July 2013 - Thread 6: cankles, bumps, strangely placed lumps, the glamours of pregnancy go on and on

[dinkystinky]

New thread to natter away on.

Link to waddlers and riders and stats list here

See I normally buy stuff online - hate traipsing around shops and don't want to spend precious time at the weekend inflicting shopping on the kids either. Give it a go and you may well be a convert. Top tip is to look for places that do free returns.

Hi everyone

Supershiv as others have said I hope you get lots of reassurance at your appointment on Thursday and glad you are feeling a little better about everything today. I have no knowledge/experience whatsoever about pre-birth growth but I do come into contact with a lot of babies and toddlers through work and can echo what everyone else is saying about people coming in all shapes and sizes, and hearing that a child's height or weight is low on the centile chart can sound more worrying than it is. Again this is with children who have been born, but my experience is that the thing health professionals get most het up about is when head circumference is small compared to everything else, and it sounds like that is giving no cause for concern with your little Ribena.

mystery Yes in answer to both your questions. I get the heavy feeling a lot of the time in fact, but definitely when I pee. In terms of kicks I quite often feel them in places where I feel sure the baby can't have got herself yet, such as in my side or right under my ribs. I do wonder if perhaps it is possible for them to kick a nerve or one end of an organ that makes the other end vibrate, and so the movements feel like they're happening in a different place to where they actually are. No idea if that's possible, but it's my theory anyway!

Trust and iclaudius I have been wearing maternity tights and leggings since about 16 weeks, and graduated onto maternity jeans and dresses about 2 weeks ago, despite apparently having the smallest bump of any nearly-23-week pregnant person anywhere ever (can you tell all the well meaning "you really can't tell" comments are starting to get to me?!). I definitely subscribe to the fact that you may as well get some wear out of them, and they are much more comfy, even for smaller proportioned bellies . I'm still in my normal tops though, as most maternity ones would look pretty ridiculous, but the ones I have are all second hand off ebay so I don't really mind if they only get a couple of months wear.

22+5

Hello ladies, I have let myself get behind!
Re tearing I'm very sorry but I skipped all your posts as they began to scare me.

MysteryMeg yes to heavy feeling, was wondering what it is so hoping someone has answered this as I scroll down. & yes they have, wow I am a bit dim for not considering this is my heavy baby, I forget how big she's getting now.

Need to catch up on OBEM & that young parents programme on BBC3, is there anything else anyone would recommend?

The thought of birth is beginning to scare me sh**less now, not really helped by everyone I see telling me their horror stories! Oh & me being the idiot I am over the last few weeks I haven't bothered doing my pelvic floors, but wow am I regretting that now, I pee slightly every time I laugh, sneeze, cough, etc. the list goes on & on!
Spocketta has decided she enjoys using me as an internal punch/kick bag now & I didn't realise how uncomfortable it gets!

Hope all you ladies are well, & not too miserable due to the horrid weather.
22+6

phie-the birth is fantastic no matter what in my experience. dd and ds being born are the top 2 moments of my life and (heard dh say same a few days ago). i know it's weird but i am really excited about it and looking forward to it, and i didn't have one of those miracle births previously (the ones you hear about women who don't have any pain with their contractions).
my mother has taken kids for whole weekend. was in shock when she offered but luckily still managed to say yes yes yes. going to an nct sale tomorrow am, hoping to persuade dh to go out for brunch but he'll probably say no.
anyone else absolutely shattered? i am crabby and a bit of a sad sack last few days and hungry like a horse. growth spurt i think. also having strong bh contractions alot now.
26+2

Gosh.I just caught up on the thread from yesterday! !....(crosses legs)

Phie - don't be scared! Read up on some lovely positive birth stories - Ina May Gaskin is great for that. Also look into hypnobirthing or natal hypnotherapy CDs and books too. The stories in them are lovely. At the end of the day, the birth is just the start of the most amazing experience you can imagine.

