TTC 6 mths+ GRADS THREAD

[Biscuitsandtea]

Afternoon.

I thought I'd start a Grads thread for those of us previously on the TTC 6 mths+ thread. I've been lurking on the ttc thread recently to see how everyone is getting on (having only very recently qualified to move off it!) and a few people were saying what a nice idea it would be if there was a grads thread so we don't lose each other.

Anyway, would be lovely to hear from other lovely ladies that were on that thread - or even if you were never on the ttc thread but had a sticky time of it getting your bfp then come and settle down with a decaf cuppa for a chat.

Oh Art I'm so pleased for you. What a scare though. I hope you're feeling relieved. It doesn't get any easier does it?! Do you think Mr A is still coming to terms with the pregnancy and is maybe a bit head in the sand about the scary stuff cos it's easier to deal with that way? Not very helpful for you but I can sort of see that if you are terrified and don't know what to do you might try and "ignore" and hope for the best? It took Mr P a long time to get into me being pregnant because of the scares we had in the past. He was brilliant at looking after me yes, but acknowledging we were going to have a baby - not so much. Now he has been to the scans and can feel the movements and as my belly gets huger and huger he's definitely in the "baby zone". Maybe Mr A is just acclimatising.

Anyway, I find "instructing" easiest rather than hoping he can read my mind (although I have often had the, couldn't-you-have-used-that-brain-inside-that- head-to-work-this-out? conversation) and I send Mr P all of our appointments via our iCal by email with the expectation that he comes along - there is no choice or preference, he is just expected as part of the process. We know where we stand. Easy for us though as Mr P is self employed. If his work is flexible, maybe you could say to Mr A that he is just expected at all medical appointments because he is the Dad and it is 50% his responsibility to know about the development of his baby? And if they are not, maybe tell him that you expect him to look at your notes when he comes home after the appointments and to talk though anything he doesn't understand?

Right, I have a busy if not annoying day at work today doing something completely outside of my remit, which is making me feel very, very itchy indeed. If I wasn't popping out a baby in a few months time I would seriously be considering a different job. I hate days like today. I didn't sleep well, I've got a sore tummy again (I made the mistake of making porridge with real milk as a "treat" and I feel like I'm going to vom - sudden dairy intolerance is pissing me off) and my mum has made me all annoyed. I also had a cry, I think I'm tired because I feel trapped by my job at the moment. I would like to consider something slightly different next year but I just think I'll be unemployable once I've had the baby and that my current situation although boring and not stretching me or taking me in any sort of direction is super flexible. I think I'm just tired and grumpy today and having a sulk because I'm having to do something I don't want to do

Hope everyone is else is feeling chipper :) Bumpy hugs all-round (I'm getting huge and quite scared about how much bigger I'm going to get over the next 19 weeks - eek and ouch!)

Ooh Heart your bumper pack of new clothes sounds very exciting! I must admit I had a bit of a spend in the ASOS sale after Xmas as I had vouchers from my birthday to use up. I got loads and loads for not very much, so have pretty much managed to kit myself out with a capsule wardrobe for the foreseeable. I could do with a swimsuit though as the one I got a couple of weeks ago (panic buy from the huge 24 hour Tesco at 11pm before a spa day when I realised all my swimwear was packed and indecent!) is not the best. But then again, I don't have easy access to a swimming pool until we move and as I'm growing by the day - alarmingly so - I think I'll leave swimsuit buying for a while.

Today is getting better. I'm actually enjoying the task I thought was crappy this morning. I've decided I'm very very tired hence the big grump this morning. I can barely keep my eyes open but I've just had an illicit second cup of real tea and am going to power through the last hour of today. Baby is having a rave with all the stimulants, his daily patterns are alarmingly like Mr Ps and he even seems to wriggle after Mr P's favourite foods!! Or maybe I'm just imagining things and projecting too much onto the little thing!

