due oct 2006 part 2

[totallyfloaty35]

Well lets fill this one up too

Martha,Combi make fab,really lightweight buggies(sold in john lewis or on net)they weigh about 3kg.Or the loola by jane has been recommended by lots of people.
My Dh keeps suggesting names like Rocco,tyson and Rocky,great if i was giving birth to a pitbull,but im not overly impressed otherwise

LaGuanaca I really hope you start to feel better soon and can get some help. I remember reading that 'misconceptions' book too and identifying with lots of it.

Whiffy hope your sickness abates soon. It made me chuckle thinking of you walking in your dinner guests!

Ginegme good luck with the scan Wednesday.

Martha re prams, I did exactly the same as Sunshine. I remember DH and I walking into John Lewis Oxford street looking for buggies and getting so freaked out by the choice we ran out again! We ended up spending £250 (sale price!) on a mamas and papas travel system. This was a nightmare for getting round Brighton which is full of little shops. We never connected the car seat to the buggy either. I felt liberated when I got the lightweight Maclaren which only cost about £80 (this isn't suitable from birth though).

I've been thinking about my maternity leave. Those of you who are working, have you thought about when you are starting your leave? At the moment I am thinking of leaving 21st Sept at 37 weeks. However I drive to work most of the time now, so am not sure if this is a bit late. What is everyone else planning?

I was planning to start maternity leave at 38wks but take 2 weeks holiday prior to that. I also drive to work and i'm feeling that this also maybe too late but i really want to have as much time off as possible after the birth. Got my blood test for Down's risk today, never felt such pain when getting a blood test before- how will i cope with childbirth!! Also got to listen to baby's heartbeat which was fab.

Still havnt heard my babys heartbeat. Hope Ill see and hear loads tomm when I have my scan. Well for the first time in 13 weeks I dont feel sick this morning! Keeping fingers crossed this is a start of things to come. My skin is realy realy dry though. I feel like Im back at school and have teenage skin again.My skin was never like this with my 3ds's. My cousin reckons if your skin is horrible its gonna be a girl cause they steal you of your beauty while your pregant! Mmm something to think about or another old wives tale?

I worked till 38 weeks with DS (and drove every day) found hard going at end but worth it so as to spend time with him afterwards - also still got really bored as DS was 9 days late. This time though dur to having to keep up with DS I'm finishing at 36 weeks and taking 1 month unpaid so I have the smae time afterwards with the baby.

Hope everyone is doing OK good luck with coming scans.

Have had a fab fab evening playing with my doppler which must be best 70 quid I have ever spent. Picks up the heartbeat clean as a whistle and I kept doing it again and again as gave me such a thrill. Missed half of wife swap I was using it so much. Very highly recommended - got mine new from ebay and saw second-hand ones selling for almost as much as new so will get most of my money back when I flog it afterwards. Hoorah.

I've been thinking about the maternity leave thing and really not sure. Last time I got signed off sick so I have nothing to go on. I've opted for the beginning of September even though we can't really afford it but am now wondering if I will be able to hold on for longer. Main problem for me is that I have a 3 hour train commute each day which isn't ideal (though at least I always get a seat now!)... mind you I might be banned from the dealing for well before then anyway, on grounds that only babes & yummy mummies are acceptable trading floor decoration. Slummy mummies definately out....(she says, whilst secretely wearing american tan pop socks today as can't face the thought of tights at moment as crutch seems to keep getting pulled down now my shapes' changing...)

Waverley? LOL, Marthahm, that DH is certainly playing poker with your pg hormones. Made me chuckle but if it had been my DH I'd have decked him (bad enough my DH keeps referring to DS and the bump as 'Finn & Ferg'). Definate yellow card offence

I brought a 3-in-1 pushchair system which was waste of money, the only advantage was that it was a breeze clipping into the car seat contraption - a big bonus when it's raining. But once DS was about 6m months old I dumped it all in favour of lightweight mcClaren buggy. I really regretted not getting a Jane pushchair/pram thing and everyone I know who has had them raves - especially the version that has a full cradle car seat rather than a 'sit-up' car seat. I know 4 mums who had these and loved them. Only slight thing I ever heard about them was that one mum thought the 3 wheel version was a bit dodgy on steps.

good luck with the scan gingeme.

