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.

Bump-wise I mean. Appears I can no longer type

Quick one from me just to say hello to akuabadoll as I was wondering if you'd join us :-) I was so so pleased to see your BFP on the other board although at 32 wks gone that must seem a long time ago now :-)

Is your little boy very excited about getting a sibling or is he playing it cool?

Glad to have you on board and look forward to hearing from you more in the weeks to come!

Hello doll hands rather flat congratulatory elderflower fizz Really great to see you over here :) I liked the story of your accurate bump. Are you moved yet?

Weekend waves to everyone else. Have to go Waybaloos is on (mini p's fave...)

Xx

Hello ladies

I have been dying to get on here and catch up. But things have ben tricky........but more of that later.

teu - sorry to hear about the pre eclampsia and induction but hoorah for a beautiful baby boy. How are you finding things now?

mellow -wow 6 weeks already. Sorry for the ouchy nipples.

Well I have been both under the weather and bogged downwith work leaving me with virtually no time to do anything normal. I have some carer responsibilities too which are becoming difficult to continue too so I am in need of a review. Work are expecting me to manage things at a grade above where I am which is quite a stretch considering I only just started working at my current grade a few months a go. The last 2 weeks have been particularly busy and the baby moves far less as a result. I think it has even brought on some mild braxton hicks. Time to slow down a little.

my curious nausea and reflux and violent vomiting has continued but I don't seem to have classic indigestion. I have self diagnosed myself with pregnancy induced lactose intolerance which is apparently not too uncommon. I feel ill most days and have a permanent cough and sore throat. Think I have just been a big unlucky, or maybe run down. I am due time off thank goodness.

On good days the baby moves lots but really in relation to music or anything specific. I get lots of thumper the rabbit type movemdnts and flips when baby is happy which is when im relaxed.

I have just acquired a bump and although it is still small it is a definite pregnancy shape. I am looking home births and hospital water births. But overall I am a bit behind with my planning. Dh also had a health scare recently which seemed to slow us down but thankfully he seems ok now.

one embarrassing thing is I keep doing mini wees which I dont know are coming. But a small price to pay I guess. I have no idea if its a boy or girl but so glad to beppregnant despite all of thd above.

waves to all. Xxx
art - wow that sounds like some birth. Your daughter is so gorgeous and you look amazeballs considering you have just given birth. Hope you get dome rest and feeding keeps hoing well. Did she arrive early?

Eleth - glad the little one is ok and well done with breastfeeding. Thanks for all the birthing tips.

critter - your birth choices seem perfect. Theh certainly do things differently over there. How many weeks are you and how are you feeling?

buzz - im sorry you have been feeling anxious about your pregnancy. Perfectly understandable after everything you have been through and with tge extra immunes required. Did you get another scan? No symptoms at your stage is totally normal but I know its hard not to worry. One book I wsd recommended and am about to read ina may's guide to child birth. Its great you can opt for a homebirth.

gin - woo hoo for the rrrriot girl, she sounds like a right little mover. Sorty about tbd indigestion, not nice at all. We are at a similar stage and plan to buy the pra , cot and furniture next month. I have one pack of babygrows and will start buying properly in the next few weeks. I am glad the thd blood fliw thing is less of a worry than before. Like ttc sometimes we can know too much medical info whenbin reality most babies are bofn without a hitch regardless of bloof flow etc. But reassuring to have it monitored.

Princess - thank you for your well writtdn and funny posts. Your mil was rude and intrusive to have sent tgat photo around. But i guess she is also as proud as punch and her manners and judgement went out of the window. I do understand why you woukd feel vulnerable. Mini princess sounds adorable and you sound like a very competant mummy.

doll - hello my lovely. Are you sure they didnt say arcuate womb? I have one of these meaning slight heart shape. There is supposedly a small increas of slightly early labour but very insignificant risk overall.

c

Well what an awful post....sorry for all the typos above, my tablet is going mad. Hope its still readable. Xx

sarlat it was a random Russian passer-by with rather approximate English, it was definitely accurate she said Sorry to hear of yours and other halves less than perfect health situations, it's a drag isn't it?

Honestly this whole pregnancy thing is an absolute nonsense, I really struggled to combine with my job and mother duties with all the usual issues (sickness in the beginning, waking due to heartburn in the night from the 2nd tri etc etc). It may not be a popular view but I suspect this whole situation is a bit flawed. Shouldn't bodies deal with this a bit...well...better? I know, I know I didn't even give birth or breastfeed yet

Eletheomel thanks for the welcome, Little Doll seems to be into the whole baby thing, I suspect his views might change on arrival. It's been a bit overshadowed, as least from his point of view, as we moved last week, thus seemlessly answering your question princess and he started his new school. He seems pretty chilled about the thing and enjoying himself. From a middle eastern summer to monsoon season in south east asia, so many muddy puddles (called 'muddles' in this house), and that is what counts, oh and snails and insects to behave in a very un-Buddist manner around.

