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.

Well my scan is booked for Monday so hopefully will have an idea of what is happening,

ele H is a popular name for boys back home, must be all the Scots there :) it was one of my boys names

sweets hopefully mini sweets is getting a move on

critter You do know your baby is due before mine how is the weather there ?? You could end up with a home birth, I just hope Barry doesn't drive like a girl when we need to get there

My friend came over with loads of practical baby stuff, also a kiwi baby whisperer book so it shall be interesting to see what they suggest, Kayla has been very affectionate and demanding attention the last few days, she wasn't too freaked by friends baby which is promising :)

I've just had my first piece of Red Velvet cake and minibee is going mental, I wasn't overly impressed

buzz I remembered your due date officially was after mine, but I think minibee is going to make an appearance before minicritter somehow! I don't know why, but I think I might go overdue. The weather has been extremely cold this week, but it seems to be warming up finally, a little. My colleague has been coughing on me though and now I feel a sore throat coming on . I don't want to repeat poor sar's flu and birth combo, that did not sound like fun at all.

sweet you are amazingly calm for being more than a week overdue. I think I will be really impatient as soon as I hit the 40 week mark. But I suppose there is sod all you can do about it. When is your appointment about being induced? I do hope he arrives soon!

Critter - I had the appointment yesterday and I will be induced first thing monday morning. It is the latest they are allowed to induce me, but it increases the chances I won't have a caesarean. I think I am happy -or will be later-- that he will be born nearly mid-month - it will create a small separation between his birthday and the holiday season. I hope you won't get sick. Did you get a flu shot this season?

Buzzy - I have actually never had red velvet cake. I only learned what it was from an American colleague about 6 months ago. Does it taste very artificial because of all the food colouring?

Right now I am only 75% effaced and like 2 cm dilated. If I am more effaced Monday I will get a prostglandin gel, followed by my membranes being artificially ruptured and then, if things aren't moving fast enough, a pitocin drip. If minisweet isn't born after a few hours it will be a caesarean.

sweet I wouldn't bother with the cake again, it had a slight vanilla/chocolate taste. I hope mini sweet gets a move on for you, its good that they have a clear plan for you,

critter It does help to know that things will have kicked off by the 27th with being induced although not really looking forward to either c section or induction, I'm a bit fed up with people saying 'oh you don't want a c section, you want to do it naturally' REALLY um first it might not be my choice and who are you to judge how I have my baby!!! Some people chose a c section and that is their choice. I'm also advised by these helpful people to have an epidural before they start the induction

roll on the 28th when I can hold my baby :)

Totally agree that it's all about the end product buzzy healthy happy babies and mothers are the main priority, a good journey there is just a bonus (and not one that any of us can expect or demand) tell them all to pee off (nicely) :-D

A baby on the 28th January - what a great end to a normally crappy month :-D

sweet Here's hoping baby grouch gets the hint early and starts making its journey out without requiring too much inducement - mind you, must be nice knowing that on Monday there will be a baby (after all this waiting).

critter sending you lots of 'feck off cold' vibes as I agree going through labour with a cold/flu would be an extra level of crapness that no-one needs - here's hoping it's just a tickly throat..

grouch I'm hoping mini G arrives this weekend for you! Will you be trying all the old wives tales? A longish walk waddle seemed to do the trick for me! V exciting that you are so near to meeting your baby. Don't worry about being induced - I managed it and I'm a massive wuss! Although I did have a lot of epidural... It's great that you 're 2cm dilated - my cervix was still 1cm long and closed but the drip still worked for me, so I'm sure you won't have any problems.

buzz I can't believe people are being so unhelpful re the birth. I too had unhelpful comments about c section recovery etc when I thought I was going to have one, as though I had any choice in the matter! What's important is getting that baby out and it'll be special however it happens as it's how you will meet your baby. Very exciting that you have an end date in sight.

critter not long for you either! Crittette may surprise you and come on time! I was so shocked when my waters went 1 hour after the due date, although I shouldn't have been. I have wondered if ivf means our babies are more likely to arrive on their due dates. Not really sure how it works!

ele hope your little man is sleeping better tonight. Obviously I'm up at the mo... Sounds like he's having a growth spurt? How old is he now? Ginster is currently pulling some great faces on the boob - she has one that involves raising one eyebrow, as though she's saying hmm not sure about this vintage!

