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

Ooh and ouch for bladders, toes and arms!
Will attempt profile at work today and add the owl cushion and tiny aliens I made yesterday. I'm finishing early today as going to a real nappies demo this afternoon with my sister, I'll write a little review of the different types later if it's any use..really need to drag myself out of bed..

Yep I'll be looking into reusable nappies so reviews/ thoughts please!

Morning ladies!
carlita looking forward to seeing all of your handiwork! What are the aliens?
When is your 12 week scan - have you had the date through yet? I'm 6 and a half weeks now and it has gone quite quickly - 6 weeks was one of my mini-milestones!

trope sorry you're feeling so awful :( but glad that you're being looked after by your dp.

ghost i agree that you need some sort of commode!! I hate overpopulated toilets, as well. You can't wee in peace!!

bun I love the name Oliver ? it?s my first choice for a boy :) We're also thinking of finding out but telling people that we haven't and keeping it our little secret!

Morning!

Looking forward to seeing the pics Carlita

Congratulations on reaching your mini-milestone Piggy! I had 6 weeks as one too, 20 weeks is my next one

Really happy today as it's mine and DP's 9 year anniversary tomorrow and we've decided that we're going to celebrate our 10 year anniversary next year by getting married!
It was very 'us' in that there was no proposal - we talked about it and I asked "does this mean we're engaged then??" and he said "I think it might!". Romance! We decided that we weren't going to announce it until tomorrow seen as that's our anniversary but I had to tell you all! See, I told you I am terrible at keeping good news to myself!

Congratulations Bun!!!!!
Fab news - now you've got baby and wedding research to get on with - you'll never be off the internet

Morning all!

Bun WOOOO! congratulations! I actually think that sounds like a rather lovely way to decide to get married - quite romantic indeed! Any ideas where you'll get married - Brighton, Wales? I've always thought it was such a shame you couldn't get married on the beach here - we used to stay at the thistle hotel sometimes (before we moved down) and you'd often see brides & grooms going out onto the beach for photos! Nice in the summer, not so good in October!!

ghost that sounds positively awful! I had it the other way around; my first games job it was me and 70 guys - I basically had my own toilet (and I was scary enough when pissed off to stop the boys from daring to use it!!)
As awful as it is i'm glad someone else has a similar issue though with the weeing / pain thing - was starting to think I was some sort of freak!!

Am feeling a little bit better today, helped at least in part by the fact that my dad came over last night and helped us get the last of the shelves up and we finally, 4 years after moving in, have enough storage in the living room! It's very exciting! I keep looking at the shelves and grinning like a loon!! Now we just have to do the rest of the house!!

In other news, my bump is now so obvious that I either have to tell my mum i'm pregnant (which I'm really not ready to do - she's insanely hard work and will fuss and flap like you can't imagine) or avoid her for the next 6 weeks!! I'm hoping to avoid her... don't know how realistic that is though... :( If we do tell her, we have to (for fairness sake) tell DPs mum... and she will fuss even more and she has memory issues which means she won't remember it's a secret and will tell the entire world :( She had a CT scan recently and an appointment with the dementia clinic (which I had to go with her for - that was awkward "so, trope, tell us about your crazy MiLs mood recently, and about any strange behaviour she has had" - all while she's sat in the room with me.... not good...) She has a follow up appointment next week and they had previously told us that would only happen if the scan found something.... So ideally I want to wait till we know what they've found before we even think about telling anyone... Hoping for cold wet weather on her appointment day - like today - so I can wear a big jumper and hide my bump!

I finally have an obstetrician appointment through though - with the good one I saw before (for the pre-conception appt) - took a lot of back and forth calls and I had to be a right stroppy cow to get it (they wanted me to wait till mid September, despite the obstetrician saying before how important it was that I was seen really early on so they could get me on aspirin and into the system for monitoring)... Sadly DP is going to be in New York for work so he's going to miss it :( Really upset about that, but we just can't wait till mid September to be seen so it's got to be this way... Hoping they'll let me take a photo / video of the scan image/heartbeat so he can still see it though, albeit second hand! Am really excited - can't wait to hear the heartbeat!!

Photos a go-go!

