Sept 2013 - kicks, prods and finding out the sex...

[LexyMa]

here we all are... hoping for nice clear 20w. scans, not too much inadvertent weeing and getting that 'glow'...

Great scan news here too - such a relief!! Got a little confused as to what part of the anatomy I was looking at sometimes, glad the sonographer knows what they're doing!!

Surprisingly been told it's a girl, as I've been convinced all along I'm having a boy - there go my maternal instincts!

Got to have another scan at 32 weeks though as my placenta's is lying a little low and at the front.

So reassuring to hear 'baby's growing beautifully' as I've been so worried. Good luck everyone who's yet to have scans.

I personally quite like pink, plus MIL is pink obsessed, so Little Miss has already amassed herself quite a substantial wardrobe of pinks, whites, violets etc. I did have to call it a day when MIL was enthusiastically suggesting we paint the room pink, then get a pink blind AND pink curtains... I told her to ask herself the question and see if she really truly believed that was a reasonable thing to do. She had to admit the answer was no !

Good news here, everything seems fine with our little one. Placenta is anterior which explains why I haven't felt much despite this being #3.
Didn't want to find out sex but DH thinks it is a girl as he didn't see anything to indicate otherwise.
Have cardiac scan next week but they didn't see any cause for concern today .

good news about more scans!

Dorita how much fun is getting the baby room ready? Luckily we already had a yellow room, so we've moved all our crap out (spare bed, filing, suitcases) and moved in all the stuff we've acquired!
This was baby room before the cot:
fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/59769_10152701657970510_1736441122_n.jpg which we now have. We also decided the guitar was a bit advanced!

dietcoke are you ok? sounds like a scary experience, but glad all is well!

ready I haaaaate the pink/blue thing. My baby will not care what it wears and if it's a girl, wearing blue, I refuse to be offended when someone tells me what a lovely little boy I have. One of the reasons for not finding out the gender is to limit the pink/blue. This is not to say baby won't own any pink or blue clothes, I just hate the restriction. I hope it will own both, and yellow, red, green, purple, black, white, brown and everything inbetween!

We saw some friends at the weekend for the first time since their baby arrived 5 weeks ago(GORGEOUS!). I wanted to buy a practical pressie for baby, so bought some bightly coloured dinosaur bibs and socks from Next. I did tell them that if the pressie was no good they could return them, but a bib went on instantly! :-)

No kips I'm still with you - I'm plus 18lbs at 21 weeks
I think about 3 weeks ago I piled on 3lb and then it was around then the appetite just went - since then only a lb on. But, seriously does not make sense - when I was eating for England and piling on pounds I didn't have much of a bump and people were saying I didn't look preg. Then the last couple weeks bump has exploded and practically doubled in size yet weight gain has tailed off! Maybe I'm using up my stores

Another thought I've had after flicking around the tv channels last night - 'I didn't know I was pregnant' on discovery channel or something - just HOW!! How could you be pregnant for 9 months and the first you know about it is when you poo the baby out ?? Madness and just can't be true!

Think I'm the odd one out but I don't like bright colours on dainty little newborns. They are so tiny and delicate, I like soft shades. As baby wasn't playing the game and we're still in the dark, I'll be buying neutral, pale coloured clothes and beyond 6 months will go for the brighter clothes.

More lovely scan news today. So exciting! Has anyone added the babies sex to the stats list? Would be interesting to see if there are more boys than girls.

On the topic of baby-rooms. Those who've done this before, what did you actually use yours for in the first few months?

We are thinking of keeping the adult double bed in there for early days when the baby needs to sleep in our room so that we can play musical beds if necessary for DH to get some sleep in the night when feeding and me to catch up when he's caring for the boy. Is this a daft idea? Do we really need a 'nursery' in the early weeks/months?

Ha ha ha on the pink/blue thing...I don't like it and have always dressed my two in bright colours and patterns...however, DD1 now aged 5 has just requested her new room to be decorated in 'sickly pink' with pink fluffy cushions, pink bedding and all manner of pink tat...I have shunned it all for nothing...sigh

Fl0 our spare room is yellow too (I chose it so we wouldn't need to re-paint for a baby). But all baby stuff is currently confined to 1 basket so still looks like the study!

badguider you're obviously not reading Gina Ford....baby should be using its own room from day 1 apparently....

creamtea the classic I saw was a woman who gave birth to triplets when she didn't even know she was pregnant....completely baffling.

Badguider, that's a great idea and will be of more use. As long as you have a chest of drawers for storage and a mat on top to change the baby, it doesn't need anything else.

We have done our nursery and have cot as we have the space. I expect the other spare double room will be getting a lot of use. Towards the end of pregnancy, as I want more space/snore too loud and in the first few weeks of sleep deprivation.

