February 2014 - the one where we start to find out if we're team pink or blue!

[jazzcat28]

So I used the magic 1000th post in the last thread... ooops

We dtd last night and an hour later I stood up and noticed I was bleeding. This isn't a problem I've had in previous pregnancies so it's quite worrying. It has put us off completely.

Haven't had any bleeding, but did have to be careful with positions etc as I felt stretching in my tummy and didn't want to do any damage.

Right, new question (apologies)! My parents have extracted my old cot circa 1980s from the loft and Dad is itching to completely renovate it for us. It looks fine, just plain white wooden cot with slightly sculpted bars. But it has a fixed base and the drop side only goes down about 1ft. All the modern cots appear to have a base which can be set at different positions. We will be getting a new mattress for it.

Do you think a fixed base will be ok? I presume the different levels available nowadays is purely for comfort and ease for parents lifting in/out rather than benefit of the baby? We're using a moses basket too initially, which should be in use whilst I'm recovering from the birth.

jazzcat28 I'd say it'll be fine. We're using the family cot, it's an old wooden very traditional one, which I slept in, my sisters and most of my cousins too! It doesn't drop down on any side, so it's completely fixed.
I think it's fine regards baby and safety, and it's just more practical with the modern ones.

cubano and katamari - I also took over from supply. Most of my classes are lovely but I have the worst Year 11s ever and 2 year 9 bottom sets. Haven't broken the news to them yet but one delightful Year 9 girl told a 'funny' story to the class today about a past teacher of hers who was pregnant and got kicked by a boy in the stomach, and apparently now has a damaged child. Scary that some of them laughed! On the whole I love my school but those 3 classes challenge me!

Ok, I have succumbed to the urge and decided I do want to do up the baby's room after all. Plan to mostly use existing furniture but want to get new curtains, soft furnishings, maybe repaint a bit. I want to go for bright multicoloured stuff but keep walls pale. Normally Ikea are good for this sort of thing but I am feeling so uninspired I don't know where to start!

I have fallen in love with this canopy to have over the cot bed but have no clue what else to put in the room with it! www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/20130878/

Got an awful lot of decluttering and cleaning to do before I can decorate though...

jazz I read online that a cot is safe if you CANT pass a can of coke through the bars. maybe this is to stop babies drinking coke when they are supposed to be sleeping

littleen is your doppler maybe picking up the placenta/umbilical cord?

I could only face dtd about 1 a week in the first trimester. slightly increased this trimester but its about as frequent as pre-pg. sometimes the increased blood flow is a bit too much oh and I sometimes bleed if a) I haven't been able to fully partake in forplay (due to increased blood flow making me too sensitive) and/or b) my dh really needs to file his nails but he hates nail files! apologies for tmi

Gosh Ch1134 kids can be bloody horrid sometimes! I finally got my year 11 set list today and there are some interestingncharactersnin there, including the horrid weed smoking nutter who I was praying I wouldn't get. I'm just hoping for nice year 7s as both my 9s are bottom sets with some nutters in too!

In terms of dtd, we didn't for pretty much all first trimester after I got BFP as I just felt too crap. Managed it last weekend but I found that bump was already starting to get in the way a bit lol.

Bloody hell, I was at the photocopiers today with a guy from another dept and the deputy head came out of his office and was all "when are you due? Are you finding out what you're having?" etc etc. errr thanks - I guess that means I'm "out" then!

Littleen yes your heartbeat is very loud in your pelvic area (when you're pregnant anyway, not sure about other times).

A good tip for finding baby is to be able to identify the placenta. It sounds like crashing waves. A real whooshy noise. Baby is usually very close by.

Sugarmiceintherain - looks like that canopy might go well with the Little Bird range in mothercare...

I just found the baby's heartbeat for the first time using the babyscope app on iPhone 4. I tried a few times without success so I'm thrilled now. I recorded it to show DH when he gets home! Woo.

18+6

I'll have to try again tomorrow! I did find the placenta I think, as I could hear a lot of wooshing in one area. Will just have to keep trying and as baby grows it'll get easier anyway :)

Champagnebubble I've PM'd you on FB :-(

Oooooh congratulations Thisis - does it just need your phone to work? Might get it and have a try!

