January 2014 (Thread 7) - more excitement to come!

[Sultanajo]

The one where hopefully we are feeling less nauseous and knackered (although we develop hippo hands and feet due to the heat!), we are entering or are in our second trimester (phew!), we continue with 12 week scans and test results (ekkk!), we have 16 week midwife appointments and hear the heartbeat (OMG - aw!), we potentially see the beginnings of bumps and feel the first flutters of movement (wow!) and the 20 week scan for some is just around the corner!

Oh and we try to improve our diets after surviving on one food group during the first trimester!!!

Bring it on thread 7!!!

(pod hope I did you proud)!

babysham you don't have to have a birth plan. I'd imagine most people don't in fact. With dd the midwives didn't look at mine, they just asked me what I wanted to do as it cane up. Unless you have strong opinions about what you do and don't want it is perfectly fine to just wait and see what happens.

Thanks Tarka I was hoping that this was the case! I'm happy to go with flow and see what happens.

MrsAVB great website, thank you! And yay for winter wedded women!

enormouse GOOD LUCK

book, MrsG and Frizz yay for good appts! And heartbeats!

MrsVDB Bali! Not at ALL . No no no. Totally not. You lucky thing!

toby yay for a winter wedded woman too, and we are also looking at bean coming just before/on our wedding anniversary (second though, so maybe okay? Although we were pretty low key on our first, we aren't huge celebrators of such - V'day is a steak and a film at home for us, I HATE going out for it [cheapskate])

sultana do you need some cake? It sounds like you need a treat to cheer yourself up, poor lovely.

babysham I prob won't bother with a birth plan - a) I am fickle and will change my mind (prob at contraction number three - 'oh, actually, I would like an epidural!') and b) both me and DH will say what we want, and not be shy about insisting on things that matter to us, so we prob won't bother writing it down, just play it by ear. The only thing I know is I want to try for a vaginal delivery without epidural, but all things are open to negotiation/change without warning .

gobbo (saved you for last as I have the most to write ): you are an ANGEL!
I was wondering (poss stupid question) - we have an allowance of 30 days, of which 20 are statutory and 10 are for public holidays, including Christmas and New Year (the wording is 'All public holidays are included in this entitlement and will be paid').

Our leave year runs March - April.

However, if I start mat. leave on 8th Dec, I won't need to 'save' some of the non-statutory 10 days for the Christmas/NY period, so can I take them before mat leave starts?

I.e. (if I weren't going on mat leave), I'd use up all 30 days by 8 Dec this year, and accrue from 1st April 2014 until I go back (so 2/3 of normal allowance) = 20 days total, which I would have until March 31st 2015 to take.

Am I thinking along the right lines? Are you cross-eyed from reading this yet?!!

Glade everyones midwife appointment went well! Babysham, the midwife wouldn't listen to heartbeat she said they don't do it until the 28 week appointment. I asked anyway and she said its best to wait and i have my scan in 3 weeks anyway - so not the point!!!!
O well. Hope everyone else is ok and prepared for a scorcher tomorrow

pop if it's any consolation, I had the same. Bloody mws.
I am SO NOT ready for more heatwave. I've only just recovered from last time!

pop humpty is there a reason they didn't? I'm still worried about the affect of the Doppler (but have used it 2 times in less than a week since having it oops!).

I always feel sorry for myself on vday as it's my bday so i want to go out for a bday meal but can't as it's full of hearts and flowers everywhere. Also everywhere books up about 2 months early so there is never anywhere we can go.
We got married April 6th this year so will have a bouncing 3 month old on our anniversary.
Off out for tea and a movie tonight with a girl I haven't seen since my news. She knows but she wants to see pics which means I can chat like a loon about how excited I am.

MrsVDB mine said the reason that they don't do it anymore is that movement is the best indicator all is well, not really a full answer methinks as a lot of ppl haven't felt definate movement by this stage. Rubbish that some of you didn't get to hear.
Chin up humpty they are saying the hw will be very shortlived
Frizz yay for excited friends, have a great evening

Great news about good apointments today and most hearing heartbeats!

mrsv Bali! You will have a fab time! Glad its not just me who cant help using,the doppler. I used it on sunday and then again this morning! Determined,not to use it again until after the scan next week I wont I wont I wont !