So job, I'm thinking that once I've taken some time out for maternity and come back part time I'll be able to reassess where we are later in 2014 when we've settled into house, poss nursery and we know what Mr P is up to (fingers crossed full time - so I could a job with more prospects even if it's lower paid). The planner in me is going mental at the moment - after wanting baby for so long I'm starting to be hit with the reality that there isn't long to go now and our lives are going to change so much. I'm starting to feel a bit disorientated -- but that could just be my anxiety kicking in because of the tiredness. As you say, there's nothing that can be done right now on the job front. There's only 3 months and 11 days (I just love those online count down calculators!) until maternity leave now and then I won't have to worry about anything but the new addition until January 2014. Suck it up, suck it up!

Gawd what a rant. Some days I need to be in a busier environment to stop the brain from wittering on!!

No time to read just now, but posting to keep lurking.

Hello all

Eleth I'm going to take a leaf from your book next time and just tell Mr A what to do . I think the seriousness with which we were treated at the hospital made him realise I wasn't just fussing over nothing. He's also got a book about pregnancy and fatherhood which has led to some interesting texts. Today's was 'birthing sounds interesting'. Really? Still in denial about that. He has discovered that many women do a poo during labour which I think has blown his mind somewhat. He fancies sharing my gas and air. I suggested that I would be gripping onto his balls so tightly that he would probably need it

Heart the parcel sounds good and yay for being a hot mama! I've only just started thinking about maternity clothes and am already anxious about finding stuff to fit, I am tall and it's a big enough nightmare without being pregnant. I haven't looked around yet but am hoping somewhere is enlightened enough to do smart work trousers in a 34" leg! On the plus side I have spent bugger all money on clothes for months now so I will have a little fund for nice maternity wear if I can find any

Princess the work thing involves some tricky decisions. I think it's really hard to plan ahead especially when there is self employment in the mix, as you don't know how you'll feel when the baby arrives. I know a dedicated career woman who was planning to be back at work within 4 months but instead turned into a proper earth mother type and has now quit completely, is home educating and into full on woo. I'm not sure her hubby is thrilled but I don't think he got any choice! I am tentatively planning on 9 months off with the final month spent looking for contracts for the new financial year. If we can manage it and his employer permits, Mr A could have the last 3 months of my maternity allowance as paternity leave. Though the more I think about it the more I feel I'd like to tighten our belts and have the full year off but that would impact on our finances and therefore quality of life. Long term, I don't know. We could both go part time but unfortunately (for me) I am the main earner so it makes sense for me to be the one spending most time at work. But I will have to change my work patterns. At the moment it's 6 day weeks and 12 hour days. The chances of me wanting to or being remotely able to do that with a baby here are zero. But only 3 months until your maternity leave! Wow, that's really close. It still feels like another world to me but I daresay time will pass quicker than I think.

Hello Stacks , hope all's still good with you and Thomas

I'm still spotting but it's brown now rather than bright red so am less anxious especially after the scan. And got the combined test results today - according to that our chance of Down's is a very surprising 1 in 22,000. I had expected it to be a lot higher given my age so it's a relief even though I know there is a relatively high false negative rate with the combined test. Mind you we wouldn't have wanted the amnio or considered termination even if we had been high risk so in practical terms it makes no difference. It does mean that now there are no barriers to telling people which makes me feel a bit weird. We can't get to see Mr A's parents for another week and he wants to tell them before we tell anyone else which is fair enough. But then the cat really will be out of the bag and I will have to publicly admit it's real. Eek.

Hope everyone is good. Waves to Teu, Ladygee, Beryl and anyone I've missed.

Great news art about scan and Downs results
just checking it briefly -all a bit mad here!

Hi Art great news about the scan and downs results - what fantastic high numbers! Good to know us 'old girls' can still pull out a good sperm/egg combo :-) And yeah, scary biscuits when you have to start telling people (I've never felt comfortable telling people face to face, family isn't so bad, but work always feels a bit awkward - this time round I told my line manager and gave her permission to tell everyone else (I was off with the morning sickness) so they announced as the 'lighter note' at the end of a staff meeting :-)

Loved the quip about holding onto Mr A's jewels during labour - that'll keep him on his toes!

