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.

I too am massively impressed at the live labour updates princess! I hope it's all over by now and that you have your beautiful baby in your arms.

Wow heart another 10+er about to drop! Amazing! It feels like time has gone so quickly and yet I bet it feels like ages for you. Lots of good luck for the upcoming d day.

ele that's great to hear that Baby E is piling on the pounds :) I hope everything's going well and you're not too knackered.

teu sounds like you and mr teu have had a rough time recently. I'm pleased to hear that he will be back with you soon.

art sorry to hear about the scares - thank gawd they managed to fit you in for a scan sooner. Waiting a week would've been massively stressful. Spinach, mmmm. The midwife made a specific point of telling me that guiness doesn't have iron in it. Do I look like a guiness drinker or somethink?!

I've got my consultant appointment next Tues re being induced if I go overdue. Like you, I want to establish exactly what the risks are and if it's a real risk or just something my hospital does. The midwife said it was cos with an ivf pregnancy they know exactly how old the placenta is, but surely most people have a pretty good idea?!

Thanks for all the MS advice ladies! princess I can't believe you were so poorly and that yours went on for so long ele. Mine seems a bit better now at 14 weeks. If I'm sensible with snacks throughout the day, I can keep it at bay until late afternoon. Thankfully I'm not actually being sick (I'd do anything rather than be sick), but feeling super nauseous and retching, niiiiice.

Waves and luffs to everyone else. It's so ace to read of real Fred babies :)

Evening all, well baby princess is here at last, she arrived this morning at 7am, after a completely drug free birth. We've called her Elodie and she's 9lb 10 ounces - a whooper!! I only ended up with 4 stitches for a graze, my perineum intact and my dignity out of the window. We were not expecting such a big baby as all of my measurements were just bog standard average. Neither were we ecpecting a baby with a full head of lovely black curly hair! She's flipping gorgeous and very very chilled out and perfect. I'm currently in hospital and it's a bit weird being here on my own with my own little baby. I've put her down to sleep, whispers what do I do now? Is it ok to go to sleep or to the toilet?? Right well I'm knackered and about to have a snooze as will be up in the night I reckon! Well, I might set my alarm as an a bit paranoid about bring here without Mr P!

princess your lovely news has tempted me out of the shadows and onto the grads thread for the first time just so I can get to say a massive congratulations! What a stunning name and she sounds absolutely heavenly. Well done you for being such a super hero to have such a gorgeous little person - and it's so reassuring to hear you did it relatively unscathed and - wow - with no drugs! What amazing news. Much love to you new mama!

princess I thought I saw a rather gorgeous pic on the other interweb place Congrats! I'm so so thrilled for you and what a beautiful name for the gorgeous little princess I can't believe you managed a 9lb10 baby with no druks! Did you do a hypnobirthing course?! A massive congrats and big luffs to you and all your family x

Waves to critter. Hope you are doing ok!

What wonderful news princess- congratulations to you and Mr P! Amazing without pain relief (wondering if I should have spent NCT money on hypnobirthing....). I hope that you have a fab time over the next few weeks getting to know mini- princess.

Waves to all, especially critter and gin- lovely to see you here xxx

Wow - congratulations princess - and such a big healthy baby too - and I love proper 'hairy babies', nothing nicer than a newborn with a big mop of hair (both my boys had hairstyles more akin to balding 50 year old accountants when they were born, but I can't help myself oohing and aahing over those babies that are more hirsute!)

And another drug free birth - reckon we must be doing wonders for reassuring all those grads waiting for their own little bundles, that childbirth doesn't have to be the nightmare it's protrayed as.

So so please you've got your beautiful baby girl and you're in your house too - fantastic news - enjoy your newborn cuddles!

P.s. love the name Elodie!

Wow, congratulations Princess! I saw your beautiful photo on FB t'other day, and a gorgeous name to match. I'm impressed at another 10+ drug free labour, and such a big baby too - definitely going to get the hypnobirthing CD now...

Must dash, but waves to all, and extra big waves to Gin and Critter

Morning all :) Thanks for all the lovely congrats :) We're all doing well. E is feeding well and sleeping well too. We've had a couple of difficult nights / afternoons when she's struggled to poop and has been really upset but she was fab last night and did a big present for daddy at 4am in her sleep with ease (and with fab sound effects - nothing ladylike about the mini princess) after her feed . Anyway, I'm still on top of the world, totally loved up with mini princess and in awe of my body. I guess after thinking that you can't have a baby / your body rejects babies for so many years you start to think your body won't work in other ways. I was convinced breast feeding would be out of the window but it's going really well and I've got a rack to compete with Jordan which is making Mr P's eyes pop! I need to get some proper bras / scaffolding as I only have a couple of flimsy Mothercare boob holders which are the wrong size and not really man enough for the job!!

