April 2012 Babies - 2nd thread to welcome the 2nd trimester

[digitalgirl]

Join us as we head out of the secretive, scary, slightly sicky first trimester and into the bump emerging, supposedly blossoming, energy boosting second trimester.

Previous thread here

Stats thread here

hi girlies glad to hear lovely news about your scans! and hope all goes well thoose waiting on up coming scans?

I had a customers at work say "there is a baby in there" pointing to me stomach, Was quite funny! my belly seem to be really sticking out lately this past week, and stange pains in the lower tummy, must be all the streching?

Pleased with my MAT jeans from DP they were in the sale for £17, with a small waistband.

being feeling it move around alot lately but no real kicks yet.
still nice though

speak to you soon x

Ours is near enough named We had one boys name and two girls, so being a boy he is the one name. Wont make it properly public til hes born though, although a few people know that its probably x (my sister picked the name for DS1 and we've decided we want it for DS2)

Middle name is also sorted. For DC1, it was DHs first name for middle for a boy, or my middle name for a girl. He was a boy so got DHs name. DC2 now gets my middle name (and would whether male or female). Easy peasy :)

20 weeks today, exactly half way!! Its all downhill from tomorrow!!
Woop woop woop!!!!!!!!

Vintage we're still completely clueless about a boys name . Haven't had many suggestions and DH didn't agree with any of them :( For a girl I do have two names I've liked a long time that DH has not banned so maybe that'll be it, first and middle sorted just not the order and we do want a third name like for DS .
To another subject , DS is doing his first 7+ school interview tomorrow so slightly nervous about that but not as much as I will be when he'll have the exams in January !!! Wish us luck !

Hi everyone, I haven't been on here for ages so thought it was probably time I checked in! Its good to hear stories of growing bumps and wriggly babies.

I had my 20 week scan yesterday and after lots of discussion and changing our minds we decided to find out the sex - its a girl! I still can't believe it, I was so sure we were having another boy! We're completely over the moon but panicking slightly, we know what we're doing with a little boy but girls are a completely different species! We haven't told anyone we know as I don't think the parents and grandparents would want to know anyway and its quite nice to keep some surprise there.

I'm finally feeling better and haven't thrown up in over a week thank goodness, although I do have awful heartburn now but thats much easier to deal with than constant nausea.

All the best to all of you and your lovely bumps, I'm heading over to baby names as I'm totally stumped for girls names, I may see some of you there

Hey guys, nice to hear some happy scan stories and glad to hear I'm not the only one planning to find out the sex. I'm getting so excited for tuesday now... Hi LaTristesse, good to have a scan buddy ? you'll have to let me know how yours goes.
Just wondering if anyone has entered into the weird world of NCT classes yet. I just found one near us. There are quite a few sessions, about 7 or 8, but it costs £340! Is it just me, or does that sound like quite a lot..? You can buy a fairly fancy pushchair for that!! I'm keen to meet local mums etc but I am wondering whether I need to cough up quite that much for the privilege. My hospital offers childbirth etc classes for free, but it's quite a long way from where I live, so a local NCT seems like a nice idea.... Thoughts anyone??

v exciting vicariously finding out the sex of the babies through you guys - although I still don't think we will find out ours. cute I have been trawling baby names forums recently as I am stumped for girls' names too, although we are fairly certain on a shortlsit of 3 or 4 for boys. glad the nausea is easing off.

late - nct classes.aaWTG3442GR4EDGSSSSSSSSE3Zd.. well my mum paid for mine for DD so I went along, and I really enjoyed meeting the other women/couples - we met up several times before and after the babies were born and it was lovely. But I know people who've only had 4 couples on the course and noone's bothered meeting up. the nct also organise postnatal meet-ups which you can join in with for no cost whatsoever - that's where all my current mum friends come from. As for the actual content of the classes, I'm not sure how helpful it was. Most of it I'd read, and I didn't use any of the positions/techniques we practised - although there wasn't much of that tbh. I've heard of other courses which are more oriented towards practical stuff - washing the baby, buying stuff, managing finances and household chores etc. (I think one was called 'and baby makes 3'??) so it depends what you want - those might be more useful if you'd like practical stuff. NCT focuses on birth process and breastfeeding. there's also hypnobirthing courses for their particular approach to birth - I'm kind of considering one of them this time round

£340 is a lot of money, tbh I would not be prepared to pay that. Last time I went to the nhs antenatal class (we only got one!) and that was enough, most things came naturally anyway (moving around, breathing, getting dh to rub my back etc) and I had such a fast labour I'd have felt like I'd wasted my money.

