Alex I can't remember when the BH started but mine were never painful, they just felt like tightenings mainly when I was walking. I think I got them to some extent most days from mid-20's weeks.
Mother I can't even remember my 25 week appointment so I don't think it involved anything exciting. I think my MW started measuring fundal height at the 28 week appointment.
Mothercare Orb
The Mothercare Orb travel system pushchair has a seat that spins 360 degrees so your baby goes from parent-facing to forward-facing without you having to detach the seat. The seat also transforms into a pram body to give newborn babies a flat surface to sleep on. It seems like a great-value option, but how did it do when we sent it for testing by parents and experts at our pushchairs lab?.
The Mothercare Orb is a Best Buy because it?s easy to use and make adjustments to, comfortable to push and very adaptable. It does have a couple of minor niggles but overall it?s a great choice for parents who are looking for a well-made and good-value travel system pushchair.
What is it?
A travel-system pushchair with an unusual spin mechanism for reversing the seat. Instead of detaching the seat to turn it around (as you have to do with most pushchairs), you simply spin it round on the chassis.
It?s suitable from birth to 15kg. You can turn the seat into a lie-flat pram body by undoing two clips under it. You'll need to do this for babies younger than six months old because the way the whole seat tips back to create a lying position leaves their little legs up in the air, instead of creating a completely lie-flat surface.
You can buy adaptors to use the chassis as a travel system with the Maxi-Cosi Pebble and Cabrio child car seats - check out our child car seat reviews to find out if we recommend them.
The Orb is very easy to use as a travel system - the seat and car seat are simple to attach and detach (although the car seat adaptors are stiff to use). Changing it back to a pushchair from a pram is more challenging because it takes some strength to pull the clips under the footrest together. You may need to reattach some velcro straps, too.
What?s it great at?
This is a great urban pushchair. It glides on smooth surfaces, has no trouble with uneven surfaces, such as loose gravel, and handles kerbs easily.
Being able to spin the seat round is a nice idea - particularly helpful in cafes without high chairs. Spinning the seat is easy, as long as you pull the handle fully upright first - otherwise it can be tricky to put the handle back down.
The brake is easy to apply and release by pressing your foot down - a great advantage over brakes you have to flick off with your toes, which can tear the toenails of sandal wearers. Coloured indicator windows show whether the brake is on or off.
The hood provides good coverage, is sturdy and windproof and has magnetic clips on the window to make it easy to keep an eye on your little one when they?re facing forwards.
The fabric is taut and you can easily sponge food spills away with minimal stains left behind.
Is the seat comfortable?
The seat is better suited to younger children - the backrest and length of the seat to the footrest are both too short for kids over two.
The padding on the seat unit is fairly thin and, because the leg rest is not adjustable, the hard edge along the front of the seat may create pressure points on the back of little legs. But the pushchair does come with a pram and pushchair liner and footmuff to make it more comfortable.
The five-point harness is well padded. Undoing the buckle is fine once you've mastered the right technique - you need to slide the button down and press fairly hard.
It's effortless to recline the seat to four positions using the lever by the hood, although the handle can get in the way a bit if the seat is facing forwards.
What's it like to push?
The Orb is very comfortable to push, with an adjustable leatherette handle that offers a range of four heights for parents to choose from.
It?s easy to manoeuvre, with a tight turning circle, although you can feel a bit of 'give' in the frame from the spin mechanism.
There are no problems wheeling it up and down a short flight of stairs, although it does feel jerky doing it. It?s also fairly heavy to balance on an escalator - it weighs 12kg, which is reasonable for a travel system.
Is it easy to fold and store?
Although it?s simple to fold, the process is a bit long-winded. You have to remove the seat, reach forwards to operate a button and pull the chassis up. A clip holds the frame closed, but the velcro that holds the handle in comes undone easily (not the self-catching clip).
It's very easy to unfold, though.
It?s straightforward to lift and move when it?s folded because neither the seat nor chassis are particularly heavy.
It folds down to a 38x62x70cm frame and 29x45x83cm seat, which will take up about 272 litres of boot space - we could fit it in the boot of a VW Golf under the parcel shelf. Removing the wheels is a cinch if you have to.
Is there anything I should watch out for?
The storage is only designed to hold 2kg of stuff. It?s a reasonable size and easy to access, but one parent warned that 'the oval shape makes it look bigger than it actually is'.
Take care not to hold the handle in the centre if you take the pushchair on an escalator - what looks like a grip is actually the release for the seat spin mechanism - and you don't want to accidentally trigger it as you head down.
Because you spin the seat rather than detach and reattach to change its direction, it only fits on the frame in one direction. Take care to use the rather inconspicuous arrows to make sure you put the seat on in the right direction, because it's tough to get off again if you do it wrong.
Is there anything else I should know?
The back wheels splay out a bit from the central spin hub to beyond the seat, so you'll need to take care down the gangway of a bus, but it's no wider than most pushchairs.
Should I buy it?
Yes. It costs £400 for a sturdy pushchair with convertible pram-to-pushchair seat, seat liners, apron, footmuff and raincover, which we think looks like good value for such an easy-to-use and adaptable pushchair.
Do you already own this pushchair? If you do, click the customer views tab - above the picture - and tell us what you think of it.
Pros: Lovely pushchair to push, good for public transport, converts from pram to pushchair, travel system compatible, easy to make adjustments
Cons: Small seat, thin seat padding, buckle tricky to undo, necessary to remove seat to fold