February 2014 - all our bags are packed, we're ready to go...

[sunflowered]

Well... we're getting there at least, and definitely ready to meet the first thread baby!

littleen lots of hugs your way

I hope the rest of you with a bad night's sleep can find a little respite today for a nap!

Littleen, so sorry to hear about your Mum's sudden downturn, really hope you get some quality time in with her and that by some miracle she finds some extra reserves to see her through to meeting your little one. Big virtual hugs coming your way and .

Harlem when I lost my mucous plug with DS I can't really describe it other than a big jelly-like plug of mucous. Sorry, that's not wildly helpful but from what it was like with me, I would just say 'you'll know' because it's like nothing else that has ever passed out of me from any orifice. That said, I believe smaller bits can pass and then reform so it doesn't necessarily mean labour is imminent.

LastNight, sending virtual mugs of coffee your way, sounds like you have a seriously tough day ahead, I hate to imagine what it will be like when DS drops his nap. He was coughing/calling out a few times in the night and then up just before 6am but I'm safe in the knowledge that he should put in a decent 1.5hr nap after lunch thank goodness.

Prudence - I think it was you asking about The Fear for second time mums? Yes I can totally relate! Going from working full time to being on mat leave at home with my DS (admittedly he's still doing 2 full days at nursery which is a huge help) has taken some serious readjusting on my part and when it comes to me being busy with a newborn and trying to keep him entertained as well, I am pretty nervous!

So sorry Littleen, thinking of you.

Shrops Yes! Will definitely swap with you! Though that might leave you with a 43 week pregnancy :D

I'm so ridiculously tired this week. Wonder if I should try to get my iron levels rechecked, or if this is just normal third tri stuff.

My elderly man cat left a lovely streak of poo down my T shirt. Which I didn't see until I was sniffing at the T shirt trying to see where the smell was coming from. Now worried about accidentally ingesting small amounts of cat poo and toxoplasmosis risk. Eww.

Littleen, thinking of you

I'm feeling fed up today, I just want this baby out! Don't feel good and happy and magical and glowing in pregnancy, just huge. I got stuck on the sofa yesterday. Seriously. I had the foot rest up and had slipped down and got wedged. My pelvis hurt so much and was getting Braxton Hicks and had to get DH to shove the foot rest down, which made me fall onto the floor. He offered to carry me up to bed, bless him, but I think he'd have damaged his back doing so, so I declined and crawled upstairs. Absolutely pathetic!

I keep having really vivid, disturbing dreams, whenever I do get a rare few consecutive hours of sleep, so even though I had an early night and slept reasonably for me, my mind felt like I'd been through the mill by the time I got up this morning!

Really can't be bothered with volunteering in school today, but ought to go, as I know the teacher really needs an extra pair of hands to sort out library books... It'll only be for an hour as I have to see the MW this afternoon. Not sure how brutally honest I should be with the MW about how crappy I feel! I'm usually a positive 'I'm fine!' type person but I really have had enough now!

Those asking about being a second time mum - the hardest thing for me was the fact you can't just focus on one - you have to constantly split your focus between two children, and let's face it, toddlers can be pretty demanding! It's tough, but it helps to have some special DVDs/ games/ toys which you get out for toddler whilst you're feeding the baby. Also I found wearing baby in a sling really helped me to have hands free to help the toddler (and kept the baby pacified as he liked to be close to me). And I kept everything I might need close at hand - I brought a bedside cabinet down to keep in the living room, filled with nappies, wipes, nappy sacks etc... so I didn't have to leave the toddler if the baby needed changing (or vice versa!)

Just back from 34w mw appointment with stand-in mw and student. I am measuring bang on for dates (but this apparently still puts me above 50th Centile on charts ). MW confirmed baby appears to be head down but back to back. I am not to worried about that though. Did make it very hard for the MW's to find the hb though plus baby was squirming around - I couldn't really feel them move though. Can wriggly babies still be chilled people?

I am spending the day in bed and have packed ds off to the CM. I think my digestive system is objecting to the amount of cereal and milk which I classed as my "dinner" last night.

Thanks for all the support, virtual hugs are very nice :) She won't be around to meet little one, which is what I wanted since before even trying to get pregnant. Very disappointing. Probably wont be many days left, a week or two perhaps. Hard to say.

Sorry for all those having rubbish sleeps! I had one too, thinking too much and SPD being very frustrating due to me hoovering and cleaning yesterday. I did however make norwegian waffles and swiss roll cake around midnight, which was very tasty.

sugar your 'getting stuck' incident sounds rather awkward! Hope it doesn't happen again :)

petty Activity in womb has nothing to do with how active baby is when it's out! It's been done loads of research, and my MW says the opposite, but all the science says it's not true :P

So I went for my appointment today (33+4) and whilst everything was fine, baby grown a little bit and seemed happy, I have actually lost 2 lbs in the last 2 months! Not weighed myself since November, so could have been slowly. Did surprise me a little, and she was concerned, but baby takes what energy he needs. We got money for christmas though, so now we don't have to alternate who gets a meal :P hehe. awesome!!

