The maybies are keeping a close eye on their fruit - due May 14

[CbeebiesIsMyLife]

Will this do? I bet someone's beat me to it now!

Had my dating scan this morning so now I'm officially 13 weeks today!

Picture is crap according to my notes the scan was "technically difficult" due to "body habitus" and obviously nothing to do with the trainee sonographer who was awful and has probably left me with bruises on my abdomen.

Sorry your scan wasn't much fun squiffy but glad you finally got it! I know you've been waiting a long time.
I'm not sure when I'm going to take maternity leave. I want to work at least until April but if I worked until the end of April and took my leave at 38 weeks I'd have an extra month's pay. Whether I can stand this place for that long is a whole other thing!

I'm soooo glad I don't have to work feeling like this - I'm full of admiration for you lot! I do work but only part time, with low stress and from home so I have a very easy life and still I'm struggling to keep up. I've warned my boss that I'll want a few weeks off for the birth but apart from that I intend to carry on as normal. Maternity leave is a different issue when you're freelance.

moomin the April ladies have been on Facebook since I was about 6 weeks which I why they aren't very active on here.

I had a lovely caramel latte this morning :) so pleased to be back on coffee

I'm hoping to work up until Easter Friday which is actually only 3 weeks before my due date (not actually starting maternity leave until 4 days before EDD but my lovely manager has agreed that I can carry some of my leave over from this year and take two weeks before mat leave starts :))

Congrats on the good scan news squiffie sorry that it wasn't much fun though :(

Sorry your scan wasn't as lovely as it should have been squiffie.

My plan is to finish work at the end of March (around 34 weeks) and use annual leave so that I officially start mat leave around my due date. I have a two hour commute when I'm in the office so don't want to be that far away from home near the end. I keep switching between not being able to wait to finish and then freaking out about how much work I need to do before then!

squiffie its funny how hey blame our weight when they cant get a clear picture yet other sonograhers can do it perfectly.
I had a traniee last pregnacy who was useless and left me feeling very unsettled, because of it I'm less likely to accept trainees as part of my care.

My midwife didn't get a clear picture first time around but I know she's an ultrasound specialist and we could quite clearly see the baby doing what appeared to some serious breakdancing so I didn't blame her. That thing looked like it was going around the spin cycle in a washing machine! On the other hand I couldn't complain because it meant we got an extra scan a few days later .

When she said my stomach muscles were problematic she just went the vaginal route instead - were you not offered that pleasure, Squiffie?

My stomach muscles were like that first time round lily this time... Not so much ha

My DS has been sick with hand foot and mouth poor boy. Its made the insomnia much worse as I'm waiting for him to wake :(

No maternity leave or pay here either. Worked through last time have to do the same again. Bit rubbish as I earn but because its a bursary it doesn't count towards maternity allowance which sucks.

I'm just sulking that they called me fat in my notes - bloody rude even if its true.
Wasn't offered the joy of the dildo cam, lol x

My notes said something like view restricted due to maternal bmi, I didn't think I was that fat oh well still got a few clear pics.

I was reading an article about incompetent cervixes causing 2nd trimester losses and now I'm worrying myself silly about them! Definitely won't be happy til this baby is here!

How the hell do I know if my cervix is incompetent? I just asked it and it tells me it's fine but it could be lying...

Mines the same, not much conversation out of it! Apparently tho you often don't know theres a problem until its too late aah I shouldn't read stuff I don't want to know about!

I didn't know what my cervix was until I read the young people's pregnancy book from Tommy's... thankfully they have a chapter literally entitled "My cervix is where?", which kind of explained things for me

I've been added to their FB group now but I feel so out of the loop on there

Ah squiffie pleased you had your scan , although obviously not how it went about for you

No idea what I'm doing for mat leave

Scan tomorrow, my '12 week' one, it will be my first so fingers crossed

13+2

I'm not taking maternity leave because I'm not sure it's possible... basically I'll still be at uni, although I may not venture in very often, until the end of the year, which is the week of my due date

ham ouch on the HFM your poor DS it really seems to be doing the rounds lately.

sharplilly It's not that common and those that do have incomplete/incompetent cervix with often they know before hand if they have had pelvic exams in the past or treatment regarding their cervix.
There are others who don't know until pregnant but so unlikely to be you. Many of with those sort of problems will also have had early miscarriages.

If there is a suspected issue then they can test for cervical length (vaginal scan) and if concerend can put in a stitch.

Once a heartbeat is detected at 9 weeks your chances of loosing it before birth is 1% so incredibly rare.

Many of with those sort of problems will also have had early miscarriages.

Well that was me but if it's that easy to spot then, to be honest, it sounds likely that my cervix has had enough visits from medical professionals at one time or another to have made its status known by now.

I was unable to relax the first trimester but it's clear now that there's a healthy baby in there so I have calmed down when it comes to looking for problems.

I keep telling myself how small the risk of problems are, I think cos I had fertility ishoos and a mc before this pregnancy I keep thinking something's bound to go wrong!

Google is never your friend in pregnancy! My friendly advice would be to stop looking for problems, as a straight forward pregnancy is tough enough to be going on with. Allow yourself to enjoy things (not meant to sound as twatish and condescending as it probably does )

A question for those of you with older children... At what point are you planning to tell your older children? Mine are 5 and 3 and not sure if its still too early?

13 weeks today. X

My big two (8&7) we're told after the 12 week scan. The little two (3&22months) won't be told as such but will be encouraged to love the bump and that bump = baby. (Probably when they're trying to use me as a trampoline as per usual)

I told ds, age 8, the day i found out. He kept the secret for the whole 12 weeks, bless him.

Heard a lovely loud heartbeat this morning. It was very quick (160ish bmp). The midwife predicted girl while I still think boy.

Maternity leave - I am going to work for as long as I can, probably til 2 weeks before. If I feel up to it of course. This might seem weird but I'm dreading leaving my job! I love it so much. We are a small team and we will have to hire someone to cover me and it feels horrible handing everything over to someone else. I probably won't mind as much once the baby arrives, I realise!!