We have managed to leave some dramas behind (mostly professional) but did unfortuntely bring a total unexpected issue with us On the exact same day I finally got out of my professional stuff and one week before leaving I found out I have gestational diabetes. It's an absolute fucker of a thing to deal with as it turns out and moving to a different part of the world with different food is just some kind of bad joke. It's in hand for now, but I've needed to put alot of work in and will continue to need to be massively disciplined I have thought back a couple of times to Princess and the wails from the supermarket that the beginning of the Brown Diet which has made me smile.

Please don't let this freak anyone out and don't listen to 'oh it's really very common, you know' it's not that common (NHS website says 3-5% across England and Wales, and Northern European decent - which I'm guessing alot of people are here - is the lowest risk group). It was just bollocks luck. At least it gives me an alternative to yell at Ken 'I'm pregnant, you know' / 'I'm diabetic, you know'

I have to run to deal with something or other, sorry for lack of proper name checking and likely typos, poor language and bad attitude. x

doll your Honestly this whole pregnancy thing is an absolute nonsense did make I have to admit it is not what thought it would be, perhaps if I hadn't miscarried it might be different, I'm still really sick at nearly 19 weeks which makes work almost impossible, I now take a perching stool around with me when I see my patients as they tend to be very slow at exercising and mobilising, mainly because they talk too much. Sorry to hear about the GD, I did think I would be a good candidate for it but the MW's don't seem to think so but have cautiously booked me in for a test in November. Is it just diet controlled or are you injecting?? You must be pleased to be out of the Middle East as it seems to be kicking off there abit more now.

sar Sorry you haven't been well, I think it is time to review any carer duties, delegating is a good tool, perhaps with work you should remind them of 'your pregnancy risk assessment', they have a cheek getting you to do work for a higher grade if they are paying you extra, they should be taking care of you especially if you have not been well, A phsyio rang up to see if we had a spare gutter frame where I was based, 'I said yes', I could hear my supervisor yelling in the background 'she is not lift heavy things' the frame weighs about 1 kilo
Did your GP give you anything for the sickness, my GP gave me cyclizine which I take 3 times a day if I remember it does help a little so does the Omeprazole.

I had another reassurance scan, she told me about I should try and relax now perhaps that is her polite way of saying we see too much of each other. Anyway she asked us if we wanted to know what we were having and we said yes, its a girl :) which was no surprise really as they say girls suck the life out of you, anyway two more weeks till my next scan, that should be manageable shouldn't it

buzzy congratulations on finding you're having a little girl (least now you can just focus on girls names rather than having to agree on both boys and girls - although I'd imagine you're miles away from naming issues (don't think we discussed names until I was 30 wks plus!)

Hopefully these reassurance scans will (one day) reassure you :-D

Comiserations on the sickness and managing to continue working, I ended up signed off from wk 12 to wk 20 (the nausea was completely debilitating, and just when I kept thinking the vomiting was under control and I was feeling better it woudl come back - looking back I really can't believe I didn't ask the docs for medication, I suppose I kept thinking that I was managing to keep enough food/drink down to keep me healthy and didn't think they'd do much for nausea.

It is soul-destroying though, especially when every other bugger goes on about the 2nd trimester glow and energy boost (yeah right!). If it's any consolation, while I may have been wracked with a leaky bladder, piles and groin strain, the third trimester (esp from wk 30) was my best trimester and I felt much better (can you hang on for 8 weeks? :-D

sar so sorry about your work woes, it's really hard when so many expectations are put on you, and we don' like to think about ourselves being unable to cope or requiring a break, but if you're feeling that your current work level is having a negative impact on your health, then definitely let them know.

And similar to princess I also had a leaky bladder during my pregnancy and it seems to have been fine post birth (although I did buy the aquaflex pelvic floor exercising thingy (didn't even know such things existed!) as I was fearful that my pelvic floor was shot, not tried it yet, but might give it a go!

doll so sorry about the GD diagnoses - they thought I might have had GD in my last trimester (as my waters were measuring a bit copious) so had to do the glucose test, but fortunately it came back negative (I'm crap with food at the best of times, didn't fancy having to be all military about what I can and can't eat) hopefully you won't have it too bad and will be able to control it through diet. Who'd have thought there were so many weird 'pregnancy only' ailments to catch!?

