PESH - 3 years of hard won baybees for the over-30's

[AlpinePony]

This is NOT a list:

BESH BAYBEES

dontrythisathome, girl born March 25 2010.
Cheggers, twinz girlz, born April 2010.
FannyPriceless, boy, born June 8 2010.
CurlyCasper, girl, born June 24 2010.
CUNextTuesday, boy, born June 29 2010.
AlpinePony, boy, born 1 July 2010.
Carrots, boy, born July 2010.
IggyPiggy, girl, born July 2010.
Cosmosis, boy, born Sept 5 2010.
Backinthebox, boy, born Sept 7 2010.
Skatergrrrl, girl, born Sept 10 2010.
VAG, boy, born Oct 2 2010.
Silversky, boy, born Nov 1 2010.
SomethingSuitablyWitty, girl born Nov 2 2010.
Honeymoo, boy, born Nov 11 2010.
okiecokie, girl, born Nov 12 2010.
ReginaMonologue, boy, born Nov 13 2010.
Lightspaperstandback, boy, born Nov 14 2010.
Maswera, boy, born Dec 24 2010.
PollyPoo, girl, born Jan 5 2011.
MrsFC, boy, born Jan 7 2011.
ChoChoSan, girl, born 6 Feb 2011.
Ginhag, boy born 11 Feb 2011.
Muser, girl, born 15 Feb 2011.
CluckyKate, boy, born 18 Feb 2011.
Perfect Dromedary, boy, born 23rd February 2011.
Casserole, girl, born 19th March 2011.
Medee, girl, born 26th March 2011.
StiffyByng, girl, born 17th May 2011.
Scorpette, boy, born 21st May 2011.
Rocketleaf, girl, born 23rd May 2011.
TwinkleToes, girl, born 7th June 2011.
Laurielou, boy, born 9th June 2011.
Orchid, girl, born 24th June 2011.
Ginfox, loving the new mega-boobs, due 12th July.
LadyGoneGaga, girl, born 24 July 2011.
Mrbitey, boy, born 29th July 2011.
Macaroonmum, boy, born 28th July 2011.
Owlbooty, boy, born 18th August 2011.
Ocarina, girl, born 6th September 2011.
Mountie, boy, born 27th August 2011.
Truffkin, boy, born 25th November 2011.
Islegrin, boy, born 14th December 2011.

UPDIFFED

BarbiesBeaver, can't quite believe it, due Christmas Day
BrownB, Baybee passport-grabbing bitch, due 22nd January 2012
AlpinePony, Greedy Double-Esh Baybee Boy Grabbing Bitch, due 19th Feb 2012
Rollerbaby, No pink here, expecting boy due March 20th 2012
KitandKat, third time lucky baybee, due 12th April 2012
IveBeenExpectingYou (CockDodger), A very active baby girl, due March 28th 2012
Silver, hoping for an easier sneeze, due mid-July 2012
Starryeyedmole, regretting recently investing in scales

And we're all on beaver watch in time for xmas!

Squeeeeeeee!!!! Aaaaww, he is gorgeous :)
How brilliant that you managed to get him so quickly! Is he getting along well with the other one?

Beautiful :) And yes, now she'll get some proper exercise for sure!

This is making me wonder if our decision not to get a dog (a lot of work, and we travel a fair bit to various international in-laws) should be reconsidered. Such a cutie! We do have a cat, but they tend to be better at looking after themselves, so less full on.

Any news of the scan today LP?

Cava we've solved it by having both a dog and a cat. (Although our cat totally terrorises the dog!)

All good news from the scan today - dates and size match up perfectly. Heartbeat was happily flickering away. And the best bit was that the little grublet was waving arm and leg nubs at us! I hadn't expected to see movement like that - in fact all I was thinking about was a healthy size baybee staying in the right place. The grublet-dance was a huge bonus.

Now, we count down the days to the nuchal dating scan on the 26th...

Great news about your scan Laura. Sounds like it went perfectly. Do you have to continue with the progesterone now?

I miss my dog very much. He died last Autumn far too young and it hit TBI and I very hard esp with all the ttc stuff. Now we're both working full time we can't really get another. I'd happily have a cat but SIL is severely allergic. Contemplating a house rabbit!