I have to say Art 6 day weeks and 12 hour days sound exhausting, I feel shattered all the time just now (primarily due to very poor nighttime sleeping) and I'm only doing 5 hour days, 5 days a week. I sympathise with you princess I think I've got the same issue - and the tiredness does totally affect how you look at things.

Re the whole what to do on return, it really is hard to plan before you have the baby, which is why I think you don't have to finally decide on a return date until you're on maternity leave (but again, different for self-employed). I was the bigger earner in our household, so financially would have made more sense for me to go back full-time etc, but I just didn't want to miss out on the young years and so we ended up my DH staying full time and I went back part-time after a years off mattie leave (so he now actually earns more than me - grrrr
:-).

We're not poor, but we certainly don't have as much spare cash as we used to, but I just figured on things being tight for 5 years (until they start school) at which point you can then extend hours or whatever and you'll be paying less on childcare costs which will be a massive saving. The time goes so fast once their born, I find it hard to believe my little boy is 3, and by the time I return form mattie leave with this bean, it will only be 6 weeks until he starts school (how the hell did that happen!)

Heart very jealous of your whole new wardrobe - I eventually got round to buying 3 jumpers and 2 pairs of maternity jeans over xmas and have been living in them since (having to do a lot of washings!!!) The idea of a nice spangly wardrobe to choose from sounds great!

Good to see you're still lurking stacks don't worry I don't think anyone expects you to have the time/energy to read all the posts!

Waves to ladygee, teu, beryl, mellow and anyone I've forgot to name check!!!

Hi ladies,

My, I?ve missed lots in my work-induced absence? and only have time for a quick read.

Joy?s news is just amazing. Like eleth I was following the thread and thought it was all over with the bleeding, which was heartbreaking, but then what a turnaround. Just lovely.

princess ? lovely that the baby is getting much more active. I?m a big fan of finding new ways to make the baby move. Although I think baby likes to play the make Mummy move game now as I get kicked in the ribs until I get up and change position at my desk!

Art ? so, so pleased for you with the good scan and down?s results. Sorry about your scare with the bleeding though. These things are sent to test us aren?t they? As are DH?s sometimes ? mine sounds very similar to yours in lots of ways and part of me expected that to change during pregnancy but it hasn?t!

I had a fretful end to last week which ended up at the antenatal day unit because I hadn?t felt much movement for a couple of days, and baby is normally wriggling about like crazy most of the day and night. Everything was fine. Baby must just have been comfy in a position I couldn?t feel much movement but was bouncing about all over the place! The midwives were so good though, they monitored me and baby for over an hour until they were satisfied everything was ok. I felt like such a fool for wasting their time but they were really nice and I?m glad I went because it put my mind at ease.

How has it got to February already? January is usually the longest month but I?m just not sure where the past few weeks have gone. I?ve been busier than ever at work ? hence the lack of Mumsnet activity. Have just submitted my third big client report this week so am feeling quite proud ? a world away from how I felt at the beginning of the week! Just two more weeks to go now til maternity leave, though they are making me earn my money until the bitter end ? have a v. important client presentation on my very last day and it?s in London. Sigh.

Waves to all you other lovely ladies heart stacks mellow teu beryl and anyone I?ve missed. Hope you've all got lovely weekends in store.

Hello all!
We're back in freezing London and feeling quite shellshocked. We've spent a couple of days househunting which is awful (and amazing in that really nosy way!), things are so much more expensive than when we left. And looking at childcare is terrifying - so expensive and complicated. We found a great flat, but the nearest nursery is quite far away and a nanny is not really an option. It all seems very complicated. It is keeping me awake at night. I feel really unsettled. We're staying with friends til we're sorted, which is fine, but less than ideal. It has really brought home how much our lives are going to change - which shouldn't be a surprise, we've been hoping for this for so long, but the harsh reality of the expense is something else entirely!
Anyway, have spent the last 2 hours on rightmove and zoopla and need to emerge from under the duvet and face the day!
Hope you're all having lovely weekends!

