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!

What an insensitive thing for your mother to have said Eeyore! I'd be fuming. Does she know of the difficulties you had? Some people will try for years and not fall pregnant at all.

I think it's a generational thing - people just didn't talk about problems conceiving but now people are more open about it. My mum is always surprised at how common it is for people to need IVF, whereas for me, even though I haven't personally had problems, I know of enough people to think that conceiving a baby and having a full pregnancy is a miracle and not the norm!

Kungfu welcome to ze club :) Not long until you're due then, nearly a month before me!

Eeyore That's a terrible comment she made, and a very ignorant one too! Personally I had no idea how common it was to have problems, but you don't comment on these things anyway, seeing it's difficult to know!

Dawn that fudge recipe sounds incredible. I agree with Winter, it's been too long since we had a quality microwave recipe in our midst.

So today I bought three items for the new baby in the Gap sale. Still have masses of actual stuff to do (decorating DS' new room - it was the spare room), setting up his new furniture and moving him across to free up the nursery, sifting through all of his old clothes and newborn kit, packing a hospital bag etc. but suddenly the act of buying the first items for this baby made it feel very real and rather lovely. Must make a list/schedule for the next few weeks so the important stuff actually gets done...

Welcome Kungfu - I'm also hoping for a home birth this time (DC2 for me) and am really excited about the idea.

Harlem I am finishing on the 24th, at 38 weeks. When I got into the groove, work was OK. But I agree it's making me not focus on baby stuff, which is a good or a bad thing dependent on when they plan on making an appearance I suppose. No bags packed here either! MW seemed not worried at all about darn placenta so back to plan A, no sofa time for me quite yet! Thanks eeyorish, would be interested in how well that airer gets things dry, every review I've read seems to rave about it!

My mum knows all about the problems I had ttc! She's lovely normally, but sometimes speaks without thinking. Both her and dsis had no problems getting pregnant, and so don't get it.

Baby has settled with its back poking out of the side of my tummy. It's very funny/tender!

If any other electrically challenged types would care for a non microwave fudge recipe, I give you...

500g dark choc (unlike Dawn's, I think this really does need dark choc. But you can use the supermarket stuff i.e. >50% cocoa)
1 tin (400g) sweetened condensed milk
50g butter
1 tsp vanilla
pinch of salt if you like that sort of thing

Melt the first 3 ingredients together over low heat in a large, heavy based saucepan. When all melted, take off heat and beat in vanilla and salt. Pour into tupperware type affair. Leave to cool. Et voila. The best and easiest sweet thing I know how to make.

Eeyore I'm so sorry you got those comments from your Mum. We never did tell my PILs that I had fertility problems and I'm not sure how much they guessed, over time. When I did try to indirectly broach it with MIL, I got all the "well you just need to go on a nice relaxing holiday and it will happen" which made me keep my mouth firmly shut until we'd had our 7 week scan!

Welcome kungfu

DH has got the nesting bug big time. It all started with the rental of the Rug Doctor. For the past four hours he's been upstairs vacuuming, painting, building, taking things apart, occasionally running up and down stairs with various armfuls of books and sports equipment. It's not often that he does housework, but when he does, he REALLY goes for it.

What a rubbish day! Thought I had an appointment in town, but turned out it was the wrong date... So 3 hours spent on bus / waiting for the bus and wandering around with no money to buy anything. Now my SPD has come back with a vengeance!

Baby is snuggled right down and it's quite painful at times (is it supposed to be?)
Get home and OH in a rubbish mood again today, although a confusing one. And it seems all my squeezing of ze muffin does nothing at all, and now even my tics are an issue. Everything is just very frustrating today ><

marzi nice to hear your husband have got the nesting bug! Still waiting patiently here!

I really, really want swiss roll cake. May have to make one tomorrow.

Gah eeyore mums can be so thoughtless sometimes, mine's special but even she hasn't ever come out with such a gem.

Sorry to hear about your trek littleen I vote definitely make cake tomorrow to make up for it!

Mmmm I've seen fudge recipes with condensed milk but haven't tried them. Will give yours a go v soon marzipanned.

Sorry about your mum's thoughtless comments eeyore. Some people really need to engage their brain before speaking...or better yet just keep their traps shut.

I am not feeling sleepy at all right now.....hopefully soon though....just one good(ish) night's sleep would be heaven right now...!

I've been in so much pain today - not sure whether baby is hoofing me in same place very hard constantly, or if it's Braxton hicks but ow!

Also, grr at eeyores mum - it took us 6 months ttc and that was difficult enough!