Okay, going to have to cut this short as apparently its 'picnic time' right now so I have to make sandwiches (offspring are so bossy!)

doll! Lovely to see you over here . So pleased to hear all is well and that little doll has settled into his new school ok. I have to have the GD test in a couple of weeks, as my dad has type 2. Will be seriously pissed off if I can no longer stuff myself with cake and biscuits, so hoping it comes back negative. Ha ha at using it as another thing to yell at Ken. Hope the diet isn't too much of a pain in the arse.

buzz hurrah for the scan and a girl! Did Barry get emotional? Could you see much? My mum's coming with us to our next one. She's never seen one before, as she had us back in oldie worldy pre scan times.

sar so sorry to hear you are still suffering so much (and you buzz). I could not have put up with any more than 4 months of it! I still occasionally feel sick and have awful indigestion (which actually made me sick last week), but it's much better than the 24 hour nausea. Work and Mr S's health sound v stressy. Do make sure you give yourself a break. Your baby is so much more important than your work place. Re the baby not moving much when you're busy, I can certainly feel mine more when sitting quietly, so maybe you just notice it less when dashing about?

ele how did you find the glucose test? I'm dreading it and not sure how I'm going to keep down the lucozade or survive without gaviscon for a night & morning. Hope Hamish is doing well. He must be starting to get big now!

critter I think I felt the first flutters of movement incredibly early on, about 10 weeks or so, but now it's def full on kicks at 25 weeks and she looks like she's trying to break out of my stomach! I do love being able to feel her. However I think it's v normal not to feel movement and depends on your placenta, position etc. I'm sure your bump isn't huge! People keep telling me mine is, but actually it was 22cm at 24 weeks, so prob slightly smaller than average. Guess it depends on how you carry it as to how it looks.

princess I love the idea of you singing Boosh songs to mini P. I reckon kids would adore the Boosh. tho hopefully not in the way I adore Julian and Noel. Sorry to hear you are worrying about going back to work. And OMG at your ILs and the pic. I'd kill anyone who did that. Mind you it's the type of thing my Dad would do and claim we all look amazing in the pic... I've been thinking a bit about baby #2. I am so so grateful for this pregnancy but would love the ginster to have a sibling. I just can't see how it's going to happen, as we'd need ICSI and a) we can't afford it b) I don't think I could go through it again c) it may well not work - we had several failed attempts this time. We could look at donor sperm or adopting, but I'm not sure how that work with one birth child, who I totally adore already. I feel jealous when I see people out with a huge brood, but then again feel envious of anyone who can just pop one out on demand. I'm hoping when this one arrives, we'll be content to be a little family of 3 and ttc madness won't eat me up again..

mellow I'm tres impressed at your cultural day with a 6 week old!

teu and art hope all is well with you both and your little bundles. Am loving the pics of baby art on FB. She's just gorgeous.

ele my next scan is in 3 weeks time. I had an antenatal appointment last week and BP and urine were both fine, so feeling a tad more relaxed about it. I think the fact we're getting towards the viable stage really helps too.

Waves and luffs to everyone else. I too am keeping my fingers crossed for some autumn bfps from the 10 plusers.

ele seriously thanks for the sympathy, it's just ridiculous. Gin I'm going to hold off telling you what a total bastard my diet is until you are in the clear And even so a lot about the bastardness is to do with my specific situation; working out my food according to what was available in my last location then trying to travel and do it again in a completely new place with completely different foods, many of which I can't identify buzzy as you can guess, I'm diet controlled and very important that I remain so if at all possible so I can retain as much control over the care I get for the birth; still have another trip to make for that, and therefore another doctor and opinion. Tis all nuts. Gin why are you worried about the test itself? I must admit I was so busy and completely sure the test was merely another way to waste my time I didn't even look it up. The only thing I was told was turn up and you'll need to hang around for an hour. Even though I ended up with a score high enough that no further tests were considered needed or safe, the drink and wait itself gave me no problems at all.

More waves to all. x

gin as doll says I found the GT test a dwaddle. Had been a wee bit worried (I loathe lucozade!) as I was still suffering with ms and the idea of fasting and eating sugary liquid quite frankly gave me the 'dry boak' (a wee scottish phrase there for you).

However, it wasn't lucozade at all, and it's only 100ml or something of the drink, which doesn't taste too sickly. The fasting before and during the test I found hard due to the ms but if you're not suffering from that I reckon it'll be a walk in the park.

