March 2013 VII: Our little pumpkins are getting fatter

[Sheldonella]

Old thread here

Stats thread here

Ooh vivee do you find 4 hours every 2 weeks is better than 2 hours every week? We really need a cleaner but I'm worried about affording it once I'm on mat leave!

Incidentally, I've just filled in my maternity leave forms for work! If all goes to plan 23rd Jan will be my last day at work before I have 14 months off!! I'm going off slightly early as ds was born slightly early and also I want some r&r before the little one arrives!

sheldonella so sorry to hear about your carpal tunnel. I had it first time and it was awful... Expecting it again and dreading it!

pink oh my word!! What a lovely surprise! It will be funny for you to be able to look in the 'girl' sections of all the clothes shops for a change!

Thank you everybody. Still totally shocked. I honestly never thought I would have a girl & was excited about having 4 boys. A girl will be really lovely though and she will be well protected by her big brothers!! Sheldonella the Fetal Medicine scans were at 12 & 14 weeks. The woman who did the 12 week one said "Probably a boy" but she was unsure but the 14 week sonographer said boy. I assumed that with our history of boys and they fact that two different sonographers said boy that they had to be right. Apparently not! I have my scan photo of the 3 lines - wow, sooo shocked!! Very excited by girl shopping though (although she will probably be a tomboy with 3 brothers!!)

Sheldon have you had carpal tunnel before? One of my friends had it when pregnant and it went after she had given birth so hopefully yours does the same. With the coat, would it be too bulky with layers? I would go for warmth I think as well, nothing worse than being cold & it's supposed to be freezing from tomorrow.

Octobercarrot (I love your username!!) It will be weird to look at girls clothes. I am so tuned into going straight to boyswear, It's a whole new world!!

Sarah how exciting to have your date! That is sooo exciting. Is that 2 weeks early?

Manda Our cleaner does 5 hours but does change all beds. We have a 5 bed house and there are 3 adults (inc. au pair) & 3 children in it so it does get messy. I am very tidy though and so she doesn't tidy, just clean. She also doesn't iron, I send that to an ironing company. You can always get them to do a trial & they should let you know how long they need. Some agencies send 2 at a time so you get the job done in half the time. I hope you are feeling better soon.

Tramp I think I missed your party talk. Is it your party? hope all goes well.

Vivee I went to the Baby Show when I was pregnant with ds2 and got some great bargains. It's also good for trying prams and they offer discounts. It does get very busy though!

Gummi I keep thinking that although I wouldn't have bought anything because we have boy everything. DH said that this is no longer a cheap baby with hand me downs!!!

I am sorry for anyone I have missed. Going to go and read my baby names book! Hope Flowery's scan went well

Haven't managed to catch up properly again but pink wow for your mix up, but yay for a girl!! She'll be very adored by her big bro's i'm sure :)

manda Someone has just started to clean at ours, she asked for £10 an hour, I think there are cheaper around but I know her really well and know that she does a really good job. We just had a look around and a chat about how long each bit would take so it's going ok so far. A trial is def the way forward.

Sorry so brief, need to go again but will get up to speed with the other back pages I need to catch up with later.

tramp and gummi I'll put money on me going overdue and still being here T the end if the month. Was 8 days over last time and fully expecting to be similar this time. I'd go as far as to say I'd be truly amazed if this baby was anything other than late!!

Jojo, hope you are feeling some movement now? On my notes it says, any queries after 20 weeks ring the labour ward or do you have your mw's mobile number?
Have you tried having very cold water?

pink I saw your scan pic on fb before I came on here!!! what great news and what a fab surprise. That's the same pattern as my dad and his siblings; 3 boys and then a girl.

Am hoping i might be able to convince DH to get a cleaner especially after Xmas as DD will get her free 15 hours at nursery so we'll be marginally better off until I go on mat leave and we'll be skint anyway!

Still got bloody cold today; have got through half a box if tissues at work today. It's like a doctors waiting room in our office; everyone has a hacking cough, or is sneezing, and one of my friends threw up this aft, lovely.
Having a cold does have it's benefits though, my boss most days has terrible BO, so at least it means I can't smell the smelly git.
em where is the new jojomaman going to be? Could do with a new swimming cossie before we go to center parcs next month.

Got ocado delivery coming tonight, cannot wait to actually have done food in the house. Had an m&s ready meal for tea, it was gorgeous. Salmon teriyaki mmmmmmmmm it wAs very tasty.

The IO coat is very nice but I tried it outside when I got home from work and I didn't feel very warm in it. I think it would be ok with layers now but when it's gets much colder I don't think I will find it warm enough. It's a shame because the style is lovely. I think I'm sending it back.

I've had mild carpal tunnel for a while but it has to worse recently. I wake up in the night with beard weird feeling hands and have to shake them. I hope the splints help me sleep.

