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.

sar that's fab :) really pleased for you. Hope you are feeling relieved and have nice plans for the weekend xx

sar that's brilliant news, what a relief! So happy everything looks good.

princess oooh red wine and stew, how lovely! Sounds like the ideal Friday night. Will look into those nappies too, not sure if they are available in the US but they must have some alternative - at least for the first few weeks. To be honest my carbon use is pretty dire given how much I fly back and forth across the Atlantic so the nappies for us will be a drop in the ocean. But I do think the reusable ones just look cute .

Really glad your little lady is feeling a bit better and great to hear you love the ergo! I need to get the one we've been given dry cleaned. It isn't too dirty but smells of another family and I want it to smell of me. MrC was joking that I want to spray all our secondhand baby stuff with my scent glands like an animal .

Totally agree with you on FB. Will message you! MrC and I have talked about FB baby pics and when mini-critter arrives there will be one announcement pic there and then no more. I do really like seeing other people's little ones though at least now I'm pregnant and not the annoying friends' kids so probably being a giant hypocrite.

eleth thanks so much for the advice on the nappies - it looks like the bumgenius ones are available in the US, so will take a look at those. I really like the way the plain fluffy white ones look though, not such a fan of the colourful printed ones. MrC and I both had reusable terry squares when we were tots, according to DM and MIL. I'm thinking that disposable the first few weeks and then reusable is the way to go.

Last night at our birth class the teacher was talking about 'elimination communication' ie going nappy-free. Apparently you can learn to read the baby's signals when it needs to go to the loo. The mind boggles. I would be up for it if I was at home all the time - maybe - but I think it's impossible if you're at work and the child is in a nursery. They were also talking about placenta encapsulation, one of the women is going to do it - I was quite impressed actually as a lot of other people in the class were a bit . She's also having a home birth. The teacher said she's heard it's good for evening out the 'baby blues' when your hormones dip post baby.

doll am hoping you're ok, if the little chap hasn't arrived yet you must be feeling so ready to meet him - hope it's not awfully hot and humid where you are too. That would be the pits! Great tip on getting the second hand nappies and them soaking up wee better. Will definitely have a scout about on craigslist. I have my gestational diabetes test on Monday and will be thinking of you.

buzzy interesting about the cost too. I am so sorry you're still feeling rotten, it's not fair, you deserve an easy pregnancy after everything you went through to get mini-bee. Love the thought of her being a night owl, but maybe less cute when you're trying to get to sleep at 3am!

Love to all, hope you have nice weekends planned!

princess Thanks for the nappy info, I shall look into them as well

critter I don't think I would risk going nappiless wouldn't fancy the mess in public if I got it wrong, which I would

you can do a private fb page where only the members see what is going on and what is posted, I belong to a couple already, some from a different thread share their baby pics,

I will be posting on FB as it is the easiest way for me to reach the 4 corners of the world, I doubt minibee will be scarred by it :)

Elimination communication... shudder. I've heard of this too. Baby poo is so quick and comes out under such pressure (and yes I have been poo'd on!) I have no idea how people do this without being covered head to toe in bright yellow poop all the time! Washing with a baby in a nappy is bad enough! Do people have to cling film their houses and wear toxic waste suits to start with

princess sorry you're feeling guilty about the nappies :-D

Not to pile on the guilt, but even if you use biodegradable nappies (I've used naty too) they still go in your councils landfill and landfill conditions aren't conducive to biodegradabilty so your nappy takes a long long time to breakdown and even then it has still formed part of land fill (to the extent you're probably better saving your pennies and buying cheap lidl nappies :-) Unless your council collects and treats your entirely biodegradable nappies differently (e.g. doesn't send them to landfill but composts them) the same thing will happen to them.

However, I always buy eco nappies because the manufacturing process is much friendlier to the environment and they also tend to have less/no chemicals in them (unlike pampers etc).

I would also love to see everyone's babies, but I'm a bit of a luddite and dont' actually have a FB account (well, I do technically have an account but it's entirely empty apart from my name - only have it as some companies are only set up on FB). I'm also wary of putting my babies faces out there into the ether, however, recently used my FB account to view members of my families pages and realised that while I might be circumspec in publishing my sons image, my sisters/uncle etc all have photos of my sons on their pages with no privacy setting at all! Feel like I'm pushing a boulder up a hill...