Mmm at marzi recipe!

Anothermmm at Marzis recipe... although am almost glad I don't have all the ingredients else I'd be up at 3am (now) trying it out, which is probably a bit unseemly....

I know I'm super vain but please humour me.... Is anyone else hoping for a full on makeover before birth?!

I'm planning highlights, brows, lash extensions (so I don't need to consider make up for atleast a month), pedicure, AND fouff wax.

Two questions- 1. Can I pay someone enough money in the world to wax a beached whale and are brazillians allowed? 2. Would love a fake tan too, even at this late stage is it a bad idea?

Yes, will change my name to Essexmummy2b post treatments.

Yes, I'm awake at 3am AGAIN and should probs forget the above and spend the money on eye bag surgery.

Mmmm fudge..... If I wasn't still at the pils I might be making some right now.

Hope your mum holds off on any more helpful comnents eeyore. If ttc was as easy as 'just relaxing' then it would be yoga teachers not fertility clinics making the difference

Hi kungfu, welcome to our clockwatching.

laura I've had to stop thinking about the next 18 yrs, it was making me too anxious. Each week survived without an a&e visit or minor meltdown is going to be a success in our house - baby has accident prone genes on both sides of the family.

Hope 2014's getting off to a good start for everyone in spite of the pelvic pain, back pain, insomnia, heartburn, sobriety, helpful families, ongoing sickness, exhaustion, cramps, etc Am currently bonding with wriggly bump and trying to avoid dh's stale breath. Some sleep would be nice too.

shropshire I don't think that's unreasonable. If looking good helps you feel relaxed and feeling relaxed helps squeeze the baby out, it'll be almost like having a secret pain relief weapon.

Was given some lovely new nail polish for xmas by a relative who lives abroad where feet-in-stirrups is standard practice for giving birth. Apparently all her girlfriends say pedicures and foof wax are just a normal part of birth prep...

shrops, I'd go for it if it would make you feel happier. Take any luxuries you can while pregnant. I was planning on getting my hair cut but that is about it tbh. No one cares what I look like and there's no pressure to look good but this tends to make me lazy though.
What I might do is have a post birth pamper session in an effort to reclaim my body a bit but I reckon diet and exercise might be the main contributor there. I'm never bothered by the state of my nails or lashes but the fact that my arse is currently half my body mass is very disconcerting.
Oh, I think baby may have dropped because I can breathe a lot better but my waddle is ridiculous. I can find out at the MW's on Tuesday.

Haha Shrops. I have insomnia and look dreadful now. Took ages to get off to sleep and have been awake since 4.45am I had highlights done in early December. Not due til 21st, so ELCS probably about a week before that. I'm planning on getting eyebrows threaded and dyed, a low maintenance haircut and colour (probably will get rid of the highlights and go darker for a bit so I don't have to worry about the roots!) and also at the least a bikini-line wax. Not letting them dry-shave me with a bic just before they slice me open. I'll have enough post-birth bodily problems without adding razor burn to my list of woes! Will do my nails with clear varnish as it does make me feel more 'done' though I rarely bother with my nails as I keep them short for work (piano teacher).

Can't believe in exactly 6 weeks I could be having my section, though hoping to postpone it til the Monday - don't want a Valentine's baby! Soooo much to get through before then - DS2's birthday, joint party at a huge soft play centre for DS1 & 2 (DS1's birthday is early March so I'll be in no fit state to organise anything then!), a few more weeks of work, make curtains for baby's room (and matching cushion if I have enough leftover fabric!) The last ones I'm hoping to do this week - my DM gave me a sewing machine for Christmas, and whilst I'm no seamstress, I managed to make 5m of bunting for the room yesterday, so have bought fabric to make matching curtains and cushion(s).

I'm hoping to avoid any trips to A&E, though DS1 (7) who has Aspergers and is not well coordinated at all, bless him, received a skateboard from Santa - watching him try to use it is a little bit like watching a car crash unfold. I shall consider it a miracle if we don't have at least one skateboard-related hospital visit.

A girl after my own heart sugar! I've made the bunting, curtains and made a mobile with my sewing machine, it's so rewarding. Plus you wouldn't see someone from TOWIE doing that which makes me feel better. Are you in the Facebook group (sorry if so, I'm crap at remembering who's who)? I want to see your handy work.

Still unsure about the spray tan. For every google result that says go for it, there's one that says don't!

Must remember to take some cocktail sticks to work today to keep my eyes open.

I'm not on the FB group - somehow I missed all that... How do I join?

