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!

Cheers for the sling recommendation faif. They're half the price of the Hana sling. I shall investigate a bit more tomorrow . How did you do sleep training ? Did you follow a recommendation from a book or just do it yourself ?

jeff quite a few have given birth on the ivf worriers thread and it's amazing just how the birth affects so many things weeks post partum. There is an enormous amount of pressure on mums to recover quickly from birth, cesareans especially - so many forget that it's a major operation and that you are at risk of PTSD if it's not handled properly (especially if it's an emergency one). Equally, if you have a difficult and/or long vaginal delivery, mentally you can take a while to recover if you don't have decent support around you. I do think if you have had trouble ttc, it's almost like you feel too guilty about admitting you're struggling, because it's what you've wanted for such a long time. I am glad you're feeling better and that minijeff is a smiley delight

twonks SIL sounds like a bit of a cowbag. Honestly, being diffed and the choices you make around diffment, together with your body shape (franks I hear you) are seemingly fair game for every fucking tom, dick and Harry to comment on. My bf was telling me the other day how she was telling a good mutual friend of ours about my wish for a water birth and said that he was laughing at it. I have to say that I was fuckng furious about this (probably an overreaction) but I think it's just a cumulation of each bloody decision I make being scrutinised in idle conversation by people. Why laugh about wanting to give birth in a bit of fucking h2o Ffs ? It hardly makes me some bare footed, hirsute, hippy, earth mother type, does it? It's the same with body shape while diffed. Fuck OFF with your comments and certainly fuck RIGHT off with the random mauling of the bump too.

Haha - just realised how ranty I have become. I apologise !

Anyway, I am still diffed so will be waiting to have a sweep on Monday, unless something happens in the meantime. Happy new year to you all. Thanks for having me over the past few months - it has been an absolute pleasure to be in your gang.

Oh and people who say how much giving birth will hurt can cock tight off too

Cock right off I mean

SIL is a bit of a dick, tbh norks. She asked how I was feeling and I got sympathy for being tired, but when I said I was tired in the summer I got "oh you can't possibly know what its like to be tired" - well I was fucking diffed then too AND I'd had about 2 hours sleep off night shifts, but somehow I didn't know I fancied a snooze?

Anyway fwiw DSis had a water birth for her second, she is absolutely not a lentil weaving hippy type, and she said the birthing pool was the dog's bollocks. So there. Your friend's friend can do one - who are all these fuckers that think their experience is the only experience? And all these smug fuck parents were expectant first time parents too, and muddled through, suddenly they're the Dalai fucking Lama of parenthood? Grips my shit.

I am tired - I am allowed to be, now - and need to go to bed.

norks I hope that things start shifting for you shortly, but one way or another, you'll have your baybee soon. Awww.

Oh - EDD 26.6.14, 20 week scan on 12.2. Can't come soon enough. Its been 2 whole weeks since I've had a scan and I am Fretting again.

Oh my god, I agree with you both. The number of people who say "just you wait" and "you think you're tired now", as if that's any fucking help is astonishing. Idiots. It's as if having a newborn is the only acceptable reason to be tired, or if one person is tired due to a baby, another person can't be tired for another reason. FFS.

I'm wondering about slings - are they safe from birth? My friend's DD1 had hip problems, which were apparently exacerbated by the sling, so she's warned me to be careful. Now I'm paranoid, despite loving the idea of the practicality/ease of movement of slings over prams.

I thought the forward facing carriers were bad for their hips, because they force the legs into an unnatural open position, but the slings generally keep newborns tucked up with a bit of stretch (sister used the Moby) and are fine from birth?

I think you aim for the birth you want and screw everyone else. It's not their fanjo a baby is popping out of! Generally birthing plans go out the window (don't think mine got read?!) but it's nice to plan it out in your head. I didn't have a traumatic birth like jeffers but it was pretty rapid and I felt shell shocked for a while afterwards too.

Slings wise you do have to be careful but most are ok for hips. Personally I wouldn't get a baby bjorn because they aren't great for hips and they should only be in them about 45 minutes.

Okay, faif, we shall be sure to do our sling-related research, then :)

Slings are fine if the baby is tucked up until a nice natural froggy legged position facing your chest.

Things like the Moby and Close Caboo and similar are good for newborns. The hip thing tends to be caused by carriers like a BB where the legs hang straight down.

I'll try abs find you some links tomorrow when I am on the computer not my phone.

Just looked up the Moby - looks a bit complicated? I think something with buckles or clips might suit us better; I can't tie a reliable knot to save my life...

Try the Close Caboo then. It's similar to the Moby But already made for you!

Trip was awesome. I shall fill you all in when I'm not quite so tired and ill!

I'm already considering murder against some people who feel the need to give me 'advice'.

EDD around 17 August as well!

That's my birthday ginger!

I got to grips with tying my stretchy sling quickly but now she's bigger I want a buckle one. I borrowed an Ellaroo which is a woven one but I never felt I got it tight enough.