Sar great news with the scan, I'm sure your weekend will be all the more relaxed because of it :-)

critter I'd heard about the nappy-free approach and I think, maybe if you lived somewhere warm with wipe clean floors it's probably a valid approach, but nappiless in Scotland? - couldn't put the wee man through it :-D

Ele la la laaaaa . Food for thought, I'm going to have a think about this. Mini princess will be weaning at Christmas, so poos will be scrapable and pailing less eggy! I hear you on the facebook stuff, we actually banned (yes, it sounds dramatic now!) our rellies from posting photos of mini princess, well asked them politely after the photo my mum sent to everyone, which mr p had sent to just our parents, ended up on facebook whilst I was having my fanjo stitched! I was not happy to say the least! But I was really flattered and happy that everyone wanted to share the news. It's such a personal thing. I too, like critter love looking at other babies and there is a small part of me that thinks I shouldn't be so strict. I totally get why people use FB to share their happy snaps buzzy. Really personal decision. It's hard being a parent and calling the shots for another person!

princess have you looked at a 'hybrid' nappy? Cloth outside, waterproof piece then a disposable liner (like a big sanitary pad) 100% bio which you could flush or compost yourself depending on your living situation. I mentioned to critter up thread, I guess there are others aside from gDiapers in the UK? By the I'm more than familiar with the night garden and TV in general Little Doll was trying to get the TV on yesterday and he figured that saying he was feeling sick would help his case. I did a surprised/concerned face and asked what, exactly, was wrong. "Well, I have a broken heart".

ah, no news yet doll :-)

We didn't send a photo with our 'we've had a boy' email this time for fear that my rellies would just post it on facebook - we did it with our eldest but my family wasn't really into facebook then (my dad's on it every night now and he's 78!) I sometimes think i should also link to them all if only to find out what they're all up to. I hate the idea of having a FB page for family and friends though, think I'd need to set separate ones up, one for family only and an entirely different one for friends (could use my maiden name for family, and married name for friends.... I'm mulling...)

I don't mind folk seeing the wee man, it's just that you can't control their privacy settings (and as my research confirmed, my family aren't really that savvy when it comes to protecting their personal data).

I've got a picasa album set up where I publish pics of my boys and every few months (when I do updates) I send the URL to family members.

Reusable nappies aren't for everyone princess as doll says, I also know people who spent money on cloth nappies then realised after a week or so they weren't hacking it and so went back to disposables - no shame in it, other than the money they wasted - happy to tell people about my real nappy experience but would never want to pressure anyone into it (honest!).

We were homeless for 4 months when my eldest was 12 months old (cowboy builders, sewage leak, insurance job) and so were in temporary accommodation (3 flats in total) needless to say, no way I was carting my resusables and nappy bin etc from flat to flat, so were in disposables the whole 4 months (ma bad :-D

nope eleth no sign, though Ken predicts today is the day based on nothing Working our way through home induction myths. Home based aucpressure began yesterday, thanks sar which Ken "learnt" from you tube, so he gets to play with my trotters feet, the lucky thing. Yes critter very hot and humid, not the worse time of year but still, properly uncomfortable for the last week or so. Ken is being brilliant honestly, he really rises to these kind of situations, this is great because the dark side of this, aside from discomfort and fear that it will never happen is that every day here is money and annual leave eaten. So keeping positive

These posts have alerted me to the world of nappies. really interested in the idea of slightly more eco friendly ones that are delivered. And seem cheaper than pampers, I think? Not sure I would cope with permanent bare bums either. That's brave!

So the scan showed baby's measurements are all fine. I really didn't expect anything else as I have felt the baby is much bigger. Head is down which is good too. The sonographer did spot a mildly dilated kidney ( renal pelvis dilation) but after the dr reviewed it they decided not to follow up with more scans pre and post birth. Not sure how I feel about that really. On the one hand the common sense approach not to overly medicalise the problem or panic suits me. But on the other hand, I do wonder if I should press for follow up. Maybe the baby was just ready for a great big wee. Guess we need to discuss it with my mid wife. At least now the growth scan is all clear and can get back on with booking a home birth.

I have been experiencing searing but not totally agonising low stabby womb/cervix pains some days for the last week. They arent quite like ligament pain. I am 32 weeks. I understand this normal? Anyone else get these? I am also struggling a bit to get a good nights sleep (not a big problem and very normal). I also feel like some nausea has crept back in on mornings. But generally all manageable stuff.

doll - glad you liked the diy tip. Will be interesting to hear if it had any effect??