gingeme - good luck and best wishes with the scan tomorrow!! bet you cant wait :)

whiffy - sorry to hear that the morning sickness is still lurking. not nice at all. hopefully it will clear off for you soon tho. would you say that one of those hear-beat listener thingy's were worth buying then???

hope that every1 else is doing good

gingeme - today's the day then. let us know how it goes. regarding the grotty skin problem - I know what you mean. I normally have really nice skin, I never even suffered as a teenager, but with both pregnancies I've had spots and pimples and red blotches for the first 4 months - and then glowing skin with dd .... am waiting for that to kick in this time round!!

whiffy, sorry you're still feeling squiffy - that's grim. with dd it all stopped at the end of the 4th month so am feeling 'in reprieve' at the moment, as it appears to have stopped earlier this time round!!

Waverley? where on earth did that one come from???!! I barely dare broach the subject of names with dp. Everything I like, he hates. It's a wonder we've been together this long actually :o

As for pushchairs, we bought a bébé confort 3 in 1 jobby before dd was born and it was great for us. Am planning to keep the same and possibly invest in a MacLaren very lightweight marvel which friends lent us the other weekend. It'll be ideal for dd now.

In France you don't get to choose when your maternity leave starts. It's 'automatically calculated' so you get 4 weeks before your due date and 10 weeks after. So everyone prays that the baby comes a bit early to have more time with him before going back to work. Not an issue for me this time round as I'm currently SAHM.

laguanca, thinking of you, let us know how you're doing.

right, that's enough from me. hope you're all doing well x

Hi ya!
I was thinking about taking mat leave 2 weeks before the due date but not too sure now that I read your emails! The baby show will be in London around that date as well, I hope I can still make it to it!

Re: prams
I have also been looking at these online and I was wondering if anyone knows much about a 3 wheeler with good durable tyres, as I don't drive and will be walking about loads, some I saw looked really plasticky, so I'm not too sure yet, I love the Jane ones but I'm not sure if I can spend £400!!

Wuzzle - I definately recommend a doppler for anyone like me who loves the reassurance of knowing things OK (hey, I was the one who bought out the entire range of pg kits from boots 'just to make sure'), but I wouldn't buy the cheaper 'hear rate listeners' that places like mothercare sell for about £25 - we had one last time and it was rubbish. The one I got new on ebay ('BF500') seem to be pretty much the same as the one the midwives use round here (though without 'readings', just the sound).

Paow, maybe ebay have second-hand Jane's?

Do I sound like an ebay nut? Fair enough. But I never said I wasn't a very sad person...

Have been reading very scary thread on MN about someone finding their DH had been seeing prostitutes. Cripes. Makes me forgive DH anything (though Waverley as a suggested name would obviously be pushing the envelope)...

Have just wolfed down a banana, a pear, half a dozen cheese melt biscuit thingies and a pack of midget gems, washed down with a hot chocolate and some blood red orange juice. I am beginning to see a cause-and-effect being established here vis-a-viz my continuing sickness....

ditto on the cause and effect; cadbury's cream egg and a smoothie wolfed in 5 minutes=extreme nausea
i'm so glad that you all think waverley was a criminal offence, makes me feel more sane for going insane.

thanks for all advice re pushchairs, will go and look at jane ones on web, maclaren classic still sounds like a good idea from what you've all said.
have felt the baby kicking definitely once today and 3 times at weekend-v. peculiar sensation, not what i expected!
hope the scan went well gingeme. the stuff about the baby stealing your looks, i've heard that from asian people saying that's what their grandmothers used to say.

Hey ladies - Blobby here!

Hope you're all enjoying your nice rounder figures! I really must switch to totally maternity. All my normal t-shirts are seemingly getting shorter and shorter! Soon they will be just bikinis....

Re. puchchairs, I've also been looking on-line. what a minefield! There's such a variety, it's so difficult to know where to start. It seems to make sense economically to buy an all-singing all dancing one that has a car seat, plus turns into an ordinary pushchair for when their older. Has anyone experience of these? Do they tend to work well at all their different stages?

Mrs Blobby... yes they work but the pushchair part is normally so heavy and cumbersome that by the time you get to that stage, you go off and buy a mcclaren lightweight buggy....the babyseat clipping into the car bit though I found quite cool. As per previous raves though, the friends who bought the Jane 3-in-1 stuff still use their buggy sections and never needed to go the mcclaren route.

