Graduated Elderberry Pavlovas - Thread 7

[Cavort]

Newly diffed right through to new Mums. A thread for the over 30's expecting their first baby.

Yes Alex, our place was chaos for the two and a half weeks I had at home before Miles. Thankfully it was all (just) finished by the time he got home.

Re the ball - my sister in law and cousin got normal exercise balls. You can borrow mine if you want - am clearly too lazy and fat to use it right now. One word of warning, is just use it to sit on to watch tv as both DSIL and cousin used to bounce LOADS on it when pg... And sure enough, both their babies would only go to sleep whilst being bounced!

That would be great thanks janey, I'll stop round at some point and pick it up. Scaffolders just removed all the scaffolding which is lovely...until I went outside and saw two tiles on the dormer blatantly chipped in half so another thing we'll have to nag and chase about to get them to fix which won't be easy without scaffolding. Right no more moaning about my loft!

Its horrid weather here today, thunder, lightning and torrential rain and I've realised I have a whole winter to get through with no idea what to do with a small child when the weather is bad. To be fair, she doesn't really require entertainment, it's me, I'm not good at sitting around, I feel bored and twitchy already. I might take her to the HV clinic to be weighed later for an excuse to go out, now that is sad!

On the bright side, weather is meant to be nicer tomorrow and over the weekend! Have you be doing any classes and things like that?

janey he stays head down, just moves from being back to back to back to front....if that makes sense. I do not want a back to back baby...ouch!

alex I asked to borrow my brothers exercise ball but he bought me my own instead. I currently just use it to sit on in the evenings, as Janey said I'm just leaning forward at the mo to keep him in the right place, not bouncing mainly as that makes me need a wee. I WILL be bouncing though once eviction date nears!

I started taking my rasberry leaf tea pills...which the lovely purple sent me. I might also get some evening primrose pills as I read they can help soften the cervix in preparation for labour, can get them for £1.99 in boots so figure it's worth a try. I really don't want to go over so am making pre-emptive strikes! Bit early I know but I have a feeling this wee boy is going to be tough to shift.

purple I think I'll be the same. Cold I can deal with it's rain I hate! I hope it's a fairly dry winter so I can walk the dog lots to shift the extra weight and there are 2 classes I want to go to 'buggy fit' and 'strollers and toners', I'm not usually a good 'joiner' so want to make myself go out and meet other new mums. Plus the place I do my preggo yoga or fat lass yoga as I call it also do baby yoga which I might try dependent on prices of course. I really want to do baby massage and baby sign language classes too but no idea of where/if there are any classes nearby. Saying all this I may just sit in all winter and vegetate eat by spring I could be a huge hulking beast

oh and alex I plan to cook up a strom while I'm on mat leave before bubs arrives, I want ideally 10 days to 2 weeks worth of food pre cooked and ready to defrost so I don't have to cook every evening. I figure on bad days cooking will be the last thing I will want to do!

I'm not a good joiner either anti-social bugger as I'm an only child so don't play well with other people but I know I really should make an effort. I've got no excuse as I know most of the staff that run all the things in my area anyway from work! I can't keep staying in when it rains though, it makes me eat toblerone

I had a gym ball, not for long though, the bloody cat popped it!

It might work for some but I still had a back to back baby despite a minimum of 45 mins daily dog walking, swimming, doing all the housework, lots of ball bouncing and daily exercises from Spinning Babies which are supposed to encourage a B2B baby to turn. I wasn't exactly Superwoman like Hazle but exactly how upright/active do you have to be to turn your baby?

Re balls, DH burst my birthing ball while he was drunkenly wrestling the dog around the floor on it so I replaced it with an exercise ball which was £5 from Tesco which was exactly the same.

Alex don't feel guilty about relaxing, just make the most of it! As lovely as motherhood is, you will reach a point sometimes where you are jealous of DH's full nights sleeps and the fact that he gets a 'break' by going to work. It gets easier as time goes by but it is very much a round-the-clock job.