Thanks ladies. Finally got to talk to my boss last thing today and got a few things off my chest and also told him when I wanted to go on mat leave. He was assuming I would go off in December near my due date so he had loads of time! Instead I said I wanted to use my holiday allowance which would mean leaving on 15th November. I then asked if I could do that and he said yes it was up to me. So hurray!!! The countdown begins. Hopefully things will start moving along and I can start organising training for my replacement....a couple of hurdles jumped - its gonna be hectic between now and when I leave....

Mmmm cake! What a great idea humpty. Wish we had some!

Oh man - I was just enjoying the cooler weather! Hippo feet have been a thing of the past this last week.....humpty lets head to cooler climes.....

babysham that's a rubbish reason - mine said that I prob wouldn't feel movement until 20wks! Oh well. Only 19 days to my 20week scan. I can wait. I can. breathes
MrsV mine said you can't always find hb, as it can be v low down in pelvis, so instead of worrying you, they worry you by not checking at all...

As for the hw, it can NAFF ORF. Until next year, when I can take my baby to the park in it, and enjoy it properly

frizz have a lush evening...

Also....I am the proud owner of an on sale Uppababy Vista pram and carrycot!

Woo sultana

That's good humpty as doesn't sounds like Doppler safety concerns. baby I'm only 15w but haven't felt anything yet and doubt I will by next week as its my 1st

I'm a bridesmaid in just 2 1/2 weeks and just tried my dress on. It fits everywhere apart from tummy where the lining is tight and it pulls the zip and makes it gather. Eek. God knows what it will be like by the wedding. Going to try and take it to tailor and see what they can do

Ekkk mrsv! Hopefully your bump will stay small until the wedding! Hopefully they can alter it enough for u. Its good the rest still fits!

MrsV like humpty said my mw said it was because it can be hard to find and low down so they don't try until later on. Not too convinced as with Dd they did it at 16 weeks and found it straight away. O well. Heres to waiting for the 20 week scan!

My midwife asked if I wanted to hear the heartbeat, with the machine and gel in her hand! I think it's strange they won't even do it on request.

We have a big family party on Sunday and my aunts just asked if I can come up with some activities for the kids. I'm having a mind block and can't think of anything!

My mw asked DH if he wanted to record the heartbeat on his phone. It's a shame they're not all like that.

MrsG, my first thought would be a ream of cheap printer paper and some pencils/crayons.

Pass the parcel? DVD? Will there be somewhere outdoors for them to play?

I wonder if some midwives are reluctant to look at 16 weeks because when they haven't been able to find it people have got upset and demanded scans that have overstretched the system. The midwife couldn't find it at 16 weeks with dd and it was quite stressful, more so than if she had just said she wouldn't try.

Mine did warn me that it might be quite hard to find because of the giant fibroids in the way. But it didn't stop her trying. It must vary from mw to mw. The one I saw at 16 weeks was a different one than the one I saw at booking in, but the mw at booking in told me they'd listen at 16 weeks. Perhaps it all comes down to surgery policy.

tarka - I think that right re the hb. I had an old hand at my last 16 week app who said she would listen. She said it's not policy at our Trust to listen til 20 weeks as it can be hard to find. She thinks the younger midwives should just be given more training

At my 16 week appointment I had a qualified mw and a trainee. The trainee did the heartbeat finding and said if they couldnt find it first time, they would send me for a walk and give me a cold drink and try again - they wouldnt send me away without trying several times....

As with everything maternity wise so far it really does seem to depend on the area!

Anyone else finding they are knackered, only to lie awake for hours when u get into bed?

No, but I am waking up very early, which is also annoying.

toby so annoying! Waking to pee at 1.30 & 4am every night to pee, struggle to get back to sleep, but of course when my alarm goes off I cant get up, UNLESS its my day off, in which case I am awake earlier than I would be on a work day!!