Sorry you're still waiting doll but hopefully not for much longer. I don't put much stock in the myths to induce labour (if they worked I doubt the NHS would have spent money inducing me with syntocinon - they'd have just given me a curry and a pineapple and told me to get in touch...) However, my friend did get acupuncture to help bring her labour on and she went into labour the next day followign the session, I coudl argue she'd have went into labour then by herself anyway, but you never know it might have helped?

Sorry about you losing annual leave and money - something to bring up whenever the little one whinges at you in the future...

Sending you cervix opening wishes :-D

thanks eleth Rubbish news today. New doctor that I saw today is leaving town on Friday, brillant. Again? New doctor says "oh you are overdue, why?" "errr well..." Well she thinks she found the reason - he is now back to back. FFS, oh yes with the cord around his neck, honestly what next? She was very negative about a vaginal birth. I'm really getting worn out with coping with new issues and new perspectives every 5 minutes I had never heard of back to back being a cause of post date pregnancy before but I have found some online stuff today that concurs (due to the fact that a baby in this postion may not fit quite so snuggly on the cervix). I'm starting to wonder if my pursuit of an intervention lite birth in a high intervention context that I don't know is a smart move. As well as the context and the relocation I have had the ancient womb, the gestational diabetes, policy restricting over due possiblities, the posterior cervix and now a OP baby. I've been here a month.

Oh doll sorry to hear about your appointment. Yet another dr leaving?! Where are they all going? I've not heard of a back to back baby causing later birth either. In fact the one lady I know whose baby was back to back was several weeks early! Was the cord picked up in a scan? I assume this can change fairly quickly? Sorry I have no words of wisdom but think you are being massively brave and staying so so calm (I'd be going apeshit and making a right old fuss!)

sar so pleased to hear all was well at the scan. Well done for staying calm and following your instinct! If the drs aren't worried about the kidney, you shouldn't be either, but I know that's easier said than done.

I occasionally get stabby fanjo pains, which I've read are related to the pelvic muscles, and have also had lower ab pains, which are the poo ones! Not sure what cervix pain would feel like ... I too have felt a bit nauseous some mornings again and bad smells have started to set me off again. Boo to MS.

ele all the nappy info is amazing, thank you. I still don't know what we're going to do. Feel I should try to be green, but not sure I could cope with all the shit covered nappies hanging about until they're washed! Think we'll see how we get on.

critter I knew a friend of a friend whose baby was nappy free! She did slinging and so could work out when the baby needed to go... The mind boggles! My friend found an ice cream tub of piss behind the sofa after a visit from this mum and baby! Nice... Hope your GD test goes ok.

princess will PM you for mini P pics :) Pleased to hear she is feeling better. Do you find the jabs traumatic? My friend made her DH take her baby, as she just couldn't do it! Sounds like your house is coming on really well! My mum and I ( well my mum really, as I fell asleep post lunch, oops) finished off decorating our ensuite last week. We've been in our house 7 years now and STILL have stuff to do.

buzz hope you are feeling a bit better.

Am now starting to fret about the baby not being head down. She wasn't at our antenatal check last week. I know she still has time to move as i'm only 33 weeks, but hey something new to worry about! Her movements now make me jump and sometimes hurt a little, but I do love feeling tiny feet poking through the bump. Yesterday we could feel a whole leg wedged under my ribs!

gin please try not to think about the position of the baby, I know it's reassuring to have them head down as soon as but it really means nothing. My situation being a case in point, when I arrived here a month ago he was, apparently, perfectly positioned, which was great, bit less great now though. Some changes, like these, are just part of the ride but I do find the bloody changes in doctors (going to conferences and shit) the really difficult thing to deal will as here they really call the shots and all have their own version. Yes, the cord was spotted on a scan, a case in point really. My last doctor didn't scan, rather used touch to understand position of baby. It could change again, but now we need him to rotate and in the right direction to disengage the cord (which ever direction that might be) I don't think it's as dramatic as it sounds, I have read that a third of babies are born with cords around their necks. Now we are convinced he will be born on Halloween, what the face up and cord situation thanks for your kind words.

