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?

Bugs, Dr google tells me that 4.7 mm is the average CRL for 44 days gestation and 5.4mm is the average for 45 which would be 6+3 weeks. I understand the menkul, I had the exact same situation first time round. There is a normal range either side of the average in any case. I think your scan should give you every grounds for optimism although I do remember how shit scared I felt between 6 and 9 weeks last time. Every day that you are still pregnant, your odds get a bit better.

Fake drink? I find mocktails and tonic with ice and lemon handy. Appletise in a wine glass will pass unnoticed too. Not that I can conceal my pregnancy anymore, I am mahoosive already

Tonic alone is a good pub drink - not sickly if you're trying to match rounds, and makes me feel like I'm having something more exciting than water/lemonaid etc. Appletise I like, but can't manage (or afford!) more than a glass.

Am a grump again today. My feet hurt, my legs hurt, bump hurts, peeing constantly. Ghj frustrating me - after telling him how I feel just says "but what else? You're a total misery" or other such gems. And has just tried to sympathise by telling me his calf is tight. Before going for a run.

And he won't massage my back. Twat.

I find the excuses for not drinking are all transparent. Best pretending you are drinking (nurse one drink, have a spare non alcoholic equivalent nearby etc) if you really don't want people to notice

I once heard someone recommend making friends with one of the bar staff helps. Offer them a nice tip if they keep you topped up with alcohol-free but cocktail looking type drinks, that way if someone goes to the bar to order for you they'll make sure you get the right drink.

Driving is the best excuse for not drinking. No-one ever questions it. If they do, just say it's GP's turn to drink, so you're driving, and then you're fine.

bugs hope you have a lovely time at the party. Do you have something nice to wear? Is there a late afternoon of hair and nails lined up so you feel glam? I don't have any lies to tell about drinking. I told my closest friends and avoided the rest or claimed to be driving, sorry.

euro hope you've got to see euromummy and she's bearing up?

How are the heavily diffed today? Feet up and watching the sexy thighs rugby or similar I hope. sinks Ghj is being a knob. If I were closer I would come rub your back for you.

I am not glowing today. I have had a dicky tummy, then this afternoon I had excruciating pains in my left ribcage. Plus my feet have swollen up massively. On the plus side I went to Kiddicare and saw a hammock and no longer want one - it looked a bit flimsy and scary even though I'm sure it isn't.

I'm currently bouncing on my ball, again We went for a walk this morning and also went to Cambridge where we bit the bullet and bought an Ergo baby carrier. It was pricey but I've heard so many good things about it (a lot of those from LP if she's lurking!) plus it lasts so much longer than other carrier types - potentially up to 4 years of age.

I also had a wobble this morning about potentially ending up with an induction. I know the most important thing is that I have a safe and healthy baybee, but I'm genuinely terrified at the thought of being induced. HWHNN had to deal with more snot and tears over that this morning.

Oh, and enjoy the party Bugs

of the heels bugs, there is no way I could shove my feet into sparkly glam shoes today Bit jealous of the top too, I look like a corpse in peach but you'll look fab!

frank I don't want to sound thick but what is it about an induction that freaks you out? Sorry you felt so shitty, are you feeling any better?

I'm not sure really, I think it's partly down to hearing so many stories about inductions that escalated into interventions and also that I really want to try and do it all naturally in the birthing unit, if that doesn't sound too trite. I feel better now, but it's still there in the back of my mind.

Frank I was terrified of induction but it wasn't all that scary in the end. My main advice if you are induced is forget woo and take the drugs. If you are overdue (I wasn't) the pessary might start labour and then it would be just like normal labour. In any case most babies are born before 42 weeks and yours is likely to come out by then too. In any case you don't have to be induced.

Ergo carrier is a good buy. I had a similar one and a friend had an ergo. Total lifesaver. Did you get the infant insert for newborns?

Hair strokes frank. But you have over a week before you even need to think about it, and even then you don't have to accept an induction, and also the pessary might do the trick - it did for DSis, and she had a nice natural labour afterwards. I know three people who were induced with a drip in the end, and none needed any further interventions.

My induction did not lead to any intervention beyond me getting stoned on pethidine. Admittedly they began to move towards c section but then he came speeding out by himself. With no forceps and no perineal tear. I had a nice quick recovery too. A friend of mine had both hers induced at +10 and had nice normal deliveries both times. You often only hear the horror stories as nobody tells the more boring stories.

True about only hearing the horror stories, thanks hags. I know a large part of my worry is irrational and daft.
My best friend refuses to tell me her full birth story following an induction because she doesn't want to scare me! All I know she was induced at 1pm, hyper stimulated but still didn't have her little boy until 5am the next day, complete with a nasty tear that subsequently got infected - she didn't leave the house until 10 weeks after the birth.

We did get the newborn insert for the carrier, HWHNN is very taken with it, so I'm not sure I'm going to get a look in!

MIL just phoned again to see if there was any news

Its not daft to be worried! Have you looked at aromatherapy for labour and anxiety? Bit woo maybe but can't do any harm to sniff some clary sage and lavender oil while you bounce. As for your MIL, deliberately misunderstand. Keep the sky news website, or your local newspaper site, open and tell her about the teenage boy arrested with a stun gun disguised as an iphone or something. With any luck that'll distract her.

Not daft at all. Everyone worries about birth even if you have done it before and if you are a first timer fear of the unknown is to be expected. Have you got a hypnobirthing CD? I didn't actually do hypnobirthing due to induction etc but I found it useful for relaxing near the end of pregnancy and easing anxiety about the birth.

frank you have loads of time yet. Have you tried any woo like acu or reflexology? I've heard it can be effective for getting things going.

Have you sent your MIL the "have you had that baby yet" weblink from FB?

I've been shooting today. It was lovely to be out in the fresh air rather than sheltering indoors from the rain. We thought we should get a session in while I can just about lay on my front!

I've got my music from my antenatal class, which I listen to to relax. I'm trying very hard to keep chilled and HWHNN is helping a lot, problem is I'm by nature a stress head and I know I've got to overcome that to keep my adrenalin levels down.

It helps to talk about it though, rather than bottle it up and keep going over it in my head, so thanks again hags.

Sadly I think we are certain to run out of fred before any baybee's put in an appearance, so someone needs to think about a new one, probably tomorrow.

Hello all. I've been at work all day (boo!) but just wanted to a. Give bugs a big Squidgy hug - what Kat found sounds positive. B. Don't forget I was induced too and it was ok. Quite fast, very intense but I didn't need the drugs or any interventions. It's not the ideal way to go into labour but it was ok for me :)