Martians 2014, thread 11. KEGELS!

[LyraSilvertongue]

Shiny new thread, ladies :)

I knew you and Marbie wouldn't have gained, Comms, but for the rest of us...it's alarming how this stuff piles on even when you're monitoring calorie intake. My midwife told me the weight gain is often nowt to do with food consumed: it's breast increase, blood volume increase, fat being laid down on hips and back to protect bump etc. My body has not changed other than massive knockers and a big bump but I am a stone heavier than pre-pregnancy.

I met up with my little sister for lunch yesterday and she said ''Oh my god, you look pregnant!'' It's the first time anybody has said that so I was very chuffed. Although I did have on a very tight top to try and show off my poor excuse for a bump

Yesterday I got an email from a store in London asking me to send them over a quote for supplying them with some of my products. I'm shitting myself. I didn't want to put the wholesale price too high and risk scaring them off, and I didn't want to show my business naivety by pricing it too low. They also asked about my minimum order quantity and I'm nervous about the figure I gave for the same reason.

Tis going to be a tense day of refreshing my emails until I get their response.

..that was mainly gained during first trimester. I'm dreading to see how this one pans out..

Pram - lbs not kg surely?! Apparently I'm meant to put on 40lbs -

The 1-1.5lbs is only for pre pregnancy underweight I thought, meant to be max 1lb a week if you're normal weight and less if overweight?

Could be wrong though!

Oops didn't finish that bit - if I put on 40 lbs I will be less than but not far off 150% of my normal weight... Not happening!

Yeah that's right goosey depending on your bmi to start with they recommend you gain a different amount of weight.

I started off overweight so I've to gain between 15-25lbs. I'm still a wee bit lighter than I was at my booking in appointment so I hope I'm going to manage to stay on track.

I'm trying really hard to eat properly/enough after losing so much in the first trimester so I'd like to see some weight going on really!

Pram I can imagine it's disconcerting! If you're keeping your calories in check and your weight is all going on bump/boobs then try and take comfort in the fact that it's all necessary weight you're gaining.

Goose I think it's around 25lbs if you're 'normal' BMI.

Hot scary but exciting that your business is starting to move. I'm sure you did the right thing. Is your website up and running now?

I was told 1-1.5lbs in the second trimester and I'm a normal weight. But pram you are all boobs and bumps, nothing can be done about that!! It's 'good weight' if you like.

Twice yesterday I was mistaken for being "at least 20 weeks". I could have wept.

Weight gain in pregnancy I stand corrected, Moosey, it is 0.8-1lb per week for 'normal-sized' women, less for overweight ladies. The normal-weight people should gain between 25-35lbs during the whole pregnancy. I've already gained 12!

I know, Marbie, I know...still awful though seeing the scales go up every single week when I'm eating really healthily.

That link I posted is a load of shit. I'm sure it's 1-1.5lbs we should be gaining in the second trimester, like you say, Marbs.

I don't think I've ever gained the "right" amount. First time I lost a stone early on and took until 26 weeks to get back up to prepregnancy weight - I think I gained about a stone in the end though not sure as the battery went in the scales a couple of weeks before I gave birth and then about a week after giving birth when DH bought a battery I was back to my prepregnancy weight. Last time I didn't remember to weigh myself close to the end but I was 2 1/2 stones over prepregnancy weight a couple of weeks after giving birth so I'm guessing I must've gained almost 4 which is pretty amazing given my calorie intake was lower during pregnancy than before but I guess lying in bed doing nothing helped. This time I haven't lost any weight and based on current gain I should end up gaining around 2 1/2 stone which I think is about the amount I'm supposed to gain.

The first few weeks after giving birth you naturally lose quite a bit of your gain anyway as your uterus shrinks down and your blood volume decreases etc. (This is why I waited two weeks after giving birth last time to weigh myself as I'd been losing weight before the pregnancy and didn't want to be discouraged by the larger intial weightloss.)

Your Pregnancy Week By Week says 1.5-2lbs should be gained per week during the second trimester for 'normal-weight' women. I wish they'd make their minds up.