Gah, thought I had posted a long message this morning on the bus and realised I hadn't!

doll how incredibly frustrating about the baby's positioning. I can see how you'd be just fed up at this stage. I'm so sorry this has been such a huge pain. My midwife said that 80% of first time mothers go over their due date, but I can see how the combination of scary info and unfamiliar environment would be really unnerving. I guess the only thing I'd say is that the most important thing is that you have your baby safely and as comfortably as possible, in as close a way possible to your birth plan. I think you've been dealing with all this brilliantly, I would be a mess.

gin at the ice cream tub of wee! I think the baby can turn quite late on? And maybe that midwives can turn it? I heard of a website that can help called 'spinningbabies.com' or something like that, maybe worth a look?

buzzy hope you're feeling a little better. You really have had a rough ride with this pregnancy - I bet you can't wait until maternity leave starts!

sar great news about the growth scan, and I'd definitely bring up the renal thing with your midwife to set your mind at rest. Incidentally I was watching the Kardashians last night and Kim encapsulated her placenta after baby North was born! So it's clearly de rigeur!

eleth our childbirth teacher lady said she used to work in China where all the babies and toddlers wear split bottom trousers in the villages. She said she lived in quite a cold part of the country and that in the winter all the little tots had red chapped bum cheeks, poor wee mites! So understand that Scotland might not be the best place to try elimination communication!

princess am going to message you. at clingfilming the house! A couple of good friends were staying with us this weekend who have a gorgeous 10 month old little girl. The amount she pooed was unbelievable! And they were big too, I couldn't believe a creature so small could make such big poops!

All well here. Feeling good and the baby is moving around, which is always lovely to feel. Meeting the recalcitrant doula today, getting my gestational diabetes test and rhogam shot (am rhesus negative) and having my 28 week check up so will update afterwards. eleth my friend with the 10 month old told me that buggies have gotten much lighter than they were 8 years ago (which is when our 2nd hand one was bought) and also suggested that we just got a simple frame and snapped the car seat onto that, as a solution to the up and down the stairs problem, have you heard of these snap and go frames? Apparently a lot of women who live in walk up apartments in the US have them.

gin just wanted to give you further reassurance about the baby's position. Hamish was head down at every scan and palpation until week 36 when the little bugger turned breach! I went back the following week and he had changed back to head down at week 37.

In addition, my friends baby was never head down and was breech throughout her pregnancy until late on when they discovered he was transverse (and therefore undeliverable!) She went for a manual turning at week 37, but he had went head down - massive relief. The following week, turned out he changed to breech. She had a good consultant who was willing to deliver him breech but at week 40+3, he went head down and was born 2 days later in the right position :-D

So sorry about all the late scariness doll really hope this baby comes out soon - he/she certainly believes in keeping you sweating. My friend had a back to back labour first time round and she was late, but then she was late with her second and he was in the normal position - you just never know. I know what you mean about the dilemmas about intervention vs risk - I chickened out this time round and opted for a voluntary induction as I was also scared about the 'ancient womb'. I just hope he/she starts coming out soon so you don't need to make any hard decisions.

critter never heard of a snap and go frame, but I know with travel systems you generally just have the chassis and then you can click in a car seat or buggy seat etc. Might just be a US thing, or maybe just a US expression for your normal UK travel system? If your car is outside the apartment that would definitely be a goer. You're not mean to have a newborn in a carseat for longer than 2 hours (unless it's a lie flat one) so it would depend on how long your little one would be in it?

eleth I had no idea about not leaving a newborn in a car seat longer than two hours. How long is a newborn a newborn for? sorry for stupid question. Just wondering about travelling with the little creature. I think I'm going to have to suck it up and actually just go to a baby shop and look at a load of different prams. I've been spoilt so far with all the stuff people have given us and haven't bought anything.

critter don't worry about it, the world of babies was a massive education for me (I knew hee-haw about them until I expelled my own :-)

It's all to do with their spine, they should be kept lying flat as much as possible and if they do get put in things like car seats or anything that isn't flat (like a chair swing/bouncer etc) then you have to limit the time in them so their spine isn't curved for too long. I think in relation to travelling (if you had to drive a long distance etc) you'd be looking at stopping every 2 hours for about an hour to let them stretch out etc, or if you thought you'd need to do lots of long travelling then a lie-flat car seat might be an expensive but worthwhile investment? Britax do a lie-flat one, but I'm sure there will be some brands I've never heard of that do lie-flat car seats in the States as well.

Not sure about the how long is a newborn a newborn, but I would guess at under 3 months is probably newborn (just a guess though!)

Baby shops are scary - I don't envy you!

elth thanks for your support. I guess in my case I'm not really scared of waiting with the ancient womb. I can certainly understand it though, it's a very personal thing and we all have to go with what is right for us., of course. My problem is the management of the flux with the changes in doctors, perspectives etc. I guess I prepared myself for getting here and managing but I imagined it as one thing, not new issues every 5 minutes. Anyway I intend to wait to 42 weeks, then if I end up with a failed induction and a section I'll know I could have done no more. Of course he likely intends his birthday to me 42+1 but got to draw the line somewhere.