Princess - enjoy your child free weekend! We have one coming up at the end of April - mils Xmas present to us was a unique places to stay voucher so we are off to Norfolk for a child free night. Have to be back for Sunday afternoon as got secret cinema tickets for my sister for Xmas for that afternoon - but the lie in on the Sunday morning is eagerly anticipated!

Sorry have been a bit AWOL, ladies. Had to sort court papers so that DH's ex didn't get him arrested (she's a cow, he hates forms....so I had to do them...).
Plus my internet doesn't seem to like the bad weather....

Shiv Can just be because you are small, sometimes. My trust doesn't even offer NT!

I'm sure I would have been at the botttom of any percentile if they had done them then....

My brother was miniscule, and is fine now...

CheeseandBread Do miss teaching, but not the tiredness...

Photographer Def case of pre-birthday elation!

Dinky People keep saying 'you must be due soon' to me too!

BigBelly4 Would be scared having a homebirth that if I had a waterbirth our rickety rented living room floor would collapse!

Supershiv GTT wise, I have a BMI of 30.... they found gestational diabetes in me weeks ago, but only because I insisted they look....

Iclaudius You might as well wear them...be comfortable, and actually get the wear out of them!

Still trying to tidy the room for the LO...(full of everyone's stuff and nowhere to put it!)

blizzards here today so instead of my normal bugaboo - took baby boy out in a forward facing thing with big wheels - it went great on the snow but my advice to all is REAR FACE!!

He has never cried in the pram literally never and howled the full way to my friends - it was awful - i couldn't talk to him and the wind was full on him
Never again!

Phie - yes there are horror stories, but just try to remember that most of the time things go well with no long term complications. Every birth is different and even armed with all the info you can have etc all you can do is your best and thats good enough.

Just a quick post to reply to Shiv as I'm going through similar, and did with DD.
She measured 9% and 6% percentile at different scans, and my bump was usually 2cm under what was expected. I was going for scans every 2 weeks so they could keep an eye on her. I was googling ALL SORTS & getting worried. At my 36 week scan, they suddenly decided all was normal and when she was born, 10 days overdue, she weighed 6lb12oz. Perfectly normal and on the 25th percentile! Perfect, petite, and hit all her milestones :) So, please try not to worry - it's early days and Ribena's percentile can change as the weeks go on. As others have said, I think 5th percentile means smaller 5% of normal - someone has to be down there, and some other babies will be 95th, that's got to be scarier (ouch!) ;0)

Bump#2 is measuring 5th percentile for her head, but am definitely not as worried this time. I have another scan on Tuesday, & am trying to think of it as just another opportunity to say 'hello' :) x

Oh, 21+5 (i always forget)

Thought I'd posted last night but can't find it - think I might have fallen asleep mid-post Anyway, have been AWOL after a busy week of Easter play practice and parents evening, so here goes -

Cheese I had a few days of less movement but he's back to his little evening raves now. Not sure when to worry about movement, mw at 20 week scan said not to worry about keeping track until 30 weeks! For some reason parents evening set him off - cant say it put me in the same party mood...

mystery I'm confused about location of movement too - like ama sometimes it seems way around to the side, beyond where I'd imagine the uterus to be. Very confusing. I've also been getting the on and off heavy feeling for a few months now, it used to worry me but gotten used to it now!

ama the 'small bump' comments were getting to me too, finally starting to become more obvious and now I'm getting the flip side, like 'ooh you're bigger after lunch' - thanks, so it's food not baby then? Best comment I've had is '23 weeks? Oh, you're just perfect'. Everyone should say that. Not big/small comments

I've also been avoiding thread talk on birth but forced myself to read, really not as scary as I'd thought. I can't remember who suggested the natal hypnotherapy - I bought a cd on eBay, when do you recommend starting to listen to them?

In other news, have now lost my last shred of dignity after going to the doctor to ask about bleeding - it seems I now have the lovely new symptom of piles, after an examination I hope never to have repeated.

On a more positive note, had my jobshare request approved by the governors this week! Yay! My colleague and i are the first ones ever to be accepted at our school as they're very anti-part timers. Helps that we're pregnant at the same time and in adjacent year groups already. So happy, not sure I could have hacked full time teaching alongside raising a baby!

