Graduated Elerberries - 30+ and expecting DC1 (thread no 4)

[HazleNutt]

Welcome old and new graduates and everybody else who wants to join us, elderly primigravidas aka Elderberries.

Woohoo!

Fab news Quod! Welcome to the wriggly baby club

What a great way start to the weekend! And... don't think you could ask for a better Christmas present either.

Hope you feel well enough to enjoy the news... when you going to start spilling the beans?

Go quodbaby! That's fab news for a Friday pm. You can now be official.

Great news Quod for a lovely sunny day I am chuffed to bits for you and what a lovely Christmas you will have this year x

Another who is absolutely chuffed to bits for you quod, amazing news. Have to confess to shedding a little tear about your news!

So thrilled for you Quod, your fabulous news genuinely has made my day, I'm so happy for you!

Yay quod so so pleased for you!!! lovely news! Heres to an easy pregnancy and an even easier birth!

Its so nice to have some good news! My OHs grandpa died early this morning, he had been in hospital for a while and he wasnt well but he was due to come out today so it was a real shock to be rushing to his bedside at 4am this morning.

Congrats quod brilliant news! and congrats janey on your long-legged, normal-sized-head baby!

Sorry about your grandpa in law mother

Oh I missed your news Janey, congrats

Ok so not a massive problem in the grand scheme of things but fairly annoyingly I've grown out of everything!

I've only got another 4 weeks to go so don't really want to go buying more clothes but I'm not sure what choice I've got! I'm down to two pairs of black trousers - can probably manage with that but I've got NO tops - Maternity tops and OHs tshirts are all now too tight and riding up to the point my bump is virtually hanging out if the bottom. Grr I'm going to have to buy something aren't I?

Hello all. Hope you don't mind me crashing your thread. Just wanted to say hello to motherofcleo as we used to be on the ttc 'buses' together lol. Been looking for you for a while cleo glad to see all is ok with you. How far along ru now? I am now pregnant too :) I had a scan 2day & am 8+5 so am v happy & excited. Just wanted to let you know xx

Have you tried Primark Purple? I bought a load of non-maternity stretchy vest tops from there in a bigger size for a couple of quid each. They're really long and cover the bump well and as you're a short arse small like me they should be long on you as well even if your bump is big. They should also fit for a while after the birth as. Maternity clothes are expensive and I too would resent paying a lot with only a few weeks left.

I had a bit of a wobble last night and ended up going to the MAU at 10.30pm. My ankles swelled quite a lot yesterday so I foolishly asked Dr Google about other signs of pre-eclampsia and then decided that I had a few of them (along with horrible contractions from the night before), so I phoned for a second opinion and they said to go in so they could check my BP and urine. Everything turned out to be fine and I am just a neurotic first time Mum but they hooked me up to a monitor for 40 mins to monitor baby's heartbeat and movement which was nice. And they were really lovely about it and said I had done the right thing by going in to get checked.

They think baby is 3/5 now so still headed slowly south.

That doesn't sound neurotic Cavort, sounds sensible to me to get it checked out.

Thanks all for the nice congratulations. It feels very weird, today I woke up and for the first time thought OHMYGODIMGOINGTOHAVEABABY! Also really odd to think we can be brakes-off about telling people now and that pretty soon it'll be public knowledge.

It's crazy all this 'head engaging' going on - so how many Berry babies are we going to see in June? Janey could you still be early July?

I'm glad you're able to relax quod, I was the same as we passed the 12 week point. Before then wouldn't really allow myself to believe it was real...

Cavort - you absolutely did the right thing. I keep being nagged reminded by midwives how quickly Pre eclampsia can become life-threateningly serious, so if anything leads you to suspect it you should absolutely get it checked out. Sorry you've joined me in the cankles club though

Just reading the food of love, as recommended (whilst DP and folks are working hard to decorate the house) - sounds quite tricky!!

I've got cankles too, they're not extreme but I wore flip flops for the first time yesterday and noticed my toes resemble little fat swollen cocktail sausages. Nice.

I'll try Primark if I can get there Cavort (bottom of high st no access by car, bit crap for spd sufferers!) although if OHs mans XL t-shirts are too small, lord only knows what size I'd need - do they go up to hippo size there? Glad you're ok anyway, always worth checking if you're worried.

Congratulations on your pregnancy Coco I'm sure Mother will be along soon to say hi.