Waves to everyone else.

Hello all, Happy New Year! I'm sorry I'm such a poor poster. I rarely get the laptop out and on the phone am poor at typing/posting.
Congrats to Sar, it feels like quite the boom at the moment - and 3 to come in the next 2 weeks if I understand correctly? hope that it all goes well, will keep my fingers crossed for smooth deliveries, this time really drags and I think because of the unknown it is so difficult to just 'wait and see'. In retrospect it is easy to think, don't worry, but I bet if I'm ever lucky enough to be in that position a second time I'll be just as stressed!

We are doing very well, BabyMellow seems to be progressing in leaps and bounds. Weaning is fun (hungry baby, really feel like I was starving him with just breast milk!) and he appears to be getting better at sleeping finally after a few tough weeks. I feel really exhausted and even though am getting a 4 hour block (for the last 3-4 nights) I almost feel worse! ele you have my sympathy for growth spurt. Have you seen the wonder weeks book - it seems like there is a leap every 3 weeks

princess I like your philosophy about parenting. We can only do our best and so long as we love these little ones - and I think are prepared to admit to occasional mistakes! - we should be ok.

I'm back to work in March and it all seems to be coming very quickly. This week I've looked at nurseries and tried to find a nanny share and think we'll have to go with nursery as we don't have a family nearby to share with. There is a sweet nursery about a 3 min walk away and I think it will be ok, but I did get tearful after visiting (so NOT me!). I'm looking forward to going back to work (will be 80% which is great) but the logistics terrify me. But I know so many people who manage, we must be able to do it too!

Hello everyone and happy new year! Feels like ages since I caught up with everyone. welcome sweet, great that you have found us and I hope all goes well with your induction. We have had quite a few of them on here and I think they have all been positive experiences even if not what was planned.

sar huge congratulations! Mini Sar is gorgeous and I'm glad you had a positive birth experience in the end. I think derailments to plans are easier to accept when the decision is made for you. Hope you are recovering well and keeping the visitors at bay wish I'd locked the feckers out. Do you think the placenta has done you any good?

Ele sorry to hear about the sleep deprivation. We are going through a bad patch too. The problem is not number of wakings, she usually does 1 or 2 which I can cope with, but the length of time she takes to settle. Last night mini A didn't go to sleep until 10pm despite starting the bath/ bedtime routine at 6, then woke at 2am and 5am for 90 mins each time. I spent more time trying to settle her than I did actually sleeping. It's beginning to wear a bit thin. I'm hoping it's a phase and will pass - she was 5 months yesterday and there are lots of things happening (rolling, chuckling etc) but she is awful at napping during the day too and is not getting the amount of sleep the books say she should have. How old is Hamish now? Glad the ILs were OK. I managed a relatively IL-free xmas which was great. I like them, but there is a lot of drama around SIL and her numerous kids which is tedious and exhausting as are the kids

Mellow glad your little man is coming on! When did you start weaning? I had planned to start BLW around 6 months, she isn't ready yet according to the info I've read which recommends waiting until then (not sitting unaided etc), but my NCT friends with babies the same age have been on purees, baby rice etc for weeks and keep implying I'm holding Mini A back by not doing the same. I've never in my life done anything because other people tell me to and don't plan to start now but I keep wondering if her poor sleep is related to hunger or if shudder to think they might be right...

Princess mini P sounds adorable and how exciting that you will soon officially be an SAHM. I also like the 'good enough' philosophy. We can only do our best.

Critter not long now! Your 'sprinkle' sounds lovely. It's so exciting that we have a trio of 10+ newborns on the way. I'm hoping 2014 brings many more grads over here.