Right winks I am coming over to sort your SIL, she sounds awful. We get loads of advice, but most of it is well-meant and does not seem to imply we're incompetent idiots. Re: slings we're keen too, but my sister has just warned us about the possibility of a hot summer, which I suppose is a fair point. None of my uberfertile siblings massively went for slings, but a friend did and it just looked so comfortable and snuggly I was soooo jealous. But I gathered that if you pick one that is suitable from birth, like dor said it's all okay.

Also GRRRR at discussing your birthplans and giggling about it, not on noks.

Roll call: EDD 7/6, anomaly scan (early!) on 13/1.

I don't see SIL too often, so it's bearable, and MIL is fantastic so I can swallow it.

One of the few set ideas I have about this baybee is that we will get along with a sling. It looks so handy and cosy! So inevitability either baybee or I will despise every single one on the market

Heading to the shops this morning for some fat jeans, except I'm wearing my normal jeans and they seem to be looser than they were at 10 weeks, obviously I was more bloated than I realised!

I'm well rested and in a much better mood than last night btw. Hugs and puppies all round.

Still in real jeans winks... But I guess you're a little bit behind! I really don't fit my normal jeans any longer and SB has vetoed my fat ones, as they're tight round my former waist and very roomy round the legs. The good news is that I now fit my sister's maternity wear (which I didn't fit three weeks ago) because some of the hip fat seems to have moved to my belly.

I am having another cold, so failing to do work quite convincingly. And feeling VERY sorry for myself...

driz I'm 3 weeks behind you, and they're boyfriend style, low rise ones which were fairly loose so any actual bump is above the button. Higher waisted work trousers still just about do up but it's not a good look :)

twonks jojo maman Bebe sent me a leaflet about their sale items a week or so ago. They had some really good bargains (tops and dresses, especially). I got some stuff from there at full price (trousers for work and jeans) which lasted forever (until about a month ago the jeans were absolutely perfect. I am too voluminous fat for them now as they dig into the bottom of my bump and it tends to hurt. I am too tight to buy a new pair so leggings have become my best friends ). I also got loads of tops and stuff in their sale (and it's a proper sale, not one of these 10% off load of old bollocks) which saved me a bloody fortune. Check out a shop if there is one near you. If not, have a butchers online. I can't recommend them highly enough. Same goes for drizz draff franks ginge and dor and any other differs lurking. The other thing is Look of the New leggings absolutely rock

Thanks for the reassurance on the water birth twonks. I am hoping there's no-one in it when I go in. If there is someone using it, I'll have to revert to plan b which is some sort of physical assault. I shall drag her out by her hair

drizz I KNOW ! You would think people had better things to talk about, rather than how the nipper is going to come out of the old fanjarama.

faif one of my buddies on the ivf worriers thread also had a super speedy birth and was similarly shocked too. Sorry - I forgot to mention this too. It's not only the arduous labours which can leave you feeling traumatised. The short, sharp quickies can also mess with your head too. I wonder if the birth doesn't go according to the one you have envisaged in your mind, it takes you a few weeks to get your head around what has happened to your body ? I dunno. I now realise that I am probably scaring the beheebies out of the differs - sorry ! I am as bad as those people we have just been slagging off.....I'll pop a sock in it now. Two perhaps. I have a big gob.

It's too late to scare us Nokkie, we're past the point of no return

31 week check up today & all is well. Bump has grown 3cm since the last appointment which is spot on.

Turnip has become a hyperactive little soul in the last few days, perhaps mid taking on too much sugar (aka Christmas chocs). It's felt like I'm incubating a Tazmanian Devil at times

I am the biggest wimp known to man and I can honestly say the birth part was just fine and dandy. I was nearly crying when the doc tried a sweep and couldn't believe when she said she was done add I was waiting on the horrific pain. Similarly I went from zero to waters breaking, contractions every minute and 8cm in about an hour with no pain relief and, whilst I was bricking it, I can honestly say it wasn't so bad. Then I had gas and air, a few hours later after still having a lip remaining (fully dilated apart from a totty bit on one part of cervix) I asked for stronger stuff and eventually got the epidural after nine hours. C section about nine hours after that. Recovery from section was fine and I didn't need all the pain killers they gave me on . discharge.
What i'm basically saying is that I was so scared before and I'd imagined everything so much worse in my head, not helped by all the idiots.

16 week midwife appt today, all fine, HOTB came along and has been listening to his recording of baby heartbeat ever since :)

Aww that's sweet :) Did they have you on a doppler? Have you felt anything yet? Or driz?

I am having a bit of an accidental Cumberbatch day, we watched Sherlock and now Star Trek Into Darkness is on Sky. Nice.

I assume so, she didn't say what the machine was, but I assume it was a doppler. Haven't felt anything yet though, but at 16+1 it's probably a bit early still :)

Nowt wrong with that Winks

Hurrah for good midwife appointment Draf, have you got a date for your 20wk scan?

I am jealous of your heart beat recordindeling HOTB! SB comes along but pretends to be all casual, while I weep...

I sometimes think I feel stuff, but suspect it's wind, as I have an anterior placenta. 18 weeks tomorrow, so it might happen sometime in the next month or so...

Noks, get laying, we need space for euro