Artemis Hope all is still well.
heart at the Jojo parcel. GBP42 to have it delivered internationally!! The GBP16 that most companies charge is easier to absorb since the items still work out cheaper than buying equivalent here.
12wk scan today. 12+6 apparently. It just got real, there is a person in there and it has 2 femurs (amused me that she recorded that), and it was wriggling its fingers and stretching its arms. And being stubborn about turning around can't imagine who it got that from. I cannot believe we have created a little life. Parents well pleased with the picture. MSS1 combined test should come back shortly, but apparently the nuchal measurement was in normal range.
So there we go, officially due 13 August.
Waves to you all.

Teu that's great news. My EDD is 9 Aug so we are only a few days apart. I still find it hard to believe even though we've had a couple of scans now. I think it's to do with being in the weird zone where I don't have any symptoms (apart from the annoying weight gain), can't feel anything, don't have a bump yet and could easily imagine I've made it all up.

MrsM gosh the house-hunting thing sounds stressful, hope you get somewhere soon. It's such a big upheaval moving house, never mind moving country, I'm in awe of you attempting it with pregnancy on top! Hope you are starting to feel a bit more oK with things after a few days to adjust.

Princess hope all is good. How are things going with the renovation? Are you preparing your escape from the PILs?

Ladygee sounds like you did the right thing getting the lack of wriggling checked out. I have seen a lot of awareness-raising on here about monitoring babies' movements so the medics clearly want you to go and see them if you are concerned. I am sure the midwives would rather a false alarm than have something go wrong with the baby. Glad everything is OK. That's v unfair about a London trip and presentation on the last day before maternity leave!

Eleth I think you're right about time off, the baby will be more important than work, and I can imagine not wanting to go back at all. I do think I will be under pressure though. The one colleague who knows keeps telling me how she only had 3 months off with her first and 3 weeks with her second, I could work while the baby is sleeping etc etc - I know she is trying to be helpful but I don't want to do that! It will be the first time since I left uni 18 years ago that I can have time without work stresses weighing me down and I am looking forward to a bit of time out and a new focus. At least self employment means that I can see how I feel and go back when I'm ready, funds permitting of course.

I'm still spotting , it's been going on over a week now and while it's much lighter than it was at the beginning (to the extent I keep thinking it's stopped, but no) I am finding it unsettling. Tomorrow will be a week since the scan, if it's still going in the morning I think I'll ring the mw again and ask for advice. I doubt they'll be willing to scan me again yet but I wish they would try to find what's causing it. 7 weeks until the next scan feels like an awfully long time.

Waves to all, hope everyone has a good week.

Art It is very weird having few to nane symptoms. I quite agree with the imagining it's all made up. I hope the spotting is still subsiding. How very unsettling.
Ladygee How frightening, but glad it all got sorted out.
Eleth Admittedly I haven't given the going back after much thought, MrTeu has though. Out here the expectation is that you will be back at 6mths even if you are entitled to a year, and so many people do. I've even met those who have retuned after the stat 14 wks! Almost always for financial reasons. Feels rather sad as they are only small for so short a time. I guess I could be lining up for some sticky conversations with MrTeu at some point.
MrsM Hope the house hunting is going ok.
Waves to everyone I've missed.