I know what you mean Purple, the prospect of a long, dark, cold Winter with a baby to entertain is quite a daunting one. I plan to join a few classes when Elodie is 16 weeks which should get us out of the house a bit more, along with weekly swimming and playgroup. And I've just bought a nice thick pramsuit for our daily dog walking. Not exactly a rock & roll lifestyle but it's a start.

Mother can't your OH cook the evening meal? In the early days of being on my own DH made me a packed lunch so I could just grab it out of the fridge and then DH would cook dinner when he came home from work.

'Operation self-soothe' went slightly better last night but still had me up for 2 hours 2-4am. She only took 3oz at 10pm as she was too sleepy so woke hungry at 01.45. I fed her, put her down and she was back asleep in under 5 minutes, so off I went to the loo feeling smug that I had cracked it, only to come back to find her wide awake, thrashing around and hitting herself in the face. It then took me nearly 2 hours to get her back to sleep without picking her up. She then woke up hungry at 7am so I fed her, put her down again and she went off to sleep but stayed asleep this time so we both had a lovely lie-in until 10. Not ideal but small steps in the right direction and it's over 2 days now since we last rocked her to sleep. She has now been back asleep since 12 and they do say sleep breeds more sleep so FX for a better night tonight.

Awww have you seen the identical triplets on the news? Conceived naturally at odds of 160,000:1. I bet they had to be resuscitated after the 12 week scan! Absolutely lovely but OMG how would you cope??

Oh cavort well that peed on my fireworks Hope this little man doesn't engage back to back!!! Was it uber painful?

My OH is incredibly shit/lazy so no, doubt he'll cook, especially when he is back at work, he may order takeout but thats about it. On thursdays when I have yoga I dont get back till 8ish, not once has it dawned on him he could have dinner ready, he has got takeout everytime!

Its hard isn't it purple, I just dont naturally feel comfortable in big groups like other people seem to. Even talking at the antenatal class infront of 10 other couples was a tad daunting. I just don't want to end up isolated at home with bubs, so I'll have to force myself. I'm with you on the toblerone too!

Nice work cav, good on you for sticking to your guns! Hope you crack it soon.

I'm usually quite sociable but I also usually go to things with other people I know, so am determined to get used to just showing up at classes on my own not knowing anyone there (with baby obvs!) so I can do classes during the day. I liked it that DH came with me to NCT and got involved, and the other guys there seemed nice (although one was sarcastic about the hippy type stuff, did make me laugh though). Have to say, two hours was a long enough session but on Sat the session is 7 hours!

Just ate a whole packet of green & blacks - working from home with a full fridge is dangerous! Bet I'm a right pig on mat leave, am going to make sure I do lots of walking to make up for it!

Purple you have sent your rain my way! I usually still take Elodie and the dog out in the rain but this is a monsoon! I think the dog will have to wait until DH gets in and I will leave Elodie at home and dig out the waterproof trousers and possibly a dinghy.

Mother labour was painful but then they probably all are, and it's not like I have another labour to compare my B2B one to. You would be better off asking someone who's had both a B2B labour and a front to back one to see how they differ. All I can say about my labour is that all the pain of the contractions was in the base of my back, whereas I presume if baby is not B2B then the pain is more round the front? With the back pain, a TENS machine was an absolute life-saver during my really long latent phase, as was DH constantly massaging my lower back. Bless him, after 5 days of constant massaging he hadn't complained once even though he could probably feel the onset of Carpal Tunnel.

Alex Green & Blacks is one of your 5-a-day while pregnant. Fact. As is Fanta Orange, Haribo Starmix, Galaxy and Ben & Jerrys.

Ok, so Elodie is still asleep from 12pm after only waking up for the day at 10am. This girl is all about extremes these days. I have showered, got ready, done the housework, prepared dinner and now I am sitting waiting for her to wake up so we can go out. I am not used to this!

I think she stole Lucy's sleep as she is screaming, red faced and refusing to nap.