Great news about your blood and wee behaving themselves - hopefully your scan will show everything is fine now and you can put thoughts of PE and induction out of your mind!

Hamish is pretty hefty now - on the cusp of outgrowing his 3-6 month sleepsuits (he's 13 weeks) and a big sturdy lad (such as a name like Hamish would conjure up :-) In fact, he's so sturdy I'd loss track of his neck folds and he's ended up with a thrush infection (poor mum or what?!) I blame him and his michelin man no-neck :-D

He's generally a very content and happy baby and it's wonderful just seeing his personality unfold.

doll having to sort out GD in random countries with random (unknown) foods must be an absolute nightmare - many many sympathies for that. I suppose if there is a bright side, at least it'll (with any luck) just last for the duration of the pregnancy and you get back to an omniverous carefree lifestyle once infant doll appears.

ele name is sorted, unless we change our mind, Hamish sounds lovely, its quite popular name back home for boys, Barry wasn't keen when I mentioned but in all honesty I don't think it would go with our surname today I feel a lot better which of course makes me worry even though I told myself sternly I wouldn't

gin he got emotional when I showed him some of the earlier scan pictures, its the first time he has heard the heartbeat though, I have shown MIL the scan pictures too, I have thought about inviting her to some of my later appointments.

doll it must be a nightmare trying to manage it just through diet in some foreign land, you sound sort of out in the middle of nowhereish,

I have to admit when I received the letter for the test I nearly cried as it said fasting from 10pm until 09.30 am when the appointment was booked, I thought there was no way I would last that long without food, I was waking up in the middle of the night for snacks

We are now talking more the future more and things we need to be getting on with, gin would you consider donor embryo ??? I think you once mentioned donor sperm IUI, we have discussed #2, I would like to spend a year not on drugs and would like to see her first xmas/birthday before going back for the frostie, I have decided but haven't really discussed it with Barry that if the frostie didn't thaw I would happily have a donor embryo, we would happily adopt, although we might find that one is more than enough for us, I am grateful to my donor for giving us this opportunity

I will name check properly tomorrow but for now...

doll huge sympathies with the gd and dietary shitfest.

gin the fast is much more manageable than you think, I did two and have to go again at the end of the month. GP is concerned that supersize baby is possibly blood sugar related sigh So I'll be back on the brown diet to prepare double sigh

buzzy it's a girl! Huge congrats! Lovely news :)

Right X factor, wine and pudding oh and baby beckon xx

ele at Hamish and the neck folds. Little Doll had thrush when he was first with us, in fact when he was handed to me he had a crazy case of flat head, a big 'scar' across one cheek (which turned out to be eczema) and thrush in his nose and month, all of which I noticed immediately. Ken being an all around better person than me, noticed none of this because he was busy falling in love with his son Point of which, is to say that the thrush was the first to go, a matter of days. In the first week with us he also got cradle cap (my sister calls this 'skull rot' - can you tell we are from the same family?) which lasted all of two days.

buzzy congrats on a lovely girl, I forgot to say. I still can't quite believe it will be a boy's only house for me. You are kind of right, we are kind of out of the way a bit although in a fast changing capital. Anug San Suu Kyi set you in the right place? Just ate an imported yogurt that must have had sugar in it, 'cause I can't read Thai! Yogurt was key to diet in last home, local, cheap and great quality. The amount of dairy I need is a pain now, there is plenty of local buffalo curd, of which I know from Sri Lanka, it's more than I can take though. Ken loves it, even a couple of days old says it's like biting into a buffalo's arse.

princess I have heard of a few cases of retropective GD inquiries following big babies. You were tested while pregnant though right? I do hope it's nothing. If you do turn out to have blood sugar issues I guess the up side it it's much easiler to manage when not pregnant, mainly becuase the GD blood score peramaters are tougher than regular ones.

Regarding the GT, I was told fasting was not neccessary so I didn't (it was the one hour test). While I was in denial regarding the diagnosis I bothered my doctor about this repeatedly and asked to repeat with fasting or take the 3 hour test (which does require fasting according to him). I must admit most of the internet research I did agreed with him that the 1 hour test did not need fasting but from comments here clearly it is protocol in the UK. Like a lot of this stuff it's all much more controversial than it first appears.

One little thing that might help gin- if the hospital are humane they may offer the drink cold, it is easier that way.

Thanks all for the tips re GTT. I have to take my own lucozade along , so will make sure it's super cold. I have to fast from midnight until after they've done the 2nd blood test, 2 hours after the drink. I'm sure it'll be fine, as long as I don't vom up the drink! doll - my dad just has a normal blood test to test his diabetes, so it must be accurate and much better than hanging round at the hospital!