Frantic waves to all. We've been super busy on all fronts and are both feeling quite knackered. We picked up our ebay bargain cooker on Sat, checked out Ikea kitchens and then spent Sun DIYing at the house. We're all about the 7 days a week working, eating and then dropping into bed. It's certainly helping with my insomnia to be so hectic! We're now having to budget extra hard and work more hours on the house because we had a large bill in from our electrician, which was more than we were expecting (a LOT more) and I've been manically researching lots of alternative cheap options for finishing the rest of the house rather than whiling away the hours on MN. We also had a small incident on Sat when Mr P reversed into a car in the van we hired and caused a scene in the Ikea car park... it was clearly his fault for reversing into the car but she was in his blind spot and had stopped right behind him within a few inches He apologised profusely and proffered all of his details without hesitation (plus the damage to the other car was a small dent and scratch - hardly the end of the world but scary for the poor lady anyway) but she went ape shit none the less. Plus we got wedged and beeped by loads and loads of other impatient people trying to flea the compound car park. Then there was the excess to pay on the insurance. Sigh.

Art I'm so sorry the spotting continues, that must be so unsettling. I hope it goes soon. It is possible that it's just a little tear healing up or damage to the cervix repairing itself? Big hugs. On the other hand, brilliant news on your results!

MrsM Welcome back to Blighty! Hope that the house hunt is going well. Something perfect will come up. It will, it will! But yes the cost of living and factoring in babies is daunting - I'll agree with you on that one! I thought I had it all under control but then life happens and buggars up all of the "perfect" plans. I think reality is starting to hit Mr P and he's starting to realise potentially how tough the first few months will be if we don't start putting some breaks on now. Easier said than done toward the end of the renovation!

Ladygee lovely to "see" you :) I can't believe what meanies your company are being by sending you down to London to do a presentation during the last week before maternity leave! And you are so close now too. You must be really excited. Have you bought any stuff yet? Have you picked names? I'm counting down to mat leave now. I can't believe how quickly it's going to come 'round. I was really when I thought about it all last night. We finally found some sofas in the sale at Multiyork last night and they take 8 - 10 weeks to come - I'll be 30 weeks by the time they arrive. It really starts putting things in perspective and is slightly terrifying too. Glad that the MWs were reassuring with your scare and that mini gee is ok.

Teu wonderful news about your scan. at the two femurs. I'm delighted for you that all is looking well. The mat leave thing is stressful. Given the money pit that our house has turned into and the prospect of having less savings in place to finish up, I may be looking at returning to work sooner. But only part time. It doesn't phase me too much as my mum had to return to work after 10 weeks with me. She was only a couple of days a week (one week day and Saturday) and I got to spend a lot of time with Dad. She said it was actually nice to feel like she had a bit of her own life as well as having a baby. I think I'll feel like that too. Still, I kind of think lets see how things go.

Waves to everyone else I've missed. Back to reviewing CVs. It's really depressing reading - we've had 4 responses to the job ad, it's a really good manager position with a good salary and 3/4 CVs are from people with no experience whatsoever. So I'm now trawling through the job site trying to find some suitable candidates. Still on the flip side it makes me think that perhaps looking for other jobs won't be so hard next year if I fancy a change!

So, yet again our moving in date has been pushed back. It seems never ending at the moment. We've just got to work harder and smarter and cut costs. We're so close yet so far. The first row of tiles were stuck down on Sunday and the kitchen / bathroom floor is all laid out. It's looking great. But it's a hard slog for Mr P and is going to take time. We can't move until that bloody floor is in and shower fitted. We're not sure when we're going to move in - it would seem to be a few weeks away rather than months though. I'm in a much better frame of mind at the moment and things have eased with the in laws. I guess it is what it is and when I think back to how miserable I was this time last year when fertility shit really kicked in (cp, periods every 2 weeks through Feb / March, formal investigations starting, finalising the sale of the house, endless arguments with the estate agent) I feel very lucky to be weeks away from having a beautiful finished house and to be pregnant with a very busy, healthy baby. It's one step closer to achieving the two things me and Mr P really wanted to do with our lives - start a family in a home of our own. So, I have to remind myself this in the perpetual slog that is the money pit house. It will be so worth it...

