The 'We are brooking no arguments whatsoever for an uneventful pregnancy and pain-free birth' thread

[Biscuitsandtea]

Ladies, our previous thread was getting full so here is a lovely new shiny home for us all.

I've put some comfy cushions around and plenty of pregnancy safe snacks and drinks. The Segway park is in the corner over there next to the stack of glittery vom buckets (plenty of extra buckets too for all the newbies).

In the corner over here you'll find our library of leaflets including sections on early pregnancy private scan clinics, pushchairs and car seats.

Hope you all like it very much :)

Thanksdream. I will make a note of that just in case time flies and I forget I am newly updiffed( as if!!)

I think you can go whenever though wants, sure scream went at 5 or 6 weeks- but for me, if you go then, the m/w rings up and books your 12 week dating scan on the spot which I love!! For me anyway, I'm Lancashire based.

Now, can someone please link me the stats thread because I'm an idiot and I can't find it?? I have tried the search engine thing and can't see it. I don't remember how I found my way last time, I presume I followed a link... I wanted to excitedly put my scan date in.

I told the midwife about my neurosis. She said she sees that all the time with second pg, where people are more aware what can go wrong, and are more worried. I felt slightly better.

Actually I went to see my GP at 4 weeks (same day AF was due!) but I only went so early because I have a history of anaemia and I was worried about how exhausted I felt. I won't see a mw until around 9 weeks apparently, and I haven't been sent my appt date for that yet.

I think most people notify their GP within a week or so of their missed period, and the mw appt just rolls in whenever your pct normally does them. At least that's the London way!

Oh and Dream I'm really sorry I can't add a link - I'm on my phone right now. The exact title of the stats thread is " We brook no arguments' very eventful stats thread" (I think) so hopefully that will help you to search for it?

(Apologies for posting in chunks - I hate not being able the see the thread while you write a post using the rubbish MN app!)

I meant to say WELCOME to Knitty! good to have you on board! Please settle in, pick a Segway and a glittery vom bucket and make yourself at home!

Knitty - yay for your bfp - that is most excellent news. Can't believe we got a hat trick in one day (well OK you actually sort of found out a couple of days ago, but nonetheless - v v exciting!) . We'll be brooking no arguments whatsoever that this will be the stickiest of sticky beans.

Dream - Here is a link to the stats page. Glad you managed to eat and keep most of it down yesterday - progress indeed! And glad your booking in was OK with the m/w - it's nice to tick off all these little milestones. Only 3 weeks until your scan - exciting!

Wants I think it varies from area to area with the booking in procedures. I've seen all sorts here on MN. Round here, my GP isn't interested in the slightest if all I need to say is 'I got a bfp' (although granted, if I used those actual words he might say 'a BF what?'). They just tell you to make a booking in appointment directly with the m/w between 8 and 10 weeks and then, like Dream, this time the m/w rang up and made my 12 week scan appt there and then (which is nicer than waiting for a letter I think!). When I was pg with DS I don't recall having the scan appt made at the booking in appt - I think I probably had to wait for a letter to come through but still didn't have to see the GP beforehand.

I think the best thing would probably be to give the doctors surgery a call and see what the normal procedure is. When I phoned ours the receptionist said that people don't normally see the doctor unless there is a specific reason to need help so early (I think for some people they perhaps need consultant care in those v early weeks so waiting until 8-10 weeks would be too late). And if the receptionists don't seem overly clued up, I'd just make an appt with the doctor anyway early doors. The worst they can do is tell you to go away and make an appt with the m/w!

Morning everyone else Hope you're all doing OK this morning.

I am officially 12 weeks today . Well, if I go by the dates on my 8 week scan I was 12 weeks on Sunday but the m/w is sticking with LMP dates for now so so am I - which makes me an official 12-weeker! Can't believe I've actually made it to this point!

Congratulations knitty! Clearly the magical thread worked for you too - my BFP was the first full cycle I'd resided there :)

Biscuits - thanks for the info on GPs and midwives and things. I just went ahead and booked an appointment for my GP for next week.. but I'll give them a call later and see if they want me to go straight to booking up with a midwife. I called on a Saturday and they had a rather cold receptionist on, so I forgot all the questions I wanted to ask and just booked an appointment! Congrats on 12 weeks - many more to come! :D

Hope everyone's well! I'm feeling ill today, typical as it's my first day with the kids.. heigh ho!

