers meetings on the Tuesday, long day so felt a bit crap anyway, met sis, had tea, went to hotel, all fine. Next day, felt worse, did my internal presentation (but sat down for it), had a couple of impromptu meetings thrown in, went for tea then to theatre (FANTASTIC show - highly recommend it to anyone that hadn't seem it), then bed. Spent most of the night up with a fever so slightly overdosed on paracetamol to try get my temperature back down. Got on a train & came home . So I've stepped down from the talent programme, as I really don't think I can face any more travel to London, & that would require at least another 2 nights before baby arrives. It was the hardest decision I've ever had to make, career-wise & I'm completely gutted, despite knowing its the right thing to do. But today I got a linked in invite from him so am feeling quite impressed even though I know it's probably his PA that's sent it because of me being on the talent programme and the message that I'm not anymore hasn't got through yet

So as I'm slowly getting over this bloody horrible virus (mainly by spending most of my time sleeping), I thought it was high time I caught up, and I'm really glad I did because you've really cheered up my evening!

Hmmm - was sure this was going to be a quick catch up. Who knows how long it would have been if I'd done a proper one Nite nite!

Morning all! Will do a proper update later on, just wanted to stop in and let you know that the bednest is back in stock (well, available for pre-order - shipping next week) if anyone else is thinking of buying one! We ordered ours this morning - expensive start to the day - but so happy that we will have one! :)

You can get them directly from bednest or from the NCT shop.

Less spammy-advertising-style post will follow once I have had coffee and am actually awake! :)

I am freeeeee! The builder chap came and did the last bit of touching up on the paintwork today - I have given him a cheque and he is GONE! HURRAH! FREEDOM!! I always thought my house was gloomy, but nearly 4 weeks of scaffolding up has made me appreciate the light we get in here in a whole new way!

And... DP is home! He ended up getting the overnight flight back on Friday, getting in Saturday morning. His flight somehow caught up an hour in the air and arrived a whole hour early at heathrow! But I was so overexcited about him getting back that I had left early and arrived in time to meet him as he came out through the arrivals gate! He barely slept on the flight (when people fall asleep the air stewards shine torches on them to check they are belted up - thereby waking them up!) so he was completely zonked. He spent a good chunk of Saturday sleeping! Sunday was awesome - we had a lie in (bliss!) he cooked lunch, then we walked up along the seafront to Brighton just in time for the sun to go down, then we wandered around town enjoying all the new xmas lights (they got turned on last week). They've bought some much nicer lights for the town centre - distinctly classier than the old ones! Then we went home and I cooked Sunday roast - before we had an early night. Best Sunday Ever. Now he's at work... boo! They should be making a decision this week on whether he has to fly back out this coming weekend for another weeks shooting - fingers crossed he doesn't!

Carlita thank you - my house is lovely and smooth! I keep stroking the wall by the front door, it's so going to get all grubby from me rubbing my greasy little hands all over it! Now I just need to find the energy to finish off the front door/other painting jobs!!

Wooooo for finishing work soon!! And the day before you move - what awesome timing! Can't believe how quickly you are moving - that's just fantastic - in in time for xmas! How exciting!! Xmas by the coast is the best thing ever! Nothing beats a seafront walk on xmas day!

Bun I know - the entire second half of the pregnancy with no scans sounds rubbish! I think you should put something heavy in your pockets so you weigh lots more and then push for a scan because of your "dangerous" weight! Worth the nonsense from the midwife over your BMI to get another look at your baby!!

Davina Wow that sounds busy! What a shame about the talent programme - that must have been such a hard decision! Sounds like the right one though - and you've got your linkedin request now, I'm sure it's not just his PA, I bet he's impressed with you making a tough decision and considers you "one to watch"!

Davina your week in the big smoke sounded very hectic and to be feeling so rough as well it horrid. Although a very hard decision you know you've done the right thing about the talent programme. I also had the temperature/feeling totally cr@p virus thing last week. Was really scared to take anything so only had 1 and a 1/2 paracetemol over the whole time i felt pants

Bun congratulations on 30 weeks! Super exciting. 3/4 of the way there now.

Trope is DP home? Is he amazed at your bump and Fuzzy moving around? What about the house?? :)

I'm 11 weeks today (apparently a Kiwi or a Fig!). The most incredible thing happened last week...i had my booking in with the GP last Wednesday. The appointment was at 4.20pm and we filled in some forms etc. She said i'd get lots of post and stuff so to wait for that. No kidding, when i got home from work on Thursday there was a letter for me from the hospital giving me my scan date. How unbelievably quick is that???? I was totally gobsmacked and just feel like i'm being looked after so well in this process. I hope the good news continues.... So my 12 week scan (at 12+3) is on 1st December which would have been my dear old Nan's 91st birthday. I hope she's looking after Blubes and sending us luck. It feels really poignant and lovely.

I've not got any nibbles or fruit to munch at my desk this morning and the hunger pangs have kicked in. Hmmmm

trope that sounds like a wonderful weekend, am envious! And did your DH get a chance to stare at the outside of the house in wonder? Hope he was pleased too, and well done for handling it all yourself.

mamma really pleased that you're getting such good care this time around, and how exciting about the scan! It's 14 weeks since my last scan with ultrasound and have nearly considered caving and getting a 4D scan just to see pamplemousse again! It's just so much money to indulge myself with.