Wow...so quiet this week :) Hope everyone is ok?? I'm exhausted, having done nothing really out of the blue, well except grow a human child that is. I'm totally zapped - even after 10 hours sleep last night. Though I did wake a few times and had a nightmare that the baby was born with gravel in its lungs and died shortly after birth It shook me to the core and was a really nasty dream but totally surreal and let's face it, baby isn't going to be born with gravel in it's lungs!!

The really brill news is that the bulk of the kitchen floor is in! We ok, ok, the royal We are making great, great progress. It looks like the floor will be mostly done by the end of the weekend, I wasn't expecting it to be done so quickly. Plus I've found all sorts of bargain furniture items that are really nice and will not leave us as skint as I was fearing at the beginning of the week. It's amazing what you can find when you have a tiny budget to work to. So I guess it's been productive in that sense and maybe I've knackered myself out with manic researching. Who knows.

Anyway, Friday luffs and waves, glad it's the weekend tomorrow :)

Still quiet on here... hope that means everyone is ticking along nicely with drama free pregnancies.

Having a manic time at work trying to get everything finished for Friday... I have 2.5 days to work until maternity leave starts. Eek, eek and triple eek!!

princess - sounds like the house is coming along nicely. Just think how wonderful it will be to be in your own place!

art - hope the spotting has disappeared now?

Waves to everyone else. Back to endless report writing I go...

It's echoey over the grad thread at the moment isn't it! Clearly everyone else has lives and it's just me at home being a bit bored and not having any colleagues to natter to who is constantly on here! I must admit I have been on MN quite a lot recently trying to get advice on Ikea kitchens and what baby stuff to buy at the moment. I really must try and do some work this afternoon! But the kitchen is causing me such a headache and I'm so impatient.

Glad to hear all is well Ladygee only two days to go until mat leave, you're so close now! Amazing! It seems like you announced your BFP just a couple of weeks ago over on the 10 + thread when I was in the pits of despair thinking I'd never have a baby. It seems to me that we have all these years trying and then it does happen and bang it's all over so quickly and baby is here. I can't believe I'm over half way there myself now. With just 12 weeks of work left. I'm panicking about all-sorts, namely finding a replacement me. We will hopefully be interviewing someone in a couple of weeks and I think Dad / our MD is keen to get him in ASAP but assuming he has to give 4 weeks notice, have a few days to think about the post that will give us 7 weeks cross over before I leave and I just know that I'm going to be responsible for getting him up and running with the added complication that he'll be in the office 70 miles away and I'll be coaching him from home. If he doesn't take the post (and he'd be a fool not to as he'd be on a much better pay packet) then I'm back to square one and will be at the mercy of local job agencies.

I went to visit my bestfriend and her new baby last night (he's 2 weeks old) with DH. He's gorgeous and tiny; but it did make me think "oh my god, our mini version is on his /her way and the house isn't ready and we've only got 16 weekends of freedom and then work and then moving and then buying baby stuff and then sorting out the car - gargh". Clearly I have no regrets but I'm starting to feel nervous about whether I'll be a good mum or not too. I'm terrified I'll "break" our baby.

Still, I can't let these troubles get the better of me. I'm taking one thing at a time. Starting with a proper list of stuff and costs for baby and taking on responsibility for the kitchen (to try and help DH) and making sure that I can hand over a sort of guide to my job for the newbie.

Waves to everyone else. Hope that you are all well and glowing :)

heart I figure if it comes out at 8lbs it won't have much time in 0-3, may as well go straight to 3-6 and turn the ends up. Newborn size will be a fleeting glimpse.
Art Have things settled down?
Feeling very keenly how the tables have turned from last year. A friend suggested a group girls weekend away, but has now decided that she doesn't think she can do it if there are preggos around. I have become that paria/elephant in the room that I so upset me last year. She is desperate for #2 but after 2 traumatic miscarriages last year, now knows that she carries a gene translocation that will cause awful birth defects (hence the miscarrages). They can't tell her how many miscarrages she would need to go through to get a healthy baby, although they have a 3yo so they know it is possible. She is so incredibly lucky with what she has but we all know that gap that we just long to fill. Sorry me me. Sucks to see a friend so upset.
Waves to all, sorry for not name checking.

princess - I couldn't agree more. Time seems to have flown since Christmas and there's now just over five weeks 'til mini gee should be making an arrival. I'm now having to remind myself that it's taken nearly 3 years to get here, which is a place I never thought I would be in.