Congratulations bun! How exciting! I love being married I'm glad you're no good at secrets as I can't wait to find out if you're having a boy or a girl!
Congratulations piggy on reaching 6 weeks! My scan is on the 2nd sept - a week Friday when I'll be exactly 11 weeks
trope, thank you for saying that about your bump, mine's so obvious and I feel like a bit of a freak when I read things like 'this week (week 10, 9 weeks) you may notice a slight roundness in your abdomen' slight roundness?! Are you taking the piss?!
The aliens, by the way are for my sister's twins and a friend's baby, they are little hand sized toys, I made my friend's baby a tiny sock monkey (from babies socks) and she loves it as can hold it in her little hand, many of her other toys are at least half her size.

OMG carlita those dungarees are soooooo cute!!!!!!! My womb is doing somersaults!

trope sorry to hear about your MIL. How awful having to detail her strange behaviour while she was there - could they not have asked you privately?! I'm sure she understood why you had to do it though. Fingers crossed for some rain and cold weather so you can keep the bump hidden. Have you started wearing maternity clothes? Well done on getting the shelves up!

x-post - do another monkey - he sounds adorable!!! I bet your friends love you for your lovely little baby gifts :) Is the owl cushion for you or is it a pressie too?

Thank you! Smiling like a goon (like you with your shelves Trope!)

Can't wait to tell everyone tomorrow, they'll be so shocked. We usually 'celebrate' our anniversary with mockery eg. kebab and Mars bar one year, comedy mug another so this is very out of character for us!
Definitely going to keep it all small Trope, we're not very showy at all so will just be 30 or so closest family and friends. Was just thinking of Town Hall ceremony and then on to a hotel to eat, get pissed and crawl into bed. I've since found out you can get married in the band stand on the sea front since it's been done up - I have a massive crush on that place so is also a possibility

Sorry to hear about your DP's mum, that appointment sounds awful I dealt with a lot of dementia sufferers when I was a care worker and know how upsetting it can be for the whole family. Good luck with the CT scan results.

Crazy that you're showing so much already! So good luck with avoiding your mother too!

How fantastic that you've got your obstetrician back! Sure that was a big weight off your shoulders.

Carlita, the photos are amazing! I love them all! Those dungarees are adorable
~just refreshed. Another big bump! Lovely The aliens and monkeys are such lovely gift ideas! Jealous of your crafty skills!!

P.S. Off out to get DP's anniversary presents for tomorrow - thinking Toblerone and Terry's chocolate orange

The owl cushion is for the twin's room.
The tiny sock monkey was very fiddly, prefer making aliens!
bun try making a normal sized sock monkey? Tutorials on the web and they are so easy! Will post a pic of the monkeys!

omg look at those little photos! love them, am insanely envious of your crafting skills. Can I just ask, do you use a sewing machine? I don't have one and always use that as my excuse not to make stuff. A couple of years ago I had a fab time making one of those cool chicken doorstop thingies for PiLs at Easter, but it took sooooo long to sew them that I have been put off ever since. I could do with a sewing machine to do alterations though, since I'm too short for most maternity trousers!

BUN! Congrats!!! That's lovely news. I wasn't desperately fussed about weddings etc but we got married after six years together and it was very chilled and very lovely.

Same with us ghost married after 6 years, super relaxed, wedding definitely do not need to be stressful, I wasn't stressed for a minute and love being married
I do have a sewing machine, yes. I got it for Christmas so haven't had it long, I love it so much and wouldn't be without it now, things like the short black dungarees took 2 hours and the aliens probably half an hour each (I sew whilst watching telly so doesn't seem like long) whereas those aliens would take me 2 hours by hand. Sock monkeys though are hand sew only and are quick and rewarding, I've also recently discovered sock dogs so will make one once I have purchased the appropriate socks! Glad you liked the pics. I posted the book for you yesterday by the way so you should get it soon.
Nappy demo was great. Really informative. Basics: all nappies have 2 parts, inners and waterproof outers. You can also use flushable liners which look like whiteboard wipes for catching the poo.
There are then different types of inners, There are flat absorbent sheets which you fold (easy) and grip with a nippa or just hold in place until you get the outer on and there are shaped versions which you don't have to fold (they have Velcro) then there are ones that slide inside a pocket in the outers or popper into place in the outers. The outers come in three basic types, ones with pockets to put inners in, ones that are sized (need to buy small first, then medium etc.) and ones which are one size and adjustable. Disadvantage with the pocket type is you need to wash both inner and outer whereas with all the other systems you only have to wash the outers every 3/4 changes. I will be going for the flat nappies in cotton with the one size outers. The inners come in microfibre (not that absorbent but v quick drying), cotton (medium absorbency, medium drying time) and bamboo (high absorbency, long drying time) I will get one or two in bamboo for night nappies. The flat nappies are £2.50 each and outers range from £2 on eBay to £12 in shops. You will need 6 outers and 20 inners for one baby, 9 outers and 30 inners for twins (you never know, we may have some on our thread trope early big bump and feeling rotten?! ) if you live in London they give you £54 per baby for reusable nappies, other areas have other schemes like trial packs etc. See, I was listening! Any questions?