Oh and it's a delight to be in our new house. Everything feels in its right place :)

Heart how are you getting on? Is baby heart here yet? I hope all is well and you are not struggling to badly if you are overdue.

Art I'm really sorry to hear about the scares. I hope everything has settled and you are ok. Is it your next scan next week? Sharon fruit are another really good source of iron to throw into the mix if you can get hold of them.

Gin thinking of you and the wrenching. It really is miserable. Is it easing yet? Have you seen the consultant yet? I hate all the ultimatums they bandy around. We had a couple of moments during the birth when Mr P had to disagree with the midwife quite strongly to keep us on track with the Hypnobirthing plan. At one point they tried to get my feet is stirrups (i refused and stood up using the side of the bed to lean on) and then gave me a time limit to get E out and threatened medical intervention if I didn't do it to their timescale. Afterwards Mr P said I'm glad that worked out cos I didn't want to go into battle with doctors at 6am. The midwife was like "really? You would have disagreed with a doctor" and he was like "I would have had a discussion and we would have made an informed decision not just rolled over and done as told. If Mrs P needed more time we would have simply requested more time" She was really taken aback!

Ele you are so right about birth horror stories. I'm glad I can tell people another version of events. Not in a gloating way but in a birth can be an empowering and positive experience. It's not a case of rainbows and unicorns falling out of your fanjo after a small delicate sneeze and at times I experienced a lot of uncomfortable feelings (want to say pain but Hypnobirthing bans the p word) but it was totally bearable, passed quickly and focusing on the end got me through.

For others who are still diffed, the thing that helped me the most was keeping calm and really breathing into / through it. I was a bit (ok very) loud when the contractions really got going - Mr P was a bit at the mooing but I managed to bring it right down and the more I calmed down and focused and stopped with the mooing the more I could feel things happening and the more comfortable it became. In fact towards the end of the first stage / beginning of the second stage the midwife couldn't tell when I was having a contraction and was genuinely shocked at how calm I was.

Frannie lovely to see you :) Not long for you now either. Hope all is well. How is your nephew?

Teu is Mr T back home? Is he ok? How are you feeling? Has work eased?

Critter welcome a-board! Lovely to see you over here :) I was catching up on t'other thread yesterday and can't get over what your midwife said! I think I would have responded with a Miranda style "rude"! Glad you had a nice hols and mini critter is baking nicely.

Right, I need to empty the washing machine (so much washing!!) drink a pint of water and think about getting ready for the midwives today.

Lots of love xxxxx

Congratulations princess !
Hope all continues well
36+5 here, one more week of work and can't wait to finish!
Hi to everyone else.

Princess Congrats! Glad it all went well and you are all at home getting to know each other.
Critter very pleased to see you over here.
Gin Glad the MS is easing a bit. Just keep eating. I had days when I ate constantly to keep the nausea at bay. Now I find I need my dinner at about 6:30 or it is a very uncomfortable night.

Thanks for all the thoughts and support re: MrTeu. His Dad died about 36 hours after he got to the UK, I'm relieved that he made it in time, and relieved that FIL is at peace. He is safely home now and reunited with his suitcase that took a stop over in Sydney. Lots of exciting baby stuff unpacked along with his baby book that MIL insisted he bring. Very sweet made me teary.
31+4, very round and my arms seems to be shrinking in length. Still got way to much to achieve at work just give me a stable system please and no impetus to do it. My days get increasingly uncomfortable from lunchtime, so I have perhaps a couple of good hours a day if I'm lucky where I can concentrate properly. Ugh.
Waves to all.

Sorry to hear about your FIL teu, great that he got home in time though.

Heart- I am sure I'll be in your shoes in a couple of weeks time! You sound very patient, I'm sure I'll be crawling the walls!

I was up half of last night with diarrhoea and nausea- did cross my mind it could be early labour as I had tonnes of braxton hicks over the weekend, but think bug more likely. Just managing toast now and at home off work. The misery. But Wimbledon is helping ;)
Then only the rest of the week before mat leave.
Gin hope nausea improves soon - little and often is key. And welcome to critter!

Hello everyone, Critter here - you may recognise the new name if you've been reading the other thread about my humiliating encounter with a midwife and a manual exam!

heart I can't believe you're so close. We have a cluster of little 10 plus babies! I hope it's not long for you now. You must feel exhausted and so ready to meet the little creature!

mellow sorry you're feeling under the weather - again, I cannot believe how close you are. Nearly 37 weeks! It's funny how TTC stretches on for ages and then pregnancies seem to fly past.

teu I was so sorry to hear about your father in law. Poor MrTeu, you and he must be feeling so many emotions with your baby so near to arriving. I'm just so sorry - it's bloody hard.

princess I am loving the tales of little E and of your birth. You've made me feel a lot less scared about the process, especially as I have decided to aim for the 'crunchy granola' midwife-centric version instead of the doctor-led version that is more common here in the US. You are a hero and it's amazing that you managed to give birth to such a beautiful big baby with no pain relief. I doff my cap in your honour.

ele I haven't congratulated you either! I loved hearing about your birth. And I truly and deeply love the name that you chose too - it's actually my dad's name and he is a wonderful, funny, kind and gentle man, one of the best people I know. I so wish we could use it but American MrC says it wouldn't fly so easily here in the US.

art how are you? I was sorry to hear about your scare and relieved everything was ok. I have loved your posts on the TTC board to everyone - you are a generous spirit.