Am v p*d off. Dressed for work then on the train decided that the outfit just didn't cut the mustard (in moment of madness picked comfy trousers with elasticated waist that doesn;t quite go with jacket) so nipped into M&S and bought 3 different outfits on grounds that could try on them all and take 2 back. Then when I sneaked into loo on way to office to change, I discovered that all 3 outfits look hideaous and I am a fat fat hula hoop pig.

Consoling myself with danish pastry.

thank god for danish pastries hey whiffy? :o

gingeme - where are you????

Im here! Not got scan till 3.30 this afternoon. You know that realy convenient time when youve got 2 ds to pick up from school!! Luckily Ive palmed them off to friends houses. Might take a chance and ask the sex of my baby this time. I expect it will be the same hospital policy of not being able to tell me like with my 2 year old ds but its worth a try. My dh said hed like to know this time too by which I was well surprised!.Will let you know as soon as i do nowandnearly xx Laters ladies

Well weve had our first scan and all I can say is wow! The little one was so wriggly and kept putting its little hands in its mouth and bringing its knees up so we could see the little toes. I know its my 4th but its still so amazing. They do tell you the sex if you want to know but you have to wait till the 20 week scan. 7 weeks and counting. My edd is the same as both me and my gp worked out so thats a good sign. Well Im just going to study my scan photo a bit more so Ill leave you ladies to it.

congrats on the scan gingeme.

I am left with 2 pairs of trousers that I can wear to work which is driving me mad. The hem is down on one pair so I look a real scruff. I am rubbish at sowing things up again (Sister Pauline was horrified at my needlework skills back in my school days-AND she made me cut my nails because they were too long-not that I'm bitter or anything!)

Still feeling too superstitious to get maternity clothes down from the loft but don't think I can hold old til the 20 week stage, so may have to risk tempting fate.

phew! another one safely through the scan, great news gingeme.
keep eating the danish pastries whiffy, the baby needs them. it also needs chocolate biscuit cake i think.
the clothes thing is getting silly now, i will also have to forget most non maternity tops because i hate the cold feeling on the band of tummy that doesn't get covered

great news gingeme - sorry, got my days muddled up - didn't mean to hassle you!!!
am stuffing myself with giant bag of crisps as dp's out til late - shame they're not hula hoops though :)

Lol thats cool nearlynew Im on such a high today Im not worried. Had my hair all chopped off this morning too so I feel quite glam and the sickness seems to have subsided altogether now so Im feeling a bit more back to normal. Well got my cocoa and whats left of my easter egg to munch. So I bid you all a goodnight xxxx

Good news Gingeme.

morning ladies,
please wish me luck.... flying to inlaws tonight until Tuesday. They're lovely really, it's just I have to stop getting wound up about all the 'advice' my mil loves to dish out. She's of the 'all my children were potty-trained by the time they could sit up' and 'breastfeeding after 3 months as no nutritional value whatsoever, it's just to save money' variety. Really!!
oh well, better bite the bullet and start packing.
hope you're all doing ok.

good luck nowandnearly!! lol

gingeme - glad to hear that the scan went great for you

Is there anyone else waiting for a scan now??

hope that every1 is feeling better...arent we all meant to start 'blooming' now?? lol

Yes lots of luck to you nowanearlynicemum. Luckily my mil is briliant! She just lets me get on with it. She is always ready to baby sit and help out. Just remember only 4 days till Tuesday he he.Still in awe over the scan. Tricked my ds whos 10 yesterday and told him we were having twin girls. He was not impressed when he realised it was a trick. Ooops.Poor love hes dying for a sister.Off to Toys R Us now to get my eldest ds a Nintendo Ds. Cant believe hes gonna be 12 next week and here I am doing it all over again!!

Hi Ladeeeeeeeeeeeez. Have migrated from Sept thread - due the first week in Oct (elective CS planned for then).

Amnio results provisionally good (48 hours - very impressed!!), another DS. Placenta sadly anterior and low, but plenty time hopefully for it to swing clear of my scar. SVT has gone completely, heart scan normal, given the all clear to start running again - have only got as far as washing my trainers though

Feeling great after an awful first trimester. Feeling a bit more human now that red wine and coffee don't turn my stomach. And chocolate. And crisps. And mini-Scotch eggs. Hmmmmmmmmm....