Hi carlita who gives you money for the reusable nappies? The government? Didn't know about that; that's a really good idea.
Sounds like you're an expert on nappies now!
(I was also getting suspicious about trope and the possibility of twins ;))

bun I'd love to get married on the beach - would be fab! We only had 20 at our wedding and it was great!! We had a big party in the evening though for about 80. Can't believe it's been nearly 6 months since - scary! Hope my next 7.5 months go that quick

The council gives you the money, it'll totally cover the 20 inners I need (£50) then I just need to buy 6 outers (£10-15) and a bamboo liner (£12) so we'll spend a total of £27 of our own money on nappies

Can you send me links to some of the bits you buy so I can have a peek?

ooh, never done links before...here goes.. this is who I went to the demo with today and this is the type I am going for, prefold 9flat but with extra layers built in the middle section, with wrap, you can look around the site at the other options andvideos of how to put them on etc.www.realnappiesforlondon.org.uk/nappytypes/flat.php so pre folds are around £2.50 each (need 20) then you need wraps, this kind ebay is adjustable - one size fits all, I bought one the other day so I can see what the quality is like. It was £1.70 with free postage but I saw another went for 55p these ebay are only £2.29 and look like they're good quality. they are the pocket type but it really doesn't matter, you could still use the prefolds (or shaped) in this type of outer. OR, you can go for the sometimes very cheap option of a used bundle like this: ebay and simply buy your new inners/prefolds as the outer wrap will never touch baby's bum it's much like buying second hand trousers. I'm getting quite in to this and feel I understand it very well now so if you have any questions or want any help on deciding on types let me know!

www.leeds.gov.uk/Environment_and_planning/Recycling_rubbish_and_waste/Recycling__information_and_advice/real_nappy_scheme.aspx

I've just found a scheme where I am - do you think the trial pack or the money back offer is best?

Hope you don't mind me quizzing you

Quiz away it depends what type you like the look of really as they are giving away one shaped worth around £10, with cover £10 and a pocket nappy £15. The paper liners cost £3 for 100 so don't worry about that! If these are the nappies you would buy, out of choice then it's a good deal but I would not go with shaped as they are more than 3 times the price and the folding is easy and I would not go for pocket as you have to wash the whole thing every time. If you spent £50 in a shop to get your £30 off you could get all the prefolds you need then buy your 6 outers from eBay or wherever they're cheap. Which type do you like the look of?

well I was going to say morning all, but being the shockingly lazy slacker I am it's actually the afternoon... whoops! So, good afternoon everybody! (To be fair I did get up at 5am with DP so I could drive him down to the train station as he was running late - he's now on a flight to New York - I meanwhile went home again and went back to bed!)

carlita so glad i'm not the only one with a bump!! I too read the books/websites (/anything i can get my hands on in a somewhat crazy "what's fuzzy doing now?" kind of way...) and think "WTF??" when they talk about bumps only appearing later on...

piggy - yep, got a mixture of maternity trousers and skirts with wide elasticated waistbands that can sit above/below mini bump - plus a few dresses that I wear t-shirts or loose shirts over.. I literally cannot do up the button/zip on any of my pre-preg jeans/trousers! Is making hiding the pregnancy really really hard! (I'm usually a jeans/jean-shorts & tshirt kind of girl - who is now suddenly wearing skirts and dresses and baggy tops!)