Em, 4 hours fortnightly works well for us. There are the jobs like cleaning oven and fridge that don't need to be done as often. As long as we don't have a big party, wipe benches and clean up as we go, fortnightly is good.

I can't believe it has taken me so long to realise this thread is here!!!

Can I join in??

Due in mid-March, 20 week scan on Monday... in 2 minds about finding out the gender all of a sudden! Always thought I'd NEED to find out but as it approaches I'm wondering if I'm kind of enjoying the ignorance and the possibility it could be one or the other... That said, I can barely wait for a bus without getting my knickers in a twist, so I think when I'm actually there and the sonographer comes at me with her probe, I'll go back to Plan A.

Anyone else been uncertain? We do have a sneaky gender preference (though goes without saying we honestly do really only want a healthy one!!!) so I don't know if it's better to find out and get used to it/bond over the next few months if it's not the gender we're secretly hoping for, or if it's better to wait for the birth and then not really give a shit what gender it is cos you're so happy/knackered...?

Having a slightly miserable time with pelvic girdle pain which is manifesting in the hips, so all my lovely plans to keep fit with walking and swimming are buggered and I'm a bit down this week. It's affected my sleep massively as well, which I'm always rubbish about. Found myself sobbing at 4am yesterday as I just felt a bit sorry for myself.

Well, that's me done. Hello to everyone and congrats (belatedly) on your own March bumps!

:)

Welcomeemerald is this DC1? I've my scan next week too, Wed for me. I'm not finding out as I like the surprise ( feels like a reward!)

emerald PGP/SPD thread here

Angels, yep - should have said, it's DC1...

Think I may have posted something for you in the SPD thread this morning already... great minds!! Lots of excellent advice on there and oddly uncontradictory, which is unusual (but great) for a medical-type thread.

It's v useful to hear from others suffering/ that have had it as many professionals aren't much use :(

Emerald, my scan is Monday too!! Welcome BTW!

This bastard cold is really doing my head in now, does anyone think it could be partially related to the flu jab? My patents know people who've had the jab who have had similar symptoms. I know mine isn't entirely due to that, as started with it on Friday, and jab was on Saturday!!

Welcome Emerald I am suffering with SPD/PGP as well and have taken to hour long baths at night to click everything out and relax as I wasnt sleeping either and then become a hormal crying mess most days, it has helped last 2 nights but I knwo from my previous pregnacy it wont be long as I got so bad last time they c sectioned at 33 weeks - but I do have other pelvis/hip problems [hsmile]

Today is payday so am online baby shopping - work can wait, have just ordered some monkey booties from Next

Morning all. Not caught up since Wednesday but just a very quick post re scan yesterday. All limbs and bits etc. are present and correct, no placenta issues etc so that's all good, but there is some concern over growth/size as measurements were all only just into the normal boundrief and abdominal circumference borderline. Spent over an hour being scanned as baby was being so bloomin' difficult, then senior sonographer called and did everything again then I was usured off to a private waiting room and then they came back to say the measurements were on the low side so they wanted me to go over to another unit to have a consultant review the scan. The staff were all lovely but we of course had to wait quite a while and in the end a different doctor reviewed the scan, said pretty much teh same thing - no major concern but on the small side so will need another scan in a few weeks but all the consultants were in theatre so they didn't know how long to wait voefre next scan. In the end they sent me away since I have a consultant appointment on Monday any way. A nice lady gave me a flu jab whilst I waited though, so that will save a trip to the doctors!

And it was eventually decided that we are team girl! Got a good view of the three lines but only right at the end, at first they said they didn't thin they would be able to see due baby being in such an awkward position.

So, not such a quick post but will try to catch up properly at the weekend.

patents?! parents...

Morning Everyone!! Only just woken up!! Can hear ds giggling in his cot, god knows what mischief he's up to....

ethel sorry to hear about your cold.

emerald welcome! We didn't find out what we were having the first time but have found out this time and not told anyone in RL! I'm preferring knowing to be honest.

Oh flowery cross posts - congratulations on your little girl! Sorry to hear scan wasn't straightforward - hope things are better by your next scan.

flowery good news on scan, but hope they can get the growth issue sorted at the next one. X

thanks guys. Was feeling quite OK about it yesterday but today I'm feeling a bit upset. That end of the week exhaustion not helping I suspect! Hope consultant is good on Monday. Apointment is to go through DSs birth as wasn't great and I've still had the odd flash back so will generally be an appointment of me wailing about all my concerns and see what they do! Have of course convinved myself the size issues are because of stress at work being so unhappy in my job so thinking maybe I should finish at earliest oportnity, which would be Christmas, crikey. Had previously thought I'd stick it out to end of Jan. Wonder if consultant will think I need more rest adn les stress suficiently to say my working hours need reducing??? wishful hoping

zoey - crying hormonal mess sounds familiar . Sorry to hear you suffer too, it's bloody miserable, isn't it? I'm being wimpy really because when I read some stories on the SPD thread some ladies have it so so so much worse :( Tried telling myself to get a grip last night but sadly the hormonal mess-ness overpowered me! Almost went and woke up (irritatingly snoring) DH and sobbed all over him that the world was ending but I popped on a Friends DVD and it calmed me down/zombifyed me, even if I didn't actually Get A Grip!!