Its good to meet local mums to be, I found it quite hard after ds was born and felt lonely and isolated for a while so it probably would have been good to do but there are loads of cheaper ways to meet pregnant women. Have you considered aquanatal or yoga?

I was going to say the same as mackerelmint. We only see one couple from the classes and I still see everyone who was on my 'postnatal tea' so I'd join the NCT but not bother with the classes. To be honest you get better advice for preparation on here. My teacher was a total hippy (very nice but disorganised) and very focused on pushing the benefits of home births and the negatives of pain relief (other than TENS machines and lavender oil). You should have a balanced view. I know drug free homebirths are amazing and wonderful for those who can manage them but that's not all of us.

I'd also agree that all my Mummy friends, and therefore DS's baby friends, come from the groups we joined after he arrived, and I don't keep in touch with any of our antenatal lot, not that I did NCT. If you have Surestart in your area I'd definitely recommend getting along to some of their baby stuff. I didn't think it would be up my street but I've met some fab like-minded people there, done fun stuff with DS like baby massage and signing, and it's all free!

Hi all,

Been a bit AWOL for a while and there's pages of stuff I need to catch up on, but hope you're all well.

I've not been having the greatest time the last few weeks and feeling a bit sorry for myself, hence the silence. I have a nerve condition which my MW suggested was likely to flare up during pregnancy. She wasn't wrong! I've had really bad carpal tunnel syndrome-like symptoms for weeks now which are making it very difficult to sleep and even harder to push my ever growing bulk up and out of my low bed each morning. I can't straighten some of my fingers, can't lift anything heavy as I have no grip strength and my left hand swelled up so much last week that I ended up having to have my wedding rings cut off :( (the jeweller properly mangled my engagement ring when he did it too, snapped it in half right through the setting, so it's going to need to be completely rebuilt ). So all in all I've been feeling pretty miserable and useless - there's not a lot you can do when your hands don't work.

Have also found out at the 20 week scan that my placenta is completely covering the os and although it's possible it might move, it's highly unlikely it'll move enough given its current position. I'm surprised, given how terrified I've been of giving birth naturally, how disappointed I am to be told I most probably won't be able to now (looks like all the positive thinking I was doing to get over the fear was working after all ). Kind of scared by all the things I've heard about the complications that can result from major placenta praevia too and am now trying my best to keep away from Dr Google and wait until I can see the consultant before working myself into any more of a panic. Easier said than done though - I'm dreaming about premature babies and bleeding.

To add insult to injury my kitchen floor was sinking so I've been without a kitchen and having to endure dust (not helping the nosebleeds) and building noise (not helping the erratic sleep pattern) for over two weeks. If I have to eat another microwave meal I might kill someone.

Anyway, sorry for the very long and whiney post. Like I said I'm feeling rather sorry for myself. Looking forward to catching up on what I've missed here though and hoping some of your positive stories will help me feel excited to be pregnant again.

Don't apologise - it sounds like you have good reason to moan. I'm sorry things have been so complicated. It's a lot to deal with. If it is any reassurance I know a lady from one of our playgroups who had placenta praevia and she has a healthy little boy now - he did have to come out a few weeks early but no problems. I hope you don't have to wait long to see the consultant.

Hi ladies - been a while since I last posted on here. Glad to hear of all the great 20 week scans. I have mine this Wednesday when I'll be 19+2.
Just come back from a mid-week break in centerparcs, our first time to go, which was fab. Only wish I was more mobile. Already feeling the effects of too much activity with SPD or PGP or a combination of both. Our first full day there I'd done about an hour's walking and then about an hour's cycling and was in agony by the evening, with lots of cramping too. So had to take it easy the rest of the week.
Beginning to feel little gentle flicks and kicks more often which is reassuring. Looking forward to them being a little stronger - but hopefully the scan on Weds will set my mind at ease.

aprilal sorry to hear of your troubles. In my pg with DS I developed quite swollen and stiff hands in my third trimester, was always much worse in the morning - so know how you feel. This time I've taken my rings off early in case it happens again. Will you be able to claim for your rings on insurance?

