The PESH are waddling their way to Christmas & trying not to freak out!

[FrankelInFoal]

The ante-natal fred for BESH graduates.

Recent Grads (aka CRESH)

blonderthanred, boy, born 26th October 2012
FriendofDorothy, boy, born 14th December 2012
QueenRollo, boy, born 21st January 2013
LazyMachine (38) boy EDD 9/2/13 - need an actual arrival date!
CamelKnees (34) EDD 22/04/2013 - need actual arrival date!
HaveALittleFaith (31), Faithlet arrived 14th April 2013
fertilityFTW (34) arrival date needed!
pinkr, (33), girl born 25th August 2013
Jethro (36) boy born 23rd September 2013

Waiting to lay:
Noks - EDD 28/12/2013
Frankel - EDD 4/3/2014
Sinky - EDD 18/3/2014
Ginfox - EDD end April 2014
Kat - EDD needed
Drizz - EDD 7/6/2014
Draf - EDD 19/6/2014
Winks - EDD 29/6/2014

Apologies for any misinformation or omissions!

Gah! 3 comments in quick succession - colleague I've not seen in a while, random old woman and m&s cashier... "When're you due?... March?! Ooh. That's a big baby you've got there!...."

I am officially a whale.

I've has those comments too Sinks. I've decided they're all morons! As HWHNN is known to say: "Opinions are like arseholes: everyone has one.". He has a real way with words

Aww, sinks, try not to take it to heart. They mean it nicely :)

I suspect I'll get these comments too, as being a shortarse I'm expecting to expand quite a long way outwards. There's just no room between my pelvis and my ribs, so it'll have to either grow outwards or stay tiny...

sinks I'm a fat arse already, try not to worry about it. If in doubt, tell them to fuck off smile and nod. If they're saying its a big baby then its all bump anyway, not arse and hips and thighs.

I am a bit annoyed. I spoke to a family member the other night, who then called my mother and told her 'winkly sounded so cheerful, I thought she must have been about to tell me she was pregnant.' Reasons for annoyance:

1. I wasn't that cheerful, I was shattered, stressed cos DMIL had been on the phone and was v upset, and that family member is a miserable emotional vampire.
2. Why does every conversation I seem to have get relayed straight back to my mother?

And 3. (The main one) Why oh why does a woman being cheerful = pregnancy?? I had just been on holiday. I could also have had a great day at work, or an amazing shag. Reproduction isn't the only fucking thing worth smiling about .

Tell them it's quads and you are only 4 months. Then mutter in your head 'fuck off bitch' and go about your business.

I was whale like. Hey ho.

Ah bump speculation. If you chose not to find out the sex, you get speculation about how you're carrying. If you do, you get comments about how you're carrying. I got all sorts of crap comments from Aren't you neat? to Well, it's not going to be a small baby, is it?!. Yet no-one anticipated such a weeny baby. I agree - nod and smile if you can, tell 'em to nobble off.

How annoying winks. Yes you are allowed to be happy for other reasons!

Fanks PESH.

My line has become "My midwife is happy and I'm measuring exactly right for my dates." Repeat ad finitum!

It is such a combination of factors, what body shape you already are, whether you put weight on all over or just as bump, etc. I've been lucky so far, apart from some minor boob and arse expansion I'm pretty much all bump which makes me look like I'm smuggling a beach ball! I'll put a picture taken yesterday up in t'other place to give you all a laugh!

Whooping cough vaccination today and 28wk midwife appt tomorrow. Time's kicking on

at smuggling beach balls. I seem to have done a bit of a general expansion, no bump but back into my fat jeans which I literally ran out of last autumn after the mc.

Sinks I think frank has a good line, will go over to the other place to see your bumptastic picture.

I told some colleagues I closely work with yesterday and they were delighted for me, but also mentioned they hadn't noticed at all proud of my sneaky snoozing at my desk without anyone noticing. They're all a bit shocked to hear I am 14 weeks already.

Btw draf I am frustrated as I am not friends with HOTB I didn't get to see your scan pic!

