June 2013 Thread 3 - the one where we stop throwing up!

[DontmindifIdo]

new June thread - we've been chatting too much!

That's lovely sunbeam I have mine on Saturday really looking forward to it.

Is anyone else feeling kicks? I'm on one hand pleased and excited but on another hand terrified because it's so early (17+5) and my first... Not at all neurotic, of course! Can it be anything else? Proper jabs to the tummy!

I was feeling kicks but nothing for a few days now. Desperate to do some exercise and texting my old yoga teacher tomorrow to see if she'll let me start her classes next week.

I've decided I'm teling work on the 28th Jan. Gives me almost three weeks to figure out how and what to say.

red can't believe you've held off telling work this long, are you not showing? If I'd not told work before Christmas they'd definitely know by now!!

Me too! I told work at 13 weeks and people had already guessed!

Aqua-natal classes booked start on Sunday which should be good :-) had a relatively calm night which is good and managed to sleep even after a visit from ofsted at lunchtime yesterday hay ho all in a days work :-)

Still not feeling much 18+1 today but anterior placenta at what point am I supposed to get worried so jealous of you all getting kicks and flutters

The sensations I get come and go. No real kicks yet, but lots of fizzing and buzzing! It's probably too early to feel much more, though I think it won't be long, baring in mind what I can feel now.

How you've lasted this long without telling work is amazing, Redwelly. But why the apprehension?

Question for you lovely ladies...the midwife thinks I should stick to 24th as my due date, even though the scan moved it to 20th, so I don't get induced. I'd rather have the earlier date and give birth sooner rather than later. What do you all think. Has anybody been induced? Is it bad? And a sweep?

Need to consider my options!

MrsBri, I think that here we are told our due date based on the scan-don't think we have ability to change it. I don't think i would have a huge issue with being induced - means the whole thing is hopefully over more quickly! X

How are you all doing your pram research? Any websites/threads you can recommend? Thinking I better start on that soon!

Hi Sunbeam - we've started cause we've our 20 weeks can and appt with Consultant coming up this Tues, and feel like we should get some of the big stuff sorted after that (without going overboard....).

Which is a helpful site, for sure. So far I think iCandy is top of our shortlist, mostly to do with personal recommendations from other people. One thing def learnt is not to get hung up on what they need as newborns, as long as you can lay them flat, because all that stuff is only for the first 6 months or so.

Lots of them are quite wide, so if you need to use buses or trains I'd check about that. And other thing we've learnt is to avoid those with tiny wheels - get one with at least two larger wheels at back (usually) as minimum.

Bri I know a couple of people who have been induced and it can be a rather drawn at process, it can also be rather invasive, with them manually breaking your waters etc. Also I think sweeps can be really uncomfortable. As its only 4 days I'd go with the later date, but I guess its a personal thing.

Im rather lucky that my dates by lmp give me an EDD of 22nd June, with my scan giving me a date of 21st June!!

Sun I spent ages looking at the big websites, mothercare, babies r us, kiddicare, kiddisave etc to get an idea of what I wanted, then when I saw a buggy I liked I just googled reviews for that buggy, we've popped to some of the stores as well to actually get a feel for each buggy, feel how heavy it is, see how long the wheel base is (a decent sized wheel base is better for getting on and off buses) and we've decided on the Mothercare Orb, I like the size, the fact it has extendable handles (husband v.tall) and that the seat unit converts into the carrycot!!!

Induction if the body isn't ready can lead to further interventions, I'd read quite carefully around the subject, NCT classes will talk about the cascade of intervention - and my consultant has also backed that up. An induced labour can often be faster into the more hard core contractions without leading up to them but it does also depend on fitness, circumstances and why you are being induced. Some hospitals (but not all) will require constant monitoring if you have been induced which means flat on bed (think pushing uphill not with gravity) and no water birth. Although my first labour was induced and was fast and hard it wasn't hugely painful and manageable but i had been in very slow labour for about 6 hours prior to ARM and I was extremely fit. Not so this time

I won't be induced again but I know many who have been and been ok albeit few who have been able to have the more natural birth.

I'm not really showing, I have spread a bit so I look like I ate too much over Christmas and the last week I can tell in the morning where bump is. Rock hard above my pubic bone and then a bit of flubber covering the top of the uterus. I've not told anyone let alone work (obviously told DH!) because my first pregnancy ended in such terrible circumstances and I'm not dealing emotionally or physically with this pg very well - easier to keep quiet. Also I'm a FT PhD student in my final year, about to do a huge data collection exercise - supervisory team is made up of hard core academics and having a baby partway through phd is considered pretty bad form lol.

Re prams, don't forget about whether they will fit in your car, order in plenty of time (most shops will hold onto them for you) and read read read reviews.

We have an iCandy and I like it still, but at 2.5 DD is getting a bit big for it even though its meant to last until 4yrs, I wanted a mountain buggy and still do!

Hi MrsBri I had to be induced with both my previous children not for overdue reasons but more medical. I had sweeps, pessaries and finally the drip both times, sadly the less intrusive methods of inductions don't always work!

What I would say is that you're after a natural birth by the time they put you on a drip you can pretty much forget about it as you're constantly strapped to a monitor. Also the drip starts very strong, painful contractions immediately and so I ended up with an epidural both times and was completely necessary for me.