Ooo names, haven't started discussing that with DH yet, I think we'll wait till after the scan. Such a difficult decision though.

late Personally I think £340 is a bit much. It was £240 here in North London 3 years ago...which we did splash out on in the end, but £340 sounds like a helluva lot more. We did meet some lovely people, and still see about 3 of the couples quite often - one of the mothers more than others, our boys get on really well and we seemed to have very similar parenting ideas. At that price there are probably alternative courses you can do - if you want something a bit more than just the NHS parentcraft class. I remember there was a lady on MN who was running her own ante-natal class in my area (she was an ex-midwife) - so there's bound to be others doing it.

I know it's early but feel like I'm already nesting. We went to Ikea a couple of weeks ago to get some shelves for DS's room so we clear his toys out of the living room. Emptied my wardrobe of clothes I no longer wear, and put stuff that I still like but doesn't fit away. Also had a massive clearout in the larder - amazing how much out of date stuff accumulates.

Gotta go - DS has woken from a bad dream.

hi
we have our scan on weds too (at 21+++) so a bit late but still looking forward to it.
Although hope all will be well as just fell down the stairs (again) whilst carring DS - sure it will be other than the very large bruise on my bottom! didn't hit front or anything but still worries me!

ANyhow re NCT - we did it but was about £200 ish but i only did it for the meeting people and we were really lucky and i still see all other 7 couples but i think we were just lucky... have also met people through groups after too so it is alot of money for social - stuff they teach you is ok but very antidrugs etc so be warned!

Oh just getting some good kicks in now so sure all is still good down there!
right of to make tea - good luck with all those other scans next week

Hi all, glad everyone is sounding well

Ive got my scan on Friday ill be 19 weeks, and as of Friday just gone I think ive started to feel the first flutters of the baby, very very low down but if its not the baby there is something else living in there lmao

Ive just been told I cant go in to work for several days because someone has hand, foot and mouth, I didnt think it was so risky mid pregnancy but the OH team have barred me so Im sitting in my bed on call instead which is a welcome surprise I have to say

Im finally thinking about doing some baby shopping now, have chosen a cot set, and typically for me all the toys I want for baby etc but suppose I have better find some of the more mundane things like a moses basket now and some of those essential supplies that will cost me a fortune further down the line

aprilal - so sorry to hear of all your troubles! Sounds like a lot to deal with all at once. I had a nerve/auto-immune disease a few years back that left me with very little muscle tone and no strength in my hands, so I know how fully it takes over your life when you lose mobility/strength like that. And the pain is very hard to stay cheerful through.

When will the builders be done in the kitchen? Sounds like that is one thing to look forward to; hopefully they will be done soon and you can have some proper food again.

As for placenta praevia, I know nothing about it, but agree you are best off avoiding Google if you can! Hope you can see your consultant soon and have a good chat with him/her and start feeling better about it.

now, can anyone recommend me some good maternity leggings?? My mat jeans don't go right over the bump so they cut into it, and I am fed up of alternating my few dresses and wearing them with trainers, so I think leggings and tunic-type tops is the way forward...

I got some lovely stuff from dorothy perkins the other day mackrelmint didnt try the leggings but I noticed they had a few different colours of that helps at all

thanks hotpot - will check them out.
I bought a terrible maternity dress from asos the other day - to wear to a wedding in december. It looked v pretty on the website but in real life looked like a child's princess dressing-up dress, and a very strange length. have sent it back, and have luckily unearthed a hand-me-down from my sister, which isn't specifically maternity but is empire line and should do the job.
I find the small bump stage hardest to dress, as I still just look a bit pot-bellied. Once it's a big old undisguisably-pregnant bump then the maternity dresses seem to work better.

