March 2013 VII: Our little pumpkins are getting fatter

[Sheldonella]

Old thread here

Stats thread here

Congrats on your little boy, Ethel! Boys are ace... mine is currently covering himself in tomato soup...! The joys!

manda thinking of you. I'm sure all will be fine [hsmile]

DS's photo proofs have come back from the photographer and I'm so chuffed with the results! Want to order them all!

Flowery when I had dd1 she was due on the 4th of March due to the way my shifys worked dh didn't want me working our last New Years as just us so the only way for me to get it off with out working our last Christmas as just us was to go on Maternity leave and if my memory is right I could have officially left a week earlier. I knew I was taking extended maternity leave so it didn't matter to us that I left 10 wks before due date I think it was.
mw told me to get MAT B1 at 25 weeks. This is the first time while working for dh I am entitled to Mat pay (yey)

Manda glad you are getting scanned and hope everything is ok xx

Em The toffee apples look easy to do, yummy and very impressive

OMG Ethel I nearly missed your post team blue YEY, Im 19 +5 tomorrow and have scan I will be comparing my pics to yours even though I AM TEAM YELLOW (just trying to remind myself)

Flowery how long winded I really just meant I left the day before Christmas Eve but could have actually left the week before!

Very quick message whilst boss is making a cup of tea!

Ethel yay for team blue. Boys are fantastic and I bet your DD will love him to bits!

Flowery your plans sound very sensible. Lots of choccie biccies and rest for you! Hope specialist MW can help put some of your fears at ease.

Manda hope everything is going well.

Okay so I had scan and everything's fine! The little buggers have just moved around, as some of you suggested! One on the left had gone upside down and the one that was on the right (the one that got me worried) is now lying across my belly behind the placentas, which is why I can't feel anything on the right anymore! The nurse and the doc were both absolutely lovely and spent a couple of minutes showing me all their arms and legs and hands with their bones (waving at me!) and I felt both a bit silly for worrying and utterly relieved that they are totally fine and oblivious to my minor panics. Let this be a lesson to me! Thanks again for all your kind comments

Well done on finishing baby's room, Sheldon! We're now awaiting delivery of the paint we've chosen, though it's going to be a while till we get to that stage as it's still resolutely a man cave, full of tools and ladders and general crap at the moment! Can't blame DH - I have to sort out my tip of a study to make room for him to come in here first!

Sorry you didn't get to enjoy your tea, Zoey, and that you've got a crazy week at work but at least it sounds as if it should go fast - another week closer!

Em owwww! Toothache is the absolute pits. Poor you! How long will it take to get itself better with the mouthwash stuff?

Flowery so please consultant happy with measurements - that's terrific news! But not so great that you didn't get time to discuss all the other stuff. Sounds like you are working things out, though, and you have a really good plan to make things manageable too.

Ethel yay for good scan, congrats on a boy and movements to boot!

Fab news manda and lovely that you saw the babies again. I think it is always better to get your worries checked out. What colour have you ordered for your room?
Ethel Congrats on your little boy :)
Flowery That is good news, very glad to hear it.
Em You have my sympathies with the toothache. I have let myself suffer too many times because I'm a coward with the dentist! Good on you for going.
Well I fulfilled my ongoing craving for broccoli soup at lunch time although I'm sure my colleagues didn't appreciate the smell. Unfortunately I now feel quite sick!

Great news manda x

I'm still wavering about maternity leave. Am not expecting to be working after Christmas but v tempted ( supervisor agreed) to use sick leave as long as possible.that would take me to 2 weeks before c-section and get me more money I'd rather use my leave on the end as I'll be going back sooner than I'd like.

Oooo you should check whether taking sick leave just prior to maternity leave impacts on the amount of maternity pay you are entitled to in the first 6 weeks. This is calculated as 90% of your average weekly salary and they generally calculated the average weekly salary based on what you earn in the 8 weeks or so before you take your maternity leave. That means that if you are on sick leave pay during that period your first 6 weeks maternity pay will be calculated on that and not on your actual salary.

The 8 weeks are much earlier than that. Something like 16-24 weeks. Was off sick at that point last time and all my pay was screwed up at payroll due to missing paper work!

I would get full pay on sick at first anyway better than the basic maternity pay

Apologies - not in the 8 weeks before your maternity leave but 8 weeks before the qualifying week (which is 15 week before due date).

I thought if you were out for any amount of time on sick leave during the time that you are eligible for maternity leave they made you start maternity leave or is that only if sick is maternity related. Worth checking just incase

Em did you see my link to toffe apples

Hi all

Finally caught up. tramp glad the party was a success!

manda and flowery glad the scans could give you some reassurance.

sheldon good work on the nursery!

And hi to everyone else, have read and digested, just not remembered!

Got mat b1 at appt after scan. Saw hospital mw who said I'll def have to have GTT cos of BMI over threshold. Also she commented on DD being big, (several times!) and said there's a good chance next baby could be big(ger!) eeeek. Plus it's a boy, do even more chance it's going to be a whopper. Great!