On the work front, I think my company is now regretting the decision to try and cover my duties between some of the other staff and drafting in freelance help as necessary. At least they now realise how much I actually do though! I hope you're able to appoint soon to put your mind at ease.

And you'll be an amazing Mum, princess. I think after what we've all been through we'll appreciate everything that bit more and will be just fine.

heart - I've started to get bits but still have a fair bit of shopping to do, the nursery to organise (no furniture yet) and - as everyone keeps reminding me - a hospital bag to pack!

So pleased your 20 week scan went well and that your baby is wriggly. It's such a lovely feeling.

I've only bought 0-3 things, no newborn stuff as DH and I are both tall so I don't think mini gee will be that tiny. I keep toying with buying a newborn outfit but my thrifty Yorkshire-born Mum says if we need smaller things, she'll go and get them.

Teu - sorry to hear about your friend, what a dreadful situation to be faced with. Hope everything else is ok with you?

My midwife appt this week showed that baby is now 3/5 engaged, which sounds quite serious! I've no idea if they can pop back out again once they're down there or if this means they've started the big journey out??

Waves to all

Morning all, happy valentines day ladies and bumps :)

Ah thanks ladygee that's lovely of you to say. I'm just scared of a) dropping baby b) not feeding baby c) baby not liking me - all ridiculous and I'm sure mother nature will do magical things when s/he pops out.

My friend was engaged (with numbers - I didn't really understand) for a few weeks before her baby made an appearance - I seem to remember 3 or 4? She had several weeks of complaining that he was really heavy on her pelvis but otherwise she was super healthy and active and once on mat leave sprung into action on getting ready. It worked out fine for her. And baby is gorgeous too :)

Teu I'm so sorry to hear about your friend. It must be awful for her. What dreadful news to hear. But it's nice that she'll have an understanding ear and someone who has been through the pain of long term TTC to confide in. I really appreciated the couple of friends I had in RL who had been through the mill, even though I didn't get to see them very often there was a special understanding and bond there.

Heart great news about your scan. Woo-hoo! You've reached the half way mark! That list the other day was fab. I need to go to TK Maxx too. The muslins sound like an excellent bargain. I wonder if they do any other bits and pieces? I didn't get a chance to pop in the other night but I may do if we get time at the weekend. I really love the bed sheets Aden and Anais do too, especially the set with little blue stars. I started looking at blinds for our kitchen and bathroom yesterday and stumbled across a very cute nursery blind yesterday here whilst I was checking out some vintage patterns for the kitchen.

Right, I've managed to waste far too much time on MN again and have to leave in 2 hours to go and meet with our kitchen designer. So best do some work.

Waves and hugs all round xxxx

Hello everyone!

Sorry for being a bit awol the last week or so, I'd love to regale you with wonderful tales of exciting stuff, but I've not actually been up to much at all (maybe life got to dull to post about?)

Anyway, apologies for contributing to the 'tumble weed' sweeping through the grad thread, glad we've all emerged back into the online world relatively unscathed (bar the natural nerves/excitement of approaching motherhood - gosh, sounds so serious when you put it like that!)

princess don't envy you your ikea kitchen nightmare, we designed our kitchen via ikea, ours was a reasonably easy shape and we knew what we wanted, but doing up a house can be so stressful (I've always partially blamed our house building nightmares with taking us 3 years to conceive first time round). Good luck with your kitchen designer, hope it all goes well.

ladygee 3/5 engaged - well there's no turning back now (not unless you've got a little houdini baby in there, reckon they're getting in position for the big event :-) And only a couple of days of work left - fantastic news!