Oh Musical - sorry you're feeling a bit rough today - poor thing! And having to deal with kids all day - bleh! At least with DS I can always bring in CBeebies as an emergency measure which probably wouldn't work for you doing music lessons?

It's hard speaking to the doctors receptionists sometimes isn't it - they can be really hard to get anything out of. And the worst the GP can say is 'well done, now bugger off and see the m/w'.

Oh, and my bfp was also on the first cycle that I was on the no brooking thread (in fact my first cycle on MN) but that was after 19 months of trying so it really must be a magic thread!

Wow, 19 months of trying! Then I am particularly delighted that you've got to the 12 week mark!

Hello to all newcomers. All very exciting.

I just changed my stats - offical edd is now 4th March but I will be induced at 38-39 weeks so will be having a Feb baby.

I think at my GPs I had to be refered to the m/w by the GP and then m/w rang with an app. They need to do booking in bloods by 9 weeks and at least down here it can be a bit slow so I wouldn't wait.

Oooh, Pomme - A Feb baby! So are you the furthest along? How many weeks are you now? I'm never sure where Aubers was up to but she seems to gave gone AWOL a bit recently?

Come back Aubers - we love you!!

How come you have to be induced at 38-39 weeks? (Feel free to tell me to butt out if you'd rather not discuss - I'm just being nosey)

I am now 15 plus 3. It's going soooo slowly. The m/w told me it would go slow until 26 weeks and then woosh by. I'm sure pg with dd didn't go this slowly, although I do remember holding my breath until the magical 24 week viable stage.

I have something called Hughes Syndrome which makes me high risk and risk of miscarriage/stillbirth doesn't really ever dip with people like me once we've got past the first hurdle of getting diagnosed and onto medication. So they tend to get our babies out early to avoid any risk of going overdue and the stillbirth risk rising. It's all to do with blood clots in the placenta and resulting growth of the bean.

I heart my doctors and am very grateful for the medical advancements of the last 10 years!

I was thinking about Aubers too - I know she came back from her internet wilderness and then had lots of people around to look after but that was yonks ago. Shall we send out a search party with buckets and pies?

Ah OPK - well glad that they are looking after you Pomme - at least you know they'll be keeping a good eye one everything.

Agree about the search party for Aubers!

OPK? That wasn't a reference to ov testing kits! Meant to say OK.

Just wanted to say best of luck to Scarlet for your scan today! I really hope the sono guy has lots of good news for you. I will be Brooking No Argument on your behalf all day!!

I sincerely hope us relative newbies haven't scared Aubers away with our chattiness! Come back Aubers!!! I fully endorse Pomme's plan for a search party with buckets and pies! Shall we add some yummy cakes to the "search tools" as well?

Pomme I'm also very glad you are being well looked after. The NHS gets a lot of things painfully wrong, but when they're on the ball nothing can touch them!!

Musical I'm sorry to hear you're not feeling well today, I hope the kids go easy on you! I'm also feeling absolutely rubbish at the mo and I'm just a bit sick of it really. Dreading going back to work next week and having to try and hide it! I'm not any fatter yet (other than my standard 3 month bump which has been around for at least a year now!) as I'm only 7+3, but my boobs are getting HUGE!! I haven't tried on any of my work clothes yet but I think I'm going to have to start buying maternity clothes very soon if my scan goes well on sat

Morning Biscuits and Bartlet!!

Morning all and welcome Bartlet jen and Knitty

Congratulations Biscuits on reaching 12 weeks.

Well, I've had my scan this morning........

.....and there was a teeny, tiny baby with a heartbeat!

What a relief when the sonographer turned the screen round and showed me my little baby flickering away. It measures at 7+6 which times in exactly with when I ovulated. LMP made me 8 weeks on Monday but I knew it wasn't 8 weeks really until tomorrow.

And, the lovely nurse who I saw today after my scan has offered me another one in 2 weeks time. She said she knew how worried I'm bound to be given my MC history, so said I was welcome to go back and have another one. So only 2 weeks to wait instead of 4 and I will still get my 12 week one for official dating and nuchal fold.