Oh critter deep into the baby now

Baby gear, that should read critter

akuabadoll you've got my sympathies it's hard trying to stay de-medicalised when they insist on telling you every risk under the sun and your pregnancy (and medical staff!) seem to change every day - those are challenges that nobody needs in late pregnancy!

For what its worth, I don't agree with this ETD for babies anyway, I think other countries have it more sorted giving a month for delivery rather than a specific date - some babies just cook for longer (my friend went 43 weeks before she agreed to be induced, turns out her mum had been 43.5 weeks for both her pregnancies, and her aunty had went 44 weeks, so longer pregnancies were probably just genetic, but health professionals always get you with 'the fear'.)

As well as the ancient womb I think I was just very focused on the severe pre-eclampsia I had with DS1 (had no symptoms at all, was picked up at a late routine check) and I felt pretty certain it would happen again (it didn't and I went on to have a great induced birth, but the fear was there :-) so I sort of spent my entire pregnancy expecting to be induced.

Fingers crossed you get to deliver this baby the way you want before 'the fear' gets you too :-)

critter I've been rethinking this definition of a newborn as I remember when Hamish was 10 weeks he seemed massive and beyond the curled up newborn stage - so I'm thinking newborn is maybe 6 weeks now (I reserve the right to change my mind again later :-D

doll I'm sorry you're still waiting, how frustrating! Your mucus plug said sayonara two weeks ago, I would be climbing the walls! And argh about losing annual leave and money. I was hoping mini doll might have chosen to arrive yesterday. Maybe you'll have a Halloween baby? Or a November 1st baby?

eleth thanks for the advice on the baby stuff - I am thinking I might need to do some sort of class to tell me how to manage a newborn. I saw a friend whose baby is 4 weeks old last night, he was so small and helpless but also incredibly cute. Made it all seem a bit more real. Poor friend has to go back to work in a month and is stressing about leaving her 8 week old with a nanny. I am so glad that I have a bit more leave than that. I also met and signed up with the doula, who actually seems great and is much cheaper than the other ones I was looking at. Is Hamish's cold gone yet?

Also, has anyone else had weird pain around their sacrum area when pregnant? Like the joint where the top of your bum connects with your back pelvis?

Glad the doula is nice critter given the role she'll be playing it has to be someone that you're comfortable with (and even better that she's cheap :-D )

Hamish's cold has gone and his cough (which lingered for ages) seems eventually to have gone too, although i've been left with a baby who no longer seems to know how to nap or sleep that well - ah well, it was good while it lasted...

Newborns are so incredibly vulnerable and fragile (used to dread having to dress Hamish) but they are adorable too (that whole 'curled up' thing they do when they pick you up, and the way they cling into you - it's amazing).

Re the sacrum pain - never had it as such during pregnancy but I did suffer a bit with groin pain to the extent I couldnt' extend to my full stride when walking and couldn't walk for longer than a few minutes. What you're describing sounds a bit like SPD (Symphisis Pubis Dysfunction) which is very common in pregnancy and is basically down to your body preparing for birth.

All the ligaments loosen up during pregnancy and in doing so you find that actions that normally don't hurt, start to ache (one of the main reasons why pregnant women are advised not to lift anything heavy, as what you may have been able to manage fine while un-diffed, can cause you to strain ligaments when diffed).

Some women get it really bad and end up with crutches (I was nothing like that thankfully, just a bit of groin pain) and I'd say its definitely something worse mentioning to your health carers, not that they'll necessarily be able to do anything about it, but it's good for them to know (especially in terms of the birth and birth positions).

Of course it might not be SPD at all (hey, I'm not a doctor :-D) but I'd still mention it to your doula/midwife/carer person you see for check ups during your pregnancy.

Oh Doll I'm sorry you're playing the waiting game with the extra stress of pay, leave and most stressful of all changing health care. I saw a good friend today who is now part of a large expat community and I was pretty at some of the healthcare protocols. Excellent health care, very medicalised births but what made me was the requirement to show your marriage certificate at the hospital for treatment / check ups / giving birth. Remember not long til tiny doll arrives now. He will be fine and soon you'll be sniffing his lovely newborn head :)

Critter I can recommend these books: the first time parent, the womanly art of breastfeeding (from le leche league) and wonder weeks. I read the waobf before mini princess, am reading wonder weeks at each leap and have just started the first time parent. The first time parent takes you through everything you need to buy and what to expect when the mini person rocks up. I think you (and sar and gin and buzzy) would find this incredibly useful at this stage. I wish I'd read it in late pregnancy. Newborn in pram terms is to 6 months. :)

I had a day last week where I just felt I wasn't coping. A very strange day. I put it down to tiredness. A touch of anxiety has crept in since but I've spoken to mr p about it and feel a bit more on top of things. I didn't mention it because I felt embarrassed. But it's do important to be honest. It's still going well overall and mini princess is in a great giggly mood today plus the top of the tooth has made its way through. I also had a lovely pub lunch with old friends and new babies.