I have my first pregnancy yoga class thisevening - hope it's good as I had to pay for the whole course online in advance! (I went to one at about 18 weeks but didn't like the teacher).

I'm pretty chuffed this afternoon because a trip to John Lewis to push prams again produced maxi-cosi carseat and base on sale, both half price because they didn't have boxes. Score!

P.S. Does anyone else not have a very active baby? My little one seems so chilled in comparison to the cervix kicks etc you lot are getting. I get a variety of gently undulating squirms. Tuesday was the exception - he was scrabbling about sideways.

Julitee you are not alone. DD1 was soooo active but this baby is soo chilled out in comparison. DD1 is still very active at 3 years. Hoping this one compensates a bit. Wouldn't know how to cope with 2 very active children!

I'm glad! Makes me paranoid that everyone else seems to have disco babies :)

Good bargain grabbing julietee

I'm going to yoga tonight as well (once I've levered my fat arse off the sofa!), it's great. I'm really wheezy tonight so I hope yoga is good for it, but I might struggle with the breathing exercises.

Litleen, more hugs. It's lovely that you're there for your mum. Your midnight baking sounds pretty awesome.

Sorry to hear about your mum littleen, nothing more anyone can say will help but just know we are thinking about you.

Midwife tomorrow, decided I am definitely going on the sick for next 2 weeks, been a zombie today!

Trying to get comfy on sofa now and just can't , feeling very whingey!

Aw littleen, I really am sorry. I'm glad that you're spending time with her now though...I know some people had advised you to cut contact and you obviously did the right thing by ignoring them. I bet she is delighted just knowing that you are pregnant.

Julietee, excellent work. Enjoy yoga - I absolutely love it and usually sleep amazingly well afterwards. Think last night was an exception because I was stressing about scan today.

Sugar I hope you did tell the MW. In public I'm one of those 'I'm fine!' types too and then I leave an appointment thinking, why didn't I just tell them the truth?!

I did tell the MW I'm getting pretty fed up. She (and the student MW) found my getting stuck incident amusing, or at least the way I told it.... But they were quite sympathetic about me feeling fed up and she said to make sure I regularly take painkillers (albeit only paracetamol) to keep the pelvic pain under control. Also said (when I mentioned only feeling movement in the evening, and not as much as I have been feeling) if I'm worried that there isn't enough movement, to contact the hospital and get checked out, better safe than sorry etc. Back in 2 weeks to see her again (with my boys in tow, whom she finds hilarious, due to the fact they seem to do their best to talk about inappropriate stuff throughout my appointment and embarrass me to the max!) She only has after school appointments left in 2 weeks unfortunately

Cubano I hate never being able to get comfortable. ugh.

Nice bargain hunting Julietee

julietee my ds waa so calm and well behaved in utero - always in the right position, never jabbed me etc... but has more than made up for it since birth this one is constantly fidgiting and trying to evade the mw's so im hoping he/she will bd worn out by the time they are born

morien how far is it between you and your sisters due dates? Me and my twin are due 4 days apart! It's so nice sharing the whole experience with someone so close. And to have permanent company on maternity leave:)

So sorry to hear about your mum littleen sending you hugs xx

Had my 35 weeks scan today:) so cute was aw to see babies face and she looks so like DD1!! and she's still sitting a little bit small but nothing to be concerned about which is good:) managed to get my iron infusion on Tuesday but so far hasn't made any difference to how I feel:( got to get retested on Monday to see if I need another one so fingers crossed everything picks up a bit by then.

On another note, finished my hospital bag shopping today!! And purchased raspberry leaf tea, rtl tablets and evening primrose oil capsules. And if anyone has any suggestions in how to make dates taste a bit more appetizing it would be much appreciated!! Saw one on fb page early which was dates with Nutella but I think I might end up with Nutella overload because I have it for bf every morning too! Haha

lastnight so sorry your DS is still unwell:( and you must be exauhsted. So difficult to function normally in pregnancy anyway never mind having been up most of the night:(

artisticme that's so cool that you have just 4 days between you and your twin's baby!

My baby has had hiccups most of this evening. It's really distracting...

Artisticme That's amazing! Talk about synchronicity :)

eeyore hiccups are so cute! Especially now they are so strong aswell:)

Yeah we couldn't have timed it better haha. She thought she was having my symptoms for the first few weeks:)

Aargh, so tired I might cry a little bit.
I'm not getting any quality sleep atm - just spending the night in that half asleep, half aware state that's so annoying.
I get the horrible head pressure thing if I'm not elevated enough, but I can't find a pillow arrangement that's properly comfortable enough for me to be elevated and sleep!
So, this is probably the cause of the exhaustion wave that's hit me, rather than some mysterious drop in iron.

Aw that's rubbish julietee :( have you tried one of the "v" shaped pillows up round your neck? There's no harm in getting you iron levels checked anyway, that's definately affected my sleep. Hope you can get a nap today.

Julietee I had that with DS and had to sleep propped up with a v pillow and 2 standard ones. Not had it this time.

Once baby 'drops' it is alleviated. Hugs.