Buzz roll on the 28th! I'm glad you are starting to enjoy pregnancy finally . Hope Kayla is getting herself prepared. Mr A is desperate for another cat but I keep stalling, I think Mini A needs to be a bit older maybe 10 years older before I agree to another one. The house is messy enough as it is.

Gin glad the feeding is going better. As the others have said, it does get easier with time. It makes sense to me that IVF babies are more likely to be on time. My waters went on my due date and I have a friend whose IVF baby arrived right on cue. I'm glad I didn't go over and have the pressure to be induced - I was induced anyway when labour didn't progress but had no choice in the matter which made it easier somehow.

Mini A has fallen asleep on the boob so I'm going to try to get her down for the umpteenth time tonight. Wish me luck...

art so good to hear from you and sympathies on the sleepless front. Hamish is 7.5 months now and slept pretty well from week 9 to week 20, then it all went a bit pear-shaped with cutting a tooth, then a lingering cold/cough. Then we started weaning at 26 weeks and his sleep has been much worse since then.

Weaning is going great, he eats with gusto (IMO baby rice is nonsense, no nutritional value - be as well giving wallpaper paste... (okay, well it's not that bad ) However, his digestive system is clearly not used to processing all these types of foods and he's been waking up with trumps ever since (not sure he can tell the difference now between having trumps and poohing) which isn't fun (just wanted to tell you this as so many people think weaning will bring sleep galore and in our experience is sadly doesn't...).

Hamish still couldn't sit unaided at 26 weeks (but his hand to mouth coordination was great) so we had to have him on our knee the first 2-3 weeks (we did BLW) that weaning started (now that was messy), was so much easier when we could put him in his high chair, and he loves joining in meals. We were out yesterday for sisters lunch and were in restaurant for 2 hours and Hamish sat munching in his high chair for about an hour of that...

And then of course last week he had some growth spurt which had ridiculous wakenings, then we had the same as you, nights where he was up for 2 hours after each wakening...

The last two nights he's slept for 3 hour stints and has only fed and went back to sleep - so hoping it's getting better, but I do feel your pain :-)

However, everything is a phase with babies, one day he'll be 18 and it will all be fine....

Sympathies on the messy house too, we've decided that when I go back to work we're getting in a cleaner... Never thought I'd have 'staff' but life is too damn short to clean bathrooms (hence ours hasn't been cleaned in months and is manky) but it does get depressing at times living in a tip. So, we're goign for a deep clean first, then I think 2 hours every fortnight which will force us to tidy up at least once a week (the night before the cleaner visits) and will mean that my bathrooms, oven, stair carpets and dining room floor (our problem areas) are properly cleaned at least twice a month. Shame you can't hire a 'tidier' as that is our main problem

Okay, best go, need to take DS1 off to nursery (and haven't even woken/fed hamish yet or dressed DS1 and I only have 30 minutes - eek - I'm a slovenly mummy wasting time on mnet over bfast...)

sweet hope the induction (if you needed it) went well yesterday - thinking of you!

art and ele you have my sympathy on the long night wakenings, BabyMellow was an expert on that, it is really rubbish.
He still does four 30 min naps a day - I hope that he will graduate to a two hour midday nap like all my friend's babies soon.
I would love a cleaner!
We're not having a great week, think perhaps teething - a phase, a phase

Quick hi to all of you still feeling laggin way behind but I wanted to say I hope all went well with baby sweet and that you're currently snuggling with a newborn!