She had 12 week jabs yesterday so it's probably down to that rather than suddenly developing Narcolepsy. I really hope it continues into tonight. And she hasn't eaten since waking up at 10, I would have thought she'd be ravenous by now.

I hope Lucy sleeps for you soon. An overtired screamer really is the worst sound.

Well she slept really well for her last night so I can't complain. We're watching kitten videos on YouTube on my phone together now which is apparently much more fun than trying to sleep.

alex I wouldn't be able to face 7 hours so you have my respect! We had a sarastic guy too but he made me chuckle lots! I agree re the eat what you like too, basically because I am living on mccoys at the moment and want to be sure everyone else is a bad as me .....ooops. Although had a uber healthy dinner last night, main meals I am good but snacking I am a bit of a menace.

cav I am 100% getting a tens machine, I'm guessing I need to leave it a little bit longer to hire one as you only get it for about 6 weeks don't you? I'm thinking I'll just get one from boots or mothercare for ease?

Hope these babies sort out their sleeping for you soon. Although the narcoleptic phase might be one I'm willing to explore

Cavort - Miles slept through after his 12 week jabs. Fingers crossed you get the same.

Mother - don't worry, once you have a baby you have the perfect excuse to speak to randoms. Some people in my NCT class were painfully shy but we all chat loads now. And if you go to any baby classes it's so easy to chat to other people - you've automatically got something in common!

I think you Nov baby ladies have got it right. I'm out and about now much more than I was in the early weeks when you're kinda tied to the sofa. So out and about in time for winter, having missed all of the nicest summer in years. You however will spend the winter snugged up on your sofas feeding a newborn in front of the fire, and be getting out and about as spring comes. Lovely!

Yes we definitely got it wrong on the timing. Just think, this time last year some of us were getting pregnant. Where has the time gone?

I'm keeping my fingers crossed on the 12 week jabs being magic sleep drugs then as Lucy had hers in a couple of weeks (don't know why they call them '12 week' jabs if they're going to do them that late)

Wish I could say it was clever planning having a Nov baby Love the sound of snuggling up for winter shell shocked and then being out and about for spring! Ooh I can't wait to have a mulled wine and watch xmas films like Elf with the baby just chilling happily! I know, I know, in reality I'll be changing my tenth nappy of the day and won't be able to hear Elf over the crying, but I'll lie myself for now!

Speaking of crying, I hope Lucy calms down soon purple

My bump is so big now! Was just looking in the mirror thinking wow, it's humongous!

I think i said to you Alex didn't I, that you think you are huge and can't get any bigger, yet you do. A lot bigger at the end!

And honestly you will be able to watch Elf (love that film!) - you just might need to pause it occasionally!

Well, the rat bag that I live with swore to me he'd be home for 7 but make dinner for 7.15 'just in case'. He's got 2 minutes by my phone then my dinner is going on the table and his can go down the dog go cold for all I care. I'm not ruining my meal again because he's late. Wanker.

Did he make it then?!

Is he working late purple or post work boozing? My DH is out tonight with work so I'm having a night on the sofa with girly tv and mushroom risotto I'm expecting a drunk DH staggering in at stupid o'clock so at least I've been warned - will brace myself for slurred calls in the cab on the way home!

7.20, just in time to eat it before the dog got it he was at work not boozing but it just drives me mad that either I wait until he comes home and then start dinner meaning we often don't eat until nearly 9pm or we agree a time for dinner to be ready and he's never ever back at the time he's said, arghhh! I suppose it's petty but when it's every day it drives you mad.

You just reminded me Purple, I got my BFP on 3rd October 2012.

And now said BFP is sitting on my lap wide awake, having got up at 10, slept for over 4 hours at her lunchtime nap and another hour at 6 (I tried to bring bedtime forward but she was having none of it), so I assume she might be headed for a 9pm bedtime and we will be having a late dinner. This completely screws up the 10pm dream feed. Bah!!