23+4 (3 more days til viability, counting down!)

Oh Guavas....piles...yuck :( not fun.

Morning all!!!

It's white outside here...how about everyone else? Today is going to be an indoors day - apparently we're making Easter Nests with rice crispies and chocolate and making a snowman and also playing Just Dance II on the Wii...

I listened to radio Nugget last night - boy she moves around a lot! So nice to hear her heart beat.

Badmissm - LOL I could see that happening at our house too!

Re birth stories - sorry if I have traumatised anyone! Was only trying to say its not always a long drawn out labour and whatever happens, its a pretty magical experience.

My children are all loving it now that they can see my belly moving with kicks! Quite often shouting "mummy poke it so it wakes up and moves again"! Poor baby.

Actually managed a whole night in bed with dh last night - usually boot him out when the snoring gets too much. Not got much snow here but by heck its blooming freezing!

24+3 (I think)

trustissues75, we've got snow here in Oxfordshire too, but it's not sticking! I'm still childishly excited about it.

Guavas, I'm having a couple of quieter days on the movement front and I was wondering whether to get concerned about it, but it sounds like maybe it's normal to have some variation.

I've been nosing around the Babycentre July board occasionally and one of the ladies on there has already had her baby! Premature at 25 weeks, eek, but apparently doing well! There's a sobering thought... still not bought too much or put together a hospital bag (though I'm hoping for a home birth).

23+3

Sprinkling of snow here in nw London but really v cold! My turn to take the boys swimming today too... Not looking forward to venturing out again.

Guavas - hurray for job share being approved but boo hiss to piles. Hope they clear up soon. The more you listen to the CD the more you will get out of it - from 30 weeks is a good idea.

Happy snowy Saturday!

I'm pretty exhausted after we spent the morning shifting things about so we can amalgamate DH's study with the spare room. So, as of this lunchtime the baby has her own room . True it does look more like a dumping ground than a baby's room at the moment, but it'll get there.

Poor you guavas with the piles. I had them a few weeks ago but am afraid I self diagnosed (with the help of some of the ladies on here actually) so avoided the ordeal of the examination you had. I used Preparation H ointment which worked a treat, and now eat a handful of prunes every morning and, touch wood, they haven't come back.

I know what you mean mini I was chatting to someone the other day whose twins were born at 26 weeks (happy to say they are now healthy 18 year-olds who are preparing to go to uni!). It did make me go into a bit of a panic about not being as ready as I should be, but the thing to remember is that if they are born that early they are going to have to spend a substantial amount of time in hospital before coming home so, whilst it is a far from ideal scenario, there is still time for you (or more likely someone else) to get everything prepared. As for the hospital bag, yes it's what you'd ideally want to have with you, but I'm guessing in an emergency situation you're not really going to care as long as everything possible is being done to help your baby.

Right off to do some more sorting....

22+6

Here, arctic winds, flurries, freezing temperatures...and no damn snow at all. Guess it's being by the sea.....

Cheese/guavas My LO only seems to get really lively when I want to go to bed!

Yay for being approved for jobshare!

Bigbelly4 Dammit, I thought that getting new internet/TV thing meant it wouldn't be affected by the weather.... really miss the cable I used to have in London, but can't have it here! The other night, had no TV or internet.... ARGH!

Minipenguinmaker I just childishly WANT snow!

Dinky We want some snow! here we just have all the other horrible stuff and no snow!

Ama Have just been upstairs, looked at the chaos that is the spare room (will be LO's room), and came back downstairs to retreat to the sofa and watch trash TV with DD! I've bought the shelves and stuff neccessary to move and reorganise it all, but I just have to do it now, as DH at work and DD at school will be mainly my job (UGH!)

I can't even bring myself to watch those scary birth programmes..Call the Midwife is as far as I can go!