All still well here, I had my anomaly scan on Monday and the little person is still there phew and developing perfectly normally still :) So yes, princess I might be due near little princess' birthday, EDD 7/6. Not quite 20 weeks, but I was booked by the powers to be to have the scan relatively early.

lemon good to see you here, your pregnancy seems to be steaming along, glad your scan went well, it can be nerve wracking waiting for them to check everything, I asked on the other thread if you found out what you are having

sweet Hope you are having lots of baby snuggles

art someone asked if we were going to get rid of Kayla I said hell no, she is our fur baby :) Kayla has also been sleeping in one of the moses baskets

ele a cleaner sounds like a good plan to me

teu I hope you had a lovely time with your family, that was a mighty long flight

doll I hope all is well with you too

Well my scan showed that the head is lower than the placenta, the sonographer did say 'oh you have a babies head between your knees' :) no shit sherlock it feels like she is that low, she is also 7.5 pounds already so the consultant has said I can have a 'normal birth' I'll have a sweep next week then will be induced on the 28th. So 2 more weeks to go :) I am getting very excited about it all

ooops sorry forgot to say hello to critter sar gin and princess Hopefully I haven't forgotten anyone

lemon congrats on a good scan, I loved getting to the 20 week scan, if only because it meant I was now half way there and I did find the end of pregnancy flew by much quicker than the start!

And your due date is the same as Mr E's birthday (an auspicious day :-)

and buzzy good news on your scan too and a sweep next week - fantastic (have to say I can never hear the word 'sweep' without thinking of Dale Wintern . I can't believe anyone asked if you'd get rid of your cat - I really don't understand this whole 'cats and babies' paranoia that so many people seem to have.

Cats and babies get on perfectly well, primarily because cats generally ignore babies (or learn to ignore toddlers). Although we have found Slinky sleeping in Hamish's rocker seat (cheeky monkey) so we've had to start keeping an eye on her... (she looks so comfy in it too :-) She'd never go near it if he was in it though (our other cat Bobbi probably would, she's not bothered by him at all and has let him stroke her fur and grab her ear (got him unhooked quickly) on several occasions).

mellow so good to hear from you and sympathies on the 30 min naps. Hamish's naps vary he's had weeks where he's had 3 x 40 minute naps a day, then he'll put in a day (like yesterday) where he had 90 mins in the morning and 2 hr 10 in the afternoon - totally unpredictable though I just enjoy it when it happens!

critter how are you getting on? Still looking forward to the big day? Totally impressed with your ability to work on so late.

sweet here's hoping you've got baby sweet home now and are much loved up.

Waves to doll, teu, art, gin, sar, princess and anyone else I've totally missed - need to go and wake up my sleepy boy!

Happy New Year ladies.
Congratulations sar. Excellent news, hope all is going well.
MrsM Glad things are going well for you and mini M.
buzzy,ele mini Teu was very nearly Hamish but we decided that it sounded too much like we were naming him after my ex-manager (fantastic bloke mind).
It is a mightly long flight buzzy, took note of the distances on the flight plan coming back - 20, 764 kms / 12,977 miles!! 40 hours travelling door to door. I think mini Teu is still jetlagged wee soul. Was lovely to be home, there was something warm and fuzzy and terribly right about turning into our lane in the lashing rain with mini Teu asleep in the car a few days before Christmas.
So excited to see sweet and lemon over here, congratulations.

I don't get the cat and baby paranoia either. People tried to do the scare tactic with us but I soon shot them down. Poppy has discovered that walking round the baby in the cot is an excellent way of getting me out of bed real quick to give her breakfast . And she loves his rocker seat. Was quite miffed to fine him in it one day she felt like a nap there. Mini Teu stroked her for the first time this morning and was so utterly delighted it was gorgeous.

Mini Teu doesn't really get the whole naps thing. Totally hit and miss which I find frustrating and exhausting. Still finding the adjustment hard.
Better post this and go to bed. Waves to all.

Hi. I'd forgotten that there was a grads fred. I can't believe it goes all the way back to 2011 - when we were 6+ers!

Are there any other newbies here or is everyone on the home stretch (as it were!)?

euro I think at the moment you are the only newbie but hopefully sea and cos will be joining you soon.

Hello euro so nice to have you over here :-)

I've always hated being a newbie at anything, but I reckon being a newbie on the grads board is a different kettle of fish. Looking forward to following your journey on this board (and so many grad babies about to 'pop' soon too - exciting times!

euro I'm so pleased to see you here!
Buzzy exciting so close! I had a sweep which was perfectly comfortable and I think shifted things along, so fingers crossed for you!
And lemon great that the scan was good - I loved getting to 20 weeks, it felt like such a milestone - and it is so true about the second half of pregnancy! Are you feeling kicks?

