With disbelief and minimal drama, the PESH are ambling into springtime diffedness!

[SinkyMalinks]

Antenatal fred fun for BESH graduates

CRESH

Faith - pinky faithlet arrived 14th April 2013
Pinkr - suitably pinky one arrived 25th August 2013
Jethro - blue one arrived 23rd September 2013
Noks - a surprisingly breechy pink one arrived 12th January 2014

PESH

Frankel - EDD 4th March
Sinky - EDD 18th March
Merks - EDD 21st March
Driz - EDD 7th June
Draf - EDD 19th June
Kat - EDD 20th June
Winks - EDD 26th June
Dor - EDD 18th August
Ginger - 20th August
Euro - 28th August

Pleasantly busy here, isn't it?

Draf are you under Addenbrookes? Sometimes they invite women to take part in studies if they've got a research project going on that coincides with your dates. We were told we might be asked if we wanted to take part in a study, but nothing ever came of it.

Ginge, I missed your post earlier! hurrah for such good results!

Just spoke to my BF, she had her 20wk scan today, and is having a girl too She's a bit nervous as she's not sure about parenting a girl after her little boy. I told her not to worry, she can just watch what I do then do the exact opposite

Yep, Addenbrooke's, Frank. It just seems a bit weird to say they're asking women who are already having third trimester scans, when it's clearly not the case

Ahh draf my friend had extra scans with her first at Addenbrookes. Hers were part of a study as well

Can anyone remind me why I booked a dentist appointment for first thing in the morning, when even cleaning my teeth myself is still making me gag and vomit? That wad officially Not Fun.

Weird letter draf!

How is everyone today? Any exciting weekend plans? I'm with my family, which is nice, but have to go to my cousin's baby shower tomorrow, which isn't - my feelings on them haven't changed in the least!

Aww, poorly puppy Bugs, hope she's better soon. Get as much rest as you can, the tiredness in the first trimester can be all consuming.

Someone's told me this morning that first babies tend to arrive 3 weeks after they start to engage. Seeing as Turnip had started to engage at 36 weeks, that puts us on course for next week. Bugger that's a scary thought!

winks I'm desperate for a dentist visit as my teeth brushing has been really inadequate over recent weeks. I can only clean the front few most of the time. It's odd - mint generally helps the nausea but stick a toothbrush into the mix and retching seems inevitable. I am hoping mine eases soon so I can go for a good scale and polish.

ginge that's a brilliant result. How comforting.

frank :)

bugs I hope the poorly pup gets better soon. I am going to BIL &SIL's this weekend for niece's birthday. I love going there but I'm not looking forward to the drive (usually about 3 hrs each way, if we're lucky). It's at times like this I really wish KFZK drove.

BTW, I had a scan at 6+1 both times. First time they could only see a yolk sac and everything was measuring a bit small. This time they could see a yolk and an embryo with a little flashing heartbeat (but I was prepared for there to be no heartbeat as it was so early and my embie was a slowie at transfer). Both were dildocams, as were my EPU scans at 7 and 8 weeks. I didn't have an external scan until 10 weeks.

I hope telling the parents will go well. My mum can be a bit funny about aging so I am not sure that she will welcome the idea of being a granny but I hope she will get used to the idea, and I hope she can put her distrust of the IVF process to one side. I reckon my dad will be thrilled though. We always show one another photos of what we have been up to when we see each other, so I am going to show them a few of Paris on the ipad and then stick the scan pic on the end and see if they figure out what it is!

draf I suspect someone was supposed to mention that to you!

Aww, poor thing. My friend's dog (retriever/spaniel cross) was back and forth to the vets with a mystery lameness, they just couldn't find a cause. He's mostly fine these days, though he does get a bit stiff and sore now and then.

Poor dog :(

I've been at my friend's wedding today - lovely day, but so wildly culturally different! Thankfully we had several friendly people explain what was going on so we weren't baffled the whole time :)

Tomorrow, we are shopping for a car seat

Glad you had a good day Draf, must have been interesting to see a different kind of wedding.