DH now wants to tell the world. Although this has increased my confidence I'm still very aware that this is very, very early days and things are still fragile. I may tell my Mum purely because I've been feeling so rough and I know she'll offer to help with DS. I don't want PIL to know yet as they've already let us down in the past when we've asked them to keep things to themselves and the whole family have then ended up finding out.

Pomme I don't know much about Hughes Syndrome. Is it a clotting related condition? Sounds like you're being very well looked after.

dream pleased to hear your booking appointment went well and you've been put under consultant care. I know some people like as little intervention as possible, but for me I find it comforting to know that being consultant led means things are looked at more closely.

Yay Scarlet that is fantastic news!! Love the teeny tiny baby and heartbeat .

And also super duper news that they will see you at 10 weeks again too. So so pleased for you and glad you're being looked after well too :)

Scream sorry you're feeling poop too :(

Won't be long until we're all looking back fondly on these early days (ermmm....) and heaving round enormous 30+ week bumps!

scarlet - That is great news and yay as well for only waiting 2 weeks. Much, much easier.

Yes, Hughes is a clotting syndrome. The NHS have been marvellous since the beginning of it all and like you I think consultant care is such a support.

Congrats Scarlet that's excellent news - especially the ten week scan! I'm so excited for you!

I'm also a fan of consultant led care - I'm quite pleased I've got it this time. Although won't make any difference until nearer the end as the reasons are that DS was prem (by 1 day) but I had tears (that's of the third degree tear type, not tears out of my eyes, although there were probably some of them too) and stuff galore so will be very glad to have someone keeping an eye on me at the later stages.

Am I being a muppet - is tear (as in tearing a piece of paper) the same spelling as tears (from crying)? I'm having a mental block (which I am blaming on baby brain, yes sireee bob!)

Yup those are the same spelling Biscuits, and whilst you might be confused due to babybrain I'm afraid I'm permanently confused when it comes to little things like that! If I repeat a word too many times it quickly loses all meaning to me! Kinda bizarre....

This is my first pregnancy but I'm also hoping for consultant led care. I'm not sure how it works exactly, but I DEFINITELY don't want to end up in a mw led unit on delivery day (no epidurals - shudder) and I'm assuming the type of care you have during pg is linked to where you're aiming to end up on delivery day? I'm not sure, but overall I prefer the idea of having a medical doctor looking after me all the way through, I must confess I'm not convinced that mw's would be sufficiently experienced with anything that cropped up that was out of the ordinary. So if I get a choice it'll be consultant led all the way! With my independent mw in support.

You can still go to a non-mw-led place to give birth without being consultant led I think Scream. I was not consultant led last time but just gave birth at the normal hospital unit - and fortunately there were doctors aplenty when the words 'forceps' were uttered and thousands of them came out of nowhere, and then when I had to go off to be stitched up in the op theatere (thank goodness they were there!)

I think generally there are various risk factors that might trigger consultant led care which they'll go through at your booking in appt.

I think the mw's are pretty well experienced in these places though. I think, for example, if you need stitches, in most cases the m/w can do it (as long as they have passed some kind of stitching exam or something), but mine was BAD so needed the specialist embroidery and stitching team to be called in!

Also Scarlet I meant to say - glad you can have a scan at 10 weeks and still have your 12 week one too. I bet because they do the Nuchal stuff now and you have to be a certain time along for that, they can't just do the dating at 10 weeks and be done with it like they would have done in the past. And I read on the other thread that the staff were nicer to you this time - glad to hear it :)

I can echo what Biscuits said scream. I was not consultant led when I had DS and was under midwife led care at my local hospital which catered for both. When things turned rather scary in labour there were consultants galore all of a sudden when I'd not had any dealings during my pregnancy. (Apart from when I had to have ECV at 38 weeks because DS was breech, but that's a whole other story)

Your midwife will decide if you will be consultant led at your booking appointment and at other stages during your pregnancy based on numerous criteria. Not sure if it's something you can request if you don't qualify on their terms, but like most things in life if you don't ask you won't know so is definitely worth asking.

Funny how different our plans are, isn't it? I am also on DC1, Scream, and am desperate to be able to use the midwife led centre and pool! Figure I can always transfer down the corridor to the hospital proper if I need an epidural or other intervention, but don't want to start out there. Great that the NHS gives us all these choices for free - we're so lucky.