I've actually started taking photos of me (planning on weekly, but so far fortnightly...) so I can create a GIF/video at the end of it all showing me swelling up and getting big! I'm taking the photos first thing in the morning when the bump is smallest/least hidden by bloat - by late afternoon I look significantly more pregnant as I definitely bloat out more once i've eaten.. Wish I'd thought to take one pre-bump, I just didn't expect to change shape so quickly!

carlita The dungarees are absolutely gorgeous! You've got a real talent for the crafty stuff haven't you! :) Love the stuffed toys too!

re MiL - they are supposed to do the assessment with us in separate rooms, but cutbacks meant they only had one person and one room available - they asked if it was OK to do it together and MiL just said "yes fine" and despite my best efforts to politely suggest she go sit in the waiting room she resisted... we aren't close - it's sadly a very long and horrible story, but in short she's never really forgiven me for "stealing" her son - she's a very strange, hard to like woman and even when things superficially appear fine we know from experience we're only ever one step away from her having a complete meltdown... I would give examples, but the history is so convoluted and hard to believe that it would sound like an overly dramatic soap opera and completely hi-jack the thread! Suffice to say, I could write the AIBU MiL thread to end all MiL threads!! But we have managed to get to a point where she pretends to like me and I bite my tongue a lot and make nice and be a good DiL - after all, she's DP's mum and whilst he knows she's a nightmare he still wants her in his life. He's totally on my side when she flips out so her attempts to create problems in our relationship in no way work, if anything they bring us closer, as he appreciates so much that I keep on trying with her and don't just refuse to get involved. But yes, it makes being the one to go to all her (many many) medical appointments a touch tricky! Plus it's not easy to tell what is the dementia (she's confirmed already as having mild cognitive impairment) and what is just her not being very nice... :( Going to be interesting to see how she copes/reacts to me being pregnant... DP and I have already agreed some very firm boundaries that will be rigidly enforced for once fuzzy is here! Am determined to protect fuzzy from MiL and BiL's crazy! (he's as bad as she is, if not worse...)

Anyways!

The nappy info is really useful - will post separately the email from my sister on her experiences! As her daughter was premature she was quite skinny/small, so her experiences may be different compared to someone with a bigger baby, but I figure the more you know, and all that! :)

Bun - that bandstand sounds amazing - you should totally get married there!! I too absolutely love it - have a great photo of DP sat crosslegged in the middle of it with the beach behind - is such a lovely spot! Can't walk past without wandering up onto it and looking out over the sea! Would have loved to run the cafe below - it's such a fabulous spot!

Funnily enough we also quite often do small/silly things for our anniversary - we kind of alternate! One year we drove down to Southsea (where I was living when we got together), got a kebab from the van around the corner from the house i lived in and ate it in the car in the rain on the beach (our anniversary is in January, sadly!) I confess though, I prefer the years when we go stay in a poncy hotel more

Hi ladies,

Can someone make me feel better?! Quick rant:
I had to tell my uni supervisors today about being pregnant because basically due to registration cut off dates etc, in order for me to return part-time after maternity leave, I have to register as part-time as from the 1st of Sept. Unfortunately I couldn't do this without their permission. I'm really annoyed I've had to tell so early and it's made me anxious I hate the thought that I might have to 'untell' and I'll feel really silly and everyone will know, iykwim. I keep thinking that I'm 7 weeks in a couple of days and that's pretty good, but then I think of my very few symptoms and think that there's nothing in there I know logically that it makes no difference to the outcome if I tell people or not, but, well, I'm not a logical thinker!

Anyway, trying to distract myself...
carlita the folded ones look a bit faffy. I'm thinking half-asleep in the middle of the night that I won't want to faff on with folding. I might think about the starter pack and try the different ones. Also, gross question... do you remove the liners with the poo on and then throw them out?! Put them down the loo? Bit and clueless!!

trope crikey your mil sounds a handful! Respect to you for taking her to appts and helping her out - I think I would have frozen her out by now! The photo idea sounds like a nice memento to have - I have a friend who did that with both of her pregnancies and then compared the weekly photos with each one too. I'm looking forward to getting into maternity clothes although understand your frustration about not being able to hide the bump.

piggy sorry you had to tell people when you didn't want to, some things are so awkward you get forced into it don't you.
If you think the folding looks faffy and money's not a huge issue then yes, the shaped ones couldn't be easier. Or the stuffables/pocket nappies so as you say trial pack may be good. You flush the paper liners with the poo on and wash the prefolds or shaped inners, you don't have to wash the outers unless there is leakage!
trope yes please post the info from your sister, knowledge is power

Hi ladies - hope you are all well. Apologies for being MIA for so long - been feeling somewhat down in the dumps lately, plus going back to work after a fortnight off has really taken it's toll .

Just on my phone at the moment (trying & failing to sleep) so can't really do a full catch up - promise I will log onto my laptop tomorrow and catch up properly . Hope you all have a fab nights sleep!