Littleen don't worry you'll find it i generally get my placenta if I put if on the right side and baby if I go low on the left. Took me aaaages to find it tho and you need to make sure to use plenty of gel.

Just got ready for bed and DH was quite gobsmacked by my belly and has decided i definitely look pregnant and that it doesn't look like fat

Oooooh my friend at work told me that in babies r us they have the cot bed he got, which is "awesome", in the sale at the moment for £100 (which I think he said is nearly half price). I didn't get any more info but might go and investigate

Just mentioning this in case it's of benefit to anyone. If you pay childcare vouchers, they are classed as a' non working benefit' during your maternity leave. The amount you are due to be paid is the same as the week they judge your maternity pay on, I think it's around week 25, so if you are paying full child care vouchers that month, then whoever you work for has to pay that to you even when you are not being paid any SMP.

It's a total loop hole. Bit complicated, I did it myself and ended up going back to work (after a year off) with over 2k in my kiddivouchers account, very little of which I'd paid for. Anyone wants more details I'll explain.

It's to do with the Sex Discrimination Act and Maternity and Parental Leave Regulations of 2008.

Most people assume that they wont be needing vouchers when they're off so cancel them while on Mat leave, do your homework first, because who you work for either a. wont advertise the loop hole, or b. doesn't even know about it themselves.

Littlest, sorry you're having such a stressful time with work. I hope your little one's still enjoying her first term of school!

I think my illness has finally subsided enough to dtd again, and poor old DH is definitely ready, but I'm terrified after reading of all the bleeds on here! I'm wondering about trying but not going too deep - not sure if that'd make any difference!

missk it is a normal app that just uses headphones. I have tried about 4 times and this is the first time I got it at 18+6.

Cool, ill have a go with it

Been awake since about half 4 and now up and about. Think my body is preparing me for baby and lack of sleep. Really hope this morning insomnia goes away when I'm back at work properly! It seemed to disappear for a while but alas is back and is very annoying. Oh well at least I can get my school work done now and hopefully have a whole day to enjoy as its super early! Hope you've all had better nights sleep than I have!

Thisis - I tried the app and just got swishing. Will try in a few days.

Nova - thanks for that. didnt fully understand your msg. Do you mean the childcare vouchers that come directly out of salary? And are you saying do keep getting them on mat leave or not? As they are a salary sacrifice I would have thought they would work negatively putting your gross salary down ?

Sorry nova - I'm more awake now and your post does make sense but I wouldnt mind more info!

Morning all.

Re DTD once a week for us but purely because DH was very sweet and said words to the effect of " wow, I thought when you're pregnant we wouldn't have sex at all!', so I'm doing it just to be nice, although I can't say I'm overly enjoying it, like I've read I've supposed to, it feels like I'm doing it on a full stomach- which I suppose I am.

I know what you mean Shropshire - i already feel like my belly is kinda getting in the way!

Morning all,

I have lost track of the thread this week. My daughter started her new school and I have been homeschooling my son. By the time I get them to bed I have no energy for anything. Thank god for the weekend.

Welcome to the newbies, and sorry to hear of all those losses. A lot of my close friends and family have been through similar so I really have not taken pregnancy for granted this time around.

So you will be glad to know my sons weird comment had no truth in it. I had my 16 week appointment on Thursday and heard a very strong heartbeat phew! That was a relief although I was feeling movement anyway so was not too concerned.

The midwife was not what I expected to be honest and the appointment was a bit of a let down. Because of the Hyperemisis, pregnancy up until recently has been pretty awful and resulted in me having a lot of negative feelings about pregnancy. I thought I could discuss this with her but she wasn't interested and did not come across very caring at all.

I have the Baby Bjorn and I used it for both of my children. I liked it and my little ones have no hip problems quite the opposite they are Olympians in the making. So I guess I will use it again as I am not intending on splashing out on new stuff. My friend is also giving me one of those rucksack carriers as we do a lot of family country walks. So once baby is sitting up we can start using that on our trecks.

I don't feel sick today so far yey! So hopefully can spend a lovely day with my DH and DC. I hope you all have a good day.

16+3