Em20 - thanks for your welcome!! Also helpful to hear you prefer knowing... I am a control freak so I think I will feel better knowing. And honestly, whatever flavour we get is going to be a blessing. IT can just be hard not having a sneaky preference if (like moi) you grew up with a scary sister and a bat-shit crazy mother :)

emerald I was very torn about whether to find out or not- it just seems weird that the sex of the baby becomes this big One Thing You Know For Sure, and, like manda, I'm very uncomfortable with all the pink/blue gubbins.
But when we were actually in there, and the sonographer said "look away if you don't want to know the sex" I just couldn't bring myself to not know something I could know!!!
As soon as I found out I felt guilty about it, and wished I hadn't. Especially as it turned out- completely unexpectedly- that I did have a secret preference/assumption, and I was really quite shocked to discover I'll be having a son.
That was a couple of weeks ago, and now I quite like knowing. I love having a pronoun to use- I can say "He's kicked me in the bladder!" rather than "The baby has..." or "It has..." which I couldn't bring myself to use. And although it felt somehow less real when they told me, because of how unexpectedly surprising it was, it now feels more real to think about my little boy in there, growing away and kicking and scrabbling. And I think if I had only discovered at crunch time that he's a boy, and that I had unconsciously expected a girl, it would have been very weird indeed.

I did get very worried about making the decision about whether to find out- which doesn't bode well for the future re parenting decisions! Especially when, ultimately, finding out or not really isn't that important!

Hurrah for all the happy scans- and pink what an amazing surprise!! Flowery glad you are seeing the consultant soon anyway to put your mind to rest (and it's worth remembering that babies and people come in all shapes and sizes- a bit smaller than average needn't be anything wrong. Especially come giving-birth time!!!)

Flowery - main thing is baby is happy bouncing around in there. Little bit on small side issue will be looked into next week by consultant. Are lots of reasons why and its still early days but meanwhile baby is happy bouncing about. It's an impossibility of course but try not to worry too much and focus on the plus points - bouncing baby! 20 weeks (1/2 way!)!!! And on Monday go in with a nice long list of Qs you need answers from the consultant on in order that you feel informed and therefore better about everything. No question is too silly.

Emerald - hello and welcome.

I'm still sat in the I don't want to know gender camp. I like the idea of meeting Socrates at birth and it being a proper intro - mum meet your baby girl/boy and Socs meet your Mum. Oops and dad of course. I'm also increasingly unimpressed by all the gender stereotyping baby stuff. Boys blue, girls pink. Boys sailors, girls princesses. It's pretty awful. I think if we learnt gender there'd be a bias from others for "cute" gender based stuff that will genuinely drive me mad. So I'm sticking with pirate baby (stripes) and don't want to know.

Sorry to hear some ladies are having a bad week with colds and so on. Re Q about flu jab. I asked Dr about this; it's not a live vaccine so your arm might hurt etc but it wouldn't cause sniffles. So cold was there before jab. I've probably expressed this too simplistically for a medical professionals comfort but hey Ho.

We have a tidy day today. Everywhere to be cleaned and Spick & span ready for party tomorrow and sofa!!!! Delivery today. And in evening I need to make my costume & sort out play lists. I'll be exhausted. Busy busy day. Good day though.

And I must get to it. Anon ladies. Have good Fridays!

Re flu jabs and sniffles, has anyone else noticed how many people say things like "I had the jab, and the next day I got sick!"? And none of them seem to be aware that illnesses have incubation periods. So all we really learn is that our brains jump to the nearest explanation whether it makes any sense or not. Of course, that doesn't make me feel any better about waking up this morning with lungs that feel like I spent the night chain-smoking old tyres dipped in paint.

Welcome Emerald! I don't know if it's better to find out now what you're having, or to wait, but I suspect in six months' time you won't care all that much when you found out, because you'll have an adorable bundle of cuteness (and poo, and dribble) to distract you.

Two and a half hours until my scan!

Morning All & welcome emerald Just a quick place marker as I have abandoned my shopping in the kitchen

Jojo Last few days I have had fewer kicks but I think the baby is in a completely different position and I am missing some, will know better on tuesday.

Stormy good luck

Flowery my 3rd pg I had loads of extra appointments as they kept saying dd2 was small, so I know how worry it can be, but as Tramp says you have to take comfort from there is a happy kicking baby in there.