We have a cold- so miserable! He was a grumpy wee man last week, then a tooth appeared on Saturday and he was a dream all weekend (I'm sure MrMellow thinks I'm neurotic as I'd been moaning about our grumpy boy all week! ) then has had a couple of shocker nights with temperatures and snot. On the upside, it must be over the worst now?! How is there not a cure for the cold yet?!! \

I have been ranting about that exact same thing, mrs. I have a stinker of a cold myself. My sinuses are screaming. And I can't take the Good Drugs. :(

Hi everyone,

This is a bit of a selfish post.

Baby sweet was born on tuesday morning (the 14th). It turns out I didn't need the induction because I went into labour on Sunday. After a very long labour (resulting in pitocin anyways) the baby was born, he was just over 9lbs. After a few scary hours - he was not breathing well and the placenta would not come out, which made me bleed heavily - we were declared healthy enough to meet.

He is quite the little turkey and now feeding like a pig. Mr Grouch and I are delighted with him, he has a good combination of our features.

We were at home, but ended up having to flee to stay with family because our plumbing decided to muck up and flood the kitchen. Needless to say, it's been a crazy week. Luckily, we should be getting back into the house soon.

A quick welcome to euro and lemons. It's nice to see you both here.

Many congratulations sweet and what a good sized boy :-) Sorry the start was a wee bit wobbly, but I'm so glad it all came good and you're both doing well, albeit you're currently homeless..

Disaster with the plumbing though - what appalling timing is that? You couldn't make that up! Hope you get home soon!

euro I rarely get colds (once every 18 months if you're lucky) and then I take a full cocktail of drugs to tackle all the symptoms and generally I keep going at work and feel fine (as long as I take the drugs).

However, in both my pregnancies I got a stinking cold in the first 12 weeks and felt like hell on earth (paracetamol? be as well taking fresh air). It is truly awful and made me think of what it must be like living somewhere where you can't afford or can't access cold medications and you just have to suffer it in all its horrible glory. Many many sympathies and hoping that it clears up soon (I had sinusitis with DS1 - was absolute agony, didn't sleep for 36 hours as I felt someone was repeatedly hitting me in the face with a baseball bat...)

Hi all

Huge congratulations Sweet on your little boy, hope all is going well and you are now back at home. What awful timing for your plumbing to pack in! Glad to hear he is feeding well and hope you are doing ok with the crazy newborn days.

Welcome to Euro and lemon, good to see you here. I think we are all feeling sad and subdued after Critter's tragedy and thinking of her and Mr C but I just wanted to check in and I hope everyone is OK.

[slips in through the door quietly......]

Hello ladies, I know some of you some the 10 plussers thread. I'm a bit scared to be on here tbh in case I am tempting fate but feel perhaps it's the right thing to do...

For those of you who don't know me I just had my first BFP after my first ivf having TTCed for 4 years 4 months. I know how lucky I am to get a BFP on my first go. I feel a bit guilty as I feel I don't deserve it?! (eg. I have seen so many been through so much to get there it seems unfair that I have) It also hasn't really sunk in except for the daily sickness. It's still early days. I am only 18 days past EC. My hcg is more than 1300 today. I have no idea what that means but I have been told it's quite high. Any insight into this or how many weeks pregnant I actually am would be gratefully received as all the books talk about natural conception and counting from day of last missed period, v little if anything about ivf pregnancies.

Congratulations Sweet! That's a big little boy you have there. I hope everything is okay now and you are feeling much better.

Eleth - I remember our cat chats from the disappearing thread. Unfortunately now MrS is using pregnancy to derail adoption of cat. He showed me all kinds of books that said you shouldn't have a cat during pregnancy and I am too scared to argue.

Special waves to buzz, lemons, gin, sweet and all the other lovely 10 plussers.