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

Ahh, in the madness fluster earlier that came out wrong Too!. I meant, were you hoping for a boy, or not bothered? :) I know the idea of a boy scares me a little as I know what I'm doing with a girl. The whole target practice thing with wee is a little scary . DH is also concerned a boy won't love him as much as DD does (aww...), though obviously we know that's not true :)

Loopy, eeek what a tricky situation to be in! Luckily ours isn't actually that bad - I was flustering earlier, but DH and I have talked it through and we can take our time if we want. It just means we won't necessarily be offered as much in terms of a mortgage, but we'll have put more into our house by that point. Some good interest rates around at the moment though, and would be nice to take advantage... off to look at a few houses tomorrow so we'll see what happens! (Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire!).

Of course, if we move before LO is born, it may be more tricky to have a HB (with having to get registered with different MWs, not necessarily as handily close to a hospital etc)... ho hum :(

Too Hooray for a boy with healthy Kidneys!!!!

Loopy great that you were right :)

I had my letter telling me my downs risk is low, really surprised how quick that was!

Music nothing like a time limit! Although Loopy yours is really extreme!

I am thinking of possible hb, I am worried about pph though. I had 250ml loss with DD and then 400ml with Ds so worried it is getting larger :/

Music try not to worry, where you move might be more convenient and with DS they were happy for me decide really late if i wanted to HB, so might not be too hard to organise :) Is the less mortgage related to having another child? as I do remember chatting to you about whether that is a prob or not :/

That's very quick Purple! I can understand your concern with blood loss though :-\

True, hadn't thought that wherever I move to could be quite flexible too! Yes, the mortgage deadline is related to another child (as soon as another is born, the liability changes and the amount you can borrow changes). The interest rates may well change too, so best to get sorted as soon as possible! Also, I suppose the earlier we move the earlier I can start building up a new teaching practice, and get settled before someone else joins the family. We've seen some potentially nice houses today - only problem is they're very far from one bit of the extended family, and very close to another (that we're not so close to)... hmm! Tricky...

The best I could see for liability for us was about 13% less, I did struggle to get numbers though!

And yes they may be very flexible, I think if you get house sorted you may feel better full stop? And I think i was considering at 35 weeks a hb, as they set it in motion at 36 weeks here iirc.

Hmm, reading the house stuff with interest. DH and I want to move, but we're not sure we can get our current house sorted and ready for sale before baby arrives, so we've kind of decided we'll be moving after. I think we need to go see a mortgage adviser though and see what all the numbers will be. There are other things to consider, like DH will have paid off all his student loan, and we'll have finished paying off the kitchen. So maybe the extra money coming in (or not going out at least) will offset the baby?

Other news is, my back hurts. I think it's the start of spd, but not really sure. It's more like one hip being in the socket wrong, causing nerve like pain in my back/bum when I do certain things. Like pick up DS, which I pretty much can't not do. Sigh.

That sounds much like sciatica to me Stacks :( (very similar to the symptoms I get with my back problem.

The student loan and kitchen might offset the baby factor! Apparently student loan makes a difference, but only a little bit (so says our mortgage adviser). Purple, the difference that our adviser calculated wasn't that high, but still enough to bear in mind..

Saw a gorgeous house today, in a lovely village! A little out of our price range, by about £9k, but hoping we can haggle it down (it's been on the market for a while). We'll see.. means we have to put our house on the market this week though to even be in with a chance. Scary!

Had our 20 week scan today! Such a relief to find out everything seems ok, and also found out we're having a girl! Hope everyone's well!

Musical, v happy with a boy! Would have been just as happy with a girl, but I have been convinced all along that this baby would be a boy so it is nice to be proved right. Need to think seriously about boys' names for the first time now...

Purple, PPH doesn't necessarily happen again. My friend had a big loss (800ml) after her first baby, and then nothing after the second apart from normal lochia. The difference was that first baby was an EMCS after waters breaking, painful cx starting but no progress past 4 cm over 3 days and lots of induction drugs. Her second baby was an ELCS. Looks like she bled the first time because her body and uterus in particular were so exhausted by the 3 days of contractions. I can't remember off-hand what your labours have been like, but length of labour would seem to be a factor in PPH.