I actually feel sick at the thought of 2 day old buffalo curd doll! I would really struggle with dairy if I had to cut out sugar. Doesn't most yoghurt use sweetener so is ok?!

princess my mum had to have the GTT several times after having my bro as he was such a humongous baby. They never found that she had it.

ele at your little big boy! I love it when babies get all chubby, so cute.

buzz your plan for no 2 sounds great. Did you say the clinic offer donor embryo as back up if the frostie doesn't defrost? The fact the one onboard is doing so well indicates that the frostie will be great quality too I think. I've not thought about donor embryo. I think we'd be more likely to do donor sperm iui, as it's cheaper, I could do natural cycle and as far as I know I don't think donor eggs would give me any advantages. Donor embryo would avoid the whole nasty EC thing tho. Having said that, we are literally going to have no spare ££s once we start paying for child care. We'll just have to hunt down a hyperallegenic fur sibling a la Kayla for the ginster instead!

Having spent ALL of yesterday decorating, we discovered that the undercoat we were using was one for gloss ie not to be used by pregnant ladies and not to be put over whole walls, arghhh! Spent the evening manically googling to see if I'd killed the baby, but couldn't find out much. The only scientific report I could find was about glue sniffers and I certainly wasn't chugging it up. Ginster has been moving lots, so hopefully she's ok probably high on the fumes.

Hi all

Great to see the thread so lively, and that latecomers have finally made it ( at Doll).

Love hearing how everyone is doing and I'm impressed at all these healthy chubby babies Ele and Princess! Mini Art has a way to go before she gets to the chubby stage. When naked she looks like Gollum, especially when she does that comedy grab reflex thing. She is still gaining weight though, broke the magic 7lb barrier last week, though I swear she is just getting longer rather than fatter. We have been signed off by the midwives now so just the HV to contend with.

Critter I like the sound of crunchy granola midwives! Tens machine sounds like a good plan especially if there's no gas & air, I didn't have one but friends who did said they were invaluable. FWIW, on the bump front every fecker I met had some kind of opinion on its size, shape, whether too big or too small, baby's likely gender and in some cases the corresponding size of my arse (I kid you not). Ignore them all!

Buzz a home birth might be worth considering if you are worried about intervention. For me the crucial decision would be how quickly I could be taken to the hospital if required. Glad your scan went well. Have as many as you need to reassure you, I spent much of my pregnancy in a state of fear until I reached the magic 37 week point. Critter is right, i didn't have many of the classic symptoms, didn't feel movement until 22 weeks or have much of a bump before 24. Book wise I had the hypno birthing book and that's it, though I did do pregnancy yoga as well which was good prep. With that and NCT I felt kind of birthed out!

Gin glad you are feeling lots of reassuring movement. I don't think I ate anything without a gaviscon chaser from halfway through the 2nd tri onwards, you have my sympathy! I had the tempting fate fear too but thankfully Mr A is more practical, though we did do a lot of shopping last minute. Impressed at you considering no. 2 though I appreciate it's a tricky one. We only ever wanted one and I'm quite grateful that hasn't changed (yet).

Mellow did your BFing adviser have any tips on combating soreness? I feel we're regressing in that area too. Mini Art is OK feeding on one sidebut not the other and can be a very badly behaved feeder with lots of pulling and grizzling. Ouch. Planning to go to a BFing cafe later this week to get some advice.

Princess I am horrified at your MIL and the greetings card and would've been livid if anyone had done that to me. I refused to have visitors in the hospital despite being in for 2 nights and have not shared the post birth photos with anyone except my mum who is too technically inept to do anything with them runs in the family. I was shattered, sore, badly anaemic and had gone 3 days without sleep so looked dreadful and to me those are our private family photos and not for anyone else, especially not for sharing without permission. Most of the photos on t'other place are of Mr A rather than me because I generally look pretty shabby! I have discovered that hair does not need washing anywhere near as often as I had previously thought minger and that Mini Art does not care whether I wear mascara or not.

Sar it sounds like your workplace should be cutting you a break. I also tended to get BHs when i was overtired or had overdone it, look on them as your body telling you to slow down, though I fully appreciate it is hard to do when the pressure is on. When do you plan to start your ML?