Haven't told anyone else that we know the sex, as we haven't decided whether or not to just tell those who want to know, or do like we did last time and tell everyone that we knew, but we weren't telling! Na na na na na!!! . Will need to discuss more with DH, plus thought we had a boys name sorted and then DH said, oh not sure if I still like that! So back to the drawing board.

Anyway, better get on and make some tea.

gummi that only applies after a certain date (36 weeks??)

Oh just checked the toffee apple link now gummi they look A-amazing!!! Will have to try them.

Manda so pleased to hear of happy scan and that your little ones were just being monkeys. Never hurts to get things checked out, so much better than worrying, especially with your doubly special bump!

Ethel we haven't told anyone in RL, I think it will be worth it in the long run but have already had a few near misses! DPs spent last weekend coming up with boys names for the bump and DM always refers to baby as him, so I just play along with her. I think she suspects that I know though so I think she's just trying to catch me out... sorry I'm digressing!

Just worked out that (all being well) I have about 25 working days left in the office until maternity leave. Whoop!

Right, better go and pick up ds from nursery. Have some Milka chocolate with Daim in the car for me and sugar-free oatcakes for ds .

gummi used to be any time but now is 36 weeks

Ethelred yay for big babies! I am hoping for a nice 10lb one - at the moment LO is nearly a week ahead of her dates so hoping she stays nice and big although unlikely given my and my DH's small sizes!

I'm a bit envious of all your maternity leave plans. None for me, own bid means not practical BUT will work "light" for 3 months with a 5 week new baby break. No mat pay though.

Manda - glad you're reassured.

Flowery - good news from consultant but the stress all sounds awful.

Hurrah for everyone with good scans and happy babies of various camps. I'm scanning Friday morning with NHS and again privately next week for proper reassurance and a video for grandparents to be. Hopefully all is still well. Have to confess feeling so much better now than did previously is bizarrely worrying BUT pragmatic me keeps reminding that boobs and bump keep growing, flutters still happening and there's no indication of anything being wrong at all. Which is what's different - after first 12 weeks of bleeds, migrants, exhaustion & general fear. So all worries frankly banished to naughty corner of mind. Am sure they'll pop out Friday morning though.

I'm getting a bit lost on where everyone is because I keep reading in snippets, so I'm really sorry if I'm muddling up the name checks.

Lexi - chuffed you're lurking and glad you're ok. Please do pop in and reassure us on occasion.

Chef - where are you? Hope you're a ok.

All the nursery plans sound grand ladies. Socs gets our spare room (as presently stands), a cot, a couple of cool mobiles and that's the lot. Sod redecorating. Once Socs is old enough to start demanding colours and themes I'll get paint brush out. Til then I like my red/blue/pale yellow room just as it is thanks. But I'm def clearing out the bookcase in prep for all the cool books that Socs will have coming soon :)

I booked to see chiropractor on Wednesday so hoping for some help with mis-aligned pelvis. However apparently when preggers your pelvis starts shifting about anyway. So any pelvis problems you may have get exacerbated. joy! Anyway fingers crossed a few probs will get ironed out.

I've lost thread of all the other checks I was going to make again. Anon ladies, next time with proper checks!

Migrants being migranes auto corrected :)

Oh dear, I not long woke from a 3-hour 'power nap' and had to tell my boss as I got nothing done that I said I would this afternoon. Being up till 3am with damn cough/cold prob has something to do with it but my To Do list is not very forgiving! Bugger?

Sheldon we went for a colour called Pale Powder which isn't really done justice by the swatch on the website: www.farrow-ball.com/pale-powder/fcp-product/100204. It is a really soft greeny blue, but definitely more blue than green. DH chose it which I was pleased with as he's usually a big shruggy of shoulders at colours after the guy in the shop showed us a range of nearby shades to what we wanted). We got a ridiculously expensive tester and it does look lovely. Really lightens the room.

Tramp so pleased you have been able to banish all worries to the Naughty Corner of your mind! I wish I could have done that this morning, gah!

Right, I'm going to make that soupy stew I never got around to at the weekend! Having evenings, one and all!

Mand - oh fear not, I will banish and banish and then at a point where all is swimming have a total meltdown. This is my stress coping mechanism. I am cool as a cucumber until after the event, at which point everyone else is happy happy joy joy and I am a sobbing wreck in the corner. :)

I have just made a HUGE vat of sausage casserole to use up all the left over sausages and have added lots & lots of vegetables and pulses too. Nutritional, warm and probably enough for the next 3 evenings dinners. Lets hope it tastes good or we'll have 3 pretty rubbish evenings of dinner.

Hi, having an extremely tired one this evening, really had a busy day at work planning five training workshops for my team so I've crashed early! Luckily dd seems to have had the same idea, she fell asleep at six so we just put her to bed!

Hi to you all but this probably is my best effort at posting this evening! X

flowery great to hear your news.
Not so good for me - have to decide on amnio or not as definitely very short femur and increased risk of downs.
Horrible horrible horrible

Oh crikey stealth really hope all will turn out well for you. When do you have to go for the amnio?
Sending you a massive hug.