Stacks, that sounds like what I have, ie SPD-type issues. Atm mine is mostly sciatica (pain radiating down one buttock/thigh), plus hip pain. Get thee to the Thurs evening physio class at the Royal - the number for physio is in your blue notes. Phone and book into the physio class. The class will give you tips on managing it, and you can talk to the instructor afterwards and see if she thinks you need a proper referral to a physio. Warning, though - I phoned to get a referral last Mon. My appt letter arrived on Thurs and although they said there was a waiting list of 3 weeks, my appt isn't until 6 May, which is 8 weeks away! Fecking RIE. In the meantime I've booked an appt at the Edinburgh Sports Injury Clinic (in Juniper Green) to see a private physio (£37 for initial assessment).

Can you set up a changing area for DS that means you don't have to lean forward over him to change his nappy? The physio said my sciatica was exacerbated by leaning forward over M, and I needed a changing station at boob height so I couldn't bend. You can kneel at said station, you don't need to have one that you stand at! I haven't taken her advice yet because M would probably roll off the table if I tried it, and besides, I have plans for starting on potty training soon. I'll do it with the new baby, though.

Can you find a pilates class? I had difficulty finding one - could ask my instructor if she knows of any closer to you if you like? Mine's in Roslin, so not massively handy for you.

X posted - congratulations, Fox! Yay for a baby girl! And v pleased that everything else is fine too.

Wow lots has happened. Was just reading to catch up there but I have no idea who said what anymore.

Great news about all scans, and the boy and girl babies. Can't believe you've had your 20 week scan fox seems to be going so fast.

So I'm just over 36 weeks now, can't believe how close it all has gotten. Have been referred for a growth scan on Friday as bump is measuring 6 weeks smaller than it should be. I'm just hoping baby hs grown since my last scan at 34 weeks as I think all will be fine if she has.

maybe how are you? Not be long until baby girl arrives. You would be 38 weeks?

Brooking hard for Pingu, Pen - hope all will be well on Fri. Were you measuring small at your last MW appt/scan as well?

Maybe, you've gone awfully silent!

I'm still here, I'm just lurking

Great news Fox

Hope all goes well Pen with your scan. Yup, 38+1 here!

Too yes I have measured small the whole way through.

At 30 weeks I measured 28 weeks with midwife
Scan at 34 weeks put me at 33 weeks
Then at 36 weeks I measured 30 weeks with midwife.

Just to show you how it's gone so far. With ds I always measured around 2 weeks smaller then when I was induced at nearly 42 weeks I measured 37 weeks.

I expected a small baby and to measure small was just shocked at how small I'm measuring. Although I think it's because she is head down but across the ways so is lying funny.

maybe all ready to go? Bag packed?

Thanks - it's so exciting and making the whole thing a bit more real to know what we're having I can't believe I'm 20 weeks either Pen! When I read about some of you going for your 20 week scans it felt like I'd never be at that point myself!

Not long left Pen and Maybe! So exciting! Are you all prepared? I'm going to start buying things now I think

It really does make it real Fox doesn't it?! Now 'it' becomes 'she'

Bag is finally packed Pen! As of yesterday . I have just finished washing all the clothes too. Well, newborn-3 months. We have so much. I had no idea we had bought so much stuff!! I warn you Fox, it's addictive!

lurking for the next sneeze...

pen hope all goes well on Friday. seems odd you measured smaller than before. maybe she just moved position? or has dropped and engaged?

ooh and fox at a little girl...

keep I wish she had dropped. I'm still very high and she is free according to my notes. I shall find out on Friday.

Fox I'm not sure I am prepared. What I thought was a completely packed bag I've realised I've forgotten so much. so need to get that sorted.

Maybe we have loads of clothes and I have nowhere to put them as spare room has no storage at all. So need to get that sorted.

I'm trying to get my house cleaned this week. Past few days has been me trying to put all the crap away. Then I'm going to start dusting and bleaching everything. I have this uncontrol urge to clean my sofa. Trying to ignore it for now.

nesting..... she may be coming sooner than you think them pen

I've been overcome by a sudden urge to scrub all the floors with a scrubbing brush

I never had this feeling with ds. It's awful. Why do I want to clean my sofa? It's not even a normal thing to want to do.

Think I'm going to blast some music and get on with it. Maybe if I do it now then all this cleaning will come to an end.

Maybe I hate feeling like this. It means I can't sit still even though I'm in pain.

Pen I'm the same. I'm shattered, but I can't sit still. It's like I've developed OCD! We are interesting creatures

OCD or serious nesting Maybe

5/5ths engaged....