I'm a little jealous of all the snow, but I guess the reality is nowhere near as romantic as I imagine. We had a couple of mornings with a light dusting of snow over the winter, but nothing that's settled. I'd love to be able to take DD out to play in snow. I hope everyone who actually has snow isn't suffering too badly with it.

We're hoping to move house before this baby is born, so no rooms to sort out - we just have the small matter of finding somewhere to move to. Unfortunately not much seems to come up in the town we want to live in.

Same thing here - freezing wind with some snow in the air but never settling so we dont even get the fun bits! Glad I bought a maternity coat last week, thought I wouldn't need one having a summer baby. It's so nice not to have to strain to close buttons anymore!

Thanks for the piles sympathy. Wish I'd self diagnosed - midwife on the phone told me to go to gp so I dutifully did. It's not like I've never had a health professional down there, but smear and coil have always been done by lovely females who made light of the situation - big difference to sombre male doctor. Tried to joke about the lack of dignity in pregnancy, him and the 'chaperone' nurse just stared at me blankly.

Horizontal snow here too, urgh. Am post night shift too and DH has been at work so far too much CBeebies and slobbing on the sofa! Very active bump making my whole belly ripple.

Just realised that was actually my last night shift as work have spontaneously taken me off them from 28 weeks, probably because that's what a colleague who is a month ahead asked for. Not complaining at all! Need to have a think about when I want to ask to stop long days and long weekends too.

SPD/back pain much better over the last week, I've been trying to be careful apart from 12.5 miles cycling on Thursday and wearing my girdle. No word from physio yet but I'm fine as is tbh for now.

Hope you are all well
25+4 today

Yay for end to night shifts Vinegar - has to be a relief! Glad SPD feels better and no new issues have arisen. I swear I can feel bean hiccupping at the top of my bump AND kicking at the bottom near my hip too. Clearly another beanpole like DH... I will just have to resign myself to being the shortest in the family in the not too distant future. Ho hum.

Guavas - I was actually thinking this morning thank god my last two pregnancies were through the winter so I have plenty of cold weather clothes - will be struggling for clothes when it finally warms up though...

Hi ladies. I am writing from the comfort of my new support pillow or as my DH calls it "the snake". I discovered a huge mamasandpapas and ended up with a nursery set. Yes I do realise I have over six months til I probably even need a cot let alone bedding but I am weak and keep walking in to baby shops. The cashier asked if we are having a boy and gave a weird look when I said no. The set is baby blue but my DH and I loved it and maybe secretly trying to combat the loads of pink dolls my mom gave us.

Hope everyone is warm and dry I'm off for my third piece of cake

A happy snowy Saturday to you all! Thanks for your reassuring words on birth ladies, I suppose I'm not really scared of birth itself just the whole what could go wrong, I keep waking up with nightmares of being ran down hospital wards on a bed for a emergency section.
Boyfriend is treating me to a curry tonight & not just a take-away, will be lovely to go out for one for a change. Have had to have a nap though as I come home from my dance class & could of fallen to sleep standing up I was that tired.
23 weeks today!

Ama we've been consolidating rooms too, ended up making a fair bit of progress as staying in the warm was much better than venturing out in the snow. So we've moved furniture (dismantled first so no heavy lifting for me), taken down curtain poles, and then DH has sloshed a coat of white paint on what was a deep purple feature wall in the hope we then won't need quite so many coats of the new colour.

Sadly snow may also scupper plans to collect pram from town tomorrow and an extra cupboard for the living room to hide DH's collection of rums (and other stuff, including my Absolut Raspberri, oh I miss that) out of harm's way. Unless by some miracle there's a big thaw overnight. Both online purchases ordered for collect at store on the basis it would be easier than dealing with delivery companies but we reckoned without an icy spring. Suspect we'll be going on Friday morning instead. Ironically on Saturday we should be collecting DH's new car, a 4x4, which would cope much better in this weather. I predict no more snow after that!

Lots of wriggles (none visible yet, but I have an anterior placenta) which alongside progress on baby's room and my mat cover being advertised at work is making everything seem very real.

24+2