Sorry to hear about your dog blondie. It's tough when that happens.

LP, brilliant scan news! I remember the surprise at our 8 week scan that the little jellybean was moving jerkily around -amazing. And it just gets more and more too -I've just reached the stage where you can see movements on the outside now. In a few months time I'm worried my bump will be resembling the pre-chest-burst scenes from 'Alien'

How is everyone doing today then? Any news from queenie and curly?

at Alien-belly

To answer your question Blondie, yes, I'll stay on the progesterone to 12 weeks, which is the point that the umbilical cord takes over so your body no longer needs to produce or fake via pessaries the extra hormone. Or something like that.

I worked today and am absolutely shattered. Another looooooong day tomorrow. Grrrrrrrrrr

Blondie what about a house guinea pig?!

I can't wait until I can actually feel the baby moving. It still feels quite unreal at times.

I am feeling really knackered today and I have these weird stretching feeling low down in my abdomen. It is a very odd feeling.

Dor the stretching is a really weird feeling, took me ages to get used to it. It is so wonderful when you can feel the movements/distinguish them from wind. I found having a wobbly tummy was an advantage as if I lay still TBI could see the movements ripples quite early on.

LP I could think about a guinea pig, I don't think anything could replace Fred but it would be nice to have a small furry around.

Glad you don't have to keep on with the pessaries after 12 weeks - but great that they seem to have done their job so far.

Oh and cake, I went to see Prometheus shortly after the baby's movements had started being really noticeable. BIG fuckin' mistake. I nearly fainted.

Hi Bugsy - my situation appears to be unusual for the NHS...basically my GP kindly contacted the consultant on her own accord to ask about taking the aspirin which I had already self-prescribed. Then, when the con got back with my GP she happened to be out of town, so the covering doctor, who is one of the senior GPs at the practice (and an absolutely amazing lady), took over. She became very interested in my progress and basically put me forward for all the tests she could. Since I was already updiffed, they've mainly focused the tests that could reflect issues that could potentially be treated during the pregnancy.

The sad reality is that it's highly possible that there isn't anything 'wrong' and we've both just been unlucky to lose two pregnancies in a row.

That said, whether the aspirin and the progesterone is helping or not, they can't hurt iyswim. And it feels good to be doing something proactive, you know?

Maybe it would be worth saving that £1000 and see if your GP will push for the tests for you?

It's good to do something proactive bugs -definitely speak to your GP about it. They may be really understanding and helpful with everything. Glad you've got a busy autumn ahead (and a new puppy!) to keep your mind off things.
As LP says though, chances are high that you've just been very very unlucky :(

I still haven't seen Prometheus, been meaning to for aages! I suppose there is this additional freak-out element now though...

Dor I find the stretchy feelings are totally normal and they have been coming and going throughout so far. I guess it's just 'growing pains'? You should probably start feeling movements quite soon -I think I had them from around week 17-18. It's lovely.

I'm getting antsy and longing to be further along so I look pregnant and not just chubby.

Had the weirdest dream last night that my friend came with me to a scan and the sonographer was late, so my friend started messing around with the machine. The wand had this bright light on the end of it and on the screen you could see the baby as if it lit with a giant flashlight. In the dream the baby's eyes were really blue and my friend kept printing out loads of scan pictures on which she then decorated the baby with little costumes! It was so freaky. Especially since the baby had this weird pirate scar across one eye...?! My brain is a strange place.

LP, TBI bought me What Not To Expect... by Zoe Williams for my birthday and it had a great para about other people's pregnancies seeming like minutes from them announcing they are pg to cute baybee pics on fb, but your own pg taking as long as a PhD. So true. It picked up speed a bit after 12 weeks but still feels like, well I guess like you're having to live through every moment of it. Which sounds obvious but in practice is actually not that easy.

Also, yy to the fucking weird pg/baybee dreams. Last week I gave birth to a kind of weird inverted ladybird that I had to keep warm. A few weeks ago it was a stick insect. WTAF.

I've had some bizarre dreams too -including a few rather raunchy ones

It definitely picks up a bit after the 12 week scan, as there are a few things happening with not too much time in between then (16 week checkup, starting to look a bit bumpy, starting to feel the odd flutter, 20 week anomaly scan).
LP If you're like me, you may be in maternity jeans sooner than you think. I also did just look chubby, but having anything pressuring my lower abdomen was totally unbearable (probably psychological) so I was in them from about 11 weeks...