I had my scan today (I'm 19+2) and they found an anomaly - increased ventricle size.

It could (apparently) indicate a chromosome abnormality.

They offered an amniocentesis but we turned it down because they weren't any other anomalies and the increase was borderline.

Feeling wobbly though. Have to go and see a consultant tomorrow and go for another scan at some point.

Have started a thread in pregnancy but thought I might fish for sympathy here too.

In other news - its a girl!

oh bushy how worrying for you. Did they say whether it could just be perfectly normal? I have no experience of this, but you have my every sympathy. Did you have any ante-natal screening with your 12 week scan?
Hope the consultant appointment tomorrow can help shed some light on what your next steps are. Thinking of you. And congratulations on team pink!

mackerel I have some nice mat leggings from jojo. They're over bump ones and are so comfortable.

It's my anomaly scan tomorrow. Bit nervous now, especially in light of bushy's experience. Reminds me how precious this pregnancy is. Good luck to you as well mumofwilliam

Thanks digitalgirl.

I didn't have any screening at 12 weeks on the basis that I don't want to terminate for downs syndrome. Which is also why I've turned down the amnio now - it's just not worth the associated risks, when it won't change the outcome.

It's unlikely to be life threatening (eg Edwards) because everything else looked and measured normally. So any diagnosis of a chromosome syndrome can be done after birth as far as I'm concerned. I don't like any invasive procedures (who does!) and I don't feel it's necessary in this case. That's just how I feel.

Bollocks. I almost wish they hadn't told me anything.

Digitalgirl and others being scanned this week, best of luck! I am keeping everything crossed for you and can't wait to read about your perfectly worry free scans!

Hi can I join very late just spotted this thread.

Edd is 22nd and this is dc four and I can definitely say I enjoy pregnancy less each time.

Can't wait for the end result though

bushy - fingers crossed the consultant can reassure you. being borderline and only one anomaly sounds like a good sign. So much medicine is stats based nowadays - as soon as you cross a certain number you're in a risk category - but humans have so much natural variation that I think very often these things are flagged up and checked out and turn out to be nothing at all.

three hello and congrats on dc4! I have always said three would be my limit but did find myself wondering about four the other day! I can imagine the pregnancy being a tough old journey though - I'm finding it hard enough with just one dc to look after.

digi and mumofwilliam good luck for scans! (and thanks for recommendation digi; shall check them out)

Thanks for the sympathies and reassurances ladies. Feeling less sorry for myself today. Symptoms in my hands are gradually improving and while they're still very painful through the night and in the morning, it's easing off through the day enough for me to at least get some stuff done. Even managed to get some wallpaper stripping done today, though I'm limiting myself to twenty minute bursts - don't want to cause a relapse. Still no word from the consultant regarding the placenta issue, but I suppose it's early days yet. Nice to be able to be at least a little busy though. More doing = less thinking!

Building, plumbing and wiring work all now complete - I have a floor! Plasterer in tomorrow (hence the wallpaper stripping), then it'll be like a room again instead of a big hole. New floor covering arriving this afternoon and the kitchen should be delivered on Thursday, so it's all coming together now. Going to be such a relief when it's all done.

Really sorry to hear your news bushy, must be such a worry. Hope the consultant manages to put your mind at ease and I'll keep my fingers crossed that it turns out to be something that will not to have too much impact on DC. Don't forget, keep away from Dr Google in the meantime!

Welcome threecurrantbuns and congratulations :)

Looking forward to hearing how your scans go tomorrow digi and mumofwilliam

Welcome three, good to have you with us!

So sorry to hear of your worry bushy, fingers crossed for you that your consultant can put your mind at rest, and that it all turns out ok...

Our scan went well today, although the bub was an utter fidget and wouldn't keep still for any of it! The sonographer was pretty certain we're having a sugary spicy one!

Welcome three :)

Sorry to hear about the anomaly bushy - hopefully the consultant can tell you more.

LaTristesse - congrats on the sugary spicy one :D

April - glad you're feeling better and the work is progressing well.

I'm currently surrounded by chaos - we're packing up our entire house ready for our move to the US. 2 weeks to go...