Re newborn/0-3 months stuff, I can't actually remember what we got (need to dig it all out, but can't face it just now, am planning to put that off until week 36 - although DH is usually more organised than me, so he might do it sooner!)

Me and DH are pretty tall (I'm 5ft 10 and DH is 6ft 4") and our boy was born a couple of day shy of 40 weeks and he was bang on average length (50cm i think) and weight. So, I'm thinking we might have used newborn for a few days and then went to 0-3 months. I wouldn't buy too much newborn in advance as you won't know how big they'll be.

(Our son went from 50th percentile for birth weight to 92nd percentile by week 2!) 0-3 month stuff can look really big on newborns (i remember all the cuffs were rolled up for weeks), but I think by the time DS was 2 months old, he was too big for most of his 0-3 month stuff (although Next stuff is sized big, so he didnt' wear them until he was about 2 months).

You'll use a lot of 0-3 month stuff though, so definitely worth getting a good number of them in (esp sleepsuits and bodysuits).

heart so glad you had a good scan, I loved getting to the 20 week scan - things started to feel so real then.

I've got a routine mw appointment tommorow at 25 wks. (I'm on fortnightly apps just now so they can keep an eye on me in case high bp or pre-eclampsia appears) so looking forward to hearing the heartbeat again (I love that!)

I've got a scan at 28 weeks to check my uterine blood flow so will see if my 'notching' has disappeared or not.

Was slightly miffed yesterday. I have an underactive thyroid so had blood tests taken at hospital on 9th Jan to check my thyroxine levels. My previous test results hinted at me maybe needing to increase my medication, so they wanted to double check. Anyway, after saying I'd get teh results in the next few days, nothing arrived. After 2 weeks, I called them, they took my details and said they'd check later and get back to me. I heard nothing. Anyway, yesterday they called saying they'd had my results back and told me to increase my thyroxine medication - almost 5 weeks since the blood was taken!

I feel fine, so pretty sure no harm has been done, but clearly I should have been on an increased dose for the last 4 weeks - which isn't that reassuring - will be commenting on this (in the nice possible way) when I have my 28 week appointment (if only to get an apology and watch them squirm a wee bit :-)

Hope you're all doing well!

Waves to anyone I've not namechecked!!

hi all, sorry for radio silence and now to post and run, but it has been hugely hectic, but we've found somewhere to live and moved in (partly, waiting for furniture/belongings to be shipped from overseas, so very much camping at the moment!). No internet etc yet and working from home is a bit dull without it (and remarkably unproductive despite the lack of internet, clearly I've been blaming MN unfairly all this time )
Lovely to hear how everyone is doing - once we're sorted with internet etc I'll pick up the thread properly. I've had my 'late' booking appointment with the NHS and registered with a GP so feeling very efficient - 20 week scan in 2 weeks!
will be back properly soon - waves to all

Quick post from me to say hello. I've been busy with Thomas and life in general and not managed to keep up with the thread. T is now 7 weeks and we're getting smiles and the occasional little chuckle. He's more time consuming than I expected though.

I've not had a chance to read back, but noticed something about clothes needed. T grew out of his newborn stuff by about 4 weeks, and is pretty close to growing out of the 0-3m in the legs. Some newborn stuff still fits his chest and arms though. So it depends what you're buying and what shape your baby is. We have long legs and big feet (just like his daddy). If your baby isn't sicky then you don't need many clothes, we get by on just one outfit a day for the most part. I'm washing every other day, so technically we could manage with just 3 sleep suits and vests!

For those of you that are going to follow the "cotton wool and water only til 6 weeks" I recommend reusable cheeky wipes one of their packs is fine for all nappy changes for 2 days, and you'll never have to buy wet wipes. They're also great for hands and faces.