I have to go and do bed time feeding now. But I think of you all often, and his far we've come. Love to all :) xx

Morning all

Sooo much for me to catch up on. I do read, and I read the 10+ thread as well, but Mini Art is still a limpet baby and on the rare occasions I get a bit of time with both hands free I tend to end up doing joyous tasks like washing up/ ironing/ trying to manage the general chaos rather than sitting down to catch up with the fred! It's great that it's so active though and really exciting that so many 10+ babies are soon to appear... hoping for good news from Doll soon. I do hope you don't get a Hallowe'en baby, not for any superstitious reasons but because Hallowe'en themed parties are going to get pretty bloody tedious year on year , though not that it will really matter where you are currently living. Having said that the date is the least important thing (though again, that won't hold where you're currently living!) - I hope you manage to have have a low intervention birth with a healthy mum and baby at the end of it xx

Critter good news on the doula! FWIW I'm sure you'll manage fine with a newborn. They don't need much - food, warmth, sleep, to be reasonably clean - and while we were absolutely terrified on leaving the hospital and couldn't believe they'd let a couple of incompetents escape with a tiny baby, in retrospect I think we did OK. The hardest part for me was her nocturnal nature - babies don't know night from day and are no respecters of adult body clocks. That coupled with exhaustion and severe anaemia wiped me out for the first couple of weeks. I also struggled with BFing at first. For that I would say make sure you know what support is available and don't hesitate to access it. I was a regular at baby cafe for the first few weeks, was almost embarrassed by the number of times I went for help, but BFing counsellors would far rather see you and have you carry on that have you stay at home and give up if BFing is what you really want to do. I second Princess's recommendation on the Womanly Art of Breastfeeding book. It's a bit obvious in places but readable and has some good advice. My periods of not-coping generally came in the wee hours, and still do, but everything seems more manageable in daylight.

Enough of my unsolicited advice! You'll be relieved I have nothing to offer on travel systems . We have a fairly big pram which I absolutely love (Uppababy Vista FWIW) but it wouldn't be compatible with lugging up and down steps at the carrycot stage. We live in a terrace with a few steps to our front door and it's manageable but not easy - until she moves into the pushchair seat I have to get the pram out in two sections, assemble it then go back for baby, so it's really best when there's two of us here. On my own I tend to use the baby carrier for short trips which I'm getting the hang of. We have a homemade stretchy wrap which I use around the house as it's great to get her to nap (basically just a long strip of t-shirt fabric about 1m x 5m) and a Connecta Baby carrier for going out. Mr A loves the Connecta and Mini Art sleeps really well in it.

Ele I'm really grateful for the real nappies conversation. We keep trying them but without much success so far. I am determined to get it right though, I am horrified at the amount of landfill we've already created in just 11 weeks of disposables and don't like the thought of the chemicals involved in their manufacture. We've used the eco friendly ones simply because they're nicer nappies but in the full knowledge they are going to landfill. The real nappies we've tried are these ones, which are like Bumgenius but cheaper and made locally to here. They get great reviews but of the dozen or so times I've used them there have only been a couple of occasions when they haven't leaked. They do come with a booster but if I use that the nappy is so bulky that poor little Mini A can barely move her legs. I put them through the wash half a dozen times before we started using them but maybe they need a few more washes to build the absorbency. We do have a real nappy shop about half an hour from us so are planning an expedition this weekend for advice and will get a couple of different brands to try. I was pissed off at the number of people who have said 'oh, you won't last' when told of the real nappy plan and am determined to prove them wrong!

Gin not long to go now! There is still time for the baby to turn. Mini A was wiggling around until quite late on and seemed to go into reverse before the birth - at my 39 week appt the midwife said she was 3/5 engaged, but by the time we got to the delivery room that had reverted to 1/5. Don't know how she managed that! But she still got out OK, albeit rather rapidly .

I'm going to have to go now as Mini Art is registering her disapproval at being left to play on her own, but I will be back! Waves to Buzz, Sar, Teu and anyone else not mentioned yet - more later