As for all these head down engaging babies, I hope mini monster is listening and wants to keep up with her berry friends because I'm still pretty sure she think she can head but her way out sideways at the moment.

I get where you're coming from Quod. It's a strange but pleasant transition from thinking you might have a baby if all goes well to realising, oh shit, I am going to have a baby and quite soon as well!
My EDD is June 26th but I don't think we'll be seeing her until early July.

Purple I would normally buy a vest top in a 10 but I bought the Primark ones in a 16 as I had no idea how big I would get. The 16's were baggy at the top but I got the ones with adjustable spaghetti straps so shortening the straps made them fit much better. I'm wearing one today and even with the straps shortened it still comes down to my hips and there's plenty of room for further bump growth. I've got a couple of men's XL t-shirts which I wear around the house and there isn't really much room to spare around my bump either. Men must be a funny shape. Like we aren't at the moment!

My cankles have gone down a bit today but they're still swollen and I also have sausage toes. When I look down my feet look like they've been replaced by some which wouldn't look out of place on a hobbit (without the hair, obvs). I hope the weather sticks because I think I will be in flip flops for the foreseeable.

Cavort - what I love most about my whole cankle area is the fact that when I walk the swollen flesh on the top of my food wobbles, like a big old pile of flesh-coloured jelly. 'Tis tres glamorous, trust me.

Food = foot

Hi Choc, so so pleased for you!!!! That is fab fab news

I'm 17+3 today all is well in camp cleo and I can even feel the little bean squirming around from time to time. I really am so so pleased for you

Ohhh should I add cankles to one of the pregnancy joys I have to look forward to????

Sold my little toyota aygo today as my OH says its not practical to transport a baby, pram and dog is such a small car....bit sad to see it go! We are looking at getting an astra, civic, focus or something equally sensible. We were talking to the neighbours about the car and told them we were expecting, the thing is she said 'oh I thought so, but didnt want to say anything', now Ive been really impatient and want a bump now but my initial reaction was to think 'cheeky bitch'.....she basically called me fat right

She must have meant how glowing and healthy you looked
Unsolicited advice but: Civic is excellent, focus also good, Astra don't buy because vauxhall is utter shit. This is what I have gleaned from several years of living with a mechanic. As for the aygo being impractical you should see what I'm still driving! There may be a Civic waiting for me (told you my OH rates them!) but while I can still fit behind the wheel of my sports car I'm still driving it so ner.

Ahh cheers purple, I shall pass that on

Haha, glowing......I wish

Glad ur doing well cleo xx

cleo I've been having the same debate with DP about the woman over the rd! I'm sure she's pg & not fat but you don't like to ask just in case. Esp as DP says she used to be fat but lost weight. Pls don't take offence!

purple will you be able to fit a pram in your sports car boot tho? I have an Audi A3 convertible which I love & I bought it thinking how practical it was with 4 seats. BUT it has a very narrow boot opening so I either look very hard for a slim folding pram, swap cars with DP's more practical one for trips with baby (and who am I kidding that there will be many without?) or sell. Sniff!

Purple how are you getting on with your sports car and big bump/SPD/PGP?
I ask because DH has a BMW 335 coupe which is practically impossible for me to get in and out of at the moment in terms of both SPD pain and bump size and it's not even that low in comparison to 'proper' sports cars.
Now I have finished work he wants to start using my boring sensible company car to go to work to take the piss out of advantage of my free fuel, but this leaves me with his silly car which makes me look like a twat when I get in or out.

I think it's going to be the doors on mine that could be the problem as they are so wide that getting in & out is going to be a problem with a bump. I'm going to stubbornly resist driving DP's Civic for as long as I can though (see we do have one sensible car!

Yes Frog the width and weight of the massive doors on DH's car are a problem. It's the low height more than anything though. You can't assume you will have any issues until they happen and even with a big bump your car might be fine. I can't imagine getting a baby in and out of the back of a 3 door being too comfy on your back though so I imagine 5 doors will be better once baby is here.

When I think about the practicalities I can really see how couples with kids end up buying people carriers. However I see buying a people carrier as being similar to boiling my head in bleach in terms of desirability factor. For the time being we have bought a roof box for my boring sensible hatchback to accommodate the worst case scenario of baby+DSD+dog+pram+DH+me, which will get us by for a while. I think DH is secretly hoping I will not go back to work so we can replace my company car with a practical Estate or 4x4 while he gets to keep his ridiculous non-baby-friendly man toy car.