Waves to fellow recent differ gin.

frannie you must be close now too? Where are you?

All fine here - feeling nauseous but only done two spectacular voms so feel I'm getting off lightly, and I'm 10 weeks in a day or two. My ovaries have been sore and very swollen still and apparently are covered in cysts which I think may be related to the OHSS post IVF. Also, did anyone get backache this early from walking or standing too long? Seems crazy as I am still in the first tri, guess I have lots more delights to look forward to... I'm off tomorrow for 10 days to do a poetry course for a masters I signed up for while TTCing. A bit nervous about it but will be great to get away from work. I don't know how people manage the first trimester when colleagues don't know you're pregnant and don't make allowances for the sheer knackeredness of it.

Critter so good to have you on the board - and gin too! (I've been a lurker on the 'other' board since I graduated here, and have been so pleased at the BFPs (and so gutted about the low points facing some of the ladies there too - wish I could give everyone a lasting BFP there). So glad you like my son's name (and your dad sounds like a proper gent), but surprised it wouldn't work in the states, I thought americans were used to all kind of random names - in the scheme of things didn't think Hamish was that out there :-) And 10 weeks in (a quarter of the way there!) so glad the morning sickness is behind me (the worst part of pregnancy for me) but it is an amazing journey of scans and heartbeats and kicks and you've got it all ahead of you :-D

heart how are you getting on ? Are you somewhere in a labour ward pushing away? or sitting at home eating curry and pineapple :-) Wherever you are, I hope we get a birth announcement soon!

And mellow you're at term now too so technically could go at any time (so exciting!!!)

Art - how are you getting on with cutting back at work? Or is that just not feasible yet? Hopefully the next few weeks will fly by and you'll be on maternity leave soon.

Hope all the other ladies on the board (and their bumps/babies) are doing well.

My little man was weighed today (he's 4 weeks tomorrow - can't believe he's only been in my life for less than a month - it already feels like he's been here forever!) and he's gaining weight really well, he's now up to 10lb 10oz (feels it too!). He's having problems with his digestion and squirms, screams and grunts a lot when expecting trumps or poohs (sometimes for hours - wee soul) but I'm hoping it's just a three month thing and that he'll improve in a couple of months - makes nights tiring (as between feeds he's up for 2-3 hours with wind pain, gas pain, poohs, hiccups then the same again etc!) but he's so worth it.

Mr E is actually out on a works night out tomorrow (he rarely goes out and it's 'end of term' so he's looking forward to it, although his gout appears to have flared up - so bad timing there). Anyway, means it will be my first night all alone with Hamish (no-one to share the burden of winding him for hours and stopping him crying). I'm a bit nervous, but just hoping it's all okay, I mean ultimately it will be fine (no option really) but when you're used to having someone there to share it all with you, it's a wee bit daunting facing doing it by yourself (I have so much respect for single parents out there - going through all this by yourself).

Anyway, best get myself off to bed (it is 9:30pm after all!)

Looking forward to hearing everyone's news!

you guys were hard to find

ok I have read a few pages back now, congrats to the new mothers on the thread

frannie heart and mellow so close now :)

teu again so sorry to hear about your FIL, hope you have your buzzybee toy

gin I am hoping the MS will end soon, I had to stop my car and chunder on the road today I have to say the only thing that helped was Omeprazole

Well a little bit about me athough some of you will remember me, after several miscarriages and an immune problem, we opted for DE IVF overseas in May, I am now 9w4d today, I have had several scans due to fear and bleeding, I had another one today and got to see my baby dancing, arms and legs moving, showed DH the picture and he had a few tears, its hard as he is working away from home during the week so isn't around for these things,

I have to say it feels safe and snug on here also being stalked by unhinged person so need a place to feel safe and supported

buzzy quick one from me (doubt you'll remember me from the other board - miraculously after ttc for 20 months on my own, within 2 months of joining the 10 plus board I fell pregnant - I consider all the 10+ ladies responsible for my good luck - so I wasn't on the board for long, although I do remember talking on the thread with you).