You need to private message someone like Dawn or Katamari who are on the group (and have their username in blue, I don't understand why some names are clickable on and some not) and give them the email address you use for fb x

eeyore that's terrible :(

We had problems with DS1. Had to have IVF and thankfully it worked. Now with this LO, who took us by surprise, I've been very aware how lucky we are and also waiting for someone to say "see, you didn't need all that treatment, you could have just carried on trying". Thankfully no one has said anything like that yet. But tbh I feel like a fraud anyway which is bloody ridiculous. I've had all the comments over the years, including people saying (no-one here!!) "oh it took us such a long time too, we really thought it would never happen, I know just how you feel" (tried for 6-8 months), and "it took me a year" when really it was a few months as they weren't trying for most of that year. It really does belittle how awful it feels (especially when you've had a diagnosis). I always thought I'd be one of the lucky quick ones and was very very shocked when I wasn't!

Getting a bit impatient now.

What's a bundler? Think I missed that! Ooo and we have a heated airer. You will never regret it. You will do endless washing and it's a right fiddly faff as tiny baby stuff is sooo small to hang up!

Morning all. I actually had proper sleep last night! DD didn't wake me once - I think I slept from about 10.30pm to 6.45am with just one toilet break in between - amazing. I still feel like I could sleep for another 5 hours but really can't complain as it's the best sleep I've had in weeks.

Shrops - go for your pampering! It will be more difficult for all of that once baby is here - depends if you have someone to leave baby with while you have treatments as if you're exclusively breastfeeding you're pretty much tied to your baby making you-time more difficult.

I'm just going to have my hair cut and I think I'm also going to get rid of the highlights and go all over darker as it's easier to maintain without roots etc. Last time I had quite a bit of hair loss after DD was born - no bald patches or anything but it wasn't very pleasant as my hair is quite thin anyway, so it should keep in better condition without any bleach. The symptoms don't stop after pregnancy, there's always something else!

I also have some beauty salon vouchers from Xmas so think I'll have another mum-to-be massage - I had one at about 5 months and think I need it more now! Thought about a facial but I could do that myself if I bothered, I can't do the massage and DH is really not skilled in that area!

I've never had a bikini wax [wimp emoticon] so don't think now's the time to start - just use removal creams or razors. Will have to get a mirror out though as have lost track of it's state

Go for it shrops - now's the time... I only have my highlights done once a year because I'm a tightarse and I get him to put them but leave a very thin layer of hair on top untouched - looks more natural/blends more and you don't get a big stripe at the parting as they grown out! Got my last wax at 37 weeks. Full Hollywood here! I have a massive pube aversion, mainly for hygiene (which I know is nonsensical) and even more so when I can't see it! It's a beyond undignified process though. I used to adore my lash extensions too as I very rarely wear makeup and they made the biggest difference to my appearance, but I had to give them up as I'm too big now to lie on my back unmoving for an hour and a half... Plus the glue fumes were starting to bother me. She had a 'sensitive' glue but apparently the lashes would last half the time with that on. (They lasted 5 weeks with ordinary glue)

shrops haha that made me laugh!! Go for your pampering!! I'm also tempted but again don't know how I'll cope lying on my back for such a long period of time for lashes. May get the weekend ones and hope theyast for over my due date:/ And might just put some tan on myself rather than subjecting some poor soul to my huge pregnant belly! Was also tempted to get extensions as my hairs fairly short just now and we do some fairly low maintenance ones at my work but still debating this.

little my hair also fell out loads when I had DD. Iv started using a shampoo range called nioxin. It was created by a lady in America for hormonal hair loss following pregnancy but has kind of taken off for men in the uk. If you've got fine coloured hair it will be number 4 you need. Also there's a product by kerastase called initialise that's good for keeping all your hair thick and strong as it grows:)

So my last 3 days have consisted of lounging on my mums sofa and today I shall be stuck in a car for approximately 4 hours on the round trip to pick up OH from the airport (havnt seen him since 19th of dec so can't wait:) ). So basically for the first 3 days of maternity leave I already feel like Iv done far too much sitting around and am so bored:( operation decorate the nursery and pack hospital bag may take place this week:)

My insomnia is at the start if the night. Didn't get to sleep til 2.
Shrops definitely get what you want done. ESP as you love being pregnant you will hate the saggy after feeling and there are all the other after effects that no-one tells you about like hair loss, after pains etc and it helps to feel at least a little bit more attractive than you would with no extra help. I'll at least get my hair, eyebrows and nails done as close to EDD as I can.