The Brookers are ready for a 2014 sneeze-birth fest. Come and join us if you think you're hard enough...

[SantaMaybe]

Here we go brookers. At least three of us will be sneezing on this one

Loving the thread Maybe

Not joining this thread, but just keeping my eye for the sneeze births!

So, remind me, what order are people sneezing in?

Lovely new Fred Maybe. How exciting that this is the one you will pop on! And Solars! Especially when you think about how many brooking Freds you've been on...

You so are joining the thread if you're handing around nausea things Dino How're you feeling? Sorry the sickness has got you so early. How has it affected you in the past..?

Too (and Maybe).. don't think we have an EPU here. Last time, I flitted between A&E and gynae, and only got scans after I demanded them in A&E after being mucked around. I will mention it to the MW when I eventually have a booking in appointment, but last time that was after both of my early scans, so I'm not holding out too much hope..

Hope you managed to give the pup a walk Maybe. It was miserable here all day too..

Haven't been posting for a few days as we've been in the depths of potty training, which is going quite well!

Lucky you musical. The way things are going here I can see us having 3 in nappies at the same time. Ds1 is 3 yrs 3 months and no sign of getting him out of nappies. He is wilful shall we say, and whilst I am sure he is more than capable of it, he refuses to use the toilet apart from as an occasional novelty. Very much living up to the rumour of boys being lazier and later at training!

Oooh, are you potty training, Musical? We haven't started yet. How do you do it? We have tried putting M on the potty before her bath but she's not interested at all and never does anything. I might have more luck doing it when she first gets up, I suppose - she usually fills her nappy pretty promptly. I don't really know what to do, though. I was going to go for it in the next couple of months, maybe after her birthday in early March. Must do some research!

Dino, Brooking that the sickness goes away sharpish. Begone!

Loopy, I think it's Solars, Maybe and then Pen. Not sure who comes after Pen. There's a big gap there - is there no one between Pen, who is about 30 weeks, and me at 17 weeks? Oh, Stacks, of course, who must be 20/21 weeks. And Fox is only 3 days behind me.

Solars due 18 Feb, team blue for Sunbeam
Maybe EDD 24th March, Fin is a girl.
Penguin EDD 05 April, Pingu is a girl.
Stacks due 26/06, baby girl.
Too - 17 weeks, due 23 July 14, UBB (so far), 20 wk scan date 7/3
Fox - 16+4, due 26 July 14, 20 wk scan date 10 March

Is it Dino then Musical then Loopy after that? You were all v close together. I know there's Purple too but she seems to have abandoned MN these days.

18 Feb is not far away hey!!!

I think that order's right Too - with Purple being before Dino. Not prepared to put any details on there yet myself...

Yes, potty training! I think DD may have been ready around Christmas time, as she was telling us when she was going, but I was too chicken to try anything... we had a couple of nappy free unsuccessful attempts, but then she saw her friend potty training successfully (a boy, 23 months old - so not all boys are later Loopy!) - and lo and behold, wanted her nappy off and has been doing well ever since! This was at the end of next week... we've now abandoned all nappies other than night nappies and are having very few accidents. We have the potty out all of the time, and I occasionally ask her, but she usually takes herself...

We started by having the potty out all the time, telling her what it was for, and promising a sweet in return for potty success. If all else fails, bribery works . We don't need the sweet for every success now thankfully..!

Rather surprised at how quickly it's happened (and at how quickly she's taken to it), but clearly it was the right time for her.

I'm not going to add details for a while yet either, musical! I'm not really here at all. I am just a figment of your imagination here.

Glad that your DD is doing well with potty training. I can't even claim that we did toilet training with DS. He was just ready not long after his third birthday and there's been no problems since. We never used potties and just went straight for the toilet. I think you are right that waiting for the right time means that it is easy. He still has a nappy at night but we'll deal with that at some point.

Hello everyone. Sorry I've been AWOL, DS has got 4 new teeth through in the last month or so, has had 2 colds and infected me with one, and I've been pretty tired with the pregnancy. DS still wakes me up once at 'night' to feed, usually between 4 and 6am. It's not much, but it breaks up my sleep and makes me grumpy! Need to try and phase out breastfeeding, but I'm terrified it'll mean he's up for the day at 4, and won't nap... I'm making headway though, plan is to drop 1 feed a month.
I'm interested to see when DS potty trains. We don't have a potty or anything, and he's only just 14m, but he pees when DH asks him to at the end of his bath (in his bath, standing up), and if you give him 30secs standing still with no nappy he tenses up and watches his willy while he pees on the floor! Darling that he is though, he then goes and gets a cloth and wipes it up :)

I'm not sure I reported on here about our scan. It went really well, all measurements and things looked good. She spent ages on the face too, checking for cleft lip, so we got to see quite a lot of detail there which was nice. DH was so super happy that it was a girl, really made his day. I went for a pee after the scan, couldn't have been gone more than a couple of minutes. I came back to an excited DH who exclaimed "I've told everyone!" He practically skipped his way back to work then :) I'm sure he'd have been fine with a boy too, but I didn't realise he wanted a girl quite so much :)

This little one has been kicking quite a lot recently. I think she's trying to get noticed around a very demanding DS. I can't quite believe we're over the half way mark already, it's gone so quick, and I don't think I've got that much of a bump either. I'm sure it'll all seem more real soon.