We didn't have such a great weekend - we had NCT classes and I went to a baby shower, both of which were fun and great to go along to, but I'm exhausted now. DH's parents came down to visit SIL but ended up staying with us on very short notice. They're lovely, so it's not a problem, but it's still not restful to have other people in the house. Then we had a call on Saturday morning saying that DH's gran (FIL's mum) had died in the night - she was elderly and infirm but it was still quite unexpected, so a lot to deal with. And to round it all off SIL went into a bit of a spin at the news and it's set her back again with her eating disorder - it's awful but at the moment I just want to shake her and tell her to eat, but I know that's unreasonable and would make things worse. It's just so frustrating waiting for the NHS to get her the help she needs, and very selfishly I feel like she's getting all the attention just at the stage when we need the help (I know this is totally unreasonable by the way, but I think it's fairly normal to feel self-absorbed at this stage in pregnancy).

And to round it all off DH left at 5am to go to the middle east for a few days which meant I was awake in the middle of the night and am now v. zzzzz at work.

Anyway sorry for the rant and the downer on the thread, but I needed to vent a bit. I know you all understand

Sounds good everyone! Glad all is well
hi davina! congrats on bednest trope, will be beautiful I'm sure!
ghost sorry to hear about your weekend, must've been very hard. Definitely very normal to feel miffed that SIL is getting the attention that you want/need. It's quite hard that normal life continues at times isn't it? It's such a monumental thing we are going through. Hope your family heal soon

mamma will look forward to 1st Dec! so lovely that it's on your Gran's birthday, bet she'd have been chuffed, it'll be so beautiful and so special [gooey]

Hi bun hope all goes well tomorrow, let us know what the stupid bitch midwife says!
Sorry for disjointed posts, Brain disintegrating, if anyone understands it's you lot. Now, I must stop reading MN and start reading the hypnobirthing book I've been lent...only got it till Thursday! Eek...

bun good luck for your midwife appointment today - don't let the bitch midwife get you down about your weight or anything silly like that!

mamma & ghost DP was very excited about both the house & fuzzy moving about so much! We were sat on the sofa on Sunday evening and fuzzy was doing this thing where they kick the exact same spot, again and again and again (until it actually hurts and I have to wriggle about to try and shift them!) We put DP's hand there and pushed down quite hard in the hope he'd feel it, no such luck though (although it made the kicks much more intense for me!) Is early days for him to feel it though - probably over optimistic to even try - am only 20 weeks (well, I will be tomorrow)! Am very excited about that! Can't wait to see fuzzy at the scan tomorrow!

And we got some good news yesterday too - they have decided that they need DP at the UK office more the USA one next week (his line manager is going off on paternity leave any day now - so he will be needed to cover) so he is done with NY trips until after the baby is born! Hurrah! In fact, they are actually flying all the key staff from the NY team over to the UK in mid December as well, as DP won't be able to fly out to them and they consider him vital to the meetings they need to have!! So he's feeling very valued right now - which is lovely! :) (and we're feeling less worried about how he will manage to stay UK based for the duration of the pregnancy).

mamma awesome about the scan - what a lovely happy date for it to be scheduled for! :)

ghost that sounds awful - so sorry you're having such a crap time :( Totally understand your feelings about your SIL. Dealing with those kinds of health problems is hard & frustrating at the best of times, but when you've got things going on yourself it's totally understandable to feel the way you do. Other people's problems don't magically negate what's going on in your own life and it's so hard when you feel like you're at the bottom of the pile.

In a similar vein, i've completely disengaged from one of my sisters since I found out I was pregnant - I just don't have the energy or patience to deal with her nonsense (not saying your SILs health issues are nonsense btw) I just have far less tolerance for expending my limited energies on other people. I'm only getting to be pregnant once, so i'm damn well going to do what's best for me, DP and the baby and for once in my life everyone else can go whistle!

Am totally with you on not being able to relax properly with visitors in the house too - i'm exactly the same. I love having visitors occasionally, but with most people one night is enough! I'm not the most sociable of people and really value having my own space / time alone.

carlita there's something rather ironic and most amusing about speed reading a hynobirthing book! Calm breaths, relax and READ! GO GO GO! FASTER, FASTER!

Hooray for your DP staying in the UK trope!! What a relief!

Guy sat next to me on the train this morning was looking at an app on his phone which was showing a baby at 15 weeks. Explaining what's going on and what's developing etc. I just wanted to give him a big hug, i thought it was sooooo sweet he had that on his phone!! I bet he's a jumble of nerves and excitement. Well my DP is anyway :)

Aw mamma, that is cute!
trope so happy for you that DP will be around, that is fab.
Sorry to hear about things with your sister but you are absolutely right. We need to put ourselves, our babies and their daddies first at the moment. I have finally caved with work because of this and told them I can't go in anymore, at all. So, apart from one day's training, to which I will get a cab, I am completely home based until I finish on the 13th. I went in to the office yesterday you see and was in agony by the time I got home. Within an hour I couldn't walk at all and was screaming in pain trying to get up to go to the loo and just thought, I can't do this anymore, it's not fair on any of us. Time for me, baby and DH to come first now. Still feeling very emotional about it all as very hard for me to admit that I'm too ill to carry on with normal life but it's the right thing to do.

Trope I'm so glad it's not just me - but I guess there's probably some sort of pregnancy hardwiring that helps to make us more baby focussed so we shouldn't feel too bad about it

ooh and carlita I admire you for making the call - it's definitely time to start putting the baby and you first, but it's a tough decision to make, isn't it?

I have a total inability to admit when I'm not coping very well or need to back off a bit. I've learned to own up to it a bit more in recent years but still need to grow up a bit about this kind of thing, especially when it's not just my welfare at stake. For example, work is fairly quiet at the moment, just ticking over, and my boss is very understanding about pregnancy and maternity leave (in fairness I haven't actually missed a single day due to being pregnant, but still...), so if I have finished all the important work I could easily ask to go home an hour or so early, but somehow I just can't bring myself to do it. It's like I think that if I start asking I won't be able to stop! And I know I'm in a really lucky position and most of you would be grateful to have an understanding work, but somehow I still have a problem with it. Crazy beans...