I had better dash, Mr A is home from work. It feels weird doing that traditional 'Daddy's Home!' thing. It may take me a while to get used to being at home all the time but I think I can handle it

Love to all, hope everyone is well

Hello ladies. Been getting to grips with the first 2 weeks. MrTeu went back to work yesterday, we managed. BF is still excrutiatingly sore on one side but the other is going like a pro. The boy was nameless until the weekend, we've called him Adair.
Good to see other 10+ers over here. We had 3 in our antenatal class with GD.
buzz sorry things are so uncertain with Barry and jobs. Congrats on it being a girl. I've decided that Adair will just have to be a Boden child for as long as I can make the clothing decisions.
critter like Art says, everyone has an opinion on your bump. Everyone told me I was having a girl, right oh. So many things influence how you carry and who cares so long as you are both healthy. I just found it weird watching it grow. From behind I wasn't pg, at the front there was a distinct line where the bump was appended to my front. I was really 'looking' for movement and felt the first tingles at 16 wks.
princess at mil. Doesn't surprise me though from what you've said previously.
sar hope you are feeling better. Hard as it is you must listen to your body and slow down. Exhaustion is not what you need.
The chat about birth experiences above. When I could focus on the hypnobirth breathing I actually found it far more effective than the standard breathing. Everything was happening so fast there wasn't much time to think, and although it all sounds rather traumatic, I actually feel very positive about my labour (we will not be repeating it. 1 and done). I was in good hands and spending 48 hours on a drip, 1:1 obs afterwards I got a chance to talk with several of the midwives who had been at the delivery. They were a fantastic team in the delivery suite and then upstairs on the ward where they were so supportive. MrTeu has filled me in on some of the funny bits of the experience (twirling my feet while up in stirrups getting repaired ).

Adair has developed a nasty sounding but totally harmless fibrous mass called a sternocleidomastoid tumour on his neck. Apparently it is caused by birth trauma (getting yanked out) so we are waiting for a physio referral and in the meantime seeing a cranio-osteo bod. So far I'm not concerned although he is favouring one side and there is already a slight tilt of his head.

Sounds like the wee man is waking up. Waves to all. Lovely to read all the chat.

Doll - so sorry about the diabetes. I can see how managing a specific diet is a ball ache in a new country. Have you been feeling unwell? Was it a surprise to find out?

Buzz - so glad you got a scan and hoorah for a little girl. I reckon mine must be a girl too based on the fact that they knock the stuffing out of you.

Critter - so glad the scan went well and hooray for another baby girl. Girls seem to be ruling around here, how amazing. So happy for you. Have you heard of ina may gaskin- an amazing american midwife. Well worth looking at her books.

art -well done you and baby on the weight gain. When you went in to labour did you have any contractions before they induced you? Do you mind me asking if she came early? Cant believe im going to give some bf advice but in the what to expect breast feeding book the author mentions one side preferences. Apparently twisting the baby so its body is under your arm of opposite boob but then reaching towards same side as would on preferred boob can encourage a swap of sides. If that makes sense?? No idea if that is practical or manageable so feel free to forget above sa7d advice for ever more.

Teu - what a beautiful name you have chosen! And well done on the hypnobirthing techniques. Sorry about the yanking out injury but it sounds like you are in good hands to get it sorted? Did your baby come early / late (sorry a new facination of mine).

eleth - thank you for your descriptions of second trimester hell, it helps to know not all pregos bounce around with glossy hair and bretton tops with rosy cheeks and coffee and cake meet ups. Makes me feel more normal.

Gin- so glad your bp and urine were normal at your last appointment. It must be nerve wracking waiting for the next scan. I reckon as long as the rrrriot girl is kicking then she is happy. Am holding your hand though if you get any wobbly moments.

thank you ladies for all the good advice last week. I think I was doing too much. Difficult to totally scale down my workload but time away did give me new ideas and strategies. So I am going to aim for early starts but reasonably on time finishes from work. I will be making it clear at next workbased assessment how grotty I feel. I am moving my mat leave date forward by 1 week (yippee). No more making big dinners for lots of people and having lots of overnight guests. No to pamperchef party this week (feel a bit guilty about that). And I will book a pregnacy massage. Baby shopping next week and hopefully starting aquanatal very soon. Need to start hypnobirthing cd very soon too. I also just read ina may gaskins guide to childbirth. Totally amaxing!!!

