Easter is approaching, and the PESH are laying all over the place!

[maamalady]

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 - pink one arrived 12th January 2014

PESH

Frankel - EDD 4th March ANY TIME NOW
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

PESH-in-hiding
Bugs - EDD approx 21st October

I am apparently blooming, but I have slept a LOT all the way through - I definitely didn't get the second trimester energy surge.

Good luck for the scan, euro :)

NCT class tonight went alright, though the idea of finding a substitute birthing partner has given me a bit of a fright - the idea that HOTB might be ill and banned from the hospital hadn't really crossed my mind. I have no sisters, my mum lives six hours' drive away, and I'm not sure I want any of my friends seeing me at my most vulnerable. It doesn't really leave me with many options...

I am apparently blooming but just feel fat! The exhaustion has never stopped for me either.

Bugs, I was surprised that I didn't suffer with the heat at all. Being pg made no difference to how uncomfortable I felt. I did burn though. I usually use factor 20 but don't really sunbathe. I prefer the shade. This time I upped it to 30 and stayed in the shade and still burnt. Particularly my arse from snorkelling! I think my new layers of fat made my arse extra buoyant so it was sticking out of the water...

I have never bloomed! I spend the whole nine months looking and feeling Knackered! I have holiday envy of bugs, we aren't going anywhere this year and I would love a week in the sunshine!

I am fed up today. We should have been going on holiday today and instead I am sitting at my desk in the office.

I know there are worse things in the world and I am grateful Dad is ok but I just feel pissed off. :(

Good luck for today's scan Euro

Sorry a out the holiday again Dor, it's understandable you feel down about it.

E is very grumpy again this morning. We've had another massive melt down for no apparent reason that reduced me to tears because I couldn't calm her down. I'm feeling like I can't cope, it's the second day in a row she's screamed like that and I just don't know what is causing it. My mood is not helped by the fact my left boob is twice the size of my right one and really sore.

Sorry. I'll stop moaning soon I promise.

Franks - does she settle in the sling or the buggy? When The Little Mister used to do that I found I just had to get out and take him for a walk. If only because my sanity was at risk.

Yup. Just back from an hours walk with a grumpy R. Fed after then promptly vomited it up. Bloody waste.

Mastitis frank, or just one big boob? My left has a better supply and seems to just keep increasing, despite me offering righty as the first option to try and get it's supply up. Sigh. Lopsided will be my 2014 look...

Don't apologise Dor, I'd be the same in the circumstances.

I ended up going for a drive in the end which seems to have calmed her down. If I try and put her in the sling/carrier when she's crying she just gets more wound up.

I'm not sure if it's mastitis Sinks, it's the same boob with the cracked nipple so I can't express properly to take the pressure off.

Have you tried hand expressing off that side just to take some of the pressure off? You might find it more comfy than using a pump - on the other hand it might be just as painful!

I've just gritted my teeth and used the pump. Got 60ml off in ten minutes. It's still a bit tender but the lump I could feel before has gone. I've taken some ibuprofen to try and ease the discomfort. I'm seeing a health visitor at the drop in clinic tomorrow, for E's weigh in, so will ask their opinion and if need be make a GP appointment. All the stuff I've read online suggests most cases of mastitis can be dealt with at home (painkillers, massage, expressing, etc) so don't want to make an unnecessary appointment.

Ouch frank. That sounds painful. Don't suffer needlessly. If you need to see the dr, you do.

Dor sorry you are at your desk. And the holiday chat on here can't be helping. Although at least you have the beach nearby! (I lovely the photos on t'other place of the Little Mister at the beach - so cute.) Do you think you will manage to get away at all?

Frank one of my workmates (with 5 children) said that she found getting in a warm bath (not easy with a baby, I know) helped her to express off a bit when it all got too much for her boobs.

Apparently the cabbage leaf old wives tale is true as well.

Frank, I found that m would cry if I put him in the sling but if I got going on a walk right away he would often settle in there after five or ten minutes so it is worth persevering with it. He was quite colicky too but it did get loads better after three months. Was very tough at first though so you have my sympathy, its horrid when they don't settle.

Dor, so sorry about your holiday, that really sucks.

We have booked for my sister and our families to go glamping at Durrell Wildlife Park at the end of May. It's not Cyprus but at least it's not here!

Hurrah! I'm glad you have something booked. :)

I have been shopping today, and now have some summery maternity clothes, hurrah! And a thin dressing gown, and some dark(ish) pyjamas and nightie. Pyjamas and nightie are both button front so breastfeeding should be possible. Bring it on, birth I tried on bravado bras too - they seem good, so I shall order online and get them cheaper than they are in John Lewis, woohoo. My feet are killing me after mooching round town all day though, so I'm now vegging on the sofa with a packet of dolly mixtures...

Hope your boob is less painful, Frank, I have zero advice but lots of sympathy :)

That sounds like a good shopping trip, draf.

Just back from scan. Baby was all fine. The only fly in the ointment was with the very last measurement for blood flow to the placenta, which wasn't as strong as it should have been (although they did say that they had to apply a lot of pressure to get to the right spot so they could have just been squashing something that affected the blood flow). The remedy would usually be low dose aspirin, but I'm already on that. So they've recommended a growth scan at 28 weeks to make sure things are still normal.

I hope it is nothing, but I would have loved to come out of today's scan with a clean bill of health - I had promised myself I would relax and enjoy the next 20 weeks if that happened. So I feel slightly meh - I have 8 weeks of background worry until the next scan now.

Presumably if there was a problem then baby would have been smaller than expected? Glad baby was doing well

In other news, I have a maternity swimsuit. I am determined to halt this excessive weight gain as it just isn't necessary (before you worry, I'm just giving up some of the massive amounts of crap I have been eating and getting a little exercise as I've done nothing since BFP).

That sounds pretty positive, euro - everything is fine right now, and presumably if they were really concerned they'd get you back in sooner. It's hard not to worry, I know. Nice not to get any anomalies with the baby, though - the list of what they're looking out for is quite scary.

Sounds good, ginge. I really should go swimming again...

I'm having an extra bonus scan tomorrow, because I signed up for a clinical trial type thing - ultrasound followed by MRI. I'm quite intrigued about the MRI, and looking forward to seeing baybee again :) All being well, it'll be the last one before I see her with my own eyes

Ooh, exciting draf.

Well I would be going swimming if my local swimming pool didn't decide it needed a rest between 7pm and 8:45pm. Seriously, what's the point?

I've been waiting for that for ages!