Super excited for all the soon to be sneezers. It's been such a long road to get here, and a little miracle for you to have your wee ones so soon :)

Hope you feel up to joining us properly soon Musical and Dino. I'm brooking all is good for you and your scans come round super quick. It's such a long wait while you're waiting.

DS is done with his bath, time for bed! DH is out tonight, so it's just me, my knitting, tv and a glass of posh lemonade :)

Wow Stacks, sounds like a busy time in your house!! Hope you are I we your cold very soon. Great scan news too

Musical could you not come to the EPU at Broomfield?

How is everyone today?

Scan sounds lovely stacks! I can't wait to find out what we're having!

Been to the midwife this morning and she listened to the baby's heartbeat. She found it literally straight away! (Wish that happened when I tried). But pretty uneventful other than that. She was telling me about breast feeding and where to go/what to do if I have any difficulties. Seemed a bit early to me! I'll have forgotten it all by the time I need to know!

Stacks, I love the stories about your DS and peeing on command! Wonder if I could teach DD to do that? Your scan sounds lovely and at your DH being so pleased that it's a girl.

Fox, do you know whether you want to breastfeed/ff yet? Do you have strong feelings either way? I always wanted to bf and kind of psyched myself out by the time DD was born, but it turned out to be both easier and harder than I expected. The early part was harder and then after the first 6 or so weeks it became very easy. I'm hoping to skip some of the complications this time round - fingers crossed!

I am going to the physio class at the hospital tonight - hope they're as good as Pen's! I've been to a physio at this hospital before but not a class - it was a one-on-one appt at about 35 weeks and I was totally convinced that DD1 would be born early so wasn't that fussed. I've been to a physio class at the other hospital with DD2, and that's when I got a giant tubigrip and a pelvic belt thing. I want a new tubigrip - it might help, and besides, it was great at keeping my tights up! This time they told me to wear clothes I could move in and comfortable shoes, so it might be different - the last class we just sat in chairs and did pelvic floor exercises and filled in forms. I was chatting to a colleague and she said she had had SPD in her 3 pregnancies and she actually wound up in a wheelchair! [scared] She asked me what the treatment was and when I said tubigrips and belt thingies she said she was glad to hear that medical science had moved on in the 16 years since her last baby was born. I may point that out to the MW - couldn't they develop some sort of relaxin antidote for severe cases? Especially if the mother has opted for a CS and won't need to give birth through her pelvis? I suppose that would involve research on pg women though, so probably not...

The baby was v wriggly yesterday, to make up for being v quiet Sat-Mon and freaking me out. I think 17 weeks is too early to go to Triage about reduced movements because it is still so small that it could so easily be kicking towards my back or somewhere and I wouldn't feel it. Doesn't stop me panicking, though. Also, there isn't anything they could do about it yet anyway.

Is anyone doing anything nice for Valentine's Day? We aren't! We're going to Mull with my dad, stepmum, kids, DSis and her boyfriend for Dad's 50th birthday - which will be lovely but about as far from a romantic getaway as you could possibly imagine.

Dino, that sounds lovely and easy! We didn't want to miss the opportunity, and have had no accidents over the last couple of days (touch wood!), so was clearly the right time - though she's preferring potties to toilet seats at the moment.

Stacks how lovely that your DH was so happy about the scan :)

Maybe I'm not sure how easy it is to go from one hospital to another when you're booked into one? Though I suppose I'm not booked in yet... I've also heard rumours that there is an EPU over here in Bas. If I haven't heard from the MWs by tomorrow I'll phone and chase, and if I get a chance I'll ask about it then. Still tempted by the private scan locally. DH is rubbish at keeping secrets and has almost let it slip a couple of times. I've also got four friends from uni coming round next week - they'll grill me and I'm afraid I may say something I shouldn't..!

Sounds very romantic Too . We've got nothing big planned, as I've got to teach in the afternoon. I've ordered us a nice dinner though (the shopping comes tonight!), and am planning to clear my work backlog tonight so I can relax for the evening.