Hmmmm, will see.

hello to all. X

teu I LOVE the name Adair, unusual but still one people have heard of. Great choice! Sorry to hear the poor little fellow is suffering from the lump on his neck. Is it sorted now? What did the physio say? How are you feeling now - it must be a crazy time with getting to know your son, working out breastfeeding and sleep etc. I like the idea of hypnobirthing and bought the book - great to know that it worked for you.

art at mini art looking like Gollum! She is such a little cutie. I love seeing the pics of FB, and I love her name. Thanks also for the reassurance on the bump stuff. The midwife I saw last week told me I'd gained 'the perfect amount of weight' so am just going to say 'ner ner' to those saying I've porked out. It is quite disconcerting how being pregnant means that your body is under constant scrutiny and up for comments from people left right and centre.

gin how's the decorating going? Do you have a scheme? As I sometimes stalk the IVF worriers thread (but am too shy to join) I saw that you've been making progress on the ginster's nursery. It must be stressful thinking about baby number two - would you consider doing another round of IVF with MrG's sperm? Or too expensive? Sorry if asking is stressing you out more... I guess that's something you can deal with when you get to that stage.

doll at skull rot and at 'biting into a buffalo's arse', that made me laugh out loud! Hope you're settling in - I love how international your travels are. Your children are going to have so many amazing childhood memories - what cool adventures! I'm sure they'll grow up to be novelists or international spies or something awesome like that. The GD diet does sound like a bugger. The midwives I'm with ask that you stick to a GD diet (basically low carb) from the get-go but I haven't done so - however, maybe I should change my tune as I don't like the sound of either the diet or pushing out a giant baby au naturel. I had my 20 week scan on Friday and the baby was measuring a couple of days ahead which is probably fine, but of course I then fretted about the family-size bar of whole nut that I'd scoffed. I could prob take a leaf out of princess's brown diet book.

princess I at your description of Peter Andre's equipment being like a remote control on the other thread. Hope all's well with little princess and she is continuing to wear her tudor style hat with pride while feasting on 12 course meals.

eleth hope H's thrush has cleared up, hilarious that he has chubbed up so much, I love chubby babies, they are just the best thing ever!

buzzy how are you doing? Is it your 20 week scan this week? Am excited for you!

We had our scan and although we don't know what we're having (hoping for a surprise), MrC and I are now betting girl or 'effeminate boy' as we have a pic of its legs and bum and couldn't see any waving equipment - also, its face looks quite dainty and girly. The sonographer said everything looked normal which was a big relief.

My mat leave is still being a bit of a bugger, may now turn out to be only 14 weeks total, and if I only go back part time, I'll lose my healthcare benefits (which also cover MrC's healthcare and will cover the baby's healthcare too)... argh. Am thinking I might try to job hunt while on mat leave as in general it feels like I'm drowning at work, especially while studying for my masters in the evening, and I don't see how it's going to be sustainable next year with a baby on top of study and a full-time job. And at least if I have to work full time I could find a job that paid more. Oh well. In a way it's good as it's forcing me to reassess things! Hope all's well with everyone.

sar xpost! I'm so glad you've got these new coping mechanisms in place. They sound really sensible. I think your pregnancy sounds particularly rough, I know you haven't felt great during it at all. And I totally identify with some of the things that you're struggling with. Really glad you're moving your mat leave forward. The mat leave and the baby's arrival will give you time to reassess and will also mean that your employers are forced to find a solution to dealing with things without leaning on you so hard. This is more important than work! I know it's bloody hard though, especially when other people aren't making it easy for you to scale back. I have read Ina May Garten, yes, in fact a friend of mine was born on her commune, the Farm - she's due in December and was telling me she had performance anxiety about the birth as her mum was so cool and progressive and had this awesome '70s birth when noone was going natural in the States!

hello everyone!

Just back from a weeks holiday, which was brilliant bar the fact that the time just went past far too quickly. We were in the Scottish Borders and got a mixed bag of weather (really lovely hot day, miserable rainy day and the rest somewhere inbetween) but none of it affected our holiday, was great spending the day thinking ' will we go to the park or the beach or both?' Loved it!

Hamish, sadly still has some thrush (we're bad bad parents!) we've just not been applying the canestan as often as we should (usually because he gets overtired in the evening and he screams when you do it then, and he rarely cries normally so we hate that and put it off).

I was also put to shame by doll who noted that she'd gotten rid of little doll's cradle cap in 2 days (our eldest who is 4 next month still has cradle cap . In our defence we believed the guff pedaled by the NHS who tell you that even if you do nothing it will clear up by itself (our son is evidence that this is simply not the case!)