So, OBEM returns to our screens on Monday night. Who us feeling brave enough to watch thus time round?

They've moved to Southmead Hospital in Bristol this series so it'll make me feel quite at home to hear all the Bristolian accents

Had a small wobble this morning as Turnip wasn't moving. It didn't help that I couldn't get my Doppler working to listen to her heartbeat. After an hour or so of prodding and drinking cold water she finally gave a little wriggle and has been fidgeting ever since. That's the first time I've had concerns over her movement and I don't want to go through that again. The Fear just never leaves

I think I'm going to watch frank, but have my last antenatal class on Monday, so will watch it recorded, also meaning I can fast forward any horrors....

I was the same with movements on Thursday night. It didn't help that I'd had a really busy afternoon at work. I spent a lot of time lying at different angles on my left, drinking hot and cold drinks (hot tends to work better for this one) and prodding. He then kept me awake, obvs.

Last night he got in a weird position I think and I had the most godawful pains at the top of my bump. The birthing ball, bath and stretching out in bed didn't really help, but at least he was nice and active so just tried to relax.

Just frustrated that I'm so sore and swollen low down, but also still getting a bum and legs battering my ribs. This baby needs to engage! Mum is meant to be away for 3 days from early march. She wants to cancel - I've told her not to bother! I'm trying to accept I might still be preggers in 5 weeks :(

Oh, and NHS breastfeeding class was on thurs am. We watched some YouTube NHS videos together and I was told off for still wearing my (well fitting) wired bra.

Was shown 2 positions to feed in (I never knew you shouldn't hold their head, only their neck when feeding), which was useful. Hand expressing would have been, but have had to do that myself for a while to minimise leakage!

Was most useful to be told that even if you have a sneeze birth, go up to the post natal ward for a little bit to see the feeding nurses with your own baby - and the local support around afterwards (including all the bfeeding friendly cafés!)

Useful to know there are videos on YouTube Sinks, I might check those out. I tried to call the hospital to ask about their classes (presumably they're NHS ones too) but no one was answering the phone

Sorry about the discomfort, when's your next appt to check if he's engaged? I'm definitely starting to understand those women who just want to not be pregnant anymore - everything, getting in and out of bed, walking, sitting down, standing up is just so much effort now!

Bit rubbish about the classes frank, but certainly the set up here gives you nothing you wouldn't get on the post natal ward - just don't go until you're happy (but as a sensible PESH, you wouldn't do that anyway!)

Yup to the effort. I can see that I'll miss having bump so close all the time, but I just don't believe it at the moment! Next appt is Friday- 38 weeks. Am currently sat on (a slightly deflated) birthing ball (ghj broke the pump...) and trying to walk as much as bh let me. Must also remember to pack hosp bag at some point...

Oh, the NHS videos were ok actually. We watched 2. Apparently there's over 40 online!

A bit late for most of us, but I've just found out that Which now have a dedicated website called "Birth Choice" which allows you to look at stats for your local hospitals and compare facilities. It's very interesting:

Link here

Definitely normal Bugs, some get it worse than others. I found most symptoms didn't kick in till about 8/9 weeks, so the menkulling during the early weeks is pretty tough as you don't have any physical evidence to fall back on.

Distraction techniques are probably best, if you can't get the energy up for a walk what about watching a film or doing something crafty to take your mind off things a little bit?

I just did your quiz, it recommended the MLU I'm booked in for :)

Commiserations to those suffering. Fx for prompt sneeze births all round.

Fucking cunting arsewipe 'family' have sent my stress levels through the roof this afternoon And I hate that I feel much more vulnerable whilst pregnant, because he's a brave bloody man against a weak opponent.

Sorry bugs, didn't see your post. That's very normal, at least in my experience. Is your scan on Wednesday? I'msure your anxiety levels are through the roof :( I'm wishing away the week for you.

Is it the same family member as before Winks? Did you ever hear anymore about the flight/lift request?