It should work anyway, driz. He checked the settings when he posted it, and because he's tagged me it said "your friends and draf's friends will be able to see this".

I wanted to see the scan pic too. How rude of HOTB not to tag draf in it so we could see.

Oh, cross posted. I definitely can't see it.

Me neither, I did try! I want to like it, cos you're one of the few diffments that make me genuinely happy!

Well, if it's both of you (and a RL friend), clearly there's something fucking up at facebook. I have reposted it...

OK hags, here the menkul starts and I figure if I come here and post the droid will make an appearance.

I feel really periody today but hey ho.

So, since I have been back using the shag dictator my cycles have looked like this...

Cycle 1 - 18 days - luteul phase - no ov detected
Cycle 2 - 27 days - LP - 7 days
Cycle 3 - 28 days - LP - 9 days
Cycle 4 - up to 30 days so far and ov detected on day 17 so 13 DPO

So, what would you do?

Would POAS be tempting fate?
Am I going to go to the loo in a minute to find the droid has appeared?
Could my period symptoms actually be because I am expecting triplets?

Absolutely triplets
I am not an early tester, so would wait a few more days I never peed on any stick with this diffment, just did the bloods at 16do and if you're diffed you will find out anyway. But 13dpo is late enough to get a real result. So if you want get it over and done with, buy some cheap sticks!

When not undergoing some sort of treatment (that came with POAS instructions), I always waited until droid was a week late before POAS. So, day 35 based on your last cycle.

Fingers crossed, though :)

I have about 4 tests in the drawer. I am pretty sure my period is just going to start tho.

driz and draf have iron wills. I would say not to poas for a while longer, but I would totally give in by tomorrow at the latest.

If you have detected ovulation i would wait until 15 or 16 dpo. By 16 dpo you are less likely to get bfn. However, with a good test, you could test today and most likely get the truth. Good luck!

I got my BFP when I was 15dpo but it was very, very faint. My recommendation would be to wait at least a couple of day. that's what I recommend, not what I'd do

I was under instructions not to POAS until 16 dp-injection which equates to 14/15dpo. Hang on in there another few days if you can.

Ok PESH I need you to tell me if I'm being unreasonable. I've just been given a letter at work informing me of my maternity package. Basically they are putting me on full pay for the first 6 weeks (instead of 90%) and then I revert to SMP.

Now I really don't want to sound whiney and entitled but whoop-de-flippin-do. The 10% accounts for about an extra £400 during those first 6 weeks. I know they're not obliged to pay me any extra at all, but I've worked here for almost 12 years, I'm a senior manager and have slogged my guts out at times, including overseeing a 20% increase in revenue this year. Is it really unreasonable to expect a bit of a "thanks for all the hard work"?

Honestly at the moment I feel totally uninspired, it feels like they couldn't care less about loyalty and incentivising me to come back to work at the end of my maternity leave.

Financially we can cover the bills with HWHNNs salary and the bit of SMP I'll get, plus we've been saving like hell for the last 6 months so have an emergency fund, but I feel like it's not just about the money. Where's the appreciation?

Do I sound totally entitled? Please give me a kick up the arse.

They sound a bit stingy, but it's not uncommon. My old work maternity policy was (I think) up to 90% pay (depending on how long you'd been there) for a month, then SMP after that.

On the other hand, my friend's sister (in the forces) got full pay for her entire leave, which astonished me.

YANBU to be a bit miffed, but I doubt you'd be able to get an improvement.

Thanks Draf, I know I won't get it changed though I will express my disappointment to my boss, tactfully, later. I wasn't expecting anything much, maybe a doubling of SMP, which would still be less than 50% of my usual salary. Let's be honest here, they're going to be saving money on me not being here as they'll be able to claim the SMP back from the Government and the girl covering my job is not going to be paid the same wage as I'm on!

I'm just worried I'll get all hormonal and teary when I talk to my boss - she wants to know what I think when she gets back from a meeting this afternoon.