So, enough of the hair shirt and Cilice!

critter that's bollocks about your maternity leave/pay - what crap to have to think about all that stuff right now - really hope you get something sorted out that you're happy with (or find a better job!) makes me feel very very lucky.

sarlat glad you're starting to tone things down a bit, it is hard to change the way you do things, but I think the rest will do you the world of good. I know I found that tiredness made the morning sickness way worse. Hope you enjoy the pregnancy massage, I had one a couple of weeks before the birth and it was great, really relaxing - totally loved it. My family also got me a beauty care treatment thing when I was pregnant, so the week I got the massage I also got a mumtobe pedicure, manicure and facial (bliss!) Definitely pamper yourself as much as you can now :-)

art how is the breastfeeding going? Did the breastfeeding cafe help?
princess how is Hamish' fellow chubster? He had his 6 week check at 14 weeks (yes, that late!) and we discovered he's off the chart for head circumference and length (he was basically the length of a 6 month old at 14 weeks) although his weight has stabilised at 91st centile. So pleased the bmilk is helping him grow so much (feel very proud - sad, but true!)

teu - how are you all getting on? Glad your birth was a positive experience even if not the one you hoped for, but I bet it seems years away now that you have Adair taking up all your time.

buzzy how are you doing? Not managed to catch up on the other thread since I got back so I'm hoping it's still going okay.

gin glad you're getting lots of movement, feels so reassuring when you feel them somersaulting around in there. Hope it's all going well with you too.

I feel like I've been away for ages!

waves to everyone I might have missed

Welcome back Eleth sounds like a lovely time. If it makes you feel better, I did nothing 'bout the skull rot, just went. Also, nearly 4 Little Doll has something gross growing on his foot that I fear is fungal in nature. And frankly he could currently have skull rot and a flat head for all I know under tatty Afro he is sporting. I have done my best but he has offically gone feral now.

critter I don't think you will be pushing out a giant baby on account of that bar of whole nut Thanks for the comments re spy-hood, let's just hope they don't rot too much first. As someone who got zero leave for Little Doll, I can relate to your stresses, it's a bad feeling. Surely with referance to health insurance, particularly for the baby, you must limited in the extend other options are open, no?

Gin is your GTT coming up?

Ironically, having been scanned within an inch of my life before the GD diagnosis, due to the move and different care I have had none since. My own weight stopped going up at 25 weeks and considering I had 'undiagnosed GD' until 30 weeks it's rather opposite of what would be expected. This is (at 35 weeks) the first week I have managed to put some on since. The bump has changed alot though, so he is clearly getting on with growing, one way or another.

Oh I have to run, but many waves to all.

doll at a feral little doll! Is he excited about getting a sibling, or not taking any notice of it until baby doll arrives?

You can have some of my baby weight! I have put on sooooo much. About 2 stone, eek, which is what I think I'm meant to put on over the whole pregnancy. Am hoping it's all bump and boobs, but know it's the thunder thighs and arse!

ele welcome back! Your hols sound lovely. Was it Hamish's first holiday?

critter hope you managed to sort out the mat leave. 14 weeks is pretty shit. Is that literally all they give you? You can't take unpaid? Do they do career breaks? How are you meant to BF if back at work at 14 weeks?!

It's our ensuite we've been decorating . It's still not bloody done! We're not going to do the nursery ie our spare room, as we only decorated it (blue) the other year and hope to move next year.

Baby no 2 is a difficult problem. We can't afford the 3 cycles it'd probably take us to get any success and I don't think I could go through ivf. At the mo, I'm feeling pretty happy with the idea of being a family of 3 or poss adopting once ginster is older, but no doubt will start menkuling about it all at some point in the future!

sar hope you are doing ok and managing to stick to your scaled down work. I'm finding a whole week in the office, with my long commute pretty hard going. I'm working from home a day a week for the next few weeks due to medical appts, which gives me some respite.

Hope art, teu, mellow, princess and their little bundles of joy are all doing well! Teu I absolutely love your name. I was totally stuck with boys' names, but that's a really good un!

Waves to buzz.

I had my GTT today and survived! Was v proud that I didn't puke up the 3 glasses of lucozade I had to down in 10 mins and the sugar actually made me feel a bit better, not having been allowed breakfast. Just have a bit of a bloody arm from one of the blood tests... Have scoffed down a twix in case the test comes back positive.

We have our growth scan on Monday and I am scared...Please be the right size ginster!

Ps sorry for the double post, something odd seems to be going on with the mobile site...

Gin when do you get your GTT results? At the growth scan appointment? Nice move on the twix I don't know what to make of all the size stuff, even growth scans don't seem to be very accurant, makes you wonder what the point of it all is. I measured my own body weight every week just becuase I was interested and turns out to be useful due to shitty record keeping in previous location, then the GD, then the move. At least I have it to go along with my blood scores to show new Drs.