Does anyone have any good advice on sleeping aids? Are there any pillow sprays or anything that are safe/ok to use during pregnancy? My pregnancy insomnia didn't kick in until about half way through last time, but I've had it from day one this time and it's slowly driving me mad. I can't go to bed much earlier as my 'working day' is the time between when Iz sleeps and I go to bed..!

Good luck for the physio class Too. It must be hard for you to stay calm when you can't feel movement - but you're right, it is early, and the baby could so easily be kicking/punching/elbowing in the wrong direction.

Musical a lot of people from Bas are at Broomfield. Worth a look if you're at all tempted. I know that Cussons do a m and Me relaxing spray, I've seen it in boots. May be worth a go? Also anything lavender based in a warm bath before bed. And a warm milky drink. Insomnia must be horrid. I have no trouble falling asleep, but my hips wake me up every night. And the incessant weeing

Hope your class goes well Too sounds really useful.

When is your next scan Fox? It's very exciting finding out what you're having. I say it's never too early to find out about feeding. My MW hasn't even mentioned it to me. But then again, she hasn't mentioned the birth either!!

I guess you're right Maybe - never too early to be given info I have a really bad memory though so hope I remember useful things I'm told. Have signed up for NCT classes though, so I'll be refreshed on the feeding stuff. Scan is March 10th

Hope the class goes well Too! I'm jealous of you feeling movements - nothing definite for me yet. But must be worrying when you don't feel anything for a bit. It's so early for movements though, so although it is understandably making you panic, I'm sure it must be normal.

I would definitely like to breast feed Too but at the same time I don't want to put too much pressure on myself as don't want to set myself up for a fall. Feeling very determined though, so I'm sure I'll stick at it

Insomnia sounds horrible Musical I slept very badly at the beginning of the pregnancy, (possibly pregnancy related as well as excitement) but mostly seem back to normal now. So you never know it might get better for you too - fingers crossed!

Nothing fun for valentines day here. We usually go for a meal any excuse but I'm working Friday and Saturday so I'll probably be tired, plus we went to our favourite place for our anniversary last month so probably a bit soon to go back!

I went to m&s today and got one of their valentines day meal deals. We'll just have that tomorrow, then we're planning on going out for a child free dinner 'date' next week. We're down south visiting family, so will have a babysitter for DS. Won't be anything fancy though, something we can do in jeans as we're having to pack really light. Got to get a pushchair travel system home in the car, plus all the maternity clothes my DSis is sending my way :)

Musical, not sure about the insomnia must be hard if you're working up to bed time anyway, I think I'd find it hard to switch off generally. Do you manage to do something relaxing before bed to wind down?

Maybe, someone on the due date thread I'm on has mentioned an apparently amazing pillow you can buy (new) from eBay. It's 12 foot long though! I'd feel bad walking DH off from me, but if I have problems sleeping I might look into getting one.

Maybe I may well have a look, thanks! Will be phoning the MW unit tomorrow, so will ask. Not interested in being with them for the long haul though - the MLU at Bas is (was?) lovely, and I'm tempted to go for a home birth this time round. We're only 5mins from the hospital if I had to be blue lighted for whatever reason. Of course, this all depends on us still being in Bas in eight months time...

Thanks for the spray recommendations - I looked for Cussons stuff in Boots last time and couldn't find any (thinking they might have something), but think I must have missed it. Will try and hunt it down sometime soon! Lactose intolerant, so milky drinks are a no go . Have run out of lavender.. and ought to try some sleepy tea too... adding all these things to the shopping list.

Fox I hope it disappears.. but last time round it stayed put once it hit :( Only I didn't suffer as much as I did now - I was tired, but not all out shattered. Glad yours has disappeared! I don't think getting information early is a bad thing.. and you can recap it later! I BF DD until recently.. had a very hard time getting started (won't scare you with the details.. yet!), but it was worth it. So much easier than faffing with bottles in the middle of the night, as far as I'm concerned..!

Stacks, I try to make sure I have at least 20 minutes of crafty wind down time - either knitting or sewing. Doesn't always work out like that though! The Valentines M&S deals look good - I was tempted by them too.

I have a giant pillow, but it's only 5ft I think - not 12ft! It's amazing... I wonder what added amazingness a 12ft one would bring..

Found you!

Marking my place. Will catch up properly tomorrow and reply then. X

All very quiet here! I hope all brookers have had a lovely weekend.

Maybe, I found that spray today in Tesco, thanks! Will give it a try :)

Feeling full of cold here, and very sleep deprived. Spoke to a midwife yesterday though, so feels a little more real. Typically she called when guests were here so I had to hide myself away in the bedroom, then completely forgot to mention the problems last time and the early scans... hmm. Will see when they next get in touch, but may have missed the opportunity.