Sorry this is sounding like a scare story, it isn't meant to but I have to be honest and say I wasn't hung up at all about giving birth without pain relief, the care I had in labour was brilliant both times and I look back at them both as wonderful births! (I did deliver both naturally on my back without assistance so it is totally possible)

Re prams - I had a quinny pushchair with my daughter and it was excellent so am looking at the Moodd (despite the dreadful name). xx

To be honest there are so many horror stories about inductions, with my first I was too scared to read any lol and am glad I didn't! My experience in a word after 3 inductions is 'rapid' :)

We have a phil and teds which we used for dc2,3,4 and this one will be in it as well, that's if we can ever get our 5yr old out of it lol!

We've been looking at City Joggers. This seems to suit my requirements - light weight, good off road, easy up and down - pretty well. I've been put off ICandys a fair bit by people telling me its style over substance - certainly the ones I have looked at are SO pretty! I drive a Beetle which I am very attached to and the guy in John Lewis did say that the sort of girl who would buy a Beetle over a Golf or Polo is the sort of girl who would buy an Icandy - which I took to mean that a beetle is just about the styling and is just an expensive Golf!

My big stress for today is nursery!! There are two local ones and one has an outstanding Ofsted report and the other only satisfactory. The former has an eighteen month list and I'm now on it, which is crazy!! And I am now worrying about what happens if its full! I do find all these decisions we are meant to make very overwhelming. I sat down with a calculator the other day to face up to the reality of part time work plus nursery fees and I just have no idea quite how its going to work - ok for one but certainly not for two!

Off on our last big exotic holiday on Friday. Probably our last holiday FOREVER the way finances are looking!

Thanks for good pram tips. I see I was totally misinformed about induction when I posted before so good to have all the info on this. I hadn't realised.

A couple of thoughts on inducement.

My sister's third child was induced. She was given the pessary and sent home. Had to turn the car around 15 minutes into their journey. Baby delivered very quickly with minimal fuss. She was home in time for tea.

Sister in law refused to be induced even at 14 days. She went into labour naturally at 16 days overdue. Things went quite badly for her and she ended up with an emergency caesarean and quite frankly were lucky baby and her were alright at the end. She was a high risk pregnancy (48 years old and various medical issues) but was insisting on doing things naturally - consultant had recommended an elective caesarean. Now she says she'd have listened to the consultant more and not relied on google to tell her how to bring her most precious bundle into the world.

Sarah2506 make sure you and your OH look into claiming childcare vouchers as part of a salary sacrifice scheme - really helps save on nursery fees. Your OH could even start claiming them now.

I got an iCandy Cherry with DS (now 3) and used it to walk a lot (most days 4+ miles) - and it's fine for this DC, so I would say worth the money.

Having had a cheaper umbella fold (as when he started nursery I could only leave a buggy if it could fold in one piece and the buggy store wasn't all that secure so I wanted something I wouldn't cry too much if it was stolen/damaged), I would say manoverability is very important once they get past the age of 1 and are heavy (and if you have hills near you!). Plus I hated him being forward facing (I missed our chats on our 45 minute walks into town, not knowing if he was ok, awake or asleep etc - you really do interact less with them when they are forward to rear facing, if you are only going to walk for a short time, not an issue).

Everyone said once I got the umbrella fold one that I wouldn't use the big buggy anymore, but I found if you've got a sensible practical buggy in the first place that's easy to push and rear facing, the slighter greater speed for folding/unfold and slightly lighter for lifting in and out of the car frame isn't that great.

Most places (I know John Lewis will) will bring a test frame out to your car and let you see if you can get it in the boot - those big wheels are a bad idea if you don't have a good sized boot, and check out the width of doors etc you might want to go through, the Cherry does fit though the barriers at the trainstation and most doorways, I know my friend bought the apple and that is slightly too big so she's aways got to open double doors of shops...

And really think about how you will use it, most friends have worked their way through 3 or 4 buggies by now (we all have 3 year olds!) - I'm usual in having just the original one and then an umbrella one I don't actually use much.

oh, and check out the after care of where you buy from, John Lewis if your buggy brakes will give you a "loan buggy" while yours is being fixed. I think some other big suppliers do the same, but if you get from elsewhere, worth having a sling or something in case your buggy is out of action for a week...

oh and a lot that are rear facing from newborn can only be forward from 6 months, and that's when you really need to be able to chat to them!

I have to say I still have DD (2.5) rear facing much of the time

I'm also extremely unusual in having just the original pram/buggy we bought when i was expecting DD. We also have an umbrella fold buggy for travelling on holiday

Sarah - re nurseries, not all waiting lists are the same! So for DS's nursery, I put his name down when he was 3 months old (in March) for a place in the baby room from January the following year, I was told I was 20th on the waiting list and unlikely to get a place.

Panicking slightly in October when I was trying to plan return to work, I asked again and got chatting to the nursery manager's assistant about how the places are allocated, they have a set number of places for ratios and the start of each month, if they have a place, they look at the list of who wants a place for that month then allocate to them, regardless if the people on the following month's list have been there longer. (because they don't really care who fills the spaces, and leaving a space empty for a month or 2 just because someone wants a place in January asked first if they've got someone who turned up in November who wants a space and they've got one now, they might as well get 2 months more money).

I discovered that the December list was empty (who goes back to work in December? you wait until the new year!) so I put my DS on the November and December lists, paid for a week in November he didn't go and paid for december 2 days a week - oh yes, if you are there already parttime, you have first refusal on any additional days that come available (so I could take DS up to 3 days) again above anyone who'd been on the waiting list longer for those days but whos DCs aren't already there.

There's lot of demand for nusery places in September, January and after Easter (as people try to get those holidays out of the way before returning to work), if you can go back just before (or pay for a place you don't use!) you might be able to jump the queue.

Have you visited the nurseries? Ours was 'good' but areas to improve but we took a leap of faith and its now outstanding.