Just wanted to say I've been following your trials and tribulations (along with the other ladies on the board) and I am so so pleased to see you here - it's put a huge smile on my face :-D

Sorry about your mad stalker, hopefully they won't find you here!!!

ele of course I remember you :) and congrats on your little boy I honestly never thought I would get to this stage, still cautious as I have a long way to go

buzzy - I know. That feeling never really went away for me, I was desperate to get to 12 wk scan, but then you have fears over 20wk scan, and then as you approach term I was terrified of a full-term still-born! A bleak outlook I know, but it's hard to accept that it's all going to work out (even though the odds are in our favour)!

Princess I'm so glad you are settling into your new home with your beautiful new daughter and that BFing is going well. I know what you mean about losing faith in your body during the misery of TTC, I'm glad you've got that faith back now. Thanks for the labour tips. It does sound as though keeping calm and focused is the key. I was v grateful to hear that you and Mr P were able to stand firm against midwives wanting you in stirrups etc and to hurry you along. The threat of medical intervention must have been frightening. I have a horror of stirrups, they put me right back in helpless IVF intervention land, that's something else that will be going on my birth plan (which could easily be summed up in 3 words, 'leave me alone'!).

Teu I'm glad MrT is back with you. I hear you on lack of concentration etc, I'm OK in the mornings but by 2pm I just want to sleep. 13 more working days to go (eek). How are you doing now?

Heart any news? Mini Heart must be here by now! And how about Frannie and Mellow?

Critter and Buzz it's great to see you over here! Buzz I felt the same as Eleth, the anxiety hasn't gone away but as time goes on I am starting to feel a bit more as if it might be real. Critter I am at your midwife's verdict though I do think she was rude!

Eleth good to see you and glad Hamish is doing well! I hope his digestive problems sort themselves out soon. How was your first night alone with him? I am kind of dreading MrA going back to work after his paltry paternity leave but at the same time looking forward to all those months of being a mum, something I never imagined would happen (and sometimes still can't).

Gin how is the vomming? Any easier? I saw on t'other thread that you had been pronounced among the normals, great news . I had a consultant appointment only yesterday - yep, it's taken to 34+3 to get the appointment they referred me for in week 10 - and the consultant could see no reason why I shouldn't go to the birthing centre like any normal pregnancy. They did another growth scan which showed the baby is on the right trajectory, big relief after the midwife stress. Though after Princess's experience I am sceptical of predictions of size!

All is well here otherwise, I am desperate to finish work but in order to do that I have to actually get on with it rather than spending my time googling reviews of real nappies and having afternoon naps . Reality is sinking in with clients now and I think I've impressed on people that what I can't do in the next fortnight will have to remain undone. I'm just knackered and not sleeping very well, partly because junior appears to be nocturnal and likes to use the midnight hours to give me a good kicking. That bodes well... . We have one more NCT class to go, it's been really useful and a good group, we already have plans to meet next week as the others will be on ML by then and I'll just skive . None of them know we are IVF, I don't know if I'm likely to say anything about that, will see how the conversation goes and if I feel OK revealing it. We are by no means ready for the baby, its room is still an office, cot unconstructed, pram uncollected from shop, hospital bag unprepared, but i daresay there is still time.....

Hope everyone is well and happy, looking forward to more baby news

art YAY to only a few days of work left, plenty of time to change the office into a nursery :)

I have to admit I do think about when I will leave work, although that is along way away for me

buzzy I will be acquiring a Buzzy Bee toy. Only right seeing as the critter will be a kiwi. Yep, it's still called critter, although the term baby gets used more often now. Bought a Slinky Malinky book the other day, mainly because he looks like Poppy. Poor baby puss doesn't know what's about to happen. Pleased to see you over here too.
Artemis MrTeu came home with a consignment of TotsBots, all fluffy and cute. I don't sleep most nights between 3-6am. Not helpful. Our cot isn't assembled either. 4 weeks left at work, hoping we can get my replacement in in that time and train them. I'm so counting down.
critter I've had a dodgy back all the way through so you're not alone. Got a very fetching support band for when I'm walking now . Hope the ovaries have settled down and the poetry course was good.

We keep getting asked if the nursery is ready - we're not doing one. Spare room has only just been redec'd by EQC anyway. I've made curtains though. I think I have most of what I and the critter will need at the hospital but none of it is packed. MrTeu seems to be taking charge of the organising, obviously doesn't think I have it under control . The paeds continence ladies at work seem to have appointed themselves as deputy mothers since mum isn't here. I have relented and let a friend organise a baby shower for Saturday on strick instructions that I'm not playing guess the chocolate poo.
Hope everyone is ticking along well. Any news heart, Frannie, mellow?

Teu guess the chocolate poo oh I have just been invited to a baby shower, not sure how I feel about it really. Kayla is not going to be happy about the changes, she doesn't like Barry being away. I don't think we'll be doing a nursery either, not sure where we will be living. I think its sweet that a couple of colleagues are mothering you :) so when is your due date, August some time isn't it