We're putting DC2 in the big spare room so we can have the double sofa bed there still for us or visitors. We didn't really start using the 'nursery' til 3m when DD moved out to her room, apart from a few naps.

I'm trying to work out if I have a cold or if its hayfever... If I ask the chemist for hayfever treatment will I get anywhere, or would I need to see my GP?

haha ready - I've got no intention of actually co-sleeping (only got a small double bed and a bigger one won't fit and DH is a very light sleeper) but... in the first weeks/months I also have no intention of wandering around the flat in the middle of the night trying to find my crying baby to feed him so Gina Ford is obviously not for me.

We never really used our nursery with DS1 til he was about 6 weeks old, then he moved into it and slept in it at night. With DD1 she stayed in with us til about 4 months, as she had been very poorly and I wanted her near. I think you do the right thing baguider by leaving the bed in there, at some point one of you will be desperate for sleep.

Scan was all okay, and both are growing well and within normal ranges. They've moved around a lot so now I have two babies on my left and nothing on my right.

Two little girls...

Great news dietcoke and boosting the girl numbers too

Fantastic news dietcoke!!

Also, if my due date is 5th or 9th sept depending on what page of my green notes you look at, does anyone think I would be mental to take my ds1 to an outdoor concert on 1st sept?? Only about a 10 mile drive away but a long afternoon/evening and lots of standing/walking. With both boys I went overdue..

Jennimoo, I got no where with the chemist. I did get a nasal spray (forgotten name) and its ok but would have liked more. Also, hoped for eye drops but pharmacist refused.

Great news dietcoke 😀

It's lovely to hear all the fab scan news! andadietcoke that's fab news! You must be over the moon. Two little girls :) Amazing.

Sorry to have a wobble but I need to get this off my chest.

I hope I'm not the only one who feels like this .. (please tell me I'm not alone).. but I am starting to get a little anxious by the thought of labour. My pain threshold is crap and as this is my first I have nothing to compare with. I feel a little lost as I am the only one within our close group of friends who's pregnant/had kids. I just keep telling myself I will cope, women give birth everyday and I am no different to any of them. But from time to time (out of nowhere) I get a wave of terror which I can't shake off.
I have brought it up with DH a few times and all I get from him is "dont worry, you will do a brilliant job" ... Which is lovely but doesn't help me really.

Kim I'm with you there on labour pain! Part of me keeps hoping it will all be fine what with a water birth, yoga breathing and some gas and air ... then I realise the reality will probably be intolerable pain unlike anything I've ever experienced and no idea how to cope with it.

My DH gets all panicy when I hurt myself (although when I do it I usually go full out, you know over handlebars-headfirst-blackout-ambulance-stiches that kind of thing), so I don't know how helpful he'll be. On the other hand he's amazing when other people hurt them selves, like a superhero paramedic, so I hope he'll get me through.

In my head I keep trying to think of labour like a long distance triathlon or marathon or something ... sounds random but there is something about that mentality of pushing on when you are exhausted, every muscle and joint hurts which seems like it should be similar. I could be very wrong and very badly surprised, but I'm hoping if I can manage those kinds of painful endurance events it might help me?

... or should I just walk in and demand an epidural!?

any advice about how to manage it seriously appreciated.

Having done it twice already, honestly the only advice I can give is to not set expectations or specifics for labour - there is only so much control you can try and exert over it and you need to go in with an open mind. If you tell yourself you definetly will or won't do something then you will end up punishing yourself or feeling rubbish if it doesn't go that way. Trust your own body but also trust the professionals.

Running bear I think your marathon analogy is very apt here. Having had two babies, and two emcs, I think it is important to be prepared but not to have any expectations.
I remember one of the women in my pg yoga class coming back after having her baby and describing a really empowering experience. She'd had a pretty traumatic first birth too.

kim and bear I'm with creamtea. Having done it twice already also. I'd say be very open minded and anticipate anything but don't have concrete expectations, it seems to work better if you are willing to take advice. I really didn't want pain relief with DS 1, but ended up having the works, and the epidural was a blessed relief.

After that experience I went into labour with DD 1 wanting to have all the drugs again and could have NOTHING, as by the time I got to labour ward I was ready to push and do you know what that experience was ok too.

This time I honestly will have no expectations and will play it all by ear, if I need an epidural, so be it. When i did it the first time in my head i imagined it would all be really rushed and out of control in labour. In reality, it is really quite slow and you will have plenty of time to make decisions and will get very good advice, I felt like my midwife was my best friend at the end of first time. And no one, I repeat no one, in there will judge your decisions, even if it involves deviating a long way from your birth plan (I'm not even having one is time )

Cross posted with you weebarra, great minds....