I am reading another thread where one woman is having crying fits because, at six months, her baby "will not sleep in a cot, gain weight or take a bottle". She breastfeeds non-stop and is exhausted. This sort of shit terrifies me and is why I am determined to give Gina Ford a shot. Any opinions on why this woman should have a baby like this?

Some babies are just extra hard. I was an awful baby. I'm the 3rd child, and my folks thought they knew it all but I had other ideas

Or maybe there's something wrong with her baby. What the fuck do I know.

Morning ladies!

On the weight thing I have been told to aim for not putting on anything, cos I is a chunker. Well. A size 16 but I have got about 3 stone to lose... Given how much I want to eat cake at the moment that will be a struggle.

On a plus point, I was at the pregnancy clinic in the diabetes unit and midwife tried to find the heartbeat and found it. Yey! She was a bit surprised cos am only 14 weeks and as mentioned above, a tad on the rotund side! Was very reassuring but I suspect we got lucky with this one.

Can not remember who said that someone told them they look like they are 20 weeks but I feel your pain. I look about 6 months but am taking solace from the fact that at least I look pregnant and not just fat nowadays so I have decided to embrace it. Fuck'em all is what I say!

And I have just realised its the afternoon. I really need to get some sleep...

Pram lovely, the scales should be going up!! I demand you throw them away. Or use them for a more uplifting purpose.

I agree with Fox some babies are just hard. My mum struggled massively to breast feed me. We both lost too much weight. Switched to bottle, hey presto. Also wouldn't sleep in my cot. Put me in a cot bed=angel. My brother on the other hand was an angel from day dot. I don't think you can predict or change it. That's why I am so determined to go with the flow. I'm not going to look at routines or 'how to' books until I've gotten to know my baby. There's no point in developing a complex on how bad a parent I am, when at the end of the day, we are going from a family of two to one of three. One day you just have a whole new person who you have never met before to look after. I think worrying about a routine will be the least of my worries

Maybe she's not producing enough milk if she's having to bf all day and the baby won't settle (hunger?). Another reason why it's important to introduce a bottle early so the baby gets used to a teat, then mixed feeding is an option.

I'm too scared to weigh myself at all. I know I've put loads on but I don't want to know how much so I shall continue to stick my head in the sand and pretend I'm still a svelte size 10.

Pram, I was a journo for 17 years. I've been a reporter, newspaper page designer (which I loved), news editor and sub editor. It's where my grammar Nazism stems from. If anyone asks what my profession is I still say journalist but I'm not feeling it anymore. My boys' father is also a journalist so my boys have a double dose of writer genes. They're actually both excellent writers so maybe there is a genetic component to it.

I'm hoping for another boy this time. DP will not be happy if it's a girl and my boys would rather a brother (the idea of anything pink in the house fills them with horror). Two of my friends have three boys each and one had four boys then a girl (their 4th boy died in a road accident aged 5) so I'm hoping I'll get another blue one too. We shall see on the 18th when I have my scan.

Another massive post. Sorry peeps.

Thankfully, because I am so fucking stinking rich, I will be having a maternity nurse anyway. Plus a nanny. Plus a wet nurse. And maybe an au pair.

Do wet nurses still exist, I wonder? Do you think Kate & Wills have one?

If the woman is really BFing non stop and the baby isn't putting on weight at 6 mo I would say something sounds wrong and she should go to HV/doc. Also, without getting into the 'right age for weaning' debate, I weaning DS at around 6 mo and he was def ready for it.

Please don't read too much into threads like that. People only post when there's an issue - so so many people BF and don't have those issues but would hardly start an 'Everything is just lovely' thread, or reply to a woman having those issues with 'Well I'm fine, lalala'. Also, sleep changes throughout and I really think a lot of it is luck. Teething, tummy ache, growth spurts, trapped wind, colds, earache... All screw up sleep.

DS slept through last night for the first night in a fortnight because his new teeth (4 of them this time!) have finally calmed down. But he hasn't been like that since he was tiny and I doubt his teeth would have hurt him less if we'd taken a different parenting technique.