I caved in and have already bought several pairs of maternity trousers/jeans! I'm normally a size 10 but the progesterone is tripling my pregnancy bloat and I can't fit into any of my trousers/jeans.

I posted a long message about my good shopping fortune on the 'What does 10 weeks pregnant feel like' Fred.

well done -I felt silly getting into them at first, but they were sooo much more comfortable. Tunics and tights are good too. H&M does some super-cheap multi-packs of maternity tights that are pretty good. And Next has an online sale on at the moment with some decent bargains in the maternity section.

Another week started then -anyone doing anything interesting this week? I'm just working at the moment. My office is on the third floor without a lift, and that's getting increasingly tough. I suppose I should relish the exercise...

I've had three straight days of continuous nausea. I'm over it. Today I'm going out for a long walk in hope of 'shaking' the sick feeling aside with a little exercise like all the annoying websites have been telling me to do for weeks.

Our week is fairly boring - usual bits of work, with a little trip to visit family at the weekend. Monday is my MW booking-in appointment, then nuchal dating scan on Thursday... only 10 more sleeps (!)

We're currently discussing when to announce to the family. There's a great opportunity in a few weeks, when I'll be 13+, which I originally thought would be the perfect time. But now I'm feeling a bit reluctant because it will mean that we'll also need to announce to TinyTOM's biomum (via an email) and I'm not sure I'm ready for that. I really want to tell our family so they can share in our joy, but I'm frustrated that common curtesy dictates that she gets thrown into that special group of people. I know she'll gossip announce the news to our mutual friends, which is irksome as we planned to keep it all low-key, telling people casually as we saw them (or as they noticed my burgeoning belly!)

It's pants that we even need to include her, as it's really none of her business.

Oh let her gossip. It's all good stuff she is gossiping about anway! Whilst we all want to control the flow of information it isn't always that easy. I have found the whole 'announcing' thing quite uncomfortable and I am finding it easier when people gossip because I don't have to tell them!

I am now 18 weeks pregnant and apart from the hard bit of belly below the flabby bit I still don't feel massible pregnant. I can't wait until I can feel movement. My 20 week scan is on 1 August and I am looking forward to it and I am a bit nervous. We have decided not to have nuchal or blood screening as we wouldn't go ahead with amnio if the risks were higher. I am feeling nervous about the anomaly scan though and just hoping that everything will be ok.

What is your relationship with her like? Could you ask her specifically not to tell, and would she listen to you if you did?

I never really made any 'official' announcements either -I felt uncomfortable with it too, and I guess after so long of trying, there was always that little fear of jinxing it. One friend made a comment on Facebook referring to it, and I did wonder about deleting that, but I let it be in a kind of 'go with the flow'. Most people know now I think -especially as it must be getting really visible. I had my first person get up on the bus and give me their seat on Friday! Sadly this morning it was back to normal and I had to stand... Oh well.

Dor anomaly scan is nerve wrecking, but just remember chances are very high that you're fine. Are you going to find out the sex?

I think we will find out the sex. Partly because in my head I really want a girl, so if I am having a boy I need to get my head around it. I know that sounds stupid but I don't want my first moments after birth to be me feeling disappointed if it is a boy. That sounds so wrong after having tried for so long to get pregnant but anyway!

My friend has two children who both have disabilities. I was talking to her about the anomaly scan and she said to me, 'The likelihood is that everything will be just fine, and if it isn't you will deal with it as well as you possibly can just like we had to'. The fact that they cope makes me feel optimistic!

Cava this is the woman who spoiled her own child's surprise birthday party by telling him about it. After we had had several conversations about how to keep it a secret from him. So, no, we wouldn't really trust her to not to spread the word.

I suppose I just wanted to be able share the news with our families after the 12wk scan and then keep the news family-only for a while longer...I think reluctancy to tell everyone is just one of the sad side effects of having had several miscarriages.

Dory - we're going to find out the sex as well. TOM says it really helped him bond with TinyTOM knowing he was a boy before he was born. I'm happy to have a boy or a girl, I just want to know so we can have plenty of time to suss out an agreed name!